Dear Dad and Mom,
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
1 Actually, I only realized a few days ago that it was just around the corner. On the eve of the festival, I went to a gathering organized by a Chinese Christian group.
2 About 120 people attended, and the atmosphere was really lively. After a potluck dinner, where everyone brought a dish to share, we sang worship songs, listened to a sermon, and enjoyed some mooncakes together. The mooncakes were cut into tiny pieces, so everyone only got about an eighth.
This church group meets once a week. Although I really enjoyed the atmosphere and met many fellow Chinese that evening, I doubt I’ll go back again—I simply don’t have the time. To my surprise, many churches and Christian groups seem eager to reach out to international students. Just this past Wednesday, two Americans I'd met on the street earlier sat me down and spent about an hour explaining the Bible to me.
My phone number is 512-459-5198. Even though we're a world apart, it's comforting to know that we can pick up the phone and talk to each other anytime. I'm usually home on weekends unless I need to go to campus for schoolwork or go out for groceries. On weekdays, I'm generally home before 9:00 a.m. and after 9:30 p.m.; the rest of the day I'm at school.
Calling the U.S. from China can be expensive, but I've heard there are services that let me pay for the call on my end.
3 Please look into it, since it might be more economical. I've heard that calling China from the U.S. after 8:00 p.m. costs only seventy cents a minute. By the way, what is Wang Wei and Xiao Fan's phone number?
4 Please let me know in your next letter, and give them my regards. I won't write to them separately, since letter writing takes up so much time. From now on, I'll probably only be able to write home once every couple of weeks, and I may not always get around to mailing a letter right away.
I really want to buy a television, which typically costs $300 used. To help the deaf and hard of hearing, most American TV programs have closed captioning. Since the dialogue appears as text on the screen, it really helps me follow what's being said. Watching TV would allow me to unwind and practice my English listening skills at the same time. How great would that be! However, I still owe the university over $1,300 in tuition and fees, so the TV will probably have to wait a couple more months. My long-term goal is to buy a car within a year. Cars are really expensive here, and a decent used one costs over $3,000. It's very inconvenient to get around in the U.S. without a car.
As for classes, things are going okay, though it was a bit difficult to understand some of the professors at first. One Indian professor has an accent that is hard to follow, so as soon as class lets out, the Chinese students gather and try to piece together what was actually said. The Chinese students have a great tradition of forming study groups, so if we miss something, we just talk it through together. I think after a few more classes, I'll get used to it. For me, Indian accents are definitely hard to follow, but students from India are incredibly fluent despite their heavy accents. Strangely enough, the Americans don't seem to have any trouble understanding them at all.
I'm just writing down thoughts as they come to me, so I'll wrap things up here for now.
Have a wonderful holiday!
Tong
09/10/95