Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Dear Dad and Mom, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! Actually, I only found out a few days ago that the festival was just around the corner. On the night before the holiday, I went to an event organized by a Chinese Christian group. There were about 120 people there, and the atmosphere was really lively. We had dinner, sang some songs, ate mooncakes, and listened to a Bible sermon. The mooncakes were cut into tiny pieces, so everyone only got about an eighth of one. This church group meets once a week, but I doubt I'll go back in the future—I just don't have that kind of time. My phone number is (512) 459-5198. I’m usually home on weekends unless I have to head to campus for schoolwork or go out for groceries. On weekdays, I’m basically home before 9:00 AM and after 9:30 PM; the rest of the day I'm at school. Even though we’re a world apart, we can talk on the phone anytime. Calling the US from China is expensive, but I've heard there are calling services that allow me to pay for the call on my end. Please look into it, as it might be more economical. I heard that calling China from the US after 8:00 PM costs $0.70 a minute. What are Wang Wei and Xiao Fan's phone numbers? Let me know in your next letter and give them my best. I won't write to them separately since writing takes up so much time, and from here on out, I'll probably only be able to write to you guys once a week. Right now, I really want to buy a $300 television. To help the deaf and hard of hearing, most American TV shows have closed captioning, which would be a huge help for me. Having a TV would give me a way to unwind and practice my English 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 another two months. My long-term goal is to buy a car within a year (cars are really expensive here; a decent used one runs over $3,000). It is very inconvenient to get around in America without a car. As for classes, things are going okay, though it was a bit tough 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 to figure out what he actually said. The Chinese students have a great tradition of setting up study groups, so if there’s something we miss, we just talk it through together, meaning it's not a huge problem. I think after a few more classes, I'll get used to it. For me, the way Indian people speak English is definitely hard to understand, but they are incredibly fluent despite the heavy accent. Strangely enough, the Americans don't 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