My First Paycheck

Dear Dad and Mom, I received both of your letters (the ones from September 11th and 13th) at the exact same time yesterday! The one from the 13th only took 9 days to get here. It seems like the mail has a mind of its own and just travels as fast or slow as it feels like. I was so happy to get them; after being in the US for over a month and sending out 5 letters, I finally got a batch of replies. Now that I know you have a direct-dial phone installed at home, I decided to give it a shot and called you last night. Tong 09/23 At noon on Saturday, our Taiwanese neighbors invited us over for homemade pizza. They piled it high with all kinds of toppings and cheese, and it was absolutely delicious. Cross-strait relations are very harmonious over here :）. My roommate is an undergrad majoring in civil engineering. He’s been in the US for a few years and actually spent a few years studying in Europe before that; he’s a really honest, down-to-earth guy. Most of the undergrads here are permanent residents who moved to the US with their parents. My roommate's name is also Tong—so if someone calls asking for "Tong," it's going to get a bit confusing. At UT, probably because there are so many Chinese people around, there aren't as many opportunities to mingle with local Americans as I had imagined. I practice my listening every day, but I don't get to speak all that much, and making American friends isn't very easy. Fortunately, since I'm a TA, I still get to interact with students. Either way, I'm doing everything I can to find chances to practice my spoken English. My understanding of the lectures is improving day by day; I can understand my Indian professor now without any major issues. Being a TA has been pretty easy so far—I only have 2 office hours a week. To make sure I know what the professor covered in class, I sit in on the lectures three times a week for 45 minutes each. The rest of the job is just grading homework. Normally, no one shows up during my office hours, but a few days before an assignment is due, one or two students will come in to ask questions. Sometimes I have a hard time catching what they're saying, especially the Indian students. I’ve been quite busy these past few days, usually getting back to the apartment around 11:00 PM. That's when the last campus shuttle runs, and most of the people waiting for the final bus are Chinese. Chinese people are incredibly hardworking. The best time for you to call me is at midnight my time (1:00 PM Beijing time). I guarantee I'll be home by then, and I won't be asleep yet. I have an exam next Tuesday; American courses just have a ton of exams, averaging about one a month per class, plus all the homework, so it keeps me pretty busy. I’ve realized that in America, I can't even afford to eat hamburgers regularly—eating out all the time would put me way over budget. In the US, processed food is pricey, but raw ingredients are cheap, so buying groceries and cooking for yourself is definitely the way to go. Right now, when I buy chicken drumsticks, I get a massive box of 16 for just over 2 dollars, which is about the price of a single hamburger. Then I bake more than 10 of them at a time. The baked drumsticks turn out so delicious, it's a pity you can't taste them! I usually get up around 9:00 AM. My earliest class isn't until 11:00 AM, so I get to sleep in a bit in the mornings. I often bring two meals with me to campus, though eating the same dishes several days in a row can get a bit miserable. I got a letter from Yiqun today. I should be getting my first paycheck in a few days. Tong 09/27, 1:00 AM Today I got my first paycheck! I didn't expect it to come so quickly. I had originally planned to go shopping but was worried I didn't have much money left in my checking account, so I checked my balance over the phone. To my surprise, there was actually $1,140 in there! As it turns out, today is the last day of September, which is payday. Today I went to the Chinese grocery store and bought 2 pounds of shrimp, a big bag of mussels, and a box of squid. This is the first time since coming to America that I'm treating myself to seafood. Seafood is still expensive; the shrimp weren't even that big, but they were $2.99 a pound. The apartment I live in is considered cheap for Austin. The tenants are mostly Mexican and Chinese. It has air conditioning, which we leave running day and night, but you can't actually see an A/C unit anywhere. There are just vents on the walls. Hot water is available 24 hours a day—and not just in the shower; every faucet has two knobs, one for cold and one for hot. The floors are carpeted, though it's not the highest quality. Every bedroom has a large built-in closet. While these conditions aren't considered luxury in America, if you put this apartment in China, it would be considered quite excellent, wouldn't it? The total rent is $510. I pay $245 because my room is slightly smaller. I haven't had a chance to finish using up the roll of film yet; I've only taken a few pictures inside the apartment. I'll do my best to finish the roll soon and will send you the negatives next time. I'll wrap things up here. I hope this letter arrives before Mom’s birthday on October 13th. Happy Birthday! Best wishes, Tong 09/30/95 I just received your third letter, sent on September 24th, as well as Yiqun’s second letter. She said the management at her institute refuses to issue her academic transcripts right now. Their preliminary decision is to wait until this time next year. If that's true, Yiqun won't be able to apply to graduate schools for the Fall 1996 term. You mentioned that there is a delay during our phone conversations—that's just because your voice has to travel across half the globe to reach me, and my reply has to cross half the globe back before you can hear it. In other words, for every sentence you speak, you'll only hear my response after the sound has traveled the distance of the entire Earth and back. So, a slight delay is perfectly normal. Actually, when you think about it, isn't that fascinating? Tong 10/05/95