"Are you trying to kill me?"

Dear Mom and Dad, I received the letter you sent around New Year's. I just moved recently, and my new address is: 2919 West Ave #306 Austin, TX 78705 U.S.A. Phone: (512)-479-8685 My roommate is American, so if you call, just ask for "Tong" and that'll do. If you ask for "Wang Tong," he might not catch on right away since last names go at the end over here. Moving was very easy; my roommate helped me out, and we finished in under an hour. I brought my table over to the new place, but the bed was too bulky. Plus, my new room already comes with a queen-size bed, so I ended up just giving my old one to our Taiwanese neighbor. My roommate is a few years older than me and is an undergrad majoring in Radio-Television-Film. He wants to move to Hong Kong in the future and is currently planning his own experimental student film—apparently, it's a Hong Kong-style cop thriller. Winter break is just about over, and classes officially start on the 16th, so things are about to get busy again. Next semester, I’ll be TAing for a C++ course. C++ is a programming language similar to C. The grading workload will probably be a bit heavier, making me busier than the last term, but at least I'll get to learn something useful. I called you yesterday, but unfortunately, Mom wasn't home because she had to go to class. Going to class at 12:00 noon sounds so exhausting. I'll stick to calling you on the weekends from now on; this time was just an exception because I needed to give you my new address. Yesterday, I spent two hours chatting with Weihai online in English, typing back and forth. It was so much fun and felt completely surreal—just like we were talking face-to-face. He’s only been in the US for a few months but already dropped $900 on a used car and got his driver's license. He and his girlfriend back in China ended up breaking up. He told me he gets really lonely whenever he has nothing to do. His roommate is also American, and he mentioned that every time he fries fish, his roommate jumps out and cries, "Are you trying to kill me?" Needless to say, he doesn't eat much fish anymore. He’s also decided not to finish his Ph.D. and plans to just get his Master's and look for a job. I'll wrap things up here. Please give my best to Wang Wei and Xiao Fan! Wishing you both the best, Love, Tong 01/12/1996 P.S. Even though money is tight, I’m doing absolutely fine and have everything I need. You two must not pinch pennies. Keep things in perspective and spend money on yourselves whenever you need to!