Dear Mom and Dad,
I just moved recently, and my new address is:
2919 West Ave #306
Austin, TX 78705
U.S.A.
Phone: 512-479-8685
I called home yesterday, but unfortunately I missed Mom—she was teaching a class. I'll stick to calling on weekends. Yesterday was just an exception because I needed to give you my new address.
My roommate is American, so when 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 come after first names over here.
1
Moving was very easy—my roommate helped me out, and we finished everything in under an hour. I brought my table over to the new place, but the bed was too bulky. Besides, my new room already comes with a queen-size bed, so I ended up giving my old one to our Taiwanese neighbor. My roommate is a few years older than me and is an undergraduate majoring in Radio-Television-Film. He wants to move to Hong Kong someday to make movies and is currently working on his own experimental student film—apparently, a Hong Kong-style cop thriller.
Yesterday, I spent two hours chatting online with Weihai, typing messages back and forth. Watching the words jump onto the screen in real time felt almost magical—like we were two ghosts living inside this computer, talking to each other even though we were a thousand miles apart. He's only been in the U.S. for a few months but already dropped $900 on a used car and gotten his driver's license. He and his girlfriend back in China ended up breaking up. He told me he got really lonely whenever he had nothing to do. His roommate is also American, and 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 decided not to finish his Ph.D. and plans to get his master's degree and then look for a job.
Winter break is just about over, and classes officially start on the 16th, so things are about to get busy again.
Please give my best to Wang Wei and Xiao Fan!
Tong
01/12/96