Kathy Tam

Be Adapted

My day off is my party time. I can do anything that I want to do to make myself happy. In Hong Kong, people always work very hard and are busy. They work as a machine and never feel they need a break. They work nine hours a day and six days a week; sometimes they ever spend their day off to work nonpaid overtime. I have always cherished my day off since I realized some people who had overworked were killed by depression. When I lived in Hong Kong, I used to spend my day off hanging out with my singing buddies in a private karaoke room. Sometimes, my cousins and I would spend a day searching for some local street-side snacks. Also, going to bookshops and libraries to find my interesting books was one of my important activities during my day off. However, everything has changed since I moved to Chicago. My favorite activities no longer appear on my day off.

            Karaoke used to be the best way for me to keep a good relationship with my friends and family because I could release my stress. Small private karaoke rooms are very popular in Hong Kong, and people can find them anywhere. Hanging out with friends in this private space made me feel comfortable and relaxed. We used to sing, dance, and drink like crazy idiots because we did not have to worry about bothering others. After I moved to Chicago, karaoke disappeared from my life. Chicago has a few karaoke places nearby Chinatown, but they are more like restaurants than karaoke places. Some restaurants have an open space and set up the karaoke equipment for people who want to sing while they are dining. This open space makes me feel uncomfortable and nervous, so I cannot enjoy it. In addition, karaoke is affordable in Hong Kong. I remember when I was in high school, I always went to karaoke place with my classmates during our lunch break because we just paid around $30 - 40 HKD (about $5 USD) for two hours, and this included lunch with a non-alcohol drink. However, with $5 USD in Chicago, I just can order an appetizer. Karaoke is expensive in Chicago because it is uncommon, and food and drinks are expensive. In my new life in Chicago, I am not be able to go to karaoke anymore; however, I can have my karaoke party by myself at home with my favorite music while I do my housework on my day off. 

Just like karaoke can raise my happy hormones, food can calm my bad emotions. When I was hungry and felt guilty to have a feast at the middle of night, the Hong Kong style street-side snacks stalls were the best choice for me. Those street-side snacks stalls are very convenient. They usually close after 2 am, but some of them stay open 24 hours. Like Dunkin Donut and Starbucks in Chicago, people can find street-side snacks stalls anywhere in Hong Kong. Therefore, my cousins and I enjoyed spending time looking for different kinds of local snacks at different locations. Imagine walking on the street, and suddenly smell some hot, spicy, sweet, and sour full filling in the air, then delicious snacks are waving at the corner. How amazing it is. Unfortunately, I can rarely find the Hong Kong style snacks in Chicago’s Chinatown. Although some restaurants sell some Hong Kong style snacks, they will disappear quickly, and I will no longer have my snacks anymore. Furthermore, Hong Kong street-side snacks stalls sell traditional snacks, such as curry fish ball, deep fried stinky tofu, and spring field pizza. Chicago has similar Hong Kong style snack, but the taste is very different. For example, Chicago has curry fish ball, but the curry source is sweeter, and the texture of the fish ball is not very elastic because the ingredients are different. Even though the snacks are not always available and do not match the Hong Kong style, they still can satisfy my desire when I miss them. Also, Chicago has different kinds of food from different countries, so looking for those delicious food now will be my new activity during my day off.

Beside karaoke and Hong Kong snacks, I love reading because it can broaden my mind. Going to the bookshops and libraries had been my favorite activity in my day off before I moved to Chicago. In Hong Kong, I always went to Mong Kok which has small and quiet bookshops, and I could find the latest books. They always update their supply of the new books, so they could easily satisfy my reading desire. It is hard to find or buy Chinese books in Chicago bookshops, and even in Chicago libraries, I just find some old Chinese books. A year after I moved to Chicago, I remember how Hong Kong bookshops helped me to purchase overseas books. Some of the overseas books are not sold in Hong Kong, so bookshops will help readers purchase books from other countries and ship to their bookshops without charging readers an extra fee. As a result, I tried to buy the Chinese books online from other counties and ship to Chicago. Unfortunately, it is hard because most of the online bookshops do not sell overseas or charge a huge amount for shipping. Since I started studying English in the City Colleges, my English has improved. Therefore, my reading habit can continue in my new life, just in different language.

Everything seems to have changed after I moved to Chicago, but my day off party will never be over. Although I still miss my lovely karaoke buddies, my delicious Hong Kong style snacks, and my favorite books, life is moving on, so I need to find other ways to continue my party. Now that I have lived in Chicago for five years, I fell in love with yoga and always go to the yoga class on my day off. I hang out with my friends and look for different kind of food, but sometimes I still go to Chinatown for Asian food. I am trying to read more and more books in English, so I can improve my language skills. My party is still going on, just everything has changed.

A Lost Friend

A Lost Friend

I think one of the most terrible things is losing a friend. Unfortunately, I experienced it when I came to Chicago. The loss of Ali-pay was like the loss of my friend. Ali-pay is one of the most popular applications, and in China and it played an important role in my life. Ali-pay is a convenient app for payment. When I began to pay something by myself Ali-pay was the first choice of my payment method because I could do nearly everything with it. When making payment, I only show my QR code or scan the merchant QR code. It is safe, simple and convenient. This payment method is very suitable to people like me who always forget to carry a wallet. However, after I came to Chicago, I recognized Ali-pay doesn’t exist, and it means I lost my first choice of payment method. Though I can buy things by cash or card, I had gotten used to paying by Ali-pay and it is difficult for me to get use to paying by traditional payment methods.

People will never know what a great helper Ali-pay is if they did not use it  before. It has a lot of wonderful functions that cover nearly every aspect of Chinese daily life. We can use it to order pickup, book train tickets, air plane and movie and book hotels. Renting Shared-bikes is also included. In China, nearly everyone knows how to use it. Someone said that Ali-pay plays a more important part in Chinese daily life than cash, and most Chinese people cannot live without Ali-pay, especially the youth who have witnessed the development of Ali-pay. If someone had not been to China in the past three years, they would never know how humorous the influence of Ali-pay has been. Even when people go to a sidewalk snack booth, they can pay by Ali-pay. The shocking thing is that when people pay by cash in the street, it is not easy for them to get change because the stores don’t have enough cash to give them back except the change from Ali-pay. Though the United State has Apple Pay and Google Pay which is similar to Ali-pay, I still feel lost due to using limitations. I can’t use Apple pay nearly every place I go and it can’t cover most of my demands.

When I lost Ali-pay in Chicago and I knew I just can use card and cash most time , I felt lost with the environment here. Using cash is not a big problem because it is also a common payment method in China. However, paying by card is not very usual for the Chinese youth like me who typically don’t spend much. In Chicago, we can pay anything by card and it is the most common payment method. Compared to Chicago, Chinese people tend to pay by card when they have a big purchase. What’s more, it takes a long time to receive a new card and sometimes, the card may be sent to a wrong place. Another reason I felt lost is that I couldn’t find another method to pay when I forget to carry my wallet. This situation made me embarrassed. Nowadays, cell phones are always by our sides. If the cell phone is combined with the payment method and this function plays widely, most people’s lives will be more convenient.

The loss of Ali-pay not only caused me to feel lost with Chicago but also made me became afraid to be lost with my own country. Many days ago, one of my friends who have lived in Chicago for so many years asked me how to use Ali-pay. She said all her Chinese friends know how to use it. This situation make her felt lost with China and her friends. At that time, I began to get scared. Though I feel lost with Chicago now, maybe someday I will feel lost with my own country. At present, I have nostalgia due to what I have lost, and the loss not only is the Ali-pay, the translation in Chicago, but also the connection between my country and me.

Ali-pay played an important role in my life. It is safe, convenient and simple. The existence of it likes a friend. It helped me whenever I needed help. However, I lost my friend in Chicago. The loss made my nostalgia stronger and make it more difficult for me to adapt to Chicago life. I am not going to do the comment on the differences between the payment methods in different countries or evaluate one is worse than the other. In my view, every country has its own great aspects. What makes me feel lost is the thing that grew up with me and played a great part in my life that already lost. I hope I can get used to paying for my daily necessities without Ali-pay, and Apple Pay can develop more maturely one day.

Taste from My Hometown

Yafen Chen

October 8, 2019

ESL 100

Taste from My Hometown

      There is a famous saying in China that goes something like this “I raised my head and looked out on the mountain moon, I bowed my head and though of my far-off home.” In the South of China, there is a small city call Taishan. I was born there and had lived in China for nineteen years. I was used to this way of life, and suddenly moved to the United States is little strange. Moreover, I need to adapt to a new environment of the United States, and I miss the days when I lived my hometown. My hometown special food was a big part has been lost in translation since I arrived in the United States. Hand cakes, homemade pickles and moon cakes are the of my hometown. I am nostalgia for the hometown special food in China.

       When I was high school, hand cakes were my favorite food. Although there was similar hand cake in the United States, their taste and flavor are different. On the one hand, the hand cake is a wonderful thing in my high school. When I did not want to eat in the school canteen, I bought a hand cake. On the other hand, the hand cake affordable and has good taste. Moreover, its taste is very unique and delicious. It is very cheap, but it is a little expensive in the United States. The hand cake is the food I can choose for myself. There are a variety including lunch meat, egg or chicken, etc. The hand cake is a wonderful memory of my high school. But now I am living in Chicago, I miss the hand cake in my hometown.

       The second food is homemade pickles. Homemade pickles are the most distinctive thing in my hometown. Pickles are my food from childhood to adulthood. When I was in China, my mother often cooked pickles for me to eat. Every time I ate, I felt very happy and satisfied. In China, my mother and grandmother used to make their own pickles at home, and everyone make pickles at home. But now it is hand to make pickles without ingredients in the United States. Although pickles are available in the United States, they are not fresh pickles. In addition, pickles have the taste of home and mother. Pickles can be made with a variety of vegetables. The taste is delicious, and the smell is nice.

      Finally, moon cakes are essential food for our Mid-Autumn Festival is hold every year in China. Although Chinese people celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in the United States, the atmosphere is different. Every Mid-Autumn Festival is must eat moon cakes, but the American moon cakes do not taste like Chinese. Moon cakes are a feature of my hometown, and we will have holidays on Mid-Autumn Festival. Most of the families get together to watch the moon and eat moon cakes. In addition, moon cakes are expensive in the United States. I really want to go back to China for the Mid-Autumn Festival and eat Chinese moon cakes. I miss my hometown’s moon cakes.

       There are many special and unique food about my hometown, but I really miss my hometown special foods. Hand cakes, pickles and moon cakes are the food I miss in my hometown. These foods are the best and happiest things in my memory, and I hope I can adapt to the strange environment here slowly. Everyone who leaves their original place of life and goes to another strange place will miss the past. In addition, people all must lose something they had when they move to another place. Although there are many similar Chinese foods in the United States, they taste, and feel are different. In short, I am nostalgia for the special food of my hometown.

Not Just the Taste of Memory

Not Just the Taste of Memory

I remember that my history teacher said Night food appeared in China more than 900 years ago. Over the centuries, night food have been a favorite of many people. The evening in China are very lively, and night food as like a kind of condiment of life. Many people like to use evening  as a time to talk to their friends until two in the morning after they finish work. It is more like a habit or tradition for Chinese people. For example, when I was back home, I liked to sit in the big stall, ate different special snack, talked, and laughed with friends until two in the morning. However, When I moved to Chicago, the cold weather, language, food, and more told me that the culture is always different in there two countries, so I have not been out for night food since I came to Chicago. In my new life in Chicago, I cannot find a place to continue and enjoy my night food culture.  

Night food represents the beginning of the night in China. It is a meal that begins after 9 P.M. and lasts until four in the morning. It is the time for night owls who like to go outside at night. Young people never go to sleep very early, so they like to do something before they go to sleep. For example, I used to finish my homework after 9 P.M. or later, and I would be  hungry, so I would love to order some food for night food. Then, I would go to bed. However, once I tried to find a restaurant at 11 P.M. in Chicago, but I did not find anything still open. I felt so disappointed. Night food is the time for people to stay together after they get off work. They would choose with family, workmates, or friends have a conversation with night food. Late night snacks used to mean people’s last activity before people go to bed in one day, but there is no place for me to finish it. 

Moreover, night food is not just a big meal, it is a form of relaxation to enjoy the environment. Chinese people do not care about many things when people eat night food, like dressing, noise, or even safety. Most night food’s environments are relaxed and lively. Chinese people like to sit outside of restaurants and talk to friends. Nobody cares about other people’s  noise or what are they thinking about. I will choose a place where most people knew each other around me, and that made me feel so comfortable. I could even wear pajamas and slippers. Night food also can be a meal by one person, and people do not need to care a lot about safety. When I eat night food, I know all the things around my home, so I have enough sense of security . When I was in China, I always ate night food by myself, and I did not need to care about many things. Due to the news I have watched in the TV that had many robberies and gun fights happen in U.S., I am afraid of going out alone or too late now because I do not have enough sense of security.  Night food have a more comfortable environment makes food more delicious.

Besides, the variety and good taste of Chinese night food always been in my mind. The night food can be everything people want, like hot pot, bbq, rice, noodles or sushi. All the food people can find in night food of China. Although Chinese food in the United State and Chinese food in China both are Chinese food, the taste is very different. Chicago has many restaurants, but they are not really like local taste I ate in China. On the other hand, there are many restaurants open 24 hours in China, and they can deliver the take out all evening. I can order hot pot at 2 A.M. in China, but I can only find some fast food and no delivery in Chicago. With all these changes, I lost a lot of my favorite food and convenient late-night takeout.

Cultural collisions often have a big impact on immigrants. The night food cannot be found here because China and U.S. have different night cultures. The night food depends on special time, environment and taste, so they give me a different memory that is not only for taste. Although there are a lot of places that people are not used to, as a new immigrant need  to work hard to overcome or find another way. Though I did not find night food like in China, I have tried to make some dishes by myself at home. Moreover, there are many restaurants from all over the world that are waiting for me to find than Chicago.