Dear Friends, I haven't been in this fourm for a very long time...
My Trip to the U.S.A
During the summer holidays, I participated in a foreign exchange program. It was a trip to the U.S.A. The trip was a graduation present for me. I was to start high school in two months’ time, so I had to enjoy myself while I still
could.
After nearly 14 hours of constant flying, I arrived in Portland, Oregon. When I
met my host family I was still feeling exhausted and a bit jet-lagged. They were
just as nervous in meeting me as I was meeting them. One by one, they introduced themselves. The mother, Lisa, had an unusual job, she made caskets. The father
, David, was a carpenter. Then there was Chelsea who was 12 and Cody who was 13.
They led me to their one-storey, 3 bedroom house. I was greeted warmly by their
dog, a pug named Lilie whereas their grey cat only stared at me indifferently.
I couldn’t decide whether I liked this family or not yet.
However, for the next 3 weeks, I spent the most wonderful time of my life at their house. They took me to baseball games, they took me camping, they taught me gun shooting and even threw me a splendid birthday party. Once, I mentioned that
I loved Harry Potter. It was totally unexpected when they got me the sixth book
plus a poster plus a Harry Potter hand band as an early birthday present. I was
simply overwhelmed when they especially got me a box filled with Oregon products
. Two pins, a beautiful blanket with Oregon’s most famous sceneries, a book on
Oregon, a calendar with Oregon’s pictures and a T-shirt made in Oregon. I had never received so many presents in just one birthday.
Cody loved to ask me questions about China. “Do you have Mc’Donalds over there
?” “Have you ever had Subway?” “Do you guys have theatres and shopping centers over there?” “Do you get MTV in China?” I would answer his questions patiently, then he would exclaim “I can’t believe you’re only allowed one child in
China!” “You guys don’t have Disney Channel? What?” “You don’t have a baseball team at your school!?” “How can you live without Tacco Bells?!” I showed him my city on his map of the world, he was amazed by my courage for being able to go so far away from home.
I shared a room with Chelsea. She was a typical American girl. Her room was very pink, she argued with her brother over doing more choirs than him, she played
soccer, chatted online and had a lot of friends. Chelsea was there for me all the time, she even accompanied me to classes. Whenever we went out together, she would introduce me proudly to her friends as the foreign exchange student who is
staying at her house. Once, she ran bare foot for 1 block just to tell me that my favorite show was on. Towards the end of 3 weeks, she was beginning to call me
“Big Sis”!
Lisa and David were always trying their best to make me feel like home. They even cooked rice for me( but it turned out to be some kind of porridge). I quickly
told them that I was perfectly fine with American food and that I was eager to try some. David managed to fix me something different every night. When we went camping, we made S’mores over the camp fire. It was simply a delicious snack. Whenever they had problems with Cody and Chelsea, they started saying that they should sent them back to China and keep me! Lisa once took me to her workplace—the casket making company. I was surprised that I didn’t freak out seeing all those coffins. Maybe because I was with Lisa, the caskets just seemed like wooden boxes. It turned out that most of Lisa’s colleagues had already heard of me. I was welcomed warmly by all those people. Lisa even taught me what the procedures
were to make a coffin. I was greatly amused.
On the day I left, David couldn’t get away from work, but he phoned 3 times to
say goodbye. Lisa, Chelsea and Cody came to see me off. They all cried which made me feel miserable for I didn’t manage to shed some tears. Their sincerity will always remain in my heart. How can I forget that summer at their house?