The west lake
Hangzhou, the place where I am from, is famous for a lake in the center of city named the west lake. The west lake is one of most beautiful place for travelers to visit, both for taking photos or walking along the side of lake. Although my friends would definitely regard me as a person growing up in Hangzhou (city my family lives), in fact, Hangzhou was my second home. I had lived in Hangzhou for fourteen years before I came to America for undergraduate education, but I was born in a small town and did not go to Hangzhou until I was four years old. I can still remember well when I first came to Hangzhou, I encountered some trouble in this totally unfamiliar city.
As a result of my father’s work, my family members moved from a suburban area to the city. At first, I felt that my world got larger and all things in Hangzhou were new to me, such as the shopping malls I had never seen and the restaurants with different types of food I have never tried before. I was so curious about all things and was always willing to take adventures through the city. However, when I first went to school in Hangzhou there was a problem, because I had spoken Fujian dialect since the time I was able to talk, and knew only very few of words in mandarin. The worse thing is that a small part of local students maintained an attitude that they were more knowledgeable than the outsiders like me. As a result, I was bullied and played tricks by my classmates. Additionally, I also found that the activities children played in the city were different form what I did before, which caused me not able to get along well with them.
As time went by, although my mandarin was getting better and better, kids around me still laughed about my strange “accent”. I started to adjust to all of the new things, but it still was a little bit hard for me at that age. As a result, I began to regard the city as an unfriendly place that kept me away from other people.
As a result, the lake might be the only thing I liked about this city at that time. Because my house was close to it, I always went there with my parents on foot and took a walk along the side of the lake, hearing the songs of birds and feeling the harmony between the nature and the people. The weather was neither too hot nor too cold, so we could see lots of people such as the old people and children playing, doing exercises, or just chatting with others. I walked and talked with my parents about things that happened daily in school and the problems I met due to my classmates’ behaviors towards my poor knowledge of mandarin. Additionally, my father would also talk to me about stories during his childhood and ways to get along with my classmates. After that, I could always become relaxed from the stress of school life.
Due to my positive attitude, I learned mandarin and tried to get accustomed to the new environment effectively by making lots of friends. Those of my friends always gave me a hand in my poor language and gave me lots of tips of how to get along with local children.
As the time went by, I started to become more familiar to this city, and I also felt that this city began to accept me as well. For example, I could go back to my home from school by myself; I got improved in my mandarin and my classmates stopped playing tricks on me. Therefore, the unfriendly city before was transformed to be the place where I could feel comfortable.
Hangzhou, the place where I am from, is famous for a lake in the center of city named the west lake. The west lake is one of most beautiful place for travelers to visit, both for taking photos or walking along the side of lake. Although my friends would definitely regard me as a person growing up in Hangzhou (city my family lives), in fact, Hangzhou was my second home. I had lived in Hangzhou for fourteen years before I came to America for undergraduate education, but I was born in a small town and did not go to Hangzhou until I was four years old. I can still remember well when I first came to Hangzhou, I encountered some trouble in this totally unfamiliar city.
As a result of my father’s work, my family members moved from a suburban area to the city. At first, I felt that my world got larger and all things in Hangzhou were new to me, such as the shopping malls I had never seen and the restaurants with different types of food I have never tried before. I was so curious about all things and was always willing to take adventures through the city. However, when I first went to school in Hangzhou there was a problem, because I had spoken Fujian dialect since the time I was able to talk, and knew only very few of words in mandarin. The worse thing is that a small part of local students maintained an attitude that they were more knowledgeable than the outsiders like me. As a result, I was bullied and played tricks by my classmates. Additionally, I also found that the activities children played in the city were different form what I did before, which caused me not able to get along well with them.
As time went by, although my mandarin was getting better and better, kids around me still laughed about my strange “accent”. I started to adjust to all of the new things, but it still was a little bit hard for me at that age. As a result, I began to regard the city as an unfriendly place that kept me away from other people.
As a result, the lake might be the only thing I liked about this city at that time. Because my house was close to it, I always went there with my parents on foot and took a walk along the side of the lake, hearing the songs of birds and feeling the harmony between the nature and the people. The weather was neither too hot nor too cold, so we could see lots of people such as the old people and children playing, doing exercises, or just chatting with others. I walked and talked with my parents about things that happened daily in school and the problems I met due to my classmates’ behaviors towards my poor knowledge of mandarin. Additionally, my father would also talk to me about stories during his childhood and ways to get along with my classmates. After that, I could always become relaxed from the stress of school life.
Due to my positive attitude, I learned mandarin and tried to get accustomed to the new environment effectively by making lots of friends. Those of my friends always gave me a hand in my poor language and gave me lots of tips of how to get along with local children.
As the time went by, I started to become more familiar to this city, and I also felt that this city began to accept me as well. For example, I could go back to my home from school by myself; I got improved in my mandarin and my classmates stopped playing tricks on me. Therefore, the unfriendly city before was transformed to be the place where I could feel comfortable.