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.
Persuasive rhetorical analysis essay
In this essay, we are asked to write a memoir. By definition, memoir is like a small part of biography that records the things happened in a person’s whole life, and it can be either short or long. However, It should be my first time to write an essay in memoir type. By the reading materials, I realized that memoir usually is not as long as persuasive essay, and also different from autobiography, so the problem might be how to choose the structure and the length of this article. For me, the time is like a line, and I choose part of line, as segment, it should be the memoir. Additionally, one person’s experience cannot be irrelevant with space, and emotion makes this space valuable and transformed to place, so using this way I connect all of time, space, place together.
According to the topic, I need to talk something about place and time, so I decide to write my own experience of moving from place where I was born to the place where I grew up and had education. The people I met and the trouble I encountered when I first came to the new city are always unforgettable for me. People, especially young children, usually will be uncomfortable when they are coming to an unfamiliar place they have not been to before, because they do not know the people here and sometimes may even not be able to find the way to their destination.
As for me, I came to a new city, and I did not get adjusted to it at first. The different foods, the different fashion styles, and the different building confused me, a child without any knowledge about outside world. Although all things seemed new to me and I was also willing to take adventures trough they city, I could still feel trouble about my daily life. For example, I even could not figure out which way leading me back to my home from school, and I did not know how to play with other children owing to the different place I was from. What is worse? When I going to school, I still could not speak mandarin very well, so my classmates tended to play trick on me. Usually problem makes a person’s attitude towards life negative, so at that time I really felt that I could not solved the problem and became too shy to get along with others. Like immigrants to a totally unknown country, I also had the sense that I was not belonged to this city, but I needed to accept the truths that I had to live here and I could not escape from it.
To be honest, now I still believe that in that age I was too young to face this situation by myself. However, I, at least, found my shelter of spirit, the west lake where I could express some inner voice and release pressure. The west lake, a lake in the center of city, was one of the landmarks of Hangzhou. It is a place inside the city that showed the sense of nature different from those given by tall buildings around. In that place, people tired of urban daily life, such as rush hour, were able to slow down their steps and had private time to stay with their families or to do some light readings leisurely. At such place, I felt relaxed and peaceful instead of nervous or apprehensive when I was in front of people or place unfamiliar. That should be the reason why I regarded it as one of most unforgettable places for me. No only because of the lake but also the talking with my parents helped me a lot. To be honest, my father had been far away from me for working since I was born and could only see me once half of a year, which meat that my father was not able to look at me growing up until I went to Hangzhou with him. As a result, I really appreciated the time spent with my father and learned something from him. Although going to Hangzhou bring some problems to me, it also provided the chance to maintain a good relationship with my parents, which influenced me a lot during my childhood and made me a person relatively outgoing and positive. To be honest, although the problem of school life could not be solved quickly, the lake and the experience with my parents gave me strength to face it.
With the help of my parents and the west lake, my mandarin got better and better and I was more willing to make friends with people around. And I knew how to get along with my classmates, and I enrich my daily life by playing with other children well. In different words, I changed my life from hating this new city to regarding it as my homeland.
In the article of “Rhode island”, Jhumpa Lahiri draws a picture of her hometown, Rhode island,and describes the memory of her childhood that left impact in shaping her sense of identity. In the article, ‘ the Atlantic I grew up with lacks the color and warmth of the Caribbean, the grandeur of the pacific, the romance of the Mediterranean. It is generally cold, and full of rust-colored seaweed. Still, I prefer it. The waters of Rhode Island, as much a part of the state’s character, if not more, as the land never asked us questions, never raised a brow. Thanks to its very lack of welcome, its unwavering indifference, the ocean always made me feel accepted, and to my dying day, the seaside is the only place where I can feel truly and recklessly happy.’ Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London to Bengali Indian immigrants and grew up in Rhode Island, which means that she might have thought she was not belonged here at first. Besides, in this sentence from article shows that Rhode Island seemed to be not welcome to her because she was an immigrant. Moreover, I also notice that in this article Jhumpa pointed out that her parents’ difficulties when living and working here. According to that, a common conclusion should be that Jhumpa’s family hated Rhode Island and had lived disappointingly for many years. In the sharp contrast, I notice that Jhumpa still preferred Rhode Island and her parents even lived here for decades. Why this happened? In my mind, a place you live for a long time becomes your haven no matter what do you think from the beginning.
Now I left from China to America in order to obtain my bachelor or even master degrees, so it seems like that these problems might happen again, but every time when I encountered problems in a new place I would remind myself about the experience before, after that, I would feel more brave and be able to solve those problems.
Citation
Jhumpa Lahiri, “it is generally cold, and full of rust-colored seaweed. Still, I prefer it. The waters of Rhode Island, as much a part of the state’s character if not more, as the land never asked us questions, never raised a brow” Rhode Island. Identity, A Reader for Writers, John Scenters-Zapico. Publication Date – December 2013. Paperback.
In this essay, we are asked to write a memoir. By definition, memoir is like a small part of biography that records the things happened in a person’s whole life, and it can be either short or long. However, It should be my first time to write an essay in memoir type. By the reading materials, I realized that memoir usually is not as long as persuasive essay, and also different from autobiography, so the problem might be how to choose the structure and the length of this article. For me, the time is like a line, and I choose part of line, as segment, it should be the memoir. Additionally, one person’s experience cannot be irrelevant with space, and emotion makes this space valuable and transformed to place, so using this way I connect all of time, space, place together.
According to the topic, I need to talk something about place and time, so I decide to write my own experience of moving from place where I was born to the place where I grew up and had education. The people I met and the trouble I encountered when I first came to the new city are always unforgettable for me. People, especially young children, usually will be uncomfortable when they are coming to an unfamiliar place they have not been to before, because they do not know the people here and sometimes may even not be able to find the way to their destination.
As for me, I came to a new city, and I did not get adjusted to it at first. The different foods, the different fashion styles, and the different building confused me, a child without any knowledge about outside world. Although all things seemed new to me and I was also willing to take adventures trough they city, I could still feel trouble about my daily life. For example, I even could not figure out which way leading me back to my home from school, and I did not know how to play with other children owing to the different place I was from. What is worse? When I going to school, I still could not speak mandarin very well, so my classmates tended to play trick on me. Usually problem makes a person’s attitude towards life negative, so at that time I really felt that I could not solved the problem and became too shy to get along with others. Like immigrants to a totally unknown country, I also had the sense that I was not belonged to this city, but I needed to accept the truths that I had to live here and I could not escape from it.
To be honest, now I still believe that in that age I was too young to face this situation by myself. However, I, at least, found my shelter of spirit, the west lake where I could express some inner voice and release pressure. The west lake, a lake in the center of city, was one of the landmarks of Hangzhou. It is a place inside the city that showed the sense of nature different from those given by tall buildings around. In that place, people tired of urban daily life, such as rush hour, were able to slow down their steps and had private time to stay with their families or to do some light readings leisurely. At such place, I felt relaxed and peaceful instead of nervous or apprehensive when I was in front of people or place unfamiliar. That should be the reason why I regarded it as one of most unforgettable places for me. No only because of the lake but also the talking with my parents helped me a lot. To be honest, my father had been far away from me for working since I was born and could only see me once half of a year, which meat that my father was not able to look at me growing up until I went to Hangzhou with him. As a result, I really appreciated the time spent with my father and learned something from him. Although going to Hangzhou bring some problems to me, it also provided the chance to maintain a good relationship with my parents, which influenced me a lot during my childhood and made me a person relatively outgoing and positive. To be honest, although the problem of school life could not be solved quickly, the lake and the experience with my parents gave me strength to face it.
With the help of my parents and the west lake, my mandarin got better and better and I was more willing to make friends with people around. And I knew how to get along with my classmates, and I enrich my daily life by playing with other children well. In different words, I changed my life from hating this new city to regarding it as my homeland.
In the article of “Rhode island”, Jhumpa Lahiri draws a picture of her hometown, Rhode island,and describes the memory of her childhood that left impact in shaping her sense of identity. In the article, ‘ the Atlantic I grew up with lacks the color and warmth of the Caribbean, the grandeur of the pacific, the romance of the Mediterranean. It is generally cold, and full of rust-colored seaweed. Still, I prefer it. The waters of Rhode Island, as much a part of the state’s character, if not more, as the land never asked us questions, never raised a brow. Thanks to its very lack of welcome, its unwavering indifference, the ocean always made me feel accepted, and to my dying day, the seaside is the only place where I can feel truly and recklessly happy.’ Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London to Bengali Indian immigrants and grew up in Rhode Island, which means that she might have thought she was not belonged here at first. Besides, in this sentence from article shows that Rhode Island seemed to be not welcome to her because she was an immigrant. Moreover, I also notice that in this article Jhumpa pointed out that her parents’ difficulties when living and working here. According to that, a common conclusion should be that Jhumpa’s family hated Rhode Island and had lived disappointingly for many years. In the sharp contrast, I notice that Jhumpa still preferred Rhode Island and her parents even lived here for decades. Why this happened? In my mind, a place you live for a long time becomes your haven no matter what do you think from the beginning.
Now I left from China to America in order to obtain my bachelor or even master degrees, so it seems like that these problems might happen again, but every time when I encountered problems in a new place I would remind myself about the experience before, after that, I would feel more brave and be able to solve those problems.
Citation
Jhumpa Lahiri, “it is generally cold, and full of rust-colored seaweed. Still, I prefer it. The waters of Rhode Island, as much a part of the state’s character if not more, as the land never asked us questions, never raised a brow” Rhode Island. Identity, A Reader for Writers, John Scenters-Zapico. Publication Date – December 2013. Paperback.