They are a typical American family. The father, John, is a driver for a truck manufacturing company; the mother, Anna, works for a psychiatrist for cleaning and administration. She works for minimal hours so she can take care of her daughter, her husband and her mother who lived next door, and now has moved to a nursing home; the daughter, Lily, is an adopted Chinese girl. She is just so sweet and adorable, a little shy.
I am having a great time with the family. They has done everything to make me feel comfortable. I slept two whole afternoons yesterday and the day before yesterday. I am not sure if this is considered impolite in the American culture, and normally I wouldn't just be so self-willed, but I was just so comfortable around them! The family made me very nice meals, home-made muffin, apple sauce, French toast, BBQ hamburger, potato sauce, taro soup etc. I love the countryside life. Such a quiet and peaceful life. I can literally feel my soul healing from the hustle and bustle from the city.
I have been planning to write down all the ideas I have now in case LIFE FUCKS ME SO HARD that I do not even remember I have been so happy and filled with so many interesting ideas. However, New York makes me busy with people and parties all the time. I do not have either the time or the mood to sit down for an hour and calm down myself to write a blog. Peaceful soul, peaceful mind are what I need, and the country life grants me them.
In NewYork, people have too many entertainment options. Bars, Karaoke, delicious cuisines, shopping malls, movies, Broadway shows, strip performances, etc. Here in the countryside, what the family do is playing numerous board games, buying DVDs and watching them together on an unbelievably comfortable recliner, learning new dishes from a cooking book, doing Origami, drawing, reading newspapers, etc. John, Anna and Lily have spent a lot time together. They are more like friends rather than parents and kids. Lily bought John a red Angry Bird pajama and a colorful Angry Bird boxer foR Christmas. They joke around each day. The other day Lily and Anna were saying John was stealing sweets, and then we all started giggling. John smiled and said, I don't know why you guys pick on me so much.
Isn't that just sweet?
They are so warm hearted and lack the sense of defense that I am worried about the little sweet girl Lily. They just assume the world is so good and healthy, but bad things happen to good people. My philosophy is, life is a bitch and you have to bitch back. What got me worried is I watched an American documentary in the summer, Bullying, talking about the flaw in the American education system. Some sweet kids committed suicide because of peer pressure. I have the feeling that Lily cares too much about others' feeling to stand up for herself. I believe I myself am a strong person who speak up a lot, but sometimes the American crowd is so ready to chim in with who they think is "cool". I have been isolated in a couple of discussions and group meetings. I felt bad and helpless at those times. I am not sure what the world has ready for Lily. I hope life does not fall on her hard.
John and Anna have friends in Guatemala. They are an middle-aged American couple, both in their 50s. They used to be neighbors with John and Anna. One day the couple just decided to help people in Guatemala, and sold all their properties. John has been helping with their financial stuff in America, and John, Anna and Lily skype with the couple half an hour each week. What a sweet thing. I cannot help but thinking their Chinese counterparts. Chinese folks in the countryside cannot even feed themselves well, and absolutely do not care people in other countries.
One day when I was having lunch with John, Anna and Lily, our dialogue led to for which candidate John and Sonda voted. It was when I found out that they paid a lot of attention on government issues. John said the health care system that Obama proposed would hurt the working class who are shouldering the tax, and benefit the homeless and lazy by abusing social welfare. John and Anna thought this system is not fair, and Obama did not do a good job in the previous term of office, so they did not vote for Obama. They gave me good arguments why they voted for Romney. I do not care so much about who voted for whom, since America is not my country and how I wish Chinese citizens could have the right to know what is going on in China. John and Anna have been paying attention to the news. They read newspaper each day. The reason they care so much is out of their love for America. On the other hand, Chinese guys have stopped caring. The downfall of a very powerful Chinese figure did not even stir much of a discussion in the country, since the citizens did not know what had happened, how this would affect them, and what to expect out of it. The government is always so mysterious and unpredictable.
I read Country Driving a few months ago. It is a novel written by an American journalist in the Beijing headquarter of the New Yorker. He observed China, both the urban and suburb area, from a spectator's perspective. He went to the countryside in China, and he said the villagers' lack of knowledge in politics shocked him. There were villagers who didn't know who was the current chairman of China, even though the loudspeaker had been barking each day about what the chairman said, what he did, where he went. The indifference comes from the desperation.
I am a person who has witness two societies. Frankly speaking, I prefer democracy. But, China, I love you so much to give you up and stop caring about you. However, each time I read the news about how our government abuses its power, corrupts public funds, hurts its people, my heart dies time after time. Please do not drive me away. Please do not corner me to get an American green card. I have always loved you, so much.
为什么我的眼里常含泪水？因为我对这片土地爱得深沉。
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