May 22nd , 2007 .It's almost 11:00 pm and United Airlines plane landed to Memphis International Airport from Chicago O'Hare.And almost Midnight we are in our new house.But nothing to say about Memphis,it's to dark and we have travelled for more than 20hours in plane and waiting in airports more than 20Hours.So we slep more than a day just to get some rest.
Two day later we start to to get out of the house and trying to discover our new city.And the first impression Memphis is as hot as the city we were coming from.But one of the most important thing is the public transportation.The worst I have never seen before.So it was not easy for us to movewithout our own car,and we didn't have any. But after a while we got transportation so it's to easy to move.Memphis traffic is not to bad but for a guy like me ,there is nothing interresting in Memphis beside The Missippi River,The FedEx Forum and Beale St.Anything else is dead ,day time as night time.
I don't say that Memphis is not a good city to live,but just it's not what I expected and I hope I will find ,maybe some interresting places to visit in Memphis which will change my opinion about memphis
Monday, June 30, 2008
My first impression of Memphis – People lived in a wooden house!
The first day arriving in
I couldn’t help to worry about any fatal accidents which might happen, for example, a drunk driver lost control of his car and dashed into the house or some lunatic carried a gun and swept shooting in the street. I tossed and turned all night long and did not know if it was because I missed my family too much or too worried about the wooden house.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
First impression of Memphis
Eight years ago, when I took my son departed from the Shanghai International Airport on a journey to what the Chinese referred to as "美国(Mei Guo)", translated as "the beautiful country". I was so exciting and a bit worried. Being alone in a completely different country was a pretty difficult for me.
When the plane entered U.S territory, from the air, Memphis looked extraordinarily different from China. The trees looked like brigades of soldiers in battle formation. In China, the trees were scattered and the land looked barren. But in Memphis, the land was a sea of lush green. The sky was baby blue with thin wisps of clouds.
Finally, when my son and I arrived in our first home in Memphis, we did not feel tired. My husband gave us a tour of the UT campus. I was wondering why is the campus was not fenced, because the campus we used to live on in China is fenced. We walked down the street which was so quiet. In China, we lived in the city where everywhere is crowded. We saw a small old building on Union Ave. My husband told us this is the famous Sun Studio. Elvis's first LP was recorded in this building. I was so excited beacause Elvis was famous all over the world. I could not believe the famous Sun Studio is in such a small building.
We were so lucky, in the evening, my husband told us that there was a Christmas party in the church. The church is not far away from our home. There are two free ESL classes sponsored by Memphis city school at the church. My husband had been studying English in advanced class for four months. The Christmas party was for all the students, so my husband took us to the party. The church had prepared a lot of delicious food like fruit and dessert, some toys were prepared for the kids. Also, some students brought their own homemade food for the party. After eating, all students and teachers played games together. If you won the game, you got a toy. My son was so glad that he won the game and got a toy-Arthur. He loves Arthur very much which was a first toy in America.
We had a wonderful first day in Memphis, we love living in Memphis.
When the plane entered U.S territory, from the air, Memphis looked extraordinarily different from China. The trees looked like brigades of soldiers in battle formation. In China, the trees were scattered and the land looked barren. But in Memphis, the land was a sea of lush green. The sky was baby blue with thin wisps of clouds.
Finally, when my son and I arrived in our first home in Memphis, we did not feel tired. My husband gave us a tour of the UT campus. I was wondering why is the campus was not fenced, because the campus we used to live on in China is fenced. We walked down the street which was so quiet. In China, we lived in the city where everywhere is crowded. We saw a small old building on Union Ave. My husband told us this is the famous Sun Studio. Elvis's first LP was recorded in this building. I was so excited beacause Elvis was famous all over the world. I could not believe the famous Sun Studio is in such a small building.
We were so lucky, in the evening, my husband told us that there was a Christmas party in the church. The church is not far away from our home. There are two free ESL classes sponsored by Memphis city school at the church. My husband had been studying English in advanced class for four months. The Christmas party was for all the students, so my husband took us to the party. The church had prepared a lot of delicious food like fruit and dessert, some toys were prepared for the kids. Also, some students brought their own homemade food for the party. After eating, all students and teachers played games together. If you won the game, you got a toy. My son was so glad that he won the game and got a toy-Arthur. He loves Arthur very much which was a first toy in America.
We had a wonderful first day in Memphis, we love living in Memphis.
My first impression of Memphis
I had strange feelings when the first time I saw Memphis. After scy-crapers in New York I was totally surprised to see Memphis would-be a city. It looks like the pleasant huge green village for me! After my arrival, I was impressed by several things. One of them was a very kind and humorous policeman. When I got lost in the middle of Memphis and made a wrong turn, he saw my new york car plate and blocked the entire central street with words “Folk, let go Big Brother from the Big City!” It was funny! And later I always meet only friendly understanding people. Besides I was impressed to see a lot of small cars on big wheels. They run very fast on roads and remind me of antelopes. I don’t know why. As regards to roads, here in Memphis, are surprisely empty without any traffic compared to New York even in rush-hours. It makes me happy here. I noticed that Memphis abounds in Catholic and Baptist churches, hospitals and strange it may seem, auto service centers are everywhere. Also I have discovered plenty of lifeless unoccupied buildings in great locations. I hope in the future they will be reconstructed and be attractive for business or people.
Anyhow I live here now and Memphis is my home and I like it.
First impressions of Memphis
"Welcome to United States of America" said the lady who introduced herself as our case manager at the Memphis Airport on May 22nd 2007. I already thought that it will not be a piece of cake to communicate because her accent was so strong. I realized that was the sentence she had said after a while. I did not know at that time what new things I will see.
At the beginning our house was fine for me . We ate and slept for 3 days. I was so happy and so exciting. I remembered what the cultural orientation teacher told us. According to her it was not good to be too much exciting .She always noticed that people sometimes fall in depression when things do not happen the way they want. We stayed at home for almost 2 weeks. The neighbors were nice and they still are. They are so friendly. Most of them are not from the United States.
Then we went out to start our ESL classes at Catholic Charities. The streets were so big . I found that beautiful . Sometimes in my African mind I thought it was a waste of space . Funny ! Uh! May be it was just unusual for me to see many so big streets. I disliked the idea of buses. I was not use to wait for the transportation for a long time. There is always a taxi waiting where I come from. People were always smiling. I discovered that in United States "How are you?" and "How are you doing?" are just greetings. That means when people say that they do not really want to know how you really are. That is still weird in my mind.
To conclude I was happy to be in Memphis . I think it is a beautiful place. I am still discovering this place and everything hard I handle it by being with my family. There are my strength in this special journey.
At the beginning our house was fine for me . We ate and slept for 3 days. I was so happy and so exciting. I remembered what the cultural orientation teacher told us. According to her it was not good to be too much exciting .She always noticed that people sometimes fall in depression when things do not happen the way they want. We stayed at home for almost 2 weeks. The neighbors were nice and they still are. They are so friendly. Most of them are not from the United States.
Then we went out to start our ESL classes at Catholic Charities. The streets were so big . I found that beautiful . Sometimes in my African mind I thought it was a waste of space . Funny ! Uh! May be it was just unusual for me to see many so big streets. I disliked the idea of buses. I was not use to wait for the transportation for a long time. There is always a taxi waiting where I come from. People were always smiling. I discovered that in United States "How are you?" and "How are you doing?" are just greetings. That means when people say that they do not really want to know how you really are. That is still weird in my mind.
To conclude I was happy to be in Memphis . I think it is a beautiful place. I am still discovering this place and everything hard I handle it by being with my family. There are my strength in this special journey.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Who is me?
Dear friends,
Today I am going to introduce myself. It is also a wonderful journey to meet somebody. I am a lucky girl who born in a lovely big African family. However you can be only lucky because life is not fair. I lost my father in a foreign country and become a refugee which changed my life forever . Let me tell you about the special girl.
My parents get married in Rwanda when they were 26 years old. My father was a diplomatisch and my mother a nurse. They have had 7 children : 5 sons and 2 daughters .
By being raised in this family , I received an education which Iam proud of and would like to hand out to my kids if I ever have. We were tought to learn ,learn and learn . Our parents gave us the right key of life which is school. As a matter of fact we never forgot that and we kept going to school to improve our life even if it was hard .
Nevertheless dreaming and keep going meet brake . My chance was stopped by a devil who was so jealous to see an almost perfect family . That evil was death of my father in August 2008.We thought for a whole year that life was over for us . My mother never gave up . She said my children will be somebody someday.She fought for us and we are here, struggling to find our way . I believe that we are in a good way.
To sum up , I think knowing me is easy when you know who are my models . It is obvious that God will still help us even in United States to go back to School.
Today I am going to introduce myself. It is also a wonderful journey to meet somebody. I am a lucky girl who born in a lovely big African family. However you can be only lucky because life is not fair. I lost my father in a foreign country and become a refugee which changed my life forever . Let me tell you about the special girl.
My parents get married in Rwanda when they were 26 years old. My father was a diplomatisch and my mother a nurse. They have had 7 children : 5 sons and 2 daughters .
By being raised in this family , I received an education which Iam proud of and would like to hand out to my kids if I ever have. We were tought to learn ,learn and learn . Our parents gave us the right key of life which is school. As a matter of fact we never forgot that and we kept going to school to improve our life even if it was hard .
Nevertheless dreaming and keep going meet brake . My chance was stopped by a devil who was so jealous to see an almost perfect family . That evil was death of my father in August 2008.We thought for a whole year that life was over for us . My mother never gave up . She said my children will be somebody someday.She fought for us and we are here, struggling to find our way . I believe that we are in a good way.
To sum up , I think knowing me is easy when you know who are my models . It is obvious that God will still help us even in United States to go back to School.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Hi everyone. This is Ying. I am from Wuhan, Hubei, a big city in mid-south China, where I lived for 31 years. In 1999, my husband got a J1 visa and came to Memphis as a visiting scholar. After 3 months, my son and I arrived in Memphis. I like Memphis for the reason that both Memphis and Wuhan have the same climate and are nearby a big river (Mississippi River and Yangtze River). Before I came to the US, I was an accountant in China and had 11 years working experience. Now I work in a company that imports merchandise from China. Most of my colleagues in the office are Chinese speaking, so we always speak Chinese in the office. I knew of the IEI program 5 months ago. Before writing class, I took the Communication Skills for Internationals class of IEI program in University of Memphis. I learned a lot of English language skills in the class and learned a lot of different cultures from my classmates who came from different countries.
Hello from Unknown
Hello,
I'm Unknown and I'm coming from one of the smallest counties in the world,located in eastern Africa.I live in Memphis for 1 year and 1 month with all my familly.Four brothers,two sisters and my Mom.
I lived in another country in Africa as a refugee for long time and I got my high school diploma in Mathematics,Chemistry and Physics Sciences ,and a Bachelor degree in Business Managment and accounting.Actually I'm imployed in Hotel in Memphis as an Inventory Control Specialist.
I attend the Intensive English for International to improve my writing ad communication skills to be abe to get a better job,have a promotion or if possible go back to school if i can afford it.
My dream is to succed in America and build a better future for me and my family.
I'm Unknown and I'm coming from one of the smallest counties in the world,located in eastern Africa.I live in Memphis for 1 year and 1 month with all my familly.Four brothers,two sisters and my Mom.
I lived in another country in Africa as a refugee for long time and I got my high school diploma in Mathematics,Chemistry and Physics Sciences ,and a Bachelor degree in Business Managment and accounting.Actually I'm imployed in Hotel in Memphis as an Inventory Control Specialist.
I attend the Intensive English for International to improve my writing ad communication skills to be abe to get a better job,have a promotion or if possible go back to school if i can afford it.
My dream is to succed in America and build a better future for me and my family.
Brief Introduction
Hi! Everyone,
This is Anne.
I am from Taiwan. Yes! Taiwan, not Thailand. Although these two words look alike and sound similar, they are two different countries. Thailand is located in southeast Asia, right next to Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, five countries. Taiwan is an island right across to mainland China. For more information about Taiwan, please go to http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/lan/cht/search/index.asp. I also insert a short advertisement of Taiwan in this page.
I knew about this writing program from my co-worker, Ying who was IEI student and now is one of the members of this writing workshop. We both came to here for improving our writing skills and also wanting to know more people from other countries.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
about me
About me.
When I am analyzing and thinking about my life, I realize that the entire period of my conscious life I have always been anxious to move in a warmer place. Every 12-14 years I do a step to change my enviroment.
During the first 14 years I have been lived in Ural. I was born and grew up in a small village in the Ural Mountains in Russia. Ural is the ancient mountains as old as the Appalachian Mountains in North America. Actually they look very similar each to other. I can tell it as a person seen the both of them. When I was traveling two months ago from New York to Memphis my way was exactly parallel with the Appalachians. And I had a strange warm feelings that I am at home in the Ural and going to visit my mother and my relatives. I got these sensations, because the Ural and Appalachee mountains are almost identical, exept for the weather. The winter in Ural is a real winter with a lot of snow and long. The temperature is -40-45ºF sometimes, and a depth of snow could be more than 5 foot. Folks have a great fun rolling in a snow during winter.
After graduation of University I moved in the town, named Borovsk. Next 14 years I have been lived in Borovsk. This town is very old. It is known to have existed since the 13th century therefore it is full of historical events. Borovsk is closed (around 70 milles) to Moscow. Thus, theoretically I moved to northely of Ural, but the weather in Borovsk is much warmer then in Ural. The sound is funny, but it is indeed so. There is a mild weather in Borovsk, average temperature during a summer is about 68-75ºF, and winter is not that long and cold as it is in Ural. After the years freezing in Ural I injoyed a lot having a warm hands and feet in Borovsk.
At the present time I am in Memphis. I again started a new page of my life. Do I need to discribe in details my current status here in burning summer and hear my mother’s complains about snowing in Ural???? Ah?
My guess is my life will be over in some place on the equator.
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