Changes, Forget or Learn

                 Imagine life in a big city, and imagine life in a small village. A person who lives in city requires education whereas a person who lives in village requires some skills. Now imagine life in different countries such as China and the United States, two countries with extremely different traditions. China is the country with ancient cultural sphere that can screed back to 2070 BC, and the United States is the World’s famous melting pot which is a combination of different cultural experiences. Since I came to the United States, I have noticed a change in family activity, family relation and religion in my life. 

          

                Chinese and American lifestyles differ in such way that we can spend our family activity. China is a developing country with one point three billion populations. In my opinion, living in China is easier than in the United States, we have many traditional hobbies like drinking morning tea with family which was one of my frank family activities. Despite the fact that, we can drink morning tea here in the United States, its flavor is totally different. When I was young, my family used to take me to the town and drink morning tea, there are the enjoyable moments when you can actually see many people sitting down, eating, chatting and smiling. On the other hand, the American lifestyle is different because most U.S. cities are large and with worldwide economy, life in city is rushed and unstoppable, family members have less time to meet each other.

  

             Another different issue that has changed is family relations. Back in China, family relationship was an important thing, family members will reunite when we have holidays or celebrations. The elders will sit down in the living room talk to each other about their life experiences. On the other hand, female will cook for dinner and younger people will kick around the village. Unfortunately, everything is different here in the United States. We have few family members which are still in touch, because the United States is a place where there exists a huge diversity of cultures. Thus, American lifestyle is accelerated because family members move around the country and live alone.       

               Religion represents another change in my life. All my family members are Buddhist, as well as me. We pray for our gods and dead family members on specific days. Moreover, my mother used to arrange me to pray in front of an altar which means the place where we pray for our dead family members. However, I haven’t done any Buddhist activities since I moved to the United States because there is no Buddhist statue to pray inside my America home. Nonetheless, there is still a tiny connection to my religion, because my mother will set up for a pray due to New Year’s Day to bless my family members for the upcoming year. Although I no longer follow my religion in the United States, it is still inside my heart. It will not be forgotten.

              At the end, Chinese and American have different life styles, family relationships and religions and those are important elements to me. I’m still a follower in some of the old traditional ways mixed with some American styles. I have to keep the old religion in order to earn experiences from both American and Chinese lifestyle. That is what I should do as a Chinese immigration. That is humankind that lives in mother Earth for our own life and dream.