Yu Seo Young/First draft of 3 assignment/Thursday 1pm-3pm

 

 

 

When I am asked to tell about my major, which is Chinese Literature, people would react like, "What? Chinese? The language of the emerging country and the most powerful country-to-be? You must speak Chinese so well! Have you ever studied in China?" I do not know why this leads to my Chinese ability. However, since I grew up in China, spent one of the most important periods in my life – puberty – and went to Chinese school with local students, no doubt I have a special thing for the huge land of China. I have witnessed its economic growth and cultural change with my very own eyes. Most especially Tianjin City, one of the municipalities directly under the central government, is my favorite city among all the cities that I visited or stayed. Since my mother works in a university in Tianjin, we used to live in the campus. It might sound strange to foreigners, but there are teacher's villages and Foreign Expert Buildings, etc. You may consider it as a neighborhood, it is the byproduct of socialism from a few decades ago.

 

           When you mention this city, my eyes would sparkle, and you would notice my deep affection for it by the way I talk. I went to the kindergarten sister school of the university for several months when I was five years old, and I also went to the attached middle school and high school until I left Tianjin for the States for the exchange program. However, my mother still works in Tianjin and I often visit the city when I have time. I also spend my year-gap in Tianjin helping my mother take care of our family business and all. My favorite place of the city would be the lake inside the university; Northern Chinese universities usually have lakes. But this certain lake is special for me. Local students ride bikes inside the campus, and you would often see some guys carrying girls at their backs. Sometimes, couples are holding hands when they ride bikes of their own. Those scene looks very interesting to people who first visit Chinese universities. I always see these around the corner of my favorite lake.

           I needed to pass the lake when I went to school in the morning and when I came home at night. In the morning, the sun beautifully shone on the surface of the calm lake, and I loved the way it sparkled. I was amazed at how diligent Chinese students were nearby the lake. They read aloud their texts or school choir practice. Some were running around the lake, too. It was around 7am in the morning. And after a few months, I got to recognize some people, and it was my own game to make stories about them, but of course I kept it to myself. These stories took away my boredom and made me enjoy watching the lake and the people around it all the more. At night, when I took a walk after dinner with my mother, we used to see many couples kissing and hugging on the bench by the lake. There were only few lights around the lake and only the moon shone on the lake, and tall trees would cover their presence. "Chinese students seem to be more expressive at public than Korean kids", my mother used to say, and these facts were pointed at many Chinese related journals afterwards. The lake must have heard tons of secrets and witnessed innumerable promises of love. The lake kept my secret as well.

           When I started to go to local Chinese school, I was at the age of 11, I could not speak any Chinese except some simple sentences like, "Ni hao(Hello)", or "Wo jiao Yu Shuying (My name is Yu Seo Young). But I needed to be stuck in school from 7:40am to 4:50pm, and my mother was almost the only person that I communicated in Korean. I was lonely apparently, and I often thought of my dear father who passed away when I was five. I wrote countless letters to him and made some origami with the letters and threw them in the lake. Letters floated away in slow motion, and I believed they would reach the heaven and be delivered straight to my father. It was as if the lake had been my gateway to send my messages to heaven.  I wrote all of my concerns, doubts and prayers. I would not forget how I would often write "I miss you, Dad."  Sometimes a fish would take the letters away, and I would think they would deliver them to my father. An 11-year-old girl was not that naïve to believe the presence of Santa, but she would love to believe there is heaven and God took dad to heaven so that he can become an angel who protects his precious wife and daughter through trials and hardships. There were times I would whisper to the lake, and talk to the fish inside the lake. I would tell the fish some things I had never said to anyone before. Nonetheless, I never told someone about this because I was afraid to be told insane or judged by my thoughts.

           The lake was home to different kinds of fish, and I loved to play with them. There were many fish with rainbow colors and size vary from finger-size to my forearm. I saw one special fish in the lake, too. It was a forearm-size gold fish. It made the lake more attractive and captivating. I wished for good luck whenever seeing it. I went on small picnics to the lake with my dearest Japanese friend as well. We would sit there and feed the fish and stare at them for hours; sometimes, we would carry her on my bike and went everywhere in the campus and end up at the lake near our apartments.

           The lake is full of precious memories and it has always been a good friend of mine since I was a kid. Whenever I get too tired or sad, I miss being around it and wish to take a long walk along it. Every time I go back to Tianjin to spend holiday with my mother, we always take a walk to the lake and spend time together. I miss the sunshine, the moonlight, the fish, the stories untold, the secrets forever kept, and the whispering of trees and winds. Someday I know I would take my beloved there with me. We will make more memories together in the most favorite place I have in China for there is no other place like this in my heart.