The first day in America

Farewell to China

September 9 (Tuesday)

The flight was scheduled for 12:55. We did some last-minute packing in the morning and made a few calls to family and friends before leaving. We arrived at the airport at the scheduled time of 9:45, and Tang was already there. His wife is not very tall and looks quite kind. We checked in smoothly and quickly, and there was no excess baggage. Later, we saw that others had brought much more than we did, and only then did we realize we were too honest. After checking in our luggage, we came out and chatted with our family members before saying goodbye quickly. Xia was still in a good mood at this time.

The security check inside was also quick. We arrived at the waiting area before 10 o'clock and regretted coming in too early. At this time, I remembered that I forgot to give my ID card to Xia. The flight to Shanghai was around 3 PM, and we would take off again from Shanghai after 4 PM. It was the same plane, but we had to check in again. Life on the plane was quite monotonous; the projection screen was hard to see, and the movie was about the government's victory over SARS. The view outside was beautiful with the sky and clouds, but we couldn't see the vast Pacific Ocean, as it was all covered by clouds. In the evening, I talked to Tang about Christianity. He was very interested, but mainly from a philosophical perspective, and there was still a long way to go for him to believe. It's hard for academics, especially philosophers, to believe.

Arriving in San Francisco

Highways and Bridges in San Francisco

It takes nearly an hour to drive from the airport to GTU. The first thing that catches the eye is the bare mountains and the gray sky, making one think that America is just like this, with plenty of rugged mountains and wilderness. Their roads are very wide, and the driving is smooth, with basically no traffic jams. There is also a large bridge to cross, which is quite long, taking about 10 minutes to drive across. Only when passing through downtown San Francisco do you see some high-rise buildings, showing some signs of a big city, but not too many, lacking the grandeur of Shanghai. What I saw in Berkeley were just independent houses, with few pedestrians on the streets, and of course, fewer vehicles than in Beijing, with bicycles being even rarer, only a few riders were seen. Our accommodation is on a small hillside. When we unloaded our luggage from the car, Tang suddenly exclaimed that his plastic bag containing his passport was missing. He searched his whole body but couldn't find it, and everyone felt it was a bit serious. We decided to put down our luggage first; we were on the 3rd floor. Each person had a room, and there was one room between me and him; he was in 316, and I was in 314. The building door and the elevator door both have locks and require a key to open.

They do not have walls, only this way to ensure safety. Afterwards, Judith went to the office to call the airport to report the loss, calling many departments, but nothing was found, and we could only wait for a response. Later, we drove back to the airport, trying to look for it on the luggage cart; he remembered he had left it on the cart. But after searching almost all the carts in the parking lot, we still couldn't find it, and even went to the information desk, but there was no result. During this search, we also took a hurried look at San Francisco. I was puzzled why the car did not take the original route when crossing the bridge; there were only one-way vehicles on the bridge. They told me that the bridge is actually double-decked, with cars heading to Berkeley on the lower level and those going to the airport on the upper level. Their design is really clever; no wonder there are no traffic jams.

Dormitories, Cafeterias, and Libraries in America

When we returned to the dormitory, it was just mealtime. The cafeteria is downstairs and is a buffet. We just need to check our names to have a meal, no cash is needed, as the meal costs are covered by the university. The variety of food is quite similar, and there is a full range of fruits and drinks. During the meal, Jerrold introduced us to an American named John, who was very enthusiastic and helpful. Later, we also met a Korean priest named Father Zhu, and the Filipino cafeteria manager curiously asked a lot of questions. After dinner, John took us to the library, which is on the other side of the hill we are on, a two-story building built against the mountain, with the second floor facing the street. He demonstrated how to use the computer to check the catalog, and then personally took us to browse through the entire library's books according to the arrangement on the shelves, giving us a general idea of the library. Afterwards, we started using the library's computers, and unexpectedly, my 263 email opened here, displaying the Chinese characters, but I could only reply in English.

The feeling at that moment was really great; I truly experienced that distance is not a barrier, and my hometown is not far away.

I wrote an English letter to Xia.

In the evening, I prayed for Tang's lost passport.

Today was particularly long, and I experienced a lot. At night, I couldn't sleep no matter what, thinking about many things, and I had no sleepiness at all. I later silently prayed in my heart, and finally fell asleep. It was about 3 o'clock at that time.

In silence, I finally fell asleep. It was around 3 o'clock at that time.