Double-F

Vince Huang

ESLINTG 100 CE

September 29, 2014

Narrative essay - Final draft

Double-F

            Friendship means a powerful support system in China, but it is different in the United States. I will never forget my friends’ support in China, and how their unconditional help has saved me many times. In my mind, American friends’ support is a life assistance, but Chinese friends' support is more like psychological assistance. Now that I have been in the U.S four years, I was still confused about what my American friends’ help were. Fortunately, I have begun to realize the different meaning of friends' help between China and America. American friends’ life assistance is good for each situation, but Chinese friends’ psychological assistance will be forever. Since I came back from China this summer, I have a new understanding of the meaning of friendship.

            I lost my Chinese friends’ supporting when I immigrated to Chicago. My parents always expected me to become independent and successful. It meant I had to work hard with my part-time job and simultaneously study seriously in college. Sometimes, my parents pushed me too hard. I felt confused, and I needed some reasons to remind myself why I should keep going. In China, my Chinese friends would back me up and help to resolve these problems for me. They told me to never give up on my part-time job and education, and they said that all of these difficulties were for my future. I should kept going. After I had some conversations with them, I always felt comfortable. On the contrary, I never got the same save help from my friends in the U.S. Probably, in America, my friends and I had dissimilar culture, so we did not really realize the complexities of each other. For example, when I had trouble with my family, I hoped that I could find some friends to confide my secret, but my American friends did not help at all. Because my American friends and I had a different culture, they would say that this was my family problem, and that they had no reason to get involved. For these reasons, I thought I lost my support in the new country.

            In addition, I had weak school help in the U.S, but I used to have much strong school support from my Chinese friends. In fact, I was becoming a helpless person since I came to Chicago. I was like a homeless man who lost his life direction. For instance, my American friends were usually independent. They all focused on their own studying, and never tried to help each other. Once, I studied with my American friend in the library after school. Even though my American friend and I were doing on the same project, we worked separately. I asked him for help when I had a question, but he rejected me. He said he was busy. Another example is when I had some question about the homework on blackboard, so I sent an e-mail to my American friend for help. Unfortunately, he did not help and said everything’s on blackboard. I could check my entire problems on it. These terrible experiences made me think that I had fewer friends’ support in the U.S.

            Furthermore, my Chinese friends will be there for me forever. My friends’ support has came back since I went back to my hometown, Jiangmen this summer. I reunited with my Chinese friends who were my middle school classmates. I shared all my experiences with them about how helpless I was feeling living in the U.S. They tried to comfort me, and my Chinese friends and I had some unforgettable chats. I felt much better after I had face-to-face conversations with them. I seemed that I never had this contented feeling since I immigrated to the U.S. In China, I had all my Chinese friends who realized me for who I am, but not in the U.S. For example, even if my Chinese friends and I had incomplete meeting in three and half years, we still had many meaningful conversations. Our past unforgettable memories and experiences came back quickly. At the moment, all of these things became my life support, even though I thought I separated my Chinese friends yesterday. I realized that my Chinese friends’ support would be with me forever.

            I will be unafraid to face difficulty because I have already had my friends’ support in my heart. My Chinese friends are like my family, and I am very thankful to them. Because of their powerful psychological assistance, I have become more self-confident. In my future, if I graduate from a university, I will say that this is all because of my Chinese friends. It will give me a hand forever, and it is priceless. For these reasons, I created a unique name for this irreplaceable relationship. It is called: “double F” - Friendship Forever.