The Special Place

      There are many types of festivals around the world, and people have many ways to celebrate their traditions. I lived in Hong Kong for nineteen years before coming to Chicago. I think my city is absolutely different than other cities, because it is a multicultural city. Many people come from different countries. Therefore, Hong Kong has many different festivals. Since Hong Kong was a colony of the United Kingdom, people would celebrate western and Chinese traditional festivals. In Hong Kong, people love to celebrate those festivals, because they have turn off when those festivals are coming soon. I suppose that Chicago has different festivals like Hong Kong, but when I came here, I felt disappointed because I realised that Chicago only celebrated western festivals, like Thanksgiving Day and Christmas, without any Chinese Festivals. Even though there is a Chinese New Year parade and Chinese restaurant, I still felt homesick when I think about my family and friends.

        When I lived in Hong Kong, I used to celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year with my family. During Chinese Lunar New Year, people can have a lot of special events to participate in, like watching dragon dance and shopping in Lunar New Year Fair. Because they think watching dragon dance with their family can bring them luck. However, people in the United States don’t celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year. I can understand because this is not their tradition. Thus, the familiar festival here that I can celebrate is Christmas. In Hong Kong, I used to celebrate Christmas with my friends. My favourite special event during Christmas is called “Secret Santa” because I used to get a present from my friends, and I also need to prepare one present for my friend too. I love this event because I really enjoy spending my time with my friends. Through this special event, I can know more about their behaviour. When I came here, I felt lost because I couldn’t share my happiness with my family or friends. Although I have friends here, I feel so difficult to express myself to them because both of us are not good at using English.

         In addition, I used to be a foodie, but not anymore. Hong Kong has many delicious dishes from different countries. During Christmas, people will have some western food for dinner, such as turkey, steak and pizza. I really enjoy having these delicious meals, especially pizza because I love the stringy cheese on pizza. Although I love eating western food, I love having Chinese food more than western food because I think Chinese food is more diversified. During Lunar New Year, people will eat some dishes with great meaning, like eating sweet round dumplings which mean “getting together” and they believe having those dishes can bring us luck. Even though Chicago has Chinese restaurants, the cost is too expensive. Sometimes, I haven’t been able to enjoy my meal in Chicago, because the waiter in restaurants had a bad attitude and I still need to pay gratuity for them.

        Now that, I have left my home country, the biggest part that made me feel homesick that is I can’t celebrate those festivals with my family and friends. In Hong Kong, I used to celebrate Lunar New Year with my family. I think Lunar New Year is similar to Thanksgiving Day because on both festivals people would have dinner with their family, the different part is parents will give red envelope of money to their children in Lunar New Year. Thus, this is my favourite part on Lunar New Year because I can receive money from my parents and buy anything that I want. Then, I will celebrate Christmas with my friends in Hong Kong. We would have a party and each one will bring their own food during the party. However, I can’t enjoy my holiday because I realised that Americans prefer staying at home during holiday. This past Christmas I felt so bored, because many stores aren’t open during the holiday and I realised that I had nowhere to go, so I just stayed at home.

        Since I left Hong Kong and moved to Chicago, I got used to being alone. I don’t celebrate festivals anymore. Even though Chicago still has festivals that I can celebrate, I prefer staying at home. I have lived in Chicago about six months, but I can’t enjoy my life here. I think I still need more time run on to adapt myself to living in this country, this is a big challenge for me because many things are different from my place, such as weather, behaviour and language, especially living without my family.