Hi! This is the front entrance of a sporting goods shop in San Francisco. I'm the guy standing second from the left, and the four girls in the photo with me are summer school students from Taiwan. They took the weekend to go around window shopping, and by coincidence came into the store where I was working. Meeting four Chinese girls at one time was a pretty big event for me.
I immigrated to the US with my family ten years ago, when I was still in grade school. I am living in a small town in Oregon State called Klamath Falls. The life here is quiet, probably about the same as any other small American town. I live the same sort of lifestyle as other Americans. But sometimes I feel a little bit of regret. It is really hard to get involved in Chinese things.
For a long time, I have heard that there are about 50 Chinese people in this small town, but I really have no idea where they actually are. Do they have contact with one another? Or do they, like myself, really want to know what the other Chinese people here are doing? Seeing a Chinese person is like seeing a deer on the road.
In America, if you want to seek out Chinese culture, the only place to go is San Francisco which is where I go for the summers. I usually go to summer school there and work part time. Here, although there are many second-and third-generation Chinese immigrants, there are also a lot of new immigrants who have moved over from Taiwan. When I unexpectedly made four Chinese friends, I counted myself really lucky. But an interesting misunderstanding happened between the girls and me, which I would like to rectify.
The incident started when they asked me to take a picture with them at the store, and asked me if we could be friends with each other. I more than willingly accepted their friendship, and we exchanged our San Francisco addresses. A few days later I got this picture accompanying a letter inviting me to Disneyland with them. I wrote back in response that I wasn't able to make it because of work. But my letter didn't arrive at their address, because it was missing a Zip Code number. It was sent back to me about a week later. Being a nice guy, I tried to contact them and clarify that I did reply to their nice deed. Of course, I wasn't able to find them. Until this day, I have still been unable to contact them.
Just when I could think of nothing else to do, I saw Sinorama's announcement soliciting articles from its readers, and I had a brilliant idea. I thought sending this picture to your magazine in Taiwan where they live would really surprise them, and clarify our misunderstanding. I know that my story is nothing out of the ordinary, but maybe it can represent the feelings of many second-generation Chinese like me in new lands, who still long to seek out their Chinese roots.
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Hello, my four friends from Taiwan! Do you still remember me? I'm Alex from San Francisco. If you see this picture, hurry up and drop me a line.