Xingdi (Cindy) Zhou
I arrived in Seattle in late 2016 but due to extensive international travel in 2017, I only started my full-time living experience in the US from March 2018. Covid wiped out two years of all our lives so now I am shocked to realize that my four-year anniversary of living in America is coming up.
Four years is the typical length of time to pursue an undergraduate degree. My time in Seattle reminds me of my university days. Both times I left my old life and came to a new, unknown environment. I felt lonely when I first went to Wuhan (now everybody knows that city) for my university education. I arrived at the dormitory so early that I had to spend the first night by myself in the 6-person room. Loneliness gnawed at my heart. I was so homesick that I decided to write a letter to my parents (this was in the days before email). I went to the stationery shop to buy letter paper, envelope and glue. The saleswoman behind the counter (nothing was self-service in China back then) only brought out the first two items but failed to bring the glue. I kept repeating the word for glue while she was losing her patience with me. I suddenly realized that I was using a word for glue from my village dialect which I thought was Mandarin (“pu3 tong1 hua4”). Coming from the countryside, I did not speak proper Mandarin at that time, and I embarrassed myself on day one of my four years’ life at Wuhan University. Here in America, my English is by no means that of a native speaker, but I am no longer embarrassed if my wording or pronunciation is not exactly right.
In Seattle the coolness or difficulty of making friends, called the “Seattle Freeze”, was the first negative issue I encountered. It made me wonder whether leaving China in my middle age was a clever idea. However, just like the bad start of my university days things could only get better – right? And that is true of my experience in Seattle. I have grown fond of my new home over the years. Four years ago, I authored a piece about the Seattle Freeze which was my first article posted to LinkedIn. Now coming to the end of the fourth year, I have penned this article, like a dissertation written in my senior year of university, I think it is an appropriate time for me to offer some observations of living in the US (specifically Seattle) and outline the things I like about living in America and also the negative.
What I like (in no particular order)
National parks and the great outdoors, trails
Food, especially quality seafood, and the varieties of ingredients – everyone has the potential to be a good chef.
Clear skies
Innovation, talent, and diversity
Never need to think that I am too old to change my career - it would be hard for me to imagine to switch career track in China.
Work ethics
Public library system
Quiet surroundings – I do not miss the noisy cosmopolitan atmosphere in Shanghai at all.
Not so much peer pressure and easier to focus on my personal and internal needs. I feel freer while living here.
What I do not like
Guns
Homelessness
People seem to lack of interest in what happens in the rest of the world and take for granted about what they have.
Ridiculous Healthcare system – expensive, not transparent billing systems
Every service requires appointment-making
Pressure to tip 20% at restaurants because the staff are so poorly paid
Utilities are extremely expensive – water, sewage water, electricity, phone bills, internet, and cable.
Divided public media opinions – my husband chooses to pay a higher cable fee to access to BBC because he cannot stand the politics of the media in the US
Call Centers – it takes forever to talk to a human and rarely do I receive a satisfactory answer to my questions. It is obvious that the training of call center staff is inadequate.
Wealth Management Systems - The system around money is just too complicated – I had assumed this was only an issue for immigrants, but I am surprised to learn how little everyday American people know about it, whether it is related to tax, investment, trusts, insurance, etc.
Even though my “negative list” may be longer than my favorites list, I embrace my life in this country. It is a beautiful nation (this is how we call America in Chinese “mei3 guo2”), also creative, entrepreneurial, and full of opportunities.