Being an Immigrant

I’m an immigrant. Next week I go apply for residency. Being from America, and more specifically, Texas, I am beyond curious to see how this goes. It’s no secret that America has failed in being the beacon on the hill for other countries. Now, our immigration process has been hijacked, lied about, politicized, and in the most shameful manner, kidnapped immigrant children. I’m hoping China will getting immigration bragging rights over America on this one. Honestly, how much worse could they really be? We in America had government sanctioned kidnappings and DeSantis and Abbott are guilty of trafficking people over state lines. It makes me grateful I am not living there anymore.

One thing I’m learning is just how insanely stupid you feel when you can’t speak the language. I know that I’m an intelligent person. I have the grades, education, and work history to prove this. However, here, none of those things are proof of anything if no one here can speak the language they were documented in. So, I’m relegated to hoping to catch a word here or there to start building on, and relying on my son-in-law and daughter to translate for me. It’s hard on the self-esteem, I can tell you that.

I’m a blonde and so far, I’m the only one I’ve seen since I got here. I stick out like a sore thumb. I’m 5’4″, which is average-to-short in America. However here in China, I’m tall. I tower over A LOT of men and women. So, everyone seems to notice me wherever I go, and a surprisingly large number of people have stopped to take my picture. I feel like a person who is famous for absolutely nothing, like a Kardashian, or a Trump kid.

I had a teacher in high school once accuse me of being a communist and socialist at heart. I wonder when wanting everyone to benefit from our taxes instead of just the rich and powerful become such a bad thing? I’m a Christian here too. There are churches here. Everyone is making enough money to live. I have not seen a single homeless person. There is socialized medical care, so anyone can afford to see a doctor or a dentist. I just don’t get how we were convinced that some of us don’t deserve anything at all. I’m glad I never fell for that.

All in all, I’m really happy with my move. I’ll be going to college in March to learn Chinese. Pray for me!! LOL. This is both a hard and easy language to learn, and it is not Latin based, so I have to learn it from scratch.

I’ll talk to you again soon.

Love from China, Bird