A Thousand Word Thursday

     This is a picture of my family and my friends at Universal Studios. I have a lot of stories from before and after they came to visit me. We were very excited about being together, but my parents and I kind of struggled to prepare for this trip. They are very busy and it was hard for them to make the time. But they wanted to visit me because I didn’t get chance to go back to China this year. At the same time, I was busy working on my final project and trying to find a job. I was kind of stressed about their visit from the very beginning.

     When Chinese people come to the U.S., it is very complicated. I helped my parents apply for their visas, completing all of the documentation because of the language barrier. They had to make an appointment in Shanghai for the embassy interview. Fortunately, they passed the interview and received their visas and passports. Then I booked their flight and wrote very specific instructions about how to transfer planes in the airport and how to order food while they were in flight. I wrote the instructions in English and Chinese, in case they needed help. My parents started practicing their English everyday, before they came. I also made a very detailed schedule of the trip.

     After they arrived here, for the first week, everybody was tired. I got up at 7 am to pick them up in the hotel and travel into the city. They wanted to see more of America, but at the same time they were still jet lagged. After dinner, when I took them back to hotel, I started working on my project and looking for job postings.

     The good part about this experience was that everything seemed to work out pretty well. Our schedule changed many times. The car had problems, and the hotel had issues. But always, we were able to find solutions. I think we managed stress and crisis very effectively! Specifically, we felt it is important to accept the things we could not change. We also worked together to solve difficult problems and supported each other. And we looked at challenges as opportunities for growth. What a wonderful experience!