Estelle’s Tale
(in her own words)

September 27, 2010                                                           Next

I have already been in the St. John's two weeks, and I think I am to get with here. A few days before, Hurricane Igor came by here. My living building' roof is gone along with power, internet, telephone, cable and hot water. I lived in the dark some days. However, I think it is a really great experience in my life. In fact, you cannot imagine how shocked I was when I saw my living building' roof lying on the grass in front of my door.

Other time without rain and hurricane, the city is so beautiful that I cannot believe the view in my eyes in true. It is really perfect because dream comes true finally. I will send you some pictures I took here including my living place and school.

Local people are very nice and kind. I always miss my road unfortunately, while people in sidewalk give me a lot of help sometimes. There are a lot of Chinese here. Everywhere is Chinese. I realized the huge amount of Chinese now.

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October 10, 2010                                    Previous Entry    Next

I went to a study tour in my faculty. Hurricane is gone, and everything is fine now. I am getting used to everything here step by step. Like you said, everything here is wealth for my life. I will move out to another place in a couple days.

Every day, I get up early for bus, because my place is far away from the school. I have class on every morning, and the courses are a little different from China, at least they are taught in English. Food is totally different from China. I cannot imagine there is so much food is fried. The most unbelievable thing is that there are so many Chinese here. Really very many, numerous Chinese. Sometimes I still feel I was in China, due to a lot of Chinese sounding in my ears. I think there are a lot of habits I do not know, for instance, the Thanksgiving Day. I do not know what I should do on Thanksgiving Day.

I find I fall in love with Cinnamon Roll. It is fantastic. Really thanks for everyone helped me going through the first tough time. I am so grateful their help. Monday will be the Thanksgiving Day [in Canada].

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October 11, 2010                                    Previous Entry    Next

The weather is better now, except a bit colder than Wuxi now.
 
There a class called Business development, and the instructor is always having a lot of examples in the class, which I cannot catch well due to knowing nothing about the local culture. I think this a challenge for me, because I need to fight the culture difference between the Oriental and Western. I find I like Tim Hortons now, especially the snacks in there. Actually, I just know 5 Chinese people here. I am trying my best to put myself into an English speaking environment.
 
Today is Thanksgiving Day, and Elizabeth [Ruth’s note: Elizabeth is my niece and she is also a student at Memorial University] invites me to have a potluck dinner at her place. I am so grateful her kind and welcome. I cook an onion dish, while I am not good at cook. I think I will have a feast, too.

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October 14, 2010                                    Previous Entry    Next

The Thanksgiving is perfect, and I had a great dinner and talking with Elizabeth and her friends. I am so happy to meet with Elizabeth finally, because we always lost the chance to meet each other before. The dishes were delicious, and Jenn, Elizabeth's friend, thought my onion dish was yummy. 
 
I will send you email and pictures often, and I will try my best to complete the study here.

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January 3, 2011                                     Previous Entry

I am good. I spent a lot of time having rest in this holiday, especially on sleeping and eating. I heard that Wuxi has a terrible winter this year.
 
I will meet Elizabeth the day after tomorrow, and we will have fun in her house. Elizabeth is my good friend, and I like to spend time with her, though, we can not meet together very often.

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