My new apartment-mate moved in last month, a Chinese graduate student from Carnegie Mellon. I was excited to find a lively girl, eager to get to know me and my other apartment-mate, and quite chatty. She was also interning in NYC for the summer, and brought along another friend from Carnegie Mellon who lives in a building next door to ours. As we struck up a conversation, I found out that my apartment-mate’s friend and I intern at the same company! We quickly exchanged phone numbers with the promise to meet up for a coffee date. Later, when my new apartment-mate and her friend went out for dinner, they promised to bring home some “zong zi 粽子,” the sticky rice packets wrapped in bamboo leaves, since it was Duanwu Festival (aka “The Dragon Boat Festival”). After they left, I went to buy groceries, humming to myself as I walked along the aisles of Morton Williams, picking up yogurt and sliced pepper steak. As I walked up and down the aisles picking out my groceries, I realized that I was in an exceptionally good mood—I had just made two new friends, after all. There was something beyond the friendship though, something much more subtle: the feeling of home. Here we were, four girls—three graduate students from China, one undergraduate from New Jersey—chatting in Chinese about our internships, our schools, and our hometowns. We were all away from home, in a new city, seeking out new career opportunities and challenges, but with a common heritage, a common language, and a common love of zong zi bringing us together. Perhaps one of the best parts of being Chinese-American in America is the warm feeling of home whenever I meet another Chinese person—inevitably, the food, the language, and the cultural traditions remind me of my family no matter how far I may be from home in seeking my dreams.
上个月我新的舍友搬进来了，她是一个 卡内基梅隆大学的研究生。我很高兴地发现她是一个充满活力的女孩，对我和我的另一个舍友很热情，而且相当健谈。她也是来纽约作夏天实习生的。另外她还带来了一个住在我们公寓大楼隔壁一栋楼的卡内基 梅隆的朋友。在我们聊天的时候，我发现了我新同屋的朋友和我在同一家公司实习！我们马上交换了电话号码，并约定不久会去一起喝咖啡。之后，当我新同屋和她的朋友出去吃晚饭的时候，她们告诉我，因为是端午节，他们会带一些粽子回来。她们走了以后，我去Morton Williams超市买点东西，一边哼着曲调一边拿酸奶和切片胡椒牛排。在超市内走来走去挑选杂货，我意识到我的心情非常好：我毕竟刚刚交了两个新朋友！但是并不只是我们的友谊让我很高兴，而是一种更加微妙的感觉：家感。我们四个女生（三个从中国来的研究生，一个从新泽西来的本科生）用中文谈谈我们的实习，大学，和老家。我们都是远离家乡，在一个新的城市寻求新的职业机会和挑战。但是我们都有共同的传统，共同的语言，再加上对粽子的共同喜爱把我们紧紧的联系在一起。可能作为华裔在美国最好的感觉是当我跟另外一个华裔见面时所体会到的家庭温暖的感觉。不管离家多远，每当我遇到另一位中国人时，食物，语言和文化传统都不可避免地让我想到我的家乡。