"Camera is interesting." Kirk thought this way when he viewed the pictures he took while he was an exchange student in America last year. Just like he did, many times before, he sighed and a complicated feeling rose in his mind. A picture of a Caucasian woman with a beautiful smile appeared on the screen, he stopped scrolling, watched the picture. Memories rushed over the dam somewhere in his heart; he let it go, fell into the river of meditation.
Sep. 2007, Rockford, Montgomery, Alabama, USA
The woman on the picture stepped out of her car. Her name is T and she was in her 40s. A kindly smile appeared on her face while she noticed the Chinese boy Kirk was standing with his Local Coordinator. Kirk felt nervous, although he had imaged and drilled this scene of meeting his host family many times in his mind, he still felt that he could not move his legs at all; they must be made by iron. Yet Kirk felt calm when he saw T's smile, a smile with maternity perfectly melted his shell. He was confused for a few seconds; it did not look like a start of an adventure on a new land, but homecoming. He hugged her. A way to express his greetings he had learned only few days ago, after he had arrived at America.
Kirk and T had never met together before. Some one told Kirk this was fate. But Kirk did not care what this was. T and her family hosted Kirk, treated him just as their own child. Every moment Kirk wished that he had learned more English to describe his feeling of gratefulness to T and her family. A family loved Kirk so much was already a gift, however Kirk soon had received another gift when he started to go to American High School.
For Kirk, there was not any lantern that lighted the path of his future to him before. When he was doing homework whole night at China, sometimes he gave himself a little break. He walked cross the empty street; found a little lawn and lied on the grass. He looked at the moon that was watching him all night. He imaged the moon to be anything he could think about; a boat, a hook, a letter "C". He cherished every chance that he had the freedom of imaging. Because he knew, next time when he comes here, he may not come up as many as he could before. He had a dream, a dream of being a good engineer. A good engineering requires the ability of applying knowledge and a great imagination to link theories to the real world. But when Kirk's Chinese physics teacher told him "This is irrelevant of the exams, you should put all of your energy on your exams." when he wanted to discuss some physics phenomenon that he had read from his favorite science fiction books, he knew that he would never be a good engineer, he needed this imagination for his future but he felt his imagination was shrinking. When he looked up at night, the stars flickered at him. Were they laughing at him? Knowledge was close to him, they were printed on the books several inches away from his hand, but they were far away as well, flowing away with his imagination every single minute. He was lost. He tried to scream, to fight. But he gave up, let the unknown force tear his imagination and creativity apart, make him an exam-taking machine. He knew that being a successful engineer was and always would be a fantasy for him.
American High School gave him hope. Students here had the freedom to choose the courses they like, teachers, especially science teachers, don't just cite facts and theories. They explore the beauty of science with the students. His physics teacher Mr. H was always happy to discuss anything relevant to physics with him during class, sometimes he said: "Well, I don't know either, you have to find it out yourself." He encouraged Kirk to do the researches on everything that he was interested. Thus he built a laser for science fair and won honors. He never felt tired when he had to work so hard to put the laser together. His passion and curiosity in physics had never been stimulated like this before. Sometimes, he still spent all night doing his homework just like he did before, but different from China, he felt happy. When he hold the plate given to science fair winner, he knew that he was on the right path of being a good engineer. It was a strange feeling for him, a feeling he had missed for a long time. Was it Happiness? Feeling of Achievement? Confidence? He did not know. The only thing he knew was that, now the path of future had been lighted.
He tried to think what else had changed during his exchange year. The answer was everything.
Nothing big happened between T and Kirk. But he missed her portray when she was doing laundry for him, when she was cooking for him, when she was taking care of him while he was sick. During that year he had realized how numb he was before.
T taught him how to love; T taught him to be grateful; T killed the only-know-how-to-take-test version of him.
Kirk looked at the boy standing beside T in the picture, it was him. "I knew you were confused why she was so good to you. It was love." He whispered. He suddenly realized how much mature he had become. He harvested a heart full of gratefulness and a light lighted his future in the last year. With the love from two families, he will work as hard as he could. Never a time before, had he felt so complete, with the clear road ahead and the readiness of expressing his love to the world, he knew that success in being a good engineer is just around the corner.
"Mom, I love you." He said to the woman in the picture.
Thank you for your time of reading.
Just like he did many times before, he sighed and a complicated feeling rose in his mind.
The woman in the picture stepped out of her car.
Kirk felt nervous, although he had imagined and drilled this scene of meeting his host family many times in his mind, he still felt that he could not move his legs at all; they must be made of iron.
Yet Kirk felt calm when he saw T's smile, a maternal smile that melted his shell.
He was confused for a few seconds; it did not look like a start of an adventure on a new land, but homecoming.
Kirk and T had never met before .
Someone told Kirk this was fate.
A family that loved Kirk so much was already a gift, however Kirk soon had received another gift when he started to go to an American High School.
Knowledge was close to him, it was printed in the books several inches away from his hand, but they were far away as well, flowing away with his imagination every single minute.
He encouraged Kirk to do the research on everything that he was interested in .
Thus he built a laser for the science fair and won honors.
When he held the plate given to the science fair winner, he knew that he was on the right path to becoming a good engineer.
He suddenly realized how much more mature he had become.
With the love from two families, he would work as hard as he could.
Good luck in school!
:)
