personal statement
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I have never arrived at the borders between countries, yet, somehow, I have been there. I heard the clashes between two different cultures, I smelt the smoke, I witnessed them blend and finally integrate. I know I was there.
I was almost there when I first moved to Fukuoka, Japan, where my father worked, at the age of five. When I accidentally broke the silence on a bus, my mother scolded me: "Sh! Japanese talk gently, so should you, otherwise, they will think you rude." Puzzled and astonished, I looked around, listening carefully: no conversations could be eavesdropped! That was the first time the difference of this new world lay clearly before me. From a language I know not to omnipresent orderliness, everything was different. With a five-year-old's susceptibility, I soon accepted every single new element, secretly observed and imitated how Japanese behaved, and familiarized myself with the new language under constant exposures to Japanese cartoons. By the time I enrolled in Ozasa Primary School half and a year later, I spoke Japanese like a native, without a trace of an accent. Assimilation was fast and I soon resembled Japanese in every way except for my Chinese name. Origami, flower arranging, and nihonnbuyou (a classical Japanese dance) all brought me a sense of delicacy and tenderness. Except at home, where I spoke and studied Chinese and remembered Chinese tradition through my parents, Japanese culture always wielded its power on me.
Thus when I was sent back to Dalian, my hometown, to continue my Grade Four's study, I was already a Japanese girl. A familiar yet strange world meant a new adjustment, and the mark of Japanese culture left on me contradicted Chinese culture. Everyone talked loud, which annoyed me, yet if I talked in a lower voice, a good manner in Japan, no one could even hear me! Whenever I said "xie xie (thank you)" on trivial matters, for example, to cashiers, as I have been taught to do in Japan, people were surprised and eyed me differently. I refused to blend in at first, yet I had to. I was ten then, possessed a better judgment and less impressionable to new things than when I was five, so I changed with discernment. I started to talk louder to be heard; I became more enthusiastic rather than reserved. But, I still thanked others for however small a business; I still never sat on the seats for elders on buses; I still was more serious and punctual. Those five years spent in Japan seems short, yet its influence on me was profound and far-reaching. I blended in, yet I preserved my particular attitudes and habits. As I advanced to junior high, I no longer repelled giving treats to each other though I preferred going Dutch as with my Japanese friends. Every summer when I am in Japan for vacation, I act more like a Japanese, and less when I return home. Just as the saying goes: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." I now find each culture special, charming, and respectable, as any other cultures in this world.
Yes, I have been there, I have strongly felt how cultures meet and blend, and I still expect to be somewhere else, to feel, to learn, and to enjoy.
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really need overall advice and opinions!
I really want to know whether the topic works!
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I have never arrived at the borders between countries, yet, somehow, I have been there. I heard the clashes between two different cultures, I smelt the smoke, I witnessed them blend and finally integrate. I know I was there.
I was almost there when I first moved to Fukuoka, Japan, where my father worked, at the age of five. When I accidentally broke the silence on a bus, my mother scolded me: "Sh! Japanese talk gently, so should you, otherwise, they will think you rude." Puzzled and astonished, I looked around, listening carefully: no conversations could be eavesdropped! That was the first time the difference of this new world lay clearly before me. From a language I know not to omnipresent orderliness, everything was different. With a five-year-old's susceptibility, I soon accepted every single new element, secretly observed and imitated how Japanese behaved, and familiarized myself with the new language under constant exposures to Japanese cartoons. By the time I enrolled in Ozasa Primary School half and a year later, I spoke Japanese like a native, without a trace of an accent. Assimilation was fast and I soon resembled Japanese in every way except for my Chinese name. Origami, flower arranging, and nihonnbuyou (a classical Japanese dance) all brought me a sense of delicacy and tenderness. Except at home, where I spoke and studied Chinese and remembered Chinese tradition through my parents, Japanese culture always wielded its power on me.
Thus when I was sent back to Dalian, my hometown, to continue my Grade Four's study, I was already a Japanese girl. A familiar yet strange world meant a new adjustment, and the mark of Japanese culture left on me contradicted Chinese culture. Everyone talked loud, which annoyed me, yet if I talked in a lower voice, a good manner in Japan, no one could even hear me! Whenever I said "xie xie (thank you)" on trivial matters, for example, to cashiers, as I have been taught to do in Japan, people were surprised and eyed me differently. I refused to blend in at first, yet I had to. I was ten then, possessed a better judgment and less impressionable to new things than when I was five, so I changed with discernment. I started to talk louder to be heard; I became more enthusiastic rather than reserved. But, I still thanked others for however small a business; I still never sat on the seats for elders on buses; I still was more serious and punctual. Those five years spent in Japan seems short, yet its influence on me was profound and far-reaching. I blended in, yet I preserved my particular attitudes and habits. As I advanced to junior high, I no longer repelled giving treats to each other though I preferred going Dutch as with my Japanese friends. Every summer when I am in Japan for vacation, I act more like a Japanese, and less when I return home. Just as the saying goes: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." I now find each culture special, charming, and respectable, as any other cultures in this world.
Yes, I have been there, I have strongly felt how cultures meet and blend, and I still expect to be somewhere else, to feel, to learn, and to enjoy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------
really need overall advice and opinions!
I really want to know whether the topic works!
