At that time Culture revolution took place in China, and that's when all the schools got shut down. (I never understand why some people got so upset about it, I mean no more school? What's there to complain about?) Well among all these people who got upset, my dad was one of them. He basically self taught himself all the high school materials. There were still a few opening for scholars to go on to university however it was very difficult since most of the schools had been shut down. After learning most of the materials needed for that university entrance test, my dad went and took the test. To make a long story short, my dad got accepted into a very good university in Shanghai.
We were all happy for him, since we all knew this was the best chance for us to get ahead in life. However a problem also arose, my dad would have to go and study in Shanghai which is two hours away by train. I can still remember how my mother and I used to go to the train station every friday night and pick up my dad. I used to climb on this lightpost so I can see my dad as he walked out of the train station. "Oh here he comes, mom." I usualy get all excited, since my dad would usually bring me gifts. So on weekends my family would be together again, but of course my dad would go back to Shanghai on Mondays.
I lived in "Gold Mountain" till I was seven then I moved with my parents to Shanghai. What a difference, Shanghai is the biggest city in China right now, even though at the time it wasn't as "fancy" as it is now, but it was still very much different from "Gold Mountain". Not only it was very crowded it was also very busy. (Like New York City). It took me a while to get used to my new surroundings but once I did I really liked it.
My grandparents (my dad's side) had always lived in Shanghai, they have this big house. I started to live with both my parents and grandparents. My grandparents loved me very much. They usually try to spoil me, I don't blame them, I was the only grandson they had at the time.
I went to grand one in Shanghai and started to make new friends. Life was pretty good, however what I didn't know was my life was about to change in a big way.
"I am going to America." my dad said one day. What?@! The news came so sudden that I was in a total state of shock. I mean we had always talked about going to a foreign country but I did not expected to be this soon. The fact was my dad got accepted to this university in America and he was thinking to going there in pursuit of a better education. I was only nine years old at the time so I did not know much. So I did not think too much about it, all I remember was how excited I was going to the internatinoal airport in Shanghai. I thought it was really cool. What I did not know was this would be the turning point of my life.
I remember of getting phone calls from my dad once in a while and letters too. Sometimes I even get toys either sent to me or brought by one of my dad's friends who came back from America. They are really cool, I always loved my toy very much and usually I keep them neatly in my toy box. At the time I already have a lot of friends, mostly from school. I did what a normal kid would, played with marbles, ping pong and cards. I always had an idea of what my dad was like, but I was little so I never really missed him too much.
By the time I was ten, another milestone in my life took place, that's when my mother also went to America and lived with my dad. I could remember how I was kinda sad, since I began to understand what this really means. I would have to live without both of my parents. Lucky I had my grandparents to take care of me. And take care of they did. I always had a very close relationship with my grandparents. As I begin to grow older my grandparents told me that one day I would reunite with my parents in America. I have always thought of America as a fun place, at least from what I saw on TV.
The process of me going to America wasn't as easy as I thought would be. Apparently it was very difficult for me to get my visa, therefore my parents had no choice but to immigrant to Canada. It was easiler for me to immigrant to Canada at the time. At the same time I was having lots of fun with my classmates in Shanghai. Since I usually get alot of cool toys from my parents I had a lots of friends, they all enjoyed playing with my "American" toys. I was a pretty popular guy =)
The day finally came, my visa had finally gone through. It was a long process, I even had to go to Peking with my Aunt to get a physical. Of course my aunt got rewarded for her effort as she was given the permission of going to Canada with me. Her husband already went to America a few years back, so she was very happy since it was a very difficult process for someone to go to a foreign country. On the plane to Canada, my aunt cried for hours. I guess I could understand her pain as she had to leave behind her son (my cousin. We stopped in Japan to get a refill and off to Canada we go.
Our airplane landed in Toronto's international airport. It was at night, so I got a pretty good view of Toronto's night-lites. It was a big city just like Shanghai, the biggest difference I saw from my "plane view" was the amount of cars it had. There are lots of highways that zig zags in and out of the city. After the plane landed, my aunt and I started to walk towards the main gate. I asked myself whether or not I will still recognize my parents. It's time for me to find that out as I walked outside the main gate. There were at least a few hundred people standing there waiting for their relatives or friends to walk out. I can just see the excitement on their faces, after all most of them were waiting for their family members to be united with. I looked through the crowd of people and suddenly I heard "Zhou Yi, Zhou Yi" (my Chinese name). My eyes followed the sound and saw it was my mother. My mom and I had only been separated for a few years so she did not change too much, even though she did have some make up on. Then I saw my dad standing next to her with a smile on his face. They ran towards me and my mom took my hand. I got a warm feeling. I do have to say I had doubts before, I mean how would I react seeing my parents again, will I be as close to them as I was back in China? But at that moment looking at my mom's face I knew everything would be okay.
You would never guess what the first question I asked my dad was. "Where is your car dad?" He.. he.. as you can see just like any tweleve years old boy I was very interesting in cars. So my dad took me to his car as four of us walked towards the parking lot with our louage. My dad started to drive as we were headed out of the airport. There were cars everywhere I looked and street lights made the city look very bright. As we speeded down the highway, my mom said "We actually live in Montreal, which is another big city, it's five hours away from here, we will sleep in a hotel tonight and go back home tomorrow." Of course I was too busy looking outside of the window I did not pay any attention to my mom. Before going back to the hotel we stopped at a friend house. I found out latter on that my parents were good friends with them in America and they moved to Canada as well. They were really nice to us, and gave us Coca-cola to drink. I was all excited and said "Wow, the real thing." We had Coca-cola in Shanghai as well but most of them are fakes, they are all made in China and tasted horrible. I was so happy to see the "real thing" I drank four of them. My parents just looked at me and laughed.
Latter on that night we went back to our hotel. All of a suddenly my dad said "Hey this is not our louage." Apparently we have taken the wrong louage, it looked exactly like ours but when we opened it we realized that it was someone else's. My dad did not panic, he just said "wait here, your mom and I will go back to the airport and get your louage back." So I stayed in the hotel room with my aunt. By this time my aunt had stop crying, but she still missed her family very much. As a matter of fact she picked up the phone and called her family back in Shanghai. I have realized how important her family was to her. A hour later my parents came back with the right louage and we all had a good night sleep.
We all got up early the next day since we plan to drive home. That was going to be my first time sitting in a car for five hours with my parents. The drive home was very pleasant. We even stopped at McDonalds for lunch. My first McDonalds experience was great, and sharing it with my aunt and parents made it better. By afternoon of that day we have arrived at Montreal. It was the second largest city in Canada right behind Toronto. The city itself looks simliar to Toronto, it also had a lot of highways with many cars on them. My dad pulled into a garage and said "We are home."
After parking the car in the underground garage we all walked to the elevator as we went up. We arrived at the main entrance of this big apartment. The first thing I notice was this body guard looking person standing there. My dad said later that he was the security guy. He was very friendly to us and opened the main entrance for us. Finally we arrived at our apartment. The apartment was not too big but big enough for a small family. Since we lived in downtown, it had a great view.
Both of my parents had to go to work the next day so it was just me and my aunt. We couldn't speak a word of English at the time. But we got really bored sitting at home all day long so we decided to go out. There were many shopping malls in downtown Montreal, as a matter of fact there was one right across from our apartment so we decided to go there. Everything was so new to me, there were many different stores in that mall, we walked around for hours looking at different things. The thing that surpised me the most was everything was out in the open. See all the stores in China put their stuff behind the counter so if you want to see anything you would have to ask for a saleman to get it for you. (ten years ago). But here I can actually go and hold up a t-shirit and even try them on. Finally we got some what tired, so we decided to take a rest. My aunt had a few dollars and she said "Let's go and buy some ice-cream." Wow there were so many diffent kinds of ice-cream I couldn't even decide what I want. Of course non of us spoke English so we just pointed what we wanted with our fingers. We all enjoyed the ice-cream.
And the time has come for me to go to school. I was really scared, I mean I have only been in the country for less than one month and my English was terrible. How am I going to survive in an English school all by myself? I know I did not have a chance I mean after all I do have to go to school, so off I go to my first day at school. One thing that interested me was the big yellow school bus. We never had them in China and I was told that they actually go around the neighborhood and pick up kids and take them to school. I thought that was really cool.
"What is your name" "Yes" I replied. "How old are you?" "No." I said as I looked at my classmates. I did not know any other way in English other than "yes" and "no". The only class I liked was math class. Even though I did not understand what the teacher talked about I did most of my work, other than the word problems since I couldn't understand them. During recess time I just sat in a corner and watched my classmates played. I was beginning to miss all my friends back in China. That night as I went back home, my aunt and I sat next to each other and cried together. We realized how difficult it is going to be for us to live here, how everything is so different here. We talked about going back to China so she can be with her family and I can be with my friends. My parents came home that night and talked to us both. "Crying won't solve any problems, it took a while to adapt to this new culture too but once you do you will love it. The first thing is to learn English for the both of you." So starting that day I learned English from my parents every night, I read children books and memorized English words. And slowly my English was improving.
I no longer have to sit by the corner during recess time anymore, I actually beginning to understand part of dialogue between people. I have to give some credit to my English teacher Mr. Bata. He was a great teacher who had a lot of patience. He knew I had problems with the language so he patiently helped me and gave me chances to practice. The idea of me going back to China seems to fade away slowly in my mind as I was beginning to enjoy myself in this foreign country. I even made a few friends in school.
Montreal was a nice city, with a lot of French speaking people. The life style there is somewhat different from America. The city itself was very clean and you could find many people dressed up in fancy cloth. I probably enjoyed the subway system the most. They called it "Metro" it was newly build so not only was it clear, it was very fast as well. The whole city was linked by subway lines which made it easy for me to get around the city, especially during winter times. Speaking of winter, Montreal can get very cold. Weather can reach all the way down to -20 degrees.
Just when I started to enjoy myself in Montreal, another shocking news took place. My dad suddenly got a job in Toronto and he decided to take up on the offer. This means our whole family would have to move to Toronto. By that time my aunt had already moved to America with her husband. I had no choice but to say bye to all my friends in Montreal and moved to Toronto with my parents.
At first we rented a house, the owners of the house lived down in the basement. It was a pretty big house with three bedrooms. I got my own bedroom. Toronto was a bigger city than Montreal and it also had a very good transportation system which included buses (TTC) and subway lines. One difference I realized between the two cities was Toronto had a lot more Asians. After renting the house for a few month we brought our first house in North York.
We moved in just before the new school year started. On the first day of school I wasn't too scared. By that time my English was pretty good already, I mean it still needed a lot of work but it was good enough for me to have a normal conversation with someone. It was on the first day of school that I met some life long friends including Hank and Allan. Time went by quickly, before I know it I have already finished public school and was going on to Junior high.
My years in Highland Junior high school was very rewarding. I learned a great deal there. I started to take an interest in playing the violin. My parents saw my interest and quickly brought a violin from China, so I would have one to practice on. I had music classes everyday at school so I played violin at school and when I came home I can play with my own violin, I enjoyed it. Soon after that I began to take violin lessons as I mastered the basics. Of course that was just a part of my hobby, in the mean time I also got involved in many out day sports like tennis, basketball and even street hockey.
I stayed in Toronto for the next five years, finished my junior high school and went on to A.Y. Jackson. Most of my friends who went to Highland went to A.Y. Jackson so I had many friends there. I continued playing the violin, by that time I was pretty good at it, I even got to be the concert master once, which was really rewarding. Two other things I started to like was hockey card collecting and computers.
"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get". This famous quote by Tom Hanks in the movie -- Forest Gump can probably sum up many people's life, it sure can to my life. My life was great in Toronto I was doing pretty well in school and having fun with my friends, but suddenly the place where my dad worked for closed down. My dad worked for a division of Johnson & Johnson. However when the branch closed down he was out of a job, and that's the most important thing for anyone who lives in North America. My dad quickly looked for a job and found another branch of J & J was located in San Diego, California.
At the time I was only a teenage, despite the fact I hated moving, I knew I would have to leave Toronto and start out my new life in California. Even though all my friends told me how nice California was I still did not want to move, I have realized how it is very difficult to make good friends. On moving day I left all my memories behind including a lot of people who had been a big part of my life (L.L. =)
Believe it or not I did not enjoy all the sun in San Diego at the beginning. I guess I missed all my friends and it was the summmer time so I basically had nothing to do other than just sitting at home all day long. However thing did become better as school started. I started my Junior year in high school in Torrey Pines High School. It was a really nice school and the best part about it was it was only walking distance from my house. Maybe it's because I moved around a lot I adapted myself to the new school system quickly, and within a month time I have already made some new friends. Of course I haven't forgotten about my friends back in Toronto, we keep in touch through e-mails.
Since the weather was so nice in San Diego a big part of my highschool was out doors. There are classes like surfing and tennis which are two of the most popular sports in California. I do have to admite I really enjoy the weather there and the beaches there are incredible. One of the problem I encountered during my Junior year of high school was the SATs. I have never heard of that when I was in Canada since highschool students won't required to take that test, however every high school graduate was required to take this test in America and it is one of the standards colleges measure a student on. I studied hard for the test and was luck enough to get a passing score.
My Junior year has ended and I was ready to enjoy my summer. I worked hard that year and I really thought I deserved to relax. However life is filled with twists and turns. J & J's head quarter is in New Jersey and my dad was offered a better
position. I know this wasn't my decision but we had a family meeting about it, should we stay in San Diego or take up on this good job offering New Jersey? If we do take this offering that would mean we would have to move again, it would be my third highschool in three years. I know I can't just be selfish and think for myself, this is a good opportunity for my dad and my family.
I know this is beginning to sound weird but I have to say it, I moved again. This time it was to New Jersey. New Jersey is known as the Garden State, and the minute I arrived to New Jersey I started to notice big differences. It's like suburban country side. I hated it at the beginning since I always lived in big cities like Shanghai and Toronto. However because of my adapting nature which I have developed from moving around a lot, I quickly adjusted.
After doing some research my dad had found out the best high school is located in East Brunswick, so we rented a town house not too far away from East Brunswick High School. My senior quickly arrived and I went to my first day of school without knowing anyone in my class. Can you picture me sitting all by myself and eating lunch? But hey don't worry Allan Chow is a fighter, I don't get deressed. Instead I tried to be very out going and stayed positive. I have found that is the best way to make new friends.
Under the guidance of guidance counsellor, I applied to five different universities. Rutgers, college of pharmacy; University of California, San Diego; University of Maryland; Rice and Texax A & M. I got accepted to all of them expect Rice. (never wanted to go there anyways, he.. he..) Now I am faced with another tough decision in my life, which university should I go to?
I personally wanted to go to UCSD, with all my friends back in San Diego and my love for the beach my heart was almost set. Of course my parents wanted me to go to Rutgers, college of pharmacy. I could understand their reason, first of all it is close so I can live at home. Secondly it's an instate university so the tuition fee is relatively cheap. I know this would be another turning point in my life and I am the only one who can make this important decision for myself.
New Jersey has a lot of drug companies, as a matter of fact 60% of all the drugs discovered in America came from New Jersey. College of pharmacy is a pretty well known university in New Jersey because of the need for pharmacists. It's a very rewarding fast track program in which you will get a pharm-d degree (like PHD) in six years. I ended up going to Rutgers, of course that made my parents very happy.
Since I would be communting from my house to school daily I would need a car. I was so excited as my dad and I went car hunting. The minute I saw this red Toyota Celica I felt in love with it. It was exactly what I need, a small sport car that was reliable. Yeah my first car, I was so happy =)
I am now a freshman in college, can't believe how fast time went by. Maybe it's because I know I have finally settled down in New Jersey since we just brought a big new house or maybe it's the college life style. I enjoyed my college life better than my high school life. Pharmacy is a tough program but I managed my time well, studied in libraries and past my first year of university with flying colors.
Looking ahead I will be a Sophomore in Rutgers, many problems lays ahead of me, but I am ready. I believe through my moving around I have matured and learned many valuable lessons which I will carry around with me for my whole life.
