Coming to America (6) (初来美国 6)

The apartment I moved to was a two bedroom apartment with one and a half bathrooms. The rent was $378/month. I shared it with two other Chinese girls: Deanna and Zhang, whom I never knew before. ACSS (Association of Chinese Students and Scholars) brought us together. We went to the leasing office and signed a lease the first day we met.

Deanna and I shared one bedroom. We each paid 30% of the rent, which was $113.4/month. Zhang paid 40% of the rent, which was $151.2/month. We split the utility and phone bills evenly except for long distance, which required whoever made the call paid for it and the corresponding taxes and fees. Domestic long distance call cost ~10 cents a minute back in 1996. International long distance call for China cost ~$1.6 a minute, too expensive for me to call on a regular basis. Only on special occasions, like Chinese New Year, mid-autumn festival and birthdays etc, I called my parents for ~5 minutes, just to hear their voices, and tell them "everything is fine here, don't worry about me ..."

Zhang moved out after a month or two. Jenson, a Chinese guy, moved in to take her space. It may sound weird to share apartment between boy and girls, but it was quite common back then among Chinese students. It's cheaper to split the cost three ways. Besides, we spent most of our waking hours at campus 7 days a week, only came home to cook, eat and sleep, so we barely saw each other. Jenson's move in actually made Deanna and my life easier. First, he had a car, so Deanna and I could go grocery shopping with him. Before that, we had to call around every week to ask for rides. Jenson also taught us driving when we were ready to buy our own cars later. I remembered that his old car had some kind of gas leak. Without stepping on the gas, the car (automatic) would go faster and faster on its own, so I didn't have to step on the gas much. I just needed to step on the brake from time to time :) Second, Jenson is a nice guy with a good temper. Deanna and I joked with him all the time, he rarely got mad, still chauffeured us around afterwards. And third, when Jensen was in a good mood, he even cooked for us. Not that he was cooking any feast, mostly just simple soups, but the gesture was appreciated and remembered after all these years.

The three of us went separate ways in the summer of 1997. Jenson graduated first and left City B soon afterwards. Deanna graduated next and left by the end of 1997. I graduated last and left the following spring. I haven't been back since. Yet the memories of the places I have lived, the campus, the streets I walked every day and night to campus remain vivid to me like it was yesterday.

(The End)