Level 3

My Hometown

I was born in Kharkiv. My favorite city is the second largest city in Ukraine. The population of Kharkiv is over 1.5 million people. There are many schools, kindergartens, parks, theaters, cinemas, and markets there. There are many students from all over the world who study in Kharkiv. Also, my hometown has an international airport. It is only about three hundred miles from Kyiv, the capital of our country. Kharkiv is also a big industrial city. There is a tractor plant and a jet plane plant there. People are happy to live in this big, green town, and I was happy when I lived there too. 

Written by: Roman Selishchev 

My  City

My name is Yue Wang. I’m from China, and I was born in Hangzhou. This is a beautiful city in China. I love my city. There is a big lake in my city. We called the lake “West Lake”. When the holidays come, many people come to my city. They enjoy the scenery of the West Lake. I also enjoy it. Everyone loves to walk around the West Lake and sit on the grass. They talk with their family. I think this is very good family time. Every time when I went there, I always felt happy and relaxed. I love it there. I miss the West Lake very much.

Written by: Yue Wang 

My First Time in the USA

The first time I came to the USA was in December, 2021. I left from Guadalajara International Airport in Mexico. I arrived in Tijuana and then I crossed to the United States. I traveled for 8 hours by car from San Diego to Gridley, California, and I stayed there for 3 days. After those three days and another three hours by car, I arrived in Portland, Oregon. I was very excited because it was my first time in another country and for me it was like a totally different world. It was also very hard to leave behind everything I knew. Sometimes, I feel sad because I miss my life and my friends in Mexico. It’s hard but it’s great to make new friends and meet people from all over the world.

Written by: Yesenia Bautista

My First Trip to the U.S.

A rather long time ago, it was August 2nd, 2015. That day I left Saigon, my hometown, in the rain. Seven years, it is nothing, but it is not short for a man who left his homeland without a date to return and also surprisingly as one of the passengers waiting for the flight sang idly: “The rain in Cali is not as cold as the rain in Saigon” as if to tease someone who is away from home. 

Cali is the short name for California state where I’ll be arriving a few days later. At 6:00 am the airport terminal officer announced passengers were queuing up to board. Then, after 2 hours, the plane stopped at Hong Kong. Waiting 4 hours there I learned about San Francisco, which is considered the gateway to the US. After the gold rush of 1848, San Francisco was destroyed by a fire but it is also remembered that San Francisco was rebuilt and became a neoclassical city. 

Even during World War II, San Francisco emerged as a military part of the Western Front. After young soldiers returned home with sadness about war and peace, with those concerns, San Francisco became the land of a summer of love with the existentialist and extremism.

“At long last! Here in the US! Welcome to San Francisco International Airport,” the flight spokesperson echoed. 

Except for passengers who do not have a return date, all people who first arrive in the US are given 2 pieces of paper, one of which is the I-94 declaration form, which they must always take care of. American Customs Officers will press it into your passport until you leave the US to return to your home country. 

At last I realized that “the rain in Cali is not as cold as the rain in Saigon.” When I had to speak English with an American officer, he asked me why I left Vietnam when my age is so high. With my broken English I replied: “I have been here because I had no right to choose as I was born, but now, I can choose a place to die, so I will do it now." I don’t know what that man thought about my answer, but that day I wanted to cry when I answered. 

That was a hard question, but…”in difficulties lie opportunities”. As you know, I am always OK. 

Bye and see you in the next paragraph.

Written by: Bang Do

My First Time in the USA

The first time I came to the USA was in August, 2022. I left from Warsaw airport in Poland on a Wednesday in the morning and there was a layover in Germany. We arrived in Los Angeles. There, we waited several hours for the plane to Portland, Oregon. When we got out of the plane, we were very tired and wanted to sleep. Relatives met us at the airport. They rented us a house and prepared dinner for us. The first place we visited was the ocean. It was a beautiful sight. Then, we visited different parks and waterfalls. The USA has very beautiful nature and huge forests.

Written by: Inna Novikova