blue sky and clean air and no pollution. Also the government has less to say, she says. But there’s no work, and isn’t that a problem?
She looks at the fruit as if it could eat her, or make her sick. It’s like if the food doesn’t, the air around it will. She thinks you have to wear a sweater in the grocery store or else you will catch cold, also you have to be careful about catching cold through your feet. She believes in socks in general, but especially in the grocery store, and even for us, which is why Lizzy and I wear socks now, to make her feel better. And how powerful the cash registers, says Lanlan.
Wow.
She watches the scanner, how it sends out that little red line and
beep!
Her new big word is ‘automatic,’ which she pronounces ‘awma-ic.’
— America should not be call ‘America,’ she says. It should be call ‘Awma-ica.’
— Land of the free, and home of the beep! laughs Lizzy.
LIZZY / Lanlan discovered coupons, which she thought in the beginning meant you could buy something there wasn’t enough of. Like cooking oil, she said, or sugar. How could there not be enough sugar? we asked, but she just said it was hard to explain. Like these coupons were hard for us to explain to her. She said she was sure there were coupons in China, in the big cities they had everything, but was it really free money? I told her it was all just a way for corporate America to get you to buy more of their brand, and Lanlan nodded and said she knew about American corporations.
LAN /
We heard about it on TV. How American companies wanted to control the whole world. How they sold everyone American things on purpose. It was actually a kind of weapon.
WENDY / Still she goes looking for the coupons that come with the newspaper. She clips coupons for stuff she thinks we need, plus stuff she needs herself. Hand lotion, toothpaste. Her clippings are like beautiful, she never just tears stuff out. Mom gives her money for these things on top of money for books and stuff because she says she knows she would want to pick her personal products herself, if she were Lan. And Lanlan does pick, even though she says she does not need to pick everything like an American. Like she buys a kind of toothpaste that comes out of a pump instead of a tube. She is excited about the bonus toothbrush. Land of the free!
She gives the toothbrush to Lizzy, who loves it.
Lanlan is amazed by how much people throw out, like how many napkins they use in restaurants, and how they take ketchup packets they don’t even use, but this is what’s amazing to us, that Lizzy takes the toothbrush and smiles like she never had a toothbrush before, or like she’s been dying her whole entire life for a blue one. When Lanlan walks with me or Lizzy she links her arm in ours. And Lizzy likes that too, no one can believe it.
How new everything is, says Lanlan, and no dust. She’s amazed at how clean her shoes stay on account of everything being paved or grass, there’s like no bare dirt anywhere. And is it true there’s no dust even in the spring? Even in the spring, we say.
— But what about pollen, she says.
She says she heard that on TV, on an English conversation program, how there is a big problem with pollen, you have to wash your hair every day to get it out. Only in some places, we say, like down South, up here we have some pollen but not that much. And no garbage almost anywhere, she says, and where do people spit? We tell her nobody spits, and she’s amazed.
Wow.
And how quiet it is! So peaceful and nice, she says, except for the goat.
LAN /
I was surprised there were no slums, like I saw on TV and in the movies. I asked the children where the slums were. But they said there were no slums near where they lived, only far away, in the city. I told them how in China we heard a lot about the slums, and they were surprised. The slums and the violence, I told them. But they said there was no violence in their town. They said people
She looks at the fruit as if it could eat her, or make her sick. It’s like if the food doesn’t, the air around it will. She thinks you have to wear a sweater in the grocery store or else you will catch cold, also you have to be careful about catching cold through your feet. She believes in socks in general, but especially in the grocery store, and even for us, which is why Lizzy and I wear socks now, to make her feel better. And how powerful the cash registers, says Lanlan.
Wow.
She watches the scanner, how it sends out that little red line and
beep!
Her new big word is ‘automatic,’ which she pronounces ‘awma-ic.’
— America should not be call ‘America,’ she says. It should be call ‘Awma-ica.’
— Land of the free, and home of the beep! laughs Lizzy.
LIZZY / Lanlan discovered coupons, which she thought in the beginning meant you could buy something there wasn’t enough of. Like cooking oil, she said, or sugar. How could there not be enough sugar? we asked, but she just said it was hard to explain. Like these coupons were hard for us to explain to her. She said she was sure there were coupons in China, in the big cities they had everything, but was it really free money? I told her it was all just a way for corporate America to get you to buy more of their brand, and Lanlan nodded and said she knew about American corporations.
LAN /
We heard about it on TV. How American companies wanted to control the whole world. How they sold everyone American things on purpose. It was actually a kind of weapon.
WENDY / Still she goes looking for the coupons that come with the newspaper. She clips coupons for stuff she thinks we need, plus stuff she needs herself. Hand lotion, toothpaste. Her clippings are like beautiful, she never just tears stuff out. Mom gives her money for these things on top of money for books and stuff because she says she knows she would want to pick her personal products herself, if she were Lan. And Lanlan does pick, even though she says she does not need to pick everything like an American. Like she buys a kind of toothpaste that comes out of a pump instead of a tube. She is excited about the bonus toothbrush. Land of the free!
She gives the toothbrush to Lizzy, who loves it.
Lanlan is amazed by how much people throw out, like how many napkins they use in restaurants, and how they take ketchup packets they don’t even use, but this is what’s amazing to us, that Lizzy takes the toothbrush and smiles like she never had a toothbrush before, or like she’s been dying her whole entire life for a blue one. When Lanlan walks with me or Lizzy she links her arm in ours. And Lizzy likes that too, no one can believe it.
How new everything is, says Lanlan, and no dust. She’s amazed at how clean her shoes stay on account of everything being paved or grass, there’s like no bare dirt anywhere. And is it true there’s no dust even in the spring? Even in the spring, we say.
— But what about pollen, she says.
She says she heard that on TV, on an English conversation program, how there is a big problem with pollen, you have to wash your hair every day to get it out. Only in some places, we say, like down South, up here we have some pollen but not that much. And no garbage almost anywhere, she says, and where do people spit? We tell her nobody spits, and she’s amazed.
Wow.
And how quiet it is! So peaceful and nice, she says, except for the goat.
LAN /
I was surprised there were no slums, like I saw on TV and in the movies. I asked the children where the slums were. But they said there were no slums near where they lived, only far away, in the city. I told them how in China we heard a lot about the slums, and they were surprised. The slums and the violence, I told them. But they said there was no violence in their town. They said people
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