Manhattan
Impinging upon a full year in New York is a whimsical sentiment, I feel these foreign faces have imprinted a familiar shade on me. Let me tell you, Reader, of a story when I was 11. Cindy, my only close acquaintance in elementary school in Toronto, had haughtily told her mom in English that Lisa hasn't ever read Nancy Drew nor Geronimo Stilton books. That, in comparison, she has finished both series and enjoyed them. She knew that I couldn't understand English well enough to answer her articulately in English, much less to read those books. It was my 4th month in the North American continent. Perhaps it was her effort to impress her mom, or a childish tease at an immigrant's poor English--- she succeeded. Her mom said that her Cindy is the smartest, and some children can't read yet. Cindy's mom wanted to see me hurt, so she said it loud and clear, in Chinese. But I was the Head Girl in Beijing! My fragile ego felt tremors. (Interestingly, they never warn yo...