New Iowan: JinQuian

This is an interview with a young, New Iowan, as part of the documentary "Our Kids."

JinQuian
China, High School Sophomore

I was born in Mongolia, and then I moved to Beijing, and then to Shanghai. I went to school in Mongolia in first grade, and then I moved to Beijing and stay there maybe four to five years, and then move to Shanghai. It's a lot different because, you know, in China the population is so large. So, not everyone can go to school. So, if you want to go to college, you have to have a national examination. And then if you get a high grade you probably can go to the school you want to. When your teacher is in the classroom you have to stand up and be respect to the teachers and not, like, freely you can talk whenever you want... It's different. The school always started at seven o'clock, and we supposed to leave home at six-thirty at least. And then we have maybe twelve classes a day. And if you live in school... I'm a student live in school. 'Cause it's kind of private, kind of. And after the whole classes we're supposed to take extra classes, like the teachers help you how to do this, if you don't understand it. So it probably fourteen classes a day. And we always go to bed like, twelve o'clock.

In China my dad was a neurosurgeon, and he already work at that job for eighteen or nineteen years, so it's pretty long. But, he's kind of, for my future, he figure out maybe go to America is better way. And then, he came here and started over again to be a post-doctor, which is do the research, find the new ways to treat the brain disease. My mom is sixty-four. She have, like, good job in China, and she's working on business, kind of financial thing. And, because she have a good job, so she don't want to come here, 'cause she don't know a lot of English. That might be a problem for her, so, we kind of miss her a lot.

When I left Shanghai I was kind of excited 'cause I have, like, get away from that strict education. But when I came here I find that, actually it's kind of hard 'cause you have to use a second language to learn all this subject. In your mind you have to, like, translate them into your native language.

School in Iowa

I was kind of nervous and shy, because everyone here is different. You have high noses, deep eyes, brown hairs, and everyone looks so tall. It's like, short in here. But everyone is so patient, and friendly, so that's a nice thing about it.

When you're starting to learn English, you'll find like, you still have a lot of vocabulary problems. Some times you know how to say it in your native language, but you can't say it in English. So sometimes when I communicate with other people, it's kind of different. When you started, like, know English better, everything is getting better. So you know how to communicate with others.

JinQuian to Teacher: "I have a question. Is there any other meanings for exhausted? 'Cause I only know there's, like, 'very tired'."