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By Haley H., 14

Falling in love with a country 
is like finding your best friend
A sense of belonging 
Encompassing all
Heavenly
Bliss
Refuge, haven and home
An unbreakable soul tie 
A joy which ignites your soul 
Your happy place
delighting the desires of your heart 
Home was the apartment building in my charming and verdant complex
The country beholding subway, taxi, and bus
The beauty of public transportation
Cherry blossoms in the spring
A blanket of snow draping my neighborhood
in the heart of winter, perfect seasons
Abundance of shrimp cabbage dumplings and steamed pork buns
Chopsticks carrying purple grains of rice
Tenth floor, ten years to cherish
age ten when I moved to the U.S. 
A season of change
The friendship between my beloved country slowly…
slipping away…
Stepping out of LAX airport
English flows out of tongues
The sun always radiating heat in summery California
Yet not once does the golden star stop for the sky to snow
like it did back home in China.
The culture shock of American school
American supermarkets
America
White faces
Everywhere
Shame of my ethnicity
of being Chinese American
Utter loss and sorrow
Where do I belong? 
Where is home? 
Two lives, two cultures, two years until I embrace the truth
Home is where my family is
Because ended friendships are not necessarily broken friendships that have been lost.
Sometimes when seasons change, you learn to embrace
To. 
Let. 
Go. 
You learn more than one way to move on
to cherish 
memories of home.

Upland, California