Postcard from the US

Christy Ma Wing-man, Airport District Sergeant Ma Chak-yuen's daughter, is now studying in a school in Pennsylvania under the McDonald's AFS Scholarship Programme 2000-2001, and recently dropped OffBeat a line updating us on her time so far.

Dear OffBeat readers, it's been more than four months since I left Hong Kong for Pennsylvania and I'm doing fine.

My host parents have a 20-year-old daughter who went to Norway as an exchange student three years ago and always talks about her life there. There are only 180 students in the private school I'm attending, incomparable to public schools, which can house up to 2,000. Being educated in a Christian school environment, my schoolmates are extremely friendly and have a deep interest in Chinese culture.

I made use of a presentation in late October to talk about the culture and history of Hong Kong and China. It was such a success, I'm hoping for another presentation for the benefit of those who missed the last one.

I've been making plenty of local friends and exchange student pals from Brazil, France, Italy, Venezuela, Thailand, Japan and Australia all with varying commands of English, which inevitably results in some funny misunderstandings! Yet, we get along very well and have come to learn more about one another's home country.

My host family prepared a sumptuous dinner during Thanksgiving in November, featuring American delicacies such as turkey and sweet potatoes. With temperatures dropping to minus-three degrees Celsius, it's starting to snow now. I've been longing for a white Christmas all my life!

I hope to learn more about my host country in the coming year, and I would like to thank the Force and the McDonald's AFS Scholarship Programme for providing me with this once in a lifetime, eye-opening opportunity.

Christy Ma