The Independence Day

Technically, the Independence Day means nothing to me. I am not an American citizen, and being a biology student, every day is a work day. But in reality, this day is the day when I feel like at home, because on this day, they fire a lot of firecrakers.

To Chinese, firecrakers means Spring Festivel, which is the most important day in Chinese life. On this day, usually in the late January or the early Feburary, people go back to their homes, no matter where they are. So the sound of firecrakers remindes us of our homes, of the warm feeling of relatives gethering tegether around the big table having dinner, watching TV or just chatting.

Mysteriously, Americans fire firecrakers in their Independence Day, July 4th, hot and humid, nothing like the cold and snowing Spring Festivel. But the sound of the firecrakers makes me feel like it is Spring Festivel. It's like the holiday and the season are out of sync. Probably what an American would feel when celebrating Christmas in Australia.

The feeling of home makes me want to go home. But I can't. Because America has tightened their visa-issueing policy, all the students of the "sensitive majors" (which mean all majors) will be "background-checked" to see if you are a terrorist (they assume you are). The checking time varies from 2 months to god knows how long. A Chinese student in my department got stuck in China for about 9 months. I don't want to screw up my experiments so my only choice is staying in the US.

It's so cruel: while they are out there celebrating their freedom of...well, say, bombing a country at will, I am in here mourning my freedom of simply going back home.