I got up very early this morning after a “half-slept” night, and then went to the Dunkin-donuts to have breakfast. Schnell and I bought two bread rolls each and returned to the hotel. With tea and preserved vegetable, we had a wonderful first breakfast in NY.

About 8:30 I made a phone call to Dr. Kleinmann’s office, he wasn’t in at the moment. It was Shelley, Dr. Kleimann’s secretary, who answered the phone. It seemed that she didn’t know much about the matter concerning two Chinese visiting scholars. So I hung up the phone and decided to call later.

I was eager to make a phone call to my family to let them know that I had arrived at NY safe and sound, so we decided to buy a card first. We went to a grocery and a Chinese girl sold us two five-dollar cards. With the phone in the hotel I tried several times but I could not reach my home. I had to give up for the time being. Then I called Dr. Kleinmann again. It was Dr. Kleinmann who answered the phone this time. We talked merrily on the phone for a few minutes then I told him that we would go to the QueensCollege that day. He told us where his office was and said that he was waiting for us all the morning.

We set off immediately. While walking on Main Street Flushing, I thought as if I was just walking on Kongjiang RoadShanghai. There were so many Chinese and I even heard some people speaking Shanghai dialect. It is said that Flushing is a new Chinatown in New York. We asked a Cantonese girl how we could get to the QueensCollege. She was eager to help us but told us the wrong way. Then we asked an old lady and she told us we could get to the Queens College by taking Q25, Q17 buses. We had no difficulty in finding the bus station but unfortunately, the bus driver told us bills were not accepted in taking buses. So we had to buy metro cards. A warm-hearted middle-aged Chinese woman told us where the metro station was, so we soon got the metro card.

We got on a Q25 bus and about fifteen minutes later, we were at the gate of The Queens College. I asked a black boy student where Kielly building was and he said the only one tall building in front of us was. We got in and began looking for Room 227. Dr. Kleinmann had been waiting for us when we open the door. He introduced us to his secretary Shelly, and his assistant Kai---- a Chinese student whose Chinese name is Yu Kai. Not long another Chinese student Allen came, and then two Chinese girl students joined us. Dr. Kleinmann then joked that his office was Chinese center with 6 Chinese and 2 Americans. We told Dr. Kleinmann that we had not found a room to live in yet and he asked Kai to help us. Kai was an efficient young man, he surfed the Internet and soon he found a few places. He phoned the landlords but no one answered the phone as it was the work time of the day.

Suddenly it occurred to Kai that there were house-renting advertisements on the campus. We soon found a few on the posts. We showed some interest in a studio with kitchen on the 59th avenue that is not far way from the Queens College, Kai called the landlord to see if we could see the studio and the landlady said it was ok. It took us about 15 minutes in finding the house. To our satisfaction, the studio was not bad. It was newly renovated, very clean. Most important of all, it was not far away from the QueensCollege. We negotiated with the owner about the rent and then decided to take it. At this moment, Dr. kleinmann called Kai to say that he would invited us to lunch. So we went back to the QueensCollege. Dr. Kleinmann encouraged us to take it when we told him about the studio. We four had lunch at the faculty canteen of the QueensCollege. We were deeply impressed by the delicious beef and we had a wonderful meal there.

After lunch, Dr. Kleinmann discussed with us about the courses we would sit in on. With all these done, we went to report to the International Student Office.

Before we left the QueensCollege for our Flushing hotel, we made an appointment with Kai so that he could help us transport the mattress we were going to buy that night. We went to the house and gave the landlady the deposit and then went back to Flushing.

At 7:30 p.m., Kai took us in his car to a furniture store ; the two sales assistants were to close the store. We bought 2 mattresses and carried them to the studio. Then we invited Kai and his girl friend to dinner in a Chinese restaurant in Flushing. At 10, we finished our dinner and went back to the hotel. The hostess of the family hotel told me that my friend Qu called and said that he would called me the next morning. I thanked her and went upstairs to my room. Feeling tired, I took a shower and went bed. That ended my first fruitful day in New York.