Back to 80: My Literary Life

At this time, there were no direct flights from Yanjing to Iowa, so you had to go to New York first.

It took fifteen hours after taking off from Yanjing, passing through snowy Siberia, the vast Arctic Ocean and Alaska, and finally arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at two o'clock in the afternoon.

After a routine customs inspection and a beautiful girl stamping their passports, Fang Minghua and the others finally set foot on American soil.

When I arrived at the departure hall, I saw a young girl with blond hair and blue eyes wearing clothes with two holes in her knees, holding a sign with a line of Chinese characters written on it:

"Welcome Comrades Zhang Xianliang, Fang Minghua, and Zhang Ling, writers from the People's Republic of China!" was particularly eye-catching in the entire hall.

Among the three people, Fang Minghua had the highest English proficiency. He took the initiative to say hello. Unexpectedly, the other person could speak Chinese, although he was not very fluent.

After some introductions, we found out that her name was Lisa, a student from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Iowa, and a volunteer for the "International Writing Project" who was specifically responsible for contacting this team of writers from China.

The three of them followed Lisa out of the terminal with their suitcases, got into a yellow Beetle in the parking lot, and drove straight to LaGuardia Airport, the second largest airport in New York City, before taking a flight. Rush to Iowa City.

"Welcome to the United States of America, this is a great country..." Lisa introduced everyone in Chinese in the car.

I don’t know if it was intentional, but the Beetle walked around a few streets and stopped near Times Square in Manhattan. Lisa indicated that everyone could get out of the car and browse for a while. Anyway, it was still early before the next flight.

"This is the most famous square in the world, known as the crossroads of the world." Standing on the street, Lisa looked proud.

"Wow... so beautiful!" Zhang Ling couldn't help but exclaimed as she looked at the surrounding skyscrapers, the huge electronic screens, the brightly colored neon lights, and the endless crowds of people.

Lisa immediately pointed and introduced her enthusiastically: "Dear Ling, the 33-story red building in front of you with a unique Spine-style architectural style is the New York Times Building. This side is Broadway Avenue, where various plays are performed every day. , you can come and take a look when you have time.

“There are also a lot of shopping malls here, which is a shopper’s paradise.”

Zhang Xianliang and Fang Minghua stood together, with their hands in their trouser pockets, and said to Fang Minghua in a cold voice: "The most famous square? I don't think it's that good. It's just a slightly larger intersection, not as wide as Tiananmen Square. It is similar to our Guangming Square in Yinchuan, but of course there are more high-rise buildings and cars.

Fang Minghua couldn't help laughing when he heard this. This Zhang Xianliang is really interesting.

But to be honest, it is not as prosperous and spectacular as the Shanghai World Trade Center before this era. Although it is still the mid-1980s, the buildings are similar to what they were thirty years ago, and some buildings are already showing their old state.

The three of them looked at it for a while and saw that it was about the same time. This time they got in the car and went straight to LaGuardia Airport. After more than two hours of flight, they arrived in Iowa City.

"arrived home."

Sitting in the taxi, Lisa couldn't help but cheer.

Iowa City is not big. According to Lisa, the resident population is just over 60,000, which is not as large as a county in China. Most of them are teachers, students and employees of the University of Iowa, making it a true university town.

Fang Minghua sat in the taxi and looked out. There were no objects called high-rise buildings in the city. Except for a few buildings on the University of Iowa campus, the rest were almost all small wooden detached buildings. But the streets are wide and clean.

The taxi finally stopped at the Iowa House Hotel, a hotel frequented by writers, on the west end of Jefferson Street. To the south of the hotel is Harbor Park, and to the west is the Iowa River. The river passes through the city from north to south, and the scenery is very beautiful.

Connected to the east of the hotel is IMU (Iowa Memorial Union), which literally means Memorial Union. Later I learned that it is actually equivalent to a student activity center. It contains shopping malls, restaurants, medical offices, and legal consultation rooms. It is very convenient for life.

"Mr. Fang, Mr. Zhang, you two share a room." Lisa completed the check-in procedures for us and gave us the room card, but said to Zhang Ling: "Ms. Zhang, we arranged for you to live with a lady in Xiangjiang. I don't know. Are you willing?"

Just as she was talking, a very graceful oriental woman came out of the west corridor. Lisa immediately stopped her: "Miss Yishu, Miss Yishu."

It turned out to be Xiangjiang writer Yi Shu.

Yi Shu is a famous writer in Hong Kong. Her novel "The Story of Rose" was adapted into a movie by Hong Kong director Yang Fan.

Her brother is also very awesome, his name is Ni Kuang.

Yishu heard Lisa calling her, walked over with a smile, and introduced each other.

When I heard that Zhang Ling was from Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, she immediately became friendly and said in broken Mandarin:

"You are from Ningbo, and my ancestral home is in Wenzhou. We are fellow villagers."

"Really? I went to Wenzhou not long ago." The two began to chat.

Seeing this, Fang Minghua and Zhang Xianliang felt relieved.

This time the three of them came out to study, but Zhang Ling was the only girl and the youngest, so they had the obligation to take good care of her.

Everyone carried their suitcases and followed Lisa towards the west corridor. Minghua and Zhang Xianliang entered their rooms.

Fang Minghua took a glance and found that the furnishings inside were better than those of ordinary hotels in China, but in his eyes, it was at best a three-star hotel of later generations, and the interior decoration was obviously old.

But it's different in Zhang Xianliang's eyes.

Wooden floors, Simmons beds, color TVs, air conditioners, and even a phone beside the bed!

I couldn't help but praise him.

"I wonder if this call can be made to China?" Zhang Xianliang asked.

"It should be possible. Hotel phones like this can usually make international long distance calls." Fang Minghua replied: "Brother Zhang, do you want to call your sister-in-law at home? It's eight o'clock in the evening now. It should be around eight o'clock in our country. I guess Got to work too."

Zhang Xianliang was eager to try, but after struggling for a while, he found that he couldn't get through at all because his wife's work phone did not have international long-distance capabilities.

Fang Minghua also called Song Tangtang, and it was to Zhao Hongjun's company. Their company's two phones had this function enabled, and Fang Minghua reported to the other party that they were safe.

"Tangtang, please tell my parents so that they don't miss me."

"I'll go over tonight. Are you living well in Iowa?"

The two chatted for a few words and then hung up the phone.

After resting in the room for half an hour, Lisa knocked on the door again and asked the two of them to go out for dinner.

The dining area is on the first floor, and it's a McDonald's. It's basically fast food, including hamburgers, sandwiches, hot dogs, and salads.

Fortunately, during the 20-day training camp in China, Jiang Xue specifically talked about American fast food culture and took the three of them to Yili Fast Food Restaurant in Xidan to experience the feeling of eating fast food.

So everyone was not surprised to see this foreign stuff this time. Zhang Ling ate it with gusto, and Fang Minghua ordered a hamburger, which felt more authentic than the ones eaten in Yanjing.

Zhang Xianliang was a little uncomfortable with eating. He chewed a hamburger and whispered to Fang Minghua: "This thing is not as delicious as the Roujiamo you have in Xijing."

"Let's just eat. I guess we'll have to eat well for a while." Fang Minghao said with a smile.

After eating, Fang Minghua went out to see if there was any clothing store to buy a formal suit, but found that the store had already closed - it was not open at all at night, except for a few bars.

According to the arrangement, the three-month study and exchange will begin tomorrow, but Fang Minghua still has one thing he must do - go to Chicago to attend the "Nebula Award" award ceremony.