14385202
  • 菠萝菠萝蜜
    2023/1/28 19:49:05
    Americans' Frugality

    As the strongest country in the world, the people in the U.S. are struggling to survive. That's absurb, but it's true.

    I happen to have been live

    As the strongest country in the world, the people in the U.S. are struggling to survive. That's absurb, but it's true.

    I happen to have been lived in the U.S. for two years, from 2013-2015. I accompanied my husband to study in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At that time, we didn't have income. And as a foreigner with F2 visa, I was not allowed to work there legally. So I had plenty of time to be exposed in the society of the U.S.

    Ann Arbor is a small college town. It's beautiful all year round, especially in the fall. I tried my best to connect to the local society. I attended two bible study groups; I joined a book study group and a hiking group; I went to ESL class every week; I found several language partners to tutor Chinese and learn Enghlish with her; I joined a stay-at-home mom group.

    As a foreigner with no recognization with any local people, it seems that I made a bunch of friends eventually through these groups. However, when I looked back, I suddenly realized the friends I made could be seprated into two groups: international friends and christian friends.

    Here I want to talk about my christian friends in the U.S.. I took them as my friends. But actually, they didn't. They just wanted to introduce me to believe in God. They were very frugal. Extremely frugal.

    They could drive 2 hours to another town, just for purchasing several cheap strawberries.

    They went to the thrift stores very often. And they took me there, too.

    They gave cheap gifts to me. Very often, these gifts were from the thrift stores. I could tell!

    They could pay 100 dollars for How to Save Money class. (They are generous in learning how to save money)

    ...............

    I could not bear their frugality. And they impacted me into a frugal person, too. I was not used to the life in China in the beginning of coming back. I dressed the T-shirts. and also dressed my baby with the second-handed clothes that I brought back from the U.S.; I calculated how to save money by buying the cheapest things in the supermarket; I spent a lot of time to find out the cheapest things on Taobao; I gave my friends the cheap gifts; I rented the cheap apartment.

    I ended up living miserably in those two years. And finally I realized that I could not live like this any more. My husband had a good income, why should I live like we were very poor. And the time in calculating and searching matters. Time is precious.

    This was the impact I got from the frugal Americans. After I came back to China, I alway take a pity in the Americans. They are really struggling. They are not happy, in that strongest country.

    【详细】
    149432923
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