SAN FRANCISCO CELEBRATIONS

    Some of San Francisco's many celebrations, like the Fourth of July (U.S. Independence Day), are very American; but others 1 that San Francisco is a very international city.

    Over 100, 000 people celebrate the Chinese New Year in January or February. There are lion dances, fireworks, and a huge parade 2 the Financial District(地区)and Chinatown. It is the most important festival of the Chinese year, and the largest 3 event in North America.

    Tourists4 try to see the Cherry Blossom Festival(樱花节)at the Japan Center in April. This is a celebration of traditional Japanese culture with musicians, dancers, and artists, and a colourful 5.

    In early May, there is a Mexican festival called Cinco de Mayo, with a carnival（狂欢节） and lots of special events. And Carnaval San Francisco—a popular Latin American and Caribbean festival with salsa and reggae bands— 6 on the last weekend in May.

    On the Fourth of July, there are celebrations and parties all over the city, and everyone enjoys 7 the amazing fireworks over San Francisco Bay.

    On the night of 8 , thousands of people in costumes come to Market Street and Castro Street for a huge Halloween party. Many people think this is the most exciting night of the year.

    9 at Christmas time, there is a huge Christmas tree in Union Square, and the stores in the square have a competition for the 10 store window.

    Ask your foreign friends or teachers whether they experienced" culture shock" upon moving to China. 1 are, they did.

    According to a survey, eighty-five percent of international students have had culture shock. Culture shock is a broad term for the series of personal difficulties that people go through in new places, for the surrounding environment is so different from that where they grow up. It's usually most extreme for those who can't speak the language of the place to which they have 2 or for those who aren't familiar with the social rules, such as what you should do if you meet people for the first time. Both of these things happened to me in China when I moved there in 2011.

    So as you can imagine, naturally, I went through the four well-known3 of culture shock: honeymoon, distress, re-integration and autonomy.

    When I arrived at first, I was 4 and. optimistic, I thought I was well-prepared for this new life in the new country, and I was eager to find out what I was going to experience later. But quickly I became upset by the cultural differences I encountered, missing how things5 back home.

    By the end of my first year, I had totally lost my self-confidence; I was a bitter, clumsy and sensitive person, and I blamed China for making me that way.

    Then, in my second year, I started to6 some language skills, and I found fun activities to do in my spare time, I made great foreign and Chinese friends, and with their help, I tried hard to learn to appreciate the beauty of Chinese history and culture, which was the thing I always wanted to achieve. To my delight, I succeeded in 7 an interest in them. And afterwards, I learned to consider myself a confident and happy laowai.

    Today I'm back in the US, where I'm pursuing a PhD at a university in my hometown. It's been a little 8to readjust to life in my home country, I suffered at first from "reverse" culture shock, experiencing the four stages in the opposite order.

    I started out feeling independent and self-confident, before slowly realizing that I knew my country much less well than I used to. I'd complain loudly about little things, like how I could no longer shout "fuwuyuan!" to get waiters'9 to let them know that I was ready to order in a restaurant.

    But eventually, I came to realize that what I had thought was my "home" had become an entirely new place while I'd been away. That, by itself, was exciting.

    Riding a Mobike on the street, you might hear some people speaking Chinese aloud. Turning to the right, you see a Sichuan-style restaurant. After walking into a store you see that Huawei Smartphones are 1. But you're not in China—you're in Manchester in Britain. In fact, you might see 2 things in many other cities. Chinese products have been 3 worldwide.

    Chinese food has been enjoyed in Western countries for a long time. To 4 local people's tastes, Chinese restaurants have made some changes to the 5 Unlike Chinese, Australian people don't like to eat meat with the bone 6. So Chinese restaurants there provide big pieces of meat without bones, 7 for fish.

    Some Chinese brands (品牌) are also becoming more 8. In many cities in Europe stores sell TCL televisions, Haier fridges and Lenovo computers. And more than half of US-owned drones (无人机) are Chinese models. They're not simply made in China, but designed and developed in the 9 .

    In the past, most Western people thought Chinese products were cheap and not dependable. But now, things have changed greatly. Made in China becomes cool. More and more people 10 Chinese brands.