1995 65438+ 10, I went to the United States with my delegation to attend an international conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. After eating English for more than ten years, I first set foot in this familiar and strange country.
It was January, Beijing was already freezing and snowy, and New Orleans was in the south of the United States. The towering green trees and the swamp forest infested by crocodiles dazzled me.
New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz. At night, jazz filled the streets, and I met some black children dancing and begging with the music from time to time.
New Orleans was once a colony of France and Spain in history. Up to now, there are still historical footprints left by the colonial rulers of France and Spain more than 200 years ago, and even a French-speaking block called French Corner remains. Because of my experience in living in France, I am particularly good at French signs on the street.
There is a famous block in New Orleans, commonly known as "Millionaire Street". On both sides of this long street are magnificent buildings left by rich people like former manor owners, which are tall and spectacular and have different styles. One of them is particularly famous, because the famous film Gone with the Wind was shot on the location of life. Like other tourists, we stopped for a walk here and took pictures of the scenery with this room. There don't seem to be many merchants in this street except the houses of the rich. Our first American breakfast was at a luxury McDonald's in this street.
Going abroad for the first time, except me, the delegates to the China Conference. Lao Wang of Yantai, Shandong, smiled at me while eating pizza: "It's almost like chicken feed!" " " .
Later, I also felt that the taste of China McDonald's has been localized, which is different from the real American McDonald's. Just like you can't eat real Chinese food abroad, it's too sweet. In addition, there are unlimited drinks in American fast food restaurants, such as Coca-Cola.
On the night of their arrival in New Orleans, Lao Zhang and Lao Li, real estate developers in Harbin, couldn't stand the "temptation of capitalism" and went to a gambling boat on the Mississippi River with the local tour guide.
According to what they said later, Lao Zhang changed the game coins and stuffed them into slot machines, but few of them were inserted. Suddenly, the machine suddenly turned red, and then the bell of the whole ship rang loudly. He suddenly lost his mind and thought he had broken someone else's machine. Unexpectedly, the gamblers around him applauded and shook hands ... Under the excited explanation of the tour guide, he realized that he had won 2000 coins and that "small probability events" had hit his head. On the day he arrived in America, he realized the American feeling of "getting rich".
The next day, Lao Zhang did another incredible thing. He wanted to watch American porn, so he opened a movie channel in his room. Because of the language barrier, it costs more than 400 dollars a night to change channels. It turns out that the movie channel started charging after a minute of trial. For Lao Zhang, the old and new American movies are foreign words that he doesn't understand. After watching it for a few minutes, people took off their clothes and wanted to change the channel. I can't sleep because of the jet lag. Lao Zhang tossed TV all night and realized the American-style "great sorrow" when he checked out. Fortunately, this guy with a big gold chain is not short of money.