There are a lot of Chinese people living in the same apartment building with me. We help each other and get along well. When they heard that I will be leaving for a visit to China, a lot of them wanted to go with me to the airport because none of my children live here with me in Portland. I declined, saying that I’d get along fine by myself, but I felt their warm concern; it was like living in an extended family.

        Some of them want to become Americans, and there is a teacher – Kendall – who is helping them prepare for their citizenship test every Monday afternoon. After one of those sessions, Mr. Zhang dropped his papers and started to fall against a student, but the others helped him stand and took his arm on the way to his apartment.

        When he entered, he headed for the sofa, as he wanted to lie down, and his wife noted that his mouth was a little crooked. She knew that was a symptom of apoplexy and asked Laura to call 911 at once. An ambulance took him to the hospital with his wife, Laura and her husband riding with him.

        His wife was correct in sensing that it was apoplexy for that was the immediate diagnosis, and the staff did everything possible to help him regain his health. I didn’t visit him, as I didn’t want him to become emotional, but he called me after he came back to his apartment, and I visited him yesterday. I was so glad that he was able to walk as well as he did with Mr. Liu by his side. He has been told to practice walking twice a day. Ten men are helping him.

        Corey, the building manager, has installed a handrail on his bathtub and other things that will help him recuperate. He has had an enormous amount of help from others who live here, as we hope he will recover soon.

        When he was in the hospital, his wife was with him day and night because their children are in China and other relatives live far from here. Laura and her husband went to the hospital every day to help to translate in Mr. Zhang’s contacts with the doctor and the staff. That helped him understand what was being done to help him.

        His wife told me that one day just after Laura’s husband left their home on the way to the hospital, Laura realized that he had forgotten to take the porridge she had made for Mr. Zhang, and she rushed to catch him. She was unable to reach him, as she has been having problems with gout, and she had to lean against a tree until she felt better. The pain was so intense that she was unable to walk for several days and has recovered to some extent, but still feels the pain when walking. Mr. Zhang’s wife felt guilty, as Laura had been trying to help, but she’s grateful for everything Laura and her husband have done.

        Every attempt was made to keep Mr. Zhang calm while he was in the hospital so there were restrictions on who could visit him. Some friends invited his wife to have a meal with them so that she wouldn’t have to cook and could spend more time with him. I’m not sure how many people have helped, but there have been many as times goes on.

        In our building, mutual assistance is common – not only with Chinese people, but between the Chinese and the Americans. We speak different languages, but we are friends.

        Wu had an American friend, and they did exercises together. The American woman liked China and loved Chinese food. When she became seriously ill, Wu visited her, and as she knew that the friend liked Chinese fish, she cooked some for her. A week later, the woman died, and Wu was very sad to lose such a good friend.

        An American women fell from her wheelchair and couldn’t get back up. A friend of mine passed her door and saw her sitting on the floor so she entered but wasn’t strong enough to help the woman get back in the chair. She finally asked a maintenance man to do it.

        Another woman couldn’t manage to set her alarm clock and knew that she had to get up early to get to the hospital. She knocked on three doors on the opposite side of the hall, but no one was home so she knocked on the door of a Chinese couple. Though they had difficulty understanding her, they eventually got help.

        Chinese people need to communicate with Americans so a lot of us study English. Several years ago, Pat was our instructor, and Kendall has been helping since last summer. We appreciate all the help we can get. Through studying, some of us have already become citizens. I hope we’ll all be able to converse with each other easily soon.

        One of my neighbors said that it is very pleasant to live here. She and her husband had hesitated living in America, but now that they’ve decided to do so, they regard everyone here as their family. Another friend said that she had finally found a place like heaven where there is both pleasure and peace.

        All of these things really touch my heart, and I feel that we ought to name our building “The International Extended Family".