Alice Savage - Interesting People (Big Ideas High Beginner)

Why do people leave their countries? There are many reasons. Sometimes problems cause people to leave their homes and families. Sometimes opportunities for education or work pull them. Others leave for love, or even for adventure.

What happens after they arrive in the new country? This first unit tells the true stories of three different immigrants. Each one had challenges, but they all found a new home in a different country.

Books have always been my friends. When I was little, I lived with my grandparents. My grandfather liked to read, and he had many books. I started reading Chinese stories and Chinese medical science when I was very young.

I had a big family and friends, but my best friends were the books. I felt close to the writers, and so I became two people. One person lived in the real world with trees and houses. The other person lived in the world of words.

When I got older, I bought more books. My brothers did not like it. They wanted me to buy food and things for the house. I did not listen. Instead, I became friends with the children of a bookseller. I learned about new books in the shop. When a new book was coming out, I slept outside the shop. I wanted to be the first person to get the new book.

As I grew older, my love of books became a love of writing. I learned to use words in careful and beautiful ways. I became a poet. My family was not happy about this because poets do not make a lot of money. But I could not stop. The need to write was strong, so I continued. I went to university, and I studied the work of great writers.

I was lucky. People liked my poems, and I became a little famous. Some teachers liked my work too. They helped me, and I became an expert in Chinese literature.

At the same time, I wanted to learn about the work of English writers. They wrote about freedom and new ideas. With the help of my teachers, I traveled to England. At first, I got a job washing dishes in a restaurant. It was a terrible job for someone with a high education. Again my family was not happy, but it was exciting for me. On some days, I went to the hot, dark restaurant and worked. On other days, I went to parties and talked to famous writers. We ate good food and discussed great works of art and literature.

Then something happened. One night, I went to a party with some friends. At the party, some people performed a Chinese theater play. I watched it for a little while. There was an English woman acting in the play. I could not see her very well because she was wearing white makeup. I didnt know it then, but she was going to change my life.

Two years later, I met that woman again at a party. Her name was Francesca, and she knew a lot about my country. She had studied there, and she also knew a lot about Chinese medicine and Chinese theater. At first, I felt uncomfortable with her. She was English, but she had many opinions about China and Chinese people. Also, many Chinese people do not think theater is a high art, and I thought the same.

When I went home, I thought about our conversation. I was a Chinese person learning about England and English art. She was English, and she was learning about China and Chinese art. I wanted to explore this relationship more, so the next day I called her. We talked for two hours. We shared our ideas about medicine, art, and life.

Francesca and I became good friends. Then we fell in love and decided to build a life together. I decided to stay in England. We got married and had a child with two cultures.

When I became a father, I could not study art and wash dishes in restaurants anymore. I had to become a person in the real world. I stopped writing poems, and I went back to my childhood love of medical science. I studied Chinese medicine, and I became a doctor.

Today I am busy with my work. I do not write many poems, but my home is full books. Other writers and artists often visit to talk. I still explore different ways to experience the world. I have not stopped being a poet, but now, my greatest poem is my daughter.