Coming to America (2) (初来美国 2)

Back in 1996, U.S. embassy in Beijing was still first-come, first-serve. People started to line up the street outside the embassy after midnight. I think I got there around 4:30 am. There was an old lady there who was renting out little stools for people to sit and wait. It also served as your unofficial number in line. I think my number was either 48 or 68. I remembered because '8' is a lucky number in China. I was still quite confident that I had a fair shot in getting a visa.

The embassy opened at 8:00 am. Around 10:00 am, I was allowed to enter the embassy ground. I stood in line for another hour inside waiting, during which time I witnessed many people's visa application got turned down. One young woman officer was especially harsh, turned down almost everyone who came to her window. I was praying to not go to her window, and somehow it worked. When it was my turn, an old gentleman in the window next to hers, smiled at me and said "next". I felt genuinely relieved and walked to his window with a big smile on my face.

I had brought with me a stash of paperwork: visa application form, admission letter, college degree, transcript, bank statement, affidavits from my boss ...... Anything I thought that might help to prove:
1. I had enough money to support myself during the 2-year program.
2. I would come back to China after graduating in the U.S. (Any immigration tendency would cause the visa application to fail in those days.)

The visa officer didn't bother to look at my paperwork at all. Instead he looked at me kindly and asked me three simple questions in English that I remembered clearly to this day:
1. Do you have a scholarship? [Answer: Yes]
2. Have you been to America? [Answer: No]
3. Do you have any relative living in America? [Answer: No]
After that he took my passport and told me I should get my visa in two days. I walked out of the embassy in disbelief. After all the horror stories I had heard relating to visa application, I couldn’t believe I got my visa this easy.

The next two months went by in a blur. I quit my job, said good-bye to my friends, packed up everything I might need in two large suitcases, each weighed 70 lbs (the maximum weight allowed), plus one small suitcase, one backpack, and paid 6,000 RMB ($720) for a one-way ticket to Houston, Texas. There was no plan to come back to China to visit since I couldn't afford it. Yet at the time I did plan to come back to China after I graduated, because going to America was not my idea in the first place. I didn't know anyone in America, why do I want to live there alone after graduation? Of course all that changed later.