I’ve got to go to college.

After my father passed away, my mom never remarried and she brought our four brothers and sister up herself.  No word could describe how hard and miserable our life was in a backward tiny mountain village at the foot of the Great Wall.
In 1977, Deng’s reform gave many youths, including me a hope that was to go to college.  I told myself I had to go to college; otherwise I would be in countryside forever.   But it was very tough for a country boy to go to college without teachers and textbooks, to be exactly, we were even short of food, clothes and housing.   Lucky enough.  Our county tried to train young teachers to learn English so that the young teachers could teach students English.  The county government believed that English would be very important in the future which was very smart at that time almost twenty some years ago.  
I was one of about twenty selected young teachers and we were trained three months.  I said to myself that Shang Tian You Yian, Ta Mei Wang Ji  No Worry.  No Worry would try English in college exam.  I believed that not many knew English at that time so that it might be easier for me to get into English college.  I believed that I was right though I was a still teenager.
After three months training, I was signed to the high school where I graduated.  From then on, while teaching my students with my humble three-month-English by radio English like Zhang Guan Lin, Sheng Bao Qing, I kept teaching myself English and other courses.   One year later, I thought that I was ready and I took the general entry exam.  I got 62 points in English which was highest in our county.  As matter of fact, the highest was 85 in TS city where my county belongs.  And I was one of twenty students from TS district who were qualified to take oral test. 
Because my oral English was not that good and my total score was not that high, I was not admitted by a four-year university but a two-year college.  I did have a chance to a four-year college.  The college asked me whether I would love to go to Tibet after graduation.   I lost that opportunity because we were far away from the post office and it was too late when I got to know the chance.    I asked my mom whether I should go that university or not.  I remembered very vividly even now, my mom said” go, go to anywhere as long as you go to college and leave countryside” From her eyes and her voice, I knew she didn’t want to but she had no other choice for the sake of me.
Two year later from CD College, I was signed to teach a high school English.  I loved my students and worked very hard.  I treated them as my own brothers and sisters because I knew they would be nothing if they could not go to college.  As matter of fact, some of my students were even older than me.  Without any English knowledge background and with a start of ABC, two years later, my students of 80 got an excellent score of average of 48 and a couple of students got scores of more than 90s and one student even got 99.    I was almost immediately famous in the whole city.  And that’s why one year later as an outstanding young teacher I was send to HB university to further study another two years with salary and transportation fees to be the so-called third generations of Chinese future leaders, which was very unique at that time.
From HB, I met my great teacher and my super American mother D.  I was very lucky to meet her and hu*****and very briefly.  D taught us English less than two months.  She loved my writings, my ideas, my character and personality.  To her, I was outstanding.  She was very appreciative of my writings and published some of my writings at one of the scholar gatherings at UC. After the gathering, the then President of UC asked D what I was planning to do next. D told him that she would like me to study in America. And the President agreed.  She sent a letter to American Embassy in China, requesting their assistance in visa matter. 
I know that I should stop here, but I really and truly want to tell you more about D at this mother’s day time, my special and super American mom.  Whenever I think about D, I am overwhelmed by her kindness and generosities, her compassion towards people of foreign land and her strong desire to help.  She changed a young man’s life.  
In January 1987, I arrived at UC.  D hurried to the campus from the sate legislature session and gave me a big hug and promised that she would take care of me like a mother. And she did.  She helped me with the entire application procedures, scholarship, tuition, food, books and housing.  She also helped me select courses and meet teachers. She opened an account for me and put some money every month as my allowance. She tried to teach me everything. She often brought me to the state legislature sessions and gatherings. In order for me to understand America, she also arranged me to travel the entire U.S. continent for the whole summer of 88 at her expense.
In the fall 88, D helped me to transfer from UC to MU. She drove me back and forth from C city and H city many times to see the President, the Dean and professors. She helped me look for apartment and select courses. She paid tuition and housing for the first semester when I did not got scholarship.  She constantly wrote to me and asked about my studies, housing, food and everything.  
At this time her hu*****and was running for Governor and he won two terms.  Both D and her hu*****and were very happy to see me around. I attended many campaign rallies. They invited me to their house and governor mansion and the State Capitol many times. It was a great time. Both D and her hu*****and treated me so kindly. 
In 1990, I went to MVU.   D drove me from C city to M city to see the Dean, professors and helped me settle down in MVU. I was so excited that D was running for the State Treasurer. I talked to her many times. She sounded very positive and upbeat. Unfortunately she lost the race, only short of few votes.  She was so disappointed that she went to Pairs one year later. And we lost touch with each other one year later for a quite long time. 
I became to know how famous, rich and influential D and her hu*****and were. Her hu*****and was a well-known millionaire. He was also the trustee for over twenty colleges for many years and donated millions to education and charities. D was from a very distinguished family. Her father was Chief Judge of State Supreme Court. D was once in second place at Miss USA pageant. She got PhD degree while she was the mother to two boys. She was a delegate of the State and a member of the State Education Committee. 
She was popular and influential in State Legislature. I came to understand why I received full scholarship and why the University issued an official letter to the American Embassy in Beijing, requesting assistance in issuing visa to me to study in UC. The American Embassy consular asked me how I got to know D and issued student visa to me right away without any further questions. 
Influential and rich, and yet kind, loving and warm-hearted, both D and her hu*****and were great. Time magazine once ranked them as the most beautiful and powerful, and yet youngest couple in the United States. Even their political opponents admired and respected them, though they asserted, during their gubernatorial campaign, that D and her hu*****and tried to make their state as their own State. 
D taught me so many, and one of the greatest I remember so well, “knowledge is powerful.”