In 2014, when I was 14, my mother took me to Czech Republic to travel.

At first, I didn't know about this at all. I remember I was in the English cram class, at the end of class the teacher told me: "Enjoy your trip abroad!" So I was a little sad and disappointed, I came home & complained to my mom:"Why don't you take me to travel abroad?" My mom was hiding this from me because she wanted to give me a surprise. Then my mom showed me 2 airplane tickets to Czech Republic, and told me about this. I was so happy and exciting!

First of all, we take an airplane to Bejing International Airport, this was my first time traveling to a different country! We are in the airport, it was complicated to us who has no experience in travel. I said:"Not that way, this way." My monther said:"It's that way." And then we followed my direction. Thereafter I was complained to my mother that if we followed her direction we wouldn't take the airplane. After we past the airline examination, it was International area! Looked at the foreigner pass by, the feeling of International makes me so exciting. The smell of the airport, it's the combination of perfumes and others makes my spirit serval times better! The midnight clock striked, it was 2014, 1, 1; the New Year eve in the International Airport, there was many emotions in my heart...

We went to the airplane, my mother said:"I'm afraid they didn't let us pass." We took the Turkish airlines, from Bejing to Istanbul International Airport, Turkey, and then we took another flight from Istanbul to Pragure, Czech. We are on the airplane, the music makes my refreshed. My mom said:" The stewarder is very handsome." They gave me a wet handkerchief, a blanket, and an earphone. Short after, I was served Chicken breast, it tasted different than my airplane meal before. We spent on the airplane around 15 hours, it was the longest airline I had ever take.

We took another plane to Prague, Czech Republic. Unlike the big airplane that we took the last one, this one is a small airplane, the airline stewardess gave us our meal: they're tomato scrambled eggs, it's delicious, a weird-tasting black circle, and a cup of yogurt. Not long before we arrived, the airplane shaked violently, I was very scared, I looked around, some passenger has terrified looks on their faces, some passenger liked nothing happened.

We went off the airplane. My mother's friend is waiting for us at the airport. His name is Yi Wang, he's a fatty 40-year-old Chinese who work at local XinHua News Agency as a reporter. He wears a glasses, has a little weird sound. We moved into his car. This is my first time in a different state, everything looks different, I was sitting in the car and looking outside through the window, the trees look no one pruning, they're growing irregular, but looks beautiful with the purple evening sky. I'm a bad student in school, medium grades, reluctant to make progress, no target, just follow the teacher and my parents. Yi Wang was talking about the education in the car: "You're in the middle school, 90% of what we are taught in this stage is unless when we step in the society... In the middle school it's okay to be at a lower grades, but in the high school you need to put effort..." And he talked about this a lot. I looked at the trees and thinking: Compare to the beautiful no pruning trees, is pruning and cutting really good? When we were chatting, the car stopped in front of a Mcdonald's, this was my first meal in Czech Republic, Mcdonald's.

We walked inside the Mcdonald's, and I asked:"Mom, what should I order?" YiWang said to me:"Choose yourself, choose what you want to eat." While we were eating, my mom said:" He don't like to study." Yi Wang said:" It's normal for a kid like his age don't like to study, people always prefer the easier way, and for him playing games is the easier way." After the meal, Yi Wang drove us to the hotel, he paid the money, and leave us some money, and then me and my mom went up the floor to our room. It's a nice family hotel, it has the kichen inside the room, 2 beds, and big window, looks old but warm. I took some photos through the window:

It looks beautiful and very unique! I sat on the bed and folded paper airplane. My mom said:"You know there is a International paper airplane contest, maybe you can join." I opened my phone and puted on some musics... We spent a nice evening in the hotel.

Tomorrow morning Yi Wang came to the hotel, he took us to a restaurant to have lunch. I walked into the restaurant and playing with my paper airplane. My mom and uncle Wang was talking. It is a Chinese restaurant. We sat at the table. "Today let's have a good meal, let me welcome you!" Said by Yi Wang. The waiter brought us the menu. I took the menu, looked at it, and asked:"Mom, what should I order?" Yi Wang asked:"Is he always like this?" My mom replied:"Yes, he usually like this, ask my opinion and listen to me." In life, in study...Yi Wang said to me:" I tell you, a man, to be assertive. You order whatever you want to eat, do what you want to do. In your life, you decide what you want, and follow it." I decide what I want... I was thinking. What do I want? "I want to order this salmon sashimi!" I said. "Very good, man." Yi Wang said. What I didn't know is at this moment, this taught me a good leason, which makes a huge influence to me and my future life and journey. While we were chatting, our dishes is here. Very sumptuous a table of dish. I picked up a piece of salmon, and puted it in my mouth. A very delicious and flesh flavor occupied my mouth! This is my first time eating salmon sashimi, and it's really delicious! "I like it!" I said. Then I puted a braised rib in my mouth, it's sweet and nice. Yi Wang said:" You know, Shanghai people like to eat sweet, so they have many sweet dishes, some part of China's dish is salty." It was a very good meal.

After the lunch, me and my mom had a little walk around the city. There's a hot dog stall. I saw there're 3 different kinds of hot dogs on the menu. I chose the most expensive one and gave him the money. After a while, my hot dog is ready. It's a traditional Czech Republic hot dog. One prod of barbecue and vegetable with ketch up. My mom took me a photo while I was eating, although it's under my strong opposition.

It tastes different than the hot dog I ate before, but it's very delicious. After I finished the hot dog, we continue walked. The sky is cloudy. I was walking and looking around these Gothic style architecture. I took some photos while I was walking.

We went to a supermarket, I bought some traditional sausage to be my dinner later. We took the subway to go back to our hotel. At the subway station, after we bought the subway card, my mom used it to wipe the machine lightly, walked past the machine, and called me:" Come on, let's go." I said:" I think it's not put it this way..." My mom said:" It's okay, let's go!" I helpless followed my mom and said:" But it's not okay." We are on the subway, a few stop later, some policemen came to the subway, and let us out. An old policeman said to us:" You need to use the card to across that yellow machine." Neither me and my monther can understand what he said. My English is not good at this time. He saw no one replying, and repeat himself:"You need to use your card to across that yellow machine." He asked:"Do you speak English?" I replied:"Yes, I speak English." He said again angrily:" You need to use your card to across that yellow machine!" I was thinking, what's "machine" means? Finally, we found the right way to across the card and we came back to our hotel. I said to me mom:"I told you." In the hotel I had the traditional sausage as my dinner. And then I took a shower and went back to sleep.

The next morning Yi Wang came, our destination today is going to a spa town called Karlovy Vary. We had our breakfast, and went into his car. On the way there, Yi Wang told us about his past story while he was driving: "My family has 3 boys, my brothers are big-eyes, and I'm the not good looking one. When I was younger, my shoulder was always one side high and one side low, I was usually being laughed at because of that." As he was saying, he made a post with one shouder lower and the other one higher. He kept saying: "When I was in the university, Beijing Foreign studies university, I studied very hard. Every morning I got up around 5 a.m. to memorize some words. I usually kept studying all days. And I used my spare time to work as moving bricks in the construction site, on the one hand for making some money, on the other hand to exercise. And I puted the bricks on my higher shoulder to make them balance." I said:" I understand you study hard, but I feel like my talent is less than others." Yi Wang said:" Then you need to double your effort." Then he kept saying:" Because of my effort, I was the third one in my university. They leted me choose from 3 countries to study abroad, and I chose Czech Republic." While he was saying, we arrived.

We went off the car. There were some stalls were selling cups. We bought 2, a drown one for me and another green one for my mother. They're traditional porcelain cups, there're beautiful patterns engraved on them. I also saw some artists who covered in gray or gold paint standing like sculptures, they posed strangely to attract attention. Yi Wang said:" You saw those travelers who take photos there? They're Russian. After a while the artist will stop them because they didn't give them money, and those irritable Russian will have a fight with the artist." We kept walking, there're some faucets there. "Let's go drink some spring water." Yi Wang said. I walked to one of the faucets, opened it and use my brown cup to get some spring water, and I drank it. It has a weird taste. My mom took me a photo there, while I was standing next to a cute Russian little girl.

After that we went to a local traditional restaurant. We are sitting at the table and I ordered a traditional tripe soup. While we were waiting for our food to be served, we chatted. My mom said:" I told him to drink some water in the morning, it's good for him, but he won't listen to me." Yi Wang said:"Don't brother it." My mom said to me:" You should listen to me, your uncle Wang is getting angry." But I know he means that let me be independent. Yi Wang said:" I lived in Prague for many years, I took place that the foreigners are very honest in business. You gave them the money and they will give the goods to you. Unlike Chinese." He continue said:" There was a fool, he has been following his boss to do things. One day his boss went on a business trip, and he left his store in the hands of this fool. When he come back, everything is here. From now on, he made the fool a supervisor. Why this fool can be a supervisor? Because he's a fool, he's honest, he don't stealing something." I said:" I understand it." Yi Wang said:" I spoke with many kids these things and they don't understand, but he do. He has good understanding." While we were chatting, my tripe soup is here! I tasted a spoon of my tripe soup, a full-bodied beef flavour appeared in my mouth. It tastes a little bit different than I expected, but it's very good! Yi Wang was talking about soup while we were eating. I kept drinking the soup until it was empty. It had nothing left in my bowl. The waiter who were passing by saw my empty bowl, a satisfied smile appeared on his face. Until today I had a lot of soup from many different countries, but it's still my favorite soup. After that Yi Wang drove up back to our hotel and we rested.

The next few days Yi Wang didn't come to take us because of his work. We took some walk around the city everyday. I took some photos of the street when we were walking.

When it was dining time we went to a resaurant or go to the supermarket to buy some food and juice. It's worth mentioning that there was cactus fruit juice selling in the supermarket there. It has a sweet flavour, and it tastes good. And I bought the hot dog many times from the same stall, I tasted all kinds of different hot dogs there, they're tasting good. We also got lost a few times. There was one time we asked the direction to the local passerby. She is a kind looking old lady. She explained to us the direction. When she saw us looking confused she told us to come with her. And then we followed her who leading the way. She told us that she's a professor from the university. She is a very kind lady. And another time we asked for direction to a pair of lovers who looks like university students. They saw we asked them and the female ran away, the male looked at her and put on a helpless expression, and he explained to us the direction. The female came back and say hi to us.

We were also visiting Yi Wang's home. It's a normal house, as a Xinhua News Agency reporter the house and his car are paid by his company. We came into his house, and I saw Yi Wang's wife and son who were playing Plants vs Zombies 2. He wife looked a little angry. We were chatting for sometimes and after we went back to our hotel.

We also went to a local concert. We were sitting in the small concert hall. I looked at the players, some of them has curls, they're like white balls, I never seen this in my country. There were violins and cellos, The music started. They looked very concentrated and dedicated. The music that contains several musicals together is melodious, like it's telling a story. The players looked talented, their fingers ran quickly over the strings. Then they were playing Hungarian Dance no.5, the passionate music reverberated in the concert hall like horses that are one by one were pentiuming! It's sometimes cheerful, sometimes quiet, sometimes passionate! It got me so dedicated in the music that I couldn't pull myself out. It's a worthwhile experience.

In another time, we passed by a violin shop, we went into the shop, and I saw that there were unpainted violins there, it's handmade. My mom asked the seller price, as a violin player she wanted to buy one for me. But after she knew that the price was too expensive we left the shop.

My mother took me a photo while we were walking.

In another day, we went to a antique shop. I was impatient and wanted to leave the shop while my mother was trying to communicate with the seller. She said:" Be patient. I want to buy a antique as a gift to your "father"." I said:"Come on, let's go!" My mom kept choosing the antique and asking the price. And finally, she chose a small porcelain and packed it, and we left the store.

I had an arguement with my mom, and I went separate from her. It was a sad dusk, by myself, I walked and walked and got lost. I checked my pocked subconsciously, there was rarely something on me at this time, no phone, no any money. Fear and anxiety twined me tightly, and I continue walked aimlessly, until night, the moon was rising on the sky. What should I do? I asked myself desperately. I looked at the moon. And suddenly! I feel so excited and cheered up! I began to try finding the way to my hotel and started to use my poor oral English to ask for direction to the passerbys, it was very hard to communicated with them. Because on the one hand, my English was bad at that time; on the other hand, only some people in Cezch Republic speak English. I remember Yi Wang said at this time:" You don't have to use your mouth to communicated, use your body language or other things can also make it work." I kept trying to ask the direction from different strangers and kept walking. Until midnight, I sucessfully found my hotel! I felt so happy and accomplished that I came back successfully! I saw that my mother and the waitress were waiting for me at the front door. I asked my mom:" Why aren't you go out and look for me?" She said:" Because I know that you could come back." There was an indescribable feeling permeated in my heart. The young waitress were smiling at me, from her smile I could read that this is very brave. This night, forever in my memory.

The next morning we had our breakfast in the hotel. There were some ham and cheese, we were sitting at the table and eating. There were some young locals were looking at us through the window. There were talking to each other suprisely. It seems like they rarely see an Asian people here. My mother took me a photo while I was eating, although I still don't like it.

Yi Wang came to the hotel. Today he took us to a shopping mall. We were there, and we were walking through different stores and admiring all kinds of different clothes and shoes. Yi Wang told me to choose what I like. I looked around carefully. Finally, my eyes stayed on a pair of leather shoes. It's black and it gave me a sense of simplicity but very beautiful. I decided to choose it. My mom see my eyes and said to me surprisely: "This is a Gucci store! The leather shoes is so expensive! Don't choose it, let's go!" Yi Wang said:"This is very nice, Gucci is famous for it's leather shoes." My mom said hurriedly:" It's okay! A little child don't need to wear such a good shoes. Although my mom repeatedly dissuaded, Yi Wang bought me this shoes. Just like this, I got my first leather shoes and the most expensive shoes in my entire childhood. Yi Wang said to me:" Go ahead to choose something else for yourself." And then I leaved them and walking to another store. I admiring the clothes and touched it, a waitress saw this and yelled at me by using the local language. I ran out of the store scaredly. And then I went to a Puma store, I looked at the different clothes and my eyes stopped at a very beautiful black jacket. I called Yi Wang and my mom to be there and he bought me this clothes. Later in my life, this clothes became a symbolic item of my dream. Yi Wang said:" The clothes here are more advance by many years than the clothes of the same brand in China, they put the lagging clothes there.

We finished the shopping and went to a local restaurant. Before we ate, my mom took me a photo with Yi Wang.

We finished the lunch and Yi Wang drive us back to the hotel. Tomorrow we will go to the airport and back to our hometown. We had our last little walk through the streets. There were a couple past by, the male looks like Japanese and the female looks like the local, there's an indescribable feeling in my heart. We were continue walking, a strange scene appeared in our eyes. There were 2 men, a men were like flying at the top of another man, he only supported by a wooden stick that the other man was holding. Me and my mom were surprised. I took a photo of them.

We went to some gift shops and back to our hotel. But I was absent-minded along the way. I'm going to miss the food I had here, I'm going to miss everyone in Prague, the old man in the violin shop, the old lady who leaded the way for us, the talented artists in the concert... And the hotel, it was a home for my soul for a long time in my childhood. It feels like heartbroken. I love it here, I love Czech Republic.

Sequel

Around 2 months later... In my middle school, the students were back from their vacation. My teacher asked the students to share their experience in the vacation. I raised my hand courageously, strided to the front, and said to everyone:" This vacation I went to Cezch Republic with my mom. I learned a lot, and I experienced a lot. There're a lot of stories that I could never forget. There was 1 night, I went separate with my mom, and there was rarely something on me at that time. But I used my poor oral English to ask the way and finally found my hotel! Most importantly, I found my dream! Which is go to a good university in Europe!"