This week I moved out of my dirty college dorm room and into a home stay apartment about a 30 minute walk from the campus. For the next two weeks, I will have to speak Chinese as much as possible to be able to communicate with my new family. They have welcomed me in as a son, given me my own room with a view, and have already cooked me a delicious BBQ dinner. My home stay baba (father) is who you will read about in this article.

My full name is Gao Jian.

I live in tian kong (the sky). My apartment is on the 17th floor of an apartment complex in Kunming, China. We have five rooms in the apartment including a kitchen with a view and a balcony overlooking the city. Our living room has a upright piano and a huge flat screen TV for watching movies with the family. We like to hang photos of the family around the house and decorate with plants, especially out on our balcony.

I have been married for 15 years to my wife and we have one 10 year old daughter named Chen Chen. She is a sixth grader who loves drawing, playing piano and learning how to speak English.

I've owned a bright hongse (red) car for five years now. We use it to get around to far off places and my job sometimes but we prefer to go for walks when buying groceries and visiting friends.