The spring festiwd was coming．We didn’t actuallv have a concrete plan about how to spend it．We don’t have any relatives here and we couldn’t watch the TV show about it．If we celebrate it．it would be cheerless．If we don’t celebrate it，the New Year lost its true meaning as Chinese．As a resuh，we just simply planned to make some dumplings and eat them，making the festival as simple as we could．However，just the day before spring festival，our neighbor an old Chinese couple told us that a banquet wouht be held the next day and asked us whether if we would like to join．Of course，we nodded to them．Thev gave us three invitations of the party so that we could join them．I was curious about spring festival here．It was said that the banquet was held bv some Chi-nese students studying in the University of Iowa．
On that afternoon，we drove to the church where the banquet wouldbe held．When we arrived at the church，it hadn"t begun vet．However．the atmosphere was turning more and more familiar with the New Yearin China．The smell of candies and dumplings，the happy and relaxed chatting and the familiar Asian faces all came to us． A sense of warm thsprung up in my heart．And I met many Chinese friends there．
Soon，the program began．The anchors of the banquet-two womenand two men came out on the stage．They wore beautifully and gor-geously．They spoke both of Chinese and English because there were also lots of foreigners．A big Chinese national flag was shown on the screen off stage．And the decorations around the audience were mostly Chinese styles．Everything was homelike as if we were back to China a-gain．We could chat and express ourselves well and cordially．
The first program was singing．The Chinese song made us a bit homesick，and the English song was quite unique．The second one was interesting and funny．The children from Chinese schools in Iowa danced and sang on the stage．Most of them were born in America．Some of them were adopted by the Americans from the orphanages．English was the mother tongue to all of them．It was a fabulous perfor-mance．All the audiences laughed and applauded．Next，we watched pi-ano playing and dancing．They were all fantastic．
In the mid of the show．we had ten minutes’break during which I walked around that church seeing a lot of things I"d never seen before．None of them were religious．It was my first time coming to the church，and it was different from my imagination．My mother told me that churches sometimes hold religious activities，but not always．Most of the places in church were occupied to have different activities on weekdays．For the first time，I found the church to be so unique．
The show continued．The funniest part was the movie show．Somepeople made up a new voice for the famous Chinese movie”Tian XiaWu Zei”and transformed the movie into another style．We gave the most applause to those players．A young girl showed the flash made by her along with a beautiful song to us．Her flash was sparkling and in-fectious．I enjoyed that much，especially the music she adopted．Fur-ther more，the fashion show，the Tachi performance and the orchestra all brought a great deal of happiness to us．I enjoyed them very much．
I went home at about ten．I was still excited．It would be one of the most unforgettable spring fesrivals for me-the one that I spent it in the U．S．A with people from all over China on the other side of the Pacific Ocean I considered it a unique and fantastic experience during my stay in the U．S．A．
