I have carried this amulet with me for seven years already. Before I went on a journey to the United States for my high school seven years ago, my grandmother gave me this amulet. She went to the temple and got the amulet. The amulet is blessed by the eminent monk. She told me to always keep the amulet in my wallet and don't ever drop the amulet on the floor. 
    My grandma grew up in a rural village in China, she was married to my grandpa at a very young age. My grandma has seven children, my father was her second-born. My father left the village to join the military at the age of 17. As being under aged, my father has to lie in order to be drafted. After the military, my father went to Hong Kong and met my mother. And many years later, they gave birth to me. When I was in middle school, I was in love with rap music and American culture, going to the United States for school became my dream. I told my parents that I want to study in the United States, they agreed to send me to a private school in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania. I am the first person who got to go to another country to pursue a college education in my family.
    My grandma is now 84, every time I went to visit her in China, she would give me some pocket money and told me that I am her favorite grandchild secretly. I love my grandmother and I will keep the amulet with me forever because when I am carrying the amulet, I can feel the protection, the love from my grandmother.

– Mingzhe Xie

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant