Mrs. Pan is like a fish out of water in New York. Everything about the place is so strange to her, so alien. For one thing, the water tastes like metal, not like the earthy water back home in her remote Chinese village. Then there's the little matter of her not being able to speak a word of English.

Staying with her son's family doesn't make the old lady feel any more at home in the big city. There's a huge cultural gulf...

(The entire section contains 243 words.)