Chapter 6 Summary and Analysis

In total, it took twenty-eight days to travel from Shanghai, China to San Francisco, USA. Andrea and Jean did some people watching, categorizing people according to their qualities or activities. They did not notice anyone else their own age. Andrea lamented that they would not be able to flirt with boys. By contrast, Jean wasn't quite old enough to be interested in boys. Andrea further revealed that she missed her father badly and was very sad about him staying behind in Shanghai.

Jean herself had a strange "in-between" feeling, between countries and between cultures. A big moment for her was the ship's crossing of the international date line, when the day changes. She knew that crossing meant she was in a different "day" than Lin Nai-Nai, but the same day as her Grandma in America.

Jean and Andrea spent the days...