hey everyone. so it's been a really really really long time since i've updated this and i apologize (i hope it's not too late? hahaha). anyway, the following possibly ridiculously long entry will be filled with my random observations and adventures. i hope you're ready.
*this will also be filled with no capitalization. sorry english majors.
1)maybe i was really adopted from china
so it's been really hard for me to convey to people here that i'm not really chinese because they all have this idea that i look really chinese? even after explaining in chinese language that i'm korean ("wo shi han guo ren" for all those interested parties, mainly my little brother because i think that's the only person that phrase would apply towards), the most common response is: but you look so chinese! whatever, we'll see when i get to korea if i still am mistaken for chinese. if that's the case, holt int'l has some explaining to do...
1.5)it's really difficult to explain the term adoption to non-english speakers/non-american peoples
we went to a senior middle school in fenyang, a province of shanxi, where we met a lot of young people. after unsuccessfully explaining that i am korean and not chinese, i tried to explain that i was adopted. the conversation went a little like this:
(Me)"so i was born in korea and grew up in america since i was 3 months old, a baby. my parents are white american, but i am korean."
(Chinese Student)"so your parents are chinese?"
(Me)"no, i am korean and my parents are american."
(Chinese Student)"oh, so your parents are korean and you live in america..."
(Me)"no...my parents look like paul (i point to paul, a white male on my program."
(Paul) "WAIT...your parents both look like me?"
(Me)"are you serious?"
eventually i gave up the whole process of explaining and then had to deal with why i was 'chinese' and didn't speak chinese. overall, it was a losing battle.
2)my chinese language skills make no sense
after 10 weeks/1 trimester of chinese language at carleton, i thought maybe it would start coming back. for the most part, it's true, and i'm going to a chinese intro language class in 10 minutes. however, i can say my numbers, hello, goodbye, that's too expensive, how much, 1 bottle sprite, 10 trays of dumplings, and mommy. i'm pretty sure that i need to take this class and have even repurchased my chinese language textbook.
*fyi, carls in chinese, the bookstore is ripping you off. the book here is 8 bucks, not 26. ridiculous, right? on the upside, lu yuping is still as amazing as ever.
3)being asian still allows me to make some observations that others cannot
so even though i don't really speak the language, i'm getting a kick out of following 10 feet behind my white friends and watching everyone point/comment/giggle. it's actually kind of fun until the chinese people try to collude with me on their comments, and i end up looking like a fool with my 'huh?' face.
4)china has not changed my ability to lose things. here is a sample:
-cell phone and card ($50, ouch! i'm going to buy a new one this week for spring break)
-phone number list
-room list
-packs of gum (though most of the time by 'lose' i mean i get suckered into giving it to small children and unprepared carls. i guess that's not really losing)
5)chinese food is not chinese food
so i realize how americanized my tastes are and i hope this real chinese food is preparing me for my summer in korea. instead, i keep sneaking off to get pizza/chicken/western food. it doesn't help that my roommate can't really eat a lot of food, so i use her as an excuse to keep getting mashed potatoes from kfc. oops.
6)i'm going to chinese hawaii for spring break
that's right everyone. be jealous. be very jealous*
*except for the fact that i know the most chinese language of my group of four which really means that we don't speak chinese and we're going to sanya, hainan province off the coast of china. it will be fine mother, please don't worry. i'm overexaggerating. it's supposed to be touristy, so i'm happy as long as we don't get ripped off too much. we're also spending part of break exploring beijing, so hopefully i'll get to see melissa again, which would be super fun.
7)it's chinese language class time so i'm out for now! the next post will hopefully be sooner and shorter.
love and hugs :D
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment