What if I was born in Hong Kong? What if my parents had decided to move back to Hong Kong?<\/p>\n
Our guide in Vietnam told Ta-ching and me, “You’re so lucky to be born in United States. So lucky! You can speak English!”<\/p>\n
If I had been born in Hong Kong\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit would be so different. This language barrier and cultural differences would not exist between my parents and me. I noticed this as I watched my cousin spoke freely (and yet in a rebellious way) to my aunt. My American self would hate my Hong Kong self.<\/p>\n
My aunt’s husband\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmy mom’s younger brother\u00e2\u20ac\u201dpassed away a long time ago when I was young enough not to remember. And so the only family I had on my mom’s side are my cousin and my aunt, both living in Hong. Because my dad’s side of the family completely moved to the US, I only knew those two.<\/p>\n
The day before I left, my aunt took me to her brother’s house to have dinner. Not wanting to stick out like an obnoxious American, I kept to myself mostly with extreme politeness, chatting occasionally about my life in a mix of broken Chinese and English, and nodding when food arrived on my plate (despite hating hating hating mushrooms).<\/p>\n
Unlike my Hong Kong counterparts, I smiled like an American and wore less clothes (I have always worn less clothes in cold weather because I wanted to feel comfortable and not bogged down).<\/p>\n
What if I was born in Hong Kong? What if my parents had decided to move back to Hong Kong? Our guide in Vietnam told Ta-ching and me, “You’re so lucky to be born in United States. So lucky! You … Continue reading ![\"My](\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4031\/4327198472_e301bd1dfe.jpg\")
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