I think I've been brainwashed...

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Apparently this is how I see older Asian-Americans......

Last week I was holding the door open for a Chinese family behind me at the Chinese community center I go to for my art lessons. There were two adorable girls wearing leotards that had just finished with their ballet lessons running behind me, eager to get into the car so they could go home.

I recognized the mother from when I was walking to the bathroom to wash the paint from my hands. She was watching her kids and had that nostalgic look on her face. I thought her expression was beautiful. When I was coming back to the studio, I saw her practicing pirouettes in the corner of the room.

I let their kids run past by me and the two parents raced out as well, trying to catch up to their kids. They looked back, smiled and said "Thank you!" in unison, in perfect English. I've been averaging about 4 hours of sleep a day for the past two months so I may or may not have been in the right state of mind, but it amazed me that they spoke without an accent.

I know that ABC's are around and hell, you're all over the interwebz but for some reason it never crossed my mind that I would actually bump into one in real life. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I'm so engrossed in the Vietnamese community where there's mostly fobs and that most of the first generation born here are around my age. Who knows, but it's still strange for me when I meet an Asian-American in their thirties or older that speaks fluent English- almost alien, really.

- Tommy

Comments

J said…
Well, then I'm an alien, because I'm in my 40's and speak perfect English with no accent (at least not a heavy Asian accent). That's the thing with Asians. The various Asian communities (Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese) are always being replenished with immigrants, so there's always a FOB stereotype.

With Chinese Americans, there's a big mix of FOB's from HK or from Taiwan, and ABC's of different generations. My dad was raised in Kentucky. A past girlfriend of mine who was Hapa had a Chinese grandfather on her dad's side who spoke perfect English. I knew a girl in college who was 4th generation American.

4th and 5th generation Chinese Americans are pretty rare in the Bay Area, but you tend to find them more inland (like Sacramento). They're rare, because a lot of times they marry out (both the men and women). Same thing with the Japanese Americans. Although I have known a couple of women who were 3rd or 4th generation and were of mixed ethnic heritage (Chinese American and Japanese American). This makes sense, considering that if you're in an area with not a lot of Chinese or Japanese, then you're likely to have Pan Asian unions.
November 13, 2011 at 2:06 PM
Tommy said…
Sorry, I didn't mean to be offensive. I think what I'm trying to get at is that I feel sort of ashamed that I had this image that the older generations are ONLY fobs or something.
November 13, 2011 at 4:40 PM
J said…
No I wasn't offended at all, Tom. I think we all have this image of the older generations as immigrants. I just didn't realize I was part of the older generations. I'm getting old!

Hey so did you do the drawing? It's pretty good. You should be a cartoonist.
November 13, 2011 at 6:43 PM
Tommy said…
lol dude that was from the first Harold and Kumar, towards the end of the movie. The picture from Fucking a-m-a-z-i-n-g is one I drew.
November 13, 2011 at 7:28 PM
J said…
haha, that's right. I totally forgot about that from the movie. That fucking amazing picture is even better: FUCKING AMAZING. Looks like a Van Gogh painting, like his painting "Starry Night."
November 14, 2011 at 5:05 AM
Tommy said…
Hey thanks for the praise! Some of the pharmacists I work with actually want to commission me :D
November 16, 2011 at 10:30 PM
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