Chinese American

I've written a little about this before, but I thought that maybe I could do the world a small favor and spread a little inter-cultural understanding. As one of many that were born into a Chinese family living in America, I have had the opportunity to observe two different cultures at close range. In addition to being born and raised here in the US, I also got to live in Taiwan for a year during when I was a freshman in high school, which some of you may not know.

Anyways, it's no secret that Chinese people and American people are different. We look different, for starters, but we are also brought up differently and think differently as a result. Unfortunately, it's hard for people who don't know the whole story of both cultures to understand all of these differences. I thought I would point out some of these differences so maybe more people will gain the gift of understanding. Don't expect it to be too deep though.

Every time you go to the supermarket to buy stuff, you have to get in line to pay. I've personally found that this is one of the places where human nature becomes most manifest, and we can observe a lot about different people by seeing how they act in these situations. Picture two ladies, one Chinese and one American, coming from opposite directions of the store. Both happen to spot a line that is significantly shorter than the others, and both decide to head for it at the same moment. It looks like at the rate they are going, both will arrive at the line simultaneously. Not a small predicament by any means, what do they each do about it? I'll tell you what happens. The Chinese woman speeds up and jumps in line before the other lady, who in turn reacts by just rolling her eyes and feeling disgusted. How did I know that would happen? Because that is what the typical Chinese lady would do, and I know this because my mom is a Chinese lady. Not to disrespect my mom, I love my mom but that's just how she, and most Chinese moms are.

Now, why would a sweet little Chinese woman be so rude? Well, unfortunately, it's a product of the Chinese way of life. Even if she's not in a rush, she's been conditioned throughout her entire life to save every moment, save every penny, and not let anyone else get the best of her. When the supermarket incident happens, it's a natural reaction to try to save those 2 minutes as much as possible. When it comes to money, the Chinese save every penny because that is their inborn culture. I always wondered why my grandparents, who are retired and have enough money saved to live comfortably for many years, continue to clip coupons and drive a crappy car (the old school Ford Taurus handed down from my mom to me, me to my sister, and my sister to them). But how do you tell a man and woman who worked from the ground up, raised a family with six children, and earned everything they ever owned by the product of their own sweat and blood over decades, to "live a little" and spend some more money? And if you ever experience city traffic in Taiwan, you'll see this ugliness more than ever. Taxi drivers, buses, scooters, pedestrians pack every open space on the street at any given time because if they don't take the opening, someone else will. If you thought people here were bad drivers, you have no idea.

You know, people born in China or Taiwan or Hong Kong, etc, are born into places where the population density is much greater than any of us can really relate to. As a suburban kid raised here in the States, it was definitely hard for me to get used to the pushing and shoving I experienced living in downtown Taipei. Thankfully, in America, everyone has their own personal space. People don't bump into each other all the time for lack of room without saying "excuse me," and it's considered threatening to touch someone you don't know. Even when I was at Taste of Chicago a couple weeks ago, the place was packed to Taipei proportions and I still felt more comfortable there. Not the case with people in Taiwan, and I can only assume the same holds for China, Hong Kong, and other Asian countries. Even if people wanted to be polite, it would be so impractical as to bring the nation to a halt. Crossing the street, I'm almost guaranteed to bump into at least 6 other people. If I stopped to say "excuse me" to every single one, and wait for them to smile and nod back, 300 vehicles would have already crushed me and left me for dead in the street before I got to the second person. That's just how it is over there, take it from someone who's lived there. Of course, I'm still used to the polite folk here. God Bless America and its manners. Unfortunately, this means that more times than not, the Asian lady at the supermarket is gonna push her way in front of the American lady in line. Yes, it's rude no matter what, but now you know why.

Scenario number two: It's Christmas season, and the yuletide spirit is in the air. Nearly every house up and down the street is decorated with Christmas lights to highlight the festive occasion. But look, one house is completely dark. Hey wait, that's my house. And come to think of it, we're a Chinese family. Coincidence? I think not. This is probably very typical of Chinese (and many other Asian) families across the country. Not that Asian households never put up lights around Christmastime, but even the most "Americanized" Chinese families have pretty conservative decorations - I challenge you to find me an Asian-owned house with a life-sized Santa, elves, and reindeer set on the front lawn.

What does this mean, that Chinese people are not the festive type? Well, if you have ever gotten a chance to see how much excitement surrounds the Chinese New Year, then you would not be asking this question. It's crazy how much time, effort, and money is spent in preparing for and celebrating the New Year. So, it can't be said that Chinese people don't like to celebrate special occasions. The only explanation is that Christmas (or Easter, Thanksgiving, etc.) is a foreign holiday to the Chinese and they don't get what the big deal is, to be putting up lights and setting up statues of Santa Claus. Just like it might seem weird for Americans to see dancing dragon heads and red/gold paper plastered everywhere when Chinese New Year arrives. On an somewhat off-topic note, I remember one Halloween, my sister's costume was to be a "boy." Why, I don't know. But the fact is, she borrowed my T-Shirt and Air Jordan shoes and off to trick-or-treating we went. I'm sure many families were pretty puzzled that night. "Hey, look, she's a... er... right..." But I think she mostly wanted to do that because she liked my Air Jordans and wanted to find some excuse to wear them. Also she was somewhat of a tomboy (see her blog I also recommend reading her entry on PMS and no, I did not tell her to write that).

Anyways, those are some of the differences I can think of and write about off the top of my head. Maybe sometime I will write an in-depth entry about what Chinese people and American people have in common. Like alcohol, everybody loves alcohol and it transcends all cultures. Good old booze. Well, I guess I will save that for another time. Have a nice day.

Working at Home

A lot of people might be wondering what I'm doing all day that allows me to write endlessly long blog entries. You'd think that I should have something better to do. Truth be told, I do indeed have lots of important work at hand, but there is also a lot of down time in the midst of this work which gives me opportunity to record some thoughts.

Anyways, I'm basically just working with my dad, who is, for lack of a better term, a day-trader. Except he primarily trades commodities, not stocks (if you don't know what the difference is, you may have to ask me to explain in person because it is somewhat of a long explanation). He has had 20 years of experience doing what he does, as well as significant time spent in the corporate world either doing business as a broker or managing the commodities division of a financial company in Taiwan. As for me, I'm starting out by entering orders for him and observing how he trades, while dabbling in a little bit of trading myself. Of course, 20 years of experience in no way translates to a month's worth of teaching, so let's just say I'm still pretty fresh at this stuff. So, don't ask me for any tips, at least not for a few years minimum.

With the economy in the dumps for now, I guess I can count this as a temporary internship/co-op in something non-electrical engineering related. At the very least, it's a decent way to spend my time doing something useful and learn more while I consider grad school or look for a job. The best case scenario is that I somehow get good at this, and enjoy it enough to make it into a full time career, but I'm not counting on that to happen. I've seen that it is one of the toughest jobs to have, with lots of ups and downs that probably make for plenty of stress, gray hairs, ulcers, all that sweet that nasty that gushy stuff.

At this point, I've probably just begun to scratch the surface, and I must say it is all pretty interesting, more so than EE, and just as challenging, if not more. If nothing else, it's given me a much greater understanding of what my dad does and also helped me to gain a new angle of respect for him. Anyways, the grad school thoughts and job hunt continue for now, while I keep learning, working, and writing blogs. I've also compiled a short list of the best and worst things about working at home.

The Good

1. Fast commute (about 3 seconds from my bed to my desk)
2. Private bathroom with exfoliating soap
3. Free lunch and breakfast prepared by my favorite cook (my mom)
4. I can do laundry while I work (this is crucial, see #2 below)
5. Covered parking
6. I don't have to be surrounded by older, boring people... oh wait
7. No need to wear a suit or tie... or even anything other than a t-shirt and pajama pants actually
8. I have an office with a window
9. Time to write blogs
10. It's fun to say things like "I bought mad loads of cotton and pork bellies today" or "I'm getting myself pretty badly British Pound-ed" hee-hee

The Bad

1. I don't get to meet any new people at work, especially ones who use the word "spice-ay" (see this) or people with funny British-accents like how the guy talks in the movie Snatch
2. I always spill food on my bed or my pants trying to eat lunch and work at the same time. I should get a frickin bib. Throw me a frickin bib here! I'm the boss... need the info! haha the Austin Powers references continue and anticipation for July 26th escalates...
3. There's no company days at Great America
4. I can't take sick days unless I'm really sick
5. My boss probably won't write me a good recommendation for future job employers... I swear my dad has never liked me (haha just kidding, I hope)
6. It's hot in herre
7. Watching the NASDAQ and Dow Jones indexes (indices?) keep falling and my dad telling me "See, that's why you can't get an engineering job." Sweet, I guess at least now I know why...