Oh! The Places You'll Go...: One is silver and the other’s gold

I think one of the novelties of being in a foreign country is that I feel twice removed from my Chinese heritage. It is very a surreal and disorienting "out of body" "out of character" "out of comfort" state. It puts into perspective for me what it means to be Chinese. What it means to be the child of immigrant parents. What it means to be the child of Taiwanese-born Chinese parents. What it means to be American-born Chinese. What it means to be an American in a foreign country. A Chinese-American in a foreign country. A tri-lingual Chinese-American in a foreign country. And it makes me wonder how much or how little the people in that place understand this layered identity. How do they process me? All the nuances, the politics, the prejudices, the social constructs, my multi-cultural values, the pieces of my heritage that I choose to wear and the other pieces I've chosen to shed-- They can't they possibly understand any of that, but what do they see instead?

Saturday, May 15, 2010

One is silver and the other’s gold

Day 4

Woke up early this morning for yoga and hula (no hoops) class at 24 hour fitness. Hula class was a little intense. Lots of sweat and by the end, I couldn't really feel my hips anymore.

Anyway, we went off to lunch at some Thai restaurant. Lots of spicy food (including tom yum soup, Yvette's mom's fave) and pad thai and my first thai iced tea! Definitely approve, it was super yum.

Lots of driving today, we hit basically all the major tourist spots in the city.

The Golden Gate Bridge