Comment on What common American habits do people find quietly annoying?
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 5 days agoNo we just waited in the building for like idk 10 hours it felt like.
It must’ve been so boring since I don’t remember much if it.
But I do remember being at a store in the airport and saw something cost like 10,000 and kid-me was like: “omg why is it so expensive? is every foreign country this rich?” (keep in mind, I think I was literally the only one in my entire school and out of everyone I know, that was emigrating, at least to my knowledge, so it felt like a sort of “privilage” to kid-me)
Then my dad was like: “That Korean money, its like [$5-$10 USD]” that’s the moment I learned of the existence of other currencies, mind… blown… not everyone uses the same money.
Lol, naïve young me was so funny.
Idk why but I think I felt a bit anxious.
My mom told me to not share the fact that I was about to immigrating to the US to any of my peers, to keep it a secret because “people might get jealous”.
So in my mind I immediately thought like some “bad guy” is gonna assassinate my family if it got leaked. (I was like 7, my thoughts went wild okay lol)
I’m not sure how long I keep it in me, I think I might’ve told classmates like the last month or so… right before we left… don’t remember
So yea…
I always dwell on the past and think of alt-timelines… like what if that never happened and I was still in China… would I have found out about the internet outside of the wall?
Would I have made more friends? (since I would’ve never got the language barrier issue that damaged my self-esteem)
Would there be no bullying? I mean no racial differences… so might’ve been less conflicts…
But then again, this current timeline… this unique experience allowed me to understand multiculturalism and be more accepting of people of different national origins and different skin colors, and I understand LGBT stuff more.
So yea… this is an interesting timeline, my story has been kinda interesting… hopefully the future and ending is just as interesting if not more interesting.
Nasan@sopuli.xyz 5 days ago
I remember my experience with that. Doing the math in my head and realizing how much more expensive things were at the airport in Tokyo-Narita than the electronics shops around Bangkok.
Do you mean learning English later than your peers? If so, I had a similar experience. I didn’t learn English until kindergarten and it made it harder to make friends. Though there were other factors (big one being my dad was paranoid about me being kidnapped by the parents of other students, so I never got to hang out with any of them outside of school), I think they outcome is largely the same. Especially if the other kids were the type to let that be a dealbreaker for engaging with you. I found it easier to get to know other students to whom English was a second language.
Somehow in my case, I saw more white kids getting bullied by other white kids than I ever experienced of myself or other people of color I went to school with. Though I suppose I was one of the few in my graduating class. Also somehow I managed to gain a reputation for being one of “the least Asian” kids at the school. Of which there were maybe 10 during any given school year.
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
I went through all the way to 2nd grade in China.
My mom convince the school in NYC to put me in 2nd grade again, this time in the US in English. She told me she want to give me a better chance at improving my English…
It’s much different, when you’re 2nd grade, you’re expected to already speak the language.
I mean, I don’t think I even knew Mandarin till Kindergarden (I think the media at home was mostly HK-based, dubbed in Cantonese), yet I still managed K - Grade 2 fine
As opposed to 2nd grade with English… that was so foreign to me.
Yea I got along with other Cantonese speakers very well. Don’t really think I had much bullying from other Cantonese speakers. Mandarin speakers were rare and I kinda felt slightly more distant from them, but still feel kinda have a connection.
Lol my mom went all in on the “stranger danger” teaching.
Every stranger want to kidnap you. Reject candy, they want to drug you and steal organs of little boys and sell little girls into prostitution. Becareful of cars, bad guys are gonna hop out and pull you in.
Jesus chist that shit scared me.
I think Mainland China had a lot of kidnappings for some reason. Authorities didn’t do shit about it.
I kinda developed a habit of looking behind me every so often, make sure no “bad guy” is following.
I think I developed separation anxiety because of this.
I kinda get scared of teachers that would hand out candy because I think it could be poison.
But then again my mom was fine with halloween trick-or-treating? Lol?
Nasan@sopuli.xyz 4 days ago
My parents gave me the impression that it was somewhat common in Bangkok too, but I didn’t need to worry as much because I’m not an attractive woman and/or rich looking white tourist.
Asian parents are so inconsistent like that. It’s weird how common it is. My parents were worried about me getting poisoned because of that whole Tylenol poisoning thing from the 80’s but didn’t bat an eye whenever the school called about my allergic reactions to peanut exposure. Even before they found out my case wasn’t life threatening. Same thing with peanuts in Halloween candy before I cared enough to read the labels to make sure I had regular M&Ms and not the peanut variety.