Airport
I went to the airport the other day. Actually this is my second time to go in the airport here in Toronto. Ahhh I don't like going to airports except that I am the one who is flying. It's so sad to see off someone all the time. I have experienced seeing off my friends as well as being seen off. But I think it is harder for those who see off your friends or your loved ones all the time, because you suddently do not see him/her who used to be here all the time. I feel empty. I just can't get used to seeing off people. No, I don't wanna get accustomed to it or I don't wanna do that again anymore. I will be fine, I will get to see him soon.
Raptors win!
Raptors Win!! I didn't expect that I would enjoy watching a NBA playoff. But I got excited for the first time in a while! And glad that Raptors beat NJ this time, though I was worried because it was really close!
Anyways, here is something funny in thier last game...
Raptors were playing with NJ last Saturday. One of the Raptors' player threw a ball to his team player near the goal. But actually he was not playing at the moment. He was just standing near the bench and cheering up his team players in white! Raptors were wearing white uniforms that night, so did he. So then the player thought he was also playing on the court and threw a ball to him. Ahhhh, that was dumb, but that was so funny. I guess it will be stuck in my head for a while!
FINALLY!!
FINALLY!!! I finished all the research papers for this term!! Oh I am so glad to be done....It was more work to do this term than last term. It was actually very stressful especially after the reading break in February, for about two months! I knew that I was so stressed out this time. But I think I learned a lot this term. It was stressful, but it was really interesting to learn! I got more used to Canadian school work and system and more familiar with different things here, and I worked hard?! Yeah but I guess one year (8 month academic year) is not that enough to become really familiar with Canadian social system. I thank all my friends who helped me in different ways, helping me understand Canadian systems and course requirements, inspiring me, making me laugh and alleviate my stress, taking me to different places and so on... Thanks to them, I managed these two terms in a master's program, which I couldn't have imagined how it was gonna be like before starting this degree in Canada, not knowing anyone here!!
Well, I have a final project in summer, already started! That means I have to do some stuff till the end of April. Well well well, I can do it!
FINALLY!!! It got warmer!!!! I HAD BEEN WAITING for SPRING!!! April doesn't seem to be Spring here... Although we haven't had lots of flowers yet, but it seems to get warmer and really nice this weekend. We can study outside of cafes :) :) :)
Multiculturalism?
I thought some of you might find it interesting. We studied about race and ethnic relations this term. Even in a multicultural society, Toronto, things like this are happening. It raises a question...
TheStar.com - Life - 'What are they?' They're our kids
March 31, 2007
Dianne Scott
Slice of Life
The clerk smiles at me as I hand her the watch I want to purchase. I see her
look over at my daughter in her stroller.
"What is she?" the woman asks.
My smile freezes. I quickly review my options. Play stupid? Ignore her? Scream:
"She's a little girl, for Christ's sake." I decide to get it over with. "She's
half Korean, half English," I respond.
The clerk nods and smiles at Claire as she takes my money. Unaware that I'm
this close to strangling her with my purse strap.
As I push the stroller out of the store, I wonder what exactly angers me about
the woman's question. Is it because people still seem surprised that a child
could be parented by a blond, blue-eyed Caucasian and a brown-haired,
brown-eyed Asian?
Is it so weird that two different races ・or cultures or whatever
anthropological name you want to give it ・get together and procreate?
We aren't in Hicksville. We live in Toronto, one of the most diverse cities in
the world, an urban centre of 3 million whose philosophy is tolerance, respect
and acceptance. In Canada: a country known for its open-armed multiculturalism,
for its international peacekeepers.
Sure, when I was first dated my husband Michael, I was aware that people stared
at us sometimes. "Look at the interracial couple," I could sense them thinking.
Michael said people noticed us because they weren't used to seeing a Caucasian
woman with an Asian man.
So I was used to a bit of staring. But now, as a mother, the comments by
strangers were driving me insane.
"Hey, is she mixed?" was a common query. A mix of what? I felt liking
retorting.
As if there was a human pedigree. As if cultural homogeneity was the gold
standard. So, are you pure-bred Asian or a mongrel? No cross-breeding, please!
In a billion years, if we are still alive, we'll be one big global village
teeming with brown-haired, brown-eyed and honey-brown skinned people.
As my husband likes to remind me: dominant brown genes kick the ass out of
blond, blue-eyed recessive genes any day.
Aside from questions on genetic pedigree, my second favourite comment from
strangers is: "You got her from China!"
The first time a woman congratulated me on my adoption, my mouth dropped.
Claire's labour flashed in front of me: 20 hours of contractions, a placental
abruption, no fetal heartbeat, emergency C-section, and two days in intensive
care. Add another nine hours of labour and another C-section for my son
Matthew.
Yep. I'm their biological mom, all right.
Last, but not least, I love when strangers attempt to guess my children's
"mix."
"Look, Chinese boys!" a man declares with glee, pointing at my two children in
the library. After the first shock, I ignore him, and continue to read to my
kids. He repeats himself, loudly; patrons at adjacent tables look over. My
children look from me to him, confusion on their faces.
"They are not Chinese," I finally respond, hoping to get rid of him "They are
Korean. Half Korean."
He continues to stand in front of us. I try to get rid of him.
"She's a girl," I say, pointing at my daughter. "He's a boy," I say pointing at
my toddler. The man stands there for another couple of seconds before leaving.
I don't know why it is acceptable for a stranger to approach me and debate,
question, or proclaim my children's ethnicity. Whether it's a Filipino nanny.
Chinese store clerk. Caucasian shopper. Or that guy in the library, who was
black.
Really, I'm happy to talk with people I've known for more than two seconds
about cultural issues, biracial parenting, interracial relationships. It's just
that my children's racial makeup is not the singular, remarkable thing about
them. Relentless comments on this one trait just highlight and solidify the big
racial divide.
I need a better comeback.
Should I swear at them? Tell them to mind their own business? Ask if I know
them?
How about:
"She's my daughter. Her name is Claire.
"He's my son. His name is Matthew."
Repeat.
two more...
Oh I am still working on my final project proposal!! I had never written or conducted such a big project before, so I was concerned about it. But hopefully I am learning how to do it and more by working on this and thanks to my friends!
I had never studies at cafes before. BUT guess what I learned to study there!! I thoguht it might be noisy, but actually it was good. At S.... C..., they have nice music and quiter. They had latin music and comtemporary last time. At T... H..., there are lot of people and not quiet, but coffee is cheap.
Something that I have found is that I could see the characteristics of people living around there or hanging around those areas by just staying at a coffee shop for some hours. Middle aged men came in, couples came in, mothers with babies/kids came in, senior ladies in groups came in, elementary school kids came in, etc. I was surprised to see a lot of kinds at coffee shops because I assumed that they don't drink coffee and we are not supposed to sell coffee to children. But I guess they are just hanging out after school and have some sweets.
Unfortunately, it's not warm to study outside of cafes yet...Hope it's gonna be soon!
300
Ahhh, it's been a looong time to see movies! I just finished three presentations and I thought I should take a break! I could feel that I was so stressed out for the past few weeks. Two more weeks to finish classes, and four weeks to finish all the papers, and done!
I went to see a movie called "300". I usually don't watch ledends a lot, but it was interesting to know how Spartans were fighting against Persian armies back then. Persians are described as gay a bit. Why??? This offended Iranians. I usually keep an eye on how Hollywood movies are portraying Japanese in movies, because movies have a huge impact on people in the world, which could lead racism, prejudice, streotypes and even hatred!
My friend explained the historical background of the period in Greek and Persia. But I should learn more about the history!!
Book Launch
I attended a book launch today. I met my professor there as well. I also got a chance to meet and talk some professors who i've wanted to meet!! Actually I am presenting about one of the professors' research next week. He seemed really nice. I was so excited about this seminar. And it was such a good opportunity to talk to him! Thank you very much!
My landlord called me the other night and gave me a bunch of research papers and forum papers on foreign credential recognition issues and Bill 124. It was very nice of him to do that for me. But all the papers are so thick!!
Anyways, it was a very inspiring day, but I also found out that there are still so many stuff that I have to research at the same time!!
Motivation of going to other ethnic supermarkets
I've been to a Korean supermarket in Korean town several times, but I went to another one, Galleria Supermarket, around Yonge and Steels for the first time! Last time I went there was just outside and I got たい焼き, which were a little smaller than ones I used to eat near my home. たい焼き are made by Koreans there. This is so good!
When I first entered the supermarket, i thought it looked like Japanese, different from Chinese supermarkets or malls for sure. There are a hari salon, cosmetic shops, a small food court, a bakery, and so on. They also have some electronic appliances.
Not only Koreans but other people go there too like Chinese, Japanese, other Asians an more. Chinese, Koreans and Japanese share some parts of cultulres, especially food because of geographical and historical reasons. Chinese people also go to J-town (japanese supermarket). I am interested in the motivations of going to other ethnic supermarkets. They just simply want some kind of food? Still, consumers want something cheaper or reasonable.
My motivation of going to Chinese, Japanese and korean supermarkets? Well, I usually go to Chinese supermarket because it's cheaper and holds so many kinds of food including Chinese, koreans, Japanese and western ingredients. I don't often go to the Japanese supermarket because it's pricy, far, i guess. After I got some ingredients such like 味噌、醤油、ぽんず、酒, I don't need to buy veggies there which are expensive.
Then my Taiwanese friend's mom cooked us 味噌soup. She put fish with bones in it, which tasted soooo good!! And we had Korean 巻き寿司 and Chap che。チャプチェ。See? Multicultural - Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean! Interesting!
つれづれ日記
Another snow storm!! I had been in a graduate conference the whole day. When I came out of the building, on my goodness, it seemed it has been storming for a while! Since it has been getting wormer, I didn't expect such as snow storm again in March. The snow on the sidewalks and streets were almost gone except for the piles on the side or on grass. Oh no, they are now coverd with much snow again!
Anyways, I saw a famous professor in the field of my study, whose books I have read and whom I has been interested in seeing him in person, in the conference today! He seemed nice. Too bad that I had to leave for a class.
Oh it's been a long week and a day! I am glad I am done with my two papers due this week!! But more things are coming up from now until the middle of April!
What have I been doing during the reading week? Well, my Chinese friends invited me to the Lunar Chinese New Year party two nights before the Chinese New Year, which fell on February 18th this year. I had a good time with my friends. My frirends made dumplings. Actually a week before, the president of the association and some of my friends were filming video clips of interviews with professors and students. I was in there too! It turned out they made a nice video clips!
On New Year's Day, my friend invited me to his family dinner. We had a hot pot with Taiwanese special sauce, which I had when I was in Taiwan, and shimps and some other seafood and the traditional noodles they eat on the night before Lunar New Year. Then we watched a hocky game!
One of the good things was that I had a change to meet some Japanese people, and had a opportunity to do a volunteer work at a Japanese services association. We madeおでん と あんぱん for Japanese Canadian seniors. Most of them were 2nd generation, who can speak both japanese and English, but they basically spoke in Englsih with thier fellows. But when volunteers were serving lunch for them, they spoke some in Japanese too. I wished we had more chances to interact with those Japanese Canadians. But actually that was my first time that I met a lot of Japanese residents in Toronto after half a year or so. Then I could have a chance to talk with volunteers at the Japanese services association, which was very interesting.
Blender
I got a blender!! I've wanted one and had been looking for one. And I found one that was cheaper the other day! Hmmmmmmm, I was thinking a lot while I was looking aroaund the store. Ok. I will force myself to cook something and learn other recipes using the blender!
さっそく、I cooked pumpkin soup! Yummy♪