i'm lost in translation

What I'm thinking about today .....

The boyfriend and I have noticed how many people stop us on the street and talk to us because of our new puppy. It's really amazing how many people notice the dog and in turn stop for a while to speak to us. It has opened up a whole new social weirdness for me though. How long to you talk to these people? I mean, I can stand there and talk about the dog for hours but at what point do I start to look like the crazy dog lady?

I was at 7-11 today and the guy behind the counter asked if I was Korean. Now there are three Korean men who work there, and each one of them has asked me this same question, at least, three times each. I always answer politely and say "no". I am usually asked where I am from and I tell them my family was from Taiwan. I am usually asked a couple more questions as a line of people in a hurry line up behind me. I can always tell when they are going to ask me these questions too - I see a brief glance to my eyes and a bit of a question in their eyes. When I was little, my mother had the uncanny ability to know what country and Asian person was from by looking at their face. She was right about 95% of the time. She said she could tell by certain features or the way they walked. I always thought that every Asian person had that same ability to identify other Asian cultures. I thought that my mixed background hampered my abilities. It still surprises me when people ask me though I understand why they do. I am Asian looking with brown hair and green eyes - so it makes people curious sometimes. I look very Asian to non-Asians and only slightly Asian to Asians.

posted by Jin @ 11:00 AM