Friday, October 3, 2008

One of these things is JUST LIKE the other

Do you ever think all Asians look alike?  That is because they do!  Even Asians get confused.  I'll give you two examples.

Example #1:  My brother came up behind me during lunch in high school to scare me with a big bear hug.  When he turned to see the surprised look on my face, he found himself embracing some other Asian girl that he had never met before.

Example #2:  When I was young, my family would go to Asian festivals to celebrate all of the eastern cultures and cuisine.  I ran into an Asian friend while I was there.
Me:  Hi Kathleen!
Girl:  I'm not Kathleen.
Me:  Yes you are.  It's me, [my name].  Remember me?
Girl: (blank stare)
Me:  Where is your brother?
Girl: Which one?
Me:  You have TWO brothers?
Girl:  Yes, they are over there.
Me:  Wow,  Jon-boy grew.  Where is your mom?
Girl:  She is next to them.
Me:  Huh.  She looks different.  Where is your dad? 
Girl:  He's with my mom.

At that point, I got really confused because Kathleen's dad was caucasian, and I only saw Asian men at that table.

After my odd conversation with her, it took my mom ten minutes of arguing with me until I realized that I had a conversation with a total stranger.  You think I could have figured that out on my own, but THEY LOOKED EXACTLY THE SAME!

2 comments:

*MARY* said...

Hey, I remember that, I thought you were so weird.

Ruth said...

It's so true! The 1st place I lived in NYC was filled with Chinese and Koreans. I remember walking down the street and thinking that everyone looked exactly like my relatives in Hawaii (who are all Chinese and Filipino).