Relationship with your Asian family

[kimpossible]

Title says it all.

[Hiroshi2]

As I said in the other thread, I have little or no relationship with them. The geographical and cultural barriers are huge.

I have talked with my uncle in Japan though (because he speaks English).

[Napoleon Chynamite]

I need to talk to my parents and brother a lot more often...much less my relatives. I've been trying to commit myself to doing it but I keep putting it off.

Edit: Shit I didn't notice, this is probably a question for hapas only, cause then I saw the other thread... :ph34r:

[kimpossible]

*chuckles*

[YuheiCarreau]

I don't have much contact with my cousins and uncles in Japan; I think my father isn't too close to his brothers, who were around 18 when he was born. That makes my cousins much older than me and my sisters, so we were never that close either. One of my uncles never had anything to do with us (he was a workaholic and I think he didn't like kids very much), but the other came to see us at least once each time we were in Japan. My grandparents we saw nearly every year until they died, and they got along great with us kids even though we couldn't communicate all that well.

[BeTheReds]

I'm their American cousin. Woo woo.

[thaite]

I go out and see them every couple of years. Keep in touch (sometimes) by e-mail. I don't know my cousins that are my age as well as I know the younger ones -- they got jobs and stuff and don't always have the time when I go out there. I'm still farang to them, though. My Thai speaking skills suck ass, so it's an obstacle, but not impossible to communicate. My grandma... she always knows what I'm saying to her. Grandmas always do.

[Elizabeth A.]

They're all in Canada and India. I haven't seen them in years.

[kimpossible]

Originally posted by BeTheReds@Mar 27 2003, 03:10 AM
I'm their American cousin. Woo woo.

Hahaha... I'm the American cousin too. I love visiting my mom's cousin in Tsukuba. Everyone in town always asks if I'm the foreign student they're hosting.

[BeTheReds]

Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Mar 29 2003, 06:24 AM
Hahaha... I'm the American cousin too. I love visiting my mom's cousin in Tsukuba. Everyone in town always asks if I'm the foreign student they're hosting.

I love it when I go to my cousin's house late at night and happen to be in the elevator with thier next door neighbor, and get out on the same floor, and say. "This is the 7th floor, I think you should get back on the elevator!" And I say, "No, I live here." And get a puzzled look as i stick the key in the door and walk in.

I also love how they consider me a foreigner, but my cousin's chinese wife is not a foreigner. Oh well.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by BeTheReds@Apr 1 2003, 12:06 AM
I love it when I go to my cousin's house late at night and happen to be in the elevator with thier next door neighbor, and get out on the same floor, and say. "This is the 7th floor, I think you should get back on the elevator!" And I say, "No, I live here." And get a puzzled look as i stick the key in the door and walk in.

I also love how they consider me a foreigner, but my cousin's chinese wife is not a foreigner. Oh well.

err... maybe... could it possibly be... that it's because they've never seen you before in their lives...?

[BeTheReds]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Apr 1 2003, 08:18 AM

err... maybe... could it possibly be... that it's because they've never seen you before in their lives...?

Perhaps, but do you go around questioning everyone you don't know who gets out of the elevator with you at YOUR apartment?

I know, different country, different situation, but still.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by BeTheReds@Apr 1 2003, 04:17 AM

Perhaps, but do you go around questioning everyone you don't know who gets out of the elevator with you at YOUR apartment?

I know, different country, different situation, but still.

yeah i suppose... but i mean, i can imagine that the neighbor might do the same thing with someone who can pass for full-blooded korean/asian, whom he has never seen in his life. or on the other spectrum, because he thought you looked like a foreigner, he might tell you that you're in the wrong building altogether, instead of just the wrong floor.

oh well. i guess it doesn't matter now. :P

[BeTheReds]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Apr 1 2003, 08:39 PM

yeah i suppose... but i mean, i can imagine that the neighbor might do the same thing with someone who can pass for full-blooded korean/asian, whom he has never seen in his life. or on the other spectrum, because he thought you looked like a foreigner, he might tell you that you're in the wrong building altogether, instead of just the wrong floor.

oh well. i guess it doesn't matter now. :P

Yea, maybe you're right.

Maybe I overreact cuz I am so sensitive about it.

[kimpossible]

The opposite happens to me when I go into my husband's grandparents' apartment in Taipei. I'm like the only foreigner for miles so practically everyone in the complex knows (even the ones who don't really know me personally) that I live in the Wu's apartment. Maybe I'm like an urban legend or something. The Ghost of Guang Fu Nan Lu.

:ph34r: boo!