Stop holding my hands, I know how to do it!

Last weekend I was in a pottery shop for a friend's show. The shop owner (I assumed) kindly showed me how to use some of their salt & pepper shakers. Oh yeah, you've guessed it, that ain't no rocket science. I was just curious about their shapes (being a designer you see). After he demonstrated how to put salt into that little hole in the bottom of the shaker, he poured some out in my hand, and I rememebered that Chase commercial I've seen on TV: one is supposed to throw the salt over his/her shoulder. Trust me, I was about to do that when he firmly grabbed my wrist and "helped" me throw the salt in the "right way".

As always, I smiled and said "thanks" while deep down inside I was insulted. So what if I didn't do that? So what if I didn't throw the salt over the "right" shoulder and it will bring me bad luck? It's my own fate and it's of no concerns to him! OK, OK, here is the point: just because I am a Chinese woman, look much younger than I really am, and always smile at strangers, doesn't mean I am an idiot.

Welcome to Daily Immigrant Blog Site

I was at an interview dinner with a few of my colleagues a few days ago. One of my lovely, highly educated colleauges was talking about a book she has been working on. It was about the African American immigrant experience in the US. As the usual observer, I didn't say a word and was patiently waiting for her to take notice the fact that if she needs the firsthand data about race, identity, and everything comes with being an immigrant in the US, she could just ask me about my daily struggle. Well, I don't know if she was trying to avoid offending me, she didn't seem to raise any questions. Of course, being the non-typical Chinese, I started to talk about my visa situation, my fear of being kicked out of the country, etc. etc. That always seems to fascinate people who have no idea of that daily experience of being an immigrant.

Hey, I thought to myself, why can't I start a blog about it? I like to document this experience before I am completely "assimilated" into this society and it might someday become an interesting book. Someone needs to know the price we pay for working and living in this "free" country, of course, nothing is free, anywhere.

This is not a blog about "political correctness", warn you. But I promise you this will be an interesting journey.