Shanghai Pollution

On the popular website for Chinese living abroad, mitbbs, people often post their experiences visiting China. A recent post described a mother's worry for her daughter's health in Shanghai because the pollution is so bad. The responds this post got were overwhelmingly negative. Many people said the original poster was too picky and pretentious. Sure, very few people on that forum was born and raised in the US. Instead, they are immigrants, often moved out of the country in their adulthood. It is hard to argue that after a few years living elsewhere, a person would grow so unaccustomed to his/her birth place.

But we all know, we all change. Isn't that the main purpose of leaving in the first place? We want to change, and give up what we had for the hope of change. Besides, why do some people like to bury their heads in the sand? I guess it's too hard to judge something when you have too much attachment or affection towards it.

Writing in another language

I haven't been keeping up with this blog lately. Like my own private English blog, it is not easy to enjoy writing in English as much as I do in Chinese. While I was writing my dissertation, I realized that I couldn't see the logical disconnections in my English writing as I could in my native language.

LOGIC! Never occurred to me before that it could be a problem. I am not saying I'm good at logic but I haven't had any problem convincing/arguing with people before. Of course, this has something to do with the length of the dissertation too, it's hard to keep track of a 200-400 pages argument. It just goes to show you that we take many simple things for granted, such as our ability to write. It takes a change of scenarios to challenge you to think, and hopefully to change as well.

What is the point of writing anyway? I write so much, but can't write three sentences straight without my mind wandering around in between. Is it the language? Or is it that my attention span has become so short? With three different writing projects in the next month to finish, I suddenly feel that I should pick this blog up now, so I could use my wandering mind for something useful... good logic? Perhaps.

Cast-outs or the chosen ones

I always think that people choose to come to the US because they believe what this country stands for. But I was reading George Carlin's "Brain Dropping" and realized that you can look at this another way: that we're all cast-outs from other countries. We can't fit into where we were born. We choose to leave because we can't stay with our own people any more! I think both reasons are plausible and probably both are true. Of course the synergy of these cast-outs is amazing, so maybe it's not too bad to be not conformed.

Independence day

Last Saturday I went out for a walk like I always do after dinner. Just watched the national celebration at the Mall on TV, I didn't expect much for the lakefront of Chicago because Chicago has its Independence Day firework on 7/3, a smart move to avoid conflict with the much bigger firework extravaganza in the nation's capital. But much to my delight and surprise, fireworks were being displayed all along the lakefront on 7/4! I reckoned it might be the Aldermen who organized it. There was no public announcement. People just knew and they gathered, with blankets and beach chairs. The lakefront was flooded with people but it was not as congested as the area close to Navy Pier on the previous firework night. I realized that was the first time I spent 7/4 in a big American city.

The funny thing I've noticed was that so many people who were out there enjoying the celebration were speaking a foreign language. It's amazing how many immigrants are in this big city. I bet half of the people can't sing the American National Anthem (like me!).

The conspiracy of Green card

This month the priority date of EB2 green card application has fallen back to 2000. I am in this category and that means I will need to wait another 8 years according to the current processing speed. My H1B will be extended next year for another 3 years so I won't be worried about my staying just yet. But what about after that? I've heard that the longest time a person can hold H1B status is 9 years. By then, I will still be waiting for my green card! This is happening to thousands of people who were educated in the US, often obtained an advance degree, and want to stay here. Probably most of us will have to leave after working for this country for 9 years due to the visa situation.

This is brilliant, from the government point of view. First of all, the most productive time of these highly educated people is used by the US enterprises, creating billions of profits for them and equally large amount of tax revenue for local governments. Then, if these people can't stay, their social security benefits won't need to be paid in the future. In the long run, when these people go back to their own country, they will bring with them the American ideology and business ties. It's a no lose situation for this country! Squeeze the hell of them and kick them out, great capitalism.

But how about those illegal immigrants? Sure it looks like this country needs more low-skilled labor more than the better educated crowd (except the cream of the crop, who can apply for EB1 without a waiting period). Every one should start pumping out American citizens so we can stay here, I guess.

The Banana Effect

Chinese call those who have yellow skin but westernized minds "banana". Am I also a banana? I started to listen to western music since I was 10, before I could even speak more than 10 English sentences. But isn't it too restricted to label a person? Who can tell what is strictly western or eastern? There are people everywhere thinking differently, regardless of skin colors, age, or gender. People also grow and mature, change every day. Nobody thinks the same forever.

Well, I guess this perception of conformity of minds is quite "Eastern"!

Glass Ceiling?

I haven't got to the top of management so I haven't really encountered the "glass ceiling" issue that many immigrants complain about. However, I do feel frustrated from time to time when fighting with the stereotyping of immigrant. Somehow some Americans just automatically assume that as a foreigner you are not as competent as an American. Of course, there is the language barrier. I still learn new English words every day, probably will never speak as well as a native born. Just as a stutter will not earn much respect, neither will a foreigner who is trying hard to communicate in a very different language.

As an immigrant from a developing country, I can't help but being very sensitive about other people's respect, sometimes even over sensitive about it. But if I am comparing myself with my colleagues, race is inevitably an issue.