We drove through the wildlife refuge after our delicious burgers (their menu says they are the 3rd best hamburger in the US).
Sunday was Mother's Day and also Catherine turned 9 months old. She and I took some pictures together to celebrate.
2012/05/16
a great weekend!
Saturday we took Yumi to Meers to celebrate her being finished with school.
We drove through the wildlife refuge after our delicious burgers (their menu says they are the 3rd best hamburger in the US).
buffalo or bison. anyone know the difference?
longhorn cattle
prairie dogs
Sunday was Mother's Day and also Catherine turned 9 months old. She and I took some pictures together to celebrate.
Other bonuses of the weekend were getting to sleep in on Mother's Day (James got up with Catherine!), Jana and Jeremiah arrived and are here for the week, and I got to go on a date with James!
We drove through the wildlife refuge after our delicious burgers (their menu says they are the 3rd best hamburger in the US).
Sunday was Mother's Day and also Catherine turned 9 months old. She and I took some pictures together to celebrate.
2012/05/13
"microagressions?"
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120501ad.html
During my second year (2003-2004) of study at the university in China, I had a classmate from Finland (not to be confused with the guy from Finland with the same first name as this guy who was there my first year). He was a double major in Chinese and Japanese and he spoke English along with 7 or 8 other languages. He could speak to almost all of our classmates, and with most of them he could use their first language. Anyway, he was nice and would sometimes explain things for me in English when my Chinese was lacking. The point of telling you about him was just to say that he posted the above article on facebook the other day with the comment, "the same is true for China."
I agree that parts of the article are true for China...especially the part about having the exact same conversation every single time you get in a taxi. I like the author said you could "sleepwalk" through those conversations. very true.
However, I had never heard the term "microagressions" (and apparently spell check hasn't heard of it either) before reading this article. It made me think back to all those annoying questions I was asked over and over and rote conversations I had. I never had the impression that the Chinese were trying to subtly demean me, but it's possible. If anything, I think those conversations made me demean them, at least in my mind, that I have such superior conversation skills or the cultural awareness not to ask the things they were asking.
The article also made me wonder if my differing opinion is because of the difference in Japanese versus Chinese culture, or just because I was too dense to notice that all those annoying comments really were "microaggressions."
In other, completely unrelated news.....
During my second year (2003-2004) of study at the university in China, I had a classmate from Finland (not to be confused with the guy from Finland with the same first name as this guy who was there my first year). He was a double major in Chinese and Japanese and he spoke English along with 7 or 8 other languages. He could speak to almost all of our classmates, and with most of them he could use their first language. Anyway, he was nice and would sometimes explain things for me in English when my Chinese was lacking. The point of telling you about him was just to say that he posted the above article on facebook the other day with the comment, "the same is true for China."
I agree that parts of the article are true for China...especially the part about having the exact same conversation every single time you get in a taxi. I like the author said you could "sleepwalk" through those conversations. very true.
However, I had never heard the term "microagressions" (and apparently spell check hasn't heard of it either) before reading this article. It made me think back to all those annoying questions I was asked over and over and rote conversations I had. I never had the impression that the Chinese were trying to subtly demean me, but it's possible. If anything, I think those conversations made me demean them, at least in my mind, that I have such superior conversation skills or the cultural awareness not to ask the things they were asking.
The article also made me wonder if my differing opinion is because of the difference in Japanese versus Chinese culture, or just because I was too dense to notice that all those annoying comments really were "microaggressions."
In other, completely unrelated news.....
- we're on our way to Meers, OK today to celebrate Yumi being finished with her finals.
- There's a contractor in my kitchen as I type building the closet to cover up the breaker box, tankless water heater, and other junk that has been exposed for 2+ years. (Dara, it's really happening!!!)
- www.languageandculturalservices.com is going viral! Or at least I hope. I've opened accounts for us on blogger, tumblr, twitter, weibo, and a few others. follow me on whatever service you use @JLCSjill!
- tomorrow is Mother's Day and my daughter will be 9 months old!
- My sister is flying in from NY tonight!
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