Family History #1: From the land of the rising sun...

For those of you who don't know, my background is Japanese and not Chinese. Yes, I know. I have the facial features of a Chinese but alas, I am not one. I even asked my parents to see if any of my closer ancestors are from China, but they said no.

Funny story. I was in Save-on-Foods one day when this old Chinese lady started talking to me in Chinese.
Me: Uhhhh, I'm sorry. I don't understand.
Old lady: (keeps talking in Chinese)
Me: I'm sorry. I don't understand.
Then she walked away. I bet you she was shaking her head thinking that I was one of those Chinese youngin's who can't even speak their own language anymore. Anyway, I digress.

My dad came to Canada 38 years ago when he was only 18 years old, fresh out of high school. Back then, Canada (Alberta?) had some kind of program where they invited foreigners to come and learn how to farm. The people stay for 2 years and after that time, can either continue to stay or go back to their home country. My dad was already thinking of going overseas somewhere after he graduated so when this opportunity came up, he took it and was placed in Southern Alberta. I'm assuming he loved it here because he never went back to live in Japan. It's crazy to think that my dad has lived here for so long farming potatoes and such.

My mom came to Canada when she married my dad 26 years ago. She was friends with this couple whose son and daughter-in-law were living in Canada and they knew my dad as well. Through this couple and another couple, my mom and dad were set up and they started writing letters to each other from across the ocean. They did that for about half a year and then decided to get married. You might think, "That's so crazy! And so quick!" but they were already in their 30's when they met each other and time was a-ticking since they both wanted to have kids.

It still amazes me to this day the courage my parents had to move to a foreign country. I'm pretty chicken so I don't know if I have the guts to do so... I guess we'll see what happens.

With that said, culture-wise I'm Canadian. Well... mainly Canadian with some Japanese mixed in. Well... hmmm... Maybe the mix depends on the situation but I'm definitely not either or. There's something cool about being Asian Canadian, but also something very confusing/frustrating. Lydia does a good job of describing what it's like in her blog.

I remember this one time my mom and I were in a bit of an argument and she exasperatedly said, "Mindy, you're such a Canadian!" Well duh, Mom. I was born/grew up here. What do you expect? At the same time, when I'm working or studying, my friends tell me to ease up because I'm working too hard while I think to myself, "No, I'm not! I need to work harder!" So there is that Japanese-side of me too.

Despite the seeming complications, I feel quite blessed to be Japanese-Canadian. There are definite perks and I need to embrace them more rather than dwell on how it makes my life complicated. God placed me here with these circumstances for a reason. It'll be interesting to see how things will continue to unfold in my life :)

Things I want but am too poor to buy right now...

Acoustic guitar - my current one is warped and apparently can't be fixed
Electric guitar w/ amp
Djembe - I've been having so much fun playing this thing... I really want one of my own!
Digital camera - It sucks not being able to take pics whenever I want...
PS2 - So I can play DDR :P
Straightening iron - Like those really nice ones at the salon
Sewing machine - I probably wouldn't use it often, but it's nice to be able to mend things or make stuff
Classical piano books/CDs - It'd be nice to listen to the music so I know how the songs are supposed to be played
Copic markers
Hiking boots
Gym/running shoes - The ones that fit my feet well