Crazy Asian mother: Stereotype from the kid’s perspective

by Jamie Rhein on

Aaron’s post this morning with his musings about positive stereotypes reminded me of one of my absolute FAVORITE YouTube videos, “Crazy Asian Mother.” It is a hoot.

Two high school age boys role play what happens when the mother looks over her son’s report card. Listen for the list of classes and the humorous jab at the parenting skills of white American parents. Very funny and illustrates other aspects of stereotyping.

When I first saw this video a year or so ago, I was transported back to my 8th grade English and social studies classroom in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Those students were funny, charming, and the work they turned in on a daily basis was astounding. Grading their papers was a joy. Honestly. They were the kids of high powered very bright parents, and they were under pressure to succeed, although their parents greatly valued the flexibility and creativity found in the American education system. It was the best of both worlds. These two guys would have fit right into my classroom.

Whenever my daughter feels that she’s pressured to succeed because I have ONE MORE TIME AND NOT FOR THE LAST TIME given her the litany of why she must do well in school in that annoying voice that only adults have, I think those Asian mothers who taught me a thing or two when I lived in Taiwan. As I explain to my daughter, I must have been a crazy Asian mother in a past life. Some things do rub off on a person when one travels.

By the way, I actually think there’s a crazy Asian mother in every parent. Even men. That’s why this video has almost 5,000,000 hits.

Olympic Games opening, Chinese style: The wow factor

by Jamie Rhein on

Wow! Wow! Wow! I could go on.

Even though today’s news brought the missive of the out of character stabbing of an American tourist in Beijing, the opening ceremony of the Olympics was certainly in character.

It was amazing–and I only saw the last bit. That’s one detail about traveling; world events swirl about in the periphery until a thought passes through, like, “Didn’t the Olympics start today?” and the TV is flipped on to the right channel. I remembered the Olympics just in time to catch the finale.

The NBC TV commentators were as amazed by the ceremonial hoopla as much as I was– maybe even more. Even though they expected a spectacular showing from China, the result was brilliant.

As Matt Lauer asked about the opening, “Is it usually this way?” Bob Costas said, summarized in a word, “No.”

The synchronized acrobatics and dance routines in the final clips before the credits rolled were versions of performances I saw at the school where I taught in Taiwan– X 100, of course. Once a year there is Field Day where the entire school day is given over to athletic competitions. Each grade also performs a synchronized performance that takes hours of practice.

To see what can be done with hundreds of school kids who pay attention is astounding. I wasn’t surprised to see what can be done with adults. Still, the result was a spectacular feat of skill and wonder.

My favorite part, hands down, was gymnast Li Ning’s trip around the top of the stadium while he was suspended by cables. As he held the torch aloft, making perfectly executed running motions, a scroll screen unfurled to show a video montage of the torch’s trip around the world.

At the end, he lit the torch by lighting a fuse which carried the flame to the main torch that burst into flames. This was followed by a fireworks display like no other–several mimicked the shape of the Olympic rings.

As I said to my friend who was watching it with me, “Can you imagine, the group of people sitting in a room thinking up ideas for what could be done to light the torch? Isn’t it fantastic that someone came up with this? Isn’t it great what people envision?”

I’m a sentimental sap though. My husband thinks I should be in “Up with People.” If one puts cynicism aside, and forgets that perhaps governments stage events to show off might, to focus on those with the creativity to orchestrate such pleasure, the world does look brighter.

This video clip from the The Wall Street Journal On-Line gives an interesting overview of what the Chinese were thinking and doing on August 8 before the opening ceremonies started. Getting married and having babies were part of the activiites. It finishes with a bit of the fireworks. I wish it showed Li Ning.

Sometimes, it’s good to feel a bit of wonder and leave problems aside for a moment or two. Just call me Mary, as in Mary Sunshine. For a wonderful slide show, check out this link from The New York Times. Li Ning is number 12.

Taiwan phasing out disposable chopsticks

by Iva Skoch on

Well, even Taiwan is now more environmentally progressive than the US.

About 10,000 convenience stores in Taiwan will join an environmental push by withholding disposable chopsticks from hordes of customers used to getting them with take-out meals, Reuters reports.

From next Wednesday in Taipei, and by July 1 on the rest of the island, four convenience store chains will give out the wooden single-use chopsticks only on request. Taiwan’s small restaurants also will be encouraged, with the enticement of saving money, to phase out disposable chopsticks, claiming that “conservation is getting to be mainstream” and that it shouldn’t be an issue.

Conservation efforts are happening elsewhere in Asia. For example, China banned production of ultra-thin plastic bags in May and activists in Japan are pushing for a reduction of wooden chopsticks, which are already made from recycled chips. I travel with my own chopsticks anyway, so it would be a non-issue for me.

I wish conservation was “becoming mainstream” in the US. I think the minute Americans get “forced” to carry reusable chopsticks or forks for take-out lunch, there might be riots in the streets.

[via Asiaone]

Direct China-Taiwan travel now possible

by Iva Skoch on

Believe it or not, China and Taiwan held their first formal talks in 10 years and, productively enough, decided to allow direct weekend air travel between the two destinations as a result, BBC reports. Previously, direct flights were only allowed during four holiday periods each year. Otherwise, travelers had to fly through Hong Kong or Macao.

The weekend passenger flights will begin on July 4 and there will be 36 flights each week, with China and Taiwan operating 18 flights each. From July 18, each side will also allow in 3,000 tourists per day – a move that triples the number of mainland Chinese who will be allowed into Taiwan.

How progressive! China must really want to attract as many people as possible for the Olympics…

Sex and the City: You can catch up with a craze in the modern age

by Jamie Rhein on

Sex and the City was the hot topic the summer between our two years living in Taiwan and our two years in India. I saw it once at a friend’s house when I stopped over in Albuquerque for a few days visit. I liked it, but nothing I couldn’t live without. I was jet-lagged anyway. Two years later, I saw one more episode. Friends we were visiting in Pochetello, Idaho had TiVoed it—something else that was new phenomenon in the U.S. cultural scene.

Five years after that, there I was last night with two of my women friends at the opening night Sex and the City event at Drexel East, one of the independent movie theaters in Columbus, Ohio. One friend was wearing a black dress. Since living overseas has made me totally out of tune with what to wear on many occasions, and I don’t travel in glamorous circles very often, I wasn’t paying attention to my attire. Plus, this was a back to back event–the first event was the end-of -the-year potluck at my son’s elementary school. With ten minutes in between the two, I had on a very nice T-shirt, black jeans and a pair of new shoes that fit into casual nice. Ooops.

I was all caught up with the Sex and the City storyline, however, thanks to videos and cable television. It used to be that living overseas meant huge chunks of popular culture were totally gone. It wasn’t a terrible loss, but there were movies I hadn’t seen, or events that happened in celebrity-ville that I wasn’t privy too. There were some conversations at parties I couldn’t join in. No loss really, but it was clear who had been living a life out of the American mainstream.

These days, it is not hard to stay caught up, or to catch up, even though people started miles before. When we lived in New Delhi, we rented Season 1, 2 and 3 of The Sopranos, and with each new season rented those too. Although, we weren’t where everyone else was who saw the series as it was unfolding, with the speed of being able to watch back to back episodes in a row at one sitting, it didn’t take long for us to be in the know of the latest whack job.

It is true that watching the TBS rerun version of Sex in the City is not the same as the HBO version, and at times it’s hard to keep the episodes in order as to what events happened first when one doesn’t start watching at the beginning, but last night I was caught up. It has taken five years, but I do know when it comes to Sex and the City what everyone is talking about, and I finally found out what a Cosmos is. As part of the event you could buy one.

Because I lived overseas during the Cosmos craze, I had a beer instead. It’s summer and I was hot. And, yes, I did like the movie. I think Manohla Dargis’s review in the New York Times is off the mark, although, I usually agree with this particular film critic.