Listen up people

I think one of the things that has been hard for me being from China is that the longer I stay here, the more comfortable I feel with American culture. As I know more and more and get better and better, I care more and more and hate being considered the ignorant Chinese girl who doesn't know anything. It's true that, to some extent, when I first came here I was the ignorant girl who didn't know much about how you cook, play games, raise kids, and socialize. Now, however, 3 years later, I'm not as ignorant any more. People often say how far I have come, but I doubt many people understand how difficult of a process this battle has been. When people give suggestions about how to do things, intending to be helpful, I sometimes can't help but feel inadequate and sad. Not only might I feel that I still don't know how to do things the way you do them, but the very idea that others still assume (and maybe always will assume!) that I am still an ignorant girl from China is the most hurtful.

Of course, I realizes part of the problem is me being overly-sensitive. I know that I , just like everyone else, has a lot I can learn from other people, and the idea that everyone should stop giving me tips and suggestions is ridiculous. I still want to learn things and am grateful for everyone who has taught me (like pie crusts and rolls! Thanks Mom and Annie and Ann), but many things I feel I can do on my own and don't need others to tell me how to do them. For some things, people assume that because I do them differently they must be wrong. I think the main point is that I don't want to be treated like the special-ed kid, always being given easy assignments and having everyone assume I'm an idiot who couldn't possibly do things on my own, who couldn't possibly cook or raise kids or play games or socialize without being continuously told how to do it.

I realize one of the cultural differences that has led to me feeling inadequate is the Chinese tendency to be modest and put down our own achievements. In China, when someone does something really good, they tell everyone it's only OK or even not very good. In fact, it would be rude to gloat and brag about your accomplishments. Here, however, it seems that the opposite is true. I can tell that I've been bragging a lot more since I got here but still don't think I'm the same as other people. Sometimes I worry that because of this, people assume I must not be very good at being a wife and mother because I don't talk about it the same way they do. I don't know why I care so much about what other people think, and I know I probably shouldn't care and I should be more mature.

I guess it's because, being an outsider from a different place, the only way I know that I'm fitting in and progressing is by what other people think. If they think I'm still the ignorant girl from China, I'm failing and haven't progressed. Also, as I fit in better with family, church and friends, I care more and more about how you think about me.

I will work on being less sensitive, but I just wanted everyone to know what it's like to be me so that maybe you can be more sensitive!

:-)

medical school and the grueling process

Last week I got an email from the Medical College of Wisconsin offering me a seat in their class. This comes as a big relief and I am very grateful. I had always heard how grueling it can be to apply to a professional school, but it's hard to understand how emotionally taxing it really is until you do it.

The process goes something like this: study for the MCAT, pay a lot of money for the MCAT, wait for scores, fill out all the applications for a bunch of schools, spend lots of money, wait, write secondary essays, spend more money for secondary application fees, wait, get rejected from some schools, wait, go some interviews, spend a lot more money, wait, get waitlisted at a school and hear nothing from others (yes, more waiting), go to more interviews, spend more money, wait................ acceptance!! Overall, you can see it's a lot of waiting a lot of money (notice the emphasis added). I can't complain, however, because my applications have gone relatively smoothly. I empathize with everyone who doesn't get in at all or has to wait many many months before they hear back. I am sure you get to the point where it's hard to keep hoping because it only adds to the disappointment.

While Milwaukee isn't our first choice, I think we would be very happy there. I was impressed by the school and, despite the cold, it seems there's a lot of stuff to do there. Jokes were made at my interview about the large amounts of people from Utah at this school, so it seems I might fit in.


Other recent stuff is a short hike we did off the Yetman Trail on Friday

An interesting old house ruin on the Yetman Trail

Recently, Enoch likes to stick his tongue out. We argue about who taught him this trick

And here's his Halloween costume

DC interview weekend

Last weekend we flew out to DC together for Sam's interview at Maryland Medical School. We stayed with Chase and Caitlin for the weekend. I got to see the white house for the first time and some other monuments.

We got to DC late at night last Friday, when we finally went to bed it was almost midnight DC time. Saturday we went to see the Mall. It was a really tiring walk but I'm glad that I got to see a lot of stuff. It's funny to see Chinese tourists everywhere.

This is one of the pictures we took in the Mall:



Sam took this one, I think it's really sweet:

Enoch sit with uncle Chase and cousin Traci on the grass
Hannah, Neal and Cali, Josh came over for dinner Sat night. We ate pizza and played a game together. Can you believe that it was my first time meeting Neal? I totally thought we've already met because of reading Hannah's blog. Cali and Josh asked me to translate a Chinese story which turned out to be really sad. Sometimes I don't understand why they make baby stories so sad... (I totally don't know why this paragraph got lost... Sorry guys!)

Sunday we went to church together and of course we had to go see the temple. It's so beautiful!!!

Washington DC Temple

Then we had dinner with Caitlin's family. That was when I had baked squash the first time! Delicious! I would definitely buy squash next time when I go grocery shopping now that I know it actually tastes great.
Caitlin put Traci's head band on Enoch and they played with bubbles:

It was a short but fun weekend at DC. Thanks to Chase and Cait for letting us stay. I think we would be happy living there if Sam gets accepted.

Flying back on Monday wasn't fun at all. Poor Enoch couldn't find a comfortable position to sleep. It would be much easier if there was a seat for him. I'm glad that the trip didn't mess up Enoch's schedule, he went back to normal schedule right away!! I'm so grateful for this! Also, this Wed we officially weaned Enoch from the breasts.... I'm pumping in the morning when I have the most milk supply and feed him formula in the afternoon. He's doing great!

Sam flew out again yesterday morning for Wisconsin's interview. This will be the end of the interview period for a while until he gets more interviews (CA schools are so slow!!!).

The best toys are free!

The family who used to live in our house left two toys in the yard, I kept them when the owner wanted to throw them away. They were supper dirty, but I thought I could give it a try to clean them.

I'm so proud of myself for cleaning them because now they look great! Check them out:

I can see that pretty soon these two toys will become Enoch's favorites. Cant stop giving myself credits for this! Yay!

We decided that today will be the "naked Friday" for Enoch. Well, at least that's what Sam wanted.


I also found a good place to hide Enoch...

Guitar Case crib bassinet

Sam (Ooops... I meant to say Enoch) is 7 months old now! Two weeks ago, we went to get him the first flu shot. He weighed 19lb 5oz, 27 inches long.