My first, much anticipated experience with dim sum was many years ago at Yank Sing while visiting San Francisco (before I lived there). I absolutely loved it and have often wanted to enjoy it again.
Today, Mae, Melinda and I met at Wei Hong for a wonderful dim sum lunch. It was great fun to hang with Mae and Melinda without our little ones - while 4 two year olds are certainly a good time, it is nice to have a conversation without the "mommy" interruptions every few seconds. The atmosphere was fabulous, the food delicious and the company could not have been better. It was a much, much needed break from a tiresome two weeks.
While driving to and from today's mommy play date, I was thinking about a post I read a week or two ago on Anti-Racist Parent (see sidebar) about cultural appropriation. Since I have read it, it has bothered me and really has given me a lot to think about regarding my efforts to include parts and pieces of Chinese culture into the daily life of my family. At lunch and after, we talked about ways that we include or plan to include things Chinese into our lives - food, language, cultural events, etc. I left with a couple feelings: 1) I am not alone in my desire to embrace Chinese culture as fully as possible and 2) It will be a life long challenge to do so.
The challenging part is to find ways to really embed Chinese culture into my family as opposed to just "appropriating" those pieces that are easy. How much time have I spend really learning about Chinese cuisine? Certainly not nearly enough. What have I learned about spirituality in China and incorporated into our daily lives? Basically nothing. What can/should I be doing now to bring more of Chinese culture into our lives?
I think that each time that I push the limits a little further, explore a little farther or step outside my comfort zone a bit more I am making progress. Today was a step in that it allowed me to explore a bit farther and to connect with other like minded moms.
Today, Mae, Melinda and I met at Wei Hong for a wonderful dim sum lunch. It was great fun to hang with Mae and Melinda without our little ones - while 4 two year olds are certainly a good time, it is nice to have a conversation without the "mommy" interruptions every few seconds. The atmosphere was fabulous, the food delicious and the company could not have been better. It was a much, much needed break from a tiresome two weeks.
While driving to and from today's mommy play date, I was thinking about a post I read a week or two ago on Anti-Racist Parent (see sidebar) about cultural appropriation. Since I have read it, it has bothered me and really has given me a lot to think about regarding my efforts to include parts and pieces of Chinese culture into the daily life of my family. At lunch and after, we talked about ways that we include or plan to include things Chinese into our lives - food, language, cultural events, etc. I left with a couple feelings: 1) I am not alone in my desire to embrace Chinese culture as fully as possible and 2) It will be a life long challenge to do so.
The challenging part is to find ways to really embed Chinese culture into my family as opposed to just "appropriating" those pieces that are easy. How much time have I spend really learning about Chinese cuisine? Certainly not nearly enough. What have I learned about spirituality in China and incorporated into our daily lives? Basically nothing. What can/should I be doing now to bring more of Chinese culture into our lives?
I think that each time that I push the limits a little further, explore a little farther or step outside my comfort zone a bit more I am making progress. Today was a step in that it allowed me to explore a bit farther and to connect with other like minded moms.
5 comments:
I have only had Dim Sum 1 time, but I really liked it.
I am right there with you an ways to incorporate Chinese culture in our daily life, but also wanting to balance that our own culture.
We are strongly considering enrolling Maddy into a Mandarin immersion school (of which we have 3 in the city), but they are all on a lottery system to enter so then the question becomes, what happens if we don't get into any of them? Is there a way we can incorporate language more than a weekly Sat school.
It was fun. We're having our leftovers for dinner tonight. Hoping I don't screw up that oyster sauce. See you Friday.
Gina, I just thought I'd say Hi! I've been keeping up with your blog a lot lately. It's really fun to read, and Olivia is so cute. I am jealous of your garden- and the crop ya'll had. Mom and I are going shopping for a planter for me this weekend, I'm going to try my "hand" at having a green thumb. ... I can't wait to see pictures of Olivia in the snow this winter:) She's going to be so adorable in a little snow suit! Much love, Katie
The Chinese culture thing is hard espcially in a smaller city. The most we have done is celebrate CNY and the Moon Festival with some local families and that is usually just meeting at a Chiense restaurant. I would love to visit a Chinatown somewhere. I think the closest one to us would be Chicago and that is 6-7 hours away! The restaurant you visited sounds wonderful I will have to remember it the next time we head over to the Zoo!
These are all deep thoughts. I think that there is a line that can get crossed that is so far over the top. Do we want Nadia to learn Chinese? Yes and we are actively trying to learn ourselves. I don't want to go overboard, but I also don't want to do too little.
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