Episode 21: Asia

Rozhovor s Kanaďanem Ericem, jehož rodiče pocházejí z Hongkongu. Proč mají jeho prarodiče v obýváku gauč obalený igelitem; jak si do školy nosil ke svačině místo chleba se šunkou smaženou rýži; co se skrývá v tajemných červených obálkách, které si v Asii v rodinách předávají na Čínský Nový rok; a co všechno vám v Asii může skončit na talíři. Zmíníme i seriál Squid Game a kasovní trhák Crazy Rich Asians a mnoho dalších zajímavostí, co ke kultuře lotosového květu patří.

Transcript

Asian Culture and Stereotypes in Childhood

Speaker 1 0:02

I am Pavlina and I will tell you about my parents from all over the English language world about various interesting topics . Thank you very much for this channel and we can start .

Speaker 2 0:47

Today we are talking Asian culture , stereotypes and everything Asian . Hi Eric , how's it going ?

Speaker 3 1:31

It's pretty fun . It's pretty cool .

Speaker 2 1:35

So you're talking also about growing up in an Asian environment , within the Western cultures or Western culture . You're actually from Canada , we should mention .

Speaker 3 1:47

Yes , yes , I was born in Canada and I've been living here for almost all of my 38 years . I spent a few years outside of the country , but besides that , my whole life has been in Canada .

Speaker 2 1:59

Yeah , so when did your parents move to Canada ?

Speaker 3 2:02

So they came here in around I would say like the 70s , maybe the late 70s or so , and they essentially came down just so that they could , I guess , have a better life . They weren't , they didn't have much money over and they're from Hong Kong , so , and back then it was easy to immigrate in Canada . Actually it's easy to immigrate now to Canada , but back then , yeah , they immigrated here to start , I guess , a better life , and they met each other somehow some way in Toronto , and then from there I would , and then they moved over to Montreal and then I was born in Montreal and then we lived there for a while and then we moved over here to Calgary . These are some of the bigger cities within Canada and you might be familiar with some of them Toronto , probably everybody . When they think of Canada , it's either Toronto or Vancouver , pretty much .

Speaker 2 2:51

I would think that Montreal is pretty popular too .

Speaker 3 2:55

Montreal is popular ? Yes , because and there's a huge , like French population there's a lot of , there's a lot of signs of European culture as well in Montreal , more than in any of the other large cities in Canada . So Montreal , yeah , like that's definitely another big city . Calgary would be the probably the fourth biggest city in Canada after Toronto , vancouver , montreal , so yeah , but they Decide to come here . I don't . I don't know why they decided to come to Canada out of all the other countries . They could have gone to the US or whatever . But I'm not complaining . I absolutely love Canada . It's a great place to be and I hope everybody gets a chance to visit it someday .

Speaker 2 3:30

Yeah , and I mean . You live in Calgary , so meaning stunning mountains all around , right , mm-hmm very close to the mountains it's .

Speaker 3 3:39

It's so , it's so close that because I live here , I don't even go out to the mountains as much as I should , just so you know . You know , when there's such a good thing and it's so close , you're like I'll go next week , I'll go next week .

Speaker 2 3:52

Oh , I thought that you were gonna say next year , but you're like next week .

Speaker 3 3:56

Okay , all right , all right , well , it's been a little while , but it's , yes , like you said , stunning mountains very close , an hour drive and you're already able to see great mountainous peaks and all that and do great hikes and all that . So , yeah , amazing .

Speaker 2 4:11

And so do you still speak your mother tongue , which I'm guessing is Cantonese .

Speaker 3 4:16

Yes , so I do . I actually grew up with Cantonese because my parents they . Their English isn't that great , so when I grew up they just spoke Cantonese to me .

Speaker 3 4:28

So I grew up speaking Cantonese and then , after that , english started becoming the predominant language for me and that's what I mainly spoke , and my Cantonese started to wane , start to kind of go away and all that . But growing up I met a lot of friends in university that were from Hong Kong and they couldn't speak English that well . So it forced me to continue to speak Cantonese and my parents also did put me through Chinese school when I was growing up so that I didn't lose the language . And Since then , yeah , I do still speak Cantonese . I can read a little not that much . It's a hard language to read and I can write a little also , not much , but as long as I can hold the conversation , I'm okay . It's difficult , but but I find that it is important to kind of keep up with the language . Yeah , and whenever , whichever way I can to practice whether I go to Chinese restaurants to order food off the menu and I can say that and just hold basic language , just language Conversations . That's good enough for every day for me .

Speaker 2 5:34

And so growing up in an Asian immigrant household in Canada must have brought so many Cultural clashes , I suppose so do you remember any of those from your childhood .

Speaker 3 5:45

Yes . So I think the biggest one and one memory that really sticks out to me is when I was growing up and you go to school and you have lunches right with other kids and what the other kids have , they just have . They got their sandwiches with their snacks and all that type of stuff . Me I'm bringing like fried rice to school , right , because that's what I , that's what I ate at home . And then my mom would make fried rice or fried noodles in the morning . I'd be bringing that to school and like , let's just say , fried rice and those they have a . When you open up that box the smell comes out and it smells like fried rice and you're like , oh , and Then all the other kids are looking at me and they're like what is this ? What is this kid eating right here ? It smells strong and Now that I think back I don't know why I was embarrassed going to school with lunches , but at that moment in time because obviously I mean my fried rice , I'm going to assume tasted better than their ham sandwich .

Speaker 2 6:45

I bet I'm like I would die for your fried rice .

Speaker 3 6:49

Yeah , exactly , but during that moment in school I really wanted to be like the other kids and have my bologna sandwich or or Fruit roll up or whatever it is that they had as a snack and stuff . So that would probably be my biggest kind of like a culture type of clash . It's , you know , we , we eat different foods . Sandwiches are not really part of the Chinese kind of like a cuisine , so , but you know fried rice is , and so is noodles and stuff .

Speaker 3 7:18

So yeah , it's very bittersweet , I would say yeah , just like I just want to fit in with the rest of the kids . And how sandwiches , I think now , like this was back . I think now it's gone a little better where I see you see more kids go to school bringing their own Cuisine and all that . I think it's . It's a lot better and open now . But I guess back in the early 90s it was , it was maybe not as much of a thing , perhaps when I was in school and it was just sandwiches and fried rice for me .

Speaker 2 7:48

So so what's the funniest Asian stereotype you've heard that you actually think is ?

Speaker 3 7:52

true . So the one of the funniest things and it absolutely is true is Asians wrapping everything up in plastic to , like , preserve it , you know . So like , back then I go into my grandmother's house . I see your coach , I her couch is wrapped in plastic , you know , so that you don't . What .

Speaker 3 8:11

Yeah , it's like you know you go to the house and they got the couch and it's wrapped in plastic so that it you don't dirty it . So you sit down , you're sitting on the plastic instead of the actual couch . So that and that is absolutely true Even for me to this day I've inherited some of my parents

Debunking Asian Stereotypes and Discussing Frugality

Speaker 3 8:29

. You know how you buy like electronics and stuff and sometimes they have like a plastic clear sticker or something Like I don't peel that stuff off .

Speaker 2 8:38

Oh gosh .

Speaker 3 8:39

Yeah , exactly I . My car is from 2017 and there is still some plastic that I had inside the interior that I have not peeled off yet and I don't know why . I think it's . It's something that I just just grew up with and like it's . Maybe it's . Is it really to preserve the ? The like wrapping the biggest thing , wrapping your remote control in plastic , like , so the remote control would just be wrapped in like a plastic .

Speaker 2 9:04

Oh , do you have that ?

Speaker 3 9:05

Well , not like in my parents house . Yes , that one I can't stand , because the plastic gets disgusting and all that stuff . But inside the remote's still clean .

Speaker 2 9:14

Yeah , how do you touch the buttons ?

Speaker 3 9:16

So like it's . It's like thin plastic , okay , so you're still able to touch the buttons through the plastic . Think of it as like when you go to the supermarket and you have that , those little plastic bags that you put your vegetables in . It's kind of like that . So they'd use that to wrap it on everything up and so to keep it clean or something . But it's it's a stereotype and it's absolutely true . I still do it to this day .

Speaker 2 9:36

Interesting . And so what's the funniest Asian stereotype you've heard ? They just like complete nonsense .

Speaker 3 9:42

I would say that all Asians are good at math . That is , I am horrible at math . I failed grade nine math , which is basic fractions . I had to go to summer school to pass that . I failed grade 11 math . I failed grade 12 math . I failed a lot of university math . So I know it's a . It's definitely a stereotype that all Asians are good at math . You're like , oh , I need to something to calculate . Let me just ask my Asian friend hey , what's what's this , time's this or whatever ? Not ? Don't ask me that . I can barely do subtraction . Tell me like 35 minus eight , oh , hold on .

Speaker 2 10:19

Can I get the calculator ?

Speaker 3 10:21

I need the calculator out right , so that's probably the biggest thing to me is hilarious because I am so bad at math . Ironically , my job right now involves a lot of math , but luckily my boss isn't listening to this podcast . Hopefully .

Speaker 2 10:35

Okay , so you're not doing my taxes this year ?

Speaker 3 10:37

No , no , don't . You don't want me doing your taxes for sure .

Speaker 2 10:41

And so do you mind stereotypes , or like where do you , where do you think they come from ?

Speaker 3 10:46

I personally don't mind stereotypes . I'm not really affected by them and you know , at the end of the day it's they come from . From what Asians do you know stereotypes come from ? Because you're seeing Asians do this in a pattern , or a lot of them do that , and then you're developing that stereotype . So that's a lot of the stuff that they do . It's a stereotype because sometimes it's just true , right , what , what they do , like what I was talking about , you know , like Asians being frugal or being really smart at math , asians eating everything or whatever , like that , right . But I guess it also depends on the tone and maybe who I'm talking to . And all that because there can be some instances where that stereotyping , depending on who you're talking to , can border into kind of racist tones . But it really depends on who you're talking to . Like if I'm talking to a friend that I know quite well or whatever , like that , we're joking around to me a lot of types there's yeah they're stereotyping and all that .

Speaker 3 11:40

but sometimes it's maybe if you're talking to a stranger and like if they're saying in a serious way or in a mocking way , then it's a bit different . Maybe that's where some of the lines get drawn a bit . But me personally , myself , I don't really mind the stereotypes it's , I don't get offended that easily really .

Speaker 2 11:57

Yeah , I feel like so many people can cross the line easily .

Speaker 3 12:02

They can , it's you gotta walk that fine line . Sometimes , you know , especially in this movement in this day and age , with the whole , there's a lot of like sensitivity nowadays with like , what you say now is different than what you said back then , and now it's a lot different . Now is what ?

Speaker 2 12:20

I'll say Sure . And so you mentioned Asian people being frugal , and you actually wrote an article about it , about Asian people are very cautious when it comes to money , so what did that actually mean for you , for your family , I mean ? You've talked about it .

Speaker 3 12:36

Yeah , I mean it's being frugal . A lot of people are frugal , it's not just Asians . I guess there is a stereotype on a lot of Asians just being really , really frugal and I mean , for me I'm okay with that because that's really it . What to me that means is we're really making the value of a dollar count . You know we're really using it all the way , like examples of that would be when

Asian Cultural Traditions and Representation

Speaker 3 13:01

I was growing up . I have a younger sister as well , so you know I would wear clothing and then I give it to the my sister , even though it's boys clothing , it's fine , she is a child , no one cares , she is going to wear my sweatshirt .

Speaker 2 13:15

Gosh , I would love that . As a teenager , I really wanted to have an older brother .

Speaker 3 13:20

Yeah yeah , she , she's just wearing my sweatshirts with the race car on it or something like that . Another example I can think of is you know you go to fast food restaurants and I'm not sure if fast food restaurants over in Europe are the same as here , but when you order something , there's an area where you can grab napkins , straws and all that stuff . Right .

Speaker 2 13:38

Yeah , I mean , sometimes I think they give it to you . Sometimes there's , there's this area . I worked in Starbucks quite some time ago and I remember we had that kind of like area .

Speaker 3 13:48

You had that kind , yeah , and what we would do is we would like it doesn't even matter what we order . We could go in and order , like I don't know , six pack of McNuggets from McDonald's and then from there we moved to the other area where we would grab literally like a stack of napkins because it's free whole bunch of straws , forks , knives , spoons , pepper , salt , ketchup . We would grab all of that and put it in the bag and walk out and then we would never need to buy straws , we would never need to buy napkins . And the napkins at McDonald's are thick , they're like three-ply , they're like higher quality napkins to luxury , exactly . So we would just grab all of that and just bring all that home . So we never had , we never had to buy ketchup , we never had to buy mustard , salt , pepper . It's all good , we all had that .

Speaker 2 14:34

Yeah , it's so clever . And also you said it's free . But it's not free , but it's for your McNuggets .

Speaker 3 14:40

I paid for the McNuggets , but we really made that dollar count .

Speaker 2 14:44

That's for sure .

Speaker 3 14:46

Pay , but you're also leaving with a lot more than you .

Speaker 2 14:50

Next time you're bringing chairs , tables , you should check . I paid for my nuggets .

Speaker 3 14:56

I should definitely get that too , but I guess those are some of the examples I can remember of being frugal . There's probably tons more , but those two really stick out for me .

Speaker 2 15:06

And so what's your favorite Asian food ?

Speaker 3 15:09

So I guess I could classify that under kind of like two categories , I guess . If you're talking about Asian cuisine specifically , I love all types of Asian cuisine , but one of my favorites would probably be Vietnamese .

Speaker 3 15:24

I love Vietnamese cuisine , especially their noodle soups like their pho and their muay is , which is like a pork broth soup . If you're talking about just specific items and you know I was thinking about some of the more unique Asian items that I enjoy eating I really love the smell of steamed fish and that's like it's basically just a fresh fish . You steam it , put some soy sauce on top and some oil and some green onions and it's ready . It's like fresh fish , steamed . It smells amazing . I really love pig ears there . When you make them they're really crispy .

Speaker 3 15:57

Like pig ears , like the real pig ears Like real pig ears , you're eating cartilage . So it's nice and crunchy but very delicious . Same with like fried pig intestines , which are just intestines that the pig chopped up and fried , deep fried . Okay .

Speaker 3 16:14

Very unique kind of taste , but also very crispy and delicious and gizzards like chicken gizzards or something like that , which is kind of like their stomach essentially also very delicious . These are some of the more unique items that I love , probably because they're all crispy and they're definitely sounds unique , that's for sure . Maybe you'll get a chance one day to try them too , yeah maybe , and so do you still celebrate some of the Asian traditions ?

Speaker 3 16:39

I do , yes . So since , so since moving to Canada , my parents have not made it as big of a deal now to celebrate things like events and stuff , because it's just not as big of a deal here . But we still do Chinese New Year right and we still do the money , the pocket money , and that's like where , when you get the little red envelope , isn't it ? That's right , that's right we're , we're all about money . You know it's because the envelopes .

Speaker 2 17:04

You have to say what the envelope is , what it , what it means for you guys .

Speaker 3 17:08

It's , it's for . For me it's the . When you see the red envelope , you know that there's money inside . That's what it means . Like you , during Chinese New Year , your parents will give you money , and then , I think , if you're married , then you have to give money to the people that are unmarried . I think there's like a whole system involved . But , yeah , Chinese New Year is great . We also , you know , we'll do other , like Mid-Autumn Festival , which is another huge festival where we eat mooncakes which are very delicious . And then there's the Dragon Boat Festival , where we eat like glutinous rice , that's like rice wrapped in leaves and stuff . It's so we don't celebrate as much anymore , but there are certain big events that we still do celebrate to keep the culture going , you know .

Speaker 2 17:48

Yeah , and I mean all this delicious food that you've just mentioned .

Speaker 3 17:52

All the delicious food . I love it . That's another reason why you're going to celebrate , you know .

Speaker 2 17:56

For sure , and so do you ever travel back to your parents' homeland ? Your homeland is Canada now .

Speaker 3 18:04

So most of my parents' relatives from Hong Kong . They're relatively distant relatives now , so but I still do go back . Yeah , hong Kong , I'm actually going back to Hong Kong in September . Great , so it's great At the end of the day . Yeah , hong Kong is still a huge city . You know , there's like eight million people there live there and like it's like the one of the densest cities in the world . But it's like a huge culture hub , huge financial hub , entertainment hub , lots of things to do and see and eat , right Like I invite everybody who has never been to Hong Kong to go and to go . It's a great place . So , yeah , I definitely do go back , for sure .

Speaker 2 18:41

Yeah , wonderful . And so in the 80s , 90s , you know , if there was an Asian man on the TV , it'd probably , you know , be doing martial arts . So , you know , now I feel like the landscape is changing for the better , which is great . You know , we have everything everywhere all at once , parasite , you know things like the squid game . So , would you agree , is the environment , you know , changing for the better ?

Speaker 3 19:07

Yes , yes , I definitely do agree these last few years with experience , so much I guess I don't know how you call it like Asian-ness . You know , with the and just some other movies I like recommended , would be like crazy rich Asians .

Speaker 2 19:21

Yeah , I also read that . You know there are so many stereotypes too , but I thought it was hilarious .

Speaker 3 19:27

Yeah , I thought it was amazing . Like I watched that movie a few times . I yeah there are some stereotypes in there , but I don't , I don't really care To me . I thought it was awesome , I thought it was a great movie and it's one of the few movies that really brought back this whole thing , because that entire cast is Asian , right . So that's sometimes that was , and that came out before all those other things that you mentioned . All those other movies that you mentioned , right . There's also like Shang-Chi that came out right from Marvel with Simu Liu . That was big .

Speaker 3 19:59

And like we had the first Asian woman director to win in Best Director for Nomadland , chloe Zhao , right . So that's huge . You had that Steven Yunguy from the Walking Dead I think it was the Asian guy he was in a bunch of . He was in Minari one year , like age , like we've really stepped it up , definitely for sure . And I think it's good too because of all the let's just say there has been some negativity brought onto us during the pandemic . You know the whole , you know the Asian hate and all that stuff happening during the pandemic . So the fact that we're really coming back right now in full force , that's that's an awesome thing , 100% degree .

Speaker 2 20:41

And so any other cool Asian author , musician , personality we should follow .

Speaker 3 20:47

You know , I mean you can really Google anybody and just just find it as well , like , go on YouTube and do that whole search up one Asian artist and then just keep clicking and clicking and clicking that whole rabbit hole of YouTube . But personally , I think there's one rapper that I really love . It's called Rich Brian . So Rich Brian , he's an Indonesian rapper that learned English from just watching English rap videos and now he raps in English . And him and his crew , 88 Rising are it's a lot of it's , it's it's Asian and they're they're a group , collective of artists . So I thought that those guys are awesome . And then , in terms of personality , there's , like that one comedian , joe Coy . He's the Filipino comedian , he's a great funny guy . Movies wise , I don't know , do you ? I don't know if you watch a lot of anime , but I watch a lot of the old school anime . Hayami Ozaki , great guy , legendary anime director , made some of the greatest movies from the early 90s . So these are just some of the names that pop into my mind , but you know .

Speaker 2 21:50

I was going to mention Roni Qing .

Speaker 3 21:52

Oh yes , the comedian .

Speaker 2 21:53

Yes .

Speaker 3 21:55

Yes , he's good too . Yeah , I've seen some of this stand up comedy . It's hilarious . That guy , I think , was that guy . I think that guy was also in Crazy Rich Asians too , I think .

Speaker 2 22:04

Oh really . Oh , I didn't know that . I know that he has a Netflix special .

Speaker 3 22:09

Yes , he does . Yeah , he's hilarious . I don't know . There's a lot right now . You just , I'm sure , if you just go and just go out and discover them , there's tons .

Speaker 2 22:17

For sure . Well , Eric , thank you very much . This has been my last question . It's been so great . Thank you very much for taking the time .

Speaker 3 22:26

Not a problem .

Speaker 2 22:26

Pat . So , yes , I thank you very much , and thank you to everyone who's listened to this episode as well , and I'll see you next time . Bye .