I was born in Yueyang, China, and left at a bus station where I was found by the police the next day. As I grew up, my parents taught me about my adoption through books, ensuring my understanding of my birth mother’s probable circumstances, and an adopting family’s process to bring a child home. Despite having been “abandoned,” I often find myself marveling at the beautiful sequence of events that have allowed me to develop into the very person I am today.
When I was five, graduating preschool, I learned the word “bilingual,” and promptly fell in love with the idea of communicating with numerous cultures. A month later, for one hour a week, I studied Mandarin Chinese and put all of my young heart into every lesson.
My also-adopted sister and I were raised by white parents in a white town, and both adopted a Western lifestyle-unaware of the depth of our own Chinese culture. Our home, Steamboat Springs is a small town of about 12,000 Caucasians, and with some squinting, an occasional sprinkle of color can be found. In third grade, as I was taking an official test, I learned that the correct way to answer the “Race and Ethnicity” section was Asian, I was not able to be both, Asian and White!
Downtown Steamboat Springs with the ski area in the background.
Through my years of dual language studies, Spanish in school and Chinese privately, I discovered important components of my character and my passions. The concept of language inspires me, because it is impossible to learn without grasping culture, and it transcends basic communication.
I am drawn to computer science and programming as a modern form of communication, and consistently throw myself into the holes of the internet- reading about the origin of the Korean alphabet, for example. While one can use translation programs to communicate, I believe learning a language and interacting with people from another culture is much more valuable.
One of the many parks in Xi’an.
Finally, last year I was able to test my Chinese as I had the incredible opportunity to visit China and surprised myself! For five-and-a-half weeks, my sister, mother, and I stayed in the city of Xi’an. My mom, an English as a Second Language professor, was a guest lecturer at a university. I was able to comprehend simple conversation and gained the confidence to go out to the grocery store, or the park. With limited communication, the time I spent in Xi’an gave me a glimpse into the struggles that foreigners face in the United States
Engineering Class at Jiao Tong University (mom at center left, me on the front right)
The days spent in class with my mother were the highlights of my trip. Her students were close to my age, and we traded high school experiences and hobbies. I not only stepped outside my introverted bubble, but burst it, when I added some students on WeChat, and had frequent conversations. Males dominated the room with a class of engineering students. The few girls gravitated towards me, and as females entering the STEM field, we bounded. Being amongst Chinese students made me understand myself better.Dolores, at first reserved and shy, opened up and took me under her wing, exposing me to her lifestyle in an overwhelming city. Flipping between two languages, we navigated through activities like escape rooms, arts and crafts, and music, all the while boosting each other’s vocabulary. Venturing through crowded Halal markets under the sweltering heat opened up a world of cuisine and culture that I didn’t know existed. The dichotomy of the Chinese aggression and serenity contrasted with the outdoor extremists of my small, mountain town.
Dolores (to the right) and I, holding the gifts she gave me before I left.
I pondered the “what-ifs” and marveled at the endless possibilities of my life, had I not been adopted and assimilated into Western civilization. Five weeks on the other side of the globe fostered my interest in broadening my perspective and being wholeheartedly present wherever I am in the world. With this trip and my craving to understand my culture of adoption, I realize that our personal opinions and beliefs construct the stories we make of different cultures. This life-changing experience launched my application and acceptance for an academic gap year in 2019 in Taiwan, where I am ready to dive right in, rather than tentatively dip my toes, as I initially did in China.
The gift of a worldly upbringing has helped me understand the importance of connectivity and the value of my unique experiences and those of others. I believe that the only way to have a world perspective and to truly acknowledge diversity is to learn languages and discover, person-to-person.
