Hello friends! I appreciate you taking the time to visit my blog. It has been a minute since my last update. Today, I'd like to discuss a whole new aspect of the Asian-American Experience that I have discovered, cross-cultural relationships.
As you can imagine, this is all thanks to my partner, with whom I have been enjoying a relationship with for almost three years now. He is Chinese, and like myself, his family left Asia when he was young to start a life in America. He identifies strongly with his Chinese background, and has not hesitated to share the food, traditions, and entertainment of his culture. Lucky for me, he is also very interested in Japan. He can read and understand Japanese, studied Japanese history in college, and happily visited me in Japan while I worked there. It's safe to say that he knows much more about Japan than I know about China.
Last month, I hit one of those life milestones that make us all shudder (1 part excitement shudder, 1 part fear shudder): meeting his extended family. In our case, this meant a trip to the Southern Part of China to a rural town near Hong Kong.
Our primary goal was to introduce me to my partner's grandmother. The oldest surviving matriarch of the family at over 90 years old, his grandma is still kicking strong. Nevertheless, we thought it was time that we took the opportunity for me to meet her. She holds an incredibly special place in my partner's heart - as a child, he was raised by his grandmother alongside his cousins as their parents' generation worked. Meeting her meant meeting the person who is very much a part of who my partner is today. In other words, it was a big big deal.
Find out how the trip went in the next post! In the meantime, please enjoy some photos of the most amazing Chinese food.