"Are you born in Chinatown???"

Funny how my field work experiences are moving hand in hand with class readings and discussions.  Just yesterday after class, I went to St. Martin de Porres and I met two cute little Mexican girls.  The quiet one was named Diana and the more outgoing and active one was named Rachelli.  As I was playing and talking with them, one of the first questions they asked me was what country are you from?  It was very interesting how they associated my race/ethnicity with what country I came from.  Yes... I am Chinese, but I have actually never been to China before.  I also have only gone back to Taiwan maybe twice my entire life.  So I answered I'm from the United States.  They both gave me puzzled looks and were waiting for me to continue my explanation.  I told them I am Chinese and I speak Mandarin, but I was born here and so I identify myself as an American.  

Diana and Rachelli were so interested in my ethnic background, culture, and language.  I was actually sad that I couldn't identify as much with it as I'd like.  They wanted me to tell them how to say all these different words and phrases in Chinese.  They even made me write the words on their arms so they could remember them.   Embarrassingly I couldn't write as proficiently as I speak.  As I taught them Mandarin, they taught me a bit of Spanish.  Although I had taken Spanish in high school for  years, I would say I'm far from good so it was a great experience for me!  I really enjoyed this opportunity for exchange of languages and their growing curiosity for other cultures.  It made me think about how eventually, someday, we could all learn to overlook boundaries of race and appreciate all the different cultures that do exist.