I really got a kick out of the fact that like a billion people are like, "Holla Sistah! Tell it like it is!" in their reviews.

Although i'm not Asian, i can still appreciate your story. You're a fantastic writer, keep it up. :)

I'm no Korean, but I am of an Asian ethnicity. At least people know how to say your race correctly. Being Asian has its quirks, but being Hmong is so much harder. I understand completely how you feel. Me and my fellow Hmong friends are called 'Asian kids' when they know we're Hmong. They don't even acknowledge us by our names. Just "Hey, Asian kid. Come here." or "O.. Look at the Asians!" Ugh! So damn annoying! Sorry for ranting. But what you say is soo true. All I wanted to say. =]

A very honest, humourous piece. I'm Chinese myself, but I've never been through anything like this, so this was a good, heartfelt eye-opener for me.

Keep it up!

Couldn't be more truer. Just the other day, I had these couple guys come up to me (I'm Vietnamese) and bow to me while saying "Ching Chong Ching Chang" It's rather frustrating. Most of the people in my school, ask me if I'm Chinese, once I reply that I'm not, then they ask me if I'm Asian.

I have taken piano and violin but I quit in order to do dance and my parents are disappointed in me by choosing to do a sport rather then do piano and violin. It's really annoying.

Oh my goodness me! This is ...AWESOME! lol

I, myself am Asian, though I was (am) in Melbourne, Australia. I'm Vietnamese.

Anyway, you are so right about the preassure from parents, in the sense of academic achievements. I have never like Maths, I would rather poke myself in the eye or something. I may hate it, but I'm not terrible at it either. On my maths exam this year i got A.

With regards to music, I play violin, though I wasn't forced, i chose to play it. I also play guitar, a bit of piano and used to play drums. At the moment i take singing lessons as well. I enjoy all that. I like art in general, sketching, painting, being in musicals or the orchestra, whatever, I enjoy it.

Well Sports what can i say? I really do enjoy it. Not terribly bad, but am pretty good. This year i was made capt. of my Volleyball and Hockey team. I was also a capt. of my rowing crew. My parents don't think i should be doing so much sport, they think this time can be used for "studying"! Pfft! Yeah right, I don't even do homework.

I can speak Vietnamese and French, I'm fluent. I can also read and write. My parnets are pleased, but I just want to stop taking lessons.

When i think about it, I wouldn't say I'm a loner. I have heaps of caucasion friends, am dating one now, so I'm not an outcast. My parents don't approve the boyfrind thing. I doubt they would even approve if the guy was asian. lol

Anyway, Just thought I'd say all that, hhm, not sure why, cause i'm pretty sure you couldn't care less, but whatever! lol

This is an awesome piece!

CosmoBabe335, xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxxo

Ha, ha, wow, so it's not just me who's going through all this, huh? I'm Korean American, too, and there's a whole network of smart Korean Americans that I know. And, yeah, they're all into music, and are super smart. Me? Well, I'm above average, but lazy, and people around me are going to have to get used to my getting C's. I even got a D in AP Language.

One thing that's really different for me than in your essay is that my friends (only one is Asian, and the other is half Asian) are the ones who like Asian food. I dislike most Asian food.

Well, anyway, yeah, I could believe some of this. Makes me wonder, is it just with Koreans, or with all Asian Americans? Koreans are crazy.

Sigh. So true w/ this. I don't know bout the Korean parts but the Asian parts are true. My parents get so ** just b/c I get a B in Math. The lecture's drilled into my head. The stereptyping I'm used to already. They still hurt a lot but I don't really show it anymre unless if I'm slapping the person or something.lol. Anyways this is well written and very true. Keep writing.

Whoa - my experience is a lot different to what you seem to portray. I'm Asian but born and raised in Australia, and well, there isn't so much that hype about stereotypes from where I come from. Sure I'm your A plus student and though my parents standards may be a little higher than average, my marks are a result of my natural ability. Maths is like a breeze to me along with science, english, french ... in fact all my subjects. I'm not trying to boast but just get the point across that not all Asians get high marks due to pressure from their parents. Piano lessons? Frankly, I've never been a musical person and I've been to one or two lessons when I was younger, but Dad let me quit because I hardly enjoyed it. People at my school see me smart and I get a lot of references with 'Einstein', but never have I been labelled as the 'Asian nerdy kid'.

I play sport and I'm quite good at it actually. I've got friends from all races and just a month ago, I won an essay competition where I got a 14day holiday to Europe along with six other winners - all Caucasian and a year older than me. However, it hardly made a difference - i had an awesome time anyway - and there was hardly a comment made to me about being Asian, except when we were talking about where our parents came from and i said that my Dad was from Canada, my mum from China. I believe, that people are generally facinated by your ethinicity, particularly if you belong to a minority group, and mean no further harm other than curiouity.

To say that I have never encountered racial oppression would be a lie (though any instances would be scarce), though I have never really felt the need to break out stereotypes as you have described, partly because I don't have a stereotype to break out of and people are fantastically accepting here down under! lol

And as for my future husband (lol!), my parents shudder at the thought of me having a boyfriend so it won't be anytime soon and they wouldn't care less if I dated a Chinese, English, French etc. etc. I don't find race an issue with as you put it 'scoring points with guys' (haha) in fact, I have been hit on by more caucasian aussies than asian aussies!

It's a bit of shame that you can't speak your parent's native language, because not only do you miss out the chance of becoming naturally bilingual (i picked up mandarin without realising it), but heaps of my true blue aussie friends are incredibly impressed that I can speak three languages already (English, Mandarin and French). Not only that, but you become an excellent natural translator and I've heard that speaking both Mandarin and English in China is really 'cool'! But look on the bright side - at least you have your multicultural cuisine! Korean food is awesome and currently, if I'm having takeaway I'll stay clear out of Maccas and meat pies (you don't know what they put in it these days, lol!) and go and get some Indian or Turkish. Yumm...

But I must say, that you have written an excellent article and I am impressed by the level of control you have over the language along with the content. Good on you! I would love to know the url of the website you quoted from so if you can email me (my addy is at my author profile), it would be great.

Thanks for giving me the pleasure of reading your writing and come to Oz someday!

Meet ya in Sydney, lol

Jenecis.

Gotta say; this was crackerbarrels of fun to read.

And now I must hop aboard the bandwagon and join most of the other reviewers in saying, "OHEMGEE! NO WAY! THAT EXACT SAME STUFF IS WHAT HAPPENS TO ME/MY VERY VERY CLOSE AZYN FRIEND!" I do know exactly where you're comin' from, lady. Sucks to be that Asian whose very Asian parents FAILED to teach the language, so their friends and their friends' kids think you're an idiot.

I'd like to point out to that other person that you never once mentioned the word "Caucasian" in this essay. Maybe once, but it certainly wasn't in a stereotypical way, as you directly referred to yourself in the sentence- thereby merely referring to your own personal experience rather than Caucasians as a whole.

But hey. Being labelled Chinese all the time when you're not- I'm Japanese- isn't so bad. When I lived in South Florida (very few Asians there), people used to think I was a "White Haitian". I mean, seriously. ^_^

I liked it and I totally agree. I am Korean-American born in Oregon and raised in California. This piece portrays everything I think of and see. Personally myself I hate math and I avoid taking math classes as much as I can. Much aganist to the horror of my mother I quit paino just so I can have more time to play softball and tennis. I cuss a lot, think outrageously, and do a lot of things they don't expect from an Asian. The funny thing is I still don't fit in American society and I definitely don't fit in the Korean society. Anyways the point is I really liked this piece and great job on it

I'm caucasian and i thought that this was really funny because well, it's true. One of my good friends is asian and she wrote this and trust me, We're not being steryotyped against. Because it's true. When we were younger didn't we call every asian person 'chinese' and now, don't you see all of the stupid kids in your classes cheating off of the Asian kids? She's just saying that Asians traditions are very strict and that alot of asian kids are pushed to their limits by their parents. Which is why they all play a string instrument or the piano. Which is why alot of kids consider them weird. So she wasn't steryotyping caucasians she was making fun of her own race.

Very good. I could so relate to it as I'm half Korean (other half Caucasian). It is very well-written. I give a thousand kudos to you.

I am honestly impressed. I think this is one of the best and dead honest pieces on this site. One of my close friends is Asian, and she's told me all that you've stated here. She plays the violin. She excells in math. Kids assume that she's a nerd just because she's Asian. But you know, she's not. She's my friend and I think she's great and funny just like my other friends. I can relate to this so much because I'm Hispanic and sometimes I have some issues with stereotypes and some inner conflicts I deal with. I really hope that you got that published in the magazine you submitted it to. If you didn't, keep trying because I would buy that magazine just to read this again.

I have to say I really enjoyed this. It was sarcastic, funny and quirky and perfect for a daring magazine or newspaper. Very well-written, excellent job!

This is mostly well-written, grammatically, with correct punctuation and whatnot.. I will say, though, that while you're saying Caucasians stereotype Asians, are you not stereotyping Caucasians?

As a white girl with several Asian friends, I'd like to point out that not everyone will agree with the statement that "Ultimately, Asians are just seen as weird." Maybe adding a few "In my experience" or "In my opinion"s would make it a little less... hyprocritical.

The way it reads, it's very much like you're saying, "Yes, it's okay for me to stereotype Caucasians and say they all think Asians are weird, but it's not okay for them to stereotype us by saying we're weird."

Still well-written, though. Very nice essay.

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