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Asian-GAF: We're all the same, like Stormtroopers |OT| |AT|

Zoe

Zoe

Member
effingvic said:
I was using chopsticks the whole time, wasn't sure if I should start using my hands to break part of it off. Honestly I need to brush up on my Japanese food etiquette. Still not sure if I should use chopsticks or hands to eat sushi.

I struggled with some of the regular pieces too. Had to do my best titan impression and open my mouth as wide as possible. So lame lol
Click to expand...
Why should you care about Japanese etiquette when eating spider rolls?
 
L

Llyranor

Member
Mr. Wedgewood said:
I'm one of most banana/coconut people out there. Any english friendly countries?
Click to expand...

Hong Kong is great for that. Singapore is supposed to be too. Japan's fine, too, I've been twice and the lack of knowledge of Japanese did not hinder my experience.

Mr. Wedgewood said:
Truffle xiaolongbao from Din Tai Fung, this was just heavenly. I need one of those stores in my city :(
Click to expand...
Don't we all? I would kill to have a Din Tai Fung nearby.
 
G

Gully State

Member
jlin-blog-hair_6ac586c2-6cc3-435e-8079-4b2e0603062b_large.jpg


JLin rocking the haircut every Asian boy has gotten at least once in their lives.
 
C

CapNBritain

Member
RomanceDawn said:
I'm not Asian but I did marry into a Chinese family and the closest man I ever had to a father is my Wushu teacher who passed on the school to me and also happens to be Chinese. I hope I am welcomed into your thread.

I am living in Beijing for a while and I'm only in my 2nd week. I was riding the subway today and I nodded and smiled to a woman across from me. I'm the type of guy that if we meet eyes, I acknowledge you, smile and nod. Man, woman, young or old. That's just what I do. She smiled back and said hello in English. I asked if she spoke English and simple conversation started.

She asked if I had wechat, it's their allowed social media, it's all the rage in Beijing! It's like miiverse but with AMAZING video chat. When I pull out my phone the guy sitting next me started saying something. By the looks of her face and her friend next to her I can tell it's no good. I just figured the guy was saying be careful of foreigners or something so I just smiled and tried to roll with it.

He keeps talking and talking and talking, then he begins to get just a little louder. I start looking around the train and everyone's faces are in shock. People are leaning over and looking at me with these... expressions, I don't know! I didn't even try to understand what he was saying but the way people were looking at me I just started to shrink inside. On the outside I was cool and just smiled, though I could feel the discomfort setting in.

Both ladies were trying to say something to get him to just stop and the embarrassment on their faces was clear. I felt so bad for them. My stop couldn't come soon enough. I looked over at one girl down the train just staring at me with the biggest eyes ever. I couldn't bare to look at anyone else.

I got up, I said "sorry" in mandarin and I got out of there. The two ladies got of the train as well and just waited for the next one to pass. They couldn't stay on that same car with the man. I don't know what he said but their faces man! I thought one of the ladies was going to cry. To make light of the situation I just smiled, laughed and told them it was ok and that things like that happen from time to time. They kept apologizing to me saying that "Chinese people aren't like that, they are very friendly" etc etc. I asked about what he said and they would not dare to repeat anything.

When I said good bye to the ladies I could feel my lips quiver trying to force a smile. I hope they couldn't see through my facade. I was worried that If they thought I felt bad they might have felt even worse.

Just in case you are wondering I am half black and half white. I identify myself as mostly black(what ever that means) as I only knew that side of my family and I'm very light skinned. I've dealt with all kinds of jacked up stuff before but this today was different. For what ever reason the whole situation just made me feel really bad and I don't even know why. I can only guess not being able to defend myself is a reason. Not to mention my imagination is running wild about what the man could have said! It's probably not as bad as I am assuming but the people's faces! I don't want anyone to ever look at me like that again.

Just last week a taxi wouldn't take me because he straight up said he was afraid of me. I thought it was the funniest thing ever and didn't think twice about it beyond wanting to tell a funny story to friends. This however, this was different.

If I can post a pic, maybe you can tell me if I look threatening, hahaha!

Still love Beijing though!
Click to expand...

I'm sorry you had to through this. At least the other people on the subway seemed like they weren't on board with the shit the guy was supposedly saying. It also sounds like you don't speak/understand a lot of Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese?) How is it living in Beijing if you don't know the language? Do you just point a lot (that's what I do when I travel abroad)?
 
N

nampad

Member
Llyranor said:
Hong Kong is great for that. Singapore is supposed to be too. Japan's fine, too, I've been twice and the lack of knowledge of Japanese did not hinder my experience.


Don't we all? I would kill to have a Din Tai Fung nearby.
Click to expand...

Your misquote made me think the mods renamed me, puh...

And yes, we all need one. I only went with my gf and she barely eats anything so I couldn't try as much as I wanted :(

The "dessert" sponge cake I bought sucked though. It was just some bao dough, which was good but nothing for my sweet tooth. Expected something like the Vietnamese banh bo nuong:

maxresdefaultibsn9.jpg


The store manager awas awesome. We wanted to buy some pineapple cake as a gift but didn't because we went to the Philippines afterward. When we came back over a week later they were sold out. He remembered us and called the other stores to ask if they still had any and one did :)


RomanceDawn said:
I'm not Asian but I did marry into a Chinese family and the closest man I ever had to a father is my Wushu teacher who passed on the school to me and also happens to be Chinese. I hope I am welcomed into your thread.

I am living in Beijing for a while and I'm only in my 2nd week. I was riding the subway today and I nodded and smiled to a woman across from me. I'm the type of guy that if we meet eyes, I acknowledge you, smile and nod. Man, woman, young or old. That's just what I do. She smiled back and said hello in English. I asked if she spoke English and simple conversation started.

She asked if I had wechat, it's their allowed social media, it's all the rage in Beijing! It's like miiverse but with AMAZING video chat. When I pull out my phone the guy sitting next me started saying something. By the looks of her face and her friend next to her I can tell it's no good. I just figured the guy was saying be careful of foreigners or something so I just smiled and tried to roll with it.

He keeps talking and talking and talking, then he begins to get just a little louder. I start looking around the train and everyone's faces are in shock. People are leaning over and looking at me with these... expressions, I don't know! I didn't even try to understand what he was saying but the way people were looking at me I just started to shrink inside. On the outside I was cool and just smiled, though I could feel the discomfort setting in.

Both ladies were trying to say something to get him to just stop and the embarrassment on their faces was clear. I felt so bad for them. My stop couldn't come soon enough. I looked over at one girl down the train just staring at me with the biggest eyes ever. I couldn't bare to look at anyone else.

I got up, I said "sorry" in mandarin and I got out of there. The two ladies got of the train as well and just waited for the next one to pass. They couldn't stay on that same car with the man. I don't know what he said but their faces man! I thought one of the ladies was going to cry. To make light of the situation I just smiled, laughed and told them it was ok and that things like that happen from time to time. They kept apologizing to me saying that "Chinese people aren't like that, they are very friendly" etc etc. I asked about what he said and they would not dare to repeat anything.

When I said good bye to the ladies I could feel my lips quiver trying to force a smile. I hope they couldn't see through my facade. I was worried that If they thought I felt bad they might have felt even worse.

Just in case you are wondering I am half black and half white. I identify myself as mostly black(what ever that means) as I only knew that side of my family and I'm very light skinned. I've dealt with all kinds of jacked up stuff before but this today was different. For what ever reason the whole situation just made me feel really bad and I don't even know why. I can only guess not being able to defend myself is a reason. Not to mention my imagination is running wild about what the man could have said! It's probably not as bad as I am assuming but the people's faces! I don't want anyone to ever look at me like that again.

Just last week a taxi wouldn't take me because he straight up said he was afraid of me. I thought it was the funniest thing ever and didn't think twice about it beyond wanting to tell a funny story to friends. This however, this was different.

If I can post a pic, maybe you can tell me if I look threatening, hahaha!

Still love Beijing though!
Click to expand...

Asians are quite racist but I am surprised they actually showed it like that though.
 
G

Gully State

Member
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the mini soup dumplings were the last time I went to Din Tai Fung.

Soup dumpling served in soup? Don't be ridiculous...
 
I

InsaneZero

Member
Gully State said:
JLin rocking the haircut every Asian boy has gotten at least once in their lives.
Click to expand...

Never had a mushroom cut before, but I saw everybody had them back in elementary. Was jealous of the boys for having that haircut back then, but looking back it was a blessing in disguise.
 
S

Septimus Prime

Member
Cybit said:
About Dr. Ken

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat...ctor_on_the_hangover_community_diversity.html

seems like it might be worth giving a shot later on - sounds like the pilot episode was too many cooks in the kitchen. I try to give all shows at least a season, admittedly.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I definitely want to chalk up most of my complaints to it being the pilot (I also hated the first episode of Neil Patrick Harris' Best Time Ever, but it got better). The supporting cast is also really weak, though.
 
C

Cybit

FGC Waterboy
backslashbunny said:
Thanks.

I'm still going to keep watching, because SUPPORT.

I know my BF hates it when I support things just for being Asian instead of being good, but I think a little Pan Asian solidarity is still worth it.
Click to expand...

IMO, folks should watch the show if you like something about it that you want to tell people making shows "hey, make it more like this". Anything more than that I think it might make things worse rather than better. That said, its the first season, so it falls under my "it takes a show generally a season to figure out whether it will be good or bad" rule. :D

Also, the massive amounts of money coming into Hollywood from Asian overseas markets the last couple of years are going to ensure that we will probably end up being a little overrepresented when it comes to movies in a decade or so. :D
 
G

Gully State

Member
backslashbunny said:
You never had a xiaolongbao before :eek:?

Congrats on coming over to the right side :D
Click to expand...

o.jpg


I'm talking about these...It's a mini XLB (I believe they call it 小籠湯包) but you put it in the soup they give you and eat it like wonton soup. So when you bite into it, suddenly there's an explosion of two different soup flavors in your mouth.
 
S

Septimus Prime

Member
There is a place in Alhambra (in Focus Plaza) that serves these huge XLB, where they're as big as a plate, and they give you a boba straw to drink the juice with.
 
S

StMeph

Member
Septimus Prime said:
There is a place in Alhambra (in Focus Plaza) that serves these huge XLB, where they're as big as a plate, and they give you a boba straw to drink the juice with.
Click to expand...

Seems like a misnomer for 小籠包 to be plate sized. Small is the first word in the name.
 
G

Gully State

Member
C

Cybit

FGC Waterboy
backslashbunny said:
Heh, we'll see. But yeah, you're right.. one season is a good barometer. Sometimes :<
Click to expand...

Depends on the show. Flash was awesome from the get-go. Arrow got super badass in Season 2.

Gonna post this rant about the "are people too easily offended" thread in OT - I was gonna reply in there but I don't think it'll accomplish anything. I make some comments near the end about Eastern vs Western culture and the idea of free discussion of ideas vs censoring. Curious as to folks thoughts on it.

The proliferation of the communication and transportation revolutions (in the last 80 or so years, you've had mass produced cars, the creation of the highway system, the birth and rise of the civil aviation industry, and then you add in mass telecommunications via the phone, radio, television, and internet) has also allowed us to all be far more self-selective with who we surround ourselves with and basically what our "world" looks like.

Think of NeoGAF or any major forum - by numbers alone, you would assume that you could get a pretty good sample (we probably have a pretty diverse group of people by race, by location). But, if you did poll all of NeoGAF; you'd get a heavily skewed set of data - because we've all self-selected ourselves into this particular forum. One of the big pushes in modern technology is to make things more personal, to customize them specifically to your needs. Facebook News Feeds, RSS feeds that we choose the news from, the advent of a zillion niche tv networks and twitch streams...we don't have to live outside of our self-created bubble, and the interconnectedness of the modern world makes us believe that our self-created bubble is representative of the whole world.

Mind you: This isn't a rip on us, this is the human condition. Ask anyone who has ever lived in a city their whole lives to spend 5 years in fly-over country and they will end up astonished. (or vice versa).

Then we find out it's not, and we find out there are people who disagree with us and who believe completely different things, and our tolerance of diversity has been completely eroded because we haven't been challenged or pushed in so long. So we get mad. We get outraged. We have tools now (Twitter, blogs, social media) to organize and get angry together (the modern equivalent of a mob), and lose our shit. On top of it, since we live in such an interconnected world, niche beliefs / things can appear far more pervasive then they actually are, which allows ourselves to create an "us vs the world / them" mentality on top of it. There's a reason the KKK is allowed to exist - had the Federal Gov't decided to try to actively ban it - the resulting backlash would have made them more influential - not less.

I suspect it is harder for younger and/or Western folks to realize the line (yelling fire in a crowded theater) is super far out for a reason - because your culture is very much defined by its freedom. For those of us who grew up in Eastern culture, where when something is "bad", it's pretty much immediately censored out of existence - we see how terribly that policy fails us in the real world. To make things worse, often see the thing that was censored out of existence come roaring back with ferocity. You don't think there's a common reason why uber nationalistic right-wing parties all became en vogue in the Nordic states in the last 5 years? Or why Canada's ruling gov't is extremely right-wing? (and trying to censor things, on top of it!)
 
B

BLOODED_hands

Member
Gully State said:
jlin-blog-hair_6ac586c2-6cc3-435e-8079-4b2e0603062b_large.jpg


JLin rocking the haircut every Asian boy has gotten at least once in their lives.
Click to expand...

I used to be jealous of my Asian brethrens for having straight hair but then I thought about the bowl cut lol. I like my hair like my awesome Asian heroes, long and flowing (mines not as long but to my shoulders, slicked back, and sometimes in a ponytail or bun).

My chiggas got some badass ear rings though.
 
S

Seductivpancakes

Member
For my third essay for English, I have to find an article dealing with education, expectations, or opportunities when it comes to minorities. Being Chinese, I think naturally I should look for expectations of Asian students.

Asian Gaf, know of any good ones? Preferably first hand accounts.
 
S

Septimus Prime

Member
backslashbunny said:
Not much to add, I think you did a good job covering it.

I do have to add that I do think we're too easily offended in that America/the West has a mentality towards good/bad that's very reactionary, and definitely very special-snowflakey.

While I would agree that the Eastern mentality of "don't question" and "bad, don't talk about it EVER" isn't healthy, I do think there's a medium that can be achieved. Sometimes people just need to be told that they are wrong, full-stop. No entertaining any stupid ideas... like the idea global climate change isn't a thing, for example, or that evolution is a lie and dinosaurs were created by Satan to trick us.
Click to expand...
I haven't read that thread, but I think a lot of people interpret the right to freedom of speech in the Bill of Rights as an implicit acknowledgement that all speech and opinions are equally valid.
 
C

cdyhybrid

Member
Septimus Prime said:
I haven't read that thread, but I think a lot of people interpret the right to freedom of speech in the Bill of Rights as an implicit acknowledgement that all speech and opinions are equally valid.
Click to expand...

That and they also think freedom of speech doesn't extend to me telling them their views are stupid.
 
B

BLOODED_hands

Member
Here's my lunch. Pretty plain and I just wanted to share my pepper sauce I made:

DSC_0016_zps72rfgcna.jpg
Some boiled chicken wings and drumsticks, sour greens, and fresh picked pepper sauce made by chopping them up, adding some sea salt, chopped garlic, and two freshly squeezed limes. Also, my phone has crap quality picture-wise so please forgive lol.
 
S

SRG01

Member
backslashbunny said:
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-10-...ered-treatment-malaria-ancient-chinese-remedy

Asian lady gets a Nobel Peace prize for research partially related to old Chinese superstitions!

Kinda cool.

Also, send good wishes my way!~ I finished my Deloitte and KPMG interviews, will hear if I get an interview with PwC tomorrow, and interview with EY Thursday.

Freaking out. I am afraid I've been a little too perky.

(Also, the government turned me down and midtier firms have ignored my requests for interviews. I guess if all fails I can go into industry........)
Click to expand...

To be completely fair to Chinese Folk Medicine, there are a lot of remedies that do show effectiveness, but the biggest problem -- similar to the problems getting Artemisen to work -- is that the notes for preparation don't translate well to modern medicine. It was only until she realized that boiling was destroying the compounds and using an alcohol extraction that the remedy actually worked.

There's another factor involving dosage as well, but that's another discussion by itself.
 
C

Cow Mengde

Banned
Do we welcome Russians in this thread? The Russia thread reminds me of something a friend once discussed with me. He basically asked the same thing. Do we consider Russians Asian or European?
 
C

cdyhybrid

Member
Cow Mengde said:
Do we welcome Russians in this thread? The Russia thread reminds me of something a friend once discussed with me. He basically asked the same thing. Do we consider Russians Asian or European?
Click to expand...

We welcome everyone in this thread. You don't have to be Asian to post here :p

That said, I consider them Eastern European, but they are just labels in the end and don't really mean anything.
 
Thelonelykoopa

Thelonelykoopa

Member
Cow Mengde said:
Do we welcome Russians in this thread? The Russia thread reminds me of something a friend once discussed with me. He basically asked the same thing. Do we consider Russians Asian or European?
Click to expand...

As I mentioned in that thread I consider them both European and Asian. The thing with Russia is it so huge and until recently hard to traverse meaning it's quite diverse in people even if most people just think of Russia as Moscow. I feel its not right not to consider Russia minority cultures especially considering like the Russian Region I linked in that thread which is in Western Russia would still be considered more Asian than Europe and they been their since the 1600s.
 
S

StMeph

Member
Agree that Russia is on the continent of Asia, but is more culturally similar to Europe and has a heavy hand in influencing Eastern Europe.
 
C

Cow Mengde

Banned
That's what makes it so interesting and worth discussing. While yes they are in in Eastern Europe, a vast majority of Russia is in Asia.
 
Thelonelykoopa

Thelonelykoopa

Member
Cow Mengde said:
That's what makes it so interesting and worth discussing. While yes they are in in Eastern Europe, a vast majority of Russia is in Asia.
Click to expand...

Also I had to make correction the place I listed is in Western Russia not Eastern which would have made it much more common in fact Kalmykia is further west than Moscow.
 
Thelonelykoopa

Thelonelykoopa

Member
Cow Mengde said:
I almost made a similar mistake. Western Russia is just Eastern Europe.
Click to expand...

Yeah either way I'm sure I am going to lose this debate for I am arguing for the Lesser known parts of Russia We ignore because they are not Moscow and even if they been there for centuries it doesn't matter they get no say in what the country is considered. It's hard I guess for people not to put a black or white perspective on things even if as you said Most of Russia is in Asia; the Side closes to Europe just has the biggest mouth.
 
Z

zeemumu

Member
StMeph said:
Agree that Russia is on the continent of Asia, but is more culturally similar to Europe and has a heavy hand in influencing Eastern Europe.
Click to expand...

Russia's more or less its own entity as far as land and politics go, and are rivaled only by France in the revolution department as far as I know.
 
G

Gully State

Member
Oh lord.. glass bridge thread is heading places..

Herp Derp...Made in China... last I checked Made in America didn't exactly exude quality either.
 
S

Seductivpancakes

Member
Damn I'm having no real luck finding articles about first hand experience about expectations of Asian students. Just studies.

And NY comic con is this week. I'll be there working as crew, so I really won't have time to spend on this. Hope to see some NY gaffers there.
 
C

Cow Mengde

Banned
I wish I can go. I didn't buy tickets this year thinking I'd be out of the country around this time, but turns out it's 10 days later. Now all I can do is bitch and moan about it to my friends.
 
G

Gully State

Member
backslashbunny said:
Shhh don't tell them.

I buy Made in the US, actually.... 100x the price for maybe 1.1x the quality. But at least I'm supporting my country... right?
Click to expand...

Sure, you're also supporting the other countries that made the components to the product as well. In all seriousness, it annoys me when made in China is automatically discounted as inferior and unoriginal.
 
S

Seductivpancakes

Member
Cow Mengde said:
I wish I can go. I didn't buy tickets this year thinking I'd be out of the country around this time, but turns out it's 10 days later. Now all I can do is bitch and moan about it to my friends.
Click to expand...
Bummer. I wish I knew earlier, I sold my 4 day >.<

backslashbunny said:
Sorry...if you can wait until next week I can look at some of my older stuff for you! Been CRAZY busy @_@
Click to expand...
No problem! Your school work is a lot more harder than mine!
 
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