Blog #4

Honestly, I did not grow up with many of traditions or cultural aspects of Chinese or Vietnamese heirtage. My mother is half Vietnamese and Chinese, my father is full Vietnamese. The apects of these cultures I would like to keep are definitely the language. I know Chinese and Vietnamese, albeit not fluently. When I was growing up, I did not speak Vietnamese with my father or mother, I spoke in English. My mother would always talk to be in Chinese and would want me to learn,so I did. The first real encounter I had of Vietnamese was my trip to Vietnam when I was 9. I did not learn much Vietnamese, whereas my old brother learned quite a bit. We have gone back many times since and my brother has become quite fluent actually. I, on the other hand, have not. I suppose it stems back to when I was content with others translating for me, something I regret now. It seems odd, but my older brother knows more Vietnamese than me, but I know more Chinese than him. Even today, I still talk English with my father and a Chinese mixed with English with my mother. There is something to Chinese which I feel more connected to than to Vietnamese culture, maybe it is just that I know more of the language.

Religion was not a very big part in my upbringing. My parents are Buddhist, but do not practice very often, or at all. My house has statues of Buddhist deities, but really had no significance to me. It was something that was not passed on to me. I do not know if I'll regret not having religion being apart of my life, as I did with language, but with my limited experiences with the religion, it did not quite seem to be for me.