|
Post by pandaroo on Dec 17, 2009 0:52:04 GMT -5
Are you happy with being Eurasian? What is it to you? A blessing, a curse, or a bit of both?
What can you say the best things about being Eurasian are? Do you feel special? Do you feel inferior? Or do none of these things matter to you at all?
Has your insecurity over where you stand racially provoked an identity crisis?
Or have you finally come to terms with who and what you are?
Personally, it has taken me a long time but I can finally accept being Eurasian is a blessing. For one, people tend to be more curious about me (even though it is based on looks) and that always starts off a positive attraction with other people. Culturally, I get asked more questions as I reveal that I am half Chinese. Some people didn't realise that I was at first, and are somewhat surprised. Other times they play the guessing game, and while it used to make me feel like a freak, I now know it was only because they were interested.
Despite being rejected by some groups, I've learnt that you can't please them all. Only yourself. Even though it's tough going to school with groups of kids who stick to their own "kind".
The biggest revelation for me this year was the fact that a white Jewish guy who I fancied actually fancied me back. I was surprised because I thought he wouldn't be interested in me, seeing as though we looked vastly different in terms of our appearance, as well as age, and the fact that he was an extreme libertine. that's another story.
I used to be ashamed of not being able to speak Chinese, but then I met other Chinese Australians who weren't taught their language either.
So I am glad and proud to be Eurasian now. What can you say about it?
|
|
|
Post by Kalvien on Dec 17, 2009 9:21:32 GMT -5
if someday I'm able to be fluent in mandarin, I might be consider to give up my eurasian identity.
I think being eurasian is blessing if you could conform your identity being multiracial and being taught it's part of yourself since childhood. It would be different story if you know you are eurasian decades later. Imagine your mom popped out and said she has mixed heritage. You are entering alien world that supposed to be part of yourself.
I only started aware of my Eurasian identity after my granny passed away 4 years ago, I can't help but hating myself, I didn't know much about heritage. My mom never emphasized I was Eurasian, how could I feel Eurasian all of sudden?
deep inside my mind, I feel inferior being chinese and dutch. I dont know chinese nor dutch. but again, I'm still finding my identity. I don't really want to give up my mised heritage because I feel betraying my grandmother whom I love so much.
it's hard question to answer, maybe I could answer it years later, when I could accept myself as I am.
my status: still ambiguous
|
|
palavore
Full Member
I put my pants on just like the rest of you -- one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold posts.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Posts: 298
|
Post by palavore on Dec 17, 2009 13:24:19 GMT -5
So I am glad and proud to be Eurasian now. What can you say about it? Want to invade a country together? ;D
|
|
|
Post by toyomansi on Dec 17, 2009 18:21:54 GMT -5
It's great that you feel more happy and at ease, Pandaroo ^^ being mixed can make young people have even bigger identity confusions than regular monoracials.
These days I have been told that as a Eurasian I'm special, that I have the best of two worlds. That Eurasians have a much wider view of the world, and have a bigger insight into different cultures. And that we can pick out the best sides of our cultures, discard the bad, and develop into people with a greater understanding of the world.
I try to pick out the good qualities of both of my cultures and make them part of me. I know that this would make my ways of thinking and being different from them, but at least I know how to "think outside of the box" of each culture. Lots of times I have caught myself in trying to imitate European or Asian behavior just to fit in more with those I am with, but I feel then that I'm not completely honest with myself. So I try to be my true self no matter who I am with. A person with a more unique perspective should share this with others who are stuck in their own culture's way of thinking.
I tell people jokingly that being mixed is both a blessing and a curse. On one side you have a greater insight into different cultures, languages and ways of life. On the other side, you would feel like an outsider of every culture and group. But life is what we make of it, I don't know how my life would be like if I was monoracial. Could be both better or worse.
|
|
naix
New Member
Procrastinator
Posts: 40
|
Post by naix on Dec 20, 2009 7:35:21 GMT -5
.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2010 4:36:56 GMT -5
I'd love to be able to say that I am satisfied with being Eurasian but I guess I haven't come to terms with it quite yet. I think where I live has a great deal to do with this, and also how I look.I've always felt that had I grown up in a culturally diverse area that I would be more at ease with just "being EA" and not constantly questioning myself.Also, I've never felt I fit into the mold of a "classically EA look", even though I know an EA"look" doesn't really exist..I remember there was one other EA girl in my high school.She was pretty and popular.People would say to me, "you can't be half Asian because you don't look like her"or you don't look like such and such actress" and so on. Students and teachers alike were constantly raving about her exotic Asian looks. while with me, I was just seen as Native. My art teacher even resorted to calling me "Pocahontas" since he couldn't remember my real name ....I don't think it would go over well if he called a black guy "Sambo"! All of my life, people have seen me as "Native",and where I'm from, being "Native" comes with a bad stigma. To a lot of people here, being Native means you're a criminal, you're unattractive, you are an alcoholic and a drug addict, you're homeless etc....I've been approached by cops several times while just walking home from school or work or waiting for the bus, and whether this has anything to do with my looking Aboriginal or not, I'm not sure....but it really affected my self esteem. When other kids (including my high school EA friend) go out drinking and partying, I can't . I cannot drink because of my fear to be seen as a walking talking Native stereotype. I constantly try to speak as "properly" as I can, to be as polite as I can. To add to that, as soon as my parents moved to Canada,it was always "expletive Native this" "expletive Native that" ....I'm sure that if I wasn't their daughter, if they were to see me walking down the street , that that is what they would think of me... I've met some really amazing Native people (my boyfriend is mostly Native) and I don't believe in racial hierarchy.but it's just.... I'm not Native.And I know that when people finally do see that I am EA, that they're suddenly much much nicer to me . Why is EA supposedly "better"?....and I guess since I'm not seen as being EA, that it's because I'm not "good enough" I'm sorry if this isn't a particularly appropriate reply.It's something I was actually meaning to make a thread about but have been too afraid to, not to mention that I don't know how exactly I would go about titling it or writing it out coherently. I dunno, it's something that has been on my mind for a while I guess... sorry for the rant, hope it made sense
|
|
hypeforlife91
Full Member
fashionEAsta!
Crazy for Dots.
Posts: 464
|
Post by hypeforlife91 on Jan 3, 2010 5:10:16 GMT -5
^ Awwww hugz** Don't be sad. We are all here for you! All that matters really is that you know you are EA and if they don't "see you as" EA, then screw them. I am guilty of having similar thoughts as you..more like overly confused thoughts. When I look in the mirror, I see a person- a person that is still trying to discover life and its true meaning. I admit that I get bothered by random ethnicity questions popping up everywhere I go. Although the person asking it is most likely to mean no harm..I still have different thoughts about the person after they ask me so quickly and randomly. Why ask about my race so up-front? What bothers me even more is when they say "oh...but you don't look asian" or "but you don't look white." It is weird, but understandable at the same time that different people have completely different perceptions. Still ticks me off that people do that though, I know I wouldn't do it to someone. It's like they think you are lying. You are just as good as any other human being. We all have equal chances of survival and have rights. Those that take that away from us stoop lower than other human beings- they are the ones that should get a life. By the way, Pocahontas is beautiful and I'm sure that if they called you that because you look like her, then you are a beautiful EA Pocahontas!
|
|
|
Post by purpletrapezoid on Feb 16, 2010 0:36:22 GMT -5
It's hard for me to make friends. People keep telling me I look at them funny or something. It's just my eyes...
|
|
|
Post by Ganbare! on Feb 18, 2010 6:09:59 GMT -5
I've experienced that too, people discriminating me because I look unconventional though as I grow older it seems to happen less often.
|
|
quiapo
Junior Member
Posts: 188
|
Post by quiapo on Feb 18, 2010 17:41:39 GMT -5
Being Eurasian is a wonderful ticket to so many different aspects of life. Also I feel it is easier to understand and blend into so many different cultures. Members of my extended Eurasian family have married into differing nationalities: Korean, Italian, German, Spanish, Indonesian, English, Filipino, and Dutch.
|
|
|
Post by jefe on Feb 20, 2010 3:14:17 GMT -5
I often find it is a ticket to a window -- you can look inside, but definitely kept out.
Or if you are let in, you are given the VISITOR pass, which you must surrender when you leave.
|
|
|
Post by Ganbare! on Feb 20, 2010 5:34:00 GMT -5
As you said, being EA is more like being stuck in the "too Asian to be White/too Caucasian to be Yellow" paradox.
|
|
quiapo
Junior Member
Posts: 188
|
Post by quiapo on Feb 21, 2010 1:30:31 GMT -5
Jefe, it is sad that you perceive you only have a visitor's ticket. Thinking some more about it, i realise most of my eurasian relatives have married other eurasians too, so we have a definite eurasian identity and sense of belonging, that also, perhaps paradoxically, makes it easier for us to blend and assimilate with other cultures. Perhaps one of he values of forums like this one is that we can get a consciousness of ourselves as Eurasians, rather than part this or part that, and feel comfortable with that.
|
|
|
Post by xandra on Feb 23, 2010 1:33:18 GMT -5
I never wanted to change it, but it certainly did come with some difficulties growing up. But on the plus side it's made it easier for me to make friends with people from all different ethnicities (I also credit living in Canada on this one), which I find way more interesting than having my friends be primarily from one race or ethnicity.
|
|
maow
Full Member
Posts: 363
|
Post by maow on Mar 1, 2010 0:12:05 GMT -5
Until we are able to unlock the power to fly, my answer is no!
|
|