A Taiwanese in Provo...

http://blog.roodo.com/itismyself/archives/8337757.html

I accidentally discovered this personal blog, which is managed by a Taiwanese who's married & living in New Zealand. This article I quoted is one of her blog entrees describing her social life in town. Oh, somehow it really hits the spot! Even though I'm not living in New Zealand, the circumstances we encounter are pretty similar. (The article is written in Chinese; I really don't know how to quote the link properly on this website so that I just typed it out, sigh...SOS!)

The blogger said she's pretty much the only Asian wife in her town and she can always detects town folks (or I should say, other wives) are hesitated to have a deeper conversation with her. Her strategy to cross over the hurdle is to speak in a one-on-one base, so that she doesn't feel too timid to open her month and the other could understand her in a deeper sense. Well, I know that I'm not the only Asian wife in town (and thank goodness for that). Provo, as far as I understand, is a pretty internationally-populated town. I can ran into Asian faces on the street often and maybe exchange a friendly smile with them. It's just sad that my friend circle has shrunken so much that I now almost feel that I have no friends around. When I was studying in BGSU, I sometimes went to a game with my friends, gossiping between breaks, and went to grab some snacks afterwards. Parties, especially dinner parties, were regular affairs. I chatted with my roommates sometimes as we both had free time. It seemed really normal to have friends from different ethnic regions. It seemed easier to make friends in a college setting. I couldn't remember even once I catched the clue-"Oh, you look Asian, (so maybe your English sucks; so you might not be a fun person to be with; so you may ((you know, different kinds of stereotypes...))"-on their face. I think I used to be more confident in making friends while I was in Ohio. I was being in a familiar-and-thus-comfortable environment for 5 years and had some pretty good friends there. You know, that kind of friends you know they really know you. They might have never pronounced my name right (that's fine; my husband can't do that right all the time either). They might not have known the exact place I came from. Yet they know my personality and attributes, strength and weakness. They know what irritates and cheers me up. I miss them. I'm so grateful for their open-mindedness in the first place and continual efforts to bolster our relationships. 

I somehow have some doubts about whether I can obtain this kind of friendship here. I feel as if I can read people's mind when we're in contact (yet it could be my own false assumptions): Well, she looks Asian so .........................

Sometimes I feel like people are just talking to my husband even though I'm right next to him. (Hello? I'm alive too and if you're interested in OUR family life, you might spare a word or two to me...)

Anyway, the journey to making good friends and living comfortably in Provo is to be continued. 

p.s. I'm having a cold now so I'm bit grumpy today:(

Belated Happy Valentine's Day and President's Day!

Trav & I have been getting up early on Saturday mornings to serve at MTC since last month, and this past Valentine's Day (Sat) was no different. While I was chewing my oatmeal groggily, Trav presented me my first valentine's gift (from him) ever-a "cow" bank and heart-shaped shortbread cookies! I knew right away where the cow bank came from since it was spotted in a nearby dollar store during a spontaneous window-shopping trip. The shortbread cookies were catered to my taste-NOT fond of chewy cookies! My sweetie Trav! He told me a single rose's price was raised to about 15 bucks (around BYU campus) so that he couldn't get me one. And he also told me that he thought I would choose food over roses if I could only choose one. (Yeah, you know me well, Trav) Well, you can see we've been struggling to meet the ends and roses are too luxury for us. Since dear bishop did encouraged us to serve in the temple to celebrate this special holiday, we went, in a very snowy, windy afternoon, and luckily the sky did clear up after the temple trip. We decided to rush to grocery stores and finished shopping for next week. Everything seemed pretty ordinary by far yet tinted with a slight bubbling anticipation of the Valentine's Day dinner, which was supposed to be a surprise for me. 

Finally, the moment had come. We sort of dressed up and sort of pretended to be in a premarital dating scene (which implies more excitement, I think). Our reservation was at 8 so we went to the restaurant, the Ottavio's, a bit earlier...

Then we saw its reception area packed with people.

At first, we were not concerned. We had a reservation, wasn't it? A reservation was supposed to protect us from such an embarrassing, seem-to-be-endless waiting in an over-crowded front of a restaurant. Different scents of perfume and cologne were entwined, mixing with some sort of anxiety. I tried to strike a conversation with a mid-aged woman and she revealed that she ALSO had a 8-o'clock reservation.

Bummer. I thought.

Yes. The two-third of this crowd had reservation around the same time. Yet we were not moving at all. The freezing air sneaked in through the often on-and-of front door. I felt myself as if a prisoner was enticed with the smell of food yet only could stay in a cold chamber. 

Time seemed to pass slowly. I was anxious, angry, then silent. The lady at the front desk called different parties in and some of them were even walk-ins or had later reservations than us. I started to ponder on justice. 

Finally, we got in around 8:40. 

Well, unfortunately, that's the part impressed me the most during this romantic day. The food was good yet wasn't worth 40 min. wait and 49 bucks. So please don't go to this restaurant on Valentine's Day unless they decide to not over-book the Valentine's Day reservations...(Their lunch menu looks much more affordable; about 8 to 10 bucks for a main dish. 

I need to say that compared to the Valentine's Day, we had a more relaxing and fun experience at Dad & Mom's place. Chatting with folks during Sunday evening, sleeping-over, munching leftover Valentine's Day chocolate and watched old classic Star Wars with a slice of rich, fattening cherry pie garnished with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Thank you Dad & Mom! I love you guys and it's always a pleasure to invade your big, warm house!!