Profile of Brent

Before becoming a "Laowai", I had lived and grown up with "Laowais" back home in the states. Mainly Vietnamese refugees back then. I was only 15 when I got my first real opportunity and taste of learning a foreign language and another culture. So, "curiosity usually kills the cat" they say and I was looking to get killed I guess. There is an exciting element to "hanging one's rump out the window" to see what happens. Plus, I had had some very Asian looking cousins, that I had grown up around, and I guess I never really learned that Asians were different and to stay away from them... haha.... Due to this beginning, I went on to work in the community in the Atlanta, GA area to further Vietnamese and American understanding of each other. Helping bridge the gap between their culture and language and our's. Best time I have ever had in my life so far. Later on, a Vietnamese "sister" of mine, introduced me to a job where Air China and China Airlines had been staying. I worked there for a few years making some friends and turning some heads while speaking Vietnamese with cleaning staff. One day, my now Chinese brother came to see me and to encourage me to learn Chinese. He told me that it was easier to learn Mandarin than Vietnamese. With his help, and others, I received books from China and occasional assistance whenever I "hit a stump" in my self-study. Every time I had learned a new language or culture, I had found that it was a double edged sword. There are good and bad things that can come with it. You meet people that are opportunists and that try to use and abuse you for an example. I guess that is the one thing that makes you grow up and not to think of learning a new language and culture as being "cool" anymore. They are just tools for living in another kind of "world". We can just trasfer ourselves from one world to the next with these learnings. That being said, there are a lot of positives as well. There is a sense of enrichment and fulfilment and a widening and deepening of understanding. Maybe even a better sense of consciousness about the world. My life-long goal is language acquisition and cultural understanding. I love the bitter sweet taste it has put in my mouth. Besides, I couldn't go back now to change who I am, even if I wanted to. Moreover, I doubt that I would ever want to do that anyway. I have loved my path, "the good,the bad, and the ugly". I know that the fun isn't over yet and that I still have more adventures ahead. Just came here to share, possibly make some friends, and to see how others are coping with their experiences in China.