I am typing this as I sit waiting for the plane in Orlando. Looking at the blue sky littered with blots of clouds, like a clean slate of mind tainted with thoughts and emotions. I feel that my mind has changed slightly, or maybe my week here in Florida has altered my perception of lifestyle and tolerance, or maybe it was the things that I learned about how each members of my family function individually that lead me to think about who I was, who I am, how I was taught, how I changed, what kind of person I would've become if I had stuck with my parent's wishes.
In a normal vacation, you go and have as much fun as possible, be who you are to the maximum extent and do whatever makes you happy. I brought that idea and took it with me to Florida with my family, needless to say conflicts rose and I was forced to realized that I am really here as a human swiss knife, I was a translator, a tour guide, a trip planner, a driver, and a GPS, all without previous knowledge of the local area. We spent 5 and half days going to expensive parks and watch uninteresting shows rushing from one place to another, always pacing ourselves from destination A to destination B. When the tram came, mom would always grab annie's hand and run onto the tram as if she's afraid of not getting a seat, even if there's no one else there. This was not vacation, this is a scavenger hunt race. See who can collect all the destinations first, take pictures to prove that you've been there. The most ridiculous part is spending 10 minutes at Cocoa beach and taking about 30 pictures to make it seem like we've been there for a while. Mom walks around with an umbrella over her head avoiding all possible sun exposure... at the beach. And I realized, this is their idea of a vacation, in their mind, vacation is this fast paced journey that consists of lots of walking, lots of pictures, lots of bickering, minimal touristy gifts, zero sun exposure, and crappy food. I can't change any of that, even the crappy food because my parents hate any food except the ones they grew up with, salted duck eggs, porridge, pickled vegetables, things of that sort. Dad would rather eat crackers alone than eat a sandwich or a burrito. We traveled with huge bags, filled with lots of plastic bags, filled with lots of tiny ziplock bags, filled with the food to eat whether we need it or not.
But even with all that, I don't blame them, how can you? Mom traveled to Hang Zhou from Shao Xing when she was 12 with her sister and she almost didn't make it onto the moving train. Then imagine yourself growing up eating burgers and pizzas and suddenly went to a country where they only served fermented fish at restaurants. Imagine a country where paleness is considered to be a mark of beauty and higher class and dark skin is the mark of lower class. Although in reality, China today has adopted many American values. but we left at a time where traditional ideals were still held high. And like a frozen time chamber, they are frozen inside my parents. Anything new is considered foreign and un-Chinese. What can I do but to accept that and bend myself to fit their desires and make their vacation better.
The most observation I made on this trip is on my family, I've learned a great deal about them through this journey, and also came across some significant realizations. The biggest realization is probably the fact that I have deviated from my parents and have become something they cannot begin to understand at this point in order to become successful in this modern world. But the interesting thing is, they always wanted me to go in this direction, but they probably had no idea what kind of mindset it takes to succeed. They will never know what kind of things I really had to go through, what kind of problems I had to faced, what kind of journey I had taken to be where I am today. Somewhere along the way after we came to the US, I started to look for answers outside of family and instead from friends and classrooms. My parents lost sight of me and how I was changing and adapting to this new world. They missed the chance to understand the mindset that I have today. But that's okay, not all hope is lost, I will leave that to my sister, she's growing up here and that gives my parents another chance to understand how the modern world has changed. After all, this trip was made just for her.
I don't think anyone would guess that you're a science major. Clear though process, conveyed cogently, and insightful.