2020-PA-MOJA Week

Culture:

b. What do you do on your school holidays?

Holidays are a very important part of our life. Being a student, we deserve to take a break from the tedium to revitalize ourselves and maintain our health, physically and mentally.  During Spring Break, I would usually go to Hong Kong and visit my dad and some friends. We would usually spend 2 weeks together, relax and enjoy limited time together. But due to COVID this year, I couldn’t go so my mother and I spent some time together going on hikes and explore different parts of Vancouver. We spent some time at home just chilling, watching Netflix together. During Summer Break, we would usually travel and I would do summer school. This year, it should’ve been Korea and Japan, but because of the virus, we had to cancel. I didn’t enroll in summer school either, because I wanted to spend this summer making memories instead of studying. But I did have to catch up on some school work and studying, as well as volunteering. Then as per usual, I hung out with my friends, went to the beach, picnics or we go to the mall. My family usually goes to the states for a short camping trip. This year, we went to Banff, because it obviously was not a good idea to go to the states. Winter Break is the best holiday for me and my family. Both my mom’s birthday and mine happens during those weeks, so we have big Christmas and birthday parties during that time. We create new memories every year and Christmas is truly the best holiday and a great way to relieve the year’s stress.

e. What are some ‘unspoken’ rules in your culture?

Although my family moved to Canada long ago, we still stick with the Asian culture/rules. Though Hong Kong is technically part of China, we have fairly different rules and culture. Aside from the traditional Asian rules such as taking our shoes off before entering some’s house, don’t stick your chopstick upright into your food (resembles incense), we have some slightly different unspoken rules that you’re excepted to follow. One, we are excepted to work fast, walk fast, think fast, respond fast and speak straight to the point because we have no patience. We believe that efficiency is very important, every second count. You will be yelled at by relatives if you sugarcoat things or if you’re “slow”. We are expected to be smart. Second, we are not allowed to discuss politics as a family, or with our close friends. We’re really sensitive and hysterical about politics and have strong opinions about democracy and human rights. We can easily get into a heated argument and damage relationships. Third, we have to be trilingual. We are excepted to be fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, so we can communicate with different people. Communication is very important in our culture.

Everyone has different cultures and unspoken rules. They’re all unique and it’s always good to learn about different cultures.