Graduation Party

I believe many of you received graduation party invitation(s) like we did last month. Over here in the States, people celebrate high school graduation. Think it back, none of us had any celebration like this.

Actually, in the Asian culture, study well and get good academic results are children responsibilities. Parents don't celebrate it. Going further back, in the Chinese history, there was only one occasion that people celebrated.

If someone passed the exam which allowed that person to get a position in the government, his family and friend celebrated. It is because that person's life was pretty much set. For people from the wealthier families, they definitely celebrated. That was a great opportunity to build more relationships with famous and richer people. Nowadays, a university graduate can't even have a job guarantee.

So, do you think that Chinese expect too much from their children? Or our kids expect a lot from us?

IM – Instant Message

I'm not the big fan of text messaging or instant messaging.  But I have to do it at work or with my sisters once in a while. 

My youngest sister and I were exchanging IM (Instant Message) lately.  At the end of the conversation, she sent me this one,  "88".  Men...I was scratching my head and wondering what in the world she was talking about. 

Then, I thought maybe it meant "Bye bye".  In Chinese, "8" is pronounced as "ba".  So, two "8" together must symbolize something sounds very similar.  So, I asked her.  And it is. 

If this is communicated to my American husband or people that Chinese is not their mother language, how would they think?  Not to mention about the “slang” and “slang-im”.