DISoriented
I've been a Third Culture Kid (TCK) since age 4, which is to say I've got a lot of practice being "the other". But Asian American is not quite the same as Chinese Canadian and British Chinese are now further apart from Europeans of Asian descent, which you'd be wrong to shorten to "Eurasian"...
It's confusing.
Because labels sometimes work the way they are designed not to.
As long as we continue to move around, this kind of overlapping will continue to disorient those looking, and those moving.
Over-lapping in identities, but in reality, the wide cultural gaps hardly give any solid ground to stand on. Even for those of us who have mastered the languages fluently - which seems to be the biggest barrier to entry, few of us can truly effortlessly take stride between cultures.
After having spent a third of my life in Asia, Europe, and North America - in no particular order, just a chaotic mess of back and forth, I decided to take a deep dive into the culture of my heritage... in New York, adding to and mingling with the largest gathering of my heritage people outside of Asia.
I've been a radio host, writer, and TV host for SINO TV for the past years, and I continue to tumble down this rabbit hole of mostly misadventures. I learn new things every day at the studios. Wild things, unimaginable things, unfathomable things, trivial things, and ludicrous things.
I share my findings weekly on air and on TV - in Mandarin, which is like saying, I baked you a cake, but my cat ate it.
Since the journey doesn't get easier, it will at least be entertaining.
p.s. Hello Kitty is a British girl, because back in the 70's, Britain was very exotic to the Japanese market, so being British was very trendy to the Japanese aesthetic.
What goes around comes around?
How disorienting.