<p>Happynow, I think you have some great insights from your experiences. Very powerful observations, indeed. </p>
<p>I must say that, through my D’s experiences, I have learned a lot as well - things I never expected. D is founder and President of a Mandarin club at her school. It took her two years to find a sponsor because the administration was afraid that her being AA might look offensive to some of the Asian students. Her school does not offer Chinese classes so the concept was also very new to them - D has been studying the language since middle school is mostly self-taught (that’s another story, I guess). Anyway, I completely disagreed with the administrators, but I did wonder how she would be perceived. Well, she has 0ver 40 members now. But one of the most interesting things she encountered was the number of calls from Chinese parents who have been struggling to keep their kids interested in Chinese language and culture. Apparently, their kids are showing a strong preference towards assimilation into American culture and do not share their parent’s wishes to retain as much of their Chinese heritage. Because D is AA, and clearly fascinated with China, many of these parents believed D might have some influence on their kids. I don’t believe she’s actually had such an influence on them but it completely opened a new cultural dynamic to us I never imagined, or even considered. </p>
<p>I’ve actually been very surprised at how supportive and encouraging our local Chinese community, which is very sizable, has been regarding my D’s interests. Not that this is always the case, of course, but I’ve really learned many things from our interactions. </p>
<p>I’m sure D would really like to hear about your experiences as well. If you don’t mind, I’m going to encourage her to PM you when she returns home from her trip.</p>