tonight in the Chinese food spot...

In the midst of doing laundry that didn't get done this past weekend, due to being under the weather, the fat girl that lurks underneath this skin got a craving for an appetizer at the Chinese food spot on the corner. I live in the Bronx, so along with liquor stores and check cashing places, Chinese food spots are everywhere.

Tonight it was empty. Just me in there, waiting, listening to the Chinese being thrown around on the other side of the counter.

"Hello!!" resonated from the back.

I looked behind me to see who he was talking to...it was me.

"Oh, hello!" The five cooks behind the counter all looked at me and laughed. It's the most I've ever spoken to anyone who worked there. I stood there. Head resting on my folded hands, waiting for my food, but I couldn't help myself. Staring at the Chinese woman who manned the phones and register....

"What kind of Chinese are you speaking? Cantonese? Mandarin?" I asked.

She stopped and looked like she was waiting for me to insert the disrespectful racial joke here. Literally, she looked as though she was bracing for the insult.

"I ask because I lived in Asia. I went to Hong Kong. I lived in Japan for a year."

The remnants of a slight grin showed on her face. She relaxed and responded, "Oh really, Hong Kong is a beautiful city."

"Yes, it is."

I don't know if she is just going to brush it off as an occurance, but I really had a moment with her. I have walked into this Chinese food spot, and many others in NYC and seen people acting disrespectfully wreckless with these workers. Purposefully butchering their accent and the way they look, for laughs during their weed smoke filled, alcohol induced, or simply ignorance injected conversations.

Frankly,  it pisses me of.

I've seen the same with the Pakistani and Indian workers on my block at the Dunkin Donuts. No respect because they can't relate, and don't want to.

So yes tonight, at the Chinese food spot...I hope I let them know, at least one person in the neighborhood respects where they come from...

time to go get my laundry.

10 months, 7 countries...my 2010

I had this up as a status about a month back. The realization of everything I've done in 2010, alone. We're officially in November, and the mirage of what has made up all these moments in 2010 is humbling, exciting, even tiring. Home feels good. It feels right, right now. The world did me good this year, and as per usual to Evita, the traveling was extreme. Never half assed...

Japan: New Years in Tokyo, and the Nomad•ness episode to rep it. Niigata and saying goodbye to life long friends and children I taught. Started off the year with a ton of goodbyes, but have been adamant about keeping in touch.

India- Late Feb into March; Three cities and a desert in eleven days. Stephanie, Melissa, and I hit the ground running in India. Holi Festival and our lives are changed forever.. Nomad•ness epsiodes and some of my favorite travel photography. Running your fingers across the Taj Mahal is out of this world.

NYC: April into August; Home sweet home, for what was supposed to be a substantial amount of time. Until an opportunity presented itself.

China: End of August; two days in Hong Kong rummaging around, getting reused to Asia. Then stranded there for four days while trying to reach home again a few days before Halloween.

Thailand: September to November; home for what would end up being two months. From the streets of Bangkok, to the country of Saraphi. Chiang Mai temporarily replaced the concrete jungle.

Cambodia: The place in Asia that stole my heart. Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm were the catalyst, and the city of Siem Reap is what kept me there past my border run, for sure. So much to see, experience, and the art...oh the art. Many back alleys there reminded me more of Europe than any Asian country I'd visited before. I'll be back.

Burma: Oh Visa-Run, how you loved us so...

Gratitude for being able to live out dreams, and for those who helped support it.