Chinese, Japanese, German

Yep, I’m a smoothie– made up of different ingredients!

The default reply I tell others after revealing my race as 1/2 Chinese, 1/4 Japanese, and 1/4 German. It’s come to the point where I recognize what someone means when they say, “Where are you from?” I used to think that they were asking where I lived until, time after time, I realized they were asking about my ethnicity.

I love the way that I am. The only downside to being multiracial is that sometimes I feel like I don’t belong anywhere. My mother’s side of the family (Chinese) can all speak Mandarin Chinese, but my dad’s side of the family (German and Japanese) only speaks English. I wish I had learned how to speak Chinese growing up, although I realize that it was only my mom who know how to speak it, and even so she became very Americanized after being in the United States since she was a young girl.

It’s kind of funny because the main language I want to learn fluently is Spanish. However, I find being part of three cultures is pretty neat. It’s who I am! After discovering this site, I realize even more so that there are many others like me. The comment above about my ethnicity is more complementary than what I used to say. I’m glad I thought of something more appealing than, “Yeah, I’m a mutt.”