'Did I create the myth of Chinatown, or did the myth create me?'
I used to set two alarms before bed: One to wake me up in the morning. The other to remind me to take the chopstick out of the freezer. The refrigerator was ancient and it resonated with an increasingly loud hum that bounced around all 270-square-feet of my apartment and directly into my brain. I often dreamed of being underwater, swimming around looking for a giant speaker to unplug.
When I brought a friend over to see it before moving in, she looked around and burst out laughing. “Why … why would you willingly choose to live in a place like this?” Once, while waiting to cross the street at Bowery and East Broadway, I wound up on an hour-long phone call with American Airlines to help a man change his ticket. At this very same intersection, I often translated directions for other people’s cab drivers. I’ve helped my landlord with her English school homework. Before they changed the ATM screens to display Chinese characters, a grandmother led me by the hand to Bank of America, where I helped withdraw money with her debit card.
Beijingers in New York became indistinguishable from my actual memories, during a time when so little made sense. I never saw Chinese people on TV or film in the States and on the show they were having interracial relationships, getting arrested, and drunk-dancing to Madonna. Getting rich then going bankrupt. Reuniting with their family then getting divorced. What was supposedly the whole roster of Western “spiritual pollution” on new immigrants from Mainland China.
The ladies who worked the knick-knack shop downstairs began regarding me with a mix of motherly concern and amusement. In equal parts Cantonese, Mandarin, and hand gestures, they made comments on what time I got up in the morning. They appraised my outfits. They remarked on when I bought groceries and how often I seemed to be eating takeout. How much wine I have been drinking and how many bottles of sparkling mineral water, until I felt guilty and spoiled and stopped drinking it.
Above us used to be half-empty units locked in a time warp. As if each resident packed a suitcase in a hurry, and never came back, ’70s Hong Kong pop stars smiling from their fading posters, woolen slacks still hanging in the closet. But one by one those places were being fixed up and inhabited by friendly Australian bros. Restaurateurs reopened an old Chinatown opera house as an upscale fusion-dining destination that lined its bar with Chinese cooking wine.
That summer, just as the watermelons appeared on street vendors’ carts, old people I’d never seen before came down the stairs of our building, pale-skinned and white haired, smiling like angels. During the blizzard the following winter, my husband bought extra taro cakes and bottles of waters and knocked on all the doors of upper floors to make sure those old people were okay.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
What Really Drives Runners to Go Really, Really Long?There’s a big difference in the motivating factors pushing those who choose to crush ultras.
Leer más »
Could It Be That Long-Distance Relationships Are Actually Healthy?Sometimes, you have to not be there.
Leer más »
5 Ways To Make The Most Of A Long WeekendWondering how to productively use the extra hours in a long weekend? This post includes a few ways to successfully leverage the long weekend.
Leer más »
Stashing cash still pays, but maybe not for longThe interest rate some banks pay to account holders is now as high as 2.5% after being stuck near rock bottom for years. However, if the Federal Reserve starts cutting rates, those numbers will come down as well. Some already have.
Leer más »
Long-lost TV interview of man claiming to be Banksy unearthedThe footage was filmed in 2003 for the artist's Turf War exhibition and shows a man with his face partially visible claiming to be Banksy.
Leer más »
No, You Don’t Need to Hold a Plank for as Long as You ThinkA Canadian woman recently held a plank for over four hours. But the ideal amount of time is shorter than you might think.
Leer más »