Life Outside the Inbox

The older I get, the more aware I am of my surroundings.

I reside in the Greater Toronto Area which means I never feel like the minority – I live inside the welcoming Canadian bubble where (majority of the time) we embrace different cultures. Growing up, I’ve never been bullied because of my Chinese decent nor have I experienced anything negative in relation to my race. But as I grew older and started traveling, I became more self conscious. When I take my roadtrips to visit small towns, I imagine people starring and wondering where on Earth I came from.

My first time experiencing racism was when I was in Holguin, Cuba. While we had free time from the tour, we explored their downtown area. I started hearing a lot of people starring at us and calling us, ‘chinks’ or ‘chinos”. There was a group of school boys who pointed at us and said, “go home chinks”.

And while this case was not serious, I began to become really conscious of my identity and how I present myself while I travel. Often times I feel the pressure of steering away of my own cultural norms to avoid stereotypes and I always feel the need to speak first to ensure they know I speak fluent English. I always feel like a Chinese diplomat when I visit places where I’m the minority to ensure I leave a good first impression for everyone else the comes along. I also find myself second guessing my travel plans. My boyfriend will be moving to La Crosse, Wisconsin for 5 months for  training and I decided to join him on this roadtrip there (I’ll be flying back after). I looked on the map and found myself wondering, ‘which city can I stop in where I’d get the least amount of stares?’

What are your thoughts about traveling abroad? Have you ever experienced racism and how did you deal with it? Please leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you!