‘i eat rice every day’, K said.
‘i grew up in Pennsylvania but my parents are from Cambodia. i was the only brown girl in high school. rice is roots for me’, she said.
‘i have never been that much into rice’, i said. and suddenly i thought if not being into rice means i am not into Asia in general.
i like it, but I don’t crave for it. i haven’t done a paella in my life. i think it’s also because i always struggle with the boiling time.
‘oh! you have to finger the rice!’, she said.
i opened my eyes.
‘you don’t have the right technique. this trick will change your life. so much that even Michelin stars chefs do it as well’, she said.
one of the things i like the most about living in Melbs is to discover how ignorant i was most of my entire life.
even if Australia is mostly wasp, in melbs you have an amazing melting pot. mostly asian, from china, malasia, vietnam, thailand, indonesia or india.
now when i am hungover is not just about burger or pizza anymore. it’s ramen, dumplings, chicken curry or miso soup.
it’s pretty sad to realise that culture has been american centred for too long. from the marilyn’s and the jackie’s, coca-colas, kardashian’s to what life should look like in general.
i was in Bangkok a couple weeks ago. and found all the cool kids of the block.
the style. the stores. the night life. the art.
there was tradition and religion mixed with fusion, counter-culture and tolerance.
there was chaos in an organised way. there was acceptance, spontaneity and exchange.
in Bangkok i found one of the most beautiful china towns. i also saw a muslim family asking for all the dessert of the menu. and some locals in brassiere doing content for their socials next to them.
it made New York, Paris or London, overall, feel very old.
‘how can i be discovering all of this so late’, i asked F.
‘i think it’s because in Asia we are low key, we don’t like to brag about it ‘, she said.
it’s just so refreshing to be confronted to different things.
it’s happening as well in South America. but in a louder way.
the Puerto Rico hub giving us Bad Bunny, ozuna and don Omar.
latin music with trap and reggaeton were dismissed for being the sound of the working class for too long.
until it starts making it into the global charts. and justin bieber and madonna need to jump on it to be top of mind and improve their stats.
made me think about language.
how spanish being the second most spoken language in the world was not having a bigger influence?, i asked N.
‘because influence is where money is’, he said.
it’s true, i thought. being latin has always been a pejorative thing for most of the time. from latin countries in South America to latin countries in south Europe.
money and influence sometimes build double standards as well. made me think about this internet meme that says:
‘princess Charlotte speaks two languages at just two years old.’
‘so do most of the sons of immigrants. but i guess it’s less impressive when they are poor’, Cole Allen said.
my grandparents were poor. they could barely read or write in spanish.
they had to emigrate to switzerland and still, managed to speak pretty good french and german to be able to pay the bills.
make it white collar – it’s called trilingual.
make it blue collar – it’s called survival.
next week i was with B. ‘have you seen that spanglish is cool now?. it’s the fastest growing hybrid language. planching it’s a thing’, he said.
‘it’s also a way to not lose your identity, to not lose yourself’, i said.
if you just talk every day other languages that are not your mother tongue, some emotions and parts of your personality start to get lost.
‘what’s the name for people who only talks one language?’, i asked B.
‘somebody who speaks two languages is bilingual. somebody who speaks three languages is trilingual. somebody who speaks one is Anglo-Saxon’, he sentenced.