Braised Oxtail Noodles

As ABC (American Born Chinese) kids living in a predominantly Caucasian town, Sarah and I have always had clashes of East meets West. There was always the cliched “ching chong” ridiculousness from classmates and the questions of “do you eat lo mein every night?” Then there was the downright offensive: being asked if we can “see” with eyes like ours; annoying references to the color yellow; and being racially profiled and mistaken for the ONE other Chinese girl who had been crazily speeding into the high school parking lot (let’s just say that the policeman backtracked reeeeal fast when I pointed out his mistake). There are some perks of course–the smart Asian kid stereotype has proved to be both a blessing and a curse for me–but, most of the time, living in a small rural town in Jersey is kind of annoying. (Sarah reflects on her experience here.)