What is it like to have immigrant parents? It’s the best, there’s nothing like it. You constantly learn new things like how to improvise with the things you have, you try new dishes all the time and you get to learn about how your history is different from others. Until you step outside of your home and see how much people despise dissimilarity. They look at you weird when they hear how you speak, and treat you badly as soon as they get the chance.
I remember going to my pediatrician and always having to pay them money because for some reason they didn’t accept our insurance. They said we owed $661 at the beginning of the year so we payed 361. When we went back my dad spoke to the lady and she said that we owed 407, now my dad doesn’t know how to do a lot of things but he knows how to do math. My dad and I exchanged looks we both were thinking the same thing. This woman tried to trick him into paying more money because she though he was dumb. “ Youuuu payedddd 361 anddd nowww youuu owed 407. It’s righttt hereee onnn the system” She said as if she was speaking to a toddler. My dad was really clear that the math wasn’t adding up and told her to put it into a calculator. She was obviously wrong and was shocked to see that my dad wasn’t as dumb as she thought. Turns out she was the brainless one.
That’s a great story about your dad! You can really create a good Education Narrative around these ideas if you want to — Amy Tan sure did! By the way, that receptionist was a very bad person… 🙁