tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post3088489325164699942..comments2023-10-08T00:24:36.823-07:00Comments on Une Envie de Sel: Maiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17149615417507090988noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post-14453685560411759732010-02-16T15:39:23.425-08:002010-02-16T15:39:23.425-08:00beautifully and poignantly said.beautifully and poignantly said.olivehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17715707291425136566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post-89461147527330113742010-02-14T21:15:58.120-08:002010-02-14T21:15:58.120-08:00This post goes straight to my heart for it express...This post goes straight to my heart for it expresses everything I believe in.Yolihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06068063513978782703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post-59188444073664994172010-02-14T13:29:08.437-08:002010-02-14T13:29:08.437-08:00Maia, in my case, Anja and anette are of course No...Maia, in my case, Anja and anette are of course Norwegian since they were born here and grow up here the same as QQ will grown up in the US and it wil be her forever homecountry. However, since Anja and Anette have a Chinese mom, so they have a connection there to China. I guess they will regard themselv as norwegian even though they look a bit different than the white kids. It will be fine, and they will get used to the difference. To some points, you really devote more thoughts and feelings the things such. Just remeber, everything will be fine!!! QQ will grown up to a wise lady and strong enough to face everything. I have to admitt that I am a too-relaxed mother for most of the times:) Happy Chinese New Year!Fei Anhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01605719252886968235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post-37074107093023358702010-02-14T06:59:04.126-08:002010-02-14T06:59:04.126-08:00well said. i think your perspective and insight w...well said. i think your perspective and insight will help Q through those inevitable tumultuous years. it was interesting to read some of the comments from the others. that is what I love about this blog.Staciehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09063060565866761593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post-44803610346598097772010-02-13T20:14:12.336-08:002010-02-13T20:14:12.336-08:00Maia....this post right here is what I simply ador...Maia....this post right here is what I simply adore about you! That you believe in the importance of being citizens of the world! Q is such a fortunate little girl to have you as a mama. What you offer, teach and share with her on a daily basis is more open-minded and full of depth than most people receive in a lifetime. I commend you and thank you for sharing your heartfelt beliefs with us.Simply Mel {Reverie}https://www.blogger.com/profile/15881462293605864150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post-75135917621064359602010-02-13T10:03:47.028-08:002010-02-13T10:03:47.028-08:00Oh! Life is a complicated banquet! I was going t...Oh! Life is a complicated banquet! I was going to wish QQ a joyful "gung hee fat choy" the way we say it in the part of China that my mother comes from and which sometimes feels as foreign and separate from Q's part of China as could possibly be. (I have a Chinese friend born in Japan raised in Taiwan schooled in America who said she never felt so foreign as when she visited China.) <br /><br />I thought I would start this comment with a simple greeting. Then I read FDC Chief's comment and couldn't agree with her more. The Chinese culture just is extremely xenophobic, it is a country of separated peoples: by clans and classes and dialects and regions and confucian "virtues" none of which either the communist or American culture have been successful in erasing. (In fact communist practices were/are very confucian, under another name.) I extrapolate much of this from the experience of my own family.<br /><br />But ABSOLUTELY give her as much of China as you can, so that she may feel less deracinated and only enriched. So that she can pick and choose off that great Chinese restaurant menu of life and savor the tastiest morsels. And yes most importantly: Grace and Fortitude. And HUGS! Which it looks like she gets aplenty.<br /><br />Beautiful pics, beautiful Sophie Blackall pics. Great post, great food for thought.Mlle Paradishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16611437048393628633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post-72015377963525197792010-02-13T09:58:57.931-08:002010-02-13T09:58:57.931-08:00This post is full of love and wisdom. I adore your...This post is full of love and wisdom. I adore your way Maia!<br />I stop at the lines " It is our job only to give her the tools she needs to make her own choices, and to claim herself and make something wonderful of herself." Read this again and again. Q is so fortunate to have you two as her parents. With your love, she would be able to actualize herself. <br />Happy Chinese new year to your family!alliot + izahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03453050617775088241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post-40013533458009253062010-02-13T08:23:02.614-08:002010-02-13T08:23:02.614-08:00You mention "grace and fortitude" -- the...You mention "grace and fortitude" -- they are right there, in your words, in your take on life, in Q's smile and in her parents' as well. Have a lovely Valentine and a most wonderful Chinese New Year, may its light shine on all.Kenzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03735498316576611409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post-33186996417260258922010-02-13T06:35:17.050-08:002010-02-13T06:35:17.050-08:00Interesting approach. The world would be a nicer,...Interesting approach. The world would be a nicer, kinder place if more parents - and more polities - looked at things like nationality the way you do.<br /><br />But Maia, Q IS American, just as you are. Even if she grows up fully bilingual, even if she prefers sticky rice to hamburgers and kite-flying to cheerleading, she will always be more Colorado than Chongquing.<br /><br />And especially to a native-born Chinese, raised within one of the most introspective and some ways xenophobic of the world's great cultures. In college we had several domiciled Chinese families voluntarily send their children back to the mainland to stay with distant relatives - a process painful and heartrending for children and parents alike - for fear that they would become to "contaminated" with American-ness to be marriagable or employable in the PRC if they continued to be exposed to hip-hip, national parks and Rachel Maddow. China is in many ways as intolerant of difference as we are. And to a native, Q will be different, and in some ways in more disturbing ways that you or I would be, because she LOOKS Chinese.<br /><br />Several Hong Kong acquaintances have commented derisively on this: "Oh, he's just an ABC (American-born Chinese)". Their assessment was that merely being raised in the U.S. imparts ideas, ideals and attitudes not typical for a Chinese born into a Chinese-majority land.<br /><br />And then legally, regardless of what YOU feel, the PRC will consider her an American. Were she to somehow manage to relocate to Shanghai she would be kept under observation all her life, the same way the FBI keeps tabs on Chinese-Americans working in Silicon Valley - because they would suspect her allegiance was to the land of her growth rather than the land of her birth.<br /><br />Q is that special person, the special person that your parents were, that my grandparents were, the immigrant American. My grandfather was born in Scotland and kept Scotland in his heart all his life. Hopefully you can duplicate this for Q, and she can be the best of BOTH China and America.<br /><br />When you think about it, the wonderful promise of America (which we fulfill all too seldom, I fear) is the very thing that Q represents; that you can be Chinese, speak Chinese, and yet be American, too, so long as you believe in liberty and justice for all.FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post-18730686718103172922010-02-13T05:18:14.791-08:002010-02-13T05:18:14.791-08:00I agree... May be Q don't have to choose... Sh...I agree... May be Q don't have to choose... She'll have only to care and share a double treasure ;);)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10198474232412386854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post-51873592642712849252010-02-13T02:22:03.548-08:002010-02-13T02:22:03.548-08:00De mes parents j'ai reçu en héritage des force...De mes parents j'ai reçu en héritage des forces du monde entier..;<br />C'est une richesse que je partage en plus sur les blogs...mes amies ne sont-elles pas aux quatre coins de la planète .<br /><br />C'est aussi important d'avoir des racines de vie et de cultures.<br />Je te comprends.<br />Happy Valentine and Happy Chinese New Year for all the beautiful familly.Evelynehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09568296524077802427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1432519807740136926.post-45458820158293803402010-02-13T01:01:15.611-08:002010-02-13T01:01:15.611-08:00Well said. I think you are right to give Q the bes...Well said. I think you are right to give Q the best of both worlds, if not all the world. <br /><br />And she looks fab in her Gap jacket!Dihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07227508589328293892noreply@blogger.com