Asians in America

The girl in front of me at the coffee shop paid with a one hundred dollar bill for her sandwich.  She had to ask the cashier to repeat his question about whether it was "for here" or "to go."  And she wasn't sure if she should wait at the coffee station or at the register until he told her she could sit down and they would call her up when her order was ready.  I would guess that she is from China and that perhaps she arrived in America not too long ago to begin a graduate program at UW this fall.  I felt my actions around her become softer.  I wanted to give her the space she needed to put the bills back in her billfold before rushing to place my order, to give her space to find a seat in front of me as I walked toward the door with my tea and plans for the day.  Any action that I could do to make her life less crowded with all the confusions that are already there, I wanted to grant to her.  I would imagine that in a few weeks she will get more used to using a credit card to pay for two dollar purchases and will better intuit the way the counter flows for ordered sandwiches.  She'll be a little more American in a few weeks.

And a few hours later as I was practing in a classroom at the music school in Madison, the door opened.  I expected there must be some summer session and that I would need to leave but instead the two girls just kept looking at me and sort of saying hello, until one of them finally asked if I was a new student and said she just wanted to welcome me.  She was also a cellist.  We chatted for a bit, I asked her name and then she introduced her friend, a Japanese girl.  And I said in Japanese that I had lived in Japan for three years.  Her face was confused and excited with the surprise.  Luckily she had very good English so I got to leave the exchange with the impression that I can actually speak some Japanese, though of course I humbly denied it when she praised my skills.  Three years in a Japan and I have a cool party trick that can make people a little more comfortable.  

Asians in America.  I wonder what it is like for them.  I think people here are pretty nice and I hope that is actually true.  I have a desire to shelter them a little.  I understand why one would pay for such a small thing with a large bill, why the way of certain things can't be assumed.  I can imagine there are many things to which one must become accustomed.  There are many things that I learned in Japan, and one of them, I believe, is a greater sensitivity to these differences and how much energy they can take.  Good luck my friends.