Dinner

I pretty much didn't think twice about my family's dinner habits until my friend in 4th grade came over and ate dinner with us.  She seemed surprised about the way we ate dinner - how all the food was just laid out on the table and we could have as many servings as we wanted.  I remember her trying mashed potatoes for the first time and me being incredulous that she had never had them before, while my family ate mashed potatoes every other week or so.  Since then I have been more aware of other people's cultures and habits around the dinner table.  Last time I ate dinner with another family was an interesting experience because of the food served, although dinner table conduct was relatively similar to that of my family.  We ate chili, which my mom just doesn't like so she never cooks it.  My family attempts to have actual family dinners where we sit around the table all together (usually the only time of day we're all together) and have conversations about our days, or about anything interesting that's happened recently.  It can feel boring at times, but it's just how my family is and I'm glad to be a part of this culture.

The Meaning of A Name

Every year, while the rest of the world goes crazy over March Madness, I log onto www.nameoftheyear.com and vote for the year's best names.  Names in the running this year include Kobe Buffalomeat, Quindarius Monday, and my personal favorite: Le'Genius Wisdom Williams.  These are names of real people - lawyers, professors, and various sports players.  I find this contest hilarious and a lot of fun, but I also can't help but wonder what it would be like to be named something so utterly unique and crazy like Harmony Excellent... or Hunter Humann.

For many other people, their name is part of their identity, and affects them in many ways.  Some with unconventional names run into all kinds of annoyances with people struggling to pronounce their names, or even with trying to get a job.  Some people feel that their name somehow defines their identity, and struggle inwardly with the disconnect between their name and their personality.  But personally, I don't feel like my name really means anything at all.  Michelle is just what people call me, for convenience, to differentiate me from some other random person named some other random jumble of letters.  Oftentimes I wish my name was more unique.  I am rarely the only Michelle in my grade or in my school, and it can get slightly annoying.  I wish that when I searched "Michelle Hung" on Google, my actual face shows up not some random Chinese woman.  Sometimes I half-joke that my goal in life is to get my face in the first entry if you search up my name on Google.  And the next step - be the first (legitimate) entry under my name in Wikipedia.  But these things don't bother me enough for me to change my name, at least not now.

There isn't really a story behind my name, my parents just liked it.  I don't really think my name fits me... but I don't really know what name would - in my opinion, a person can't/shouldn't (at least fully) be defined by a collection of letters their parents chose for them.  Therefore, I have largely ignored my name, and it hasn't really affected me at all as far as I know.  But I certainly understand and respect that some people care a lot about their names - like Gogol.  Gogol's name makes him feel insecure, and he feels that people judge him after only hearing his foreign, funny-sounding name.  Maybe if my name was stranger, I would feel the same way.  But as it is, I can only observe others' experiences, and understand them, but not really experience the same feelings myself.

Heritage

I am half Russian (mom's side) and half Chinese (dad's side).  My mom grew up in the Soviet Union, and moved to the United States when she was 15, while my dad was born in California and raised in Alabama.  When asked which culture or ethnicity I identify with more, I really don't know what to say, since few elements of Russian or Chinese culture are important to who I am.  I'm American, and I happen to be half Russian, half Chinese.  It's an interesting mix, and people usually seem intrigued and want to learn more about my culture, but honestly I'm pretty much just American, although I respect traditions of my relatives.  My mom, although being from Russia, doesn't celebrate any Russian traditions (there just aren't that many of them...) and my dad can't even speak Chinese.  My grandparents are more intimately connected with their cultures - my mom's mother cooks Russian food when she comes over, and my dad's mother cooks traditional Chinese food and celebrates Chinese New Year.  There's also my Jewish heritage - my mom's dad and his whole family is Jewish, and though they aren't strictly kosher or anything, that culture is very important to them, and I see a lot of that during family reunions.  The history of my mom's last name is also interesting.  Before she was born, her dad had a Russian name that was clearly Jewish, and changed it to the Russian but not Jewish "Kremnova" after his favorite teacher.  Later, when her family moved to the U.S. they changed their last name to Cohen, going back to their Jewish roots but keeping it simple.  To sum up, my name and my heritage aren't very important to me compared to many other people, but there is a lot of interesting history in my family, which I like learning about and I respect.