Background.
Annie is from Guangxi, China. She came to America at the age of 7 with her mother and siblings. Her father and his family were already in America. Annie is a very sweet, hilarious, and optimistic young woman who has had to assimilate into a new culture and overcome challenges along the way. As a young girl she has had to learn new languages, adapt to a new city, change schools, and acquire a new diet.
Annie Fu 來自中國廣西。她7歲時隨母親和兄弟姐妹來到美國。
Immigrant Perspective.
Annie recalls some of her favorite memories of growing up in Guangxi, China with her cousins and mom. She also describes what it was like for her to go back and visit China in the summer once she was older.
“I grew up with my cousins since I was the only child at the time. I kind of don’t really remember since I was really young. I came here when I was seven so prier to that I remember going to school. I wasn’t really good at it. I was the worst. I wasn’t good at school and I was really spoiled so I didn’t really listen to my parents or anything but that’s just how I was when I was younger. As I grew up things started to change. Q: How many children were in your family? How many children did you grow up with? A: Around four other children. Q: Were they in relation to your father or your mother? A: To my mom. Q: Where are you from originally? A: I’m originally from Guangxi, China it’s a really small town/ city. I recently went back to visit this summer but that’s where I was born. It changed a lot. I went back this summer and I was like “WOAH” I don’t remember this. *laughs* Q: In a good way or in a bad way? A: It’s in a good way. We are in the middle of the city but also not the city. Q: Do you have any memories from when you were little growing up in that area, some of your favorite memories? I think my favorite was going out to eat because I always liked to eat and my mom would always take me to different places to try. I remember we went to this vegan restaurant and I kept telling my mom “Ok I want more, I want more!”
“Q: What did you do for fun as a child with your cousins or your friends? A: We would go to the park, but you know nowadays people don’t really go to the park. I loved the park. I loved the swings. The playground in China is kind of different it kind of looked like… I wouldn’t say a gym, but you can literally do a mini exercise and it would be fine. I like the gym and I also like art. I remember my mom registered me and my cousins in art classes so we would do art together and also at home in our free time we would just draw all over the place, the wall was all art! When I went back and looked at it I asked “Did I do that? They didn’t cover it up because of the memory. I was like “AWE, you can just paint over it!” Q: What was your favorite kind of art to partake in? A: I think drawing, coloring, and painting.“
Annie mentions the preconceived ideas she had of America and addresses whether they turned out to be true or not.
“Q: What were some of the preconceived ideas you had of American people, the country in general? A: Even back home I’ve heard a lot about America and how people are really polite. So, when I came here, I was like oh people are really nice which is true there are a lot of people who are really nice but also when I met someone who was really rude I was like wait… that’s not what I was told! Definitely the politeness and the manners. I’ve heard that people are really genuine here which I definitely met a lot of people who are genuine here so yeah that’s what I’ve heard about America.”
Culture.
Annie shares a Chinese tradition she practiced with her family, Chinese New year. She describes what a typical Chinese New Year was like and how it changed once she moved to America.
“Q: What were the most important family traditions you had growing up? A: Chinese New Year Q: Can you tell me a little about that? I’ve never experienced what that was like. A: Prier to New Years we would have to clean the whole house. I remember house sweeping because they didn’t want me to mess with the soap because I would just play with the soap. So they would tell me “Just Sweep!” and I would say “Soap?” But yeah, I just kind of helped sweep and clean. At that time, I didn’t really help cook food or anything I kind of just looked at the food being made, and I ate it. Q: How have the traditions back home changed since you’ve came to America? A: Actually its really different because my mom’s side of the family was really traditional. We would go through Chinese New Year the way its supposed to be. It’s really vague now but I remember it was a really big thing. Everyone would be excited. I would get red envelopes and I would say “Yes! Thanks, keep it coming!” *laughs* I come here but its… we still celebrate Chinese New Year… but its not as popular. We’ll eat and we’ll visit our family but it wasn’t really a get together… it didn’t feel the same actually so I just celebrate the American New Year now.”
Watch this YouTube video to learn more about Chinese New Year.
Annie talks about her food journey, how she slowly adapted to food in America, and expanded her diet.
“The food is very different. I love pizza now, love burgers, love cheese. *laughs* Q: What was one of your favorite foods you tried when you first came to America? Was there one food were you thought oh this isn’t too bad? A: I’m not sure because back home a lot of food was fresher. I come here and it wasn’t as fresh and they were frozen. Back home I never had to freeze things. You would just eat fresh, you buy it fresh and that was one thing. I was really picky back then because it didn’t taste fresh to me so I was really picky. But, the one thing that was good to me was cereal. I liked cereal. I could eat that for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if there wasn’t anything I liked. So, I stared off with cereal. *laughs*”
Education.
Annie compares the education she received in China versus America. She also touches on the perspective of a young child on their first day of school.
“Q: What kind of education did you have in China? What was education like in China verses America? If you can remember I know that was a long time ago. A: So, the school was really, really big. You know, how it is here where they direct you but over there well how it was back then I’m not sure now, but I remember getting dropped off and I got lost at the beginning because there wasn’t anyone to help me. My mom had to go to work. I was dropped off at school, I got there but when I got inside it was really big and I think it ranged from kindergarten to I don’t know what grade it is but the kids were really big. I was trying to look for my class, but nobody told me anything. Nobody told me my class or my teacher. I was really lost and then I remember that I never showed up to class for hours and my teacher was looking for me. I was just wondering around by myself and it was so scary I didn’t have a phone and I didn’t know anybody. So that was the beginning and from then on when my mom tried to drop me off, I would say “Nope! You need to take me to my class. You can be late” Q: Do you prefer it here? A: Yeah, because it was really different here. Well, I was supposed to be in second grade when I came here but they pushed me back to first grade because they told me I need to learn… because I didn’t really know it. I said that was fine I’ll start from the beginning. Immediately at first I was really scared too I was like “Oh my gosh. I can’t. I don’t know English. I cannot do this.” I went there and I was really scared. A week before class started, I was like “Oh my god! Who’s my teacher? What’s my class?” I was so, so scared. I didn’t tell anybody this. At my school they taped your teacher, your class and your name were on there so you can literally go and find it. There are also people you can ask but I didn’t know how to ask. But I said, “Oh my gosh there is paper at least.” I found my name and I said, “okay what does this mean?” My mom didn’t really know English at that time either but somehow it was fine and it wasn’t that hard. Then I said, “Okay amazing!” Even if I had to go somewhere they would say “Get a partner” so I really liked that because I wasn’t alone. Thank goodness, I was very appreciative of that.”
Family.
Annie shares who her biggest inspiration, her grandmother, was growing up and explains why she was inspired by her.
“Q: Who was the most important figure in your childhood? Who was somebody you looked up to? A: Oh, see most people would say I’m inspired by my mom or dad, but I wasn’t. I was mostly inspired by my grandma on my mom’s side. She was such a hard-working lady and I just kind of looked up to her because everyday she will work hard and she will take care of us. She will get her work done and I just look up to that. If she sets a goal, she will make sure it’s done. She’s really busy, but she still takes time to do the things she needs to do.”
Challenges.
Annie mentions some of the toughest challenges she had to face growing up as an immigrant in a different country.
“Q: What challenges did you personally face within the first six months of coming to Philadelphia? A: Some of the challenges were I was kind of hesitant to go out on my own. Q: Was that different from back home? Did you feel comfortable enough to go out on your own? A: Yeah, I had some places where it was okay like if I wanted to go to a friend’s house, I could. If I wanted a snack, it was right there. Whereas here I have to travel a little bit, especially in the Northeast. South Philly wasn’t that bad, but it was a bit further. I wasn’t comfortable going there on my own. Q: Any other challenges you might’ve faced? A: One of the hardest challenges was the language itself because, you know there are different dialects in China? I had to learn English and my dad’s side of the dialect. So, I had to learn both at the same time and that was something that was really, really hard for me because, yes, the dialect I could still understand a little bit, but I would get confused because I wasn’t good at it. English was something completely new so having to balance the two was a hard time. Q: Were you able to pick up on the slang here? Were there somethings you really didn’t understand until you did? A: See, growing up here I didn’t view slang as slang to me until I got older, and I was like “Oh that’s a slang? Wait!” I kind of cultivated slang into a part of my own language, you know? So, when I went with other kids in high school or in college that came from different places, definitely in college, and I would say something causally and they would ask me “What does that mean?” To me it was like “Wait. What? You haven’t heard of that?” But I would explain it to them and say, “Here’s what it means!” I don’t really remember it though because my friends kind of know the slang now so we kind of just communicate.”
