Herbal Soup On A Sick Day
It was a Saturday afternoon and I had driven thirty minutes to the next county to visit my aunt and her husband. I was sick with the flu and immediately after hearing that, she decided to make me a traditional Chinese herbal soup consisting of various medicinal plants and roots that I couldn’t recognize. When I arrived half asleep and drugged up from the medicine at 1 PM, she had already been up since 6 AM to go fishing with her husband.
My aunt speaks very concisely; every answer is nothing more, but nothing less, just like her personality. Her house and lifestyle reflect that way: very clean-cut. The relationship she has with her husband, Bill, is also that way. They have their separate bank accounts, both responsible for their portion of the bills, and no kids to complicate their lives, despite being married 15 years. They’re vastly different. Su, standing at 4'11", loves to stay home after constantly working 12 hour days non-stop and enjoys traditional Chinese cuisine with ingredients that Bill often finds questionable, such as herbal roots that fills several cabinets in their kitchen, “century-old” eggs that makes its everlasting presence in their fridge, pork blood, intestines, and the list goes on. Bill, standing at 6'2", on the other hand, is a classic Southern man. He enjoys deer hunting, fishing, banana-mayonnaise sandwiches, and owns an RV and fishing boat. She drives a Toyota Camry; he drives a Toyota Tacoma truck. Granted, both are Japanese cars, but they’re so different in every way. Despite that, they weirdly harmonize and compromise with each other.
After sitting down at the dinning table with her while she was cracking walnuts and I had my herbal soup next to me, I began to ask her questions.
Interview questions:
A: Whats your name?
S: Su, Su Xia Thomas
A: Haha. Thanks for giving me the full name! Since you’re my biological aunt and full Asian, why do you have a white last name?
S: I married Bill Thomas and when I did immigration and became a citizen. My last name got changed.
A: Yeah. I remember when I first met Bill when I was around 5 or 6, I thought he was REALLY huge, like, way taller than me. How did you meet him?
S: Margret(my paternal aunt) is friends with him and told him about me and showed him pictures. We used MSN(a really old online chat tool) to talk, every day.
A: Yeah, I remember you always video chatting him and next to the computer all day, it was probably a really good picture huh?
S: Ai-Ya, of course.
A: How long have you been to the US
S: Me and Bill met 2002, I have been in the U.S. since 2005 after my visa
A: How long did your visa and green card take, and how did that compare to my parents?
S: Not long, lots of people go to U.S. by marriage visa because it’s faster. Your parents have for family visa. It’s a long wait.
A: Yeah, otherwise would you think it would take you 15 years like my dad? How difficult was the immigration process? Was marrying a foreigner what a lot of people do to go to America?
S: I want to go to U.S. and Margret know I am single so she show me Bill. I told her he is good looking. In China, lot of women get set up with American men and marry for visa and they marry and divorce after. It’s easier because going to America normally is very hard, take a long time.
A: I read that a lot of people overseas sometimes have to choose between their mom or their sibling to go to the U.S. because it takes a long time and lots of resources, and sometimes a grandma don’t have 10, 15 years like my parents. I am happy you and Bill stayed together though. Okay, next question. How’s life here in the US different from china?
S: Very different. There is many things. The food is bad, not good. White food tastes bland, we always make fun of it because it’s bad. It was hard first because my English is bad but now it’s better. There is lot of different people here, Mexican people, white people. Everyone is nice and people on the street smile at you.
A: What are somethings that changed, that you learned, and something that you still haven’t given up?
S: Still not give up?
A: Yeah like you continued to do after being in American for many years, and what are somethings that you have learned or changed?
S: I learned how to fish and use a gun because Bill teached me. We go fishing every weekend. He like to fish, but I like to eat them. I still cook every day, Chinese food. I have to have rice everyday, I can’t eat a hot dog, sandwich like Bill.
A :Do you believe in the American dream, or do you think it’s dead?
S: I don’t know, I think you need to work hard in life. But you need to do good in college so you don’t do hard labor work like me and your family. Study hard and don’t get a boy, girl friend like your Cinna or Andy (my cousins)
(My aunt also works at restaurants like my parents, but she works for the one our family friend owns)
A: Hahaha.. okay, okay, I will study. What were your expectations about US if you had any?
S: I don’t know. Everyone back home always talk about going to the U.S. and I didn’t think about much when I move. I think there’s cities and nice buildings but that is only New York.
A: Oh wow, so everyone are used to immigration because that it’s just so common right?
S: Yeah, everyone back home I know are mostly in America now
A:Do you miss “home”?
S: All the time.
Just few days ago, sometimes after the interview, my aunt told me she might go back home this summer in 2019 to visit. Along with her, my mom and my dad would also return home to visit after all at least 7 years for all of them.
