I am Asian-American. Much of my life was spent reconciling the two cultures I was a part of. On the one hand, conformity and not speaking up against elders was considered ideal at home. On the other hand, teachers in school DEMANDED that I communicate and participate in class. I was a quiet child - I didn't like to cause trouble and I think I was mostly quite gentle and well-meaning - and yet in hindsight I was a good deal more stubborn and defiant than the ideal my parents desired. Sometimes their adherence to the Confucian idea of filial piety made little sense to me as arguments were often based less on logic and reason and more on some rule I was supposed to follow blindly because the 'rents said so. Meanwhile, even when I acknowledged that I made mistakes at school, teachers could be very unforgiving and even assume I was giving them an attitude when I stayed quiet (usually cause I was terrified and definitely not because I was ignoring them...) - I was taught that it was the right thing to do when wrong, after all. This left me in a lot of pain both at school and at home, and left me with a lot of resentment towards my Asian-heritage as well since I saw that as the source of my problems at the time. So yeah, super out of place. :T

I'm sure my experiences are similar to what many other first-generation born Americans have had to go through. It took years and a lot of work before things got better, but I have a great relationship with my parents now and I feel much more well-adjusted and outgoing. (´･ω･`) To be honest, I'll probably always feel out of place - when visiting relatives, I'm like an alien traveler with a malfunctioning babelfish in my head, and when in the US, I'll still always be judged by my Asian-appearance to some extent. And that doesn't even begin to describe the oddities I encounter in life as an introvert. But that's life. I'm happy to be where I am today. \o/