Cindy Wang Brandt

I find potatoes extremely difficult to prepare.  I hate to claim superiority here but I have to state the facts: Rice easy.  Potatoes hard.  Potatoes take FOREVER to cook through, and they’re only good crispy yet mine always turn out soggy. This evening I tried a new recipe in which one boils the potatoes first…

I am not a professional translator, but because I am bilingual I often have opportunities to translate.  In fact, for my job I translate our school newsletter every week to ensure both our Chinese and English readers can comprehend the information.  A rule I abide by in my translating work is to make sure I…

I have never been a girly girl.  I never cared about the way I looked.  Here’s a picture of me in Middle School to prove I put little to no thought to appearances. Lovely, isn’t it?  While my girlfriends begged their moms to let them start wearing make-up, I shunned the idea of putting glob…

There are all kinds of storms brewing around us.  Typhoon Tembin has been threatening to invade our small tropical island for daaaays.  Seriously, this is the most wishy washy typhoon I’ve ever met, she looks like she’s heading this way, but then she’s taking her sweet time, giving the weather forecasters and the general public…

I just finished up the third week of my new job as an administrative assistant at the school.  My responsibilities include sorting through student applications, compiling lists on excel worksheets, processing information on school demographics records, pulling up attendance reports, and doing this with efficiency and accuracy.  Names, numbers, formulas. Don’t get me wrong, I…

I know it’s totally last decade but I’ve been watching the Gilmore Girls while I exercise on my treadmill.  Some nights when Jason is working I’ll watch some episodes in bed by myself.  He won’t watch it with me, go figure.  Last night he walked in on me tearing up to Luke and Lorelai breaking…

Us Taiwanese have our challenges.  We cannot fly our own flag at the Olympics. We cannot grow very tall.  We cannot let go of our obsession over Hello Kitty. But we lay claim to introducing the world to the ingenious beverage that is Boba Tea. Let’s first talk origins.  Now I have personally read heartrending…

Continuing the conversation on false assumptions of Chinese displays of affection, Kimberly asked this question:  “Is criticism from Chinese mothers a display of genuine love?” This is a loaded question mainly because we move into the territory of defining what “love” is, which differs widely even within America’s own culture.  Needless to say, trying to…

Language is so much more than the words we utter.  Along with verbiage, our communication is expressed through tone, body language, and cultural implications.  Living in the cross section of American and Chinese culture, the missed layers of communication I observe between members of the respective cultures is at best humorous, and at worst, cause…