This is me.
I am a white person. I used to ask my mom if she thought I might have ANY Asian in me and she looked at me, shook her head, and walked away. I took that as a 'no'.
I remember my very first interest in Asia taking root when my dad returned home from a business trip to South Korea and brought me back a beautiful kimono-style robe. After that trip, Asia seemed to 'appear' at different times in my life, and I grabbed hold and took it for a ride!
Like many girls, I took dance lessons when I was very little. However, when I turned eleven years old, I turned in my ballet shoes for a 'gee' (martial arts uniform) and began taking karate lessons. I earned my first degree Black Belt when I was fourteen years old and continued teaching lessons and honing my art through high school. I can honestly say that were it not for my association with martial arts, I may never have discovered and come to love China (so thanks mom and dad for letting me do karate with the boys instead of ballet with the girls-it made a difference and made me who I am). I absolutely loved karate and wish I still had the opportunity to be a part of the martial arts arena.
In high school, I dabbled in Japanese. I remember really struggling to connect the character-based language with my latin-alphabet brain. But one day, it clicked for me and I began to really love and appreciate the beauty of characters. My interest in Japanese waned but I still was interested in Asia in general and kept up the connection through karate and through friends.
In what should have been my first freshman semester of college, I found myself working and living at home-not really my idea of fun. Through a very dear girlfriend that I shall refer to as 'My Companion', I was introduced to a volunteer program for college students, teaching English to children in China, and I jumped-literally-at the opportunity. The next Spring, I found myself in Anhui province, struggling through English classes and fearlessly exploring the amazing country that is China with My Companion. I turned nineteen that Spring.
When I came home to the United States, I followed up my time in China with Chinese language classes and school projects that revolved around my experience in China. I met my husband, whom I married only on the condition that we returned to China to teach together....and that we did. So I spent another Spring and another birthday in Anhui province with my brand new husband teaching and exploring. It was the ideal experience for us to learn about each other and to completely rely on each other. I like to think we made the most of our experience and that we left a positive impression (?) on those we met.
Once again, I came home and took Chinese classes, studied Chinese government and politics and then wrote my senior capstone project 'A Glimpse of China: Through Women's Eyes' centered around three very special friends I made while in China. I graduated from Utah State University with a bachelor's degree in International Studies and then life moved on and with it came two beautiful boys and a home and not a lot of time to pursue my interest in China until I made a set of Mandarin Boards and gave them to my husband for our fifth anniversary.
Since then, I have practiced and experimented and pushed and pulled and finally come up with art that I thoroughly enjoy creating and that, if not absolutely perfect, is worth sharing. I love the uniqueness and simplicity of the Mandarin Boards concept and also the wide range of expressions and emotions that are attached to each board. And let's be honest- I love having an excuse to squeeze China into my crazy adult life.
