Chinatown will always hold a special place in my heart. Growing up in San Francisco, I lived 5 blocks away from the heart of Chinatown. I knew the best places for dimsum (like Chinese tapas) and how to say my favorite pastries in Chinese (cha-shoo-boaw). My favorite Sanrio character was Pekkle (Hello Kitty was too main stream!). My grade schools were 60% Asian. Most of my friends at school were Chinese. I learned a lot of valuable lessons from them. That the phrase “flower bridge” spoken in Cantonese sounds like “fuck you” . That having skinny legs makes you better at Chinese jumprope. And dumplings in your lunchbox beats PB&J any day.

Our friendships formed as little girls, we thought nothing of race. As we became more aware of the world around us and still stayed friends in high school, at times I was jokingly referred to as the “token white girl” of the group. Get ready, I have pictures to prove it!

You might say I was a bit of an “egg”- white on the outside, ‘yellow’- Asian- on the inside.

My maternal grandfather was actually born and raised in China (though he wasn’t racial Asian in the least). It’s in my blood! Here in NYC, I unfortunately do not have the same closeness to the culture. I can count my Asian friends on one hand. I’m still searching for a dimsum place that rivals the dozens I know in San Francisco. Yet, there is still something about Chinatown that makes me feel at home.

When my friend Sage (Remember Sage? The best thing I ever got out of online dating? Who did an awesome feature here?) asked me if I wanted to do a vlog with him exploring NYC Chinatown, I immediately said HELL YES. I put on some sunglasses, asked him to call me “Cliché”, and we took the subway down to Canal Street.

It was the middle of Lunar New Year celebrations. I kept showing off my Chinese knowledge by yelling “Gung Hay Fat Choy!” which means “Happy New Year” in Chinese.

Sorry if that got annoying, Sage. We got a lot of footage which he has brilliantly edited and pieced into a bonafide vlog for your viewing pleasure!

Get ready. In this video you’ll hear my voice and see my (madly enthusiast at times, with -heads up- a positively dorky amount of thumbs ups) body language!

As you can see, we had a blast. It makes me want to do more vlogs! Do you agree?

I gotta recommend subscribing to Sage’s Youtube channel, and I’m not just saying that. He’s been on some great New York adventures, and if you like my blog, they will likely peak your interest! Also, we’ve been talking about collaborating on another one. Any suggestions? Maybe even something totally cliché, like visiting the Statue of Liberty or something. What do you think?

Oh, and I totally found the “weirdest thing” right? I mean, is that even a question? Still, I kinda want to prove this to Sage, so if you comment on the video, it’d be awesome!