愛爾蘭出生的華人的網上日誌
I grew up in Limerick and went to the University of Limerick. I have been working in Dublin for over 3 and a half years. Since I work in Dublin, I would go home to Limerick twice a month (or there-abouts!) . What I heard from my dad was not very nice last night just after getting train down from Dublin.
My dad was already very tired, as he was up all day and was quite busy. He was picking up my youngest brother from school. So as any parent, he drove to pick him up. There was a small gap in front of my dad's parked car, but not enough for a car, and low and behold, when my dad came out to get into the car with my brother, some inconsiderate person in a small car managed to wriggle partially into the space, and the back-end was sticking out blocking the driver's side. My dad rapped the driver of the said car lightly. The person looked up and my dad asked politely for him to move the car so my dad can go in. Well, this person just picked up the papers and proceeded to read it ignoring my dad! At this stage in the story I was getting worried for my father as he has a heart condition and it was looking like it may be leading to an argument. Dad continued on with the events that unfolded. My dad rapped on the window, no response. A harder rap, the person rolled down the window and said what was the problem? "What was the problem?", the nerve! My dad proceeded to explain the situation, and he said my dad should have parked on the other side of the road. My dad was getting infuriated, and said he was there first and would not have realised that someone may actually try and park in that space. The person replied to my dad and told him to go and try and get into the car via the passenger seat, and went back to his paper. Well, my dad could not believe it, in this day and age, especially since we were part of the local community for the nearly 20 years. My dad asked one more time, and what is to be done now. The person started up the car, wriggled a bit more and left barely enough room for a person to get into the dirver's seat.
I was so worried when my dad told this story, what if something happened to him. I would have taken that person's registration and would love to have brought them to court for causing mental anguish and distress to my dad. How can anyone treat another person like that. How can people be so ignorant. We are part of community which should not treat each other like this. Kids go to the same school should not see this happening, what would they think. But in general, I think that person is just plain rude. They should do some documentary like "Bowling for Columbine" Limerick style, a bit of logic to bring out the dumbness in some folks who are not kind to others.
There's a Lo Call number in use throughout four counties where undesired behaviour using automobiles can be reported. Although it is not advertised in Dublin, information is taken from any caller on any event. According to the national newspapers, one driver was done for tossing chips from his window. It sounds like you have cause to report this incident to that service. At the very least, the driver enters a database where his pattern of misconduct is noted. If you post his registration number here, I will mirror it as a Yellow Card on my website as well.
Posted by: Bernard Goldbach on November 30, 2002 08:29 AMThat's great, thanks! I will inform other people about this. Thanks for the pointer!
Posted by: whykay on December 2, 2002 01:37 PMwhat does this have to do with rascism? This happens to everyone, at every time they meet a rude person. yes, it was very rude and I would not have been pleased, but it's happened to many people and they don't call it rascism. I don't understand your point???
Posted by: M on February 11, 2003 03:56 AMIt is not just rudeness. It is the way my dad described how the man looked at him, like he was just rubbish, someone who is not worthy a reply/answer. I get that with some people who don't like the colour of my skin. What makes it worse, I am Irish, and usually for that instant, I would doubt that I am proud to be Irish. That is until I know that there are many others out there who do not look down on others whose skin is a different colour. I decided to write this article as an example of what some folks face some day or another. And because of our society is becoming more and more multi-cultural, I find that these experiences do occur more often now.Like it or not, it is more apparent.
Posted by: whykay on February 11, 2003 10:44 AMhmm... i've had more overt racist incidents here in ireland than i have EVER in my entire life in the united states. and the level of ignorance and stereotyping is appaling. dublin may be a capital city, but to me it feels like i landed into a hick town. i don't even want to think about what it might be like in limerick.
Posted by: american in dublin on July 21, 2003 09:06 PMYeah right!! its horrid for people to be racist towards you, but how bout the Hong Kong incident-this indian lady married to this english guy by the name of Martin and her name is Hari. Racism is instilled in the the chinese culture. Western ppl are called kwai loh, indian ppl - keling khui. so look at yourself and think why ppl are racist towards your race. its because u guys are ten times worst!!!!!
Posted by: Cher on July 27, 2003 10:19 PMFair enough, I don't disagree. All people have some discrimination against other people, no matter how small or big. But it is still hurtful all the same. If you want more examples, I have some links to articles on how Orientals in HK and Japan view other people... check out "Orientals really have a negative view.." (http://kaykays.com/archives/000169.html#000169)
Posted by: whykay on July 28, 2003 09:37 AMto cher: big surprise to you but not all asians in the world are chinese, and you've incorrectly labelled the chinese as a "race" which they are not. i'm AMERICAN. i am also ASIAN. i am not, however, chinese, and people in ireland are amazing in their inability to distinguish and understand the nuances of the three. your finger pointing does not mitigate the fact that ireland is a "modern" western democracy, where racism has no place. some people here have been horribly, overtly racist towards me, because they think i am chinese, and think i have poor english skills. it's funny to see their embarrassed and frightened faces when they realize they are wrong on both counts. your attempt to minimize how poorly this reflects on your culture is pathetic. at least kaykay can see both sides of an argument.
Posted by: american in dublin on September 28, 2003 02:13 PMI did my Master for a year at Queen's University Belfast. To be honest with you, I felt the racism in Belfast towards the enthic minorities is amazingly high. I used to stay up late in the lab as my accommodation was just few blocks away from my department.
Within a year in Belfast, I had been thrown couples time with stones and pieces of broken glasses. I was also twice spitted on my way to a cinema. The period of my life in Belfast was a nightmare. I dont find the city beautiful at all because of the experience I had with the irish people there. Before I came to UK for my master, many people had told me that irishs are very friendly and I should feel comfortable with the life abroad. Yes, I do agree to certain extent. I met few irishs who are indeed very helpful. Perhaps, I was just not lucky enough to meet more.
I moved to England after my master. There, I found a well paid job in London. I paid high tax to UK government and I work extremely hard to have a better life here in UK. In my first year in London, I rented a house with a branch of western ppl. One is from France, two are from the North of England and one is irish from Belfast.
Things were going quite well before the irish moved in. I love other cultures very much. I made many friends from all the places. I can speak a little french. I also learnt how to cook Indian and English food. My dad used to tell me this. If you want to live in Rome, live as the way romans live. All these years, believe me, I have tried really hard to learn the english culture. My language ability is limited and therefore, my accent is abit strange to the local britishs. But that's ok. I still gain some respects from my colleagues and others. Furthermore, I really really like western ladies because personally, I do feel they have a very attractive features. Most importantly, they are independent and genuinely friendly.
However, things started to change after the irish moved in. I remember there was one night we had a chat about girls stuffs. Excuse me for this because men's conversations can never leave out the topic about women.
Things got a bit tense when I said I prefer mixed races like indian with english, english with chinese, black with chinese and etc because they look more beautiful to me. I apologise if this offends anyone of you. Some of you may not think so but, this is how I feel anyway.
The irish mate jumped up and condemned that this is a disgrace to white people. I was shocked after hearing this. I never feel that kind of strong words out from him while others of my housemates remain silent. His words completely changed my view about him.
I am the type of person if I feel I cant get along with somebody, I will intend to have a less conversation with him. However, ever since that night onwards, he started to agitate the racisms problem among my housemates. He even told me face-to-face that we, British do not welcome you here. It was heartbreaking words for me. What have I done wrong? I remember that there was one time, when he actually said that to me loudly, I was furious and my french housemate quickly dragged me out for beers. It is funny when you look back.
He seem very unhappy when he learnt that I was paid well by my company. Everytime when nobody was around, he would ask me about my future plans for next year. Have I ever thought of going back to my own country? You know, as he said, UK is not the place for you. Why dont you just leave. My reply is just simple. "When it's time to go, I will leave with no regrets. You dont have to worry about me".
It's amazing how he could be so racist. I believe this is something to do with his family. His family didnt seem to be nice the first time I met them. I dont dispute the fact that some western ppl are very nice and friendly too. Only minorities have the NAZI way of thinking like BNP. Some asians are racists, I dont disagree that but not all. Racisms can be found everywhere. All I want to say is that we cant generalise the whole race just because one of their people is racist to us. I have also some good irish colleagues working with me.
It was a year ago when such incident took place. I am glad I have finally moved out of the house. My life finally gets back to a peaceful one. One thing I can remember is that he was actually undergoing teaching training scheme. I just cant imagine such people like him will end up becoming a teacher? His nazi racist way of thinking will pass on to our young kids in school. This is my most fearful experience living in UK and I dont really see the british government is doing enough to tackle such kind of racism problems.
To those who believe they are racist, I have one question to ask. Does the colour of your skin really matter to you? After all, we have the same colour of blood!
Posted by: Ben on October 11, 2003 12:09 PMPlease check some relevant information in the field of online pharmacy merchant account, Panama site ...
Posted by: online pharmacy meds reviews on October 12, 2005 11:22 PMYou may find it interesting to visit some information about tamiflu on line no prescription tamiflu on line no prescription http://www.prevent-asian-flu.com/tamiflu-on-line-no-prescription.html http://www.prevent-asian-flu.com/tamiflu-on-line-no-prescription.html tamiflu 75 mg tamiflu 75 mg http://www.prevent-asian-flu.com/tamiflu-75-mg.html http://www.prevent-asian-flu.com/tamiflu-75-mg.html tamiflu prescription tamiflu prescription http://www.prevent-asian-flu.com/tamiflu-prescription.html http://www.prevent-asian-flu.com/tamiflu-prescription.html buy tamiflu buy tamiflu http://www.prevent-asian-flu.com/buy-tamiflu.html http://www.prevent-asian-flu.com/buy-tamiflu.html tamiflu and no prescription tamiflu and no prescription http://www.prevent-asian-flu.com/tamiflu-and-no-prescription.html http://www.prevent-asian-flu.com/tamiflu-and-no-prescription.html - Tons of interesdting stuff!!!
Posted by: buy tamiflu without on October 20, 2005 03:42 PM