My parents are originally from China and met in America. My father came with his mother, my grandfather was already here and my mother came by herself with no other family. When they came, they didn’t have anything so they worked tirelessly to get a stable income. They worked every day until they were in a stable position. When they do take a break on a holiday, they do something they did when they were younger, hot pot. It was one of their favorite things to do when they were younger. Typically a hot pot is a steel pot that sits in the middle of the dinner table. Surrounding the pot is usually raw meat, shrimp, and vegetables. We usually have Hot Pot during the holidays or sometimes during other celebrations. The way my family does it is they have partitions within the Hot Pot and so each partition has something different and after we are done cooking the vegetables, we change the water and put something else. If you want something, you put it in the Hot Pot and wait for it to cook. During Hot Pot the adults have their own conversations and the children have their own conversations. My sisters and I usually play a mini-game that we call word chain and I tend to win which makes my younger sisters mad. When we are finished with our Hot Pot dinner, we all clean up and work on different sections. When we finish cleaning up we watch TV. Hot Pot is an important part of my life because it’s a family tradition that I enjoy and I intend on carrying it out on my own in the future.

– William

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant