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Patsy Alcocer

AP Lang/ Period 4

Mrs. Parrott

20 March 2017

A Step Closer to Reality

Its important and most of the time necessary to make an effort and try to step out of our

comfort zone and explore new places to make more adventures and realize things we were once

unconscious about. This project I feel will allow me to hopefully break many assumptions that I

have toward the Asian culture and their customs. So far, to this day, there hasnt been any

situation where an individual of Asian descent has shown any type of racism or dislike toward

me. There have been, however, moments when I felt that we were stared at because my grandma,

sister, and I walked into a marketplace that was typically established for an Asian culture. We

were curious to know what it looked like inside and the different types of merchandise that they

would have compared to the supermarkets that we are accustomed to. As soon as we got close to

the entrance, walking from the parking lot to the front door of the store, I felt that all eyes were

upon us for being and looking different than the rest that were present. As soon as we stepped

inside the store, it was like we had entered a different world, full of interesting new merchandise

we had ever seen or experienced before. It was obvious that other people inside the store could

have thought that it was weird that Hispanic people were wandering the store. It was surprising

to see that other Latino individuals were also exploring the store and taking a look at all of the

different fruits and meats they sold. As a result from this past experience, my assumptions for
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this project were that we were going to be stared at really weirdly and perhaps they would do it

unconsciously because its certain that anyone is certain to stare at individuals that they arent

familiar seeing. However, I am also assuming that there will be people, like vendors, who will be

nice enough and will seem friendly, and not judge my friend and I. The area of Little Saigon is

like a little Vietnamese city that I have always passed by before, but never stopped to shop at a

market or the Asian Garden Mall. I chose this place because I wanted to see if there was going to

be a difference from the first time that I walked into a store like this to this time. I am really

excited and anxious to find out how my experience turns out to be when I visit Little Saigon.
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Patsy Alcocer

AP Lang/ Period 4

Mrs. Parrott

20 March 2017

New World, New Perspective

My friend and I were really excited to find out what our experience would turn out to be like

once we entered the Little Saigon supermarket. As soon as we were walking toward the entrance,

some people that were driving their cars ready to park them started staring at us and wondering

why we were there in the first place. We walked right into the store and started to roam the aisles

of the market looking at the variety of produce that was being offered to the customers. It was

similar but yet different to the supermarkets where many Hispanic families go to purchase a

variety of food products. My friend and I decided to visit the section where the fish and sea

animals are kept alive in tanks because it was rare for us to witness something like that in a

supermarket. As we were walking toward the area, meanwhile stopping and staring at the

different types of fruit, a man that worked inside the seafood area wouldnt stop staring at us. I

felt his eyes follow us ever since we were in sight to him. We got close to the tanks and his eyes

wouldnt fail to look at us. My friend and I felt a bit awkward and uncomfortable due to the fact

that we were being stared at the whole time by one of the workers there so we decided to step

away and head toward another section of aisles which we found to be pretty empty. It was also a

struggle to try and get a picture inside the store because many customers began to stare at us and

wonder what we were planning to do. We finally found the perfect place to take the picture,

which was under a pretty decor of vines and grapes. This was also a really unpleasant moment
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due to a man who was standing by a cash register and kept on looking back at us struggling to

take one picture. As soon as we had both our pictures ready to go we wanted to get out of the

market and back into the car where we felt better and more relaxed. Next, we decided to visit

another place located in Little Saigon as well. We went inside the Asian Garden Mall. We

stepped inside and right away I felt a different environment throughout the whole place. It

seemed to be more relaxing and peaceful. We decided to walk into a small shop where they sold

pillows, pencils, candy, notebooks, and other cute little objects. I felt welcome and undisturbed

by the people surrounding us. Then, we walked around in a circle, walking past many other

stores and walked into another little shop where similar things from the first store were sold and

there we had a concise but pleasant conversation with the vendor. We were just talking about the

location of the mall and how peaceful it felt and I asked her if it was always that tranquil inside.

She replied that for the most part it was, and even though sometimes it does get full it still seems

as if its not because people are usually just minding their own business all the time. It was also

new and different to see that on the bottom floor there were some individuals doing karaoke

while others sat around to see and hear them and the rest would walk by and acknowledge their

singing. If I were to compare my sentiments with the first place and the mall that we went to, I

would definitely prefer the Asian Garden Mall because it made me feel welcome and I didnt

have people staring at my friend and I the whole time.

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Patsy Alcocer

AP Lang/ Period 4

Mrs. Parrott

20 March 2017

Step Outside and Dare to Explore

Initially, at the start of this challenging assumptions project, my assumption upon visiting

Little Saigon, a Vietnamese area, which I wasnt familiar with was that most of the time the

people would stare at my friend and I because we were of different cultural backgrounds. Also, I

assumed that there would also be some individuals who would be really friendly to us and talk to

us easily. I was especially scared and nervous to pull off a regular conversation with one of the

people inside the Asian Garden Mall, which is where I decided I would talk to someone. I was

scared that I would be rejected and would be looked at in a weird way for trying to start a

random conversation with them. I thought that this was going to be one of the most challenging

parts of the assignment because of what had happened in the previous experience to this with my

grandma and sister. In the second store that we had gone into I decided to ask a question

regarding the malls atmosphere and it turned out to be a very interesting conversation where I

got to know and get a little more in depth knowledge regarding the mall and its overall

environment. My assumptions had proven to be right when I predicted that the people would be

easy to talk to and friendly. As this whole experience took place, I was able to notice that most of

the time we seem to assume many different opinion regarding race, gender, religion, etc. but yet

we dont dare to experience it for ourselves. This whole experience helped me understand that

sometimes things will not turn out to be the way we expect them to, but other times they will be
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exactly how we seemed to picture them in our mind. All it really takes to find out is to go to the

place ourselves and get to know the people, location and its surroundings for us to fully

understand what we perhaps couldnt before. As the saying goes, dont judge a book by its cover,

but I always seem to do that because its easier for me to assume rather than put myself in an

unusual and scary position where Im not used to the people or culture. This time I found out that

its not so bad to go out of my comfort zone and explore areas that perhaps I was once scared to

venture into because afterall, it may be one of the best experiences I have ever had. Assuming

things will only lead us to conclusions that are most likely not true because we decide to go

based off of what others think and have opinions about. However, its up to us to make the

decision of directly experiencing a different event that focuses on something that we have never

tried in order to be able to voice our own opinion, instead of conforming to everything that others

seem to believe is correct. This experience not only helped me realize this belief but, more

specifically, it allowed me to comprehend that we shouldnt make assumptions based on

stereotypes that we seem to believe or the beliefs that our family could implement upon us. On

the other hand, we should be the ones to explore things we have never had the courage to do and

that way well be able to realize the different type of people and places that we were missing out

on. I believe that its worth a shot to always try something different and gain new knowledge

about cultures that seem to be different than our own because in the end, well be able to possess

more knowledge than we once had.