Pake

It occurred to me this past weekend how very stereotypical "pake" I'm becoming now having married my wife from Hong Kong. It's a bit funny and yet sad at the same time.

For those of you not in the know - "pake" (pronounced PAH-KAY here in Hawaii) is a term often labeled for Chinese folks, normally associated for the fact we're tight with our money. Yeah it could be used derogatorily, it could be racist or prejudice. But WTF, life is short. Lighten up and have some humor folks. My growing years would have really sucked had I grown up in these politically correct years...now more violent and humorless around the world then ever. I grew up in happier times when those like Rap Replinger could joke about our differences.

ANYHOO, here I was sitting on a Friday morning brunch with my wife eating dim sum at the Chinese Culture Center in Downtown, Chinatown. We were eating juk and chicken feet. (don't knock it till you try it) Sharing a table with another bunch of loud Chinese people. We drove there in our car with "888" license plates.

Now if this isn't Pake I don't know what isn't.

Ironically I had grown up avoiding every one of those things. I used to HATE eating juk (rice porridge) that my dad made every Sunday morning. "What? Juk again!?" God it was just like eating rice & water. Blaaah. But somehow things have changed now that I've been out of my parent's house for so many years...things I used to be so sick of have turned nostalgic. Juk is like comfort food now.

I used to HATE going into stinky Chinatown when my dad used to go there to get cheap groceries. Why do Chinatowns always stink? Dirty as hell too. That still hasn't changed. Before meeting my wife I don't think I had gone into the Culture Center once every 7 or 8 years or so. Now we're going to this one place down there called "Tai Pan Dim Sum" which is pretty damn good...but the crappy part about it is that it's such a small place you often have to just sit at someone else's table. I'll never get used to that...you just pull up a chair at a table already occupied by someone else. The table occupants never look too happy about it either but nobody says anything. I think I've watched enough Kung Fu Theatre growing up to know you don't piss off an unassuming Chinese guy with a bowl of juk in his hands.

I used to laugh at cars with "888" plates. 9 out of 10 times you spot a car with multiple "8" on it, you'll spot a Chinese driver. I asked my 2nd mom in the C&C to get me plates that I could remember easily...she delivered. "8"s apparently sound very similar to the word for "wealth" in Chinese. So naturally it's very pake to slap as many 8s as you can, everywhere you can. Hey, I'm open to trying anything to get a few extra bucks in my pocket to pay for gas these days.

Try look in the car the next time you see a bunch of "8"s, you'll see. Now I'm just another Chinese statistic. Keep on the lookout for triple 8 plates you just might spot this pake waving back at you on my way to eating more dim sum.