My Trip to Chinatown

Even though I have lived in Oakland all my life, I had never been to Chinatown. Yesterday was my first time actually going and walking around there. Before I went, my perceptions of Chinatown were that it was going to be just like being in China, which it was. There were Asian people everywhere, Asian stores, Asian restaurants, Asian street signs, Asian everything! So, my perceptions didn't change at all, it was pretty much everything I expected.

There are major differences between Chinatown and Fruitvale like the people, the cultures, the stores, the surroundings. Fruitvale is full of pretty much nothing but Latinos, while Chinatown has nothing but Asians. I didn’t really find any similarities between the two. One thing that surprised me a lot was the food. I never knew that the Chinese food we're used to eating is very American. My teacher Mr. Lee who was with me on this trip, and who just so happens to be Chinese was telling me how real Chinese food was very different to let’s say Panda Express and how he didn’t think that Americans could handle it. So we went to a very Chinese restaurant with real Chinese food, and what could I say! It was definitely different. I loved the food, the textures were different, as well as the taste, but I really liked it a lot. My favorite thing that I tried was the pig meat, and this type of bread covered in noodles, they were yummy!