I thought that the first chapter was really interesting. I thought it was amazing that a mother of over twelve children could deliver a baby without screaming or disturbing any of the other family members in the house. From the stories I have heard about natural childbirth, it sounds like the most painful and emotional experience that I could think of. I thought it was inspiring that she could deliver so many children by herself and keep quiet. I honestly don’t think I could do that. In American medicine, it is so normalized to use epidurals and to use pain medication to avoid the presence of pain and deliver a baby naturally. But these women who live in other countries and societies that rely on themselves and themselves alone are tru.y inspirational.
I thought that both of these chapters really explained the culture of Huang people and their challenges of coming to America. The birth of Lisa was particularly interesting to me because of how different her birth was to her siblings and of how her mother just accepted what the doctors were saying because she didn’t speak English. I really found it interesting how the teacher in the French class also just accepted the student answer about the fish soup because she knew about the culture of the Huang people and how they enjoy storytelling.
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