On September 22nd, I attended the first meeting with Kwan Hui from the IACA organization. We started out having some Chinese takeout; we had lo mein and dumplings. He then went on to talk about how the organization came to be and some important people within the organization, and the different activities and things they did as an organization. I was surprised to learn that the organization was formed a little over 40 years ago by Asians that came to Indianapolis for school.
One of the things he talked about was a project they have called Project Matchstick where organizations and people can come to them for help with money or donations and they blindly trust them and give them what they need. I thought that it was a really generous thing to do especially since they don’t ask for any verification. He also mentioned and emphasized how the organization does not only consist of Chinese Americans but is open to everyone who wants to join.
Throughout the discussion with Kwan, he also mentioned and talked a bit about the festivals that occur and some general information about China. An example is how on Chinese New Year, there is usually a lion dance that takes place, and elders hand out these red packages (红包 hóng bāo) that contain some money.
He also recommended two restaurants to try out: Lucky Lou which is a dim sum restaurant, and Tin Fu which is a restaurant that serves more Northern style foods. He explained how Northern Chinese people tend to eat more carbs while Southern Chinese people eat rice for almost every meal because of the conditions of the land and their environment which was something new to me. Through that discussion, I learned that my parents came from Southern China because growing up, we more likely than not ate rice for lunch and dinner, and even sometimes for breakfast if there were leftovers from the previous night.