CAIS

Mooncakes in Togo

By Larissa Hsia-Wong, Class of 1999

I never thought I'd be able to find mooncakes in Togo. Then again, I never once thought I'd be in a small West African country looking for mooncakes in the first place. Yet there I was this past September, sitting on a crooked wooden bench in the backroom of a small Chinese grocery store with a mooncake in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. In front of me sat the store owner: an elderly Taiwanese ex-pat lady dressed in a beautiful pagne comple – a traditional Togolese dress. We spoke in a mixture of Mandarin and West African French. I remarked that she spoke Chinese with a West African accent.

She laughed and said I spoke French with a Chinese accent.

"What are you doing here in Togo?" she finally asked.

At first it may seem a little random, almost incomprehensible, that a recent college graduate with a degree in Chinese and psychology would serve a small French speaking West African country as a Peace Corps Volunteer. However, if you consider the fact that I was raised and educated in a vibrant multilingual and multicultural community, it almost seems inevitable that my life would lead me to where I am today.

I attended CAIS for the majority of my formative years from kindergarten to eighth grade. While nearly ten years have passed since my eighth grade graduation, the lessons and values I gained while at CAIS continue to guide me and influence my life for they have become a natural part of my identity and self-philosophy.

From a very young age, a CAIS student becomes a world leader in cross-cultural unity. From the moment she steps into the classroom, a CAIS student learns that a cross-linguistic interaction is much more than an exchange of foreign words. We learn that a cross-linguistic interaction, in addition to being an opportunity to improve one's language proficiency, is more importantly an opportunity to increase one's understanding about a foreign culture while simultaneously educating the other party about our own unique cultural background.

Coupled with the values of perseverance, patience and open-mindedness that CAIS instilled in me from a very young age, my enthusiasm for cross-cultural unity has allowed me to interact with local Togolese people on a more personal level to forge lasting friendships that I am confident will bridge cultural divides.

Larissa graduated from CAIS in 1999, then continued on to attend University High School. She graduated from Georgetown University in 2007. She is serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo, West Africa until the Fall of 2009.