Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

I think my experience being an Indian – American is a great advantage for me.

My experience with different culture

I have spent most of my life in India in a very traditional family but with modern outlook towards life.

I had always desired to visit different countries and enjoy the way they live, eat and think. However I never got a chance in my childhood.

When I grew up and started studying in my undergraduate college, I had the experience of studying with some international students and I learnt a lot about their culture.

Later in life after completing my studies, I got got married and then came to a phase in my life I had always desired. Since my husband was staying in the United States, I was very thrilled about it.

When I came to Los Angeles, 2 years back, I got number of opportunities to interact with people coming from a different cultural background.

Los Angeles is a cosmopolitan city and people with different cultures live there.

There are number of food joints from different countries such as India, China, Italy, France, Greece, Philippines, Mexican etc. I was very much excited at this fact and was eager to explore each of theses food.

I interacted with Americans living in my locality and found that they were very different from Indians.

There are many good things about Americans which I honestly admire.

Literacy rate is very high in United States and people are highly educated. Education is something which is also provided by government free of cost. Due to being educated, everyone gets a job and is independent.

Education is something which I feel makes United States such a powerful country across the world.  Even in India, education is something which is given highest priority. But easy access to education is not given to the poor and underprivileged.  Due to this reason many people in India remain uneducated.

People in America are independent and they don’t depend on someone for their living. People have easy access to anything they want.

Even the old people are not dependent on anyone for their living.

There are also a number of retirement plans offered by the government to old people which makes their old age free of tension.

There are even a number of heath plans being offered by the Government to the people free of cost.

Apart from this there are many other points which I got to learn when I experienced American culture.

I feel I am very fortunate to get this chance to learn new things.

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.