I'm so confused by the genetic pool of my family. I guess the burning curiosity has pushed me to do a genetic-related research topic.My grandmother who brought me up since the day I was brought home from the hospital, told me numerous times that her neighbors thought that I was some Eurasian judging from my fair skin and my brown hair. Few weeks ago I went to a hairdresser and had my hair chopped off. There were two other Chinese in the shop having their hair chopped off too at the same time. Again, my hairdresser made a remark of my brownish hair, which was unusual for a typical Chinese. It was even more funny when I looked down on the floor and found that I could easily distinguished my hair from the other two clients'.
My dad has also made similar remark that we inherited the fair complexion from his side since many people were also confused about the ethnicity of some of his siblings when they were young. Recently I made a brief visit back home for Chinese New Year. It was my first time for me to meet my aunt and her family after many years. By just looking at her six-year-old son, who apparently has brown hair and very fair skin, I would also mistaken him as Eurasian.
Many Asians are intolerence of lactose and/or alcohol. Once again, our family or at least I myself fall into the minority. I surprised many Europians colleagues of mine when they saw me eating cheese and drinking wine.
Interestingly, I also inherited the wet-type of cerumen (ear wax) from my dad. Are you aware that there are two distinct types of cerumen, the wet-type and the dry-type? Studies found that Asians and Native Americans are more likely to have the dry-type, whilst Caucasians and Africans are more likely to have the wet-type.
Although I am as puzzled as before about the genetic traits of my family, I still find it fascinating. If I were to start my own research laboratory, I would start a research on the genetic trait of my pedigree. Anyone wants to sponsor my research?
♥ every page of my imagination
