People often ask me about “my background”. When I’m feeling cheeky, I usually just say that I’m Canadian or that I was born in Toronto (because that’s what I culturally self-identify with). But that’s not what most people want to hear.

The short answer I usually give is Eurasian (European + Asian) or Chirish (Chinese + Irish). Although I recently learned that Chirish means something else to people from Chicago.

But now, thanks to 23andMe’s DNA test, I can give a much more specific answer. Here’s the full chart:

Now I can say that I’m 50.6% East Asian & Native American and 49.2% European. 

More specifically, I can say that I’m 43.7% Chinese, 2.0% Broadly East Asian, 2.1% Southeast Asian, 1.5% Native American, 1.4% Broadly East Asian and Native American, 16.5% British & Irish, 6.0% French & German, 11.5% Broadly Northern European, 1.7% Iberian, 1.7% Italian, 6.9% Broadly Southern European, 1.5% Eastern European, and 3.4% Broadly European.

But the interesting thing is that I don’t really feel any cultural affinity towards any of the regions or countries listed above (except for maybe France since I grew up going to a French school based off the French schooling system). For me, I identify as being Canadian. That’s more than enough for me.

Now it’s your turn. 

What’s your “background” and how do you self-identify? I think this is an interesting discussion given that we are now an incredibly mobile world. What your DNA says and how you feel about yourself, could be two totally different things.

Barcelona is one my favorite cities in the world. I love the intimate laneways in the old part of town. I love how La Rambla functions as a spine for public life in the city–even if it is pretty touristy. I love the weather and beaches. And I love that there’s a strong culture of art and design that seems to permeate all aspects of the city. 

Over the weekend I found an impressive website called BIG TIME BCN, that beautifully maps out the city’s more than 2,000 years of building. It covers over 70,000 plots of land and, if you hover of them, it’ll tell you the age of the buildings. It’s similar to what was done here for the Netherlands. But the colors on this one seem very Barcelona to me.