Lily Rau

Recently my good friend, Lily Rau, uploaded a post for her adoption blog. Lily is my age, adopted from China, goes to a university, is an anime nerd, cat enthusiast and lives in the US.

We met through a Chinese adoptee/parents of Chinese adoptees Facebook group called China’s Children International (CCI). I have been participating in this group since 2013. There is an adoptee’s only group and a group that is open to adoptees as well as their parents. The point of both groups is for adoptees to ask each other questions, ignite controversial, funny or relatable topics, get an adoptee’s parent’s insight, or share what is on our minds!

CCI was having a live Facebook chat in November discussing the newly announced Two-Child Policy that is replacing the One-Child Policy. Chinese adoptees from all over the world were participating and openly conversing. At the beginning we were all introducing ourselves, where we were adopted and where we are now - the basics. Then we started stating our personal opinions and thoughts on the Two-Child Policy, gender-ratio issues and piggybacking on other’s thoughts. We got off topic by discussing adoptee’s everyday struggles such as: genetic-projects-in-biology-awkwardness, if people assume you and your siblings are dating (it happens TOO OFTEN HOLY), and if you’ve been mistaken for your father’s wife (IT HAS OCCURRED). I was having such a fun time getting to know the other adoptees, their opinions and their personalities through their answers. I found myself laughing out loud and repeating the hilarious comments left by Lily to my family. Her responses were so genuine, spontaneous and hilariously blunt that I knew I had to send her a private message letting her know how funny I thought she was. So, I messaged her and we have been getting to know each other ever since. Because she’s American, it made me happy to introduce her to Canadian slang, polar bears and Tim Hortons and vice versa. We recently just skyped for the first time and chatted about the similarities between Albertans and Texans (?? is Texans the correct term ??), American and Canadian news and we both ‘met’ each other’s Moms.

But really, back to Lily’s blog. Her blog posts are phenomenal and will make you smile, laugh and relate on an intimate level that any adoptee or non-adoptee can understand. Lily talks about her personal struggles that aren’t always connected to adoption, therefore can be more relevant to non-adoptees. Her topics cover losing contact with old high school friends, quarter-life crisis's, and studying abroad in a place that she should be calling home.

If you are someone who enjoys reading my blog posts, chances are you will probably enjoy Lily’s blog as well! I guarantee that you will enjoy being drawn into Lily Rau’s mind palace filled with curiosity, sarcasm, witty comebacks and the inner thoughts of someone who is undoubtedly, 100%, herself.

Here is her latest post: https://littlelilybigworld.wordpress.com/2016/06/03/burnt-bridges-and-diverging-paths/

If you enjoy it, check out her past blog posts on the right-hand side! Disclaimer**: Lily did not ask for this post, she had no idea and she will probably flip when she sees this. Hi Lily, surprise!