Can't believe I was having such a conversation

In the past when I went over to my grandparents' place, my grandparents would always joke "How old is Peony again? Oh really? You know, she can join Miss Hong Kong soon."

"What?! Miss Hong Kong? You speak of it like it's a rite of passage."

Though I was flattered I just shrugged it off; grandparents are suppose to be the nice ones. Little did I know that it may not have been a joke....

Today it was just my mom and I at dinner. We were watching the chinese channels as usual. The commercial for Miss Hong Kong came on telling people that it was time to register if they were eligible and interested. And it came up again...

"You're 18 now...going to college soon...."
"Yeah, okay.... So?"
"You should join the Miss Hong Kong Pagent."
"And why would I do that?" (Why would I subject myself to that kind of debasement?)
"Because you can speak English"
"So I'm guaranteed to win?"
"Pretty much."
"Uh...I don't think it works that way Ma...."

Anyways, the conversation continued to how the past winners have come from Canada. And how HK girls can't compete with US/Canada girls because we're supposedly more than academics, and yet HK people are really impressed with girls who go to college (because most HK people don't/can't), "especially an Ivy-League" my mom added. (I don't know which is worse anymore, how she used to say I'm going to go to community college or how she expects me to go to an Ivy-League.) And yes, because we speak English we have an advantage because Miss Hong Kong has to go to benefit events, etc. to represent Hong Kong. Apparently it doesn't matter if we can't speak, read, or write Chinese though. The irony. Then my mom tries to convince me to join and starts outlining how my future would be if I did win and the "many benefits" she sees. For example, "You know, the last two Miss Hong Kong's have married the richest guys in Hong Kong." I quickly used that for an out to change the topic - "Who says I want to marry someone rich?" Thus the topic changed and she started telling me how my views will change in college. (Gosh, I hope not, I like my list.) And before I left the dinner table she added in that it was important for me to marry rich because I have to support her and my dad. I told her that's what Goh Goh (older brother) is for.

Interesting how other people's view and expectations of us are....