I've been living in Uncle Chou's house for about a week now. He is really great. I find myself out and about in the city and looking forward to getting home to see him. Just like family it feels! Here are a few sample moments...
Saturday evening. I was home early after meeting a few friends in the afternoon. Reading a book in my bedroom, Uncle came in noiselessly. He carried with him a small dish filled with fresh purple grapes, and a big smile on his face. He said nothing. He handed me the grapes, still smiling, turned and shuffled out of the room.
Yesterday, dinner time. I arrived home from the office just before dinner. I was wandering around the 'hawker centre' (food court) next to my apartment building. This is the largest food centre in Chinatown and I was seeking dumpling soup, as somehow I had a taste for that dish. I could not find a food stall to my satisfaction and felt compelled to keep wandering. Soon I found a nice blue sign with the words 水饺汤 (shui jiao tang -- dumpling soup). As I was reading the sign, I heard my name called. I turned and saw Uncle sitting with a friend at the table next to the stall. He waved me over smiling and told me to join them. We all sat and at soup together, then drank local sweet milk tea and chatted for a few hours. It was a mixture of Mandarin, Cantonese, and English.
Yesterday night. Uncle loves to sing. He loves music. In the evenings, I'll often come home and he is playing his violin or singing in time to a Karaoke DVD of Cantonese songs. Last night, as he was tidying up his living room, he mentioned to me that he has a microphone and a Karaoke Machine. But it is broken. Its been broken for months. He is quite sad about it. I ask him (in Chinese) if the microphone is broken or if the machine is broken. He tells me the microphone works fine, but the "speaker" [english] is broken. I tell him we can try and fix it. He finds me a screwdriver and I take apart the machine. After some searching, I find a burnt-out fuse in the power supply. We hopefully discern this as the problem, and I promise to buy him a new fuse on my lunch break the next day. He seems quite impressed and very happy. And me, I marvel that we can troubleshoot the Karaoke problem while speaking Mandarin. ... I am really getting what I wanted by living in this chinese household!
More to come...
Saturday evening. I was home early after meeting a few friends in the afternoon. Reading a book in my bedroom, Uncle came in noiselessly. He carried with him a small dish filled with fresh purple grapes, and a big smile on his face. He said nothing. He handed me the grapes, still smiling, turned and shuffled out of the room.
Yesterday, dinner time. I arrived home from the office just before dinner. I was wandering around the 'hawker centre' (food court) next to my apartment building. This is the largest food centre in Chinatown and I was seeking dumpling soup, as somehow I had a taste for that dish. I could not find a food stall to my satisfaction and felt compelled to keep wandering. Soon I found a nice blue sign with the words 水饺汤 (shui jiao tang -- dumpling soup). As I was reading the sign, I heard my name called. I turned and saw Uncle sitting with a friend at the table next to the stall. He waved me over smiling and told me to join them. We all sat and at soup together, then drank local sweet milk tea and chatted for a few hours. It was a mixture of Mandarin, Cantonese, and English.
Yesterday night. Uncle loves to sing. He loves music. In the evenings, I'll often come home and he is playing his violin or singing in time to a Karaoke DVD of Cantonese songs. Last night, as he was tidying up his living room, he mentioned to me that he has a microphone and a Karaoke Machine. But it is broken. Its been broken for months. He is quite sad about it. I ask him (in Chinese) if the microphone is broken or if the machine is broken. He tells me the microphone works fine, but the "speaker" [english] is broken. I tell him we can try and fix it. He finds me a screwdriver and I take apart the machine. After some searching, I find a burnt-out fuse in the power supply. We hopefully discern this as the problem, and I promise to buy him a new fuse on my lunch break the next day. He seems quite impressed and very happy. And me, I marvel that we can troubleshoot the Karaoke problem while speaking Mandarin. ... I am really getting what I wanted by living in this chinese household!
More to come...
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