September 5, 2006
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Back in the U.S.
Having just gotten back from a three-day holiday with
Chewy’s family in the country that just joined North America, it’s nice to be
home in the States. We got to fully
experience all 800 miles of paved roads while staying at her folks place. It was nice being able to spend more time
with her folks and brothers as we attended her Grandfathers 95th
birthday celebration. She always wanted
me to meet him especially since he was unable to make it to our wedding. He seemed like a gentle, smart man with a
pretty good sense of humor.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t understand most of it since he was speaking
only Chinese to me. (I didn’t pass the
relatives “speak Chinese” test – oh well too late now =) It was nice meeting him and yet somewhat sad
since my ability to communicate with him was exactly the same as it was with my
grandmother. Only my mom’s mom was
alive after I was born and though we took tons of trips to see her she only
spoke Chinese. I only knew what she
said through a translator or the fact that she thought I was too skinny hence
the pushing of more food on my plate.
(If she could only see me now =)
One of the things I do regret is not being able to converse with
her. I’m sure the stories about my mom
growing up would have been a vast treasure trove of information on our family’s
past. It was a sad reflection but still
I haven’t thought of my grandmother in a long while which in itself brought joy
of knowing how much of a loving person she was. Other than that, I was cold in Canada and that’s why I’m glad to
be back where the temperature is a
whopping 5 degrees warmer here than where our Eskimo neighbors to the south live.
(Yes, they are all the same links for “Talking to Americans” – Chewy found them funny and we used many of the stupid american lines to entertain us while in Canada. Thanks Joe for showing us that link!)
