So 6 days, 2 dim sums in a row at the same restaurant, 2 family reunion-barbecues, one funeral and one broken watch later, I'm finally back home. It's good to be back, although it's back to being lazy, unfortunately. I think I might try finding a nice place to volunteer since summer's like half gone already. Where did June go? I seem to have lost part of it...
Being back in Toronto and only seeing my dad's side of the family was a bit weird, considering that whenever I go I usually see more of my mom's side than my dad's. And, not to sound like a mean jerk or anything, but I sort of prefer it that way, since some of my aunts and uncles on my dad's side ignore and make fun of me and my sister for not speaking cantonese, and some of my cousins aren't all that nice either. But I saw some people that I haven't seen in a long, long time so that was nice. I felt a bit guilty at first because I couldn't recognize one of my cousins because I hadn't seen him in like 6 years and I couldn't remember if his name was Harold or Edmund. But it was alright, because he simply ignored everyone so I never talked to him.
But the weirdest part of the trip was the realization that my uncle can't count. And thus confused everyone when he said that there were 8 grandchildren in the family. First of all, there are like 15, but even if you just do the lame Chinese counting way of only counting the kids with the lst name of Chow, there are only 7. My Uncle Da claims that he was going to stand up and protest that 8 grandchildren was wrong, there are only 7, but considering that he can't really count in Chinese, I think he wouldve just confused everyone. And not only that, but according to the uncle giving the eulogy, my grandmother was 84, but if you do simple subtraction from the birth and death dates he gave, technically she's only 82 or 83. I was so lost until my dad reminded me that Chinese people start counting age at 1, so you have to add an extra year on.
At least when I go back to Toronto next month hopefully I'll be able to enjoy things like I usually do.
4 comments:
Hi Kels,
It's always weird coming back from family reunions. While we are happy to see all our family members, they continue to inspire or confuse us.
I know exactly how you feel about your dad's side of the family and not being able to speak Cantonese (course in my case Tamil or Malayalam!) Luckily, I don't get made fun of, but basically, I feel so bad because my father's mother only speaks Tamil and Malayalam. As you know, I pretty much just know how to speak English and a little Spanish.
I feel horrible whenever I visit her because I cannot communicate with her at all verbally. The thing that bothers me the most is that she has learned few phrases like "How are you?" and "I love you." I keep feeling like I should be the one trying to learn how to speak Tamil. I keep asking my dad to teach me some phrases to say, but he always sounds insulted and is like it doesn't matter. What he doesn't get is that I WANT to learn!!
I am definitely going to regret it if I never end up speaking Tamil to her. I don't have much time either...But then again, we have our special gestures and facial expressions that convey exactly what we are feeling. I guess we all have our own little ways of letting each other know how much we love them. :) Language can be much more than just verbal. I think people need to realize that.
XOXOXOXOXO :)
kelsey, i can't believe your broken watch only got a line in that entry! as much as i hated it, i know you loved it, kels. what happened?! how'd it break?
I know!!! I loved my poor watch :( It just keeps resetting and dying, and I replaced the battery already too. I have to find a new one now :(
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