Hello, Tim!
An excruciatingly torturous midterm has passed like a slow-moving snail; it felt like an eternity!
This is the first "Happy Holiday" section of this semester, and I still am lacking in time, just as usual. Later, I'll have to go to Costco with my aunt and uncle for some groceries, and then in the afternoon, I have German classes to take. Ever the jam-packed schedules; that's me.
I am glad that you understand how the situation is, about living in a large family, for most of the time, you will either see an extremely perplexed face or an astonishingly horrified one when they heard that I have a niece three months older than I am. One of the things I love about such family is that they do care about each other, and the fact that my mom loves them as much as she loves our family of three people: my dad, herself, and me. Throughout the year, when festivities get around, we tend to gather together and have a pleasant and heart-warming meal. With over twenty people crammed inside a moderately sized house, it should feel more like a nuisance rather than contentment, but it never did! Along with the loud speaking and the raucous laughter my uncle's have, the swing of their tones when relating their recent livings, and the splendid atmosphere that wrapped around the room made everything festive and really feel at home. Nowadays when the price of everything grows, people opt to have smaller and more compact families, and though it still can be a beautiful and happy family, it doesn't burn as bright as a big one does.
About your father, I know it might just sound like a quirky and snarky thing to say, but when it was a comment about what you are passionate about, it's like pouring water on a kindled piece of firewood; the cackle and the sizzling indicated that the fire is getting put out, but something else burns and it hurts. This happened once some time ago when I was just getting my love for English back when I was in middle school.
My dad used to be a very strict dad, needling a comment in everything I did (now, because he barely has time to spend with us, he doesn't do that much) and he used to expect me to go for something that was so-called "life benefiting fields of work", i.e. go study business, the laws, or etc.
Now he sees that I apparently have such little interest in any of those, he had given up and has been supporting me with my English and languages ever since.
Just one last thing that I have yet found a plausible solution to.
Every time my dad comes back home, he asks me -at least twice- whether I have a girlfriend or not. I get it, I am the only boy of this generation in the family of my father's side, and with the tradition, I am a very important legacy. It was the traditional idealization ingrained in the outdated beliefs that sometimes poke their heads out of the bag and become annoying.
The thing is that a girlfriend is not what my heart desires, what my heart is in pursuit of. I'm still not sure how I can explain to my dad (and my whole entire family) that I wish not for a girlfriend. As you understand perfectly, I do not want to let my father down, and this tears me up every time when I think about it and its possible consequences.
It has been raining heavily since two days ago and when you go on the street you can feel the strong winds forming a tangible force that was literally trying to push you over?
"What is wrong with the weather? It's not like there is a typhoon or something."
There is, in fact.
Hope it doesn't hit...
Continuing on the topic of moons: I did some research last time and I forgot to mention that there was a saying from the past, about how you shouldn't point at the full moon, or you will get a cut on your ear. I am not just if which ear is specified, but with personal experience, it was just a myth, which was just fortunate; I do not want to have a cut on my ear because I don't know how much it will hurt.
Update: German class canceled today. After going to Costco, I'll see where else I am going. Maybe I'll go roam some bookstore...
For the letter 6, I will write as much as I can.
My uncle and aunt are here. I'll be back later.
Best wishes,
Hugo
Hugo,
ReplyDeleteIt's good to hear that your father has accepted the fact that your interest and talent is in languages. But I'm sure that he hasn't given up of the idea that you should have a profession that should make you self supporting. Fathers can be very stubborn about that.
I don't think that there's any rush on the girlfriend, either. Typically, the age of marriage in Taiwan is somewhere in the late twenties or early thirties. Of course, the birth rate in Taiwan is among the lowest in the world, also. You may shock your father by telling him that if you can't find a nice Taiwanese girl, you can always send off to Vietnam. The Vietnamese girls are much nicer than the girls from Mainland China.
If you point at the full moon, you'll get a cut on your ear? Does that even make sense?
Do you have a DaYung Tea and juice shop in your neighborhood?
Tim