I am now typing to the music from Eliza's ukulele in her room. Yesterday I slept over at her place, along with my little niece Sophie. This week my German class ended, and I had more time for more exciting (or tiring) adventures.
Harry Potter, but First, Pancakes
I don't actually have a lot of time to elaborate on this subject, but I felt like I need to do this for the record.
I would like you to recall the last letter, the part where I talked about the book What if It's Us and I ranted about how I failed to have a photo of the book taken. Viewing it as a big problem that requires attention (call me the drama king), and I quickly organized an afternoon tea date with Cathy. Located in the basement floor of a department store nearby, the pancake store she once recommended me to pay a visit. This Tuesday afternoon whose sky showed no signs of cloud, I went to have my first fancy soufflé pancake as Cathy had her lunch. For this special occasion I brought with me not one but three books with me, determined to make the very costly meal worth every cent. Here is my pancake with the book whose picture I promised last week.
 |
| Mango and yogurt shuffle pancake. |
 |
| This is my backup picture of this book, just in case the pancake turn out less presentable than I thought. |
Diving into the Lake of Magic for the Sixth Time with Harry Potter
There has always been something that is off when I am reading Harry Potter no matter how hard it is to peg it down. But now I am in the sixth book of the saga, I think I found it.
Disclaimer: This in no way means I dislike the series. If that were the case, I wouldn't even bother to hang around until the sixth book, I promise.
In Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, Harry and his friends faced more adversaries when the master of Dark Magic rose to power. As the story processes, we see Harry making some decisions that proved to be not bold, nor wise, but utterly questionable. The characters inside are supposedly sixteen years old or even higher, but sometimes when we are given a glimpse into the reasons behind the choices Harry makes made me wonder if he really is sixteen. I mean, I am not sure what the thoughts of a sixteen-year-old should be and how wise (on a scale of 1-10) one should be when it comes to decision making, but the generally feeling I get from Harry sometimes is that he must be a bit over ten years old. The moments where he made the wiser decisions were actually some of the very surprising ones.
This series is soon coming to an end, and I'm thinking about one or two books for intervals before I pick the last one from my shelves.
 |
| This wicked wall deco was found in a cafe near my mom's workplace. |
New Adventure: Thanks, Sophie and Aiden
I did mention about a new adventure that turned out to meet an end much sooner than I thought.
Two weeks ago, when I was with Cathy at the annually anime-con, I got a phone call from Angela, who, with a weirdly demanding voice, asked me if I was still looking for a part-time job. Intrigued and touched at what she offered, I gave a positive answer with what I thought was hope in my voice. She told me that a distant friend of hers is looking for a baby-sitter. The grandma usually takes up the taking care job solo, but recently she injured her back and needed some assistance. The family was only looking for someone who can play with the two-year-old kid for around two hours every day, and since I no longer have the driving courses or the German classes on my mind, I decided that this is just the job that I had to get.
Much to my dismay, the family already had hired a closer friend of theirs that very day. I felt once again a little defeated, but then the following week I got a message from the kid's grandma, telling me that the spot was once again vacant, and she wanted me to make sure that I really had a clear schedule. I was surprised at the sudden offer, and I gave an immediate reply because I do not want to let the same chance slip away from my fingers the second time.
The place where Jay lives (the kid I was to play with) was not far from my house, which was only about fifteen minutes of walking distance. I arrived on the first day at around five. I rapped at the door with trepidation when the grandma welcomed me in. It was a spacious house with typical traits for a household with kids: Toys like blocks and balls and little cars scattered the floor. A little but old-looking dog greeted me at the sound of the door opening. His name is Billy, as I later learned. The grandson, Jay, was clutching at the hem of the grandma's pear green T-shirt. Still, in no time, I was playing with his little tool kit, all thanks to my long-learned techniques I cultivated when I was playing with Sophie and Aiden. I don't really have some substantial tips to give since I was only employing the mindset I normally used when I was playing with the little two of my beloved children, but I think the general idea is to humor the kids and don't try to force them into playing any games they don't want to. Kids at their ages have their own ideas, and you bring these toys in front of him/her, and let their own ideas boil and simmer until they come up with a game of their own. Jay in this case is a big fan on crossing the road, and though I wouldn't consider bringing a little girl figurine to and fro the road at green lights for nearly an hour (we did, and I was dozing off to be honest) interesting AT ALL, but the point is that Jay was enjoying it. I would say that at the age of two, he seems to be quite a bright kid. Apparently having lived under a bilingual environment, he would ask me -as if testing me- shapes and colors both in Chinese and English.
I wouldn't say it was thrilling and exciting to play with a kid, especially when a same game can be repeated a hundred times (jumping over and across the pillow, putting eight balls into the bucket, letting puppets slide down the makeshift slides, etc.) It's a new game every day, but the most awarding feeling was the knowledge is that I have what it takes to entertain a kid.
 |
| Plus you can see the sunset with the kid every day. |
And the pay was really good.
Still, when I thought I would be able to keep up the good work until the day I leave for Germany, I got a message from the grandma, saying that she has been feeling quite better these days and will be trying to take care of the kid on her own experimentally once again. She did say I did quite a good job taking care of Jay. Still, that meant I am, once again, unemployed.
End
Nevertheless, I felt like this has been quite an eventful week, one that I would love to reminisce in the future.
Sincerely,
Hugo
No comments:
Post a Comment