One thing I love about living in student housing, is the diversity and exposure to so many different cultures. I love meeting people from different parts of the world, and learning about customs and lifestyles so different from my own.
This morning, I was outside with the girls, and their friends Chloe and Lily when we saw our upstairs neighbor out with her granddaughter. The girls played a bit, and then she invited us in. I say "invited" us in, but I can't be entirely sure we didn't invite ourselves as she doesn't speak any English. However, she never lets that stop her, and cheerfully converses with us in Chinese when ever we meet.
We all trooped upstairs and were welcomed by her surprised, but gracious daughter, who luckily speaks English. As all the apartments in our complex are basically the same, I felt right at home at first, but eventually started to feel I was drifting off to another place.
Our hosts brought many toys for the girls to play with. I was familiar with some, but others were chinese toys I had never seen before. A traditional chinese baby rattle, and electronic toys that spun and moved and sang in Mandarin. We talked about what years our daughters were born in, according to Chinese tradition.
We were offered "plum tea" which wasn't really tea, and had a very different taste then we were used to. The girls tried to be polite, but our hostess sensing their discomfort, told them they didn't have to drink it. Alyssa, on the other hand, had two glasses.
They also gave us little "rice cakes" which reminded me of cracker jacks, and the girls very much enjoyed them.
The adults laughed, as the children played, and it wasn't long before Alyssa wanted to be held by the Chinese grandmother. I asked how to say "grandmother" in Chinese, to teach my girls, but was told there is no generic word for this term. There is a word for "mother's mother" and one for "father's mother." I imagine that makes things much less confusing.
Some day, I hope to travel to China, but grateful, this morning to have had a part of China come to me.
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3 comments:
i want to go to china so bad too! my friend introduced me to her mother today who didn't speak any english. I was able to speak a little mandarin to her..it was pretty cool
What a fun story! It took me back to our days in University housing in Iowa -- lots and lots of international culture. I remember looking at pictures I'd taken of my son's birthday party just a few days earlier and realizing only then that he was the only Caucasian, the only one from the U.S. in the group. I sort of miss that, you know? Sounds like you're soaking it up. Good for you!
What a sweet story. I love it. I will miss so much the diversity here.
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