Clarification: My Beijing Family

One Father (ShuShu)

Business man of unknown variety, enjoys smoking, sitting on couch (shirtless) and yelling. If our interests were compared by Venn Diagram, the two circles would have enough space between to pass a dragon boat, sideways. When we met I said, "what do you do for a living?"
He replied, "Business!" and turned back to the television. That was day one.

One Mother (AiYi)
Very kind but also busy with the kids. Hails from near the SiChuan province, famous throughout China for its spicy cuisine. Red peppers are her native tongue. I'm concerned that she works to hard around the house, but my offers to help are generally refused.

Paul, age 8
The son, my "little brother" (DiDi). My efforts to further his English education are beleaguered by his short attention span, approximately equivalent to a small Chihuahua. He has the most animated face I've ever seen, straight from the pages of his Tom and Jerry collection. He also plays a mean fiddle.

Mona, age 8
Not related by blood, as far as I know, but still Big-Little Sis. When I got the gig, I was never told there were two kids. Mona's reasons for living here are unclear- though I've met Mona's real mother, she comes and goes, but her child remains. Slightly mysterious. Mona is much easier to teach than Paul, but she's still excitable, and has the most pitiful expressions when upset. Her face just melts.

Bella, age 5?
A little girl cloaked in mystery. About two weeks ago I woke-up to find a third child living along. I think she's actually related to AiYi, but still... where did she come from all of a sudden? She's certifiably insane, normal at this age I think, and is REALLY happy ALL the time. And laughing all the while. She's actually very cute, but the only thing I can understand is her, "GeGe, how AWWE yooooo? tehehehee!" seven times each morning. In my defense, Mona and Paul can't understand her either- she speaks a southern dialect with a lisp. Also, I gave her the name "Bella"! I've named about 8-9 people since I've been here.

Penthouse- Ok, our building only has six floors, but our flat is at the top, and it's pretty dern nice. We live in a place called LongZeYuan or "Dragon Swamp Garden." I took some liberties with that translation.

Trying Again- Little Sis

I've been going about this all wrong. I'm still learning how to write a blog....

[note: the following conversation was translated from Chinese]
This morning my little sister Mona excitedly whispered across the breakfast table... "there's ducks near here!"I was a bit distracted trying to eat my hard boiled egg (i hate hardboiled, but everymorning nonetheless), and it took me a minute to understand what she meant. "Big Brother, wanna go? We can check them out on the way to school."
"Well, I'm not sure I'll be able to get to school on time" (like the egg, getting to school on time is a challenge)

She would not be deterred. So I agreed, despite worries. Mona is the queen of MoCeng. The first time I heard my host mom (aka- Aiyi or "Aunt") shout, "Bie MoCeng, a!" I knew immediately what it meant- quit screwing around and get to school, in not so many words. But I originally thought the direct translation was something like "massage the floor," (it made sense at the time). I later realized it was more like "rub-rub". Anyways, Mona's great at wasting time in the morning, by playing tabletop soccer with her egg or trying to figure out how best to dispose of the uneaten yolk without AiYi noticing.

I waited for her, and the excitement of the ducks seemed to put a pep in her step. We were out the door in record time and on our way to school, plus detour. Going down the six flights of stairs she sang a Chinese version of Oh, Susanna that she'd picked-up at school ("A-la-ba-ma" and "lu-ci-a-na" are quite distinct even in Chinese). [note- the above link is not related to this blog in any way]

Downstairs I caught a glimpse of the treat the ducks were in for, as Mona took off running through the crisp autumn air. At her footsteps a small flock of birds disjointedly fled to the nearest willow tree. "What was that for?"
"I was trying to catch one!" she replied, her condescending tone belying the silliness of my question- Obviously, I was trying to catch one, you dumb egg.
"What would you do if you caught it?" I continued, no less baffled.
With big innocent eyes she cooed, "Just pet it a little bit," and had hardly finished speaking before she took-off running again, as I was left to wonder what happened to the slow-moving girl I had come to expect in the mornings.

We reached the pond, and as promised there were ducks. Mona's chatter was far to great to record fully here, but I stayed and watched a while as she both talked and ran circles around the poor birds. They still had not woken-up, several were standing pond side on a single leg and sleeping. Nonetheless, they received no mercy at the hands of this eight-year-old, who managed to startle several into flight and retreat, in the relative safety of the water. At this I chuckled and told her I had to go, but after a few steps she cried, "GeGe, GeGe! I touched a duck!" The thrill of a lifetime apparently.

It's like having kids without actually having kids. It's a sweet deal.