Why is this Cow in a hiking trail? Victor and I went on the same trail this morning. It was cooler than last Saturday. The ground was a bit wet because of the rain from the last few days. The trail was quite. We saw a large animal stood near the bench that we sat a week ago. At first I didn't know what it was. After closer inspection, we discovered that it was a huge cow. It was sitting and eating, and blocked the path to the bench with a view. We dared not get closer.
It's called boiled fish, or 水煮鱼. Yang and I had it the other day in a Chinese Restaurant.
We have the ingredients. So I tried to make one yesterday. The result was fantastic. The dish was very spicy. As you can see, there were a lot of red pepper, some fish, bean thread noodles, and a lot of oil. It's a hearty dish that one shouldn't eat every day. But when we had it last night, it was so satisfying.
Victor had his own dish: egg with tomato and mushroom.
Yang and I had a tense negotiation last night. We were frustrated that her current project 'Oasis' (http://www.yanghuang.com/books/main.asp) is not making good progress. For about a month, she has been stuck at Chapter 11. We started negotiating ways I can help. These days I come back from work after 8 PM. Yang does all the cooking. She suggested that I prepare Victor for bed after dinner: brushing teeth, washing, and storytelling. Then she won't be too tired, and can find some time to work on her book for one or two hours. The only issue is that I occasionally have conference calls with my India colleagues at around 10 PM. This seems to be impractical at first. So we continued our negotiation. Eventually, we decided that I will prepare Victor for bed on four nights a week: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I can have my conference calls on Tuesday and Thursday. This arrangement works for both of us. Yang will actually get to spend time on her project. Hopefully she will complete a draft before Living Treasures gets published and requires some promotion time. The truth is that I really enjoying the assignment. Some of the most pleasurable activities for me are taking a walk, playing with Victor, or bathe him. So the negotiation yielded good outcomes for all three of us.
Three: Then I will be home just before everybody became ready to have breakfast.
I never give up on growing tomato. Last year was a disaster year. A lot of investment, very little reward. All tomato plants suffered dehydration, neglect, and poor soil condition. Mom repeatedly told me to stop planting again this year. It’s early March now. And I have already planted eight tomato plants again. They are growing fast and doing well. Mom is as encouraging as she could be. We seem to forget the terrible experience last year. Hope does get renewed with the spring season and every bits of the warm air and bright day light.
Victor told Mom that he kissed A on the lip and on the cheek. He almost five years old now. Is this his first kiss? Will he remember A? Mom told me that S is the prettiest girl in his class. S and her Mom like Victor too. Yang and I were saddened yesterday when we talked about how quickly Victor grows up. Soon he will be attending school, and the most worry free part of the childhood will be over. Who knows if he will see A and S again… Then, again we may stay in touch with their family, and Victor and his playmates may grow up together, for a little longer.
My Mom is scheduled to take the citizenship interview/exam in about a month. English is not her native language and she is 64 years old. We are all helping her these days in many ways. Dad and she have some materials from the library. She is also attending some classes in San Jose.
I talked to her tonight. She had a tough time today in the class. One of the two teachers doesn’t speak Chinese. He had some 1-on-1 tutoring time with her. She didn’t understand his words most of the times. Mom taped the class and went to home and studied with Dad; just like what I didn’t when I was taking some difficult classes in college.
Wei stopped by her house this evening and did a mock interview with her. Then, I spent some time going over the interview questions on the phone at 9. It must be a very intense day for her, facing 4 different people asking her Citizenship exam questions. Mom is doing quite well. She understood about 80% of my questions and can answer them clearly, slow sometimes. I think that she has a good chance to pass the exam.
It will be interesting for the next month. I, Wei, and others will continue to help her. Her English will be much improved as a result. I will have to go through the same process in one or two year. This experience will be good for me later on.
When I call Mom every evening, Oliver usually interprets our conversation. Many times he just hogs the phone. Sometimes he gets really angry if Mom takes away the phone. Last night Mom and I want go over some exam questions. We barely got started, and then he started to cry. He cried so loud that we have to stop. Babies have their ways most times.
Oakland Zoo must be the number one place Victor and I hang out during weekends. We were there so many times. The amazing thing about zoo is that we never grow tired of. Animals move, run, jump, and play, the season changes, and the zoo is always different. Sometimes animals went hiding and it’s still fun to try to find where they went.
Yang, Victor, Oliver and I went to the Oakland Zoo on Saturday morning, for a second week in a roll. It was a sunny day and the parking lot was nearly full. This time we went to the left side, where the Children’s Zoo is. Oliver and Victor immediately ran wild into the grass. We saw some monkeys, chimpanzees, and two huge turtles. We didn’t stay long, as the kids wanted to take rides. Victor went for his favorite airplane ride, as always, he flew the airplane really high. Oliver, a couple of months short of three years, took the fire truck ride. It was the first time Oliver took a ride. He really enjoyed and smiled broadly.
After the zoo, four of us went to Oakland China Town. We had a big lunch with Dim Sum and two seafood dishes. We even brought something home.
