mercoledì, maggio 04, 2005

a few more hours and i'm halfway done!

So I have my last paper of the semester due tomorrow, and I could not be more excited (or stressed). I'm super excited to be done, and to have some actual free time that doesn't involve reading for class. Of course I still have a good five pages standing between me and that happy dream. I'm writing a paper about the relationship of the artist and the postmodern society, which is a topic that I'm really interested in, but unfortuanately at this point I just want to finish it. Sigh. What can you do? On a totally random note, my friend Joe emailed me a story that was in his textbook (he's studying in China right now), which was about a young girl and her family. Keep in mind that this story was in a textbook about family life in China. (the asterisk's are joe's comments)

My House is Still Happy/Harmonious.
At first glance, my family is a happy and harmonious home. My dad is a factory supervisor. My mom is a manager at a market. And me, I’ve already started middle school, and am the class leader/captian *this is a much cooler thing in Asia than in the States*. My classmates and I jokingly say, “Everybody’s house is official. Who could be in charge of who?” …*ok I don’t know how to translate that joke…, apparently it’s funny though*… Everybody feels that their house is a happy one, an I feel the same about mine. Until one day I accidentally overheard my mom and dad talking.
Even though the door was closed, I could still hear my Dad’s solemn voice coming through it: “Tell me, Is Little Hong Mr.Zhang’s child, yes or no? Tell me the truth!” I simply could not believe my ears. I thought my mom would become so angry, loose her temper, maybe even go so far as to hit my Dad. After a while, I still didn’t hear anything from my mom, I was so anxious! Suddenly, I heard mom cry, then right after that, she confirmed Dad’s suspicions.
My dad isn’t my blood-dad, he had suspected that since I was two years old. But he always thought that it didn’t matter, because the thought that my Mom still loved him, and that that was enough. Now, more than 10 years later, why has he all of a sudden brought this all up again? Because, he found out that the man he suspected 10 plus years ago of sleeping with his wife is not just a past lover, but is still my mom’s lover!
Hearing this, I in my heart uncontrollably blamed my mom for this: mom, why would you lie to dad for so many years!? You know what I think? My Dad is the best dad in the whole world!
My mom had told the whole truth. The inside of the room was silent. After a while, dad said, “So many years have gone by, I originally couldn’t, wouldn’t, ask you this question, but I cannot endure you constantly making me look like an idiot. You have to make a choice today: you either stay with me, or with him. If you go with him, then we will immediately divorce.”
What? Divorce?!!! That’s way too frightening/horrible! I quickly rushed into the room and yelled, “You CAN’T divorce! Dad, isn’t mom being honest enough with you?” then to my mom I said, “mom, can you honestly say you want to be with that other man? If you divorce dad, I’m going with him, and you’ll lose your me, your daughter, forever!”
When I ran into the room, dad had been very surprised. Mom was even more so. She took my hand, and while crying said, “child, I can’t loose you both.” Hearing my mom’s words, I turned away from her, crying, I yelled out, yelled out for my dad. I saw my dad was crying too. Dad pulled my hand over and said, “This problem will only stop if you draw a period in it’s way. *…something like that…* But you will always be your father’s child…
A few days went by. Mom wouldn’t speak. She never stopped working, And dad, like always, helped her work. Slowly, mom started to smile again. The day before yesterday, my mom bought my dad a suit. It fit very well. I saw my dad’s face slowly crack into a smile too. Now, our house is still like before happy and harmonious. And from the bottom of my heart I say, “ Dad, you’re amazing!”

1 commento:

Jason ha detto...

I didn't know Joe was still over there - I thought it was only a semester program. He must really like it over there - and it looks like he's improving his Chinese!