Move to the old house Wendy was 12,she’s poor.She lives with her mom Pandora and they lived in a small house,the house was small as your bathroom! One day,Pandora ask Wendy,“Oh Wendy,will you likes to live in a big house for 3or4 weeks?” “Yes"answer Wendy.“Then that’s great!Pack your things you’r going to move to an old house!“said Pandora.When Wendy was wondering what is happening,her mom has already pack her things—some old clothes and some other things. ...
While we are waiting for the elevator Aidan and Lydia are teasing each other and Elisa moves in and out of their dynamic. Eight floors down and out the door into the street. Downtown Beijing we are, except there isn’t really a such thing as downtown Beijing so my crowded neighborhood is one of a dozen that can lay claim. Elisa bounds ahead doing a kind of skip walk. Aidan, football in hands runs ahead and Lydia stands at my side telling me a story she is writing. Aidan gets 15 yards in front, turns and throws me the football. My body turns towards it slowly and without grace. I grab the ball and throw it back to him. He catches it, runs a bit, and we repeat. As we get close to the busy intersection - one scattered with carts, bicycles, scooters, taxis, cars, buses, and people - I yell out “Elisa, wait!” and she stops and yells back “I know”. ...
Aidan is lagging behind me and the girls as we make our way to the subway. He didn’t eat this morning which is a rare event. He is zombie like as we buy our three kuai subway tickets make our way to the line 6 platform. While we wait for the train I ask him if everything is ok since clearly it is not. He makes a non-committal and barely verbal noise. I ask him if he’s upset because his mom just left on a snowboarding trip to Japan and he has to stay here in Beijing. He says he doesn’t want to talk about it. I text his mom who just landed on Japan and it seems it is my fault. ...
I am really bad with gifts but with a small epiphany I realized Aidan’s birthday gift this year would be drop dead easy. A Warrior’s Curry jersey or an official American football. With two trips to the US between this epiphany and Aidan’s birthday I would come through this time. Which is how, I found myself, on the eve of Chinese New Year’s and three days before his before his birthday biking to the official NBA store in Beijing. Except the store wasn’t there; it had moved some distance away. I managed to get to the new location the next day and they had a handful, like six, pathetic jerseys including Shawn Kemp’s Seattle Sonic’s jersey (Kemp last played for Seattle in 1997), Dennis Rodman Bull’s jersey, and Derrick’s Rose 2015 All Star jersey (Rose was not part of the game). The store, while looking promising on the outside, looked like a fraud on the inside. I ended up buying Aidan a Warrior’s hipster hat which was one of two Warrior’s items they carried (for what it’s worth, the nearby MLB store is almost as worthless for Giant’s fans). On the day of Aidan’s birthday, I took Aidan to the massive Adidas store (largest in the world?) in Beijing’s Sanlitun area. The NBA section was on the first floor and they had a full rack of jerseys and from a distance you could see a couple of Warrior jerseys. Walk up. Curry, #30. Excellent. Size 2XL which despite my recent adornment of winter fat is way too big for me, not to mention Aidan. We ask if they have any smaller sizes. “No, none”. Ok, when do you expect to get a new order? “Never.” Really, never? For maybe the most popular player and you already sold out the sizes that normal humans wear? “Yes, we are never getting another shipment”. Which, if you’ve been in China for like a week you understand translates to “I don’t know and it’s too much bother to find out, so go away”. I glared at the staff and Lydia gently asked me to calm down. We are good with each other like that. ...
I am 48 years old, carrying a bag fill of 7-11 groceries and crossing the street when the rickshaw driver calls out to me. I understand what he is asking even if I do not know a word he is saying for he is speaking in Russian. I don’t know how to tell him in Russian or Chinese that my home is just across the street so I won’t be needing a ride. ...
The kid’s grandma calls me and says Hairun has heat and that she will be staying there. How about if the kids stay there too? I say no, the kids will stay with me. She asks if I have heat, and i say not yet. She asks if I have food and I say, do not worry, the kids will have plenty of food. If this sounds like the beginnings of a sci fi world disaster movie, fear not, it is not. It is just a day in November in Beijing with the relentless hospitality of a grandmother. ...
My alarm wakes me up mid dream at 5:30am. It is four days into the work week and the 5:30am wake up isn’t as jarring as it is on Monday. I spin around on the bed into Cat’s pose trying to loosen myself up. I’ve been feeling very unloose lately. Pee. Brush teeth. Put on workout garb and head downstairs. The fall morning light is waking up with me as it shines through the apartment top window. Aidan is sleeping on the coach as I begin my minute working on in the adjourning kitchen/dining room combo. 25 minutes later I am done and ready for breakfast which I premade for the week. A quick microwave and I am sitting down eating, drinking instant coffee, and checking the overnight sports news. I shower and I dress and then it is 6:50am when I wake up the kids. ...
It is the last day of the October golden week and I am feeling a bit of dread. Something is not right but I don’t know what it is. The feeling of dread comes over me from time to time like an annoying neighbor. Familiar, yet resented. I am taking Aidan and Lydia to Chaoyang Park. Aidan on the promise of basketball and Lydia on the promise of Cotton Candy. We are expecting the basketball courts at the park to be crowded as they are most weekends but on this day they are mostly empty. The rest of the park is crowded with some kind of food festival. My Chinese is getting worse and worse which is part of my dread and so I use Aidan to ask how much the court fee is. 20 RMB per person (about $3.50) so I give the attendant a 50 RMB bill to cover me and Aidan. As I pull out the 50 the attendant is checking out the other notes in my wallet and he asks me for the small bills. I make a gesture for him just to take the 50 and give me the 10 RMB change. He pushes for the small notes trying to be helpful and pointing inside my wallet where he saw a 5 RMB bill. This makes me angry and again my Chinese fails me and again my dread builds. ...
My night is drifting between a vivid bike race dream and hearing my dad’s neighbors. The bike race dream has me competing against a large field of riders but only two come into focus. In my waking hours it is not clear who the other two main competitors are but I’m pretty sure I knew during the dream. I am biking some kind of obstacle course and have to alternate between biking free and carrying my bike over things or up and down stairs. During the race the two competitors sometimes help me and encourage me. Sometimes they are just indifferent. My kids pop up in the dream from time to time. Lydia encouraging, Aidan helpful, Elisa proud. When they show up in the dream I feel confident. The obstacles subside and I am riding free. ...
It is maybe five years ago and I am sitting in a bar that is masquerading as a Mexican restaurant. I am with a friend but for all practical purposes I am alone. I recognize a man sitting a few tables away as a co-worker from a previous project. Someone I had not seen really at all since I abruptly left the project a year before. I waited for a break in the conversation with my friend which was surprisingly difficult given I wasn’t speaking and only partly listening. I walked over to the other table and said “hi jay” and he turned around. I was in full introvert trying to be charming mode and didn’t notice right away that Jay didn’t recognize me. He didn’t recognize me because he wasn’t Jay. ...