(Author’s Note: I wrote the first version of this post on the plane back from Toronto on December 20th after my grandfather’s funeral, so the dates are relative to that. I told myself that I had other year-end posts to write, but I think I was just trying to avoid this one.) I didn’t talk to Yeye (my paternal grandfather) much over the past twenty years. He knew probably less than twenty words of English, and I never learned a useful amount of Cantonese. […]
About two weeks ago, my po-po (maternal grandmother) passed away. At the funeral, several members of my family patched together a more complete look at her life than I had ever heard. I knew that she had come to Canada under her sister’s name, but when that happened and how she met my gong-gong (maternal […]
Merry Belated Christmas, Happy New Year in advance, and Happy Holidays as a catch-all! Here at the Leung family estate, being all together means a few things: whining, bickering, accusing, and, most importantly, cooking. Often all at the same time. Over each other. It’s quite an enlivening experience once you get used to it. But […]
I wasn’t planning on writing about this, but I ended up writing it for an oral report for my Chinese class. Characters first, Pinyin second, English last, hilariously disjointed and contrived language all around. 上个周末，我父母(parents)来斯坦福大学看我。因为他们来，我舅父(uncle)和他家也来了。星期六，我们打算在旧金山(San Francisco)玩儿。 我们觉得天气会下雨，所以我们要在房子里面开始。十一点，我们去 Golden Gate Park 的 De Young 博物馆(museum)。现在，博物馆有 Tut 国王的陈列(exhibit)，可是我听说不太好。因为票很贵，我们没有去看 Tut 国王的陈列。我们只看了被子(quilt)和画。 在博物馆，我差不多跟着我表弟(male cousin) Owen 看。他九岁，有活力(energetic)。他妈妈 Berkeley 毕业，可是他真聪明。我表妹(female cousin) […]
On the car ride back from the airport, my mom asked me which room I wanted. I instinctively wanted my room, but I waited for an explanation instead. “The bed is now in Nicole’s room, and there’s just an air mattress in your room,” she explained, eyes fixed on I-10 and the rain. “Well, is […]
When my mom told me that her and my dad would be moving to Boston, I wasn’t quite sure what to say. Congratulations? Better luck next time? I wasn’t completely surprised. My dad is finally coming home after working in China for several years, and HQ for his company is in Boston. It had been […]
This Christmas, my family is all back together, which, these days, is very rare. My sisters, my dad, and my grandparents have had staggered entrances and some quick exits, so the only day we’re all together is today. My sisters and mom are putting in the kitchen work behind me to prepare for dinner, while […]
This past weekend, my sister Nicole came to Stanford for about 2 1/2 days as a break and chance to see the west coast. Thankfully, one of her good friends happens to live in the dorm across the street from mine, so her accommodations were not a floor of boys. I met her at the […]
This past weekend, my mom and grandparents came to Stanford for parents’ weekend. They reserved a time-share up in Napa Valley for the week before, and drove down on Friday, then took me to Napa to stay with them for two nights. It’s different, seeing them in a different life for me, but it confirmed […]
My family doesn’t go to the beach for vacation. We don’t go camping. We don’t target the vegetative vacation. This has molded my entire take on how a good vacation should be. When my family went on the cruise this past summer, I found myself pursuing the historical and educational excursions (post here). The earliest […]