In late July, I went on a four-day Japanese tour. Our first trip was one-day in Tokyo, and the highlight of my day was eating crepes at our last stop, Takeshita in Tokyo, which came as a surprise to me.

Unexpected encounters on a trip could easily surprise me. And when the surprise is connected to one of my favorite foods that was first tasted at a faraway place, the encounter becomes a story that I will tell repeatedly later. Food preserves beautiful memories which are rich and vivid.

I like crepes because it contains the Sichuan flavor that I am familiar with. Enjoying crepes is always a warm and sweet experience for me, because crepes cross my European, American, and Asian memories.

Our tour group visited Takeshita Street, our last stop of our one-day Tokyo tour, for a free activity. I strolled along the over 300-meter-long short street and looked around randomly without purpose. The small shops along with the crowds on the street reminded me of Chunxi Road in Chengdu in China in the 1980s. While strolling on Chunxi Road in Chengdu, I was a poor college student with a strong desire to buy things. Now strolling on Takeshita in Tokyo, I am a contented 60-year-old without worldly desires. I said to myself: “Time flies quickly and time has refined me nicely!”

Strolling freely amidst the bustling crowd, a small crepes shop caught my eye, because crepes awaken the happy moments I shared with my daughter vividly. I had my first taste of crepes which was bought for me by my daughter, in Wuerzburg, Germany. In 2017, at the Country Inn Cafe in San Jose California, I ordered a fruit crepes, chatted with my daughter while eating, and made a deep connection for crepes. In 2021, at my daughter’s friend’s house in Waltham, Massachusetts, I enjoyed Rachel’s home-made crepes with a variety of savory and sweet fillings alongside my son. I suddenly remembered that when I was studying in Chengdu, I went to Chunxi Road to eat egg-baked cakes, which I defined as Sichuan style crepes.

With these memories in mind, I happily went to the Tokyo shop, stood in line, and bought a basic crepes. I held the crepes as a souvenir to take photos on Takeshita Street joyfully.

(Two entrances of the Takeshita Street, the crepes I enjoyed on Takeshita Street.)

My daughter is always in my memory of crepes. Eating Japanese style crepes on Takeshita Street in Tokyo Japan also has my daughter’s present, as she planned this Japanese trip for me.

There are many stories about our one-day in Tokyo, but enjoying crepes is my favorite story today, which shows I am a high-end foodie.

After enjoying the crepes, I felt that the taste of crepes all over the world are similar: juicy, delicate, and soft. Crepes can be folded, rolled, and paired with various fillings, to easily present the charm of delicious food.

（The set of fruit crepes I ordered in the Country Inn Cafe in San Jose California in 2017.）

（The set of fruit crepes I made for myself in Rachel’s house in Waltham Massachusetts in 2021.）

One day tour in Tokyo

Our Japanese tour group consists of 14 people who are originally from California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Washington, all states from the United States. Our tour guide is an Indian with a Japanese green card. He is short, wears earrings, has a shaved head and a goatee beard. Because he wears pants in the sagging style of high school boys in the United States, I had difficulty guessing his real age.

Our one-day tour in Tokyo started at 10am. Under the scorching sun, the tour guide took us for a quick visit of the Imperial Palace East Garden, where the large stone walls were eye-catching. While bypassing the large stone wall, I saw that there were gaps and cracks between the stones, and I felt that the masonry process was very rough and could not be compared to the seamless masonry process of the giant stones in the Inca era Sun Temple in Cusco, Peru. The experience of previous traveling has been awakened during a journey, this is a truly satisfying pleasure for a traveler. I think the ancient people liked to show their strength by playing with giant stones, such as Stonehenge in Britain, Machu Picchu in Peru, Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area in China, and the stone wall of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

（Our tour group approaching the big stone wall while visiting the Imperial Palace East Garden in Tokyo.）

（The stone chamber in the Inca era Sun Temple in Cusco, Peru, 11-2023.）

Afterwards, we went to Asakusa Temple/Nakami Sei for free activities and individual lunch.

Asakusa Temple is small and crowded with people; Nakamise street is short with small shops along both sides. We went to the temple to pay money to shake bamboo tubes to seek fortune, and went to small shops filled with eye-catching goods for purchase on Nakamise street. The atmosphere here was very harmonious because visitors could easily obtain spiritual and material satisfaction in close proximity to one another.

I went to a small restaurant on the street near Asakusa Temple and asked for Wagyu beef, the waitress recommended the Black Haired Wagyu set meal, which cost over 5000 yen. She brought to me a serving tray with many dishes and bowls, and the Black Haired Beef was even placed with a piece of paper indicating “黑毛和牛” on the top. Each dining table is equipped with an open flame stone pan. The waitress lit up the pan on my table and told me, “If you’re not used to half cooked beef, please use the pan to fully cook it.” She also explained various beef dipping methods to me. At the table next to me sat an elegantly dressed elderly lady, and we studied each other silently using eye contact. I guessed she is a local.

After lunch, our tour group gathered at the Asakusa Temple, then took the subway to Shibuya to experience the Shibuya “Scramble Crossing”, when light is green, people flood the intersection from all directions. I felt this sightseeing is a bit boring, as I was grew up in crowded crowds in China and I don’t understand how a flood with people place became a tourist attraction. While crossing the road in a dense crowd, I saw a pretty lady asking four friends to take photos of her posture in the crowd from different directions. Imagining her “high” appearance from different angles in the photo, I smiled.

Then, we took the subway from Shibuya to Harajuku Takeshita for free activities, which brought me memories of and new stories of crepes, so I was overjoyed.

(Photo collections: Today’s weather in Tokyo, taking the subway, I’m at Asakusa Temple, my black haired Wagyu lunch, strolling around Nakami District, crossing Shibuya Cross Road, and at the entrance of Takeshita Road.)

Our Tour Guide

He has never been to the United States and speaks fluent American English because he attended a bilingual school in English and Japanese since childhood. After graduating from high school, he went to Canada to attend university for a year and missed home. He returned to Japan to attend Tmple University, where students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in four years, but he said it took him six years to graduate. After getting his bachelor degree, he became a tour guide, then the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. He had to switch to a job doing bilingual telephone services. Now, being a tour guide is his side job, and he is 31 years old single without a girlfriend. He has a younger sister who was studying remotely from home during the pandemic when she was in college. She is very good at studying and graduated in four years. She immediately started working in the government and recently switched jobs to a large energy company in Japan because corporate pays higher than the government does. They live with their father, who is an engineer, and their father cooks at home because their mother has passed away. His father has a car. he and his sister use public transportation as they don’t have cars.

For three weeks, my nest is empty once again. My mood now is completely different from when my children were studying in Europe. At that time, I was filled with worry, now I am filled with peace.

I have time to savor home slowly. I think a warm home can really make life full of sunshine.

This February, my beloved second aunt, my father’s little sister, passed away. I realized my pain while paying my tribute to her while far away from her. She, the last parent-generation relative who cared, loved, and watched my brother and I grow up, is gone, and there is no more such relative who remembers our childhood stories. The end of her life is also the ending of some stories of life, which is painful…

Letting go of the pain, thinking that although my parents have passed away for many years, my brother and I can chat about our dear parents and relatives in heaven and talk about our hometown and the relatives and friends there, those chats warm my heart! I am grateful to my parents for showing us the warmth of home throughout their lives, so that my brother and I can always talk about trivial matters across the ocean and understand each other and encourage each other.

After my brother encouraged me to create a channel to publish my short videos, whenever his friends praised my short videos, my brother would forward the chat records to me in time. My original intention of making short videos was to help my brother and sister-in-law’s business, after some time, I started to entertain myself by telling stories in my heart, which I enjoyed a lot; the pleasure of bringing entertainment to others through my short videos is an unexpected enjoyment to me. This is the feeling of human love, floating and flowing warmly in the world by words, by messages, and by short videos.

Last night, while chatting with my daughter on the phone, I heard an interesting story about my little grandson, Ben. After his one and half year old little sister tore off the duck attached to the head of her plush toy, she was very upset but was not able to express it in words.

Ben saw his sister was upset and said to his mother: “Use tape (to stick the duck back)!” When I heard it, I laughed and replied: “He really is your son! He already knows the power of tape.” My daughter also knew early on that tape can repair walls, fix books, and things, which made me very proud, as when I was a child, I did not known about tape. Until one day, my daughter told me sadly that the tape failed to fix the fallen hem of her skirt.

Her words made I felt sad and regretful because when I was my daughter’s age, I liked knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching, embroidery and other handicrafts. I remember that my father bought a shed and special needles from Chengdu for me to do embroidery; but my daughter has never seen me do any needlework, because I was busy working and never had the time. This is a glimpse of the tiredness of the first generation immigrant working mothers. After that incident, I began to consciously let my daughter and son see or enjoy me needlework (my daughter learned mending when she was a graduate student, but my son never learned it). I felt at ease knowing that I had tried my best. The three circles in the photo are three embroidery sheds of different sizes.

My daughter also told me on the phone that people praised the trousers I made for Ben using the two long sleeves of an old sweatshirt. I was very happy that my daughter could chat with me about trivial family matters in an interesting way.

Before my mother had Alzheimer’s disease, she often talked about her needlework on the phone, such as altering a piece of clothing or mending an apron. Unfortunately, at that time I was too busy with work and housework and didn’t have the energy to praise my mother.

My daughter also asked me if I had a good dinner last night. This is because I told her the day before yesterday that her brother and sister-in-law would come to dinner on Saturday. I told my daughter that on Saturday morning, Shan (daughter-in-law) said she wanted to eat porridge, but didn’t say what kind of porridge; I cooked three kinds of porridge: millet and pumpkin porridge (millet itself needs to be cooked for two hours), rice and sweet potato porridge (add sweet potato and cook for another hour after the rice blooms in the pot), and rice, glutinous rice and green bean porridge (these three things are soaked in water for a few hours and then put into the pot with cold water to start stew). After hearing this, my daughter praised me. I told her that I made two versions of twice-cooked pork: one that her brother liked, and one with garlic sprouts and steamed bread slices, fried a plate of carrots, lettuce and pumpkin cubes and a plate of broccoli, and boiled a lotus root soup.

There are people to eat, people to listen, and many pots to clean, this is a great joy that only chefs can enjoy.

When I was cooking the sweet potato porridge on Saturday, I suddenly remembered my tiredness of working in the past. There was a period of time I wanted to eat sweet potato porridge and knew how to cook it, but I didn’t have the time or energy to make it. I often went to the deli next to the Chinese supermarket and paid three dollars to buy a cup of very watery sweet potato porridge. At that time, I said to myself: “When I have lots of free time, I will cook a big pot of sweet potato porridge and eat it slowly.” After I became free, my desire to eat sweet potato porridge faded, so I still haven’t cooked a big pot of sweet potato porridge for myself to eat slowly. Today, as I cooked sweet potato porridge for my daughter-in-law, I felt very happy after thinking of this past, because I finally had time to cook sweet potato porridge and eat it slowly.

It is very nourishing to savor the taste of home in my spare time, in my temporarily empty nest.

Tonight, we had dinner with E and D, a couple in their early 50s who have been in the United States for more than a decade. I had a great time listening to their different versions of love at first sight stories.

More than ten years ago, they fell in love at first sight in New Zealand and got married. Later, Mr. D found a job in the United States, and they immigrated here.

D likes to tell the story of the first time he met E in New Zealand: “My friend and I went to an indoor rock climbing club. As soon as we entered the climbing area, I saw E hanging high on the climbing wall and everyone below was looking up and chanting for her. E didn’t reach the top and almost fell into my arms. I fell in love with her at that moment.” D added: “Oh, my friend happened to know E.”

Watching a successful career gentleman vividly describing the details of love at first sight from more than ten years ago, in front of his loving wife, I felt like I were there watching E climb too, and happiness seemed spread instantly around us. I couldn’t help but clap my hands and asked E who was sitting next to D: “Do you remember those details?”

E smiled sweetly and said: ” I don’t remember it, this is his version.”

I told E sincerely: “From the way he described the scene of your first time meet, I can tell that he still loves you fondly.”

E quickly looked at D sitting next to her and said with the same sweet smile: “He didn’t mention how he was looked back then. He had long hair that went past his waist, a goatee under his chin, and big earrings.”

I immediately turned my head to look at D, who was still looking at E happily. I saw a typical Western male scholar, with silver-gray hair cut short, wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses and a dark and light blue checkered shirt. The D in front of me has no trace of what E just described. Of course, I couldn’t get close enough to see his ear holes. I half-jokingly said to E: “Woo, You tamed him very successfully!”

My daughter who sat face to E said to me: “Mom, how can you say that?”

I quickly added: “You two are soulmates, destined to be together in life!”

E nodded and said: “Yes.”

E and D continued talking about their uniqueness. As E’s father is a very traditional Asian man, D had to cut his long hair, shave his beard, take off the earrings, and learn Asian etiquette before he went to meet his future father-in-law and asked for permission to marry his daughter. D happily demonstrated to us how to pass a teacup with one hand while being held by another hand, and I immediately noticed that D’s posture of teacup holding is different from the Chinese posture of using both hands to hold the teacup.

I curiously asked E whether she liked the United States or New Zealand. She said she liked the simple and natural New Zealand: “The birds in New Zealand are very simple, brown and yellow-brown, not as gorgeous and colorful as the birds in our neighboring Australia.” But she doesn’t feel that she belongs to New Zealand because there are very few Asians at that time; in this regard, she prefers Silicon Valley in the United States. She said that when she goes to a restaurant with her friends, she often feels like she was back in her motherland because of the food and the people sitting with her. She added with a smile: “When D eats with us, and he is usually the only white.”

Thanks to the diverse and inclusive culture of Silicon Valley, I experienced the exotic customs and practices with personal views at home.

Little Episodes

1. New Zealand’s birds are simple, brown and yellow-brown, not as colorful as their neighbor Australia’s birds.

2. Our dinner table, E and D have had a pet “Toto” for seven years. He is very well-behaved and comfortable around children, so both of our little ones love Toto very much.

Yesterday, I went on a planned day trip with my son and daughter-in-law for the first time, and I had a great time. In the evening, while reporting to my daughter, who was far away in China, about my day trip, she suggested: “Mom, you should write a story about this trip.”

Planning

Last Saturday, my son texted me: “Do you want to go Mystery Spot with us around next weekend?” I immediately replied: “Yes” He then texted: “On Sunday, April 21st, around 12. I bought the tickets.”

This Friday, I texted them: “On Sunday, after visiting the Mystery Spot, do you like to have dinner at home?” My son replied: “It is close to Santa Cruz Beach so we can go to there and eat something.”Later he texted: “Tomorrow we’ll arrive around 11 to pick you up.”

before Leaving Home

I started to dress up at ten o’clock on Sunday morning. The weather is warm today. After trying floral skirts with light-colored tops several times, I felt that black was better, so I wore a knitted black long-sleeved shirt with a black and white pattern short skirt. I also wore additional things, a necklace with the word “love” written in more than a hundred different languages which was a Mother’s Day gift from my daughter-in-law last year; a pearl ring, which was given to me by my daughter many years ago; and a silk scarf, which was given to me by Ben’s grandma last year. After getting dressed up, I felt happy even before going out.

My son and daughter-in-law came to pick me up at 11 o’clock. I specifically recommended them to inspect the peach tree that was now bearing thumb-sized peaches, as my son was the one who labored to plant this peach tree in our backyard last year.

the Mystery Spot

“The Mystery Spot is a gravitational anomaly located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California. It is a circular area of effect around 150 feet or 46 meters in diameter. Within the Mystery Spot you will be stunned as your perceptions of the laws of physics and gravity are questioned.” The admission fee is 10 US dollars. It is an extremely short tour so the tour guide needs to slow down the tour to make it a 40 minute long experience.

My son booked our tour at 12:20, with a group of more than ten tourists, our tour guide was an eloquent pretty young girl. While following her around, our group enjoyed spending time at this nearby small scenic spot. After the visit, I felt that language is also very mysterious, as the tour guide often made fun of herself to amuse us and by changing her cadence to pique our interests to prevent boredom on this very short tour around this small place.

I’ve been to the Mystery Spot many times and never felt sick before. Today, while climbing uphill to the cabin, I felt that my legs were heavy and my chest was so tight that I had difficulty breathing, a bit like the altitude sickness I experienced not long ago in Cuzco, Peru. This sudden physical discomfort made me think that it would be best not to come here often.

When we walked into the tilted wooden cabin, the visual illusions immediately intensified, our group crowded into this small space and became excited, I felt my surroundings were very noisy. Looking at the familiar layout of the cabin, I asked my son: “Do you remember you have been here?” My son said: “I don’t remember.” I said confidently: “You have been here!” My son replied: “You said I’ve been here, XXXX?” Because it was so noisy here, I didn’t hear clearly what my son said, so I asked, “What did you say?” Zelene, standing next to Duke, said, “Duke is talking in Chinese. “I said to my son: “I didn’t hear it clearly, could you please say it again?” My son repeated it, but I still could not pick up what he meant, so I started to suspect that the altitude sickness had made me slow. Zelene smiled and said, “I think Duke said it very clearly. He was saying if he had been here, there should be photos of him here.” I laughed and said to Zelene: “I really didn’t catch it. You know Duke’s Chinese best.”

My son was hanging on the doorframe of the cabin to show us his feet tilted to the right noticeably.

After visiting the Mystery Spot, I suggested we go hiking a bit, but my son said: “Sorry, my shoes are not good for hiking.” I looked down saw he wore a pair of slippers and I asked, “Are you comfortable walking in these slippers?” My son said: “I’m used to it.” Zelene said, “Oh, I suggested that he wear these slippers to get some air for his feet, because he has sweaty feet.” I laughed and said to Zelene: “I have sweaty feet, Eileen and Duke have sweaty feet, Alex also has sweaty feet, Ben already has sweaty feet. Do you have sweaty feet?” “I don’t,” Zelene replied. I smiled and said: “Your baby will have more chance not having sweaty feet.”

Actually, my own father does not have sweaty feet, but my brother and I both have sweaty feet. In the past, when we didn’t change shoes and socks every day, I really wished I didn’t have sweaty feet, because sweaty feet are very uncomfortable and shoes of the sweaty feet smell bad.

There is no cell phone signal at the Mystery Spot, so we can’t use GPS navigation. At the first fork in the road leaving the site, my son made a right turn sign. Remembering he turned right into the Mystery Spot, I reminded him: “You should turn left.” My son said, “We are going to the beach, which is on our right.” I looked at the big map in the car and sure enough, the ocean is on our right. I suddenly felt very happy as I really don’t need to worry about the route and direction when going out with my kids. While my son was driving, Zelene was looking for a restaurant for lunch. Though we were near the ocean, my son doesn’t eat seafood and I don’t eat fast food so there were very few choices. She picked a Korean restaurant.

Korean lunch

It was already one o’clock in the afternoon when we arrived at the restaurant. The restaurant was very empty, I sat face to face with my son and daughter-in-law at a table next to the window. I’m not familiar with Korean food, watching they discussing what to order, I joked: “Eileen said that nowadays we need to ask you for good restaurants as you eating outside often.”

After ordering a today’s special of stewed beaf rib and a typical Korean fried rice noodles, we ate the free Korean cold dishes and chatted while waiting for our dishes to be served. I told them about Ben’s trip in China: “Ben’s grandma is teaching him how to speak Chinese and Ben can count one, two, three, four and five in Chinese now.” I also told them a story of Ben’s behavior change: “After Ben turned two years old, he started to cry and got up to open the door to get out as soon as we put him on the bed in his room. Eileen asked Alex to install a door lock, so Ben could not open his door from the inside. Then Ben stood by the door alone in his room and cried for many days, finally he stopped crying and stopped trying to open the door. He stays on his bed playing until he is tired, then falls asleep.” I concluded: “When raising a baby, you have to be firm sometimes.”

The two dishes were not small. Zelene likes vegetables, my son likes meat, and I like everything. The stewed beef rib also has rice noodles and very big carrots. The noticeable red carrots in the stew reminded me of my late aunt’s saying: “Carrot is the poor man’s ginseng.”

As my son started to teach high school students, in one-on-one classes for math and economics, I asked him: “How is your throat?” My son said: “I drink more water now, and it’s fine.” Zelene added: “I asked him to bring chrysanthemum tea and honey to his office, so he often drank chrysanthemum tea now.” I was very pleased to hear this. Zelene added: “Duke likes teaching. He often talks to me about his students.” I asked my son curiously: “How many students have you taught now?” “More than twenty.” he replied. I asked again: “Are they all taught face-to-face in a classroom?” He said: “Some students are still taking online classes.” Zelene smiled and said: “Duke has DaBaiTu candy in his office, and some students asked him what it was. I told Duke, if students ask you, tell them they are candies and let them taste it. ”

I also chatted with Zelene about her job and very happy to hear she is doing well.

The stewed beaf rib and the fried rice noodles were delicious and we finished them all, only the rice was not finished. Today’s lunch plus tip is $100. After lunch, my son drove us to the beach for a walk.

Walking along the beach

My son drove to the Santa Cruz Board Walk and saw the parking lot was full. I said： “I always park my car on W Cliff Dr near the Lighthouse. Let’s try parking there.” Unfortunately the parking near the Lighthouse was also full. Not long after driving pass the Lighthouse, the road to the Natural Bridge Beach was still closed for cars and only bicycles and pedestrians were allowed to pass. My son parked the car on the roadside in a residential area not far from the beach. We walked to the seaside in a few minutes. Smelling the unique saltiness in the seaside air, I shared the reason why I like to visit the beach: “I specially like to go to the beach during the pollen season because there is very little pollen in the air at the beach.”

We walked towards the lighthouse together and passed by the beach for unleashed dogs under the cliff. Watching the dogs having fun on the beach, I asked my son: “Do you remember us coming here before?” My son said: ” I remember we went to a beach with dogs, but I don’t remember where.” I smiled and said, “We came here after Eileen went to college. After seeing a lot of dogs playing happily here, you said you want to have a dog too. I told you: ‘Okay, if you get straight A’s on your final this year, you will have a dog.’” After hearing this, Zelene said, “Oh, I didn’t know you wanted a dog when you were a kid.” I continued: “Duke didn’t want a dog too much, as he didn’t get straight A’s that year, then he never mentioned wanting a dog anymore.” Duke said, “I thought it’s too troublesome to have a dog, so I was not interested anymore.” I asked again: “We were excited about getting a dog. Do you remember that we already named the dog?” Duke said, “I don’t remember.” I said, “We said we would name the dog Eileen, because Eileen always orders us around at home. Now we can throw a ball out and command the dog: ‘Eileen, go fetch!’ Later I told Eileen how we named the dog, she joked we were so mean.” Zelene was very happy to hear this story. I told her: “When I went out with Eileen’s family, I often told stories about Eileen on our way back home. Alex enjoys listening too.”

I told another story about Duke when he was little: “When Duke started eating solid food, he ate Gerber’s canned baby food. Those foods were saltless, tasteless and very unpalatable. We had a neighbor who was a stay-at-home mother with two children, her daughter is younger than Eileen, and her son is younger than Duke. She often makes delicious noodles for her children. One day when I came home after work, I saw several children playing outside, and the mother was feeding her son noodles. I saw Duke really wanted to eat the noodles. The mother happily gave me a bowl of noodles to feed Duke. I felt so sad and full of regrets because I didn’t have the energy to make delicious noodles for Duke at that time.” I paused a bit and said: “I now feel that it is not bad to live with regrets. Making up for the regrets brings deeper satisfaction, this is why I often make soft noodles for Ben now.”

While walking along the beach, I was mostly talking, they were mostly listening. We also watched the people surfing on the sea for a while.

We took a group photo before leaving the beach. On the way home, I fell asleep because I was very tired from the fun day today.

Little Episodes

04-11-2014, two photos of the beach for unleashed dogs under the cliff near the Lighthouse:

December 21，at home

On the evening of December 21, 2023, my daughter invited Grace and Lou for dinner as they were going out for Christmas. I feel very happy to host the friends we made in Massachusetts at our home in California.

While I was cooking fish, shrimps, and rice noodles for dinner (Grace likes seafood, Lou likes rice noodles), I thought of the good times we spent together in Waltham, Massachusetts. During 2020 COVID pandemic period, while my daughter was studying in Germany, I was alone at Waltham. Grace and Lou often stopped by our home to bring their home-made delicious dishes: stir-fried lamb, braised beef, Shandong pancakes, and Saqima, etc. also to spend time to chat with me. We climbed the Blue Mountains in Massachusetts together in the fall in 2020. My daughter later told me: “After you guys climbed the Blue Mountain together, Grace messaged me: ‘Your mother is in good health as she had no trouble at all with climbing.’ I was so happy to hear this news!”

It seems that the last time I saw Grace was in the summer, not long after my granddaughter was born. When I saw Grace this time, I felt she is even more beautiful and fashionable. She always reminds me of a good friend I used to work with.

During dinner, we congratulated Grace on passing her Ph.D. comprehensive exams and Lou on switching his companies.

After dinner, I gave a box of wedding candies that I had just brought back from my son and daughter-in-law’s Flower Moon Celebration in Beijing. Graces took the box and praised its festive color and beautiful design, then opened the box and poured the wedding candies on the dining table. She pointed to the pretty wedding candies and said: “Oh, many of the candies are my favorites in the past.” She and Lou then each picked out their favorite candies to eat.

Seeing Grace happily talking and soaking the wedding candy inside her mouth, I asked her: “Do you think the Egyptian pyramids are really pre-historical?” My daughter immediately asked me: “Why are you asking this question?” I said: “Recently, I watched some short video blogs that were shared by friends who travel very often and I saw the videos showed evidence that the pyramids were built with cement and said they were built by later generations. I want to know whether this statement is reliable.” Grace said: “That statement is not reliable. I am sure that the Egyptian pyramids have a very long history!” Because Grace is a doctoral student who is currently working on her Ph.D. essay on the 3000 BC Akkadian at JHU (the abbreviation for Johns Hopkins University), I believed her words and said: “Thank you for the expert’s words!” She smiled and said again: “Aunt Jing, our JHU History Department has two professors who specialize in the history of ancient Egypt. If you have more questions, I can ask the professors to answer them for you.” I quickly said: “I have no questions, I just want to know that the Egyptian pyramids are worth a visit, because I want to see them. “Then, I turned around and told my daughter: “After I came back from Peru, you asked me where I want to go next year. Now I have the answer: I want to see the pyramids of Egypt next year.”

My trips in November to Peru to see Machu Picchu and in December to Beijing to attend my daughter-in-law and son’s Flower Moon Celebration enlightened tonight’s gathering and I felt that the joy of traveling was lingering in the air.

While traveling in Peru in my free time, I came up with a despondent desire to see the pyramids of Egypt. After looking through the photos I took in Peru, I realized that it was on November 21st, exactly a month ago. There is also a story about that day.

November 21st，in Peru

Today is the first day after our tour group visited Machu Picchu, one of the “New Seven Wonders”. The tour guide took us to a farmhouse in Pisaq to make and eat local, empanadas (Spanish pies). I still remember the lady boss of the farmhouse proudly introducing herself: “I am a descendant of the King who built Machu Picchu more than 400 years ago.”

Because this was a group activity with plenty of alone time, the tour guide suggested that we form a two-people team to make empanadas and take photos of each other. I teamed up with Vaida, an Indian girl who is a sophomore in Texas. While waiting for the empanadas dough, we chatted. I told her that my daughter had also traveled alone in a tour group when she was a college student at University College of London in London. She said she is the only child in her family, she will go back to see her parents in India before Christmas, and she loves traveling. I asked her: “Where is a place worth visiting in India?” She said: “Taj Mahal.” I was not familiar with the name, so I asked her curiously: “India has a long history of Buddhism. Is this a natural scenery or a historical building?” She was surprised to hear my question, she opened her phone and found the photos of Taj Mahal and showed them to me. As soon as I saw the photo, I said quickly: “Oh, I know this place! After Diana and Charles had marital problems, she went there to take the famous photo.” Vaida frowned and seemed deflated. It was obvious that she was not satisfied with my interpretation. I looked at the innocent expression on her face and laughed quietly. I guessed she might be thinking to herself: “How could Jean so keen on gossip?” She said that she had been there with her parents a few years ago, and it is also one of the “New Seven Wonders”.

We lost our two-people team concept once we gathered around a big table and started kneading the dough to make our own empanadas, and I made two empanadas with different fillings. Because the empanadas we make will be placed on a large baking pan and put into the fire stove.， we also used dough stick to shape the first letters of our names to patch on the empanadas for easy identification so we could eat our own empanadas. I felt my empanadas were so tasty, because I made them myself.

As tonight had no group dinner and I felt altitude sickness, I stayed in my room after checking into the hotel in Cuzco to learn about India’s Taj Mahal and related information online. The “New Seven Wonders” were introduced in 2007, including
1. Great Wall of China
2. Colosseum in Roma, Italy
3. Taj Mahal in Agra, India
4. Chichen Itza in Yucatan, Mexico
5. the ancient city of Petra in Jordan
6. Machu Picchu in Peru
7. Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

It turns out that there is another “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”: the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Olympian Zeus, and The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Six of them have disappeared, and only the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt remains.

I noticed that there are two wonders were built with legendaries of grand love: the first is the lost Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which was built between 604 BC and 562 BC by a King to please his beloved concubine and the second is Taj Mahal in India, which was build in 1648 in memory of a King’s beloved concubine. I guess the carrying force of this kind of legend held people’s desire for earth-shattering love. However, I have no interest in the Taj Mahal in India. I really want to see the Egyptian pyramids, a despondent desire, because I saw some videos saying that the pyramids are fake and were built by future generations with cement.

Little Episodes

1. 12-21-2023, Our dining ware, dishes, red wine, my son and daughter-in-law’s wedding candy box, wedding candy, and my granddaughter, being held by Lou, is about to be held by Grace.

2. 12-19-2023, On my first day back home from Beijing, Ben, my grandson, loved playing with his uncle and aunt’s wedding candy box, pouring out the shiny candies as toys and putting them back into the box.

3. 11-21-2023, In Pisaq, the dough for empanadas was made from seven or eight types of grains.

(The lady boss of the house wearing a black apron introduced herself: “I am a descendant of the king who built Machu Picchu more than four hundred years ago.”)

(The lady boss of the house held up the grain crops used in her empanadas one by one to show us and to explain.)

(The scene of everyone making empanadas around the big table for oneself and my two pies with the word “JS” in the rattan basket.)

Little Stories

A Story about Grace.
A Story about Lou.

In November 2023, I joined a 6-day group tour in Peru to see Machu Picchu (11-17 to 11-22) and had wonderful times：
a）The first day in South America by myself, I had a wonderful experience。
b）Unforgettable moment of chatting during Thanksgiving breakfast time in Cuzco Peru.

On Saturday, my daughter and her family attended her company Accell’s annual outdoor lunch party for the first time. This was a family event so she signed up for me too. Before attending, I was already excited, as this would be the second time I enjoy the Silicon Valley company culture of eating and playing benefits, after returning to California from Massachusetts. The first time was with Alex, enjoying the NVIDIA Hardware Engineering Division’s Potluck Party.

The party was held at a large park in Fremont. On Saturday morning, my daughter planned to leave home early enough to arrive at the Fremont park at 11:00 am. Being a “two under two” young family, it was very difficult to follow a timed schedule, so we got out late and naturally arrived at the park later than planned. From the parking lot to the lunch party, we had to cross the park. My daughter led the way and pushed Meimei, our baby girl, on the paved pathway in a hurry, as she felt that it was not good to be later than what she said. The paved pathway in the park was in an arc shape, Ben, Alex, and I followed my daughter and took a shortcut on the lawn. There were not many trees on the lawn under the scorching sun, and Ben walked very slow on the uneven lawn, struggling with one step high and another step low. To avoid Ben being sunburnt, Alex picked Ben up and carried him on his shoulder, rotating left shoulder to right shoulder and backwards. Ben laid on his father’s shoulders without making any noise, as if he was enjoying this unusual way of laying horizontal moving forward.

The lunch party was settled in a large shady area under several large trees, so people can sit together eating, chatting, playing, and rest, without having to scatter for shade. I thought that the organizer was very thoughtful on choosing this area.

Today’s lunch main course was Mexican cuisine, served by a Mexican chef, a big man in a black uniform. The chef was standing next to a barbecue grill flipping soft tacos about 3 cm in diameter and cheese quesadillas about 6 cm in diameter on the flat grill pan. There were also two pots of traditional Mexican food on the pan, cooked beans and fried rice. Three large pots of cooked ground meat: chicken, beef and pork were on the side of the flat grill pan. Before eating, we lined up to order our own taco or quesadilla from the chef, then went to a nearby table to add spicy sauce, diced onions, cucumber slices, and/or tomato slices, etc, for additional flavors.

As my daughter was taking care of Meimei and Alex was in charge of Ben, so I was fully enjoying my free lunch. I went to the chef three times and ordered three different cheese quesadilla, with just beef, with just pork, and without anything. I added a small amount of diced onions, cucumber slices, tomato slices, and spicy sauce for each quesadilla I ordered. Because the quesadilla is big and the filling is small, I rolled the quesadilla tightly into a thin stick and ate it slowly, I enjoyed every bit of it, as the quesadillas were chewy with layered flavors. I felt very full after finishing three quesadillas, as I also drank a lot of my favorite Mexican soft drink, Horchata, a sweet rice milk beverage that is usually made out of rice, milk, vanilla, sugar, and cinnamon. I thought today’s Mexican meal was very authentic and tasty. Later, someone brought several tables and placed beautiful fruit platters, vegetable salads, baked herb salmon, and unique cookies on the tables. Though my stomach was already overloaded, I still managed to have some salmon, fruits, vegetables, and cookies. I liked the moisture and soft texture of the cookies which were not too sweet. Before leaving, I was thinking about taking a few leftover cookies home; I did it and also learnt that the cookies, which cannot be purchased in bakeries, were the homemade creations of the youngest daughter of the director. I was very happy about it, being worthy of a good foodie, so my taste buds are sharp. Today’s lunch was filled with many delicious foods and I didn’t have any room in my stomach to try out the various cool drinks in the three large ice boxes.

Accell is a small company with about 20 people, mostly young, and most of their children are just a few years older than Ben, so Ben had the opportunity to closely watch older children playing soccer, riding on scooter, throwing sandbags, etc. He also got very close to two friendly dogs, as Ben likes dogs, but dogs usually didn’t like Ben and often barked at him. I heard that Ben also liked to drink Horchata too.

After eating and drinking happily, I casually chatted with people and noticed many dignified Asian beauties today, they looked very young, but already had many years of work experience. It’s true that people cannot be judged by their appearance. I like the two beauties, one was dressed in white from head to toe and another one was wearing goose yellow sweaters with light blue jeans. With the typical asian beauty figure which is the lack of sculptured facial and body features, I felt they were carrying a soft sense of fashion.

Because it was the first time for Meimei, my granddaughter, to meet her mother’s colleagues, my daughter received congratulations and gifts from colleagues one after another at the lunch party, which was an unexpected warm surprise. Before we went home, the director and his wife, Clara, used a wagon to bring all the gifts to Meimei and Ben, given by the company, to our car, as we couldn’t carry so many things across the park to the parking lot. Clara also said: “Sorry, we didn’t have time to give your daughter a baby shower. These gifts are to congratulate her on having a healthy baby.”

This is my first time visiting this big park, there is a big children’s playground on the left side of the parking lot and a lake in front of the parking lot, there are many concrete tables and benches, barbecue grills scattered on the lawn between the parking lot and the lake. I saw many volunteers picking up trash in the park and many large-scale picnic gatherings. After experiencing three years of the COVID pandemic, I was more thankful for the bustling scene of the park.

Little Episodes

09-23-2023, a company picnic.

（The view of our company lunch picnic under the shade of a few big trees.）

（Ben is playing soccer, while holding his gift of a stuffed animal playing soccer, eating, and watching the friendly dogs up close.)

（Lunch scene, Ben and the friendly dogs, a big balloon for Meimei: It’s A Girl, Clara showed Ben one of the gifts to him, a children book titled “I Am a Big Brother!”, which Ben liked to watch and listen.)

On Thursday morning, June 2, the air in the rain was very fresh. After thinking of the fragrant hanxiao (sweetbay magnolia flowers), I jogged two miles from home to see the flowers. Standing in front of the blooming sweetbay magnolia in the drizzle, although my sweaty wet body was particularly sensitive to the cold wind, I still took photos of the flowers one-by-one and smelled them one-by-one. Watching blooming sweetbay magnolia always brings back vivid memories of my late mother to enjoy the beauty and fragrance of the flowers with me. I told my mother: “The sweetbay magnolia flowers that were in full bloom last night are back in bud shape this morning. The sweetbay magnolia that was in bud on May 19th has seeds now. The fragrance of the flowers in the rain is more subtle and pure. ”

After enjoying the sweetbay magnolia with my late mother, I felt chilly in the sporadic drizzle. After jogging back home, I felt very warm. Thinking that tomorrow will be the Dragon Boat Festival and my daughter likes zongzi (rice dumpling), I took the frozen pork belly out from the freezer and thawed it in hot water. I also prepared other things, such as washing the sweet rice and then soaking it in water, washing bamboo leaves and then soaking them in cold water for later use.

In the afternoon, my daughter took her son Ben to see a performance in school for the first time, so I went along in case she could not handle the baby by herself. After the performance, there was a traffic jam in the parking lot and we couldn’t back up our car, so we walked around the school campus for a while. I didn’t wear enough clothes for a long outdoor walk and felt very cold while walking around. After coming home, I found that the pork belly had not been thawed yet. Because the pork belly needed to be cut and marinated using ginger and soy sauce for at least two hours before making rice dumpling, I had to break the frozen pork belly pieces with my bare hands and then cut the very cold pork belly into small pieces to marinate. It was unusual for me to touch frozen cold meat for such a prolonged time.

In the evening, Ben went out with his parents to meet his friend Vincent. I spent more than two hours to make rice dumpling at home, taking a cold bamboo leaf from cold water and wrapping it into a cone, putting cold water dripping sweet rice into the cone, adding a few pieces of cold marinated pork belly in the sweet rice, then wrapping close the bamboo leave cone and using string to tie it tight. My hands were touching and holding the cold bamboo leaves all the time for more than two hours, which made my body feel very cold at the end.

In the morning of Friday, June 3, I had a stuffy nose, hoarse voice, and sore throat, all obvious cold symptoms. I took my temperature and saw no fever. The COVID-19 pandemic situation of more than two years has trained me well, I immediately did an antigen home test, the second test in my life. I was happy to see the test result was negative.

I stayed in bed on Friday and Saturday. Lying in bed, I felt pain from every breath I took: my lungs seemed motionless and could not take in air and my nasal cavity seemed to be pricked by thousands of small needles when I inhaled the air. Lying in bed, I also felt aches everywhere: every muscle on my face was in pain, all the muscles in my body were also hurting, and I had a bad headache, like my head would blow up. The pain of the common cold had made me doubt life when I was alone in the empty nest period in the past. I remember that after climbing up to the bedroom on the second floor and falling on the bed, I felt so desolate, painful and hopeless. At that time, what helped me was my dream: don’t let my parents worry about me and be ready to help my children. Today, I have no concern about my late parents’ worries about me at all, but it is more practical to be able to help my children. My mind is set to recover quickly so I can help take care of my little grandson, Ben.

On Sunday, the third day after I caught a cold, I got up and went for a walk at Walden Pond in the afternoon.

On Monday, I was basically fully recovered and ready to take care of my grandson Ben.

Little Episodes

1. 04-21-2022, First antigen test in Germany:

Last night, Ben, my grandson who was born in the lunar year of the cow, met his friend Vincent who was born in the lunar year of the tiger, for the second time. This time they met in our house while the last time they met in Vincent’s house.

Vincent’s parents (M and B) came from Munich, Germany. Because they were interested in Chinese food, I prepared Sichuan home dishes, such as double cooked pork belly, stir cooked Chinese green beans (flat and wide), Chinese lettuce, fried homemade wonton and steamed eggplant with cold sauce. Alex also made Middle Eastern roast lamb rack for the adults.

Vincent, who was less than three months old, was very picky about food. His parents brought his dinner from home, they also brought us fresh flowers and German chocolate rabbit.

My daughter takes care about the guests at our dinner table, so she usually arranges the seats for us. Last night, I sat at one end of the table. Ben and Vincent were at the other end of the table, sitting in their respective rocking chair and high chair. Vincent’s parents sat on my right, and Alex and my daughter sat on my left.

Serving Germans with Chinese food and thinking of their habit of drinking beer, Alex recommended a typical Chinese sorghum liquor, which contains more than 50 percent of alcohol, to M. After listening to Alex’s introduction, M happily accepted: “Well, I will take it, as I never tried such a high concentration of Chinese wine.”

Both mothers were breast-feeding, so Alex only poured the Chinese liquor for M, me and himself.

We chatted while eating and drinking. M said that he works from home and he works for a company that is based in Germany. He starts work 6 hours earlier than the people on the East Coast of the United States.

Both M and B liked the very spicy double cooked pork belly and cold sauce steamed eggplant. They also praised Alex’s lamb rack for its tenderness and deliciousness.

I noticed that M hadn’t touched his liquor and I told him: “If you can’t drink liquor, please don’t drink it.”

M replied: “I can drink it, but I don’t want to drink such strong liquor on an empty stomach.”

I praised him: “If you don’t drink on an empty stomach, then you have good eating habits!”

M said: “I used to be overweight, so now I pay attention to my eating habits.”

Looking at the tall and slender M, I couldn’t help but ask: “You are in such good shape. Have you ever been overweight?”

M smiled and said, “Yes, I was overweight in Germany. I lost weight after practicing intermittent fasting a few years ago.”

I immediately said, “I’ve been practicing intermittent fasting for more than a year now. I eat twice a day and don’t eat for 16 hours. I feel very good too!”

M said: “I only have one meal in the evening every day, so I can’t drink liquor with an empty stomach for an entire day.” I agree that it will be hard for an empty stomach to take a liquor that contains more than 50 percent of alcohol.

I asked M curiously: “You only have one meal at night every day. How do you maintain your energy level while working during the day?”

M said: “Drinking coffee and water during the day.”

After eating some dishes, M tasted the sorghum liquor. He said that he tasted a unique strong flavor and took a photo of the liquor bottle with great interest. So Alex poured him a second glass of the sorghum liquor.

Later I asked M: “Could I write a story about your intermittent fasting of one meal a day at dinner time?”

M said, “of course.”

I asked for more: “You’re so handsome. Could I use your photos in this story?” As soon as M heard this, he held up his glass of liquor and smiled at me. I quickly took a photo of the handsome and happy M for later use.

After dinner, the new parents were engaged in exchanging tips on how to calm their babies. M said that taking an airplane calms Vincent. He immediately picked up Ben and demonstrated what “taking an airplane” means: while holding Ben’s chest and belly in one hand and holding Ben’s neck vertically in the other hand, he moved his hands up and down and used his mouth to imitate the sound of an aircraft engine. Ben seemed to enjoy “flying” very much. In fact, while looking at Ben, I enjoyed the ride too.

More stories about intermittent fasting from my other friends: On 07-17-2021, Miss Bingbing said, “I have been on intermittent fasting for more than half a year. My lunch at 11:30 AM is a big meal and my dinner has less starch at 7 PM. I still feel sleepy after my lunch.”  2021-08-25, Clay, a friend I met during Wednesday’s Pokemon Go raid hour, said he has been on intermittent fasting for more than a year. I also learnt that he had tried the “keto diet” before, but as a “keto diet” for six consecutive weeks might cause a heart stroke, he switched from the “keto diet” to “intermittent fasting”. His first meal is at 11:00 AM and his second meal is at 7:00 PM. He also told me: “Within a week, if you are on ‘intermittent fasting’ for five days and cheated for the other two days by eating freely, ‘intermittent fasting’ will still keep its effect.” 

Little Episodes

The very handsome M holding Chinese liquor happily.

While holding Ben, M is demonstrating “flying an airplane”, a game both Vincent and Ben enjoy.

Ben and Vincent were at the other end of the table, sitting in their respective rocking chair and high chair.

Last night’s dishes.

During this spring break, Grace returned to Waltham from Baltimore and visited us this afternoon to see Ben. It was Ben’s first time to see Aunt Grace. When Aunt Grace sat on the sofa in the living room holding him, he smiled at her, a joyful moment to remember for Ben.

Today, after meeting Grace, I realized that friendship can help with forgetfulness again, as sharing time often makes happy memories among friends, although we touched some painful subjects today, such as, my father who just died, her uncle who just died, and 132 lives lost in the March 21, 2022 China Eastern Airlines crash.

I became a grandmother for the first time in January and I experienced hectic daily life and my memory started to blur. I could not remember when I last saw Grace. As soon as I met Grace, I asked her, “How many months have we not met? Three months? Four months?” Grace thought for a while and said: “We met last year’s Christmas and in January.” Her answer shone a light on my blurred memory, and quickly many pasts came back clearly and lively. Before going to California in January, they sent Jefferson, their prince cat, to our house, but our Kara could not get along with Jefferson. We tasted Grace’s famous Japanese cheesecake in last year’s Christmas dinner, where Wenxin brought authentic Sichuan style braised duck feet and duck heads and a bottle of homemade pomegranate wine. In the middle of December last year, the northerners made dumplings, and the southerners just enjoyed the delicious dumplings, so the division of tasks was very clear. Then all northerners and southerners, eight people, played mahjong together. While eating sunflower seeds we also ate mahjong tiles; while listening to gossip we also listened to our tiles, and while bumping into good fortune we also bumped tiles. These happy times with Grace came to mind one by one and I felt very happy.

Friendship, built on shared time, can be one of the remedies for forgetfulness, because the topics during friends’ gathering often involve shared times and there are often many good things in those shared times. Awakening the good times on a busy day with painful topics makes me grateful for friendship!

Little Episodes

1. On last year’s Christmas Eve, the beautiful and naughty Yuki (white) and the fine and quiet Mocha (black) from afar behaved very well and were deeply loved by all. For last year’s Christmas breakfast, the two vases of roses on the table were gifts from last night. At last year’s Christmas dinner, the nine people’s dishes on the table were made by my daughter; after dinner, we had Grace’s famous Japanese cheesecake, then the young people played Hanabi games.

2. On Thursday, December 16, 2021, I drove my son and his girlfriend to see the winter light show and the hazy moon, then enjoyed a party of 13 people. On Friday, December 17, 2021, the northerners made dumplings and the southerners ate them, so the division of tasks was very clear. Later the eight of us played mahjong very happily.

As a self-employed wanderer, I had not attended any employer organized party since my 2016 retirement.

When one of my friends said to me: “Our department will hold a party on Saturday. Do you want to go?” I replied :”Yes, I would like to go.” I immediately recalled the parties held by eBay and Paypal when I was in Silicon Valley: the company big parties, the quarterly all hands parties, the celebration of the successful launch of major products, the parties in the Great America Amusement Park in California for employees and families, etc, the parties with delicious food and fun activities.

Last night’s party was called “DACCPM Spring Fling ”, a party with drinks of red wine, white wine, beers and cocktails, also with delicious foods such as 72-hour stewed pork rib and beef rib. After drinking three glasses of white wine at the party, I felt under the influence and happy.

I thought there would be ocean views but saw no trace of water on the balcony. However, I had a close look at the beautiful handsome, senior scholars and loving partners dressed up with professional attitudes. I also noticed that many ladies in dresses had bare feet, not wearing pantyhose; that men were dressed up from head to toe that nobody wore sneakers nor jeans. Recalling my experience of such parties in Silicon Valley, wearing jeans or sneakers seemed semi-formal dressing code and wearing T-shirts with words and logos was accepted too. I was glad that I didn’t bring my casual dressing code of Silicon Valley here. In dressing, doing as the Romans do is also a manifestation of pious life. At the party, I was also brought to shake hands with the head of DACCPM, a young and tall middle-aged man.

I saw lots of beauties at the party and the most memorable one was the back of a straight black hair young lady who wore a long black floor-length dress and who had a pair of sneakers under her right arm. I felt her capable, confident, and beauty and took a photo of her back figure.

I also bumped into a born-in-90′s couple of exchange scholars from Peking Union Medical College Hospital. While chatting with them, I learnt the girl is from Chongqing and the boy is from Shandong; they were classmates in college and in graduate school; while she was at Chengdu West China Medical College for three years, he was at Beijing Union Medical College, so they were apart for three years in the past; now they came to MGH together for just over two months. I was really proud of their parents and couldn’t help taking a photo of them and told them: “Please send the photo to your parents, I am sure they will be very happy from it.”

Three or four days before the party, My daughter and I chatted about going to the party. As a software engineer who worked in Silicon Valley for almost 20 years, I thought it would be more natural to dress casually. However, my daughter encouraged me to spend some time preparing for the party. She said that the process of preparing for the party would also be joyful. In retrospect, really, the preparation process before the party has a lot of sweet memories.

When I told my daughter: “I was invited a department party, what should I wear?” She asked: “What do you like to wear?” I said: “a floral dress.” We went to the store together to pick up a dress and a pair of shoes. While lining up for checkout, I was lost as I forgot the checking out routine in a store. She reminded me to go to the counter with a flashing light and joked: “Poor mommy hasn’t bought any clothes for a very long time now.”

As I wanted to buy a small purse for my photo so I can take photos at the party, I asked my daughter before I went shopping: “What kind of purse should I buy for my phone?” She gave me a firm instruction: “Buy a pure black very simple purse.” I took her instruction seriously and looked at all the black purses in the store and bought a black purse with roses and a line of text. After coming back home, I explained my choice of this purse: “This purse has one of my favorite quotes: ‘Stop and smell the roses’. Although it is not pure black, it is a black purse.”. My daughter looked at the purse I handed over to her and praised it: “it’s very cute and chic, nice pick!” Hearing this made me very happy like a student being praised by the teacher.

My daughter also helped me to make my hair and choose accessories. One day, she asked me, “How do you comb your hair for the party?” I said, “Just wear two braids.” She disapproved: “It would be nicer to tie your hair up in a bun.” I said: “My hair is thick and strong, it would be hard to tie it up.” “We have the same hair. I used to bun up my hair when I attended Speech and Debate in high school. I’ll do it for you. Don’t worry.” She also lent me her pearl necklace and a very expensive black scarf with small flowers that she bought in Germany and said, “Wearing a pearl necklace looks good. You are always afraid of the cold. If the air conditioner is too cold, wearing this scarf will make you look good and keep you warm”. I have two rings, one is the emerald ring my mother gave me, and the other is the pearl ring my daughter gave me. The pearl on the ring was taken out of the shell by my daughter, so it is very special. My daughter suggested that I wear a pearl ring: “Green doesn’t match your outfit, and the pearl ring matches the pearl necklace, this way your outfit is clean in black and white.” Before stepping out of the house, I asked my daughter the last thing: “Should I use lipstick?” My daughter shook her head: “No. It would be too much for you.”

Little Episodes

1。 DACCPM
“The Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine (DACCPM) at Massachusetts General Hospital offers world-class patient care, the finest education for medical students and residents, innovative research laboratories and a team of accomplished faculty. Each year, we provide anesthesia services for more than 50,000 procedures in 67 operating rooms and 25 additional locations on the Mass General campus.

Our research activities are driven by an outstanding faculty of independent thinkers and cover a wide range of initiatives, including leading-edge investigations in critical care medicine, neurosciences, biomedical engineering, patient safety and simulation. Mass General conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of $1 billion.”

2. Photos of the party:
My little cute purse:

After drinking three glasses of white wine at the party, I felt under the influence and happy：

View from the balcony of DACCPM Spring Fling:

Photo combo on the party:

The back figure of the beauty with a pair of sneaker under her right arm：