Lost in Family Web
I was stirred awake around 7am by my mom and aunt’s exclamations about how the sun rose before 6am, and they thought their watches somehow got rewound by the pressure in the air (my interpretation). Ha. But breakfast was also quite yummy. :P
Because the summer sun rose early, my day began earlier than I’d have liked too and it ended only around 11pm. It was a busy day of visiting relatives and eating. It’s kinda nice that almost in each corner you turn or street you pass by, there’s a (whatever)-uncle/auntie related to you somehow.
In this hot and humid sauna weather (about 36 degrees or more), I don’t know if the amount of perspiration will help lift some of those tens of thousands of calories that we consume throughout the day. I sure hope I won’t have to start looking for size M at H&M when I get there next week!
Everyone here seems quite well-to-do, like owning a marble tile factory, teaching and staying in the school apartments, renting some rooms of their three-storey bungalow out, or being a boss doing whatever. My mom kept repeating her story of defense on behalf of my late grandpa, where he was not able to return because he had a hard time raising 9 kids in Singapore (my paternal grandma died quite young) and people in Singapore have a hard time making a living, but I wonder how much they believe her. Yet, I think they are really richer than our families back home. Although, I think the business of interior and building design could be quite big here looking at how erm, messy and out of sync their design of the houses here is. It’s big but not pretty. I thought to myself, I’d prefer a small but cosy and stylish home than one that’s big but lacking a tasteful theme.
One of the more amazing things today was this ‘family heirloom’. It’s actually a book that records my paternal grandfather’s genealogy since don’t know when. I think we should photocopy and scan it just in case something happens to the original, manz! And it's pretty cool to see the Singapore family pic that my grandpa sent back to China... My Dad's the eldest in the centre. Look like me? Hehe.
It’s another day to go tomorrow (we’re going to Gulangyu, hooray!), and we’ll be making another arduous leg of this journey – to Shantou. We’re catching a bus (I wonder what kind of condition it is) there and then hopping on to a taxi to get to the hotel that my China cousin (maternal grandmother side) had arranged for us. It’d be a 4-hour journey. It’d be a place closer to my heart ‘cos that is where my grandma grew up and went back a dozen times before she passed on. I think it’d be a smaller family in this area and not as well-off. In fact, I think we are gonna visit a farm where my mom’s elder step-brother lives! I’m looking forward to the lychees. Ha.
Ok, gotta catch some sleep now. Update again later.
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