Chinese In-Laws

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 07:14:22 GMT

My wife, who's Chinese, pointed this blog posting out to me. I had to share it with the rest of you.

I have Chinese in-laws, and I have a lot of friends who are either Chinese or similarly related as I am. There are some great observations here that really do hit very close to home. Thankfully it's my wife who pointed this out to me so I'm not risking being in the doghouse for laughing about it.

With my in-laws, what I hear most is "eat this." This isn't quite like what rude Americans would say with a nice hand gesture, but it's told simply and with real concern for my well-being as I'm apparently in need of constant sustenance. It's usually followed by "it's good for healthy!" Since English is their 3rd or 4th language, and my Mandarin is very remedial and Cantonese non-existent, conversations are not as natural as we would like. This doesn't keep my mother-in-law from talking to everyone. Loudly. What makes this more amusing is when I say something back, she will often misinterpret what I'm saying and repeat part of what I said with a look of surprise, akin to the expression you might see on someone's face when you tell them you just ran over their puppy.

Me: Ma, would you like some water?

Ma: Water, where?! Oh my god!

Spring Festival

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 08:00:06 GMT

It is Chinese New Year, and it's the year of the boar! It's too bad that my trip out to Beijing wasn't a couple weeks later - it would have been something to be there for this holiday. My in-laws wish we could spend this holiday with them, but unfortunately the US doesn't celebrate this as an official holiday, so we don't get any days off as part of the regular schedule. I really need to make good on that soon, though - it would make them and my wife quite happy.

Wildchicken: Culture

Chinese In-Laws

Spring Festival