clean your truck

in a previous post i had said that my dad was complaining about the dirtiness of my truck.  he had wanted me to clean it during his stay, but there's no car wash where i live & i didn't have the stuff to clean it either - and i also don't care too much, since i'm always driving it through dirt & sand.

as he left, to go back home, he reminded me to get my truck cleaned.

the day after he got home, we spoke on the phone and asked if i got my truck cleaned.  i responded NO, since i had friends visiting & that i was going to go off-roading with it.

a week later, he asks again - and i pretty much respond the same way.  then he says, will you ever get it cleaned, you claim that you keep driving it off-road!

i don't know dad, i'm not sure.  but why are you so hung up on the cleanliness of my vehicle?  how is it affecting your lifestyle? 
stop stressing about it already.

n.b.  i was told a COUPLE OF TIMES by people who live here that my vehicle was clean... CLEAN!

time for you to go home, friend of my child...

I had a friend over for dinner when my parents were visiting.  We had a nice meal & good banter - everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Then the clock struck 10pm and my Dad kind of says, "under his breath" in Chinese, time for your friend to go home.  I heard him loud and clear, but I wanted him to say it again... because afterall, I was 26 (at the time), and have been living away from home for 10 years.  I also wanted my friend to hear.

My Dad has no qualms repeating it, so I gave my friend this look, and said - "OK, let's go!", to respect my Dad's wishes.

I understand he wants me to "sleep early" because I had work the next day, but still... I will dismiss my friends when I please...

being my mom's sous chef

my mom's a great cook.

she cooks everytime we're together.  and i'm finally paying MORE attention than i ever have in the past because i actually cook now.

she told me to peel the carrots.  as soon as i put all the carrots in the sink, ready to start washing she says "have you peeled them all yet?"

such expectations tiger mom!

My mom on my surfing skills

I started surfing a little over a year ago and I've had a couple of injuries that have caused irreversible changes...

My parents were watching me surf on a small day.

Mom: Why aren't you more successful in getting up? Why aren't you very good?

Geez, mom, I don't know. Cuz I didn't grow up surfing? Cuz I have a full time job? Cuz the waves weren't conducive to ideal surfing? Or cuz I just suck?

Which answer tickles your fancy mom?

My dad on my position at work

I got the title as "director" at my new job last year.

Dad: you know you don't deserve that title right?

Thanks dad, thanks for keeping me grounded

When did I start becoming more like my mom?

I grew up with two working parents.  My mom, in my mind, is supermom.

She would wake up before everybody else, make breakfast and prepare lunch every morning, go to work, buy groceries, get home last, cook dinner, clean, help us with homework AND play with us.

I really didn't need Sheryl Sandberg to tell me that (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders.html)

But it's a good reminder.

I assume that since she did that for 19 years (that's how long our parents had kids in the house), every time I visit them or they visit me, my sister and I revert back to being teens again. I would try hard to help cook and clean but she'll yell at me to get out of the kitchen and go play.

I HAD felt extreme guilt during college years when my mom would cook and clean for me, but my sister would just eat it up.  I used to think she was a bitch for letting mom "work" for us, but my sis would just say "she wants to do it, so let her!"

Then, when my sister and I started living together in NYC, she started doing all the groceries, cooking and some of the cleaning (I did some too!) - I felt guilty, but she seemed to enjoy cooking for me and our friends so much, and she verbalized it, so I figured it was ok.  But I never really understood the allure of hosting, cooking and being maternal...

Then, I moved.  I now live alone so I need to cook for myself constantly.  I now also have a place where I can invite people over, so I do! I happily cook for my friends and have no issues cleaning up either.

I was complaining to my friend how my mom won't stop working for me, while she's visiting me on vacation. She's cooking, cleaning, sweeping, mopping - she just won't sit and chill.

He said, that's just like you!

I guess I am like that now...

So with that, I will happily guilt-freely eat everything my mom cooks, sit back while she cleans and lie down comfortably while she gives me a back massage.

I love you tiger mom

on fruit eating

i was too full to have fruit after dinner (a very common cantonese thing, instead of dessert), because i've been overeating my mom's delicious cooking, but she has a tendency to want to force feed me (yet in the past, she had called me fat on numerous accounts).

so, this is what she said to try to convince me to eat the fruit yesterday evening (when i told her i'd eat it for breakfast)

mom: don't eat fruit in the morning for breakfast, especially cold fruit, because it makes your stomach upset & you'll have diarrhea.

me: alright mom, i won't.
and so i didn't, like the obedient chinese daughter i am.

haven't seen my parents in 10 months...

i haven't seen my parents in 10 months, we live about 6000 miles apart.  it was great to see them, but some things never change.  as soon as i picked them up at the airport this is what they said:

mom: you're so freckly and dark.
dad: when did you last clean your truck? it's so dirty.

here are a few more things they said or did in the past 2 days they've been visiting:

my mom was teaching me how to separate bulk meats when freezing.
they both also reminded me to finish foods before the expiration dates.
i'm nearly 27, mind you, and have lived away from home for 10 years.

my dad said he wants clean my truck cuz it's so filthy... so so filthy were his words, with a sigh of grief, in chinese

my mom asked me how to cook a squash grown on the islands.  i told her to cook it the same way as this chinese fuzzy melon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_melon)... but she insisted on me giving her exact advice.  i told her, but, yet she did it her way in the end.

my mom complained 4 times while she was cooking ground beef how fatty it was.  FOUR times in a span of an hour.
 

i, too, love my tiger parents

since reading amy chua's jan 8th, 2011 WSJ article "why chinese mothers are superior" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html)
the internet went wild with all these tiger parenting articles, comments, concerns, etc, etc.

my parents' timing couldn't be more impeccable, with their visit, as i've got lots of random things to blog about to, as proof that i, too, love my tiger parents, just like amy chua's daughters...