My mornings at la Casa de Portia start out bright and early. I hear the patter of little feet and then boom, my door swings open and Natlie charges in and flips open my covers. Groggily I throw on some clothes and trip down the stairs. Soon though, Natlie is tugging at my shirt to come down to the play room. "You the monster," she directs. I give her a head start and she is off running down the spiralling staircase.
Natlie tosses some Barbie dolls and stuffed animals on to my lap. We have Silly, Matthew, Nana, and Sessy. These are our regulars. We play and play until Nanny calls us up for breakfast. Portia's already eating. She has been up a while, I bet. She's always having heavy discussions with big cheeses in New York and California. This afternoon she flies to Hong Kong. But Portia is fantastic. She is a serious lawyer but a relaxed conversationalist. We can sit at the table and talk and laugh for a while.
Nanny (more commonly called "I-eee") sets a bowl of rice mush and vegetables with a boiled egg on top in front of me. I eat slowly because it's not my favorite dish. Natlie scarfs hers down and begs for me to come back downstairs. "No, we have to brush our teeth. I'll chase you upstairs." We leave for school in ten minutes.
In the car on the way to school, we play the same games over again or Natlie watches Tom and Jerry. The driver is quiet and IE is brushes Natlie's hair. It's raining just like every other day and the sky is grey like every other day. Soon it will clear up. Hopefully it will clear up.
Now I sit on my bed trying to decide what I'll do with the rest of my day before Natlie comes home. Shopping, exploring, sleeping, reading.
I have so little reason to want to complain.
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There will come a day in your later life when you will be the mother, and the daughter, dolls and daily routine will all belong to you. On that day you will think, "Where did all my time go?" You will wonder fondly about long mornings on a guest bed in China. You will even think in pleasant thoughts about gray rain and smoggy skies. Enjoy them now therefore - this is an old conversation for us is it not - and have no reason to complain. Enjoy them for those of us who are past, and not yet back to, the Shanghai stage of life.
ReplyDeleteJDH's a sage... and i can say, from experience with oatmeal as a child, that eating something slowly because of dislike is generally a bad idea. Reading anything good these days?
ReplyDeleteNot much to add. 阿姨 "ā yí" does mean /maternal aunt/nanny so seems like your chinese is improving :-D
ReplyDeleteIts natural after your first elation when arriving someplace new to have a period of deflation. Just ride it out as best you can and know it will end.
Shmade, I like this. So all of you ride with the Natlie to school? The driver, you, the nanny? What's that about?
ReplyDeleteLarissa, I'm reading A Girl with a Pearl Earring (also read Kristen Lavransdatter - try it on a rainy afternoon) and A Picture of Dorian Grey. I don't think I got all my articles right in those titles. Oh, and don't read Velvet Elvis. What are you reading?
ReplyDeleteI've started taking Chinese lessons, trouble. And who are you? Sorry to ask so bluntly. I have suspicions but I am hesitant to say.