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Life in China Morning, Older Sister!
Life in China Morning, Older Sister! | Morning, Older Sister! |
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| China | |
| Tuesday, 22 May 2007 | |
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Beijing 4 – "Morning, Older Sister!" At 6:30am, I was having breakfast in a small Dimsum place very near my dormitory building before I had to travel to see a web professional to edit my website. "May I chat to you, boss?" we normally call someone owns a small business "boss". The boss of this small café, looked like in his early 40s, suddenly turned his head back, looking very nervous. Poor him, I didn't mean to scare him. "Oh, continue doing your work, please." He turned back and continued rolling his dumpling skins. Beside him, there was a girl who looked around 18 or 19 years old helping him. I started to wonder how they might relate to each other. "When do you normally get up to prepare your business?" "Five in the morning." The boss answered. "Where is your hometown?" "Hangzhou." "Do you understand him?" The girl beside him asked me. She thought I might have difficulty to understand his Mandarin, which had a strong accent. "Oh, I could understand him. Yes, Hangzhou, it's written out side of your café, it say "Hangzhou Dimsum", so you must be from Hangzhou I guess." I smiled back to them. "Not necessarily, some café says Hangzhou Dimsum, but they are fake." The girl seemed very keen to tell me this. Oh, there is another "Hangzhou Dimsum" just at the other side of the road, is that what she meant? And how she took over the conversation made me think that she was definitely not just a worker hired by this "boss". There's more than that in their relationship. A women who looked in her early 40s walked out from the inside room, and immediately I got the answer. They were a family: the father, the mother and the daughter. "jiejie hao!" "ni hao!" "jiejie hao!" "ni hao!" Before I had the time to think, I had already replied two lovely kids' greetings. Walking out from the building where I worked together with the web professional this morning, this wasn't I had expected at all. Two kids whom I had never met before, playing near the exit of the building where I had walked out, "Morning, Older Sister!" "Morning, Older Sister!", both greeted me so warmly and naturally like I'd being their neighbours for years. How did I feel? Surprised and really GOOD! They definitely suddenly brightened the day! :) MeiMei www.meimei.co.uk *Your comments on my website are welcomed and will be appreciated :) Please let me know. Thank you! |
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