On the train, among a lot of people. Whereas the day before yesterday people of all stripes were still running onto the train carrying suitcases, bags and buckets, the crowds are now beginning to thin slightly. The aftermath of the population migration around the 70th anniversary of the country where I live is still very…
Month: April 2023
Now (2)
Unbelievable! More than 2 months with no update in this progressing book, 2 months is a gap that remains covered throughout our family history. Emme’s great-grandchildren will confuse in disappointment that the building tension in the preceding writings got truncated without explanation. The thousands of stories that took place in a second summer within China’s…
Reflection
This orange booklet was actually supposed to be a diary. But it is, maybe in part. Waking up in the hope that the congested bronchus and abrasive throat, accompanied by periodic fevers and sweats, would be over, I experienced my first disappointment of the day. Disappointment connects this morning with a straight line to last…
Wind
The first morning in Yixing. Emme is back at sailing camp. A half-hearted flu half-holds me… I sweat all night, I struggle to fall asleep, but in the morning there seems to be some energy under my clammy skin. Emme is at sailing camp… and so is her friend Marisa. We are first reminded of…
Learning to play
“As a hobby” is my response to add a buffer between achieving and frustrating when the cello is mentioned. However, fueled by wild expectations projected onto a young generation, and a personal metamorphosis of memories of a time long gone, the germ of expectations can hardly be quenched, yet I operate in a forceful manner…
Self-Defense
A barrel of sour air escapes from my neighbor who regularly coughs while playing a game of majiang on his phone, with the sound on. Under his legs stands a colorful collection of boxes and bags. With fruits? Booze? Documents? Cigarettes? For family or business partners? Before he took his seat, he kindly asked if…
Party time
Is there anything I can write down on a sunny afternoon, sitting in the train on my way back from a morning’s work in Suzhou? Everything seems predictable, peaceful and calm. The people I meet along the way walk quietly, look relaxed at their phones, wait patiently in line for a ticket for the bus…
Bittersweet and savory
Max and Mathilde visited us last week. I always feel that when family visits us, time becomes more compacted. The number of impressions within a fixed time-frame seem larger. Suddenly, I start to see my own life through the eyes of the visitors as well. This stereo perspective does not always produce a sharp picture….