What's going on
New job
I have a new job lined up. My first day is April 27. I will be travelling to San Francisco that week.
Doing nothing
For past few weeks, I was that 'unemployed friend' you would meet for dinner on a random Monday evening. It's been nice catching up with friends.
Writing about my childhood
I started writing a memoir about my childhood growing up in China in the 90s and early 2000s. I don't know how long this project will take, so far I've planned six chapters:
- The homes we lived in
- My childhood friends
- Schools I attended
- Summers
- My parents
- Family affairs: my extended family
So far I'm rediscovering memories and collecting materials, and jot them down in chapters I think they belong. Here is a snippet in the chapter about schools:
One day, Ms Wang gave us an assignment to prepare an introduction to the class about our family. On the way home, I asked dad to help, and he gave me an entire speech. It started like this: "There are three people in our family -- me, mom and dad.". I thought that was an awfully odd thing to say. A family must be a family of three -- a mom, a dad and one child -- like the sky was blue, it was known, how else could it be? I was confused, but didn't ask.
Come the next day, we took turns with the introduction.
A boy came in front of the classroom: "My name is W. There are three people in our family -- me, mom and my dad. My mom works at the bank, and my dad is a fireman. I go to kindergarten at Shuguang Kindergarten."; a girl came up next: "My name is L. We have three people in my family -- mom, dad and me. Dad works in an office, mom works in the mall. I attend kindergarten at Shuguang Kindergarten.".
Yeah, I knew it. A family always had three people! When it was my turn, I stepped up and proudly proclaimed: "My name is Chenyu. There are three people in our family -- me, mom and dad. My mom is a policewoman, and dad rides a bicycle and works on the 14th floor. And I'm at Shuguang Kindergarten!"