"Just ignore her, Joe. She used to be a teacher, that's why she wants everybody to listen to her. She wants all the attentions. What a big pile of crap", kata David kat aku pagi tadi, mewarning aku pasal mak tiri dia (mak Hal) yang nak datang pukul 12 nanti tuh. [*Mamposlah kalau ada cikgu-cikgu, pensyarah-pensyarah yang akan sentapz dengan statement David tuh, bukan aku yang kata gitu, dia yang kata, David yang kata, geng-geng cikgu nih banyak cakap ekekekek*]
Cepat-cepat aje David bersiap nak keluar, mak Hal sampai ke apartment tuh pukul 11-30, sepatutnya pukul 12. Mat Salleh ni kan, ada ker mak sendiri, disuruh tunggu kat lobby pasal datang awal dari yang dijanjikan? Mak dia tuh jalan pakai walker lagi, sabar jer lah Hal nih, kata aku dalam hati. So aku beritahu Hal yang aku nak ke lobby nak temankan mak dia tuh, sampailah pukul 12.
'"Yes, there he is", kata mak Hal bila dia nampak aku kat lobby. Mula dari situ, terus lah tak berhenti-henti dia bercakap. Rupanya dia dah lama dah sembangnya dengan doorman, cerita pasal apa tah aku pun tak tahu.
"Joe doesn't like this country. Right, Joe?", dia tanya aku, sambil gelak-gelak dengan doorman tuh.
"Nobody does", aku kata gitu. "just ask Osama Bin Laden", aku kata lagi.
"I love this country, I'm a very proud American", kata mak Hal. Dan terus dia menyanyi, lagu patriotik, Yankee Doodle.
I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy
A Yankee Doodle, do or die
A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam
Born on the Fourth of July
I've got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart
She's my Yankee Doodle joy
Yankee Doodle came to London
Just to ride the ponies
I am the Yankee Doodle Boy
Sabar jer lah, dia ulang-ulang nyanyi lagu tuh sampai naik malu aku dibuatnya. Masa dalam lif nak ke apartment Hal pun dia masih menyanyi, bukannya nyanyuk mak Hal nih tapi itulah, orang tua yang zip mulut dia dah tercabut.
Hal sembang aje lah dengan mak dia kat dining hall, aku kat kitchen. Aku join jugak sembangan diaorang tuh sebab mak Hal nih suka melawak. Dan aku pun jadi macam biasa dan berani pulak melawak dengan dia, kutuk-kutuk gitu. Obvoius sangat yang Hal nih tak berapa berkenan style mak dia yang macam bertih jagung tuh, tanya aku itu ini. So dia asyik suruh mak dia senyap, ataupun makan. Pukul 3 baru mak dia blah, itupun macam kena halau dengan Hal.
"I'm done with you, why don't you go now?", aku dengar Hal marah-marah kat mak dia sebab mengomel aje kerjanya mak dia tuh.
So aku lah yang tunggu teksi kat depan apartment sama mak Hal, "Thank You Joe for taking care of my son. Remember, we need to talk....", dia kata gitu kat aku sebelum naik teksi balik ke The Bristal, assisted-living care tempat dia duduk tuh.
Masa aku blah David belum balik lagi sebab kereta sewa kawan dia tuh kena pecah cerminnya. Mulanya Hal macam nak suruh aku tunggu sampai David balik tapi awal-awal lagi aku dah siap tukar pakaian, aku kata aku ada dinner.
Aku terus ke Lincoln Plaza Cinema sebab nak tengok satu wayang Cina nih yang best jalan ceritanya, A Thousand Years Of Good Prayers.
Cepat-cepat aje David bersiap nak keluar, mak Hal sampai ke apartment tuh pukul 11-30, sepatutnya pukul 12. Mat Salleh ni kan, ada ker mak sendiri, disuruh tunggu kat lobby pasal datang awal dari yang dijanjikan? Mak dia tuh jalan pakai walker lagi, sabar jer lah Hal nih, kata aku dalam hati. So aku beritahu Hal yang aku nak ke lobby nak temankan mak dia tuh, sampailah pukul 12.
'"Yes, there he is", kata mak Hal bila dia nampak aku kat lobby. Mula dari situ, terus lah tak berhenti-henti dia bercakap. Rupanya dia dah lama dah sembangnya dengan doorman, cerita pasal apa tah aku pun tak tahu.
"Joe doesn't like this country. Right, Joe?", dia tanya aku, sambil gelak-gelak dengan doorman tuh.
"Nobody does", aku kata gitu. "just ask Osama Bin Laden", aku kata lagi.
"I love this country, I'm a very proud American", kata mak Hal. Dan terus dia menyanyi, lagu patriotik, Yankee Doodle.
I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy
A Yankee Doodle, do or die
A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam
Born on the Fourth of July
I've got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart
She's my Yankee Doodle joy
Yankee Doodle came to London
Just to ride the ponies
I am the Yankee Doodle Boy
Sabar jer lah, dia ulang-ulang nyanyi lagu tuh sampai naik malu aku dibuatnya. Masa dalam lif nak ke apartment Hal pun dia masih menyanyi, bukannya nyanyuk mak Hal nih tapi itulah, orang tua yang zip mulut dia dah tercabut.
Hal sembang aje lah dengan mak dia kat dining hall, aku kat kitchen. Aku join jugak sembangan diaorang tuh sebab mak Hal nih suka melawak. Dan aku pun jadi macam biasa dan berani pulak melawak dengan dia, kutuk-kutuk gitu. Obvoius sangat yang Hal nih tak berapa berkenan style mak dia yang macam bertih jagung tuh, tanya aku itu ini. So dia asyik suruh mak dia senyap, ataupun makan. Pukul 3 baru mak dia blah, itupun macam kena halau dengan Hal.
"I'm done with you, why don't you go now?", aku dengar Hal marah-marah kat mak dia sebab mengomel aje kerjanya mak dia tuh.
So aku lah yang tunggu teksi kat depan apartment sama mak Hal, "Thank You Joe for taking care of my son. Remember, we need to talk....", dia kata gitu kat aku sebelum naik teksi balik ke The Bristal, assisted-living care tempat dia duduk tuh.
Masa aku blah David belum balik lagi sebab kereta sewa kawan dia tuh kena pecah cerminnya. Mulanya Hal macam nak suruh aku tunggu sampai David balik tapi awal-awal lagi aku dah siap tukar pakaian, aku kata aku ada dinner.
Aku terus ke Lincoln Plaza Cinema sebab nak tengok satu wayang Cina nih yang best jalan ceritanya, A Thousand Years Of Good Prayers.
In 'A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,' elderly Mr. Shi (Henry O) arrives from China to spend time with his divorced daughter, Yilan (Faye Yu), hoping to help her sort out her life in this strange new country. That, after all, is his duty as a parent. Yilan, although polite, doesn't feel like being the dutiful daughter.
Unlike Geraldine in Dim Sum, Yilan can't wait to be rid of her parent, whose need to pry into and control her like becomes a nuisance-even if he does lovingly cook up multi-course meals for her at the end of the workday. Where sharing meals served as familial and cultural bonding in Dim Sum, it is seen as an intrusion for Yilan, who longs to have her own private life back again.
Despite going through Yilan's things while she's at work and trying to pry information from her, Mr. Shi cannot understand his daughter or the rift between them. The only person he shares some connection with in this cold new universe is Madam (Vida Ghahremani), an elderly but vivacious Iranian woman living with her son and his family. They begin to meet regularly on a local park bench. Without a common language, they resort to expressing themselves to one another in a mix of their respective languages and broken English.
While they seem to communicate with each other easily, Mr. Shi and his daughter find themselves at an impasse. The problem is generational and geographical; it is also in the language, as one day Yilan reveals to her father that expressing herself in English is far easier than in Chinese.
There is wry humor in Mr. Shi trying to understand his daughter, as well as this country she has adopted as her own. There is also a sense of seeking clues to a mystery. As Wang explains, "I wanted it to be a mystery that Shi comes to solve. Arriving in a strange land to visit a strange daughter he hasn't seen in many years, Shi begins to peel back the layers of the life like he takes apart the Russian nesting dolls on her dressing table."
-----------------------------
Berbuka sampai Tarawikh, aku kat Bay Ridge Mosque lagi hari nih. Tak ada pun muka-muka lain selain orang Turki, Pakistan dan Arab. Balik rumah aku tak online lama-lama, setakat email ada this one guy yang nak jumpa aku esok pasal dia nak aku kerja kat apartment dia every other week, lima jam setiap kali. Dia nak kasi $30 sejam, double dari apa yang David/Hal bayar aku. Aku nak cuba lah, now that aku dah kerja sekali aje seminggu kat apartment MamatGQ kan?
Unlike Geraldine in Dim Sum, Yilan can't wait to be rid of her parent, whose need to pry into and control her like becomes a nuisance-even if he does lovingly cook up multi-course meals for her at the end of the workday. Where sharing meals served as familial and cultural bonding in Dim Sum, it is seen as an intrusion for Yilan, who longs to have her own private life back again.
Despite going through Yilan's things while she's at work and trying to pry information from her, Mr. Shi cannot understand his daughter or the rift between them. The only person he shares some connection with in this cold new universe is Madam (Vida Ghahremani), an elderly but vivacious Iranian woman living with her son and his family. They begin to meet regularly on a local park bench. Without a common language, they resort to expressing themselves to one another in a mix of their respective languages and broken English.
While they seem to communicate with each other easily, Mr. Shi and his daughter find themselves at an impasse. The problem is generational and geographical; it is also in the language, as one day Yilan reveals to her father that expressing herself in English is far easier than in Chinese.
There is wry humor in Mr. Shi trying to understand his daughter, as well as this country she has adopted as her own. There is also a sense of seeking clues to a mystery. As Wang explains, "I wanted it to be a mystery that Shi comes to solve. Arriving in a strange land to visit a strange daughter he hasn't seen in many years, Shi begins to peel back the layers of the life like he takes apart the Russian nesting dolls on her dressing table."
-----------------------------
Berbuka sampai Tarawikh, aku kat Bay Ridge Mosque lagi hari nih. Tak ada pun muka-muka lain selain orang Turki, Pakistan dan Arab. Balik rumah aku tak online lama-lama, setakat email ada this one guy yang nak jumpa aku esok pasal dia nak aku kerja kat apartment dia every other week, lima jam setiap kali. Dia nak kasi $30 sejam, double dari apa yang David/Hal bayar aku. Aku nak cuba lah, now that aku dah kerja sekali aje seminggu kat apartment MamatGQ kan?
