Aug 02 2008
The cableman
The other day I spotted Jiujiu online at Skype.com, so we chatted. They just came back from a mini vacation to Huairo 怀柔 near Beijing.
“We went to the mountain .. The game is starting in a week, we’d better get some vacation in while we can.” He said. “The air was really fresh. We ate lots of local produces .. kuazhu fish.. ..”
“Jiujiu, what’s kua zhu?” I think I have a slight idea, but just want to confirm.
“Oh, kuazhu 侉煮 .. Do you still remember kua 侉? Like 你怎么这么侉？.. = 你怎么这么老土.” Geee… my Beijing dialect can be cute and vivid too. I feel like a 老土, a redneck myself.
We moved on to other stuff. Then about the Internet. He laughed, “when your mother give birth at Beijing 妇产科医院, I went to visit you the following day.” Afterward, he went to the Tele & Cable to send a cable to Dad in Sichuan.
“As I was filling out the form, suddenly this four words came to my mind .. 母女平安 - mother daughter are fine. Not wordy but stated fact clearly. I just saved a bundle.” Hey, if you’re too young, you might not know that in not too distant past, the cable cost is per word.
“Did my Dad faint once he saw ‘daughter’ rather than son?”
“Omg .. you just sounded like your mother. She joked exactly!” He laughed. “Word for word.”