Sailing back In Time

I have a problem sleeping at night when i'm home. This is really strange. I keep feeling that i am running out of time and i have so much to do. Or maybe, I am just missing my pillow and blanket back at my hostel, which I regret I did not bring it home. Sigh. And look at what I am doing now, blogging crappy stuff and thinking above what is needed.

I thought of my grandma when I saw the movie (Back when we were grown up) on Hallmark just now. Memories just flashed back. The scene on how they celebrated their grandfather's 100th birthday and what a jolly good fella he is. I have never met mine. Sometimes I do wonder what kind of person would he be.

My grandma is a petite lady with strong traits. I believe that she would make it big if she had the chance to study back when she was younger. Her cute lil' 'dong shan' slang and jargon she has when she speaks Cantonese will always be remembered. She loves to tend to her garden every morning. I could still remember her daily ritual everyday. Busy as a bee.

Firstly, she will rise as early as 7 a.m. when her ancient alarm clock (those that u need to wind up every night to function) rings. Next, she would spend quite a while grooming herself in the bathroom while sitting on her stool and a plastic basin beside her feet. Then, she will start washing her clothes with the brown soap (cap kapak, that's all i remembered). Purely traditional way. No modern detergent nor washing machine. Next, she would hang her clothes outside on the wire with wooden pegs.

Her garden is her priceless possession. There were all kinds of vegetables and herbs there, till we moved to our new place. It has been cut into half. We used to have a creepy crawly bean plant, sugar cane, 'pegaga', aloe vera, pandan leaf and a few other species that i could not identified the name. Every morning she would pluck off the weeds while sitting on her stool and in the evening she would water them with the leftover water (after washing rice). I don't remember any synthetic fertilizers used but purely fish bones or anchovies scraps. Now the garden is barren. There is only the bean plant that reminds me of her. That makes a delicious soup.

There are a few dishes that she specializes in. The yam cake and 'jin tui' ( some flour balls that is served during CNY, don't know what it is called in English). She could sit for hours as she slowly roll the flour or grate the yam. I love looking at her collection of old coins, some as old as 1915, ancient locks and also some of her embroidery. Its beautiful. As a kid, i used to watch her sew her own clothes and even buttons (made of cloth)!We rarely see those type of buttons these days. She would sit near the main door as she starts her work.

I could write on and on about her. I will just type whatever that crosses my head for now. Being back home can be wonderful but sometimes you are being reminded of so many things. The house never look the same each time I return. So does the town. Attachment equals to suffering.