Tales from the celestial garden- a Soap Opera in the making...

Nov 2 11:01 UTC 2000

PoPo and GongGong are back in the USSA and are bored.  Perhaps it is
best at this point to enter the scorecard otherways you can't tell the
players.

Huayin- a winner of the an all china(PRC - the real china) math contest 
and a noted basketball player and woulda been on the olympic 
                        team if PRC had such then - he is a big Bulls fan.  He
is a deamon ping-pong player as is his wife (I can hold my own against either
which continues to amaze both as they thought it a traditional chinese sport. 
I lose, but not by much (they are demon ping-pong players, but I have a few
'trick serves'.  He woulda had a double masters from the UC in statistics and
sociology except for the death of one of his           mentors and a
miscalculation on his part - to the financial benefit of the UC, he paid for
but never got the double degree.  He had chosen to 'americanize' his 'sirname'
to 'Wang' instead of the probably more proper 'Yang' (they are mostly the same
- don't ask) and is probably more a mongol or 'manchu' than truely 'ethnic
chinese' - such that there is such a thing with 56 state recognized
'ethnicities' - must play hob with the current census in the PRC. He married
Yuen.  He resisted until recently 'americanizing' his given name and then chose
to be known as 'Harry'.  Tis indeed a fine name, but I didn't have the heart to
tell him what 'Harry Wang' might evoke in those with a gutter sense of humor...

Yeun- 'Jane' aka 'Kelly' is of course Huayin's bride and mother of
Yuan-tse, the daughter.  Jane went to work for a Japanese import/export
house under a restricted visa and was told that 'jane' was too common a
name and thereafter her massah's decried that she would be thereafter
known as 'kelly'.  After she was able to, she left that japanese firm to
join a chinese 'tong' but she was known internationally as 'kelly' so
she had to keep that professional name.

Yuan-tse-'Irena' placed forth nationally in a recent US national math
contest (behind three other chinese ethics) in spite of being too young
for the catagory.  She has one published children's book under her belt
- a fine book dealing with the metaphysics of the migratory patterns of
socks (something we all recognize but never note).

Ma-Lih-(beautiful horse) aka Mary Wilson is the spawn of whats-her-name
and I.  She is mei-mei to Irena being Jei-jei (younger sister to older
sister) while being jei-jei to tin-tin (fruitful field) who is Jun Ma's
daughter  by Yuay-un, Jun Ma being a younger of NaiNai's seven son's
(few are living more the shame).

Ok, got that?  Anyway, Jane aka Kelly was Ma-lih's first nanny and
taught her to speak (mandarin chinese).  Soon after PoPo arrived and
took over so Jane (later known as Kelly) could go to school to get her
MBA from the GSB at UC. Huayin was finishing off his what was supposed
to be double MA from UC and they all lived in the upstairs apartment. 
GongGong arrived (an ex political prisoner of the Red Guard who married
PoPo- a russian translator- after her first husband was executed so she
could take over his apartment in the college where he taught and was
purged from and they later bought when it 'went condo' when Deng Shao
Ping declared 'making money is a good thing' and the PRC went capitalist
after the 'gang of four' were deposed and Deng was 'rehabilitated' after
being deposed.  (I sense I am making this much more complicated in an
attempt to make it much more simple.) (Hu Fei, Ahn Wei, where PoPo and
GongGong are from is where the small group of farmers that 'rebelled'
and introduced 'capitalism' under a 'blood oath' and were applauded by
Deng is where it all started.  The true 'great leap forward'.  

GongGong (maternal father, although in this case 'step father' in
western parlance) went back and then PoPo did as her visa ran out.  But
not before interviewing and disapproving a lot of folks (not just ethnic
chinese) until she settled on NaiNai and after a three week living
together thingy turned the raising of Ma-Li over to Nai-Nai.  (Harry and
Kelly promised to make sure they would correct any 'bad' pronounciations
in Ma-Li's 'perfect' mandarin, but that proved less than successful as
Ma Li now has a strong (but fluent) 'provincial' accent...)

(Short note, NaiNai is a former aeronautical/electrical engineer of note
in the PRC and her son, Jun Ma also won the all china math contest and
now works for the US government.  She and her husband designed a well
noted 'close shore patrol boat' of the PLA navy.  Talk about 'over
qualified'...Mary Wilson has been raised by some pretty top notch
people, and then there is her mom and dah...)


Anyway, we get to the 'soap opera'.  PoPo and GongGong are now back in
the USSA.  They were staying out in the richest suburb of Chicagoland
with their children and grandchild (totally more or less americanized)
and were bored stiff.  After letting them get over the 'jetlag'
whats-her-name and Mary Wilson (Ma-Li) went for a visit and they
complained about being 'bored stiff' and wanted to come visit and PoPo
being not only chinese but culturally some what a 'russ' convinced
whats-her-name to invite them. ('bully' instead of 'convince' may be the
proper word.)

There is the traditional chinese ideogram for 'trouble'.  It literally
is 'two woman under one roof'.  I run a traditional chinese household,
I might count out the money in front of Nai-Nai (or in the past, PoPo
but I hand it to 'Tai-Tai' -"Principle or first wife" (whats-her-name)
and it is she who doles out the cash to the rest of them and I remain
'above the fray' untouched and interested in only my 'wah'.  (Now I have
to explain 'wah'?, the more a simple item becomes a vast comentary...)

They arrived and PoPo pushed GongGong up to the apartment on the third
floor which is Nai-Nai's 'house' where Nainai can do with what she wants
including having "revivin' meetings" with her pentacostal christian sect
which some members of have already been executed by the PRC for their
activities although I don't think the PRC realizes they are all part of
the same 'tong' being as they are currently stupidly focusing on that
Falun Gong ponzi scheme -(the PRC is focused on an 'economic crime' and
quite rightly in my book while the 'real' threat is slowly and lazily
and with no really good business skills 'growning under the footpaths' -
acting like a mustard seed....)  PoPo struck for the 'high ground' and
opted to 'sleep on the floor' of the 'servants quarters' - a fine, one
bedroom apartment with sun deck as she fully probably remembered from
when they all lived there.  She opted immediately for the tactical
control of the household.  I simply made up the guest room's 'day bed' -
something that 'tai-tai' should actually normally habe done but she was
borned and raised from Texas and didn't know better and I pretended she
did and invited PoPo and GongGong down do view the fine accomodations as
'honored guests' they were due.  Ma-lih had to make do with my 13-inch
color TC/VCR which was now in her room so she can watch 'vids' instead
of in the 'family room' which is now the 'guest room' - it is 'new toy'
and so she is happy.  Popo and GongGong are now 'honored guests' instead
of part of the house hold. NaiNai being new to the x-tian thingy was all
ready to 'turn the other cheek' for no good reason and let them stay 'in
her house' even though I had told her PoPo and GongGong would stay
'downstairs' when I heard of the arrangement made by 'taitai' without my
approval (not to mention I told nainai truth but not to mention even as
much as I like An Wei dishes prepared by Popo I like the spicier
Szechuan style that she cooks (much like Chou en-Lai even though I like
Deng's politics more) better). 

Sigh.  The effort one must go through to substain 'wah'.  And the fun
one gets from the manipulations in so trying is much like playing chess 
I think...But I never indulge in such, I am the titular and purported
'master' of the house... I think.