So this has been a recent event that happens nearly every week and each time makes me laugh. Usually the family will be going somewhere in a Taxi and at some point the driver will start a conversation with us. Obviously since he’s Chinese the conversation is in Chinese. And at some point the driver will usually be confused at something I’m trying to say or I will be confused by something he’s trying to say. And no doubt each time my wife will either tell the driver what I’m trying to say or she will tell me what he’s trying to say. This always leads to the driver saying “Her Chinese is better than yours”. I’m happy for my wife, but I’m also happy that in a Shame based culture where preserving face is the most important thing, that no Xi’an taxi driver is afraid of making me lose mine.
So the other day I was walking with Sydney and I said “Sydney I’m so happy to go on a Father/Daughter date with you, I love you” to which she replied “I love my backpack.” What makes this even cuter is that she pronounces backpack, pack pack. But in say this she put me in the impossible situation of “how do I respond to that!” Do I say “On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest, where would you put pack pack? And where would you put me... your Father?” Or do I say something like “If Pack Pack and I are drowning in the ocean and you could only save one of us, who would it be?” Well I couldn’t think of any of this at the time, so I didn’t say anything… but my heart was far from silent.
Till Next time,
Matt, Heather, Sydney, Little Aubrey and of course "Pack Pack"
