Ariel brought her mother and brother to Shanghai to spend the Lunar New Year. Ariel thought spending the LNY in Shanghai would be a very good idea because it would be very easy to get into the LNY mood there. However, Ariel forgot to book for a reunion dinner, causing them to have no ‘rice’ to eat during Chinese New Year eve. Luckily at the last minute, they found a western restaurant that had no customers, and they had steak for their reunion dinner.
Ariel’s manager gave her a long leave, so being such a filial daughter, she took her mother and brother to Shanghai to spend LNY. They frantically spent the whole of the Chinese New Year eve looking for a restaurant, but most of the hotels and big restaurants were already fully booked while the small restaurants all closed early. The family of 3 walked up and down but could not find a place to have their reunion dinner. Fortunately, they finally spotted a western restaurant that was still open and Ariel brought her mother and brother in to have a ‘special’ reunion dinner comprising of steak.
The family of 3 also happily took the Maglev, but during the ride, Ariel’s mother suddenly blew a fit and started shouting in the cabin. Ariel explains that it was because there were too many people in the train and they were anxious to get off, but there was a whole crowd of people blocking the entrance/exit. Her mother and brother were angry but could not vent their anger, causing them to go green in the face (’), while Ariel hurriedly gathered the luggage. She says the whole scenario was upsetting, but funny at the same time.
Even so, her heart still feel warmth and a tinge of pride. After all the years of debts, she simply could not afford to dream of the whole family going abroad for leisure. And because of her efforts, she finally succeeded.
After Ariel studied for a short period of time in New York last year, she encouraged her mother to sign up for English lessons and now her mother can speak English quite fluently (I think). Ariel’s wish for the LNY is that she can bring her mother to New York. She said, “ My mother said that she wanted to go to my landlord who knows me in America, and chat with the people there in English everyday.”
nb : the pic is actually hongkong, not shanghai. but the chinese articles came with that picture.
translated by : michhh [by francesca]
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