Friday: Lil’ Sis and I dropped plans to go dancing to attend a family dinner and, boy, am I glad we did that. Everyone came out and it was fascinating to meet three family members I had never before met.
Family dinners are so far in between and it was sheer fun to attend with Lil’ Sis as one of the things we’d do is have our own conversation about things going on at the table and finding we had the exact same reaction to the various dishes! Secondly, it made me glow a little when the two families who only had one child each looked upon Lil’ Sis and I, felt the dynamic, and remarked about how two kids will grow into fabulous company for each other. Finally, no family dinner would be complete without someone noting that Lil’ Sis and I speak Chinese quite well (and I can read and write, too!). It is another great feeling because we did grow up in a far less multicultural/Chinese city and so is a testiment to our conscientiousness and our parents’ diligence to keep the culture strong in my generation.
Saturday: We went for afternoon tea and groaned from stuffedness as we left. (No room left for dinner!) It was a delightful and entirely unique experience I’m glad to have shared with Lil’ Sis. Following that, we went shop shop shop or, rather, walk walk walk. This dress or that dress? Ultimately, no dress.
It’s some kind of wonder that I kept considering the next day’s 19K as a “short run” (cf. 26 the week before and 29 next week) so I stayed out “late,” well, midnight. The fireworks were confusing – I think we saw Mexico and Mexico again. The fun part, by far, was just hanging out with friends.
Sunday: Cranked out a 19K run although it consisted of many manners of discomfort then flitted about all day to lunch with the visiting Swedish relatives, to IKEA, and finally winding down with a steamy chai latte (it does wonders to placate me).
At home, Lil’ Sis and I delighted because the Lonely Planet German Phrasebook has an entire section on how communicate with your German fling should your vacation take such an exciting turn…. I also wrote a trilingual (English, German, and French) email to a hotel and got a response from a Chinese receptionist. I could have thrown in a line of that, too. =P
Notice how we didn’t have dinner? Relatives on my father’s side are a little nitpicky and eat like birds. Lil’ Sis and I ended up eating the lion’s share of the food and had no desire for dinner.
Monday: Was finally a lazy day of waking up at 10 =D but after lunch, I was off to work – despite the holiday – because the week is all set to be really packed. To give you an idea, I’ve got to prep a presentation on Wednesday, drinks with cousins on Tuesday, drinks with the other set of cousins on Wednesday (all because of Lil’ Sis’ impending send-off), Grouse Grind Thursday night, and not miss a training run because yesterday, I managed to hit a new low in weight. To give you an idea, it’s 12 lbs. (or nearly one British stone) less than my (horrific) high this year and two pounds less than my plateau weight. =D
On this day..
- Darned injury - 2023
- 4th Annual Okanagan trip by the numbers - 2014
- We all made stew - 2009