Sissi’s Mother arrived last week and her presence was felt from the moment she arrived. She brought enough stuff with her that makes me think that she will be here for quite a while, which I may add I am not relishing. It took two trips to the car with the three of us grabbing what we could. There was the liquidiser that gets used every morning to create some disgusting looking black goo which they both eat for breakfast along with a variety of other things. The noise it makes would wake up the dead. There was also a new house plant; it was nice and very welcome. There was so much food that our large double fridge freezer is bursting at the seams just trying to cope.
As soon as she arrived the noise levels increase dramatically because it’s not long before the two of them are arguing about something and when I ask what the problem is I get told, “Nothing is wrong, all is well”. They talk in a local dialect that I cannot understand; and they talk so quick and loud. Food is the number one priority for any Mother of a Chinese family and she has no sooner arrived when almost every utensil, plate, cup and saucer is being used for something. Vegetables are washed over and over again and the preparation takes forever and then they ruin it all by cooking it in copious amounts of oil. The once proud vegetables are now a shadow of their former selves. They lie there on the plate, wilted and oily with all of the goodness long gone, a distant memory………..just like my quiet life.
Dinner, lunch, breakfast in fact at any time of the day when they eat it is quite disgusting. The both eat with so much noise. They eat with their mouths open and the amount of other noises made makes me want to vomit. They seem to eat for the sake of eating rather than enjoying the experience. It’s instinct, something that you do, get up…..go to the loo……….have breakfast……..sleep……it’s all a process with absolutely no enjoyment and the food is consumed as if it was the last meal that they will ever see.
If I can I will put on my headphones or go to my room because I cannot be in the same room when they eat and so I will try and change my routine so that I am not in the house or I get up early in the morning to have breakfast with the hope that the Mother is still in bed, so that I can make my breakfast in peace or at least get it made so that I can sit outside, even although some of the mornings are becoming quite fresh……………I would rather sit outside and freeze my arse off than have to listen to the flapping of gums. But you know, no matter what plan of attack I’m thwarted at every turn. Even if I stay out a while, hoping that lunch has been consumed, I am once more disappointed, because I’ve no sooner returned when they will have something else to eat. They eat constantly and if they are not eating they are preparing the next meal. If the Mother is not eating then she is cleaning something. On the odd occasion she does something else and that will be playing with the phone or watching some stupid TV show where you can hear all manner of stupid noises and canned laughter. Most of the time there is no consideration, the phone is played loud. If there are others around me I wear my headphones if I am listening or watching anything on my phone, even when I work on the computer. I am considerate of others, but like most Chinese they do not give a rats arse. But I’m thinking of getting my own back and buying a really big speaker stack so that I can use it to drown out all the other noises I have to contend with.
To be continued……………………..