Meet Ah Yi and Shu Shu

My host family, or who i refer to as ah yi (aunty) and shu shu (uncle), have been giving me a home throughout my stay here in china. To me they seem like the typical chinese sort of parents - modest,
wholesome and simple. They're not religous though, or even budhist for that matter. Actually I was surprised when they told me most people in china aren't religious!

I mentioned in one of my first blogs that uncle seemed like a mellow guy and aunty seemed a bit rough around the edges. well almost 3 months later i'll stick to those descriptions, but at least aunty has warmed to me. She definitely seems to be the dominant one though.
They're both in their mid fifties - aunty has already retired from hopsital management while uncle is still working as a renal(kidney) doctor in one of the local hospitals.

I'm not the first boarding student to stay with them. They began taking students in last year and had a whole bunch of europeans before me. I'm the first 'chinese ethnic' they've taken in though, and somehow i think they feel a closer kinship to me. I mean, it's not like they treat me any better than past studennts, but i think they treat me in a different way.
And as such, i think they expect me to regard them differently than past european students have, expecting me to show alot more respect as afforded by their age. I do of course, but probably not to the extent shown by a local chinese youth, and they do sometimes frown upon this. One example is when auntie calls out 'dinner ready', uncle immediately repeats and calls this out to me. Sometimes i'll hear it, acknowledge, and just take another minute or so to finish off whatever i'm doing, but he'll call out again if i don't immediately come running out!

They always like to explain chinese culture to me, and tell me about the regions of china my grandparents were orginally from - fu jian and hai nan island, telling me i should go visit there one day with dad. I think they're extremely happy and proud that i've come back to 'the motherland' to check out the culture and learn the language, and they keep reminding me 'you are chinese'!

Like typical chinese people, they are very frugal, and when i say frugal, i mean SUPER frugal. I consider myself a frugal person back home, but compared to them i look extremely wasteful.
Like typical chinese many remote controllers are still covered in the original plastic wrapping they were bought in. (or in custom made pouches at my place!), and all coffee tables have a plastic sheet over the top. But you know someone's taken 'frugal-ness' to the next level when u see the computer keyboard is still in its original wrapping *LOL*
i could hardly type properly with the wrapping, and was soon putting holes in the thing after half an hour of use (obviously it was the original wrapping from years ago).
Since the shower room is attached to their bedroom, some days i don't get a chance to shower if i come home after they've gone to bed. One day i missed my shower and had to have one the next morning. I then had another shower later that afternoon as per usual, and i remember they weren't happy about that. (I can always tell they aren't happy as soon as i hear the loud whispering!) So i had to explain to them that i felt dirty when i woke up this morning and then was dirty again when i came back from school at the end of the day, and that i wasn't 'wasting' their water!
On another occasion i was about to do my own hand washing and when aunty found out she came running into the laundry room to 'help' me measure out the washing powder. I remember looking at the amount she dished out thinking my clothing is not going to be clean after this 'rinse'.
And it's not like they're scraping the bottom of the barrel. they live in a nice appartment, and shu shu is still working as a doctor (though probably the doctors in china don't get paid as much). Maybe they're planning to leave a big inheritance to their daughter?
Ah yes, Fei Fei. They do have 24 year old daughter, though she only comes home on weekends from dental school. She's ok, though she doesn't seem interested in chit chat when i try to strike a conversation. As far as i can tell she doesn't have a boyfriend since there was never any reference to one. One of the first questions they asked me (actually alot of chinese elderly do this) is 'do you have a girlfriend?'. To make things a little easier i tell most people here in china that i'm seeing someone. but ah yi and shu shu do ask some strange questions sometimes, like is your girlfriend about the same height as our fei fei, ect.
i don't know if they would've tried setting me up with their daughter if i'd told them the truth. Conversations would be a bit dry.

shu shu loves watching basketball, esp the NBA. He doesn't play though. Currently he's taking driving lessons to go for his licence.Once he's passed they plan on buying a car to use for weekend car trips (maybe that's why they're so frugal!!) . It's hard for me to think of shu shu behind the wheel amongst all the other agressive chinese drivers. he's such a mellow guy that i'm afraid he'll be stuck at junctions for hours. He also seems to be interested in animal docos, since he watches them before dinner every night. Oh and his final passion is learning english. He loves practicing his english with me, for which i'm thankful for when i can't understand their chinese! It's very beginner level though, and he speaks very timidly. He's so keen to learn though, always jotting down words i teach him and asking me to check. good on him i reckon.

ah yi is much simpler compared to shu shu. She only seems to go out during the day to buy groceries. I'm not even sure she keeps in contact with friends, since i've never seen any come around or call her up. I even asked her the other night what her hobbies are, but she couldn't answer. She does seem to love the chinese ancient time drama-series though, closely following the episodes each night. oh and she knits as well. She'll also watch a certain cooking show every morning, though ironically she always cooks the same vegetable dishes almost every night. That brings me to my last point. They don't usually eat meat. I don't think they're vegetarian, but i think they just choose to eat meat only on special occasions, citing 'bad for your healt; for avoiding it. They do cook meat for me though. Overall the food has been ok, though some dishes i've found to be a little too salty!