Thursday 25 December 2003
Merry Christmas.
Yesterday, I had three classes in the morning, and then put the washing on the line outside, and swept the floor. I cooked a brief lunch of chips, and then began to prepare the evening meal, a turkey from Illinois or Ohio, I think. It was not that big, but too large to fit into the oven, so it was chopped into two, and cooked one after the other in a coating of Italian oil; yes, extra virgin, yes, first cold pressing, yes, expiry date okay, yes, opera singers gargle with it…what, do they? I did not know that.
With the oil, I put some Australian honey, and Malaysian lemon juice and pepper, making it a real multicultural turkey. There were boiled potatoes, lettuce and tomato, and for dessert, papaya from the garden. We put out long-stemmed glasses with red grape juice, one of them being quickly knocked over by Ai Hwa, meaning we had to wash the tablecloth, and now have a purple mark on the table. I made a dip of limejuice, oil, and honey. Rhiannon especially took to it. I played traditional Chinese music with the meal, erhu, pipa etc. After washing up, I used the bones to make a soup with onions, garlic, and potatoes. I made another soup, using some tau fu, fish balls, and Chinese cabbage. This was at Ai Hwa’s suggestion. She said her sister would like it. I hope so; that is what she is getting tonight.
Today is quiet. They went out to Tanjong Jara early, so I put the washing on the line, and have spent much of the morning writing to you, and it is now the afternoon. For lunch I had a cosmopolitan fare of chips imported by the Saudi Cold Storage company, a couple of shots of the children’s Coca Cola, made in Malaysia, it being the first thing I saw in the fridge, and a piece of yesterday’s turkey.
The other night, Harri told me a joke. You have heard of the trilogy The Lord of the Rings. I did not know the titles but they are, he told me: the Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, and the Return of the Ring. He whispered his idea; The Lord of the Car 1 the Fellowship of the Proton 2 the Two Porsches, and 3 the Return of the Ferrari. I love his sense of humour.
This morning, they were pleased with their presents from Father Christmas, colouring pens, RM50, Chinese calligraphy pens, watercolours, packets of nibbles and so on. I was thinking, just after lunch, that the two of them know the ten countries of the region, their capitals, and can find them easily on the map. They know the major currencies of the world, plus most of the regional ones, and Harri knows their value against the Malaysian ringgit. They still however think there is Father Christmas. Harri wants to shift his account in the UK overseas, currently to Japan, so he can have Yen. Indonesian rupiah is Rhiannon’s idea as there are 2000 odd rupiah to 1 ringgit, so imagine 100 pounds… thousands of rupiah. A Swiss account is out of the question, I have told them.
