Me and my mother (Mama’) Part 2

Hi everyone,

When I was growing up, my Mama’ taught me not to waste anything including food.  My parents always encouraged us to eat a lot, but do not waste the food.  Rice was one of them, if we were still hungry, do get a  second serving but just get only what you can finish.  Mama’ explained to me that rice farmers worked very hard to grow rice and they were low income people.  They used  their blood, sweat and tears to grow rice.  All the Chinese family will tell their children the same, because rice is playing a big part of Chinese culture.  Mama’ did not waste anything at all, she saved all the Chinese newspapers so that we could use them to start the charcoal to cook.  I was growing up with the left over food.  When we finished the meal and had left over, Mama’ always saved them in refrigerator.  She would add one or two more new dishes to go with the left over.  When we had a lot of left over rice, she would make a fried rice dish.  In case you did not know that this is the history of fried rice- the left over meal.

Mama’ showed me to love and care about the other people.  She got a busy schedule at home, but she always made the time to visit our relatives on both side of the family.  She would buy oranges or tangerines to give to our relatives.  Mama’ told me that we should  not wait until they got sick to see them.  You should make the effort to see them while they are healthy and cherish the time of happiness with them.  My Mama’ is a loving and caring person.  She was always giving, not taking.  She was a kind of person that anyone will feel love  and care whenever they meet her.  One day, she took me to the thai temple to worship.  She gave money to a few beggars in front of the temple.  I said to her ” Mama’ don’ t give the money to the young beggar, he is young and strong enough to find job and make money.  I think that he is a fake to make an easy money.”  Mama’ said to me that ” we are here to do a good deed, we are not here to judge people.  You don’t really know about him.  He might fall in a hardship right now.  Look at his clothes how dirty it is.  Do you think people will hire him the way he look?  Of course not, they probably scold him and beat him up with a stick.  You always help the other people if they need the help.”  I will never forget what she taught me.

At home, I saw how much my Mama’ really love my Papa’.  She didn’t have to tell anyone about that, it showed.  When Papa’ came home from work, she would  greet him with a smiling face and asked how the day go.  She would bring him something to drink and took his socks and shoes off.  At the dinning table, she put food on his rice bowl from different dishes with her chopsticks.  She said to him that I want you to taste this dish to see if you like it.  When Papa’ ate it, she would give him more without his asking.  She served the meal to him with love.  When Papa’ worked around the house.  She always wiped his face with a cold towel.  She always took care of him.  Today some Oriental ladies are still doing it.  You can see this kind of love only in ancient Chinese movie.  In today society we should give more unconditional love and understanding of each other.

Goodbye for now,

Mana

This is the beginning!

Hi everyone,

When I came to America, I weighed only 95 lbs.  After 6 months I gained to 170 lbs.  It must the good food in U.S. or I ate too much.  How can you blame me?  When you can eat all you want for free all three meals.  You work for Century Plaza Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, they let you eat all you want, as long as you wear uniforms.  Some of the staffs came on their time off to eat their free meals.  I didn’t do that.  But the master chef of the hotel like me a lot.  He fed me all the great food, including the same dishes our President Nixon ate.  My first job at the hotel was a dish washer.  I tell you what I had been washing millions and millions of dishes.  It was a hot and hard job.  You had to keep up with those waiters and waitress.  They served in the banquet room.  They picked up their dirty dishes on the trays and threw them in the   room windows.  I had to scrape the food off the plates before you put them in the dish washing machine.  It was a big machine, it was about 15 to 20 feet long.  You put in one end and it came out another end.  When the dishes came out, you had to wear gloves to pick them up.  It was very hot and steamy.  After you finished cleaning all your dishes, you have to sweep, mop the floor and emptied the trashes.  That was one of my hard job.  I never complained about it.  I worked hard and did the best I could.  Well the hard work paid off.  The Executive Manager was noticed me.  He called me to his office.  He said to me that ” Mana, you are a hard worker, you never complained and you always Nice to everybody.  I am going to put you to work at the swimming pool.  With your nice personality, our guests will like to have you serving them.”  I got a raise and promotion.  The first Thai staff ever worked as a pool man.  I loved this job a lot.  Majority of the guests were rich and famous.  They called me for reserving lounge chairs by the pool.  When they showed up, I gave them towels and took them to their chairs.  They tipped me sometimes 10 dollars, sometimes 20 dollars.  I was also a server.  The hotel served hamburgers, hot dogs, french fried and ice-cream.  I made a lot of money on the tips.  I also had so much fun with the guest’s children.  When they show up to buy ice-cream, I gave to them for free, because they behaved and had nice manners.  My supervisor approved to that.  He said that if the guess enjoyed them self.  They will come back again and again.  Ice cream was a less expensive items.  It is a great way to influence them to come back.  I made and saved a lot of money with this job for my trip to Texas.  This is the beginning.

Goodbye for now!

Mana