Translated…
The Asians named their offspring with great cares and concerns, not only do we care about the number of strokes, we’d also needed to worry about the issues of the elements all being there in a name, and we may even, consult a fortune-teller, to feel safe about it; and, looking at the western cultures, there’s just, not that many worries, names like George and Mary, they don’t have specialized meanings to them, so long as the names are easy to remember. This reminded me, of how a foreign man named my wife, the process of how it was done is still, clear in my mind.
not my list…
As we first immigrated, the whole family paid our visits to some of the old timers there, hoped that we can all, gain a little of their experiences. I recalled, that one day, we’d made our visit to the Chang’s, and, bumped into an elderly pastor who was in their home, teaching some simple English conversation. After our brief introductions, she’d stressed how important the English names are, because it is, very hard, for the foreigners to know how the Chinese names sounded, and, she’d hoped, to give my wife and our two daughters English names that sounded like their Chinese name and are easy to remember.
We’d agreed, she’d first asked my daughter to tell her her Chinese name, and, after she’d heard the sound, “Ting”, without much thought, she’d given her the name of “Tina”; my eldest daughter’s name has a “Hsuan”, and, she’d named my eldest “Cherie”.
When my wife spoken of her name, “Ling”, I’d originally thought that she’d given her the name of “Linda” or “Lily”, but, after a few minute’s contemplation, she’d given her the name, “Dawn”. I thought she’d heard my wife’s name wrong, I’d made the sound, “Ling” again, she’d spoken with such confidence, “That’s right, Dawn, is the most fitting name for her.”, seeing me in questions, she’d told me seriously, “As you walked in, I’d been, observing all of you, you’d carried that seriousness about you, maybe, it’s something to do with you being a doctor; and your two girls are naïve and active, very fitting to the ways that they educate children here. And your wife, she kept that elegant smile on her face, and, that bright smile looked like the dawn, warm, gentle, and the name, Dawn is to describe how the face looked like the sun rising early in the morn.”
After we’d lived there for three years, my wife passed the interview of the immigrations offices, and gotten the qualifications of becoming a citizen, my daughter and I worked nights and days with her on the interview questions, and, she’d breezed through her interview. Other than being surprised, we’d asked the interviewing immigrations officer, he’d replied with ease, “it’s okay that you’re not fluent enough in English, you’ll get the hang of it once you’d lived here for long enough, and, although your wife was a bit nervous, but, I’d noted how she’d had that warm and gentle smile on her face, very at ease, and this sort of an optimism is exactly what New Zealand is in need of. Congratulations!”
Some say, “the best makeup is wearing a smile constantly.” It’s right, come to think about it, my wife and I bumped into each other on the bus, back then, she’d just gotten off the night shifts, looking fatigued, without any makeup, but, her smile had, attracted me deeply, and that, was how our love got started.
And so, that just shows, how important, it is, for you, to keep that curl on your lips up, because that would show the outside world, that you’re a positive person, and, if you give off the “vibe” that you’re a positive person, then, naturally, you’d, attract, positive things all around you, and that, is what happened in the story here…
Life, the Obstacle Course 