How a habit got started, translated…
“It’s eleven, when aren’t you in bed? Staying up too late will stump your growth!”
As that old motorcycle engine stopped, dad took the emptied lunch box into the living room, saw me sitting on that small stool, studying hard, he’d asked.
the Japanese way of driking tea, photo from online…
I’d gone to the fifth grade in the elementary of the distant regions, dad believed, that being the ruler of the hills can’t have that competitive edge as the kids in the cities, for the sake of my education, he’d moved my family to the cities so I can get a better education. During the planting seasons, the kids in the mountains needed to help out with the planting, and we’d also, gone hunting with the family, to set the traps, to collect the bamboo shoots, and I’d only needed to, study hard, and look after my younger siblings, that’s it. It’s a wonder, that I was, first of my class every single year. Dad has the foresight and the wisdoms, the first monthly exams after I’d transferred, I’d had that taste of defeat all right.
The week before the exams, I’d set up my own schedule to review, but, by eleven at night, I’d started, dozing off. Dad consoled me to go to sleep in bed, but I wasn’t moved, insisted, that I must, follow my schedules to the word, and so, he’d opened up the cabinets, and, took out the teas he only put out for the guests. As I’d drunk down that first sip of tea, ever since, dad’s tea that he’d saved, became, the best ingredient to help me stay awake during my studies in the nights.
this would be, the less exgtravagant way of doing it, photo from online…
At the age of eleven, I’d started drinking tea, I couldn’t understand the savoring, the scent, so long as I’m able to, stay awake; and now, I’d been, living in teas for years since, I’d taken up the ways of the masters to drinking it. In the morning when I get up, I’d given myself a cup of Biluochun tea, to give myself that wakeup call; in the afternoons, I’d had the teas from Alishan and the teacup; on the evenings, I’d called out to my group of friends over, with the Pu-Er teas.
Seeping in the teas all day long, drinking the teas became, a philosophy of life, drinking alone brings comfort, drinking with another, adds the fun, hollering the gathering, to get the atmosphere going. Tea, no matter how you drink it, it’s, good.
conversation over a cup of tea here, photo from online…
So, this started when you were a teen, and that scent of care and concern that your father called you to drink the teas carried over, which added to the hobby that you’re, keeping up with regularly now, drinking tea, alone, or with someone you know and cared a lot about.
Life, the Obstacle Course 