Saturday, February 09, 2008
I sit at the dinner table, with relatives beside me, diagonally across, and opposite me.
I listen to fragments of hokkien/cantonese sentences, and try to make some meaning out of them.
I watch, listen, piece the story and evidence together.
Only to discover that CNY is the season of pretence.
Couples pretend to love each other to dissuade others from believing what they hear in the past year.
Families pretend to be happy with each other.
Adults pretend to all like each other.
Adults pretend to let bygones be bygones.
Some pretend not to look when someone walks in your direction with an Ang Pow.
I pretend not to understand anything people say in dialect, and observe how others pretend.