Last week, the kangaroo was unwell with exhaustion, flu, and two hangovers. I have never really thought about what he would like to eat when he gets sick until his last bout of flu which happened last month (he tends to get ill after his hardcore business trips).
Usually he hoovers anything on his plate, but that evening, he asked me what I was going to cook and I chirped, “Teriyaki salmon!”
“Oh babe, nooooooo. No salmon. That’s not sick food.”
I was so puzzled, “Honey, why not?”
“It’s just not sick food. Remember I grew up on a farm and never had any seafood until I was 20.”
I was tickled but dismayed: What do I cook?
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One of the things I find surprising about the kangaroo is that he loves gardening. It’s such a contradiction to his high tech brain that runs like a CPU, but I think once in a while, he likes to chill out at home with his plants and flowers. Being a city gal like myself, I find this highly amusing and fascinating.
In Singapore, our rented apartments always had potted plants and blooms of several hues which the kangaroo would love splurging on. Then he would spend glorious hours tending to them like pets on weekends. When we moved to Japan, most of them went to my parents’ home for safekeeping.
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One very Chinesey thing about the kangaroo is that he loves reading Chinese astrological predictions. He even got his mum into it, so back from Singapore last Saturday, he announced, “Babe, I got a pressie for you!”
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“I can’t understand what Singaporeans say sometimes,” the kangaroo declared in exasperation yesterday after he finished a trying conversation with his Singapore accountant’s assistant. He cast a meaningful eye at me and quipped, “I wonder why…?”
I cracked up. True, I don’t use Singlish (Singapore English) with him because he just wouldn’t understand me, or if he did, he would imitate me.
So what was it that he didn’t get?
“Eh?” is what he hears when Singaporeans pick up the phone. I assured him it wasn’t a grunt but a quick, “’Ello?”
“I sen it” means “I am sending it”. The kangaroo was puzzled and asked if she had already sent the email or if she was sending it at the time they were speaking. I told him if she had sent it, she would say, “I sen already.”
Debating about language is a fun thing for us as a mixed couple. I’ll be flying to Sydney in about three weeks and I wonder what I’ll pick up from the Aussies this time…
I got an idea from a friend in Sydney who listens to Class 95 online. It’s weird that out of all the Mediacorp stations, this one works on my iBook. The rest work on a format not recognized on Macs.
But the connection is so poor — the music gets cut off every other minute. I wish I could tune into it better.
So now I’m listening to Australian pop rock station Triple J because they have an mp3 stream option that plays through iTunes. How cool is that? Mr. D loves tuning into this station when he has an hour or two at home.
Plus. I’m so psyched to be going to Sydney. I’ve been there every year at least once to visit. It almost feels like home. Of course, all this fondness is born out of having an excellent time every time. But living with a kangaroo has also made me very partial to Australian culture. I don’t get all the jokes but I just love the breezy, cheeky remarks they make on radio.
Mr. D views Singapore as home for him. I guess it’s a reversal for us. We both don’t want to live in our home countries because the rest of the world is just so fascinating. One of the things I enjoy about our relationship is this constant cultural exchange. Before I make this sound like a sociological bore, let’s just leave it at this: it’s fun being different from each other.
Right now, I feel I’m full of contradictions. I have to admit part of the reason why I’m so looking forward to Sydney is to see Mr. D’s family. They’ve kind of become family to me as I’ve got to know them little by little over the years and they are always very warm peeps. I miss my folks but my gut tells me it’s not time to see them yet. Maybe I’m becoming more aussie than the kangaroo….
Alrighty, gotta hit the books again.
