"Big noses were the foreign people who came from across the ocean. "What are they like, these Big Noses?" I asked.

Hanwei's brows climbed even farther as he thought. "Well, their skin gets very pink when they're hot. Also, they're quite hairy. The hair on the backs of their hands can get an inch long!" He lowered his voice. "One of my friends told me h saw a Big Nose with his sleeves rolled up. There was hair all the way up his arms!"

I shuddered. "They must be part monkey, those Big Noses. I've never seen a human with so much hair."

Hanwei shook his head. "They're human, all right. Once you get to know them, you tend to forget how funny they look. Anyway, I have to work so hard in school that I don't have time to worry about my teacher's big nose or hairy arms."

Of all the things Hanwei studied in school, I was most interested in foreigner's language. "Can you speak this..this..English...even if you don't have a big nose?" I asked.

"Of course," said Hanwei. He opened and shut his mouth a few times as he prepared himself. I smiled, because he reminded me of the golden carp in our fishpond. Hanwei probably thought i was admiring him, because he smiled back. Finally, he managed to deliver his English words, which sounded very strange, different from anythings I had ever heard before.

I did my best to repeat them after him I'm good at repeating sounds, and I infuriate some of my cousins by imitating the way they talk.

"Hey! that's not bad!" Said Hanwei. "I'll teach you some more english, if you want."

I was touched by his offer. "That's nice of you. But why should you bother?"

"Didn't they tell you?" asked Hanwei. He glanced over at his mother, who was still talking back to me and smiled. "I'm going to be your husband one of these days."

-Adapted from "Ties that bind, Ties that break", by Lensey Namioka

Spent 2.5 hours reading this book today. Not a really long book though, just a short novel(:

Cant imagine how it would be like if girls nowadays are still forced to bind their foot, and were not allowed to receive education. Well, that was nearly a hundred years ago though. Being born in the 21st century is indeed lucky :D

& its quite funny to see how the chinese used to think about foreigners as Big Nose and having lots of hair! haha. & its even more astonishing that parents engage their children as young as five!

Anw, it really interesting to read about how girls in the past tried to fight against traditions. Maybe if i was born in that time, i would have obliged my mum :\ haha. maybe xD but i'm glad times had changed! :D

& i reserved a book at library today too! so i'll arrive by tmr or friday(:
Thanks for the memories, by Cecelia ahern
(the book cover looks very pretty too! :D)

yea ok. shall blog till here today(:
byebye!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009