Being lazy is a sin.

My Taiwanese mother is Hakka.

Hakka is a family which used to live together in a cylinder shaped building. They are eager to give the best education to their children and always work very hard. They speak their own language. So my Taiwanese mother speaks Taiwanese, Mandarin, English and Hakka. The reason why she immigrated into Canada was to give her three daughters better education. It was 22 years ago, when not so many Asian immigrants were in Canada.

It is amazing to see how my Taiwanese parents always keep themselves busy even at home. Since my Taiwanese father has a decent job at Toronto airport, she doesn’t have to work. But she sells jewelries at a mall nearby, and she does pretty good. She works 35 hours a week; 9am-5pm or 1pm-9:30pm. She is also a Chinese teacher on Saturdays. She makes teaching materials for her class. Also you cannot forget she is a good cook. She cooks 3 meals for us. Her house is always maintained clean and organized. There is no room that I can help. She handles everything to be perfect.

It struck me to hear her say,

“I feel guilty if I spend time without doing anything unless I am sick.”

My Taiwanese father is also never at ease. He was off today. When I saw outside in the afternoon, he had knocked down an old hut in the backyard and taken everything out. He did that alone within a day. He is going to build a new storage hut. Hope he lets me help a little tomorrow.

When they don’t work, they pray. Both of them are really pious. My Taiwanese mother prays to her Buddhist alter every morning. My Taiwanese father prays for 1-2 hours no matter how many times a day when he is off duty without doing anything at home. They are the real Buddhists.

They never waste food. She cooks a lot, but usually he eats all. Even he cannot, throwing away left-over is never their option unless it has gone bad. They eat it another time. When he saw my wedding pictures, where my husband tries to put some cream on my face (that seems to be the Western tradition), he said, “I don’t like that. It is wasting food.” (It is also ruining my make-up : - P)

I share the same idea as them, but their belief is more intense. I feel guilty if I don’t have a job; I don’t feel guilty if I am lazy when I am off. I DON’T throw away food, but they NEVER do. When they make soup from bones, they eat the every edible part of them.

I asked, “Did your parents teach you the idea that being lazy is a sin?” Then she said, “Parents don’t have to teach how to live to their kids. Kids see and learn how their parents live. My mother was a teacher, but she wakes up at 5:30am to clean everything before she goes to work. I don’t do that, though.”

She also said that Hakka girls used to be wanted to be married to by Chinese single men because they basically work harder than other girls.

They are not cheap. They bought this house one week after they came to Canada. Now they bought a condo to move into someday or for investment for now. "Spend money to make more money!"

Being diligent, living humble, but still spending money on what they have to do is very Asian, which modern Japanese don’t follow any more. I just follow what I see right, which is exactly their way. Living with my Taiwanese parents could adjust the way to live my life. But how can I help myself with adjusting to the Canada time?? I cannot resist my body wanting to sleep on the Japan time still… I will be a complete lazy person in this house forever…

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Today's dinner: fried vegetables, sausages, and rice porridge with taro and chicken called si-fan. I like it very much...I put some cilantro leaf on it. Salmon from 2 days ago is also on the table. 

Yum!!