Saturday, March 3, 2018

Long Meals



Long Meals
Noel Laflin
2-10-18
Every meal here in David’s home town of Tianan lasts, on average, two to three hours.
Friends and relatives keep showing up at all of the famaliar haunts, more dishes are ordered, more coffee or tea is poured, desserts delivered.
Conversations in Mandarin or Taiwanese are lively; occasionally my name is mentioned and I smile and nod amicably.
And although I have no idea of most things being spoken, I feel at home among these friends and family - much like family Christmas gatherings of my youth.
So for me, every meal here is treasured holiday time - in this case, anticipating the Chinese New Year, which begins in a few days.
And I'm likely to come home a bit more portly as well.

No comments:

Post a Comment