Sunday, September 22, 2013

When Papa Lai Misses Mama Lai

Papa Lai is the storyteller in the family.  I always think our imaginative side and our love of stuffed animals was inherited from Papa Lai.  While Mama Lai is out of the country (leaving Papa Lai behind), Papa Lai sent us the following photo with this caption:




"Mommers Missing:  I think a bear ate her.  I am going to the FBI to give them a pic of the suspect."

Thursday, September 19, 2013

A Brief History in Low-Rider Pants

As we were making our way through a subway tunnel in Beijing, Mama Lai spotted a young Chinese man who wore his pants very low.  Mama Lai turned to me and pointed at him:
"Is that what they call a 'low-ride'?"
Chuckling, I nodded yes.
"Do you know what the history of a low-ride pants is?"
Thinking she was asking this question in earnest, I volunteered to help her look it up when we got back home if she was really that curious.
"Oh!!  You don't know???  Well, I know.  Let me tell you."
Mama Lai gleefully related to me her knowledge of "low-rider" pants, which she had garnered from reading an online article "written by a black man" (so of course on such topics, this is an important indicator of reliability).
"...in prison when you wear your pants low it means you're the submissive one."
I was practically choking with laughter and I must've given Mama Lai a look because she announced:
"and yes I know what submissive means in prison!" 
 
 

 

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

I'm a Survivor

Mama Lai took some time out of her busy retirement schedule to visit me all the way in Beijing.  After a fun day of eating and shopping I remarked that maybe she should thinking about just staying with me in Beijing.  Looking up and thinking for a minute she thoughtfully said:
"I would give it two months, tops.  Then one of us would have to die."
She walked out of the room without another word.  Then a minute later, she walked back in and said:
"Yeah and I want to live.  I've got sixty years of survival on you so you'd have to watch your back."