Grandma as Michelle Remembered

My Grandma

April 2002
By Michelle Zhang (age 11)


My grandma's name is Jin Zhou, which, in Chinese, means beautiful jade. She was born in Beijing, the capital of China. She has lived in China for most all her life, and at other times she was either here in America or somewhere else traveling. I call my grandmother by the Chinese word for grandma, which is pronounced ah-powoa. I might sometimes call her Grammy and she would understand. I remember explaining to her that the Grammy Awards were special awards that were given to many honored T.V. shows and then she accepted being called Grammy. She calls me by many names, some of which are Michelle when she is not sure where I am, Ah-bo (means Treasure) when we are having fun together, and Child when she is about to lecture me about studying harder.

Grandma was a doctor and she enjoys playing Ma Jian (a traditional Chinese Game), Go and any other game that is simple and fun to learn. She also likes working on puzzles because she likes seeing the overall appearance of it once it's done.

If I were to describe my Grandma, I would have to say that she is everything you want a grandmother to be. But the three main things are that she is fun, generous and an overall responsible person. She would NEVER buy make up for young children because she believes that a child's main priority is studying. But if you were done doing your homework, she would be glad to play any sort of game with you. She will always clean up the house daily because she thinks that the house collects too much dust during the past day and night. If she relocates your things, she will always tell you where she puts them so that you won't have to look all over everywhere. She is very caring, always worried if you have a scratch or cut. She would do everything in her power to prevent that from happening again.

My first memory of my grandma was when I was about three. I went to live in China for a year or so because my mom and dad both had to work hard and Grandma was the only person that could really take care of me well. So I was happy in China and went to many exciting places like the Great Wall of China. Then, on Wednesday, October 10th, 1993, I came back here to America. Grandma didn't come with me. My Grandma and Grandpa from my dad's side came with me instead. I remember crying my eyes out and screaming that I didn't want to go back; that I wanted to stay with Grandma forever... But after all, I was forced to go on that plane that would take me away from all the family I knew. I remember Grandma waving good-bye to me and me crying again and again on the flight back...

I love my Grandma, the one and only beautiful jade.

The 3rd Club Competition

We had our 3rd Photo Club Competition Monday night.  My first photo scored 27 out of 27, which is very difficult to get, and the 2nd one scored 25 out of 27.   For the past 3 club competitions, I submitted 3 photos each time.  Out of the 9 photos, 7 were about animals and 2 were landscape images.  All 7 animal photos received an award, but my landscape images got nothing.  

    

When you think about it, this is a very interesting situation.  If I pursue photography based on the competition preference, I will one day end up being a bird photographer!  How do we overcome the temptation (of winning) and pursue what we love, not what the judges love?! 

The first unit paper of my photography class is due tomorrow.  In the paper, I once again stressed the importance of understanding WHY we study and WHAT we do with what we've learned.  Here is the beginning and the end of my paper.

In the world of Photography, there are those who know every piece of the camera/lens equipment – they believe that’s critical for capturing exceptional photographs.  There are others who know every aspect of all software applications to help them post-process their images – they believe that’s critical for creating perfect colors and tone for their photographs.  And then, there is me, who know nothing about Photography – including its history, technique or image processing applications.  Without even understanding what the aperture or shutter speed is, I managed to shoot the following images.  I love nature photography and believe I have the ability to see beauty in nature.  I am interested in learning only because I have come to realize that my limited knowledge about photography and its techniques has become a barrier for me to accurately capture the wonders of nature.

......... 

…......

 

As I continue learning more technical skills in Photography, I want to make sure that I don’t lose sight of the true beauty in nature.  I need to remind myself that all technical aspects of the photography are to help us express our imagination and creativity, not to replace it.

愚公移山

It might be the intense snow-shoveling over the past 2 days, or the approaching of Chinese
New Year, I could not stop thinking of the little story I've learned and memorized since I was 6. 
This is how I learned the word "persistence." 

There were two high mountains between Jizhou in the south and Heyang in the north. One was
called Taihang Mountain and the other Wangwu Mountain. Both of the mountains were very
high.   Just to the north of the mountains lived an old man called Yu Gong who was nearly 90
years old. With the two high mountains just in front of his house, his family and he had to walk a
long way around the mountains whenever they had something to do on the other side of the
mountains.

One day, Yu Gong called all his family together to talk about how to move the two mountains to other places. His wife said, "An old man like you cannot even move a small hill, not to mention
the two high mountains. Even if you can, where can you throw so much earth and stone?"  "The Bohai Sea is big enough to contain all the earth and stone," Yu Gong said.  So it was decided. His children started to dig the mountains, led by the old man Yu Gong.

A man named Zhi Sou saw them working and tried to stop them, saying, "You are so silly!
You're so old and weak that you can't even take away the grass and trees. How can you move
the high mountains?"  "You're wrong," Yu Gong said with a sigh. "Look, my sons can continue
my work after my death. When my sons die, my grandchildren will continue. So generations
after generations, there's no end. But the mountains can't grow higher. Do you still say I can’t
move them away?" 

Later the Heaven God, upon learning of Yu Gong’s story, was greatly moved. He then ordered
another god to come down and take the two high mountains away.

The story tells us that so long as one is determined and sticks to it long enough, anything can be done, no matter how difficult it is.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today starts the Year of Rabbit.

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

 

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.

 

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors. The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.

The Blizzard of 2011

After it's all said and done, this is what we are left with - digging out!  I am so glad that my camera was able to help me record history.

The Tiger Mom

Thanks to the artist, the "Chinese Mother" has turned into a "Tiger Mom." 

Even though my little Michelle is turning 21 in June, I still constantly ask myself -- How would Michelle turn out had I taken a different parenting approach?! 

Found the following email from 5 years ago.  I am sure there are countless theories out there on parenting.  A good mother would be the one who understands the art of balance. 

---

From: Pei Tang [mailto:tang_pei@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 12:06 PM
To: Pei Tang
Subject: Being a Mom

Obviously, as you can tell, I am home.  If I ever read when I'm home, it's going to be about how to be a better mom... which I know deep in my heart that I am not.

********************

On Being a Mom
by Anna Quindlen

If not for the photographs, I might have a hard time believing they ever existed.

Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout.

Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the Remember-When-Mom-Did-Hall-of-Fame. 

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less. Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be (Well, I hope by demanding ten thousand ways that I back off and let her be, Michelle will turn out to be 100 times better than me... Pei ). The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That's what the books never told me.