it has been a long time; * from past till now * and we have improved our English !

Friday, March 24, 2006

My grandfather is over 70 years old. He is a tall and thin man. In my memory, he is not weak. He was able to hold me above his head by using his powerful hands when I was in primary school with one hand held my back neck and the other one kept up my waist. He gritted his teeth for a while and held me up for a long time. I grinned happily when I was in the midair.

My grandfather is not a handsome man. He has yellow and a little dark skin, small puffy eyes, thick and wide lips, but he likes to be well-dressed. It does not mean that he is rich. He is a boy from the countryside and he is very thrifty. He does not seem to have new clothes. Most of his leisure clothes which are worn at home seem old. They look like the working clothes in 1980s and the pyjamas seem to be sewn 20 years ago. But he likes to have a neat hairstyle with tidy clothes and definitely wipe his shoes shiningly before going out. He always taught me not to be wasteful with buying too many new clothes.

He does not like other elderly men who like to play chess or mah-jong every day. He never goes out to play with strangers on the bridge. He is afraid that other untidy men might have contagious diseases. He likes to read newspapers, plant vegetables and fruit trees, write calligraphy or do swordplay at home. He also likes to talk about something new published in the newspaper with me and teaches me many things necessarily to survive in the society.

There are many different kinds of vegetables and fruits in the garden, such as peppers, cucumber, greens , sponge gourd, kumquats, oranges, guava, jujube, and so on. I was able to eat fresh vegetables and fruits when I came to see him and grandma during the weekend with my parents. Grandpa’s calligraphy was quite good and he tried to teach me. When I was interested in writing, he quickly prepared everything for me by spreading the useless newspaper on the table, taking out the brush and ink and wetting the brush evenly for a while. He stood near to me while I was writing and taught me how to write patiently. Every time, I would only spend less than twenty minutes on writing. He always said nothing and then put away everything neatly. I felt sorry about him for having a student like me! Ah, there is a wooden sword and a real one at home. Grandpa often practiced the swordplay in the morning. I would practice with the wooden one and imitated his movements and made a spectacle of myself sometimes.

When I grew up, I became rebellious and liked to quarrel with him because of very small troubles or different opinions on a subject. He would look at me miserably for a while and listen to me shouting loudly! I felt very sorry to him after quarrelling. Grandpa still treated me as well as before. I knew he loved me deeply!

Nowadays in Singapore, I miss him so much. I heard the choking sobs from my grandpa through the cell phone. He is very dear to me and very important in my life. <>

frm past till now at-
11:45 am