A-Jay's Daily Routine

A-Jay (Sister) has characters that I really admire. She works hard, and is extremely kind and generous.

Here is her daily routine that I have observed in about a week. She gets up everyday around 5:00 AM. She would then have water boil so that the family has safe water to drink during the day. At 6:00 AM, she practice Tai-Chi with a group of senior citizens in the park just across the street from her house. At 7:00 AM when Tai-Chi exercise is done, she comes home to have a breakfast. Breakfast menu is very disciplined It usully consists of milk, oat meal, and one ban-tou (bread of Taiwanese version). After the breakfast, she begins to do many household works, such as sweeping floor, watering the plants, hand-wash the clothes and cooks.

Yes, she cooks and prepares at least 4 dishes at every meal. Why so many dishes and so much food? Isn't she living alone by herself? Well, the answer is either 'yes' or 'no'. Yes, she does live alone by herself, except there are me and three other tenants also occupy the building at the same time. However, her daughter, Pei-Leng, lives next to her. Her sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren either lives or works close-by. In a modern busy-life of Taiwan society, those youngsters don't have much time to cook themselves. Most of them come to A-Jay's kitchen table for free meals that are prepared by A-Jay and have conversations with their mom or grand mom. A-Jay is very generous to provide such meals in exchange of being accompanied with her children and grandchildren.

My conclusion is that A-jay is independent (Yes, she is busy all day doing 'a lot' of household chores.); yet she is connected (physically and emotionally) to her children and grandchildren. Such connections come greatly from her kindness and generosity.