Angels

Immediately after Spring break in May this year, i received a written notice from Yuta`s school to inform that its principal had passed away during the holiday season. I was rather shocked coz i last saw him just weeks before that. He looked well to me at that time. I didnt know that he was already at the last stage of cancer. Yuta`s school principal used to address the children during assembly every morning. Now, this is the first time that someone Yuta knows passed away. I know i have to at least try to explain to Yuta. I was a little teary after reading the notice and Yuta saw.

Yuta : mama, what happened ?

Me : Yuta, remember your school principal ?

Yuta : (nodded his head)

Me : Your school principal has passed away and he has become an angel

Yuta : (looking puzzled)

Me : He is sleeping now ... he cannot wake up .... coz he is going up to Heaven ... above the clouds ...

Yuta : (thinking for a while) but my school principal doesnt have wings, he cannot fly ... he takes fei ji ?

(fei ji in mandarin means aeroplane)

Me : errrr ...

ahhh ... the innocence of a child ...

kawaii jie jie

While stopping at a traffic light on our way to dinner at Shinagawa tonight, i noticed that there were many people, predominantly females, crossing this particular traffic light.

Me : PaPa, is there a shopping mall nearby ? How come i see so many women crossing this traffic junction ?

before Papa could say anything,

Yuta (who was in the front passenger seat) : PaPa, there are many girls and kawaii jie jie crossing this traffic light ...

(kawaii in japanese means cute & jie jie in mandarin means elder sister)

it took a while to sink into me ..

Me : whoa Yuta, how do you tell which jiejie is kawaii and which jiejie is not ?

Yuta (silent for a moment and then begun to feel embarrassed) ： mama, dont talk to me like that ...

and he proceeded to hide his face

PaPa : Yuta clever boy na ...

wah seh ... my son is not yet five and he already knows ` kawaii jie jie` ... dont know if i should be happy or not ....