Sorry if I haven't written in a long time; things have been crazy at best around here.  I hope you understand.

Ba is doing better since I last wrote: he hasn't had any more episodes of chest pain or shortness of breath.  He is still busy at the local university, teaching Chinese to American students who are thinking of traveling abroad or going there for schooling to further their education.  He enjoys his job very much, and we enjoy seeing Ba being so happy.

Ma is busy raising us.  Besides me, there's my two older sisters, Jun Xie (14) and Wie Poo (12), and our kid brother, Li Xuang, who is only six ... and a little brat.  He has himself wrapped around Ma and Ba's little finger; he is thoroughly spoiled!

She has her hands full, meaning Ma, especially with Li!  He drives us crazy!!

PoPo (our grandmother) is now in a nursing home: she has gotten too weak to care for herself.  As for YeYe (grandfather), he visits his wife every day at the nursing home.  He also doesn't speak much in the way of English; English is proving to be very hard for him.  YeYe would much rather speak Chinese; it's more comfortable for him to do this, which drives a lot of people here in America crazy!

I have no problem with YeYe speaking Chinese: I speak Chinese and English, both.  I mainly speak English (like at school or when I am out in public), but when we go to Chinatown or am with YeYe and PoPo, I speak Chinese, so they can understand me.

I am glad that Ba is doing better with his health.  When he got sick last year, I got scared: I thought for certain that he was having a heart attack.  I guess it was job stress that caused his sick spell, but now that things have gotten a bit easier (he's not working as many hours, plus there's an assistant professor to help him if he needs it), Ba doesn't seem mearly so stressed, which is a great relief for all of us.

When Ba gets sick, I worry.  I already lost an uncle to heart trouble last year; his name was Ping, and he was Ma's older brother.  I still miss Uncle Ping; he was a fun guy, and he loved to make people laugh.  Then one day he had a heart attack, and the paramedics couldn't save him.  He was dead.  It was a very bad time for our family.  He died nearly one year ago, around Easter.  So Easter is a sad time for our family because then we end up missing Uncle Ping and realize just how much we miss him.

He was in his later forties when he died.  It was sudden, and we did not expect it to happen.

He was too young.

Ever since, I am scared the same thing will happen to my Ba.  I love Ba so much, and I would hate to lose him so suddenly like that!

Well, I have to go to my next class, so I will write again soon.  I hope Ba continues to do well, and I hope that YeYe learns to speak English so I don't have to act as his translator!  It's a pain!  Take care and talk to you again soon!

~Love, your friend in San Francisco, Winnie Ming.  :)