This year on Mother's Day today, I would like to talk about my grandmother. Please scroll down to read my story...
More from my memory 2
Memoir – The Mahjong Game
Grandma was a very tiny woman, but somehow, she was the glue that held our large family together.
My dad was always working so he was seldom home. Grandpa worked too, to develop his self-made medicines. When I was growing up he already had a type of cough syrup on sale in Hong Kong and in Singapore, and might had been on sale in other countries. Now it is also on sale in Canada's Chinatown. Unfortunately, my dad was not interested in the medical field, he was only interested in tinkering with radios which did bring in a lot of money for a while. After Grandpa's death, the cough syrup business had gone to his fourth brother and his family in Singapore who now own the rights.
Grandma loved playing mahjong. Sometimes, she would ask my mom and two others to play with her since it takes four people to play the game, but my mom always liked hanging out with her friends so sometimes Grandma would be short of one player. When that happened, she would ask one of our servants to fill in. The servant was a fat lady named “Fay Poh Saam”, which in Enghlish, translates to "Fat Lady" Saam! I never knew what her true name was, except that she allowed herself to be called “Fay Poh”. She would happily play mahjong until it was time for her to go back to the kitchen to make dinner for the family. Fay Poh Saam always received good treatment from my Grandma just because she knew how to play mahjong. This had caused jealousy among the other servants.
Sometimes, Grandpa would sit in to play as well. Grandpa was normally a kind and very gentle man. He was never mad, except when he was needed to sit at the mahjong table to play. If he thought he was about to win a game but didn’t win it, he would lose his temper and swear in Chinese. Grandma would silently tolerate his swearing. She would let him swear all he wanted as long as he didn't get up and leave the game.
Sometimes, though, Grandma would get mad at Grandpa. We always could tell when Grandma and Grandpa had a fight because Grandpa would always retire to the living room by himself and lay face-up on the couch with two hands supporting the back of his head, silently look up at the ceiling, while Grandma would still be scolding him from her room. I could never hear much of what she was saying because the T.V. was always on at the same time, but I knew she was mad and Grandpa would be the silent one to let her be mad whenever this happens.
THANK YOU SANDIE...I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS ORIGINAL GAME OF MAHJONG, AT ALL. I'VE ALWAYS PLAYED IT ON MY COMPUTER...SINGULARLY. SOUNDS SO INTERESTING! GRANDMAS SOUNDS LIKE SHE WAS A VERY STRONG FORCE IN YOUR FAMILY...NO WONDER YOU REMEMBER HER AND THE GAME SO DEARLY. THANKS FOR THIS SHARING, ENJOYED. LOVE, BLESSINGS AND FAITH...HIS+INSPIRATIONS.
A very interesting story about your grandmother! The Chinese have been playing the mahjong game for century and it is considered the most favorable game to pass the time and in the promotion of friendship among peers. Your grandmother must have led a very interesting life. Not a lot of people could afford a houseful of servants.
The way you play mahjong is not the traditional way. Matching mahjong tiles is only created by western people. The proper way to play the real mahjong game requires a lot of strategies. Each player can collect tiles of the same type to create a much higher hand to win the most money, and each good player would guess what the other players need to win, and how many tiles are left in the stack of tiles to surface. Each player uses strategy either to hold the winning tiles from others in their hands or throw it out to the board to entice the other player who may be holding your winning tile. If necessary to ruin others you may have a hand of mixed tiles for the win which would give you the winning but at the lowest level of monetary reward. Those who are ruined by your winning may swear at you or be mad at you, but that's the way of the game. You either let them win or ruin their whole plan of the tiles. LOL!!! A lot of strategies are involved when you play the real mahjong game, and that's why I like playing it too.
An interesting story about family life in an extended family with servants. Not many American families have lived like that in the past century. I once dated a Chinese woman from Taiwan whose father was a medical doctor trained at Johns Hopkins. She said they had a home in Taipei that was as big as a city block and she had her own seamstress making beautiful silk dresses for her. She studied rehabilitation, got a Masters degree and married a doctor, I believe.
On my mother's side we always played many card games and board games. Grandparents often initiated the games, but my grandfather was always chided by my grandmother for his poor play. He tolerated it quite nicely. My mother, after finishing the dishes from the fabulous meals that she did, sometimes with the help of grandmother, would always initiate evening games.
But I never knew mahjong until recently. I always enjoyed solitaire, and have found mahjong that I play alone, so it must be much different from that played in competition with three others. But it is fun and always a surprise when I can make a good move. It is timed and I am slow, so I don't score very well.
My grandma didn't work in the kitchen, the servant Fay-Por-Saam did, but grandma was a lot of fun to be with. I remember her giving my mother advice that she needed to doll herself up daily, like putting makeup on herself and comb her hair daily to look good for my dad. My grandmother used to sit in front of her vanity dresser to comb her hair and put makeup on herself, and I used to love sitting beside her, watching her do that. It always fascinates me to watch her!
Sandie :)
Reviewed by Danny Underwood
5/10/2020
A very heartwarming story about your grandmother even though it is not about her baking something for you to eat.
Mahjong game is an entertaining game for many to pass the time even as of nowadays. Your grandmother sounds like a fun person to be with, even for the servant who worked for her.
Good morning, Sandie... Here in Southern California (5/10/20) it is 8:11 AM.
Very amusing and interesting story, Sandie... Your grandpa was a smart man leaving the room allowing his wife (your little grandma) to rant from room to room.
My wife, Bonnie, 'loves' Ma Jong under normal conditions playing at least twice a week and even now, under our social distance conditions she has two lady friends that have been completely closed in, as have we (other than shopping) that she goes to their home or they come to our home and play 'head to head' ma jong while I am exiled to my room for the three or four hours while they play. But it is okay because I spend many hours every day re-editing and re-writing chapters of "Becoming" and, soon to come, "For Better or Worse"
Stay well, stay safe my far northern friend.
Mark
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