THE TASTE OF MEMORY.10 2/25/21

It is very reassuring to know our treasured elders are receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations. Many of them have had their first shot and some will soon have their second. Only a couple have not yet been able to schedule a date for vaccination. We look forward to the day when they are all safely vaccinated. 

We posed the question, “how does Chinese New Year make you feel or what emotions does the celebration evoke?” For our warmup we thought of a word which described the emotion and shared a matching gesture. I began by demonstrating the noise of firecrackers exploding, with a gesture of fingers and arms flicking outward. Margaret also spoke of the noise, but she gestured hands over ears. Lao Yu toasted the New Year with an imaginary bottle and Sook Fong put her hands together in greeting, “gong xi fa cai”. She also told us how she goes to the temple on the first day of the New Year for a vegetarian meal. 

 

Pun made the ubiquitous gesture of a phone to represent all the calls that everyone makes to their friends and family, while Jing Wei carried a lantern. She told us of the tradition which is still followed of placing a candle on a wooden board and carrying it through the streets for the lantern parade. Spica banged the drums for the lion dance. 

 

JuLisa makes her grandchildren say four words in Mandarin before they can receive their red envelopes. As So Sim is the eldest in her family, everyone calls her to wish her prosperity and good health for the New Year. Stella used to go home to visit her family on the second day of the New Year, as is the tradition for married daughters, but unfortunately her family has passed. Ru Ping enjoyed visiting people’s homes to wish them good luck and prosperity.

 

It’s always thrilling to share our students’ work and see how they have each developed their own unique style. Pun spoke of how hard she worked to complete her homework, only being satisfied with her drawings on the third attempt. So Sim shared the original tray of mixed dried fruit she modeled one of her drawings on and Sook Fong spoke of her inspiration to draw all the dishes made for a friend’s recent 60th birthday celebration. Margaret’s crab is realistically drawn and exquisitely colored. Stella added smiling faces to her bowl of rice balls and a delightful rabbit face for another dish. JuLisa included a small boy licking his lips as he held a giant white radish cake. Jing Wei’s signature style is fine detailed drawings and clever use of color. Hui Fang included a hanging duck, and Ru Ping’s drawings utilize bright colors in abstract shapes. Lao Yu included colorful plump grapes so well shaded that they appeared to reflect the light.

 

Today’s class focused on how to use these drawings and objects to compose a Chinese New Year’s page of dishes. I shared my page inspired by the idea of firecrackers exploding. Spica demonstrated different ways of composing the page by placing the cut-out dishes and objects in specific configurations. Name tags for each dish were made by brushing a colored marker on white paper and for the background and using a fine tipped black sharpie to write the name of the dish on top. Each name tag was cut out and arranged in menu style or placed next to each dish.

 

Using a Mad Lib as a prompt for storytelling is useful and the students shared stories of favorite dishes and memories of Chinese New Year. As a child, Lao Yu looked forward to playing volleyball, for which her village was famous. Her story prompted Jing Wei to tell us how she played volleyball for her school. JuLisa’s favorite dish is fried garlic shoots with bacon. Ru Ping remembered how as a child, she enjoyed getting new clothes and a new hat.

 

As always seems to be the case, our class ends too soon but there was no time to linger today as many of the students have another class at 1pm. It’s terrific to see how they have embraced the new zoom technology. Bensonhurst Senior Center continues to do an outstanding job supporting their community by offering a variety of classes and help with technical issues.