Recess + Burma Protests

I would like to call a break for The Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family this week, as I am too busy lately to write something good and also starting to run out of topics. I need some times to gather more information.

In the mean time, we may switch our attention to the protests and democratic movement in Burma. As part of the international community, I believe it is something that worths our attention. It is especially the case when China plays a rather crucial role in the development.

BBC Special Report on Burma Protest:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2007/burma/default.stm

Asian Human Rights Commission's Page on Burma People's Protest:
http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/burmaprotests/

The Odd Number Kids VS the Even Number Kids

There's some magic related to the Tse Numbering System.

Somehow, for some unknown reason, the "odd number" uncles/aunts look like Grandpa, while the "even number" uncles/aunts look like Grandma. It won't work if you try to number the siblings by the conventional numbering system, and you have to see "zero" (Goo Ma) in the Tse System as "even" number and "da" (my dad) as "odd" number. (Hey, another difference between the two numbering systems!)

Even when I was a kid, I noticed that Aunts 7 and 9 looked more or less the same, while Aunt 8 looked completely different from the two sisters. Uncles 4 and 10 also looked like twins, especially with their relatively "big" sizes comparing to the other brothers.

The magic passes to our generation as well (except those who look like their mom or dad originally not in the family). I (belong to the odd number group) looks like Aunt 7. Grandma and Mom even say we share the same personality. The younger twin of Uncle 5 looks like Aunt 9. She looks like Aunt 9 even more than the twin sisters look like each other, or Aunt 9's daughter to Aunt 9! I remember when I last saw the twins (when they were 4!), the younger twin was as quiet as Aunt 9 while the older twin was a super talkative baby :)

The magic doesn't just stop there. Daughter of Aunt 7 looked very like me when she was a toddler. Our "degree of resemblance" was to the level that I was so shocked when I first saw her picture. Mom would keep saying that she looked EXACTLY like me when I was a baby if Mom saw her. Even cousins who have only seen Baby Ida in pictures would say, "Wa! Aunt 7's daughter looks the same as Da Kar Jie."

When my sis saw Goo Ma's wedding picture, she commented that Aunt 7 looked the same as we did when we were around the same age. I answered, "Of course. We are all Odd Numbers Kids!"

So this is the magic of the Tse Family.

Quiz 5
The picture this time was taken at around my parents' wedding (1971). Every one should be easily identified by then. Can you figure out who're the Odd Number Kids and who're the Even Number onces?

The Tse Family Numbering System

The Tse Family has our own numbering system.

The System

My father has nine brothers and sisters. Including himself, that makes up 10.

The eldest in the line is my Aunt (姑媽 or "Goo Ma"), and the siblings call her "Gar Jei" (家姐 or "big sister"). Goo Ma moved to Australia since she's married, and I have only seen her twice, one at Uncles 2 and 4's wedding, and the second time was at Uncle 5's wedding. Goo Ma is not a frequently show up character in the family. One time she called my house from Australia and my dad picked up the call. Goo Ma said, "Kwok Sui (國穗, my father's name)? It's Gar Jei." Then my dad replied, "Gar Jei? What Gar Jei?" He had seemingly forgotten that he had a bigger sister.

Next is my dad. The younger brothers and sisters called him "Lo Da" or "Da Gor" (老大 and 大哥 respectively, meaning the eldest brother), and the nieces and nephews called him "Da Bor" or "Da Kor Kor" (大伯 and 大舅舅 respectively).

Then, it came Uncles 2, 3, 4 and 5.

After having five sons in a row, Grandma wanted a girl and her dream soon became true. We then have Aunts 7, 8 and 9. The last sibling is a brother, our Uncle 10.

Quiz 4
Comparing to the "conventional" numbering system, why is the Tse Family Numbering System so special?
...
...
...
Yes, number 6 is missing. (The answer is already included in the previous comments so I reveal it right away.)

But you are only partly right. According to my sis, there are at least two more differentiations. She said, for other kids, they count "1, 2, 3, ..., 10". But for the Tse Family kids, we count "zero (for Goo Ma), 'da' (大, or big, or the eldest, for my dad), 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10"!

The Hypothesis

Consultant of The Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family (i.e. my mom) tried to hypothesize the Tse Family Numbering System. She said the System was actually invented and first used by those who worked and knew my dad (i.e. outside the family). Cause they knew my dad is the eldest son in the family, they called him "lo da" (老大, or the big brother). Later on, they knew our Uncles 2 -5 from work as well, so the numbering continued. It was only later that we also adopted the numbering system to the family.

It sounds quite reasonable, and matches some of my fading childhood memory. However, when I "cornered" the Consultant and asked "then why Aunt 7 isn't Aunt 6 or Aunt 2 (with the boys and girls in different lines)? She also worked at dad's factory.", she got stuck.

So the Tse Family Number System remains a mystery.

The Fall

The Tse Family Numbering System had tried to survive another generation but failed. The reason behind is quite obvious as we are scattered in different places at different times. We can't even figure out who's who sometimes, not to mention our birth dates.

The only one in my generation who carries a "number" is probably me. Like my father, others in the line called me "Da Kar Jie" (大家姐, or the eldest sister, used by my brother, sister and cousins of the Uncles) or "Da Biao Jie" (大表姐, or the eldest girl cousin, used by cousins of the Aunts). Also like my father, strictly speaking, I am not the eldest in the generation. There are 19 of us and I am only the third in the generation, with children of Goo Ma both older than me :)

So, this is a very unique characteristic of our family.

P.S. One of my former colleague was "college-mate" of my sis, same faculty, same department, same programme, same class. The fact was quite well-known in the office. One time, another colleague asked how many sisters I had. I said, without much thinking, "one, with the same parents."

I fell the silence in the air.

Then I added, "the others are 'tong sai mui' (堂細妹, younger female cousins of the uncles)". I thought I heard a deep breath.

For me, as they all call me "Da Kar Jie" since they know how to speak, it comes quite natural to me that they are all my younger sisters and brothers rather than cousins!

Answer of Quiz 3

Before we proceed, let's find out who's who in "the quest for your mom or dad......in the picture".

On the front row from left, they were Uncle 4, Aunt 8, Aunt 7, Uncle 5 and Uncle 3.

On the middle row, starting from the third person from left, they were Grandma, Grandpa, my dad and Uncle 2. Grandma's holding Baby Uncle 10 and on Grandpa's lap was Aunt 9.

On the back was Goo Mar and father of Cousins Polly and Arthur. (When my sis first saw the picture, her first remarked was "Goo Mar was not in the picture". It's only after she identified from dad to Uncle 10 that she figured out it's Goo Mar's wedding.)

All of the contestants got the younger ones right as you can easily differentiate them from their sizes :> One of them got assistance from someone in the picture and hence got everyone right! Not only that, she even challenged us with a new question -- name of the restaurant in the picture.

From the picture, you can see that Uncle 2 was almost identical to his son now. Uncle 4 looked almost exactly the same all his life, and Aunt 9 in the picture also resembled herself nowadays very much. My sis said when we two were kids, we looked very like Aunt 7 in the picture (I will explain why later), and of course, daughter of Aunt 7 looked very like her mom and also me and my sis at around the same age.

The iron workers strike had finally come to an end... ...

... ...tonight, after 36 days in the picket line.

The ironworkers had finally gotten their eight-hour work days. However, instead of a salary of HK$950 per day, they only won a salary of HK$860. Workers and employers are far from standing on a level playing field.

Here's a record of what happened:
http://strikers.wordpress.com/

P.S. It's only because of the strike that I had finally known how the steel reinforcements were put inside the concrete. It's an art, and lots of experiences, skills, and intelligences in it.

Elmo loves the earth!

Presents from my two lovely cousins. They are of different sizes, fitting me at any time :)

The quest for your mom or dad ... ... in the picture

First thing first. The answer for Quiz 2 of the previous post is Uncle 3 was missing. Mom said Uncle and Aunt 3 were in Edmonton and didn't return for the wedding. Others might supplement more information. That was year 1976 :) Other people in the picture are pretty easily identified so I won't repeat here.

I didn't mention in the previous post that the last time the siblings were all together was at my parents wedding! 36 years ago!

Here comes the (may be) most challenging question in "The Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family" series.

Quiz 3
Again, can you find your mom or dad in the picture?

Other not in the family might take a wild guess to see who's my father. (It should be easier after I write about the Tse Family Numbering System next week.)

Hints: The two in the left of the middle row should not be in our family. The two in the middle were of course Grandma and Grandpa.

Not very useful hints: I have to say I am not 100% confident that the 10 siblings were all there. Some were not that "recognizable", while some looked almost identical to their sons!

P.S. I think I will try to post on "The Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family" once every week and around weekend. That will be easier for the interested readers to follow and give myself less pressure to keep writing. Next week will be on the long waited "Tse Family Numbering System".

P.P.S. May be I should advertise in Facebook :)

The Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family

This is getting more and more interesting (or "mo-liu", I should say). One of my cousins put up a Tse Family Trivia to challenge us about the "facts" of our parents.

Well, I initiated all these things and I have to confess that I also screwed up first.

I had mentioned the last time the ten brothers and sisters were together were at Uncles 2 and 4's wedding. I found out the wedding pictures tonight, but oops, one of them was missing!

Quiz 2 --
This is the picture of the "wedding of the century". See if you can find out who's missing and if you can find your mom or dad.

To give you some tips. I was the girl wearing red dress in the middle, and Nobel was the baby in blue on the right. Cousin Polly was the beautiful girl standing on the left end and Cousin Arthur was the boy to the right of Baby Nobel. This was the first and last time I met Polly and Arthur. (I wanted to write "the only time in my whole life", but well, never says never.)

The Tse Family Re-union 2007

There's no need to look for me in the picture. I wasn't there.

This was the Tse Family Re-union 2007 in Edmonton couple of weeks ago, with representatives from seven of the ten children of my grandparents. This was the biggest event in the Tse Family history since my cousin Rosanna's wedding a few years ago. Last time when all ten of my grandparents' children were together, it was my Uncles 2 and 4's wedding, which was before my sis (who ranked the fifth among the 19 in my generation) was born.

My family is scattered around HK (HK Island, Kowloon and New Territories, to be precise), Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Melbourne, and also Beijing after mid-September, with the biggest number in Edmonton. It is not easy to have so many of us together all at once, and interesting enough, there's no special reason this time (in the sense of something to celebrate). I think the next big turnout should be at one of our weddings.

Quiz -- for those not in the Tse, Lam and Anderson families
Two of the people in the picture are twins. See if you can find them.

P.S. I plan to launch "The Tse Family" series in my blog. Stay tune.