| Summer, 2002 |
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| On the Kowloon side |
I was born early in the morning of April 16, 1961. I was a charming tot who seldom cried. Mom and dad often comment that they didn't even know I was around, which is something I have come to believe since there are so few pictures of me as a baby or child.
I appeared on TV when I was six years old and accompanied my Birthday-Boy friend Jason on that ever popular Edmonton classic, Popcorn Playhouse, where I revealed that I wanted to be a ski-jump when I grew up (go figure that).
At 17 years old, I ran away from home to Dawson City in the Yukon and got a job working on the Yukon River ferry, the George Black.
It was there I learned I shouldn't have run away from home. Life was good at home: free food, someone to launder my clothes and sheets. Dad even ironed jeans and t-shirts.
Since then I have worked for the railway as a brakeman, milked cows, planted trees, taught school, worked as a Japanese translator and am currently in a secondary school in Hong Kong instructing English.
I'd now like to go back to teaching in a Canadian school or buy a bicycle rick-shaw and pull people around Vancouver Island. Really!
Mika Okaasan (the mom/the pregnant chick)
Atashi wa, 1963 no 3 gatsu ni umaremashita. I am the eldest daughter of the Yoshiike family of Amori, Nagano, Japan.
I was an overly energetic little kid who enjoyed picking on my younger sister, Eri. I also loved following strangers home and have them make dinner for me.
As I got older, I started swimming. I loved it and got pretty good. I was the star of my school teams, competing at many All-Japan swimming meets. I practiced from early in the morning which is probably the reason I slept through my academic classes and never learned English.
I followed in my dad's footsteps and became a 'settai-shi' (Japanese chiropracter). I had my own thriving practice in Nagano City until I bumped into Will on a squash court and he swept me away to live in Hong Kong.
The key to our successful marriage is probably the fact that I slept through English all those years ago. It's really handy not understanding a thing 'dana-sama-dingle-puss' says. Works for me.
Nani? Nani? Nani wo itte-iru no? Never fails!
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Curtis Chonan (the eldest son)
Mom and dad welcomed me into the world during a nasty blizzard in Nagano City on January 24, 1996. I had the scrawniest little legs on the planet and no chin to speak of. Dad was scared he'd fathered a chicken.
I speak both English and Japanese because having me was the only way mom and dad could guarantee they could communicate in later years when they lose their minds and forget the small bits of each other's language they DO know.
Although I'm not yet seven, I already have some favourite things. I like to ride bicycles and rollerblade. I'm also a bit of a TV watcher and I like my 'Gameboy Advance.' I enjoy tormenting my little sister, not listening to my mom and occasionally excavating the inner reaches of my olfactory organ.
Right now I live in Hong Kong which I don't really like because there aren't many places I can play outside. But I like the Japanese International school where I am first-grader.
When I grow up I don't really know what I want to be yet, except that I do know I never want to go anywhere without mom and dad (especially mom) because... see... I can't actually do anything for myself.
Nina Chojo (the eldest daughter)
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| First day of kindergarten |
I'm the newest Munsey. I'm also a real cutie-pie--or so grampa says.
I'm about a year out of diapers. It took quite a while because I didn't really see the point in potty training; the diapers were fine; I pooped. Someone cleaned it up. What could have been easier? Beats me what was all the fuss about?
Although I'm not very old, I do know what I like and don't like. As far as food goes, give me shrimp, shrimp and more shrimp. That, and whatever my brother has, even if I don't like it; if he's got it, I better get it too.
My biggest complaint in this family is that I never get anything new, never anything that was bought with ME in mind. I get my brother's old stuff or stuff passed down from my cousin, Natsumi, but never stuff where someone says, "hey, Nina I bought this just for you."
That's gonna change. I promise.
Do ya think a new kid is gonna jeopardise my place of primacy in this cozy little operation I got going?
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