點滴6 Sharing 6: 見家長 (4) Meeting the Parents (4)

Moritz身在香港...

Moritz in Hong Kong...

在晚飯前，我跟Moritz再次重溫我教他的廣東話，主要是對人的稱呼，因為等一下他便會跟我家人見面。我教他應該稱呼我父母"世伯伯母", 如果只見到我爸就是"世伯", 我媽就是"伯母", 但緊張起來只見到他們其中一個他都會說"世伯伯母"，但現在他知道兩者分別。

Before heading to dinner, I reviewed the Cantonese phrases, mainly how to address my family, with Moritz because he will meet my family finally. I taught him to call my parents "Sai-Bak Bak-Mo" Uncle & Aunt in Cantonese. When there is only my dad, it would be "Sai-Bak" and say "Bak-Mo" if he meant my mom. When he was nervous and tense, he will use "Sai-Bak Bak-Mo" even only either my dad or mom is present. But now he knew the difference. 

正式見面我知道Moritz很緊張，因為他拿著手信送給我媽時，雙手在抖震，可能我之前告訴過他我父母性格古怪，好像我一樣捉摸不定，令他特別步步為營。

I understood Moritz was so anxious to meet my family the first time because when he handed the gift to my mom, his hand trembled. I told him before that my parents are as weird as I do, you cannot understand what we are thinking. Maybe because of that, my words scared him.

礙於語言不通，真的不能深入了解，但我驚訝我家人能用簡單英文句子或單字表達意思，相信日子久了，Moritz會習慣這種溝通模式，沒有我這個翻譯也可和我父母聊天。

Due to communication problem, they cannot deeply know each other better. However, I was surprised by my family that they could use short sentences and simple words in English to express themselves. I believed, in long term, Moritz will use to this kind of communication, he will be able to chat with my parents without me to translate.

最後一次見面是在德國餐廳，點了許多德國特色菜如鹹豬手﹑香腸、各款啤酒。我媽還親手編了頸巾給Moritz作聖誕禮物，我爸記下Moritz的電話跟他WhatsApp和WeChat。我真的低估了我家人對Moritz的接受程度，他們比我預期中更喜歡更接受他。

The finally gathering was in the German restaurant. We ordered the traditional German dishes like pork knuckles, sausages and various beer. My mom handwoven Moritz a scarf as Christmas gift while my dad asked Moritz's number for WhatsApp and WeChat. I admitted that I under-estimated the acceptances of Moritz from my family. They like him more than I expected.