STICKY DEPOSITS OF SWEETNESS AND LIGHT

There are times when I wish my apartment mate looked at things with much greater attention and interest. Like when she does the dishes. I often have to rewash things, and stack them more efficiently and sensibly in the rack. And then there are the moments when I am damned glad that her typical Chinese vision casually overlooks things that an anal-retentive Netherlandish house person could not fail to notice. Like, as a perfect example, the fact that I am a bit of a slob, and that there are empty tobacco tins in corners of the teevee room taking up space and gathering dust.
Or that there is a two foot tall native statue of a presumably nautical person with beads and cowrie shells immediately behind her chair.
I can see it. I doubt that she is even aware of it.
It's been there for several months.
He is a presence.


I had a haircut today. She has not noticed yet.


There are things a Chinese person just won't see of which a Dutch person cannot fail to be painfully aware. This may relate to cultural-temperament differences, or some other nurture versus nature thing. I shall not hazard a guess, but I have marked it as a pattern that works well for me.
And I'm totally fine with it. I know what the feather dusters are for, even though I rarely use them. In her case, though she has seen them every day, she probably would not know where either duster is if I asked.
As I mentioned previously, I am slobby.


It also helps that her sense of smell is not optimum. On my days off I smoke inside the apartment with the windows open, letting it air out for three or four hours before she comes home from work. And sometimes late at night, when she has already gone to sleep in her room, I light up also.


So I shall not mention the crud on the coffee spoons from her hot chocolate in the morning. Instead, I'll wash all the implements in the rack again without her knowing. It is best to let sleeping Cantonese females lie.

They can be savage when roused.
But usually aren't.



And she buys cookies.




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