Meagan's World: Tai Chi

Sunday, February 27, 2005

Tai Chi

To walk into Soho or Central, or down to the mall, I go through Hong Kong Park. Everyday, there are people (mosty older and mostly Chinese) doing Tai Chi. It is really inspiring to me how the senior citizens stay active here! Physical activity is so important for keeping older people healthy and independent. I hope that when I am older I can still be active. I happened to have my camera on hand, and I decided it was time to get a shot of the people doing Tai Chi...I tried to be very sneaky and took the picture from behind a bush, but I think they may have noticed me.

There is a little Chinese food stall near our house, and the owner's mother is extremely old and I think senile. She just sits in front of the shop with her walker, sometimes chewing away on some rice, with her mouth hanging open and pieces of half-chewed rice falling onto her shirt. Despite the grossness of the sight of the food being smacked around between the woman's gums, I think it is cool that the owners of the shop have her there, so that she can be with her family and be "in the world". I guess they are not worried that the sight of their food in her mouth would make people not think it was very appetizing, which is great.

The other interesting thing about Chinese senior citizens is that the women are raging bitches while the men are nice, old, bumbling guys. I am not sure what makes the old Chinese women so mean, but I have noticed it over and over. They are the first ones to flagrantly cut you in line, bump into you, yell at you and just be mean all around. Is it because they have had harder lives? I don't know. People just put up with it. I would completely understand for elderly women, but some women start turning mean when they are 50. I am sorry, but when you are 50 you STILL have to wait in line. I have had women yell at ME when I tell them they need to get in the back of the line. They don't even try to be sly about it, they just sort of elbow you out of the way. Alot of times I just let it go, but sometimes it is too much for me to take. Another example of mean old ladies is the woman that runs the flower shop right outside of our building. I scurry past her everyday because she frightens me.