Nov 9: Dad is still not feeling well, but he’s eaten some more.
I got some more information about my family on his side.
Grandpa ran away from home at 10 years old. He ran to Shanghai and his first job was picking cigarettes up off the ground, taking the tobacco out, and rerolling new ones to sell. He met Grandma in Shanghai, and when they were pregnant, maybe with the first child, maybe with my aunt, they fled to Thailand. Grandpa was in his 20s and this was when Mao came to power.
When they got to Thailand, he worked in a dye factory, mixing dyes with his hands. Normal soap wouldn’t clean it off, so he had to use detergent. This has caused him some skin problems.
His next job was that he opened a stall on the street selling storybooks from China. He had Grandma’s family send the books from China, and Grandpa would take the stamps off the packages and sell those too.
A new Thai government came to power and was anti-Chinese, so he had to throw away all of his Chinese books. This may have been when he made up our last name.
Also, when Mao was coming to power, the communists were taking the artifacts and antiques from the rich people. So the rich people dug holes and buried their possessions. When China started relaxing, the rich people dug up their possessions and tried to sell them. Grandpa’s brother bought them up, then sold them in Thailand. He made a ot of money doing this and has an office in Hong Kong now.
Grandpa also used to take the valuable stamps that were torn or damaged and cut them up and glue them together, then sell them as a whole stamp.
Sent a postcard to Robert (Rolfe-Redding). Had hot pot with Grandpa and Woodie.
I can see why the Thai have a problem with feet. There’s no shortage of dog shit and cockroaches on the side walks. That doesn’t bother me much, I just wouldn’t want it tracked into my apartment.
