Jujubes

"For this recipe, we will need fresh jujubes." "The corner grocery's open. They have jujubes in season."

"Chop the fresh jujubes, and put them in the blender." "All right!"

Whilst drinking my Oat Nog Latte at Starbucks café, this grey-sky morning, I was talking to Afroz, a worker at Kin's Farm Market on Lulu Island, which I frequent to buy exotic things (to others) like lotus roots, Japanese yams, kumquats, dragonfruits, longans, jujubes, Hawaiian purple sweet potatoes, passion fruits, star fruits, etc. Afroz is what he categorizes himself as a "generic Indian Muslim." He was from Uttar Pradesh. His last city was Mumbai, before he left for BC. His daughter has been left with her grandparents in India. Afroz lives with his wife, a caregiver, in Vancouver. Afroz has an MBA from India, but he says that it is difficult to attain his dream job of doing marketing. I told him that my Auntie Vicky from the Philippines was working as a manager for Tupperware (a plastic container company) in India, as she lived in a "palace" with servants. I could not visit her at that time because I was working. (She also worked in Thailand, which I did visit.) It is the 8th of December of 2024, today.

Happy Zamenhof Day! Today is the birthday of Dr. L.L. Zamenhof, the Jew who invented Esperanto in 1887 in Russian-occupied Poland. I am an Esperantist. It is a sunny blue-sky morning. I walked to Yummy Slice pizzeria. Rose the Filipina vendor was there. I was drinking a red-can Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. (I ought to mention that I ate a slice of green pesto pizza. And I was exercising with my hand grip strengthener at my table.) A Japanese likens my situation to a vast deserted café in Chiangmai, Thailand. But here on Lulu Island, homebound, I stopped by Kin's Farm fruteria. Leo, the Cantonese vendor who speaks also Mandarin, exclaimed, "Dà míng!" There were longans, kumquats, and jujubes in plastic bags at the front. Today is the 15th of December of 2024.