My grandma died the morning of 10 July 2010 in Hong Kong. She was 93. My parents went to her funeral one week ago. This is sometimes after the death because it takes a while for book a cremation which is government-run in Hong Kong. My dad said her funeral was very traditional Chinese. It followed Buddhist traditions as grandma had wished, with Buddhist monks being part of the ceremony. He had to buy white clothes and white shoes for the occasion. The funeral to 6 hours from afternoon to night. Then the cremation took two hours the next day. The close family attended. Bureaucratic issues with visas and a delayed death certificate meant some other relatives from China couldn't attend.
Some things that I'll remember about Grandma - that she came to live with us for one year in 1988. I don't remember much, but that she was around. I think my Canto as a 6-year-old was ok enough to speak to her, and I remember teaching her a few English words and the only one I remember is 'cucumber'. Then when I visited Hong Kong for the first time in 1993, and then for years after that until 2000, she was really active and could walk around for hours with us, despite being around 80 years old. When I visited her 2006 she was in a nursing home. The last time I visited her in 2008 she couldn't remember who I was. But she did understand my Cantonese, not even adjusting for my slightly dodgy non-native speaker less-than-perfect Canto, which means I must have been doing ok. As a person who couldn't remember much, she was a very smiley and easy going old lady, luckily not scared as some people get. She had the tidiest bed of anyone, with all her clothes folded up neatly. And she loved sweets and cakes.
Bye grandma!
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