Jay K.
[Me]
Ep.38 Big Two and Big Daddy
So I was on the trip last week and the week before that. I went to Jiangxi with my fellow EAP friends and went to Datong, Shanxi with my Chinese tutor. When you go on a trip with other people, there is one thing that you should take with you: a deck of playing cards.
It is really useful for killing time on train or something. You can play the Mafia, poker or drinking game with friends. Today I want to introduce one of the popular card games to you guys and my stories related with that game. However, it is not easy to tell you the name of the game, because there are so many different names for one game!
It is usually called “Big Two”, but it was also called “Pusoi” in my high school, and I recently found out there is one of the Chinese versions of Big Two called “Fight Against Landlord” (what a Chinese name for a card game). There are also other Chinese names for this game. I actually googled Big Two in order to know more about this game. It is surprisingly originated from China. And Pusoi is a Pilipino name of the game. I don’t want to explain all the rule of the game, but basically you just need to remember the 2s are the strongest cards in the game.
[We climed this famous Taoist Mt, Sanqing Mt]
[So Misty!]
I used to play this game a lot during my high school years. I played it almost every day during lunch time. I had this Taiwanese friend who was good at this game and that Taiwanese friend, Ave (whom I mentioned in the previous episode), and I always played together. I learned how to play that game from him. Because I played it every day, soon I got good at it, and I still consider myself pretty good at this game.
I also played Big Two when we were in Inner-Mongolia grassland yurts. We also played the game on the way to the Great Wall. I won so many games that my friends accused me of cheating. I really like this game, mostly because I am good at this game. Also, playing this game, you don’t need to depend on luck entirely, nor you need to lie to other people like when you play poker.
It was that first summer in the States. I had to attend summer school because I need to catch up. It was the first and last summer school in my life. I carpooled with that Taiwanese guy and another Taiwanese girl. None of us had a car and all of our guardians were too busy so they had to rotate giving us rides.
The class was from Monday to Thursday, four hours per day. I took a geometry class that summer. It was of course super easy for me. My classmates were all younger than me and one or two grade lower than me. They also liked to play Pusoy. Whenever we have a free time in class, especially after taking a test or something, we played Pusoy together. Remember that it was only 3, 4 months after I came to the States, which means my English wasn’t very good. All of my classmates were pure Americans.
The only tool of communication between me and classmates was playing Big Two. As you guys know, you really don’t need to speak fluent English when you play the card games. I was really good at the game and won the game almost every time. The classmates all thought that I was really smart. And, somehow they all started to like me. I was called Big Daddy, because first I was bigger than them, secondly because my last name is Kang sounds like Kane, the last name of the famous rapper: Big Daddy Kane. To be honest, I liked that nickname, too.
Whenever I think of my early days in the States, I think of that summer and of that summer school. It was a good experience for me. I learned a lot through communicating with the classmates. It was also very relaxing because the class was very easy and every day I just chilled with my classmates playing Big Two.
The first year in the States, as I told you guys before, gives me a very bleak and gloomy image. However, that summer was very brilliant and fresh in my vague memory. It was a really nice vacation for me.
[The china market in Jingdezhen]
I went to another trip with my Chinese tutor to Datong last weekend. We played “Fight against Landlord”. The rules are a bit different from Big Two, but the main theme is the same. Of course, I will remember the marvelous sceneries of Datong but I will also remember the games we played.
I think this episode is about one of the most insignificant stories on my blog, but you should remember that even something trivial like the card game can give you one of the most unforgettable memories in your life.
to see more pictures of my trip, please visit:
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