『GUEST』Delphine Chen’s visit by Jenny Connal

Delphine Chen’s visit

Hi, my name is Jenny and my husband’s name is Harold and I have been asked to write down some thoughts about Delphine’s visit to our home.  

Firstly, it was a pleasure to have such a wonderful houseguest.  As our children have left home we have a house with lots of bedrooms.  We told Delphine to take her pick and laughed when she went from room to room trying beds.  We called her Goldilocks after the well known children’s story  Goldilocks and the three Bears.  Like Goldilocks, Delphine tried the first bed but it was too hard and the room was too hot, she then tried the second bed but it was too soft and finally she tried the third bed and it was just right!!

After Delphine settled in, we had dinner and talked well into the night. These nightly talks continued throughout Delphine’s stay. It soon became apparent that even though we come from different cultures with different languages and customs we both shared the same hopes and fear s for the future.  We both worried about our elderly parents, about young people today and what their future would be like and in the light of the Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami we worried about what Mother Nature was doing to the planet.  It was plain to see that our similarities far outweighed any cultural differences.  

It was an absolute pleasure to have Delphine stay with us and Harold and I loved the exchange of ideas.  We feel we have made a friend and will be keeping in touch and hopefully visiting Taiwan in the not so distant future. 

by Jenny Connal