At the sushi/chinese buffet
Her hands fly around on the little counter behind the sushi bar. She looks around at the customers absently as her hands seem to create the sushi rolls on their own. A couple of her coworkers wander over to her and say something in cantonese. They all burst out laughing. A large, hispanic man at the sushi bar mutters something to his wife in Spanish. She nods and replies as she picks a few pieces of sushi and arranges them on her plate. The air in this place smells like a mixture of Chinese food, old carpet, and air freshner. Behind us, the sound of silverware and plates being washed in the kitchen mixes with the Spanish, Cantonese, and English floating around out here in the dining room. A man missing his front teeth chases his daughter around the restaurant but finally grows tired of it.
"Sarah, get over here now," he yells at her as he walks back to his table.
Uncle Swee Hin and his son are arguing about when physics books have last been changed.
"They haven’t really changed since something like 1100."
"What about the discovery of quantum physics?"
"Well that true. But quantum physics are basically a discovery within physics. The basics laws of physics have not changed."
We move on to discuss what Singapore can do to continue and revive its economy. Intelligent conversation reigns at our table. The waiters and cooks on break are sitting a few tables of away from us. Their cantonese disappoints me a little. I was hoping they’d be speaking Mandarin so I could try to catch some words I understand.
"Hey yo. Gotta try this stuff." The man says to his friend. "It’s good."
"Dogg, I ain’t really into that sushi. Don’t like seafood."
I can still catch what people are saying at the food line even while we’re discussing differences in education systems at our table.
"The world’s become a much smaller place," Uncle Swee Hin tells us boys.
Around us, I hear English, ebonics, Cantonese, and Spanish. People come to this place for the sushi.
