My Chinese Mother

A place to record the wonderfully funny things my Chinese Mother says and does, so I will always remember them...

Monday, November 5, 2012

The Best Thing for a Cold

My mom has been staying with me for several days, since trying to deal with the sudden death of my cousin, Larry Strobel, several weeks ago, has been extremely difficult.  

Sometimes you just need your Mom around to be OK. 


I started getting sick on Friday night.  My mom has been making the Chinese version of "Chicken Noodle Soup", which (according to her) is Congee (which doesn't have chicken OR noodles in it).  


She has also been pushing "Tiger Balm" on me...having brought back both the white and the brown kind from her last trip to Chinatown when she was in San Francisco.  She tells me, "It is THOUSANDS of years old and has HUNDREDS of uses!  You can eat it if you have stomach pain!"


She convinces me to rub it onto my forehead for my sinus headache.   Once the alternating burning / freezing sensation and extreme eye watering subsides, I decide to look up the "hundreds of uses" of Tiger Balm.  

Directly from the Tiger Balm website, I read out loud to my mom, "100 years of proven success, there are seven listed uses and it specifically says keep away from mucus membranes and "For external use only"."


My mom just shakes her head and says, "I am CHINESE.  That is just Internet.  They don't know."


She is leaving today...but had some parting words of wisdom for me since I'm fighting a head cold....


My Mom: "You should put Tiger Balm on your vibrator. You feel better fast!"

Me: "WHAT?!"
My Mom: "You breathe better"
Me: ........"vaporizer?"

I love my mom.

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