The Road to 40 Day 152/365: Quiet Snack Times

Vino and I have developed a habit of having snacks after his club and right before football training.

On Wednesdays, Vino has art club at school and football training in the evening. Instead of heading home, we usually just get snacks from the nearby hawker and take one bus to the training venue.

We had a cleaner come by on this day, so I was only able to move freely after 12 noon. I have been craving for a bowl of Korean soup since the other day when I watched something on my reels. I was checking out places I could visit, but I ultimately ended up at Hoodadak, which was near Vino’s school.

I was here some two or three weeks ago to eat Gukbap, so I decided to go a different route today by ordering Hangover Soup.

I’m not sure if there is a definite recipe for this, and if this is the flavor I would expect wherever I would order a “Hangover Soup.” From what I’ve seen from K-Dramas, it’s usually just a spicy soup with a pork broth. What I got this day was one with a lot of veggies, super tender meat that falls off the bones, and a super salty and a not so spicy broth.

I usually finish dishes by myself, and while I did finish this, I felt a bit too bloated after. I went to my friend’s coffee shop again to kill some time before picking up Vino.

When I got to Vino, I decided not to eat anymore. Usually, he’d get the char siew pau while I got a prata. However, I was still feeling the effects of my late lunch.

While we’re eating, Vino usually watches videos on his tablet. I feel like these are opportunities we could talk to each other, but really, I can’t force him to talk if he doesn’t want to. I feel like he takes more after Che in that regard, where they have a certain amount of social battery no matter who they talk to.

When Vino’s not on his tablet, he opens random topics with me, from things he did in school to interesting things he read. I feel like talks like those are the best – it’s things he wants to talk about and not something forced out of him. It’s when he’s most eager and excited.

It’s also how I got to know a lot about what Che does. Sometimes she lights up when she talks about something that she’s proud of that happened at work. When she’s on a roll like that, I just go with it.

I get excited about a lot of things, which is why I could talk to different kinds of people. Even with Che or Vino, there are still times I get one-word answers of half-hearted attention, so I would try several topics of conversation or just wait for them to open something up that I can ask about.

I guess growing up with her is helping me deal with Vino.

After two and a half char siew paus and some blueberry juice, Vino and I went to ride the bus to the training grounds. The schedule was a bit tight, but I was determined to continue with our bus ride training.

Despite being on his tablet for most of the journey, Vino correctly moved when we were near our stop, and we got down according to schedule. As we walked outside, he took my hand and kinda hugged it before telling me stories about his day and pointing out things that we saw along the way.

I don’t know how long he’ll be like this with me, openly talking and sharing random stories. Growing up, I never had this kind of relationship with my parents. My mom would worry too much, while nothing I did was ever right for my dad. But at least I had siblings – my sister would press if she found something interesting, while my brother would just be amazed at anything I said.

With Vino not having siblings, I’m trying to be who I was to my brother before and trying not to be like my dad. He takes to his tablet a lot for entertainment, but honestly, aren’t most of us the same right now?

Maybe we just didn’t grow up with all these gadgets, but if we did, maybe we’d be as glued to it as the kids are these days.

Anyway, we reached the training grounds just in time, and I watched a few of their drills before heading over to the basketball court to sweat some out.

When I returned, I watched Vino play a game where he got hit hard that the game had to be stopped, but got up to score a goal on the next play.

Part of me wanted to tell the other kid off, but I let the coach handle it. Getting hurt like that is just part of football – he has to learn how to deal with it if he wants to keep playing this game. It’s not going to hurt less as he grows up, but he has to deal with the pain that a physical sport brings.

He got to finish the game and didn’t complain about the hit he took, which I think is a good sign that he’s moved past it.

At home, Che wanted to ask him about his day, but he didn’t say much. I expected him to talk about his goal or the hit he took, but he just stuck with one-word answers. It’s funny to watch it sometimes, because it’s like she’s trying to get herself to talk.

Maybe if she figures out how to get Vino talking, I can ask her for tips that I could use for her as well.