Soy Har Ho l 83

Soy Har Ho passed away in 2022. We are lucky to have her voice as part of this project.

Soy Har Ho immigrated to San Francisco from China to join family here. She described herself as upbeat and social, and she shared that she loves the weather in San Francisco. She loved calligraphy and painting and had a talent for it. She shared her beautiful artwork, of which we have some pictures below.

She spoke with the interviewer in Cantonese and the translation of the audio file is below.

Interview date: 8/4/21

Interviewed by: Peter Poon

Referred by: Wanda Liu

Soy Har Ho with Santa! Photo courtesy of Soy Har Ho.

Translation of audio interview

by Linguaficient

Interviewer:  First, may I have your full name please?

Soy Har Ho: My name is Soy Har Ho.

Interviewer:  Ok, I see. How old are you now?

Soy Har Ho:  I’m 83 years old.

Interviewer:  83 years old, ok. Wow, bravo, 83 years old! So how would you describe yourself to others? Or how would your family and friends describe you?

Soy Har Ho:  Umm, I would say I’m a bit hasty.

Interviewer:  Oh, so you think you act hastily.

Soy Har Ho:  Yes, I am a hasty person.

Interviewer: (interviewer’s  laughing) But I can’t tell that from your tone.

(Soy Har Ho’s laughing)

So, when did you…umm could you tell me a little bit about your background, or when did you come to SF and how?

Soy Har Ho: Oh, how did I come here? (“yes”, said the interviewer.) My sister brought me here.

Interviewer: Oh, your sister brought you here.

Interviewer:  (“yes” said the Soy Har Ho)  So, when did you come here?

Soy Har Ho: Around 1988.  (interviewer repeated “1988”).

Interviewer:  Was San Francisco your first destination?

Soy Har Ho: Yes. I came to San Francisco first.

Interviewer:  Oh, ok. Could you share your background with us, like where were you born? Where did you live before coming here?

Soy Har Ho: From Jiangmen, Guangdong Province.

Interviewer: So why did you immigrate here, any specific reasons?

Soy Har Ho:  No special reason. My sister petitioned to bring me here and I agreed.

Interviewer: Oh, ok. So, you came here in your 40s?

Soy Har Ho: Yes, I was in my 40s, nearly 50.

Interviewer: Were you married at that time?

Soy Har Ho:  Oh, I already had two kids.

Interviewer: Oh, you have two kids. So how old were they back then?

Soy Har Ho:  Well, they are around 60 years old now.

Interviewer:  Oh, so they were in their 20s at that time.

Soy Har Ho: Yes.

Interviewer: Oh, ok. Wow, that's a big decision, moving here.

 (Soy Har Ho’s laughing)  

So how long have lived in San Francisco?

Soy Har Ho: Almost 30 years.

Interviewer: What do you like about San Francisco?

Soy Har Ho: Nothing particularly. Because my sister is here, and the weather is good. I have lived in San Francisco since I arrived.

(interviewer: “ok”).

Interviewer: You have lived here for more than 30 years, what makes you like San Francisco?

Soy Har Ho: The weather is good.

Interviewer: Anything else?

Soy Har Ho: Umm, the weather is nice and it's safe.

Interviewer: Umm, that’s true. What could we do to make SF a better place to live?

Soy Har Ho: Oh, that should be the government’s business.

Interviewer: (laughing) Could you give us some examples?

Soy Har Ho: (laughing) No, I am not sure.

Interviewer: But is there anything in SF you would hope to improve, to make San Francisco a better and a more comfortable place to live?

Soy Har Ho: I think it is good now. (interviewer repeated the sentence afterwards).

Interviewer: Oh, that’s good. I have some questions to ask you regarding the recent pandemic, ok? Before the pandemic, back to 2019, no one is sheltering-in-place and people are doing anything they want. But what did you like to do and where did you go at that time?

Soy Har Ho: Well, we live in senior housing.  There are many households within one complex, over 200. Everyone is really nice.  We would always say hi to each other and there are many activities to join.

Interviewer: Ok. You really like to join the activities organized by the senior service right?

(Soy Har Ho said yes). Other than that, what places did you like to go visit?

Soy Har Ho: Nothing special. There are many activities to join here but 

sometimes I would go grocery shopping.

Interviewer: Ok. But would you go to other places in San Francisco?

Soy Har Ho: Yes.

Interviewer:  For example? Where did you like to go?

Soy Har Ho:  Sometimes our apartment complex would organize a tour outside San Francisco, around once a month.  And sometimes they also take us shopping and to visit all kinds of attractions in San Francisco.

Interviewer: Oh ok, that’s nice. Very entertaining. But back to that time, what did you do every day?

Soy Har Ho: I joined the exercises that were organized by the senior service in the morning, from 9:30 am to 10:30 am.

Interviewer: Like this morning?

Soy Har Ho: Yes.

Interviewer: Then what would you do after exercising?

Soy Har Ho: Well after exercising, I would go to the canteen to buy a “meal ticket” for lunch. Then I did some housework. I tried to do most things within my ability.

Interviewer:  Umm, that’s good. Then what would you do after your meal?

Soy Har Ho: There are activities organized by the apartment complex after lunchtime.

Interviewer: Wow, that’s a lot.

Soy Har Ho: Sometimes I would join the singing and dancing. If I didn’t go out, then I would go for a walk in the garden. Also watch TV.

Interviewer: Ok. Then what’s next? What would you do at night?

Soy Har Ho: Yes. (laughing).

Interviewer:  Then what would you do at night?

Soy Har Ho: Nothing much. After having dinner, I will just rest, watch TV.

Interviewer: Oh, ok. It is hard to go out now during the pandemic, did that make your life different? How is that different right now?

Soy Har Ho: Of course. I’m pretty worried about it.  Though, it’s not like we can’t go out, we chose not to. We will only go outside when we need to see a doctor.

Interviewer: Is there anything you’ve experienced in your life that compares to the Covid-19 pandemic?

Soy Har Ho: No.

Interviewer: That’s something to be very grateful for. The pandemic is so terrible. 

(Soy Har Ho said “yes”).

Soy Har Ho: I haven’t been out for a month. When the situation got better, there were people making trouble around here, which made me want to stay at home even more.

Interviewer: What do you mean by people causing trouble?

Soy Har Ho: Well, there were people robbing stuff and beating up random strangers, which is unsafe for all. You never know if you’re going to run into one of them when you’re out.

Interviewer:  Oh, I see. You mean the previous cases about Chinese and elderly people getting attacked, right?

Soy Har Ho: Yes.

(interviewer said “That’s true”).

Interviewer: So is there anything that has made a tremendous impact on you and other seniors in the apartment complex in dealing with the pandemic over the past 1 to 2 years? Or anything that has surprised you about how your community is responding to it?

Soy Har Ho: We rarely go outside. We stay at home all the time; going out is not an option.

Interviewer: Ok. So you won’t see each other very often, right?

Soy Har Ho: Yes.

Interviewer: Ok. I would like to ask if you could give advice to younger people, or yourself when you were younger what would it be?

Soy Har Ho: I don’t understand.

Interviewer: Oh I mean, now you have a rich life experience, what would you tell those younger people? Any valuable life advice you want to share with them?

Soy Har Ho: The younger generation is so much more outstanding than us. They don’t need us to advise them.

(interviewer’s laughing).
Actually, the youth are the ones who told us what we should do and what we shouldn't do.

Interviewer: Oh really? (both are laughing) But what would you say to your younger self in your 20s?

Soy Har Ho: That’s hard to answer.

Interviewer: Why would that be hard to answer?

Soy Har Ho: Umm, nothing much to share, just go get a job.

Interviewer: Haha, ok. That’s good. So, you don’t have too many things that you regret. You did a good job!

(Soy Har Ho’s laughing)

Soy Har Ho: Just keep positive, then life will be much easier.

Interviewer: Well said. I have another similar question. In the past few months, what have you done that made you happy?

Soy Har Ho: Oh, I have been learning how to use the computer over the past 6 months. (giggling)

Interviewer: That’s awesome! What about it?

Soy Har Ho: I learned it online.

Interviewer:  By yourself?

Soy Har Ho:  No, we have a teacher.

Interviewer: At your apartment?

Soy Har Ho: It’s Ms. Liu who teaches us. I joined the computer class.

Interviewer: Ok. Why does that make you happy?

Soy Har Ho: She teaches computer literacy very well.

(interviewer said “ok”)

I’m still not very familiar with the computer. She’s very patient and will explain in detail to me during break.

Yeah, because I don’t know much about it.

Interviewer: Then what did you learn?

Soy Har Ho: Oh, that’s hard to say.

Interviewer: Oh, but you do learn how to surf the net right?

Soy Har Ho: Yes.

(interviewer said “that’s very good”).

Well I haven’t learned enough, still in process.

(interviewer said “Oh, still learning it, huh?”)

Interviewer: So that made you very happy.

Soy Har Ho: Yes.

Interviewer: Why does that make you happy?

Soy Har Ho: That organization provides all kinds of classes, such as computers, singing, and qigong. If you join all the classes, your whole week would be packed.

Interviewer: Oh, ok. So that would keep you busy, right?

Soy Har Ho: Yes, lots of things to do. (giggling)

Interviewer: Why do all these things?

Soy Har Ho: Because I don’t know those things at all. I enjoy the learning process, and if I know how to do that, I get satisfaction. Then I’m happy.

Interviewer: I see. So, you are the type of person who likes to learn new things.

(Soy Har Ho giggling)

What have you done lately for someone else who treated you very nice that made you feel good?

Soy Har Ho: That’s hard to answer.

Interviewer: Hard to answer? Ok. Let me put it this way. What have you done lately for someone that made you feel good?

Soy Har Ho: (Giggling) No.

Interviewer: Ok. Then maybe you can think about it in the future.  Could you share with us if there’s a defining moment in your life?

Soy Har Ho: Not really. I can’t recall anything within a short time frame.

Interviewer:  What has been surprising to you about getting older?

Soy Har Ho:  In short, just keep your composure.  Always stay calm no matter what you encounter.

Interviewer: Umm, ok. But have you ever come across a thought like, oh so this is what’s like getting older?

Soy Har Ho: No, you won’t think about it. Getting older is nothing you can talk about.

Interviewer: Wow, you are very positive. (both are laughing).

Soy Har Ho: You really can’t say much about it. But if you are experiencing any illness, just deal with it calmly.

Interviewer: Umm ok. How are you doing these days?

Soy Har Ho: Not bad but not in the best condition either. I can still walk though.

Interviewer: But I could tell during our whole conversation that you can still think very fast.

Soy Har Ho: Oh really. Thank you!

Interviewer:  (both are laughing) We also mentioned technology a bit in our previous conversation. How has technology changed your life on a personal level?

Soy Har Ho: Well, I don’t know much about technology nor do I understand it. But I’m still very happy if there’s a new invention.

Interviewer: Ok. Other than learning computers, do you explore other tools, such as using mobile phones, sending emails and starting video calls with others?

Soy Har Ho: I haven’t learned that.

Interviewer: Oh then maybe you can ask Ms. Liu later.

(Soy Har Ho said “yes, indeed”) both are giggling.

What would you say are the major values or principles that you live by?

Soy Har Ho: No, I have never thought about it. I live everyday as my last, only focusing on the day.

Interviewer: So it’s like you only worry about the problems at hand, you don’t worry about the future since it hasn’t happened yet.

Soy Har Ho: Yes. (giggling)