"Ahhh.... Sung Dongsik! It's been so long, you jerk. Have you been doing well? How is your wife?" The telephone line was weak, the voice on the other end was a barely audible buzz, still, Sung Dongsik strained his ears and seperated the syllabus his friend was saying, stringing them back into words. Mandarin was a beautiful language, it reminded him of the maple trees outside his old house. 槭树. Qī shù. The sound of his mothers voice, her words dancing in a thick Korean accent, as she asked him to stop climbing the Maple Trees. In the air surrounding the houses of his neighbours, the warm scent of mooncakes and pumpkin would float. Near his own house; a pungent smell of aged kimchi. He had hated himself for being Korean. No, he had hated himself for being born in a land that was not his own. Now, his heart yearned for the smells of Qingdao, for the sound of of Mandarin. 

"Ah, my friend! Huang Jianguo! I am doing well, old buddy. My wife is as beautiful as a wild chrysanthemum. How is your son, my friend?" The language of his childhood floated smoothly upon his toungue. He felt as though he was an immigrant, finally speaking his language after years of adapting to a foreign one; his life had been much the opposite. 

"My son, ah, my dear lad. He is turning three in two months. Time has passed like the wind; we were boys and now we are men. When will I hear of your children, Dongsik, my friend?" 

"I have only good news to give you." 

Silence. Both voices fell. One in anticipation, one in the realization of joy. Warm spring breeze across Qingdao and Busan. Two boys, now men. 

"She is a month pregnant." Dongsik spoke once more, his voice trembling with tears he could not contain. From the other side of the line, he heard a deep gasp and then a slight squeal- for men musn't squeal. 

"Oh my friend! My friend! You are to be a father! A father! Congratualations. May the suns brightness shine on your wife and your child and may she birth a woman of virtue or a man of strenght. Oh friend, I wish only the best for you." 

"Thank you. I pray for your son to grow fast and well. Then one day, our children shall climb maple trees together as we once have."