I can't really remember waking up that morning. I always feel a bit drowsy when I'm half asleep, but sitting at breakfast I heard the phone ring. That really woke me up. I picked it up and heard my grandpa's voice on the other line. But first, let me tell you a little about the setting of this story.

It was about the time when "Band of Brothers" was showing on HBO. By some mishap in the cable bill, my grandpa received free HBO around that time and my dad asked him to record the shows. "Band of Brothers" was a series about army men (I'm not a fan so I'm not to up to date on details.) and their lives directed by Tom Hanks and (I think) Steven Spielberg. Anyway, my grandpa's Chinese, and he doesn't use English unless he really has to, and for me it's the other way around. I can speak a tic of Chinese but only when I have to.

So anyway, I heard my grandpa say something really super fast and the only phrases I caught were "television" (dien-shi) and "airplanes" (fay-ji). Now, work with me here: "Band of Brothers" was a series about the army. Well, I thought, the army has planes; "Band of Brothers" is on the television. So I assumed he was chattering on about the series; that he had finished recording it for my dad or something.

"You mean 'Band of Brothers'?" I asked him.

I couldn't catch his response, but since I said it in English I guess he misunderstood as well. So we both hung up and my mom asked, "Who was that?"

"Grandpa (yeih-yeih)"

"What'd he say?"

"Err, something about. 'Band of Brothers' and . something."

My mom was real frustrated that I hadn't gotten it clear and so she called my grandpa back again and asked him. And then she turned on the TV. How scary to watch buildings crumble into shreds and know that it was real.