Another Chinese New Year away from home yet it’s filled with love and joy from friends, food, and family (relatives)… Shared Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner with a Chinese and Korean friends. Making dumpling is the tradition for people in NE China and fish is a main course for Korean. We had both plus beef …
Category Archives: Joy
Relax and Enjoy
I am learning Spanish and practicing the conversation with a friend. I was um, ah…stuttered to find words. He smiled and said ‘breath…you need to relax and enjoy Spanish’ What? it’s easy for him to say that as a native speaker…Then I realized that he is right. I want to learn Spanish because I like …
Incredible
A friend asked ‘why the tea leafs in my tea is so big?’ , I thought ‘what do you mean?’ (in my mind: haven’t you seen a tea leaf?); I looked at my glass and realized…in America, people usually drink from tea bag which is made of tiny pieces/ shredded leaf. Many people never see …
Nice Hand-Writing
My colleague asked me to write a card for another colleague because I have ‘nice hand-writing’. I was surprised to hear that/ never thought of it. I appreciate the compliment and realize 2 things: (1) we often take granted how much ‘good things, talents’ we have or have done, (2) compliment goes a long way …
Finding the Positive Everywhere
As I was preparing for the Toastmaster speech to focus on the positive, I thought of my trip in Guatemala… For the ‘no-show’ of 4:30AM pickup of Tikal tour while I got up 3ish and stand at street corner waiting for 45min… For the 2hr ‘sardine can’ ride to a small village that took less …
Smily
I got a squeezing ball (see image) from my yoga studio. What a simple and smart idea! The ‘Smily’ makes you happy by simply looking at it. Bonus: squeeze, throw, or play with the hair to have some fun!
Peaks ‘n Valleys
Happy New Year! I came across Peaks ‘n Valleys audio book at the library, 2 CDs share a simple story yet powerful message. What struck me are: There is no gap between peak and valley – things are connected and actions influence each other. We create our own peak and valley – We may not …
Buen Viaje (Great Trip)
At airport wrapping up a fun 10 days trip across Guatemala. When people first heard about my trip, first word was ‘be careful’, several friends from Latin America especially recommended not to go alone as a woman. It concerned me a bit yet I’ve heard similar comments for many other countries. People mean well yet …
What Makes Holiday Special?
What makes holiday special? For some, it’s the family reunion, tradition or secret receive. For others, it may be religious, political, or professional association. For me, holiday is usually travel time. I’ve had a motorcycle tour of Santiago, Chile; biked around country side of Cuba and helped harvest pineapples & tasted the sweetest ever; ate …
塞翁失馬焉知非福 Good or Bad Luck?
Booked 4:30am pickup for Tikal; it was raining and I standee at the street corner under a bulb, the only bright spot for 45min, didn’t see a tour bus stop or pass. Tried several times, finally got somebody on the call who claimed the driver didn’t see me (really?). He promised to pick me up …