Dong Zuo Kuai Yi Dian 动作快一点

I was brought up in a hokkien speaking family & was never exposed to Mandarin nor Chinese writing. However, having a little boy was a big change to make me speak Mandarin merely because I thought it was sweet & loving to speak to baby that way. I still think so though.

However, with a blink of an eye, my lovely boy has grown & was entering primary one early this month. Sending him to Chinese school was a challenge since I'm unable to guide him in his studies as almost all books are in Chinese except of course language subjects. After all these years of trying to communicate in Mandarin with him (lil piggy as he is normally known in Facebook) with an interval of English, suddenly my commonly used sentence is per subject Dong Zuo Kuai Yi Dian (动作快一点) or literally translated to be 'act faster'.

To me, the sentence sounds harsh, full of authoritative manner & high discipline standard. Calling him in a stern tone reflects an immediate action needed from his end to work things out rather fast in its speed than his normal self of confining to relaxing mode.  I've been trying to be very soft to him , attentive  and to listen but lately, that sentence has been an inseparable part of my motherly role. I don't like it honestly but with just a month of going to school, time was barely enough for me & lil piggy to be together. A normal day together is now shortened than usual & it could be only approximately 1.5 hours or 2 hours of seeing him at home. I've always wanted so much to be different than any normal mom, to be able to listen to him, to be his friend and to tell him how much I love him but again, most of the time, I'd be saying dong zuo kuai yi dian.

I truly wonder is there any better way to move lil piggy to act faster or is there any other similarly powerful sentence specially for boys. I'm also hoping I can find other method in parenting or to make him know the value of time. Difficult to be a mom.

My obsession with bags.

Hot sunny Sunday and I could feel the burning flame under my skin & it’s making me headache but I don’t wish to procrastinate any further for this post and decided to write under such humid environment.  If I choose to delay further, it shall only be done next two weeks from now.

Basically, I’m obsessed with bags & this obsession was partly a legacy brought by someone used to be closed to me & not now. Having this obsession is rather expensive thus I’m dedicating this post to myself with the small collections I have now before these bags are gone with its era or they are no longer my possession.

I have tried diligently not to simply spend & only to give myself some rewards to acquire only one good bag for a year. It’s not too much of this, I supposed. So far, it’s still under control & manageable though might not be so true.

Here are some of what I have right now.

The LV monogram canvas are some of the very first I have in my collection of branded bags. The shoulder bag was acquired few years back when I was in KL for a friend's wedding but I took it as attending wedding cum shopping trip.

 

Gucci sling bag acquired after going up to Genting for William So & Andy Hui's concert. It's like a MUST to stop by KLCC at that time.

Also acquired from KL. This limited edition from Gucci was a 'project' entrusted to someone with high taste to get it for me.

The Coach tote was also from KLCC. Funny incident occured while this bag was still brand new. A salesperson at Penang Airport thought I was carrying their bag out from its outlet as the same model was displayed in the shop back then. She stopped me to return the bag.

The long Gucci wallet is one of my favourite.

Enough of all things from KL! This Fendi's shoulder bag was from Bangkok when I was joining my colleagues for short trip. I don't usually carry this as the colour is hard to maintain. It gets dirty easily.

Both Celine's & Polo's were from a special trip to Hong Kong & China before myhorng returned for good. I remembered, I was so eager to grab something back but it was a challenge. I couldn't find anything I like anymore from LV, Gucci, Coach, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo & many more. When the choices were so much, it's hard to choose.

Got this Coach from a trip to Taiwan last year. Didn't expect to get anything from that trip but finally signed for this at its airport while waiting for flight home. Thanks to the flight delay.

Some casual colourful LeSportsac I adore.

Recently, I have added one more to my collections but not shown here. A satin fabric white handbag for dinner & just used that last night for a wedding dinner attended.

Moving forward, I wish to acquire one of Jimmy Choo’s 24:7. Perhaps, I should stop at KLCC next week to peep. I might not afford it right now as the budget shall be fully utilized on upcoming home renovation.

Social media & the School

Early of this year marked the beginning of YY in stepping to another stage of development, going to primary one for his formal education now. Being parents, we were there for the orientation and the 1^st day of school. To me, after leaving school for a long long time,  going back was nonetheless a shock in both behavioral and practice. One of the most obvious and disappointing one was the lack of technology usage as medium of communication and high usage of paper in doing so. I felt like I was standing in a backward place then in the recent world.

I realized I’ve evolved much in support of technological communication though I was labeled as an IT idiot. I understand well the effectiveness, speed of communication via technology & how we could help the green environment and preservation of the forest.

In the announcement by the principal, it was said all kind of school-parents communication shall be in printed pieces of papers passed to the students to be brought home. Imagine, if a normal size primary might consist over 1200 students, how much resources is needed to send out the most simple message across effectively.

Orientation Day at the school hall.

I’ve briefly checked on the web of that school but it looks like it was not present after all. My suggestion is to leverage on the latest social media or social networking tools to reach out to the vast numbers of parents on any announcement or information deemed important. Social media as a tool is relatively inexpensive and accessible anywhere and this enables anyone to receive and send information directly with just a click away.

It also allowed the school to publish shared statements and to be viewed by all with the hope to generate virtually instantaneous responses. Many companies realized now how important social media is to their businesses in communicating with mass customers. Similarly, schools should also start to understand the needs of evolving from traditional method to contemporary one.

Hopefully, using of social media shall facilitate higher parental participation as well as to encourage parents’ involvement and higher support level from teachers.

Valley of Nine Villages – best ever China trip.

Some saying goes that if you have not been to JiuZhaigou, you’ve not visited China. How true is that was never my concern at all until last autumn. Having done that made me nod with agreement it is the best place for holiday I’ve ever seen in China. A package tour was initiated while on another holiday in Hainan during Chinese New Year. It all started from a convenient chat while the bus stopped at a petrol kiosk.

Finding the right agent for JiuZhaigou’s trip wasn’t easy and posed a major challenge back then. Malaysian travel agents were noticeably reluctant to take the business due to the recent May 12 Sichuan earthquake and the risk of bringing their customers there. However, nothing could stop us from making this happened.

The 8 days trip covered various sightseeing areas in Chengdu, Mt Emei & Huanglong but my favorite is the JiuZhaigou National Park. The cool temperature & high altitude (less than 10 degree, more than 2000m above sea level) of the valley prompted my travelmates to gear up with lots of handy stuffs including oxygen & all kind of medication from east to west. The best thing about them is that they NEVER compromise on comfort. Thus, walking & rushing for public buses in the park is totally a NO. We got ourselves private bus with own tour guide for a day tour of the park – also declared as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.


Entrance to the park.

Jiuzhaigou's best-known feature is its dozens of blue, green and turquoise-colored lakes as per the pics below.








On top of that, colorful various types of trees were captivating to the eyes as they turned to brown, yellow or even reddish though some still maintained green.





Very strong down stream flow of waterfalls are also an attraction here.







Behind is the Tibetan village

Under such a cold temperature of less than 10 degree on daylight, we spotted a couple shooting wedding photo. See what the bride was wearing - sleeveless. Salute!



Lodging was not even a compromise! After an eye-opening, panoramic tour of the day, we returned to a very classy luxury resort to spend the evening & to relax the soul at Jiuzhai Paradise Resort.

I shall be waiting with anticipation to return in future if there is any invite again. It’s truly a place not to be missed and a place to be preserved for the next generation.

Calling this my home soon.

Life starts from home! It is also said home is our natural habitat affecting us physiologically either in behavior, emotions or our overall mental health. However, to me, home is not about the matter of size, not even the matter of price or not even a matter of its type. A home is a place I’d want to live in harmony & joy.

It has always been my dream to have my own apartment & to even stay alone enjoying life after returning from work if I did not get married or have any kid. Reading & sipping a glass of wine at the balcony perhaps to complete the day would be marvelous.

My dream came true a little bit late than what I wanted to. By Sept 2009, a letter from the developer was sent to me, to pass the vacant possession. I was ecstatic after waiting for 4 long years and could not believe I’d be MOVING. Yay…














View from balcony, my favourite.

Moving in was put off temporarily due to some tragic news nearby. Maybe I should say I’m a little bit worried too of what’s happened & I do not want to rush like any of my future neighbors do.

Nevertheless, I should be able to move in with my dearest family by upcoming June. By then, I’m still putting in high hope that this is what I shall call – my heaven!