It’s customary to take your shoes off at home in many parts of the world.
For instance, in many Asian households it’s often shoes off at the door. There’s also a no shoes rule when walking around indoors at home.
Shoes | KAWS: Companionship in the Age of Loneliness (1)
Having grown up in a Chinese household, this is a habit that comes naturally to me. As a kid, I’d come home, take my shoes off and place them on the shoe rack by the door. Today this is still what I do every time I come home.
This month* marks seven years since I started this blog. This year marks a turning point in my life where I’ve thought about quitting blogging and even writing altogether.
It seems my relationship with blogging has hit the seven year itch.
Writing (1)
Over time I’ve blogged less and less. When I started blogging, I blogged weekly. Then fortnightly. Over the last two years I’ve put up one post a month and scaled back freelance writing work. That made me realise, the less time you spend on something, the more time you have for yourself and the more time to think.
All my life I’ve never liked using the dishwasher.
Washing the dishes by hand after after a meal by myself or with five others at home is something I do.
Most people around me baulk at my refusal to use the dishwasher. They argue you don’t need to spend time washing up with a dishwasher.
Garlic and Chinese Mun Shou Rice Bowl
Growing up in a traditional-minded Chinese family, the dishwasher was instead used as a stacking rack for clean dishes. These days I use the dishwasher to store my empty work lunch containers and banish plates that I never use.
‘Why don’t I belong?’ Sometimes we go through moments in our lives where we don’t fit in with a certain group or place.
For some of us, we might feel like we don’t belong anywhere most of the time.
AURORA AKSNES (1) | The Forum, Melbourne, Australia 2019
Either way when we don’t belong often that means we feel different. The feeling of not fitting in comes in different forms. For instance, we don’t get along with family and never seem to say much around our parents or siblings. Can’t identify with ‘where you are from’ or our heritage. Don’t get the latest trends or TV series everyone is so into.
Our birthday comes around once a year. It’s a day that marks another year we have lived, another year we have experienced. Some of us see it as day to celebrate.
Some of us see it as a day to not celebrate, and last year I wrote about this in a post called 7 Reasons To Not Celebrate Your Birthday.
Croissant
For those of us who have reason to not celebrate our birthday and don’t want a fuss on this day, we might not shout from the rooftops about turning a year older. We might even go to great lengths to avoid drawing attention to our birthday in a time where many think you should be entitled to some special treat.
Food is an important part of Chinese culture, and Chinese food holds symbolic meanings.
Some Chinese foods are symbolically auspicious and eaten for good luck.
The meaning of these foods are based on traditional stories behind individual ingredients and also appearances
Instant chicken ramen
Here are six such lucky foods eaten by many Chinese during celebrations such as the Chinese New Year and Dragon Boat Festival. These foods also tend to be eaten every day.
Mabel Kwong 