MY NEPHEWS AND NIECE

 My sister, Li Lian, and her family came and visited my new house in Sitiawan.  Mrs Cheah also came along.

 Li Na her niece, Kelley

 Keefe and Kristofer

 The Wong Family

 Li Na and Kris

 Li Na and Jeremy

 Keefe, Li Na and Kris

I count myself truly blessed to have 4 nephews and 1 niece. I also have another two niece and nephew who are the children of my godsister, Sofie.These children give me much happiness and joy whenever they come and visit with their parents.  In the above pictures are 3 of my nephews, Jeremy, Keefe, Kris, and one niece, Kelley.

HERBAL CURE FOR FOOD POISONING?

On the last day of 2011, I had a bad case of food poisoning.  I started vomiting and purging the moment I woke up to get ready to attend the Teacher's Meeting in school which was scheduled at 8.30 a.m.  This meeting was the first to kick-start the new school year.


On reaching school, I was feeling no better and Kamariah suggested a herbal remedy for food poisoning. According to her, eating the new shoots of the Guava Plant would be an effective cure. Well, try the remedy I did, but work it did not.

I finally got permission to leave the meeting early and went to buy a can of 100 Plus. Guess what? That worked.

LI NA, LI LIAN AND LI MEI

 Li Lian and Li Na

Li Mei, Li Na and Li Lian

I usually don't have much time to spend with my two sisters, Li Lian and Li Mei.  Li Lian lives in Singapore with her husband and three children. I am mostly in Sitiawan while Li Mei lives in Ipoh with her hubby but during the weekends, they go down to Kuala Lumpur to spend time with their two sons who are both studying at Taylor's College.
It is usually during holiday time that we get to meet up and spend some time together.  On the last week of 2010, Li Lian and her family were back in Ipoh and we took the opportunity to have dinner together.
Some of you might have noticed that Li Lian and I have western sounding names while Li Mei's name is very Chinese.  Well, both of them had to have the Li for their first names because of me.  Actually, I was named after an oceanliner.  You see, when my parents went for their honeymoon, they saw an oceanliner with the moniker, Selina.  My mum took a great liking to the name and told my dad that if her firstborn were a girl, she'd be named such.  True enough, their first born happened to be a girl.  My parents remembered the name.  However, my dad shortened the name to Li Na.  After that they had another girl and again my dad came up with a Christian sounding name for her.  When it came to their third daughter, my dad was set on naming her, Li Za but then my maternal grandma objected.  Instead, she was the one who named my sister.  Since, the youngest girl was such a beautiful baby, my granny named her Li Mei, which means Beautiful.

PAPER RABBIT DECORATIONS FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR

In the run up to Chinese New Year, the vendors have started selling paper decorations.  As it is will be the year of the Rabbit, the decorations are adorned with pictures of cute bunnies.  The smaller ones sell for around RM2 while the bigger ones are around RM8.

RAIN LOOKALIKE

I am pictured here with my nephew, Keefe Wong.  He looks quite a bit like Korean Superstar Rain.  My sister says that the people in his college noticed the similarity.  He does bear a resemblance, doesn't he?

SCARF HOLDER

The rings above serve as holders for scarves.  I bought one for RM17 after bargaining from the salesgirl.

A TALENT TO WATCH OUT FOR

In "Marry me, Mary" (2010)

In Hwang Ji Ni (2006)

Baby and I (2008)

Hong Gil Dong (2006)

The Case of Itaewon Homicide (2009)

Beethovan Virus (2008)

In 2006, when I first watched Jang Geun Sek in the Korean period drama "Hwang Ji Ni", I thought that he was one of many pretty faces to come out from the birth place of Hallyu.  At that time, I think the young man was 19 of age. 

However, I took notice of this actor's talent after watching him in "Beethovan Virus", "Itaewan Homicide Case", "He's Beautiful" and now "Marry Me, May".  Some of the roles he has taken on are as a bipolar psycopathic murderer (Itaewon Homicide), a teenage father (Baby and I), a prince (Hong Gil Dong), a trumpeter cum orchestra conductor wannabe (Beethovan Virus), a popstar (He's Beautiful) and an Indie musician (Marry Me, Mary).  He is next scheduled to be a Pet for an older woman in his latest movie.  He does a good job in the roles in which he undertakes and one would take some time to recognise him as he looks and acts different for each role. From spotting a crew cut and tanned traffic cop in Beethovan Virus, Jang did a 360 degree image change to play a long haired, pale skin and pretty boy musician in "Mary, Marry Me".  This very telegenic young man not only has proven himself as someone who can really act, he sings well too.  I am quite certain that as he grows older, he will turn out to be an actor's actor like his senior who acted as Maestro Kang in Beethovan Virus.  Most definitely a talent to keep an eye on.

5 MORE DAYS LEFT OF 2010

Today is the 27th of December, 2010.  This means that there is only 5 days left before we say goodbye to 2010 and welcome 2011.  Wow!  Time really flies.
For me, 2010 has been a very trying year.   I encountered some difficult situations and a number of challenges but then again I count my blessings for the people around me who rallied to my aid to make things easy for me.  I was given a very short time to vacate my rented house as the previous owner sold it and gave me one week's notice to leave. In less than a week, I managed to find a house to buy and had to beg the new owner of my rented home to let me stay for 3 more months before my housing loan was passed.  In a short time, I got my new home stayable and moved in as quickly as I could.  My Aunt May succumbed to cancer a couple of months before I moved into my new house.  My family and I suffered months of agony seeing her in so much pain and misery.
All in all, 2010 has been a very eventful and colourful year for me. Hopefully, 2011 would be a happier and more calming year for me.

VERY EXPENSIVE CNY ACCESSORIES

The Chinese New Year accessories which were sold at the market cost more than RM120 each.  When plugged on, the pineapple, the flowers and the gold nuggets would rotate and also light up.  In my opinion, it is a lot to pay for an accessory which would only be displayed for a short period of time.  From experience, these things would usually not function properly the following year.  Sometimes, they conk out after a week.  To me it is not worth it.

WU LOU ACCESSORIES

I saw these lovely wu lou Chinese New Year decorations being sold at the market.  I love the way the jade-like gourds.  So pretty and colourful.  I bought 3 for RM5.00.  Actually I have a fascination with gourds as they symbolise health and protection.

WAH! VERY FERTILE CHILLI PLANT

I chanced upon these two very fertile chilli plants at the Farmer's Market on Saturday.  It seems that they grew to such proportions because of the fertilisers used.  Wow!

CUTE LITTLE RABBITS

In Hanggul (Korean Language), a rabbit is called Tuk Ki.  Well, I think that in anticipation of the coming Rabbit Year, the sale of rabbits as pets might increase.  Look at how cute the little rabbits in the pictures are.  Each costs RM25.00.  I decided against buying one as I don't think I will be able to do a good job of rearing it.

MONEY USHERING PLANT

I bought this unique looking plant for my house a couple of weeks ago.  The vendor who sold it to me said that it was called "Yew Chien Shu" or Money Shaking Plant.  Hmm ... it seems that the people are trying to make Feng Shui plants by giving them auspicious sounding names.

CONVERSATION PIECE

Want to impress guests who visit your home?  One sure conversation piece would be to fashion a sofa from crates and crates of eggs.  Believe me, your guests would be truly impressed.
By the way, the crates of eggs above are not real.  The sofa is a state of the art furniture by a renowned designer.

THREE HAPPINESS

Joseph Addison:


“The three grand essentials of happiness are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.”

So folks, since it is Christmas eve today, I would love to wish all visitors of Xing Fu lots of happiness that can be gotten through doing, loving and hoping.

Merry Christmas everyone.

PERSONAL SEAL

I saw these seals being sold by a vendor at TESCO in Ipoh.  I am thinking of getting one.  I only need to buy the seal and the made will make a rubber stamp with the Chinese characters of my name.  Then I can stamp my documents with it.  Cool!