Returning to HAPPY
January 31, 2025 – Happy Chinese New Year!!
Oh my goodness… It’s been awhile since I’ve been blogging and sadly, it seemed like a slog to get to this platform. I’ve wondered and deliberated for weeks what my One-Word would be for 2025. At first, I thought it would be LOVE, then it shifted to JOY, then to THRIVE, then back to LOVE. As you can see, I’ve been undecided. All of these words are wonderful, but none of them seem to hit me like HAPPY did in 2024. Last year, I almost burned out in January and it was an uphill battled to end the year STRONG. I had my gallbladder removed, I bought a new home, and I adopted Simon-the-cat. Only moments ago, I decided that my #OneWord for 2025 will be HAPPY once again. Who makes these rules? Does my one-word have to be different every year. There is no question in my mind that I will feel LOVE and JOY in the new year, and THRIVE in my work and my personal life. Just by shifting my mindset to HAPPY, once again, I could see the GOOD in the images that I will be including in this blog post, and I am 100% motivated to write and reflect about the last few weeks. Yay!! – Finally.
Gong hey fat choy. Happy Lunar New Year. Hello… THE YEAR OF THE SNAKE. The AI on Google indicates that this year for “dogs” is about personal and professional growth, strengthen bonds with loved ones and colleagues, a focus on health, fitness, and mental health, financial stability, and explore new areas (i.e., going beyond my comfort zone). Now that I have changed my #OneWord, this projection makes a lot of sense to me. Oh my goodness, even when writing this blog post, I feel lighter and… HAPPIER. I feel optimistic and I look forward to 2025. What I have also learned is, FOOD is central to my being. The image above (i.e., soup dumplings from Costco) and this picture (i.e., duck from Costco) make me happy.
Food makes me feel connected to my family and heritage. OMG… look at this photo… LO BOK GO. This is my most favourite food. I get this fried turnip delight from THE BOSS in Metrotown. I complement the lo bok go with a bowl of fish congee. It’s a winning combination. Finding this restaurant at Metrotown was a gift. It was a recent discovery (i.e., only a few years ago) but I think the restaurant has been in Metrotown since the mall opened. I just Googled this, and I’m correct. The restaurant opened in 1999 with the opening of Metrotown. AMAZING. We never went there as a family, but after my mom passed away, it seemed like a place to try. It has great prices and it’s very much like a Hong Kong cafe. I love what they have to offer and I forgo the congee special and go for the fish congee. I just love this meal and pretty much get the same thing when I go. Other things I love to get when I’m in Burnaby is dim sum at the Neptune Restaurant, and soup dumplings from the Dinesty Dumpling House. The dumpling house is a treat. Often I run out of time (or meals) to go. I also like to cook rice rolls (aka., “tubes”) at my brother’s place. We often go to T & T and pick up a few of my favourite things (like lo bok go) to cook at home. Here are few pics below.
Not only do I “have to” go to as many Asian/Chinese restaurants as possible when I’m in Vancouver, I also have go “see” or visit the ocean. These are non-negotiables, in addition to seeing my siblings. Of course, I would love to see my dad too, but it was a short visit and he was busy celebrating the Lunar New Year with his (new) wife’s family. Nonetheless, my sister suggested going to Canada Place for dinner and go to the Coal Harbour Bar/Lounge at the hotel. I’m game. It was MAGNIFICENT. Although it was dark, we were right against the ocean, with live music (jazz, piano, singing), and DINE OUT!! I did not realize that January was DINE OUT month, so I ordered from that menu. A three course meal of scallops, gnocci, and panna cotta for dessert for $49. The food was DELICIOUS. Albeit, my dinner was not Asian, but Italian is a strong second. Loved it and I loved hanging out with my twin bro, sister, and brother-in-law.
OH BOY… THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG BLOG POST. There is so much to catch up on. I feel great and now I feel liberated to write and talk about the good things about my last few weeks. I felt it was a appropriate to talk about FOOD to celebrate the Lunar New Year. And, I LOVE food… oh yes, LOVE is back in the picture… but my #OneWord is HAPPY. Food makes me happy. Enough said. I hope my food pics and blog post up until now demonstrates my LOVE for food. I think food will be an entry point with my “20 days” auto-ethnography about me and my relationship with my mom. I can’t wait to get that project started. This declaration was my first time saying that, and meaning that. I am READY to write about my mom, my experiences, and how I understand the world. When my mom passed away in 2018, I thought I would embark on this project soon after her death. I could not do it. So much has changed since her passing and I had to do “a lot of work” to get where I am today. YES… It’s time!!
Oh yes… why I was in Vancouver last week was to go to a beading session at UBC with Anishinaabe Artist Nico Williams hosted by Dr. Cynthia Nicol from the Faculty of Education We started a beading community during the pandemic in 2021 called Beadwork + Mathwork = Community Beading. A group of us joined from across Canada for 5 sessions online on Zoom. We learned how to bead three sided and four-sided shapes (re: “hypersquare”). The community members were provided with beading supplies and in return, we contributed at least one hypersquare back to Cynthia to ultimately bead these squares together in a blanket. I never thought I could bead or believe this is something I could do, but I learned so much from beading. The bead, thread, and needle are only metaphors or tools to learn some critical lessons about patience, presence, and persistence. Beading became a place of solace for me and I have made and gifted some of my work to teacher candidates, colleagues, and friends. In December 2024, Cynthia sent out an email to the group about coming together in-person to bead these hypersquares together. I could not miss this opportunity, and Nico is exactly who he was online. I just loved every moment of this learning opportunity and I learned something new… THE HINGE.
I met so many great people that day, I had a wonderful smoked salmon lunch with sweet and savoury bannock, and I got to learn something new. What more can you ask from a day of professional development. I feel lucky that I have a position where I have flexibility to make this learning experience possible. I flew down on a Wednesday. I teach on Mondays and Tuesdays. I had the beading workshop on Thursday. I made it back to my brother’s place to teach my night class. And, I took meetings on my phone and computer on the bus to and from the UBC and at my brother’s place on Friday. Working remotely has it’s benefits and I am grateful to folks who made the in-person meeting possible for me to attend via Zoom. And yes, concurrent to my beading session, I attended a Zoom meeting launching the CATE (Canadian Association for Teacher Education) book as part of the Polygraph Book Series. I was able to lead the writing for the Climate Education in Teacher Education (CETE) research team I belong to at UNBC (University of Northern British Columbia) on “Research Our Way Into Teacher Leadership.” We are Chapter 22. I am so proud of this work and I learned a tonne from the editors (Drs. Cathryn Smith and Leyton Schnellert), the guest speakers at the working conference held at Brandon University, the copy editor, and the learning community who were the authors/scholars who co-created this book. I met so many great people and loved this learning experience.
What can I say… I’m back (to blogging). I feel great!! I loved my time in Vancouver, but I also love being at home. I love my new place. I love cooking at home. And, I love going out for dinner from time to time with my kid to spend some time with her but also enjoy good food. There is something about FOOD that brings people together. Food represents community, exploration, and love. I am HAPPY to be blogging and sharing what’s important to me. I feel optimistic and excited. Yay!! Onwards and upwards!!
