Talk about #BuildingCommunity! #RCDS PreK parent Kawanda Jennings not only brought her own child to school every day, but she believed that #EveryMinuteMatters so she picked up her neighbor daughter Annabelles without being asked by the neighbor. Kawanda was so touched when the PreK Parent Liaison and #RISE school community presented her with a Kindness Certificate. I’m so fortunate to work with such awesome parents and colleagues. #RCSDPreK is awesome. #EveryMinuteMatters #AttendanceWorks (at School 41 Kodak Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu_LFbpBK35/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=16g0axl9epgst
This was my first Lou Sang in year 2018 and I am happy to have the reunion with this bunch of awesome buddies! HUAT AR!#TCFisheye #TCSelfie . Now I would like to share something worth a try if you love holiday!! . 【How To Win A 4D3N Trip to Hong Kong Disneyland and Ocean Park】 In conjunction with this CNY, Panadol Malaysia is giving out a trip for four to Hong Kong DisneyLand! Purchase RM15.00 worth of PANADOL items in a single receipt at any Guardian Store nationwide and WhatApps the photo to +6011-1126-6930. . Every submission will receive a special gift. You can also win weekly prize (RM500 Shopping Voucher) through this contest too. Every Minute Matters so join now! For more information about this contest, visit http://bit.ly/2rX39b1 for details. . The contest will run every week from 3rd February 2018 until 2200hrs (10:00pm) on 2nd March 2018. Terms and conditions apply. #PanadolMalaysia #ChineseNewYear #EveryMinuteMatters (at Yellow Apron)
A few days ago, I read a very interesting book on Blinkist.
If you don’t already use Blinkist, I highly recommend it. Blinkist is an app which summarises non-fiction books into what it calls “blinks”, so it takes you only a few minutes to read a book. The app is free to download but you have to pay the read the books. However, they offer one free book to read a day, which in my opinion is plenty. I mean, you get to read one new book every day (leh)!
The book was written by Helen Russell and it is titled “The Year of Living Danishly”. It tells us why people in Denmark are the happiest people in the world!!! (Denmark consistently tops the UN World Happiness Report. Yep, apparently, there is such a report.)
I bet you’re really interested now. I mean, who wouldn’t be? I want to know how to be happy too!!!
I’m sure you could probably guess some of the reasons as to why the Danes are so happy. A really good work-life balance, and 1 year of paternity / maternity leave are some of the reasons.
Then, there was this:
Traditions and patriotism are important for most Danes.
Helen Russell went on to explain that traditions contribute to the country’s happiness by cultivating community and security.
I found this point really, really interesting.
Who would have thought that traditions could be one of the factors contributing to happiness?
Even as I’m writing this, we’re still in the midst of celebrating Chinese New Year, and as we know, there are so many traditions involving Chinese New Year.
Truthfully, I’m not big on traditions. Of course, I make it a point to fulfil the basic ones every Chinese New Year (CNY) but to say that they are really important to me would be stretching the truth. In fact, I’d come to take these traditions for granted.
Some of these traditions are family traditions and some are more ubiquitous like exchanging ang pows (red packets), the family reunion dinner and overall CNY preparations.
Talking about CNY prep, this year, I really found it to be a quite a bummer initially. Honestly, my CNY prep is nothing extraordinary. They’re the typically basic items like spring cleaning and shopping for CNY groceries and goodies for my relatives. Yet, I found it slightly irritating that in the midst of my hectic schedule, I had to take a pause and actually make time for all these.
Amidst all these, Z surprised me one day.
“Hey, you’ve been wanting to buy some flowers for CNY, right? How about we go today?”
When we first moved into our place 5 years ago, it was right before CNY and I remember mentioning that we should get some artificial cherry blossoms to spruce up our CNY decor. That was 5 years ago, and we somehow never managed to get those flowers.
I was pleasantly surprised and even excited. We went to this place called Sun Energy Floral Trading (you can check out their Facebook page here). They sell really quality artificial flowers at a reasonable price. The whole outing was a fun change from our usual routine and it made me recall our CNY prep last year.
My CNY decor with new flowers!
Last year, we found a seller who had really yummy pineapple tarts. We first bought 2 jars from her, then, as we started counting the relatives whom we could gift the pineapple tarts to, we kept going back to the seller to get more jars. I don’t know why we didn’t just buy like 10 jars at one go. Maybe we were having too much fun making it into a mission of sorts. Finally, the seller sold out and we didn’t manage to get our final batch of pineapple tarts, but the experience was really something to laugh about and remember fondly in years to come.
I’d become so immersed in my hectic life, that I’d forgotten what CNY prep was really about - fun family activities and preparation for relatives to come together.
So I guess Helen Russell and her book are right after all. While I may not have placed much importance on traditions, traditions do bind the family and bring us together. The value of family and community can never be overrated.
Thank you to Panadol Malaysia for collaborating on this blog post. This Chinese New Year, Panadol ActiFast is helping you get back to the moments that matter, quickly.
Buy RM15 worth of Panadol at any Guardian store and Whatsapp/MMS your receipt to +6 11 11 266 930 by Friday 2 March for your chance to win a trip to Disneyland Hong Kong or RM500 worth of shopping vouchers!Every submission will receive a special gift. Terms and conditions apply. Visit http://bit.ly/2rX39b1 for details.
