從除夕到現在

Lunar New Year's Eve (除夕)
Arrived home on new year's eve, did some final touch up on the spring cleaning before we sat down for our reunion dinner. Even though I was born and bred here, I still need time to adjust to our unique hot weather. Touched down homeland not long, already felt like in 찜질방 (Korean sauna). I know just give me few more hours more, I will be fine again.

[Cloudless sky, hot!! Picture taken from Kota Kinabalu International Airport]

At night, mum hided all brooms, scissors and knives. We can't use all these tools on first day of Lunar New Year.

First day of Lunar New Year (大年初一)

Today, we greeted everyone with "恭喜發財" (it is pronouced as goong xi fa chai, direct translation is congratulation on your good fortune). It was also the only vegetarian day for our family for the whole year. Like traditional Korean, we started our breakfast with rice today.

For the good cause of tradition and family, I have visited temples, made a wish and taken a "peace" meal (平安餐) from one of the temples.

새해! 新年囉！

새해 복 받으세요!

건강 하새요 그리고 행복 하새요

恭喜发财！祝你新年快乐，身体健康，万事顺利！

十三年

不知不觉在新加坡居住也有十三年的光景了, 新加坡也算是我第二个家吧. 但我只在这里过了这么一次华人新年而已, 那就是第一年剛到达新加坡, 初出茅庐並且为了节省的原因而在此渡过. 但也打从那一年起, 我就再也不在这庆祝华人新年了. 理由其买只有簡單的一个, 那就是好泠清、好寂寞哦.

畢竟这並不是自己家, 雖然朋友、同事都比老家多, 但好友与家人却只在老家有. 在新年假期期间, 許多購物商埸、飲食店都修业多天, 街头巷尾份外泠清. 老家也具有相同情景, 但家人的温情足於驅走这片与天气無关的泠意.

由於旅游机票与回家的机票的价钱相差不多, 今年本想改变往年的作風, 不回老家过年改而出国傲遊一趟. 家人也無反对的舉动. 当新年的节日愈来愈接近时，我打消出国避年的念头. 所以今年我依舊会回家过年. 想想畢竟我也是遊子一名, 返鄉过年比任何活动都还要来得温馨和有意义.

Label? Category?

I have switched to blog beta after seeing my fellow friends have done the same. Furthermore, I thought it was easier for me since I don't have many posting anyway, switching over would be a rather breeze process. Untill I started to label my post, I have met the bottleneck.

How do I categorize them?

Except for posting about countries that I have visited, I have the impulsion to label everything else as "untitled". But then again, what is the fun of it?

A process that simple to others have become a mounting task to little yesmaru. After two nights of struggling, I have squeezed out few labels and modification here and there is believed to be required along the way.^^

Sign Language~손짓

Orange Days is a Japanese drama. I watched it because of Tsumabuki Satoshi and knowing that it has a happy ending. Well, I ended up interested in the sign language between the lead actor and lead actress. The lead actress was portraying a deaf girl.

After watching the show, I thought sign language was universal, which means Japanese sign language is the same as African sign language. A Chinese would probably understand an American when he/she shows "How are you?". For people who is under-privileged, they just need to learn only one language for communication.

However, after verifying with a friend who knows sign language. The answer was a disappointed no. Japanese sign language is different from Korean sign language, and Singapore's sign language only has some similarity with the American or British.

I am puzzled because sign language is considered a modern language. It is unlike English or Chinese which was formed or created many generations ago, our ancestors were born with our mother tongue. Sign language was created by current society educationist, yet we have set the boundary and created the differences.

To put it crudely, vulgar hand gesture is probably the only language which is universal now.