Category: Anything and everything

May in Spain

by liyangsthoughts, posted in Anything and everything

This trip so far has been very wonderful.

We sent off Lichen at the airport in the morning. The first week of May we celebrated Camilla and Niklas wedding. The highlight was the lunch at Can Sueno up in the mountains. The place normally only open for lunch and the food are decorated with flowers from their own garden. It took almost hour to  drive up there from where we live. Most of the road takes a lot of turns following the mountains. When we finally reached the place, the view was spectacular. I don’t think I have seen a more beautiful garden, there are so many different kinds of colours. The owner is a couple from Netherland. They bought the place just before the financial crisis hit Spain in 2007. After a big storm one winter, they rebuilt the place with their friends and during that time they cooked delicious food from the small kitchen at the back. That’s where the Can Sueno was tarted, through helps from friends and rebuild after a disaster. I was most taken away by the dessert , it’s a chocolate ball with gold painted on the surface. It tastes just as beautiful as it looks.
After the wedding we celebrated Norwegian Independence Day on the 17th May in L’Alfast . There is quite a big Norwegian community here. Isabella joined her first parade waving flags with the cheerful crowds. She was quite excited even the midday weather was pretty hot. We had a nice lunch at El Castell in the old town of Altea afterwards. The pizza and pasta were delicious, we went back there the following day for dinner to celebrate my birthday. Maybe it was fate I married Magnus, since my birthday is one day after his national holiday. It was interesting to explain to people where we from. I’m a Chinese living in NZ . My brother lives in Sweden. Magnus parents are from Norway but have been visiting Spain for more than 2 decades. We are quite a mix from many corners of the globe.  I feel very fortunate to experience different cultures and meet different people because of these ties through family and friends.
Only five days till we say goodbye to Randi and Morten. I think they will miss Isabella a lot when leave for NZ. Isabella will also miss them a lot, especially the daily swim with Farmor (grandma). They give her so much love and freedom, let her be herself and love her unconditionally. We are very lucky to have family as such, also to have beautiful places to reunite.

 

 

6 week challenge

by liyangsthoughts, posted in Anything and everything

I did it. I finished the 6 weeks crossfit challenge. Also today we had our team competition day, I won a prize being the best challenger nominee.

This experience made me realise:

  1. I am fit
  2. I can finish things , I don’t just quit half way
  3. I enjoy team work more than just train by myself
  4. A sense of community is a great thing when it comes to training

Next week we will travel for a month, so once I return to NZ, will continue to train. This whole crossfit thing is good for my body and mind.

Magus and Bella also came to support me at the competition today. I am proud of myself for finishing this 🙂

Farewell Grandma

by liyangsthoughts, posted in Anything and everything

Although the date on the calendar is 11th Feb, being Chinese, the year isn’t over yet. In 4 days, the lunar calendar will mark the end of the year of the Rooster and enter the year of the Dog.

My grandma passed away, she was just a few days away from her 89th birthday. My dad flew home and spent the last few days with his mum. My grandma’s name is Bao Yilan. She has never been to school, raised one daughter and four sons. When I was little, I often spent school holidays at grandma’s home. She is a devoted Hui muslim (Chinese minority). I still recall when I was young and I would wake up in the dark, sensing her doing the morning pray next to me. She taught me the Islam prayer and I can still say it till today (although I am not a Muslim).

In the last few years, I only saw my grandma once or twice a year, each time it was a brief visit. She lost her 3rd son (probably her favourite child) to a car accident 13 years ago. Since that accident, she had experienced bouts of severe depression and rarely left the house. The relationship with grandma is a little bit difficult to describe. There is the strong bond between her and me, but when she was right in front of me, I felt my grandma is somewhere faraway I can’t really connect to. Its like my real grandma, the one who spent quality time with me when I was a little kid is hidden behind years of grief and boredom.

Do I feel guilty for not trying my best to understand my grandma, reach her pain, and try to talk to her more? I think deep down I do have some guilt for not making her life better. The best I can do now is to remember the things she taught me, things like not wasting food, be honest, be kind to those less fortunate, be tidy and eat slowly. These are the things grandma have taught me over and over again when I was little.

I also want to thank her for showing me her commitment to her Islamic faith. We are  living in the world that is divided by religion. I am fortunate to live in a multi-cultured family. I learnt the rituals of Islam not through media and books but by living with my grandma. What does Islam mean to me? It always have some association with water and purity. My grandma would wash herself many times as part of the daily prayer. It was a very soothing and peaceful process. Writing down these words bring me back to that moment, standing next to her hearing the water splashing and dripping in the sink, the fresh scent and also grandma’s white skin and black long hair.

I wish grandma will have a good reunion with grandpa and my uncle. If heaven do exist, I trust it is a place for loved ones to reunite.

Till then

 

Run 2

by liyangsthoughts, posted in Anything and everything

Oh I went for a run again today. Its a warm nice evening, saw the ginger cat after my run.

Its very quiet in this neighbourhood in the evenings. Comparing to the days in Beijing feels like I have moved to a different planet.

Magnus and I do miss the summer evenings in Beijing, we would ride on the bike to go through the hustings after having some BBQ skewers for dinner. Those were the carefree days.

Bella cried a lot before going to sleep tonight, me, Magnus and my mum take turns to go into her room try to calm her down. In the end, grandma did the job of getting her to sleep. The magic of grandparents…

So here is another year

by liyangsthoughts, posted in Anything and everything

It was a wonderful family holiday in Hainan. I have been back to work for a week now.

Right now I am juggling three projects, all happening in the next three months.

Again there is no planning here, have to keep telling myself do not expect too much on process and order. Run with it and try your very best to enjoy it along the way.

It must be why I was so exhausted by the end of last year, how do I put it, it’s like the constant worrying of something go wrong. Your mind is always on the next problem, waiting for someone to give you the next information to keep things going.

What does my work really involve?This is my imaginative way of explaining what I do. There are lots of threads in my hands, I pull them one by one, sometime they get all tangled up , my goal is to trace till the end of the thread. I hope its a smooth run without getting everything tangled up or broken off half way through.

There are quite a few trips coming up in the next month or two. If I dont change the team half way, I will get to visit some places new. I am not sure why I dont look forward to it so much, maybe lack of self confidence on how well I will organise the trip?

Back to the workshop, it was good know the management see the problems that we are all experiencing at work, such as lack of process, unclear role definitions, lack of vision etc. I suppose you can only running wild without a clear path for so long. It will only be fun for a certain size, once the team gets bigger, it gets messier. Although its a creative environment, process and order will help ideas become reality in a more efficient way.

I have been dreaming a lot about my families, there are lots of unsettling feelings inside of me about my families. I am slowly realising the fact that most my family members are getting older. They will need my help more than before. I am no longer that small child who look up to them asking for support , the tables are turning. I am just not sure psychologically I am ready for this change. I have always been quite attached to my families. therefore when they experience some difficulties, it upsets me to realise the limitations of my ability to provide for them.

The new year goal is to become stronger. So I can be reliable to my loved ones. I feel like I am stretching my abilities to grow bigger and taller in the sense of a big tree, so I can provide shades to more people. I wonder what type of tree I would be ? Like the one in Rose Garden in Parnell? That would be nice.