Gong Xi Fa Cai : What's that Uncle ?

Kids these days don't greet their elders with auspicious phrases when they visit them during the Chinese new year.

When three kids came to visit me, they just asked me "What's your WI-FI password ?" 

Next, they just turned on their electronic gadgets & smart devices & bury their heads in their virtual worlds.



Sigh ! 
Old Chinese new year traditions are disappearing and forgotten in the new generation.

After all the poking & swiping on the flat screens, the kids got bored.

Next, they played hide-and-seek.
I was amazed & amused that they could still find spaces to hide in my small house of 86 sq. metres. 

Then one started jumping vigorously on my bed !   
Wa-biang, I said in my head : this has to stop !

So I "psycho" them to participate in a drawing contest.
I told them the best drawing would win a toy to take home.
Suddenly, everyone scrambled for a seat around my study table.

I supplied them the drawing materials and color-pencils & everyone started doodling. 
I told them to draw whatever they like.
It's free expression, no theme.

For a moment, there was some peace in the room.




Brother & Sister hard at work

   









     

Cousins busy at their drawing

I was surprised that everyone draw the human figure.....
Does this show their interest in caricature ?           
I don't really know. It's too early to tell.
But I asked each one who they were drawing. Here are the answers.






After I announced the winner, they stopped work & started running around and screaming  again. Whoa !!!

One took my watercolour brush & filled it with water & spit water at my drawing.  Wu-la-la ! 

One turned my drawing eraser into sculptures.
First it was a lizard, they threw it at everyone & laughed a lot. I did not manage to take a picture of it.
Next was a beetle. 
I was amazed at the creativity & imagination of these kids. 

Beetle

 

Happy Lunar New Year 2015

My niece C.

Every year, the weeks and days leading to CNY is the busiest for me.

I remembered when we were living at Block 89, Zion Road (now demolished), we had to do spring cleaning, washings, house-keeping and removing unwanted stuff. We had no maid. 
I always had a hard time because it's difficult to let go of old stuff & often gotten scoldings from my mum for hiding them.

And our kitchen sink always choked during this period & caused the whole kitchen to flood with stinky water. I had to stretch my arm into the sink hole to clear the debris.
I was always worried that my arm would get stuck & the civil defence had to be called in to help me get out of the hole.
Previously, I saw my day did it.
So when he became old, I took over this "dirty job".

On the eve of CNY, after our reunion dinner, I would make a trip to Chinatown to pick up cheap stuff. The later I went, the cheaper the stuff become as every hawker wanted to clear their goods before calling it a day.
Now, I don't do it as the overly crowding impedes my movement. 

Just before midnight, I would visit the Kwan Im temple at waterloo street to pray for good health and fortune for the family. 
Then I would walk a few kilometres home as the bus & public transport would have stopped operation by this hour. 
Now I don't do it at midnight but just before dawn when there is less people.

On the first day of CNY, we would wake up and greet and serve our parents with chinese tea before we receive our "hong bao" (red-packets). Till these days, I still keep some of them for memory sake even though our parents had since passed on. This was our tradition for years.

These days, children need to be coerced to say Chinese greetings and adults are so eager to give out their "hong bao" even if the kids say nothing.

Sigh !  Old tradition is slowly disappearing and be forgotten in time to come.

For the coming year of the wooden goat, I wish everyone :

Better peace, more happiness & good fortune.  

 

 

 

 

Toys : To buy or not to buy ?

My boss asked me to get a gift for her niece’s birthday.
But I refuse to buy toys.

Not only they are expensive, they offer little or no learning experience for the child playing with them.

While scratching my head to ponder what to do, accidentally I flipped open my ideas bank’s cap. I pulled out one idea and decided to fabricate it just for market test.

It’s a customized jigsaw puzzle of the birthday girl’s family caricature portrait come complete with a A4 photo frame.  

I just hope the kid learns to see & put all the little pieces to make up the big picture.

And also to keep her away from her tablet……and wasting time in all the swiping and poking on the flat screen without learning anything.    

Close-up view of assembled puzzle



Pieces separated before packing.



As soon as she completed the puzzle, she sent to my boss, her posed photo of the finished puzzle.

There was no feedback, but I guess her smile in the photo is a sign for another “satisfied customer”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rough Sketch & finished gif wrapped.