What I discovered…

1. Home is a place where it is comfortable and carefree
2. Home is associated to a particular moment or experience
3. Home is determined by how long one lives there
4. Home is associated with one’s childhood- where they grew up
5. Home is strongly associated with family and sense of bond
6. Home is the traditions and routines
7. Home is a sense of belonging to somewhere
8. Home is the relationship or connections you make with others
9. Home is more than a physical place, it relates to culture and people
10. Home is related to the emotions and sensations one feels
11. Finally, Home is not a place, but a feeling

These are some of the ideas I found when reading other blogs, what about you? 🙂

Karen

The sun peeked through the ivory curtains and wiggling my toes, I slowly rolled onto my stomach placing the pillow on top of my head. Suddenly, the door moves and slams the wall and I woke up with a fright!

It was my younger brother. He jumps onto the bed and starts bouncing around and making an announcement with his two small hands near his mouth saying that today is a big day! I rubbed my eyes, swinging my legs off the bed frame and decided to get dressed.

Everything was red and gold. There was bright red banners tapped around the house, along with an assortment of treats in a beautiful tray known as the tray of togetherness. I picked up a fruit candy from the tray and walked to the kitchen. I see my grandparents and mother preparing food for lunch. There was many dishes on the table ranging from fish, shrimp, stir-fried vegetables , and much more! Each dish was colourful and appealing. Then, I asked them If there was anything I can help with.

“Mom, what are you making next? Can I help you?”

“The dishes are almost ready, how about you help me grab all the bowl and chopsticks”

“How many do we need?”

“Let’s say around twenty, can you do that for me?”

“Oh wow! But there is only around five of us here. Will there be more people coming?”

“Yes, my sweetie. Your relatives such as your Aunts, Uncle, and cousins”

“Okay! Yay I get to see Uncle Ben and them”

I pulled a chair in front of the kitchen cupboard and stretched my arms to grab the bowls. One by one I grabbed them and placed it carefully on the table. And not too long after, the door bell rings. My mother opens the door and everyone greets each other saying 新年快乐(xin nian kuai le) ! After hearing those loud greetings, I rushed down the stairs and gave everyone a big hug but Uncle Ben decides to not hug me yet and asked me something.

“Karen, do you know what animal it is this year?”

“Umm… Ah! Last year was sheep”

“Yes, but I’m asking this year’s animal”

“Can you give me a hint?”

“Okay sure. It’s animal that is smart, adventurous, and flurry”

“But all animals have flur though”

“Haha, think about the animal from that famous movie called Journey to the West that flies on a cloud”

“Oh! I remember now. It’s the monkey..its the year of the monkey!”

“Haha yes, you are very smart!

Uncle Ben messes my hair and then my mother calls everyone for lunch. And then everyone grabs their cup and says 新年快乐(xin nian kuai le)!

—–

I am born and raised in Vancouver. One of the biggest gatherings for Chinese households would be Chinese New Year.  My sense of home is basically having a homemade dinner with all my family members and relatives. It’s a time where everyone that you love and care about gathers together and feast to celebrate the new year. And each year there is a new animal and this year for 2016, it is the year of the Monkey! I thought about writing about this because we are currently celebrating this right now and each year it always brings me warmth.

This short story always brings me back memories where I would wake up on Chinese New Year and my family prepares food for us all. Now growing up, I have been participating in the process of preparing the Chinese New Year dishes and decoration of the house.

Here is a photo of this year’s Chinese New year lunch I helped prepare ( and in case you are wondering what the dark stuff on the left side of this photo.. it’s black sea cucumbers haha)

Every year my grandparents and family put a lot of effort in preparing for CNY dinner and looking at all this food on the table..I feel so blessed and spoiled. It is that feeling where you see all the homemade food prepared right in front of you. The process of passing the bowls and plates and conversation shared amongst everyone. It is the loudness of laughter and eating lots! I’m sure a lot can relate that elders have the tendency to always put more food on your plate. And of course, the red pockets. Children learn the traditional greetings and then they will receive red pockets. It’s the joy of saying good things to each other and not so much of the money that is received. And if you do not celebrate Chinese New year, I’m sure Christmas is another great example of how one can feel their sense of home.

Thanks for reading!

Karen

Work Cited

Moss, Stephen. “Is Hong Kong Really Rioting Over Fishball Stands?” the Guardian. N.p., 9 Feb. 2016. Web. 9 Feb. 2016. <http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2016/feb/09/hong-kong-fish-ball-revolution-china-riot>.

Parkinson, Rhonda. “Chinese New Year Food” Tray of Togetherness. Web.  9 Feb 2016. <http://chinesefood.about.com/od/foodfestivals/ig/new-year-food/Tray-of-Togetherness.htm>.

Hoffmann, M. “Chinese New Year Tradtions: Preparation Time!”. Web. 9 Feb.2016. <http://www.china-family-adventure.com/chinese-new-year-traditions.html>.

Chan, Cm. 齐天大圣孙悟空粤语2013. Youtube. N.p., 3 Oct.2013. Web. 8 Feb.2016<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfWJ8uXsRaI>.  

“Stories are wondrous things. And they are dangerous”-Thomas King

How does evil come into the world? The first thing I thought about was children. I’m sure everyone has heard many stories throughout their life. Even from the very beginning, in our diapers, our parents or grandparents has told us stories. Stories that include fairy tales, myths, and much more. Each story is unique in which every time it is told, the story is presented differently. Just like this week’s text  The Truth About Stories, “sometimes it changes in the details” or the sequence of events (Thomas King 1). When i was forming my story for this week, I realized how difficult it can be to create a story. I thought for a long time about it, hoping to come up with some spectacular or different story. However, in the end, I thought why not tell a story that perhaps we might have heard about but adding a twist to it. Hope you enjoy! ( down below is my story).

                                      Storytelling in The Woods

On one hot summer afternoon, a bright yellow school bus arrives in front of  Tupper Elementary School. Children rushed out of their seats grabbing their sleeping bags and fluffy pillow and ran out the doors. The teacher starts counting each of their heads and not too long, the adventure begins.

After a few hours, a big wooden sign appears in front of the bus that says ” Welcome to Camp Sunrise! “. There was a beautiful lake in the middle and vibrant green trees surrounding the site. People can hear birds chirping and feel the crisp wind brushing on their faces. The children unpacked their bags and found their own cozy spot in the cabins. Let’s give some of the children some names. There was Alice, John, Tim, and Lucy. And of course the teacher should have a name as well and her name was Ms.Brown.

By the time they finished settling down, the sun disappeared and Ms.Brown decided to make a campfire. Children love campfires. It is where the magic happens. Stories gets unfolded. What makes a good campfire are the stories and there are actually some tips for telling a good campfire story too! Roasting marshmallows on a stick, Alice tugs on Ms.brown’s sweater and asked her, “Ms.Brown, can you tell us a story?” And she responds ” Well, there are a lot of stories, but ahh yes there is one that i can share!”

It is the story about how evil comes to the world. There was a myth that there was this forest trail and no one really dares to go inside. People say that if you do, bad things might happen. Perhaps, this is the reason how evil breaks into our world.

And, there was a group of young kids just like you guys. They were hanging out one day and decides to explore outside. Before they know it, they arrived inside a forest that was full of flurry animals. There were all sorts of animals, ranging from reindeers to birds and even rabbits. The children loved animals. They would play games with them and feed them some snacks. So far, it sounds like an wonderful day right? But one day, a rabbit starts to talk to them in English. The children were shocked and fascinated, looking at that rabbit with their jaws hanging down.

“Wow! You can talk? How do you know how to speak?” asked the children
“Well, you can say that I’m special I guess” said the rabbit
” Where do you live?”
” Just over there. Come, follow me. I can show you”

By this point, I bet you can guess what happens next. They follow the rabbit and the children…

John and Alice and the rest of them screams and ask Ms.Brown to pause the story. But “once you have told a story, you can never take it back. So, be careful of the stories you tell, AND the stories you listen to”

Work Cited

Coulter, Philip. “The Truth About Stories” A Native Narrative . Web. 1 Feb. 2016. <http://cislit.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/1/1/26116552/the_truth_about_stories_by_thomas_king.pdf>.

Love the Outdoors Camping & Campground. “Tips for Telling a Good Campfire Story” Camping ideas.N.p., 19 Dec. 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2016. <http://www.lovetheoutdoors.com/tips-for-telling-a-good-campfire-story/>.