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Childhood photo of me

27 pictures for my 27th year

Posted on Author cup of ricePosted in Personal

My birthday has come around again and since last year I did a 26 pictures for my 26th year I figure I’d do the same this year.

Below are my top 27 pictures since my last birthday and some thoughts about each. They’re not the best photos I’ve taken but rather ones that represent the most pertinent memories. A longer final reflection at the bottom if you’re interested, and bullet points if you’re not 🙂

The bullet points of this year, in no real order:

  • Money gives you freedom and options: you don’t have to know what you want yet, but money leaves more options on the table.
  • I need to give myself more credit but also check my complacency.
  • Health > Time > Money: spend some time and money taking care of your body.
  • Know your roots: if you are part of a diaspora, it’s never too late to explore your roots and know where you came from.

The photos are all out of chronological order because I don’t know wtf wordpress and I’m too tired to care to fix them.

I did a lot of walking around campus during lockdown and saw this brick that cracked in the pattern of an anus. We started calling it the Terrestrial Anus which then turned into the Teranus and we started paying respects every time we passed by. All hail Its Great Holeyness!
The last day of my stay down south we climbed this mountain. My shirt was so soaked you could have wrung sweat out of it. I would do it again.
Photo of me and my younger sister stored in my family’s ancestral house. I will return to grab the rest of the photos and digitize them before age fades them away.
There’s a Flower Ocean park within 1hr biking distance of me. I never would have went there if quarantine did not happen. I wouldn’t have became friends with one of my colleagues and I wouldn’t have bothered to look up places to see nearby.
The sign says Starbucks. Sign of changing times. The building next door is a temple and I don’t know how to feel about it.
Teachers flying kites at my school during quarantine. None of us were allowed to leave campus but we make our own fun inside of it 🙂
Colleague is an astronomy fan and has his own telescope. Thanks to him I have now seen the moon, the ring of Saturn, the 4 main moons of Jupiter, and the binary stars of the Big Dipper.
A tour stop my aunt and uncle took me to. Lovely rustic village but not a lot of young people around as they are all gone to the city to make money. A lot of towns in my home province is like this.
There are a lot of magnolia trees on campus and due to quarantine a handful of us were the only witnesses to their spectacular display.
The apartment beside me was empty so they let me turn it into an office for teaching online. This was my set up for a good 4 months.
I got really into healthy cooking and am addicted to spinach now. They are so good but why must they shrivel up so small.
My aunt and uncle took me to the seaside on a vacation within a vacation. You can see how gorgeous the scenery is and the surprising amount of wind generators in the back. China produces and uses more renewable energy than I thought, it’s a side I didn’t know about until I came back to the motherland.
A temple in my home town. It’s a very interesting part of China where there are still functioning temple complexes and new condos right behind. A nice coexistence of tradition and modernity.
View from my front door. I’m incredibly thankful for the life I have here.
A sample of how I’d work while doing Master’s assignments. I’m very proud of the work I’ve done but I’m not sure if it’ll make me the happiest in the long term.
Visiting one of the ancestral homes where my paternal grandma’s siblings still live. They recently re-did the paint and it’s as beautiful as my memories of it are.
I love the colours in this shot. This was right before a warm spell and every single tree proceeded to turn green at once.
Pear blossoms, bee, and the moon. What a blessing to see all three.
The gym was not open during lockdown but I wanted to keep up my fitness so we worked out in this courtyard inside our apartment complex instead. We met there from 7-8 most days and managed to keep it up for 5 months before lockdown ended.
I ate a lot of salads during lockdown and tomato salads left the best imprints.
Week-long trip in Shanghai spent with a good friend. It was super relaxed and one of the best vacations I’ve ever taken.
2nd floor of the Hostel in Thailand. It is an open hanger that looks out onto the river and flower market delivery trucks below. On the left side are just regular apartment homes.
Flower Market beside our hostel in Thailand. A large portion of these are religious offerings and it surprised me being from a fairly secular country.
Great Wall in Beijing for the second time. A better preserved section and I almost threw up climbing this inclined section.
The Alchemist’s Cauldron in Inner Mongolia. A whole lot of sitting for one trip but worth it to go with friends.
Gotta rep our national sport! Both teams are Chinese-owned but there’s only 1 Chinese player. Things are just better when enjoyed with friends.
Old school dating profiles in the Temple of Earth in Beijing. I’m 27 so soon my parents will probably want to put one up for me haha.

Reflection

Money gives you freedom and options

I’m at a bit of a crossroads this year and the next in terms of where I want to be and what I want to do. My contract will be up for renewal soon, I’m thinking about taking a few months off, perhaps a career change and I will stop my master’s that I started last year.

To quote Shakespeare in Julius Caesar “not that I loved [the master’s] less, but that I loved [my other interests] more”.

Once I am forced into making a decision by past-me’s procrastination I won’t be limited by what’s in my bank account. It’s a very first-world problem so I’m not gonna pretend it’s causing me real anguish.

It’s also really nice to reach a stage where the price on a menu is not the biggest factor in decision making when dining out.

I need to give myself more credit

It’s easy to be self-deprecating and I am always wary of getting a big ego but I want to recognize just how awesome of a person I am. I have built good friendships, travelled the world, got my finances in check, have a regular exercise schedule, developed self-awareness, read a decent amount, educated myself about social issues, and get paid to do a job I feel is worthwhile.

This (academic) year I want to tackle some complacency I feel slipping in. Part of that is working to regain fluency in Mandarin Chinese, my mother tongue.

Health > Time > Money

As I age I am more aware of not just my own health, but the health of my loved ones. On this family trip it was made abundantly clear that the aging human body will start to show cracks. People I remember as young and healthy are now taking medication for chronic conditions, and dietary needs for myself are also changing.

My school this year has an on-site gym and boy did I ever take advantage of this opportunity. I am now a regular gym-goer, friends. I can now do 100 pushups in 10 minutes, run 5k’s regularly, and create workout plans for myself. Next step: diet haha…I’ll let you know in next year’s reflection.

As modern advances continue to prolong our life remember that the quality of our time also matters.

Know your roots

I visited my ancestral home for the first time in 16 years. What a humbling experience. The warmth of my family members is something I will always remember and forever grateful for. I discovered a lot about my family history – villagers are great gossipers – and see a bit of their lifestyle.

Seeing their way of life really opened my eyes to how insulated my world view is.

Compared to my Western lifestyle and reference point they can be considered to be poor, but they are happier than other richer people I know. They do not have as many creature comforts but the sense of kinship and community they are surrounded by is not something money can buy.

I once read somewhere that people who understand themselves to be part of something greater are also happier/more stable. I get that now. Knowing my family history and the traditions in my ancestral province settled me. There are echoes of it in my parents, and in myself as well.

Somehow, knowing that I’m just a small piece in a puzzle puts my anxieties in perspective.

If you are diaspora, go back and see where you came from. Ask about the traditions and get to know how they live.

We are all part of something greater than ourselves.

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