Living Alone and the Chinese New Year

I have been living alone for 3 years, but I always go back to Macau, my parents’ hometown for Chinese New Year. However, my parents decided to stay abroad this year and which means I am on my own. This is the time for many years I have to plan for my own Chinese New Year holiday.

There is a Cantonese saying “Wash away the dirt on ninyabaat (the 28th day of month 12)” (年廿八,洗邋遢). It is believed that good luck will follow by cleaning the household. However, like most working class people, I had to work on ninyabaat and the holiday won’t start until New Year’s Day.

Luckily we could have an early off at 3pm on the New Year’s Eve, so I went to the flower market for the sake of the Spring Festival’s spirit. I bought a nice bunch of peach blossoms for a good price. People believe that the peach blossoms symbolize growth, prosperity, long life and romance, but I just love it for it’s look.

for my photo, click here

Living alone and cork boards

I had 3 cork boards installed at my apartment. I change the decorations of the boards from time to time for fun because I hate seeing boring white walls.

Sketchbook on the wall! (May2010)

“Sketchbook on the wall!” is the latest theme of my board. Basically I just move my journal on the board. The beautiful frabics are gifts from my mother from Central Asia.

Postcard board

Postcard board (full view)

Old decoration: Spain Travel Log (2008)

A closer look

Old decoration: My first board (2007)

Old decoration: 幾米 & 黃永玉 Sketches

Living Alone and Cafe26A

I never drank coffee until my late 20s. My tolerance for bitterness is becoming higher when I grow old. I started to make my own coffee last year after my dad gave me his Espresso coffee maker. I enjoy cooking coffee and enjoy it with friends. My apartment becomes a private Cafe and I named it Cafe26A (my door number is 26A).

(click here to enlarge)

Coffee is served!

獨居 Living Alone

算起來,我已獨居了兩年又四個月了。我的獨居生活跟Sex and the City的風流女主角不一樣,一點也不浪漫,因為在家的時候想的都是一些家務事,晴天的時候就會想洗衣服、曬被子;下雨的時候就會記掛着廚房漏水的地方;坐在沙發上看到地上的頭髮就想要掙扎起來吸塵;坐在馬桶上就會想起已有很久沒有清理厠所;打開信箱時就會發現原來水、電、煤、電話、寬頻、管理費通通都是錢……我也不是沒有想過找清潔阿姨幫忙,不過自己能做的事,為什麼要假手於人呢?況且我也不是特別討厭做家務,只是以前一切有媽媽和傭人打點一切(當學生時住宿舍也是,有阿姨照顧我們的起居飲食,又整天都和同伴泡在一起,所以也不可以說是獨立生活),所以我沒料到一些看似簡單的工作原來那麼費神。

當然,獨居的好處也有不少,可以自由佈置室內的裝飾(為了不破壞牆壁,我請裝修師傅把一面牆壁改裝成水松板,方面我定期換壁報);可以看DVD至深夜;可以隨時招呼朋友來玩……