Good Outlook

It was a quiet Chinese new year back home. Dad passed on last October, so we are not celebrating this year. Still we were all home for the holidays, being with the rest of the family and catching up with friends.

Aside from that I watched a lot of tv. There were loads of shows on tv with fortune tellers predicting the fortune for the various zodiac signs in the coming year. Apparently this year of Dragon is not going to be a hot year for those who are born in the year of Dragon. I'd be one of them lot. So, the dragon babies were advised to be patient, be watchful, lay low and ride it out for the coming year. No major move is to be made.

That was pretty much how I spent the days of the uneventful Lunar new year. But indeed it was a peculiarly quiet one.

Finally I figured out why. There were no remark like "Oh my God you are getting thinner!" or question such as "Hey when are you getting married?" from family and friends alike. Oh how I loved and enjoyed this quietness and serenity!

Well just from this, the year of Dragon seems to be shaping up to be a good one already!

Have a good year ahead people!

Collections

As a hobby, some people collect stamps, some collect match boxes, some collect fridge magnets, some collect hotel-provided miniature toiletries. What do you collect for fun?

Me? I found out what I collect while doing spring cleaning. Going in and out of airports while flying, I guess unconsciously I'm been collecting quite a lot bottles, of perfumes and booze. Unconsciously!

Or I'm just a narcissistic alcoholic.

Cold Welcome to Beijing

A last minute curve ball threw off delayed my departure of my second trip back to my motherland. So the plan of partying hard along Beijing street, ushering in 2012 with style and booze was down the drain.

Gutted. Utterly gutted.

Finally I traveled on Jan 2. I snapped this from the plane as we approach Beijing. The snow covered mountains, all white, such a picturesque sight to behold.

It was -6 degree Centigrade, windy and foggy when we walked out of the airport, about 3 pm in the afternoon. It was so so cold. I could feel my digits numbing, my ears and my nose frosting up, possibly falling off any minute.

I wondered if I could survive reveling on the Beijing streets on that new years eve night. Sometimes things happen for a reason. Usually, a good one at that too.

Snail Mails

Do you remember when was the last time you receive something in the post, a letter or a postcard, the old fashion snail mail way? Do you recall how wonderful that was?

The thrill of receiving a mail is overwhelming. The joy is tangible, so real that we can touch it, hold it in our hands, as we are holding the letter, reading it. It put a smile on our face for days.

It's simply romantic.

So when was the last time you send a mail to your loved ones?

2012 To Do List

1. Take mom for a trip. Driving her back to her home town. Or maybe taking a cruise. Or both.

2. Volunteer. Give back. Preferably, something involve kids or education. There are a lot of volunteer opportunities in Juba. Now there's something to do over the weekends in Juba.

3. Build a school. Or planning to build one. This one probably not going to happen within a year since all the research and preparation alone would take years. However, a journey to a thousand miles begins with a single step. I must take the first step.

4. Be a better friend. Call more, write more. A friend of mine lost his sister and I only found out a year later. I feel like a douche-bag.

5. Pick up Arabic. I went for ONE class last year. One class, that was it! While it was a timing issue, I must fess up that there was a commitment flop on my part too.

6. Buy more books, and read them.

7. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Burundi.

Now 2012, bring it on!

Chilled Kivu

Slowly, quietly and lazily and uneventfully peaceful time slipped away. It was like the ripples of wavelets skimming across the lake, no big splash, just calmly and gently.

I walked around the lake. I listened to the bird singing on the trees and the fishermen singing in the lake in the morning. I ate when I was hungry. I drank beers by the lake. I read. I took naps in the afternoon. I sat by the lake looking into the horizon afar. I swam in the evening, only once because to water was freezing. I slept early at night.

Three days and two nights.

One word to sum up Lake Kivu: chilled.

Mountains Calling

I'm a beach person. I love going to the beach. It's such a relaxing and chilled ambience. So I always arrange my trip to end by the beach. And for my Rwanda trip, Lake Kivu was my last stop. It was a good relaxing 3 days chilling by the lake shore and doing nothing, not even weight seeing much. It was just hanging out with B&B: books and beers.

But my mind was far flung on the slopes of lush beautiful hills and mountains in Ruhengeri. There was a great sense of serenity and security being surrounded by those great mountains. It was humbling. The mountains were imposing but kind, feeding me their wonderful refreshing positive chi. In fact I still long for those amazing mountains and reminiscing about my days roaming there.

The view from my room in Ruhengeri, the magnificent Mahabura hiding behind the clouds and the mighty Gahinga.

This is the view from my bathroom, the Muside and Sabiyo, I think.

Maybe deep down inside, I'm a mountain person.