Dear Friends,
image from yeinjee.com/food/2007/12/
Today is December 21, 2008, the Winter Solstice of this Wuzi Year.
This is an important day in a year, and should be celebrated with enthusiasm and optimism.
冬至 (Dong Zhi) literally means the Peak of Winter, when the night is the longest in Northern Hemisphere in the year and thereafter it will get shorter. Dong Zhi therefore is a day when the Yang Energy starts to emerge from the deep of the Earth, slowly ascending towards the surface of the Earth, preparing for growth in the coming Spring. (some people interpret 冬至 as “arrival of winter”, which is not really correct since the night will get shorter from here. The reason the temperature will continue to drop from here for another 45 days is that the Earth is such a big resevoir of energy, it will take some time for it to reverse the course of the temperature, just like it will take a big ship some time to reverse its course after the engine has gone into reverse gear earlier.)
冬至 therefore is the time when internally a system has started to enter into a new cycle, though it may not be expressed externally. This is an important change-0ver and we should all getting ready for the next phase of growth. This we do by not disturbing the tender Yang energy which is slowly ascending, making sure we do not exhaust it while it slowly gathers strength over the next 45 days.
Philosophically 冬至 means many thing. It is the end of an old cycle as well as the beginning of a new one. It is the baton pass day. This tradition should be remembered and passed down to younger generations.
冬至 is celebrated with the traditional 湯圓 (“tangyuan”), glutinous rice balls cooked in sweet soup. I like them prepared in 2 colours, white and red, either plain or stuffed with either red bean paste or sesame seed paste. In colder region, add some ginger to the sweet soup to suit the season.
Have fun enjoying your 湯圓 (“tangyuan”)
****************************************************************
*** Notes on Tangyuan “technical details” :
Strictly speaking, the “correct” number of Tangyuan per serving should be 6.
For “6″ is the number for winter. It is also the number of strokes for “Ba Gua” system. The Bagua diagram for Dongzhi is 5 Yin strokes on top of a Yang stroke.
Additionally, red tangyuan represents “Yang” energy and white represents “Yin” energy.Therefore, the “correct” combination should be 1 red and 5 white tangyuan per serving.
Why 1 red tangyuan with 5 white ones? As per posting, Dong Zhi is the Peak of Winter though the Yang energy has just started to ascend. Therefore we are seeing the first sign of Yang energy with mostly Yin energy.
The soup represents Water. Water is the basic essence of life, the beginning of life. It is given number “1″. With number “6″, it completes “North”, “Winter”, “Foundation of life” etc.
The relationship between “1″ and “6″ is “1″+”5″=”6″, where “5″ is the Central energy.
Therefore the tangyuan has to be served in a soup with 6 per serving, preferably clear soup.
7 is for summer, 8 for Spring and 9 for Autumn. tangyuan served in these numbers will not correspond to the season of Dong Zhi. This may seems trivial, but trivial they are not.
You can also guess that in “Xia Zhi” (i.e. Summer Solstice), the day is the longest and therefore it gets shorter towards winter. It is also the day when Yang energy started to descend, thereby Yin energy started to increase on a relatively basis. There isn’t a “celebration” for “xia zhi”, guess all are already celebrating with all sorts of activities outdoor in the summer.
Similar to Dong Zhi, the number for Xia Zhi is “7″, with “Fire” (number “2″) to completes “South”, “Summer”, “Full Expressions” etc. Again you can see the relationship between “2″ and “7″ is “2″+”5″=”7″.
Central energy “5″ again appears here, signifying the great importance of Central energy throughout the four seasons of a cycle. In human internal energy, “5″ corresponds to our Middle Qi, our ability to absorb nutrients and ability to distribute them throughout the body as well as removing waste from all over the body. Central energy is therefore the most important in sustaining life, though it is not normally explicitly expressed in any of the 4 phases of life.
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Xiaoyao2's Weblog 人法地, 地法天, 天法道, 道法自然 
Wow! Didn’t know today is so special! I had a bowl of tang yuan during lunch today, unknowingly. I had a sudden craving for those white & pink tang yuan in ginger soup but can’t find them, only had those with sesame seed inside.
The queue for this tang yuan stall was long. All those with peanut & red bean paste, already sold out. So, it’s because of this special day, that’s why!
Happy Dong Zhi.
Made some tang yuan – initially a little too soft, it is time like this that the wisdom of the elderly must be sought. Thank goodness, turned out well finally though the pink ones looked too red. We always make it a point to make tangyuan and get the kids to join in the fun too, and understand the significance ..
Also made some Hakka Meat Balls, kids’ favourite for the celebration.
Tomorrow is X’mas Eve. Merry X’mas everyone and may 2009 bring you and family good health, harmony and happiness !
(¯`O´¯)
*./ | \ .*
*♫*.
, • ‘*♥* ‘ • ,
‘*• ♫♫♫•*’
‘ *, • ‘♫ ‘ • ,* ‘
.’ * • ♫*♥*♫• * ‘
‘ * , • Merry’ • , * ‘
‘ * ‘ •♫♫*♥*♫♫ • ‘ * ‘
‘ ‘ * ‘ • Christmas . • ‘ * ‘ ‘
‘ ‘ * • ♫♫♫*♥*♫♫♫• * ‘ ‘
&&&&&&&&&&&&
Happy New Year
2 0 0 9
Strictly speaking, the “correct” number of Tangyuan per serving should be 6.
For “6” is the number for winter. It is also the number of strokes for “Ba Gua” system.
Additionally, red tangyuan represents “Yang” energy and white represents “Yin” energy.
Therefore, the “correct” combination should be 1 red and 5 white tangyuan per serving.
Why 1 red tangyuan with 5 white ones? As per posting, Dong Zhi is the Peak of Winter though the Yang energy has just started to ascend. Therefore we are seeing the first sign of Yang energy with mostly Yin energy.
The soup represents Water. Water is the basic essence of life, the beginning of life. It is given number “1”. With number “6”, it completes “North”, “Winter”, “Foundation of life” etc.
The relationship between “1” and “6” is “1”+”5″=”6″, where “5” is the Central energy.
Therefore the tangyuan has to be served in a soup with 6 per serving, preferably clear soup.
7 is for summer, 8 for Spring and 9 for Autumn. tangyuan served in these numbers will not correspond to the season of Dong Zhi. This may seems trivial, but trivial they are not.
You can also guess that in “Xia Zhi” (i.e. Summer Solstice), the day is the longest and therefore it gets shorter towards winter. It is also the day when Yang energy started to descend, thereby Yin energy started to increase on a relatively basis. There isn’t a “celebration” for “xia zhi”, guess all are already celebrating with all sorts of activities outdoor in the summer.
Similar to Dong Zhi, the number for Xia Zhi is “7”, with “Fire” (number “2”) to completes “South”, “Summer”, “Full Expressions” etc. Again you can see the relationship between “2” and “7” is “2”+”5″=”7″.
Central energy “5” again appears here, signifying the great importance of Central energy throughout the four seasons of a cycle. In human internal energy, “5” corresponds to our Middle Qi, our ability to absorb nutrients and ability to distribute them throughout the body as well as removing waste from all over the body. Central energy is therefore the most important in sustaining life, though it is not normally explicitly expressed in any of the 4 phases of life.
Just some additional stuff to pass down to our children.
Hmmm…..interesting! First time ever read about such reasons for tang yuan. Good to know what & why we eat this stuff.
I like the tang yuan in gula melaka soup. Gives it a fragrant & sweet taste. My grandma & mum used to cook it this way. Hence, this is the only style I’ve grown to eat.
yl,
fyi, “sweetness” generally strengthens the Middle Qi, it is therefore closely related to the Central energy, number “5”. The sweet soup therefore is not a coincidence.
Infact “sweet” relates to Middle Qi, Sour to the Eastern Qi(Spring Qi, Liver system Qi), Bitter to Southern Qi(Summer Qi, Heart system Qi) and Acrid (like ginger, spicy stuff) to Western Qi(Autumn Qi, Lung system Qi).
Any wonder why kids like sweet stuff? They are in rapid growth stage, needing a strong Middle Qi, it triggers urge for sweet stuff. Though too much is bad. Other things like chilled or spicy stuff are not very helpful to the Middle Qi in this tender age. Therefore, things like ice-cream or strong curry is not a good thing for kids. For those kids taking too much cold stuff, you will notice they typically have some form of problems with absorption and distribution issues later in life.
Note “sweetness” is more than just the normal taste sweet. Any taste characteristics that excites the Middle Qi is “sweet”. Therefore dried mandarin skin is “sweet” for it promotes Middle Qi and is good for people who has too much water retention in their body, people who are overweight with little exercise. Green beans soup with couple of pieces of dried mandarin skin is good for them generally, especially in summer.
Though as in all things, it is about balance, too much of “5” or other “numbers” over time will throw things off balance.
Ok, so I should go dry my own mandarin skin! I eat oranges almost every day. Can I dry these kind of orange skin instead of mandarins? I hardly eat mandarins, except during CNY.
What are you doing tomorrow, Christmas Day? I’ll be in the BA airplane flying to NZ. First time ever to celebrate Christmas Day in the airplane!
get the dried mandarin skin from Chinese herbal shop, buy those aged 3-5 years, no need for further aged stuff.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year.
Submitted an earlier comment with a X’mas tree ( probably should be sequenced the 2nd ) but missing – eaten up with the tang yuan.
Thanks xy2 for so much “legacy” explanations on our heritage, much is lost nowadays. Will share with my kids. Now I know why the pink and white must go together. Thought it was just an auspicious colour.
Merry X’,mas to everyone. Will be at the airport tomorrow to receive my 13 yr old son, coming back from a 2 week Winter Camp in China, his first experience travelling without parents…and also of winter.
Towards end of the year, we’ll be at the beach lazying around. Happy 2009 and may it brings you and your family good health, happiness and harmony.
mf,
located your earlier comment with “X’mas tree”.
For whatever reason, it was classified as spam by wordpress system. Saw it just today when I clear the spam box.
thanks for taking the trouble to creat the X’mas tree.
all of you can see this X’mas tree if you roll up the comment chain, it was datd Dec 23.
Wow MF, that is a really nice Christmas Tree! I haven’t seen such a creative one before! It has musical notes, hearts & many interesting symbols that lead from Merry Christmas to Happy New Yr! Wonderful! So cleverly stringed together, to even create some movement to the otherwise still tree! Really glad it was rescued from the Spam box!!! 🙂
Thank you so much MF!
What you did with the tang yuan for Dong Zhi really brings back old memories of what my grandma used to do—like what you did. Getting us children involved.
You must be well tanned now, from the beach holiday. 🙂
Errr.. the tree didn’t turn out quite like that when posted … somehow all “senget” instead of centre-justified. Not my credit, just copy and paste from an email !!
Great beach holiday for the family at golf resort in Damai Laut, Perak. We had our first fishing expedition at a pond in the middle of a golf course. To make the fishing rod, we stripped off the leaves from a branch of an Oil Palm tree and tie a nylon string at one end, with hook and bread as bait. The fish we caught were just as big as “ikan kembong” – naturally we released every single one back to the pond, almost killing one taking far too much time to unhook it !
It is nice to break away, and just take about 3 hours drive to reach a holiday destination. With school reopening full throttle, had been hectic, hectic. So rather quietly enjoying your blog comments.
Hmmm…..didn’t know got such a nice beach holiday destination in M’sia. M’sia is a great holiday place, except for the mosquitoes & humid, hot weather.
Have been dreaming about inventing a laser gun for shooting those mosquitoes! The laser rays will just move in any direction chasing after these keetos & hit them, like those missiles which after launched will hit right at the targets, no matter how they flew!
Today is 09 01 09…. 9th Jan 09….nice numbers.
Today, I entered the Stock Market again, though STI didn’t go below 1,700. Bought DBS shares again, at 8.50 each share. Now it’s already down to 8.42. Hope it will rise. Have resisted entering for 1 wk already…cannot tahan liau! 🙂
YL,
Aiyoh, You already kena the stock market bug! No cure for this one though, so don’t say we did not warn you!! 🙂 🙂
Japan invented those mosquito repellant bracelets and patches to put on the skin, so check them out at your nearest Japanese stores and try them to see if they will not help to repel those insects. My nieces/nephews find them useful.
MF, I must check out that place you mentioned, Damai Laut. Have to check out for some new places to go on holidays. Did Penang many times, and last July did Kota Kinabalu, which was nice and quite a change.
Hi CH,
No prescription for this bug? Hehehee… There is one….as long as the stock prices remain above their pre recession 50% value, I won’t buy. If dropped to below 40%, then die die also must buy unless that company is doomed for bankrupcy.
I got many packets of those patches at home. My children either find them unreliable or too lazy to bring along or put on. There was a time, when one of them put on their body & got bitten on the face, ear & neck instead.
Did you go climb Mt KK? I’ve been wanting to do that for the past few yrs but now the enthusiasm has died down with age. 🙂
YL,
No we did not climb Mt. KK. Just lazy resort tourists, but did the hiking to the natural forest reserve to see the Rafflesia flower. It was a bit of disappointment though, I have to say. The flower was not as nice or as beautiful as shown in photographs and we were each charged RM20 per adult and Rm15 per child by the guide company so the guide could bring us to see the flower. The beaches were nice though, we went to the outlying islands.
How was NZ? Been wanting to make that trip but always it is winter there when summer here, so kept putting it off because we would prefer to drive in the summer and not in winter (the snow and ice can get dangerous). Do share some of your fun holiday experience.
Yesterday, still bitten by the stock market bug, I bought more of the DBS stocks, at 8.10, the lowest for the day. Today, already risen to 8.44! That’s the only stock I bought since STI still above 1,700 level. I’ve been eyeing at this DBS stock & quite disappointed that it rose back to 9 even after the rights issue.
Hope can make another profit before the CNY holidays, when I will also close my stock inventory. 🙂
Finally, I got down to writing about my NZ trip.
My NZ holiday! Well, we went to North Island, landed at Auckland Airport & spent 2 days there, touring the town & suburbs. It’s flat & you see more sky, hills & mountains for backdrop. NZ is a place for retiring, to withdraw from worldly affairs. They live simple lives, with basic necessities & simple natural activities like fishing, boating, swimming, gardening, home cooking, etc…quite boring for city folks.
Next, we rented a Honda Odyssey & drove to Lake Taupo. Spent 2 days there. This place & it’s surroundings, are where almost all the holiday activities happened – horse riding, Manuka honey, boating, mountain climbing, hot springs, rose garden, Skyride & the luge which I heard originates from NZ & largest here.
Lastly, we move on to Rotorua, stopping at a dormant volcano along the way & spent 2 hrs walking on the huge craters with boiling mud & water of colours like green, yellow & brown. Air was full of sulphur gas, so won’t encounter snakes here. Some very unique plants grew here, which can withstand such underground heat on land, we are not allowed to step on. Visited the Kiwi zoo, only saw 1 live one. The rest are photos & models of it. First time to see a huge live Kiwi which looks like a huge brown egg with a long thin, tapering beak, which it constantly scratches the ground in search for food.
Mostly see rolling hills, lakes, sparsely distributed cows, sheep & horses. Once it starts to rain, it rains the whole day! Had 2 rainy days but we still push on to walk in the rain around craters, carrying umbrellas, for hours.
Restaurants & shops close early as usual but some supermarkets close at 10pm, so that’s where we went mostly, at nights. Bought very fresh Avocadoes & few days drinking avocado milk shakes(hand crushed because no blender) with their fresh milk & manuka honey which we bought along the way from bee farms. So nice that, those who usually don’t like it, wants it now. Most hotel rooms refrigerators come with 1 or 2 small cartons of NZ fresh milk.
Would want to visit South Island, hopefully in the coming yrs. Hope to see more city life here. North Island can be considered ‘ulu’ & ‘kampung’ like. Peaceful, calm & definitely pollution free except for areas around Rotorua & nearby Lake Taupo, where we often smell sulphur with the wind.
Plan early, so that you can get cheaper airfares. Usual airfare on SQ from S’pore to Auckland is $1,500 but mine was BA @ $2,150 due to festive season & late booking. SQ was sold out.
YL, Thanks for taking the trouble to update us all.
Will definitely consider that for a pre-retirement visit or stay, but for real retirement? Maybe not. It will really make me go senile more quickly with the lack of stimulation!!
No wonder all our friends who came back as graduates from NZ lived and behaved like retirees from the day they graduate!!
Jokes aside, been meaning to visit NZ for a long time, but somehow other places get priority everytime.
Been to Australia a couple of times, and Australia is already “ulu” enough for me. Did Perth and the Margaret River Valley in July 2007, had a fun time driving around and “drinking” along the way wine testing. My 16 yr old son was very naughty, he asked to taste the wine and one serious woman at a winery asked his age and told him off. He said there is only a law against underage alcohol drinking, not alcohol tasting!!
You could go to so many wineries (literally hundreds of them, big and small names) and taste their wines. Some of the more pricey wines they charge a small fee, like Aussie 2-5 for a tasting glass. Some of the more famous estates would have their ‘chateau” double up as a restaurant so we had a good meal at the Leuwin Estate, but you have to book ahead. Their lawns are beautiful and well manicured, so they are also popular as wedding venues. Some even have helicopter pads for landing. Not a bad venue if you are thinking of a second (or third) honeymoon, YL.
I guess you will see similar scenes in California, so maybe xiaoyao2 or ct or anyone else who has been to the Napa Valley etc, can give us a glimpse on their experience there.
YL, the last I checked, your Straits Index is heading back towards your “ideal buy ” number.
Do drop us some tips this time, need to make some extra dough for Chinese New Year!! 🙂
Noticed xiaoyao2 has increased the number of gold bars on this “logo” or whatever you call it.
We must catch up a bit.
Aiyoh….! I was very tempted to alert you all too but was holding on because it’s still teethering around 1,700. Now is 1,706. Have been monitoring whole morning & made a few bids. Almost got UOB at 11.7 but when it reached that figure, I chickened out & cancel my bid! Hiyah…if never cancel, I now would have already made some profit. 😦
I made bids for DBS, UOB, Singtel & Keppel Corp. Haven’t managed to get any yet, apart from some lots bought during the past few days for DBS at 8.1 & 8.5. That 8.1 level is due to that rumour about DBS bad deal in Kuwait. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to get at that level.
I must buy UOB because everyday STI chart still shows the lowest level is at 1,600.28 and that 28 is referring to UOB in the list of 30 prime STI stocks. Hiyah, I just missed 1 chance just now. Hope it will dip that low again.
Are you buying Singapore Stocks???
Xiaoyao2 is secretly telling us that he is going to hit gold before CNY! 🙂
well, if you are investing to hold for 5 yrs, guess it doesn’t matter much whether it is today or tomorrow, though one must be aware of the very weak demand forces globally on the real economy.
this will last through out 2009, with volatility. You can’t push a string.
Stay healthy, study the 5 Qi’s.
Hehehe….Xiaoyao2, you are so funny! Here, we are so anxious to buy the stocks & there you are telling us to study the 5 Cs! Ooops it’s 5 Qis. Or maybe there is a spelling error.
No more chance to buy the stocks already. STI is now 1,728. Today & tomorrow make a lot of difference leh! Hiyah, the world is changing so fast…how to wait for 5 yrs? Obsoleted already by then! Now, everything is super fast. I betted an eyelid & there missed my chance to buy in. How to stay as cool as a cucumber like you? 🙂
Hmmm…..off course you can! Seeing all the gold bars neatly stacked up in your Avatar! 🙂
YL, hey wait a minute.
xiaoyao2 has all these gold bars on his avatar (yeah, thanks for reminding me of that word!), so maybe we should look into buying some gold……if all stocks go down the drain and money does not hold value, we still have some gold left. Is that a hint from you, xioayao2?
we are going thru’ some uncharted water.
don’t read too much into my avatar, just thought it looks nice.
look after your Middle Qi. Also add ginger to your vegetable dishes.
Just finished putting up some bids for tomorrow, coz I’ll be too busy to monitor the stocks. Put up for DBS, KepCorp, UOB & Singtel.
Tomorrow, I got to make police report about 10 cheques stolen from my personal cheque book. 4 cheques have been cashed out & I have received info from the bank that it was all made to my maid’s a/c!!! Every few days, a cheque was forged with my signature & banked into her a/c! I’ve immediately cancelled all the 6 cheques which are not presented yet. Total money stolen from my a/c is $2,600. I was totally unaware until the 4th chq was banked in, while I was doing internet banking to make payment for my DBS shares. I even called her to find out if I have issued her any cheques before I left for NZ & she said no. I asked her about it because I never suspected she was capable of forging my signature & stealing my cheques.
Sigh….don’t know what the police will do with her. I’ll be left with no maid & back to doing housework & cooking again, until I can get another one. Hope I’m allowed to cancel her work permit asap so that I can hire another maid. If she has told me about her financial problems, I could have helped her! 😦
If police report has been lodged and investigation begin, you should let her go immediately. In fact you should let her go right away upon discovery.
The first few cheques cleared were just testing, consider it good fortune you discover it early.
If it happens to cheques, it is logical to think it extends to other valuables.
Discussion financial problem with your maid? you are a very nice employer.
YL, xiaoyao2 is right. I doubt if your maid has a real financial problem. It is a real crime. There are other ways to solve a financial problem if she had a real one.
Vow, very brave of her, but also silly since she banked into her own account!! I would not keep her under my roof for another day. Also be careful is she does not have a syndicate (or a partner) behind her since that was a very very brave act of crime.
I think you had better take xiaoyao2’s advice, check all valuables, not just valuables that have monetary value.
One of my friends in HK had her marriage certificate stolen/dumped!!! To date she could not find it, but fortunately her marriage is doing well, so there is hardly any need to see the real certificate and photocopies (which fortunately she did have) have always sufficed so far. She said the maid knew she was about to be fired but because of lack of help she asked her to help pack some of the documents in a drawer since they were moving house. What could she do with documents, right? That was what my friend thought. The maid either dumped it on purpose or hid it somewhere to give her a nightmare. Not a real crime and she knew that excuses could always be made if she was ever questioned. By the time my friend realized that her marriage certificate was not around, the maid was long gone!
Not all maids are bad, they are humans, but we have also to be aware that they do know a lot more about our family (and our secrets) than we ever imagine they do.
Take care, my dear.
xiaoyao2, one question for you. You mentioned ginger in vegetable dishes. I know as habit my mom used to put a slice of semi crushed ginger when she stir fried vegetables. Also sometimes into soup.
Please bear with me if I am asking a stupid question. I was told by my mother that ginger adds “heat” to the body, and removes wind (去風)from the body. Is that how it strengthens the middle qi?
I know the recipe for the chinese herbal drink you gave us is good but getting hold of the stuff and cooking it twice a week is tough for most of us. If adding ginger into cooking is a short cut way, I would gladly do it. No added hassle. Also, should we be using the old ginger or the fresh ginger? I get both types here.
Should I also add ginger to soups that are herbal? I usually add ginger to vegetable soups only, not the herbal ones that I boil for a couple of hours.
Your advice/tips would be much appreciated.
Gosh, another horror story about the maid. My maid had been with me for more than 10 years. At one time I left her to mind my then 2 young kids for 3 days, while hubby & I were overseas. The slightest rumor from a neighbour that she heard a man’s cough from my house crushed my trust completely. Though it was unfounded, a good “polishing” counselling by the agent sort of woke her up. I lost sleep and drastically considering quitting work to be a stay-home-mum!
Well, thank goodness, that episode was over.
YL, on the bright side, it is just monetary loss and you discovered early .. not like she was causing hurt to someone or kidnapping, etc !
Meanwhile, get each member of the family to chip in the chores – great bonding too.
Better luck with the next one !
Finally, everything settled & now got to start hiring a new maid.
Thanks for all your concerns & comments. It is comforting to read all your writings.
Morning, called the police for advice & was told that during the 3 to 6 mths awaiting conviction in court, she will be remanded in prison or let off on bail. All this time, I would still be the Employer, until she gets sentenced to jail. Hence, I got to continue with all the responsibilities of an employer & if she flees, I will have to pay government $5k. Also, will not be able to hire another maid, pending this case completion, after which, then I can cancel her work permit.
So, I finally booked an air ticket, cancelled her work permit & do a partial police report to black list her from ever coming back to S’pore. Unless off course she change name & make new passport to come in.
Today, I found another cheque was cleared from my a/c- $920, yesterday but because I had cancelled the cheque the day before, it was reversed out. Phew! Thank God, I was in time- just in the nick of time!
Do you think the bank should be responsible fo this? For paying a forged cheque? Can I claim from bank?
Thank God, just 1 wk ago, my ex maid called me & asked if anybody wants to hire her & I said, I’ll look out for her. She is a good maid who worked for me 10 yrs ago & have been visiting me once a yr during Christmas or CNY. She is working in another house in S’pore & have been wanting to come back to work for me. Now is my chance to hire her quickly. 🙂
CH,
Ginger has many properties that enhance health.
1. it reduces toxicity (at least other herbs),
2. it sooths up-set stomach, (just put a slice of ginger in the mouth for mild case),
3. it has the property of “dispersing”, therefore it “removes wind”. Therefore if someone is starting to have a cold, boil some raw ginger water and add some white pepper, drink it hot and cover one in blanket immediately until one sweats slightly. Usually that will do to disperse the cold.
4. and yes, ginger does Dang-shen , Zhi Gan-cao and Da-zao as per posting.
Ginger gives a nice sensative of warmth due to its “dispersing” properties. I guess it causes the blood capillaries to expand.
Older ginger has stronger warming property than younger ginger.
Additionally if instead of “dispersing warmth”, we want “static warmth” say around the middle of the body, then dried ginger (available from Chinese herbal shop) is the right herb.
.
YL,
from your description of Singapore police/court procedure, I guess that’s exactly your maid anticipated you will do, i.e. she wanted you to find out and fire her with a free air-ticket home !
(guess this is some of the better tested “techniques” amongst the maid community, you either fire her or if you don’t know, she gets to keep the money. Either way, she wins).
she definitely has got all this planned out, don’t think her main aim is the cheques, she probably has “done” what is enough for her in “other things”. What they are I don’t know. Check around.
isn’t it a bit strange your ex-maid would call around this “critical” time? just thought it is too much of a coincidence.
Oh no! I just called my ex maid & agreed to hire her after the CNY. Hoping for the best! Do you have a maid?
YL,
I agree with xiaoyao2 again. Good point there. No harm being cautious. Maybe it is coincidence that the earlier maid had called you to rehire her, maybe not. But do not forget that if we have our circle to share info, they have theirs, and theirs is 10 times better than ours!!
I learned my lesson long time ago. My maid was telling me she wanted to quit. I advertised (in Japan, no agency, you do it yourself!) for a maid at the local noticeboard. One called. I answered the phone and talked to the one on the telephone in my basement room with the door closed. She “suddenly” needed to clean the door and stairs outside my basement room and was staying there for the longest time ever. I happened to open the door during the conversation and she was right there, eavesdropping my whole conversation. Obviously she overheard the name of the girl who called. The girl agreed to come for interview and sounded excited. Next day I got a call, seemed like she had changed her mind. Eventually I figured they communicated. My existing one had said something to discourage her. It’s a small world among maids. In their home country, they would not dream of talking to each other, but in a foreign land, they are bonded sisters.
I will share another bizarre story. Don’ mean to gossip here, but a girl came to interview while I lived in HK. Since she was “free” I told her to start immediately by just doing work for a couple of hours since I needed some vacuuming done and I would pay her by the hour. I wanted to check her work before I confirmed her and applied for a visa for her. I went off to the supermarket for a short while. When I got home she was not around.My mom who happened to be visiting me said she left after she received a phone call (remember, no mobile phones those days, she got a call at my house from a friend after being there only 1 hr). A while later she came back, literally out of breadth. Said she rushed out to make an emergency call to her home country. Said her husband who was a policeman was severely injured on the job and was on the brink of life and death! Of course she had my full sympathies. I paid her a day’s wages without much work done but never mind. I said she must return home immediately and if things settle down she can always call me. Next day, guess what? Her husband who was supposed to be dying suddenly got better and she went for an interview with another person (now, happened that the other employer lived in the same apartment building and word got back to me). Six months later I was glad I was not her employer. She had gotten involved in a scandalous affair with the husband of another maid living in the next block!
The reason she cooked up the juicy story for me? She wanted to dump me because I had 3 kids and this new English family who had never hired a maid in their life before had a one month old baby. But it was way too bizarre a story to cook up. Why not be honest and say, perhaps this is not the job for me?
Good luck, but do be more cautious and keep your eyes and ears open! Either way, it is tough. Not having a maid is the working woman’s biggest nightmare.
By the way, I received this advice from my sister when I started not having a maid,”from now on, wear sunglasses at home”. That way you will not notice the dust and dirt in your house!!!! 🙂 🙂
Vow, sorry , did not realized the last comment turned out to be soooo long winded!!
Thanks CH for sharing about your true life experiences. Really musn’t let our guard down!
Next wk, my mum coming down from M’sia to my rescue! Will go back together, back to her home for CNY, next wk end. 🙂
stories about maids ? you can write a best seller.
generally maids in HK are very well treated, probably living a much better life than alot of struggling hk families.
just have to close one eye, as long as they are honest.
the wisdom in hk is never hire a maid for more than 4 yrs. Each contract is 2 yrs. If you sign a 3rd contract with her, she will cross the 5-yr long service payment status, which means you hv to pay her extra 1 month per year for the total number of years she works for you when you finally release her.
So as soon as they cross 5 yrs, most employers find their maids changed.
Reason : simple, they want the employer to fire them and collect the lump sum long service payment in cash, got a free ticket home for holiday and come back again with a new employer.
then there is this story abt a most trusted maid who worked for a satisfied employer. The day before she left, she asked for permission to bake a cake to have a farewell gathering with her friends. who can turn down such a request.
couple of days later, the employer found out they have lost some jeweleries, apparently nicely camouflaged inside the cake !
of course you can seldom catch them, if they take some of your private things, most certainly they will leave them with their friends next door or close by and vice-versa. They hv ample of time to catch up to sort things out over their weekend holiday.
well, it is never ending story, have fun.
Shall we pull all our stories together and write a best seller?
Yes, got to be fair too, some are very good people, and they are here to make a living just like any of us. We also have to be thankful that because of them, many Asian women are able to work and have careers outside of their homes. The Japanese women have a harder time. Maids in countries like US and Europe have it even better, overtime pay must be applied after 5 pm!!!
YL enjoy your Chinese NY with your mom….you know when you go home, you are her daughter again and she will fuss over you and your kids, so yeah, relax and enjoy!
Thanks for all the eerie stories about maids. The ex maid whom I’ve asked to worked for me, tried to wrestle more money from me. So, that gave me a chance to call off the deal, after reading all your horror stories.
So meanwhile, I won’t be getting a maid. Let’ see how long we can all last. So far, my children have been very supportive, helping out with cooking, laundry, mopping whole house(my 10 yr old), etc…. Now, they have less time to play computer games & online chats.
My eldest, even sent me a proposal of a list of charges for doing the chores, since I saved up on maid cost. They are seizing the opportunity to make some money to buy their own stuff.
Quite a good arrangement so far. 🙂
YL, good way to mobilise the kids. Pay them if you have to, but like you said less time on the computer.
Plus don;t forget to wear sunglasses at home to NOT see the dirt and dust around! After a few weeks, you will get used to it.
I used to have 2 maids, and all my toilets and bathrooms were washed everyday. I could not stand the idea of bathrooms not washed for one single day. When I started not having a maid, I sort of cringed a bit when I had to use the toilet, thinking it must be full of germs. But now? I buy these special toilet wipes, so that when I see some stains on the toilet seat, I will just simply wipe them off, while I wait for the housekeeper who comes once a week to do the rest. No one died and certainly no one else in my home except me has noticed anything different. Eventually, when my housekeeper went on holiday, I was able to survive one month without the toilets being totally cleaned (except for the in-between swipes I made with the cleaning sheets which does not count!). So you get used to the idea.
Oh oh, now you all might think I have stinky toilets!!! No, believe me, they are still decent.
ch, I guess nothing “unhygienic” no matter how minute can escape the trained eyes of the medical doctor !
Take it easy ! Relax, it’s just your family members sharing the toilets. What do you do when you visit the public ones ? Oh, the Japanese toilets are squeaky clean.
Some got that water sound to camoufluge the urine sound because Japanese women are very shy of their own urine sound. I was told. So instead of wasting 1 flush of clean water, they install the sound system! Hehehe….. 🙂 So innovative even in understanding the female emotions.