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Prepping For Social-Distancing
The city did not enter lockdown. In fact, for months our city had zero COVID cases recorded in the community thanks to one of the most stringent border quarantine controls and the mask-wearing norm of people in public. Despite ceasing the COVID spread in the community, the government continued to tighten the pandemic measures and made their tracing app mandatory across all eateries on Thursday.
As a way of storing up some social energy before transitioning to my social-distancing mode, I actively organized some meetup with friends before Thursday. One of the greatest meetup was another surprise early morning dim sum with my 93 y/o ex-classmate from calligraphy class. Seemingly touched by my second surprise visit in months, my still very smart elderly ex-classmate agreed to meet up the entire class for a buffet later in this holiday season!
With the tracing app being mandatory, I’ll likely dine out a lot less. It’s not all bad. It’ll likely help push me to learn and practice more culinary arts. I’ll also likely be more focused on my studio work. There are still a few projects I wish to complete before 2021 ends. One project includes designing and making paper products and a milestone was crossed this past week when I (with the help of an experienced paper-making friend) successfully made a simple box from upcycling paper pulp using a 3D-printed mold!
Just a few weeks left before 2021 ends, it’s time to get busy!
Social Week
Received a very thoughtful Christmas mail from a very sweet friend in Canada early this past week. Another friend in US asked for my updated address to send his yearly greetings. I’m truly grateful to be in the mind of friends during the holiday seasons. Without them, I may have forgotten it was already December!! Asked my colleague to check the post office for the last day to send off Christmas cards to Canada and US, she found out it was mid-Nov. and added that I had asked that same unpunctual question last year.
My mood had been rather low these days. There just weren’t much to be happy about seeing how the marathon pandemic was evolving and persisting and how our city was deteriorating from a once prosperous, free, just, and relatively democratic metropolis. Greetings from distant friends certainly lifted my spirit somewhat. I was reminded once again to live so that others would see the Christian hope in me. It’s not easy to shine in our darkening city, but at the same time, true stars shine the brightest in the darkest of nights.
With the little positive energy that I gained, I managed to arrange and meet up some old friends on Tue, Wed, and Thur. The positive energy was pretty much used up by the time my family gathering tonight was over.
Planned to meet a few more friends on Mon and Tue to store up some additional social energy before re-entering my social-distancing mode. Will likely dine out a lot less after Wed when the city enforces the mandatory use of a tracing app across all eateries.
Teaching Chinese Calligraphy
Had the opportunity to teach for the first time a beginner’s Chinese calligraphy class at a secondary school on Wednesday. I was very anxious yet excited. The students seemed a bit too energetic to handle at times but the teacher said they were actually better behaved than during regular class. Finally met the teacher who invited me to teach. She’s my sister’s old friend. I asked if we had met before, she said she and my sister visited me once when I was attending boarding school in grade 1-2. Both me and my sister had no recollection of the event.
The overall teaching experience was very positive and I was very grateful for the opportunity to share my experience and love of the art I have been learning for more than 5 years. Shared the experience with my calligraphy class in our WhatsApp group, my teacher and classmates seemed happy and proud of me for becoming a teacher and starting to pass down the craft to the next generation. What made me even happier was that our 9x year-old ex-classmate finally responded in the group to commend my good work.
May God continue to bless the coming classes in this academic year, may both the students and I grow in interest and skill of the art.
Chinese Calligraphy
Spent a lot of time in the studio this past week to practice Chinese calligraphy. To wrap up my nearly 1.5 years of learning the clerical script, I went through all the weekly homework and wrote out all the 1000 different characters. Although there was much room for improvement, the full 1000 handwritten letters looked really impressive from afar. My calligraphy teacher was happy to see my hardworking effort and insisted on putting up the pieces on the classroom wall to take a full picture of all the characters. I asked if he would give me a passing grade, he said yes without hesitation, that was all I needed to be happy with my effort. I would be even happier if my 9x year-old classmate would praise my effort like he usually does in our WhatsApp group, but he remained silent. I’m just happy that he didn’t leave our group like last time.
My calligraphy teacher recommended a small calligraphy exhibition earlier and I invited a date to see it together. We had a late lunch before seeing the exhibition yesterday. Took a stroll through some of the shops and other exhibitions in the complex before wrapping our date with coffee in a nice cafe. We rode the MTR home and on the way she suddenly yelled, not too loudly but definitely got my attention. It turned out that we forgot to pay for our coffee before leaving the cafe. I find it super funny. It was my first time eating without paying (I did go back to pay the bill today), and it certainly made our 4th date very memorable!
(Unusually) Social Week
Met up with many friends this past week. Demoed the robot arm toy to my old friend’s dad and late uncle’s son over Monday dinner. Farewelled a high school classmate who will be moving to Canada over Tuesday lunch. Had lunch with a church brother on Wednesday to pass him some custom 3D prints he needed for a home improvement project. Thursday afternoon was my usual weekly gathering with my Chinese calligraphy class. Didn’t plan any social meetups for the rest of the week, but bumped into my brother’s friend at the cafe of my studio building on Saturday morning, so sat and had breakfast with him together.
Despite having zero community COVID case for many months, the government is planning to tighten the pandemic measures and require all restaurant customers to use a tracing app when entering and leaving restaurants. I will likely dine out a lot less if the tracing app becomes mandatory, this will be my way of protesting the increasing government surveillance of the people.
I’m thinking this past (unusually) social week may be God’s way of preparing me for the coming period of social isolation when the government tracing app becomes mandatory. It’ll be a good time to learn and practice my culinary arts and get back to doing more web work!
