Special times.

I never had any toy as a child. Not store-bought ones, at least. We play like most kids in our village - running around, hide and seek games & climbing lots of trees. One fond memory was the "5-stone" game we did, similiar to "jacks", I think. With no spare fabric scraps & no rice nor beans for the fillings (these are for eating only), I became quite good at this game as I had to use real stones. 

Now, I made these for my kids, not only when they were small but to play with, even now. It makes great sewing-projects-on-the-go. There are green beans stuffed in them as I no longer have to save every morsel for food. Seeing these makes me think of my mother, whom we visited over Easter. She gave up schooling at 8 years old so that she could work & support her family. She taught herself to read & write our Chinese language & now reads the Chinese newspaper every day. She adopted me so I could live & have a better life. And funnily, I have inherited my sewing skills from her.

She learns English so she could communicate better with my children, whose Chinese are sadly, not as fluent as their Po-Po's ( Grandma in Mandarin ) English. All these make us children & grandchildren, love her more. I am proud of her as she is proud of me.
Happy Mother's Day to my Mama. Happy Mother's Day to you all.

A special day. A special quilt.

In the past months, we have traveled quite a bit & I have sewn quite a bit too. And blogging always gets more difficult the longer I stay away. But it is that special time of the year again so I am finally back, with some pics.

It is also my Chinese birthday when the moon is at its fullest tonight. It is a special time for us because it's mid-Autumn & it's our traditional Lantern Night & Mooncake Festival, all rolled into one! We shall drink tea & eat mooncakes & walk around the park with our home-made lanterns. Make wishes with huge flying lanterns. And eat homemade jiaozi (Chinese dumplings in soup).

For the first time, I sew for my mother. A quilt with lanterns on the front & bamboo shoots on the back. I worked on it as we went from city to city. By the time we reached Singapore, it was pretty crumpled !

"Red Lanterns" for my mother as she loves red & because she found me during a Lantern Festival, when I was a few days old.

Happy Mid-

Autumn everyone!

Happy Mooncake Fest!

We got married...

...on a Christmas Eve, 15 years ago, at the German Lutheran Church in New York City. We got married in the morning then immediately went to the Post Office, to mail off our 150 handmade wedding announcement cards.
The announcement (a Xue-Original ;-) design ) consists of a card bearing an actual pair of chopsticks, tied with gold string with these words, "Lily & Martin. We tied the knot".

It was a very small wedding with 5 people - Pastor Schmidt-Lange, us & our 2 witnesses (good friends Katrin & Gerald who were visiting from Germany). Actually Katrin & Gerald didn't know then, that they were to be our witnesses. We only told them to "bring something proper to wear as we will be going to a formal place on Christmas Eve". And we did, we went to the church to get married!

Martin & I met years ago, in the Australian Consulate in Shanghai. Shortly after we met, he left for his next job posting in New York City. I stayed on with my job in Shanghai & joined him later, in NYC. where we then lived for a few years.

Our son, Niklas was born in Hongkong (1997) & our daughter, Annika, in Singapore (2000). Now, we live in Tokyo in this cosy home & the children attend the German school here, where they learn English, French, German, & Japanese.

Happy 15th Anniversary to us!
Merry Christmas to you!

A mother's tale

Once upon a time, there was a new baby & people came to visit. The baby cries & lay uncovered, unattended. Her family couldn’t bear the sight of her. “But she is so young & needs care or she will die”, some said. Her family said “that’s ok, she’s only a girl & if she don’t die, we will give her away”. One woman felt so sad, she said “...then let me have her. She is 4 days old now & I will take her when she is a month’s old”.

A week later, the woman came to visit again. Somehow, the baby is smaller than before because “milk is expensive”. With sorrow in her heart, she said “I will take her home now”. And she did & she became my mother.

I think of my mother often, how she saved me. On Mother’s Day, I think of the biological woman, how she gave birth & gave me up so easily. To be given up for adoption is not uncommon. However, shortly after I left, they bought a baby boy to replace me.

My mother said she is not extraordinary, that she did what any normal person would do. She was already a mother then & she could not walk away knowing that a baby might die. So, she took me even though she & my father are poor. She said I will understand better when I become a mother. I became a mother & in that hospital room, with my baby in my arms, I cried so much, for my mother who saved me & for the bio woman because of what she did.

It was tough growing up in poverty, to not know when your next meal will be. It was tough growing up when people expect the worst of you because “you have bad blood”. It was even tougher to grow up without papers as the bio family said “legal adoption is too troublesome for only a girl”. I never attended any field trip nor school camp because there was no authorized signature for my permission slip. There was no art school as there was no money. So I did the best I could – I grew up strong & independent. I work hard & try not to get into any trouble. I try to be more than just only a girl. I try to be a good mother, like my mother.
Happy Mother’s Day to all kind mothers !

An international affair.

17 years ago, I worked as the Art Director of a 5-star hotel in Shanghai. In Asia, big hotels normally have their own Art Dept with a team of artists for all promotional stuff : graphic designs, murals, party-planning, advertising, photo shoots...everything (to justify my salary!).

Each Friday, between 6 to 8pm, the Australian Consulate would open its grounds for expats to socialise. You need a working visa to get in. Lots of Foster Beer & Australian meat burgers available for cheap prices. I'm allergic to alcohol. I don't drink. But after months of loneliness, I trooped off to find English speakers who can listen to my jokes without needing to explain punch-lines in Mandarin.

So on this day, 3rd May in 1991, Martin & I met during Happy Hours at the Australian Embassy in Shanghai. Shortly after we met, he left for his next posting in New York City. I stayed on with my job in Shanghai. Years later, we got married on Christmas Eve in NYC, in the German Lutheran Church there.
Niklas (left, at 2 1/2 years old) was born in 1997, in Hongkong, during the year of the historical UK/China handover. Annika (in tummy, 2 days before birth) was born in 2000, in Singapore, during the Year of the Golden Dragon, an occurence every 60 years of the Chinese Zodiac Cycle. Now, we live in Tokyo. And on this day, for the past 17 years...my husband remembers. He is a good man.

Over the river & through the hills,

...past the ocean & on a plane, to Grandmother's house we went! Today, my mother is 70 years old. In our culture, we might not celebrate our birthdays each year but the big ones, mean a lot. And that's why, we flew to her for this!

My mother, is a typical traditional Chinese mother. She doesn't show her love physically, as the Chinese mothers of today would. She shows mainly through food (extremely "Joy Luck Club"!). When I was younger & living overseas on my own, trips home were always full of "Eat! Eat! Look - you're getting skinnier each time I see you! ". Now it's "Eat! Eat! If you don't eat now, you will regret & wished you ate more of my cooking, when you go back to Tokyo!". Or "Learn to cook this or my grandchildren will miss it too much".
My parents met outside a train station, when my father was lost & asked her for directions. Coincidentally, he was looking for her neighbours' home. So, she brought him there, on the back of her bicycle! My father is long gone now. He passed away just months before we were married. My mother, as per our tradition, lives with my brother & his family : 3 generations under one roof.

Traditionally, an envelope of lucky money would be one of the birthday gifts. So my mother gets this pink lucky envelope & as usual, she says "oh no need! no need!". A typical Chinese response - ask anyone with a Chinese mother. And a nice handcrafted bracelet, made just for her.

A love song "Qing Fei De Yi"

Whenever you’re on my blog, you are listening to “ Qing Fei De Yi”, a Mandarin love song translated as “Can’t help falling in love”. It’s tells about a guy who’s mesmerised by the eyes of a girl, the first time he saw her. He is afraid to fall in love & tries not to get to close to her, as he feels he has nothing to offer to her. Missing her is making his life miserable yet falling In love with her, is unavoidable. Ok, the translation is corny but you just have to trust me that in Mandarin, the lyrics are really nice! ( xie xie, BK, for helping with this!).

This is possibly my all time favourite Chinese song, the theme song from a Chinese drama series – the only drama I’ve watched from beginning to the end, and with Annika who thinks the male lead is “very pretty”. She was about 5 then!

A love story ...

We don't celebrate Valentine. I met my husband while we were both working overseas. He was doing his goodbye rounds & on his way out, for a new posting in NY. At the same time, I was offered a dream job with big salary. I didn't take the job because because money can be earned/borrowed, a good man may never come along again. We got married in NYC on Christmas Eve & it snowed that day. It's been 17 yrs & 2 kids. He knows a lot about computer stuff & set up this website & my Etsy shop for me! - so I do love him even more :) . Thank you, Schatz!