Tag Archives: new year

Hatsuhinode 2019

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Welcome beautiful 2019!!

I usually do the countdown and the cleaning thereafter. So never, in my entire life, have I tried to catch the first sunrise of the year.

Hence I was surprised with the well of emotions I felt, seeing the beautiful orange rays of the sun shining through dark, ominous clouds. Suffice to say I was moved to tears.

Thank you, Lord, for this beauty and for this new year!

PS

Didn’t have any difficulty waking Yui up and from making her walk for thirty minutes so early in the morning. She was so excited! Grateful for this beautiful start of the year, and with good friends at that too!

New Year flowers

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I went Japanese this New Year. Or at least I tried to observe some of the auspicious traditions in Japanese New Year; for one, I bought a special set of flowers in which each had a special meaning. This beautiful one was the littlest in a stem with five buds. I actually thought it wouldn’t ever bloom; that the whole stem would already die down before this one would reach her time. I even already stopped refilling the vase with fresh water. But she did, she did, and she did bloom today. She was the last, but she did bloom. And the marvel was that, she was the most beautiful of them five. Somehow, the line in Mulan comes to mind,

The flower that blooms in adversity, is the most rare and beautiful of all.

I smile too whenever I gaze at these orchids which have been in bloom for more than two weeks yet still looking as fresh as ever (the third though was also a late bloomer; just the other day! And I thought we wouldn’t have new blooms anymore.

And because I want to mark today.

new year tradition

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Being a member of a regular Philippine household, I grew up accustomed to the flurry and mad dash during Philippine new years with all its tradition and superstitions. There’s the preparations for offering 13 fruits on the family dining table, the thorough planning of what to serve during Media Noche – no dishes with chicken to avoid a hard life come new year, serving sweet and sticky dessert for great relationships, boiled eggs which equal the number of family members for unity the whole year next year, fish and seafoods and pork for prosperity, faux gold candies for prosperity, hanging of grapes on doors and windowsills for further prosperity und so weiter.

Even when I was away from home and spent the new years in Singapore and in Japan for four consecutive years, me and my friends and colleagues still try to uphold the Filipino tradition, at least by not serving chicken and by coming up with the 13 fruits although in Japan, it can be quite expensive haha.

Last year, hubs and I spent our Christmas with my family whilst we spend our first new year with a private party in Boracay watching the fireworks display in the party crazed island. This is my first time therefore to experience and really immerse with the Japanese tradition of welcoming the new year. The celebrations itself will be featured in a separate post. This here is for the preparations.

The habotan (葉牡丹). Cabbage looking flowers to ring in luck and prosperity.

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The kadomatsu (門松)which are placed in front of establishments again for luck and prosperity.

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Of course we just had to pose beside one 😀

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Mochi or Japanese rice cake (餅)!

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And yes, the mikan/mandarin orange is considered auspicious as well.

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These dragon charms are just so cute!!!! Though a bit expensive.

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Let’s ring in a great new year everyone! 🙂

getting ready for the new year

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It always comes as a surprise that the day right after Christmas, all those elaborate decorations in the malls disappear overnight; making you almost feel like Christmas had been only a dream. In place of the Christmas trees and decors though, these are slowly put on display, like mushrooms that has popped up overnight. And yes, it is for the New Year Japanese festivities.

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Spent a number of new years here in Japan (all spent on shopping because January 1 sale gives you one of the best bargains throughout the year). But this’ll be my first time to really immerse myself with the Japanese festivities. And you bet I’m excited! 🙂

Two things we’re thankful for. We finally placed an order for the Laura Ashley curtains which will be sewn and delivered in four weeks. Yey! Was also able to send a box for my family. I know it’s late for christmas but the box was bigger than I’ve anticipated hence it took me quite a while to fill it up.

Tomorrow’s gonna be a mad dash in the office to issue outputs that needs to be issued before the holidays. Good luck to me! 😀

9 years

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Last Friday, January 28, I celebrated my 9 years as a Process Engineer. And indeed it is a celebration. For I believe that God has blessed me with a career that is truly fulfilling for me. Ever the drama queen that I am, that very day and now a Senior Engineer, I also submitted my resignation letter; sort of like my way of “coming to full circle”.

Today was my last working day in the office. When I got home this evening, it was only then that I realized that my last working day and my first day as a “freed” engineer (please, i’m not saying this in the pejorative sense) coincided with the last day of the previous Chinese Year (okay okay i’m not Chinese, just having some drama and trying to make some correlation here hehe). In some sense, it’s like i’ll be working on a clean slate or a clean drawing board this new year. A new year full of promise, full of hope, full of exciting things yet to come.

At this point you may be wondering why i’m posting this in our wedsite and not just on my personal blog. But no, wait. Today also marks the first day that I’m totally Atsushi’s dependent. Well, until after I get to find a job again, hopefully. And for somebody like me who has been a very independent person, who has totally relied on the abilities God gave her (and on the opportunities God gave her) to earn her keep, feed herself and help provide for her family, being dependent like this is a major crossover. One that I have to learn and yet to fully grasp.

And yes, this is part of what marriage is about. It’s about shaking you in your old comfort zone to bring you to a yet better comfort zone. It’s about shaking you from what you’ve been used to, leading you to better experiences, newer places, meeting new people. It’s about having faith – faith in God that what you’re doing and about to do is part of God’s beautiful plan for you; faith in your husband that he will love you, take care of you and provide for you; faith in the goodness of the people around you; faith in the future that something really good is in store for you.

And of course, yes, there’s love, great love.

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Feb 5: Was cleaning my workspace today. Found a lot of diskettes from a long-gone era. Haha. Gosh. Ancient.