Love your BUGS!!!
On my way up a hill this morning, I almost stepped on a poor dead bug. I stopped and stared at it for a while, and concluded that it was a bug I had never seen before!!!
Even though Mr. Bug was dead (or so I thought) I did what I do to any new kind of bug that I meet…
…I poked it!
And it was alive!!!
Do you hear the noisy cicadas in the background? They are everywhere in Japan during summertime, along with dragonflies that children love to catch, and kabuto bugs that children keep as pets. Battles are even held for children to gather and compete their pet bug’s strength.
Usually kabuto bugs cost no more than 8 dollars, but they can also cost more than 100 dollars!! What a noble bug.
Bugs bugs bugs.
Whenever I think about bugs, I am reminded of my visit to The Victoria Bug Zoo in Canada.
Here are some of the friendly bugs I met!
A super duper long millipede with little red legs!! The staff actually took this one out and let it crawl around her arm!
What’s up, grasshopper.
After walking out of the zoo, there was a section in the gift shop where you could purchase a few selected species of the bugs! Such as this tarantula. Every bug museum must have hairy taratulas displayed, but how many gift shops allow you to take them home??
Can you find the bugs?
In many countries, insects are eaten like any other normal food!! They are high in protein, low in fat, and the ones I have eaten so far…taste amazing!! I would compare them to potato chips
Just look at this food stand in Beijing, China! Fried insects on sticks are sold in streets for people to enjoy, usually around shopping areas for local shoppers to snack on.
I wonder if Mr. Bug I met today was edible?
love, Crystal
Add a comment August 19, 2010
Happy Chinese Valentine’s Day!!!!!!
Once upon a time, just because stories always start that way, there was a Boy. He was clever, hard-working, honest, yet very poor. Even though he did not have any money, his kind heart was proven when he adopted an abandoned ox. The ox grew up to become very loyal to the Boy, and the two worked hard together. The two enjoyed a good relationship so villagers came to know the Boy as Niu Lang.
Once upon the same time, but above earth in Heaven, there was a Girl. She was part of the seven beautiful sisters in Heaven. Their father was the Emperor of Heaven, and their mother was the Goddess of Heaven. The Girl was the youngest of the sisters, and she was also the most beautiful amongst them all. Her name is Zhi Nu.
One day the seven sisters decided to come down to earth to take a bath in a lake. At the same time, Niu Lang was taking a walk with his ox and had come across the seven bathing sisters. He was fascinated by Zhi Nu’s beauty, and with his ox, took her beautiful and colourful clothes away.
After bathing, the sisters made Zhi Nu fetch their clothes since she was the youngest. Although she brought all six of their clothes back, she could not find her own. The youngest could not fly back to Heaven without her clothes. She searched and searched and eventually, in her naked state, bumped into Niu Lang. She was embarrassed for what he had seen, and so he agreed to marry her. The Girl was a dutiful wife, and the Boy was a wonderful husband, and they lived happily together with their two children.
The Goddess of Heaven saw her daughter, who was wasting her time being in love on earth instead of performing her heavenly duties, and got very angry. She ordered Zhi Nu to come back to heaven, and gave her a lifetime of work to weave colourful clouds and rainbows for the sky as a punishment. The Goddess of Heaven separated them by drawing a line of division in the sky, forming what we now know as the milky way. The girl was sent to star Vega, and the boy to star Altair. Zhi Nu was kept busy everyday by weaving clouds, and her lover Niu Lang could only look at her from a far distance as he took care of their children.
Magpies that flew in the sky chirped and cried for they pitied seeing the two lovers apart. They gathered together to form a bridge for the Boy and the Girl to meet for one night, on the Seventh night of the Seventh lunar moon.
Today is the seventh night of the seventh lunar moon.
Sometimes it rains on this special night, as the tears of this beautiful couple cry about their miserable days apart, but also for their happiness of being together for one night.
love, Crystal Add a comment August 16, 2010
Similarities within Differences…
a Parent Taking Care of their Child
versus
a Child Taking Care of their Parent
There comes a time in life when you take care of your children.
And then there comes a time in life when you take care of your parents.
Obviously, the differences between a 7 year old and a 70 year old are apparent, and you would think that teaching a baby and an elderly would be very unlike.
However, when you look deeply into the issue, there are many things comparable when you nurse a child and nurse an elderly.
To begin with, an elderly person would have retired from their previous job. Without their once busy life, they would not have anything to do that occupies their main living, just like a baby. Both need to be given errands during the day, and to kill their boredom they just simply talk and talk.
And talk.
Even if it really does not make any sense; whether there is no point to the topic, or the words are completely made up.
They need to take naps before and after these (to them) strenuous activities to gain their strength. When learning these tasks, they are usually told several times before they grasp the concept, and the person who takes care of them frequently needs much tolerance and patience while teaching both patients.
They have cravings, that range from food to entertainment, which they satisfy by showing their emotions through pride and absolutely zero hesitation. Emotions that include smiling from happiness, crying from sadness, screaming from anger, and being a bother from happiness, sadness, or anger. Without any social skills, whether it was once there but lost, or not developed yet, their feelings are openly exposed to us. Perhaps because they want attention from people as they feel ignored.
But why would they feel like they need to have the attention?
Their answer: It is okay for insignificant people to be ignored…but significant people? Definitely not.
The younger child and the elderly both need to be taken care of not only mentally, but physically as well. They are not able to make correct judgments in what is dangerous and what is not. A naïve baby or a child, having been born innocently into this world not too long ago, would not be familiar with this modern world from lack of experiences. A senior citizen, having been living on this earth for quite some time now, would on the other hand have too much experiences (unfortunately not from the modern world), and think that they know everything up-to-date. These factors of a baby and an old person build both of them to be self-centered and have egotism, causing feelings of confidence, feelings of significance, and the “do not ignore me” feelings.
Looking at the topic from these aspects, we can observe two generations with such contrast in age to be compared and concluded as very similar.
So don’t be afraid to get old!! You may just as well be getting younger again!
love, Crystal
Add a comment May 20, 2010
I made a BLOG!!!
Anatidaephobia: The fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you.
What better way to start a blog?
love, Crystal Add a comment May 19, 2010
