1. Reunion feast on the eve of the Lunar New Year or on the day itself.

2. Red Packets or Hong Bao are also given during this festive season.

3. Koreans do not practise giving Oranges like the Chinese in Singapore.

The Lunar New Year is called Soellal (also spelled Seolnal). I have often understood that Chinese who celebrate the Lunar New Year greet one another with a  hearty “恭喜发财“ or Gong Xi Fa Cai and two oranges as symbol of wealth and happiness for the new year. Korean greeting styles are expressive as can be seen the types of bows they practise on this occassion.

A small Jeol: nodding the head while leaning the upper body forward a bit. It is used in the same way as a handshake.

Sebae: one must get down on both of their knees and bend forward toward the floor. (In Islamic practice, this position would be called Sujud or Prostration. Major world religions employ prostration either as an act of submissiveness to God or gods. See Sujood.)

There is a big difference between the Sebae and Sujud that Muslims perform. The Sujud, prostration before God, is complete when the forehead touches the ground, almost kissing it, and the both palms are resting on the floor on either side of the worshipper’s head. Both men and women prostrate in the same way.

Sebae for Korean men do not follow that of the Islamic Sujud. They place their hands together on the floor in front of them, and as they prostrate, the forehead literally touches the back of their hands or palms of their hands. Sebae for Korean women (and girls) do not kneel, instead they sit cross legged and bend their bodies for a bow as their hands are placed in front of the face. As they bow, they barely touch the floor.

Kuen Jeol: bowing to the elders of the family (grandparents, older family members, parents), in return the young ones will receive special gifts of envelopes with money tucked inside them. (This is similar to the Red Packets or 红包 in the Chinese Tradition.)

So how do you greet Happy Lunar New Year to Koreans on this day?

새해 복 많이 받으세요!!! or sae hae bok manee badusaeyo!

The Tiger's Face Looks Old 老虎有胡子，就像一位老人吧？

This is the Year Of The Tiger in the Chinese Lunar Calendar.  In Mandarin Tiger is  called 老虎lao2 hu3。If it is a tigress, it is called 母老虎 mu3 lao2 hu3，母 indicates female.

What is more interesting about the term 老虎 is the character 老, which means ‘old’ in English. No matter what age the tiger or tigress is, the phrase 老 is used. For cubs, we add the character or term 小 or small. The cub is called 小老虎 in Mandarin, literally it means small tiger.

The character 老 is what makes reading and understanding Mandarin vocabulary most fascinating. The tiger’s face is in essence the image of an old person: a lot of hair grown in places that make it look old, crinkled face and everything.

Interestingly though, this character 老 is a derived character, which comes from a common etymological root but differ in that one part is changed to indicate a different pronunciation and meaning. In other words, it may not mean old in the first place. See Formation Of  The Chinese Character.

Whichever way you look at it, it does make it easier for beginners of the Chinese language to remember how to write the character 老虎 perhaps by understanding what it symbolises. Why is the tiger old in 老虎？Kids can tell you, it has lots of hair on its face, especially a white beard.

In Cantonese, the colour orange is called ‘kam’ (note that k is not pronounced with releasing air out of your throat, see video “the g sound in Mandarin“). This literally means ‘gold’ in Chinese. So Orange is gold and Gold symbolises prosperity. Hence, giving oranges to your Chinese friends or receiving oranges from your Chinese friends who are celebrating Chinese New Year is a good gesture as it symbolises joy, merry and prosperity.

This year the colour Orange is clearly more popular because it is also the year of the Tiger 老虎： orange and black stripes.

I have decided to have to a motivation planner this year.

What is a motivation planner?

It is used to recall and take notes of special and positive events that had occurred and will occur during the year. We all need some form of ‘pick me up’ every now and then. I do not want to have to arrive at the time of need to get a confidence boost. It is  a form of self-motivation which does not depend on changes to the environment to effect it.

How will I do it?

To do that, I will divide the year into 4 quarters. I learnt this from following quarterly reports from the Housing Development Board (HDB) and the school’s term planner. Each quarter shall consist of 3 months (January to February, March to June, July to September, October to December).

In each quarter, happy dates are noted:

- Anniversaries

- Birthdays

- Pay checks

- Personal achievements: studies, enrichment

- Life changing events: marriage, new baby etc

If I have bad days during the month it would be noted in Green to signify the birth a new phase in life to look forward to at future date.

Why do I need to have  a motivation planner?

1. So you won’t feel alone. I remember 3 year old kids feeling frightened and experiencing separation anxieties when they joined kindergarten classes. Some of them become so frightened they pee in their pants. The feeling of being left alone to face a new experience can be so overwhelming that teachers and parents have to build his emotional confidence for a few weeks. I had stage fright in the final competition of Mandarin story telling contests and I had no idea where it was coming from. Especially after having been on stage of 5 years before that, I never knew it could happen to me. I still get stage fright now whenever I had to come on stage to perform.

I think it is the feeling of being all alone. It is a feeling of loneliness yet not alone. By remembering happy moments or events, I allow positive energy to fuel positive activity.

2. To understand growth as the process is taking place. We can be so caught up with the daily activities that we forget to see how we’ve grown overtime. Some of us eat more and gain weight. By the time we realise it, we have put inches on our waist. Ironically, we are able to pinpoint the problem by that time damage has been done. “Ya! I have been eating lots of chocolates and muffins past few months.” You can’t help but sense a lousy feeling creeping up inside as you say this. A motivation planner serves as a remedy for such potential misguided feelings. You’ll feel motivated not to indulge in activities that can be damaging to your personal welfare in the months to come.

3. Vitamin supplements for the soul. A motivation planner is just like vitamin supplement to your daily food consumption. When someone  praises you for a job well done, it motivates you, doesn’t it? A feeling of being recognised for your effort. Take it well and you will grow deeper in wisdom and confidence with the experience you’ve gained.

4. As a control for positive and negative emotions. When we come under pressure to perform or fail to perform to our expections, it is easy to fall prey to negative emotions. What better than to have your personal motivation chart right in front of you to remind ourselves of our personal achievements? Keeping negative emotions at bay and allowing positive ones to flow through.

What will it look like?

I write it down with pen and paper on my year calendar. I am using one that is sent to me from a friend in England. Each month is divided into 3 parts: postcard, recipe and days of the month. I write down the achievement of the month on the postcard, and mail it to a friend. Then I try out the recipe of the month. Probably the nicest gift I have received so far.

What do you think of  motivation planner? Have you done something similar to encourage and motivate you?

There is  someone I follow on twitter, Brad Issac , who inspires me to create this motivation planner for myself. “Expect to be motivated”, as it says on his profile. I did.

1. Interactivity: Can you chat with someone online? Can you read other people’s submissions  and make comments  on their pieces? Can you submit your writing and request for a review? Is there a whiteboard feature? Can you also draw and type on the whiteboard. How active is the community?

2. Speed of delivery:  How fast do my questions get answered by the panel or members of the forum? It is necessary to keep my momentum going, so when we can get quick response, we can learn better.

Livemocha

- Chatrooms: both text and audio with people who are willing to offer time to help you while you are online.

- Free step by step exercises to take you from stage zero.

- Personal rating scale once you’ve completed a stage.

- Email alert to keep you on your toes with your personal progress (yes we forget to exercise too!)

Ning.com

- A social networking platform which means individuals can spend more time getting to know one another.

- Gets you involved with the native culture of the language you are learning.

Flashcard

- If you do not like talking or chatting with people online to improve your language skills, use flashcards.

- Build your confidence for each flashcard you work with.