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Birth Story- Part 2

When I woke up several blissful hours later, I was human again, chatting and laughing with the nurses. “Guess the epidural helped.” My nurse mused. “It’s amazing! Can I have some to go please?”   Har Har har…  Time passes by quickly when you’re on E and before I knew it, it was time to push.   “Push like you’re gonna take a huge dump!” The midwife prompted.  I did as I was told but I was…

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Birth Story Part 1

Whenever I asked my mother why she never had another child, she would say that giving birth to me was so painful that she never wanted to do it again. She compared labour to a slow and painful death, one that made her wish she were dead.   So yeah, that kinda put me off having children. Just a bit. At the age of 37, I got over my fear of having children but not of childbirth. When I got…

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Grateful Post

I’m finally in the home stretch! The third trimester! I should definitely use this time to get as much rest as I can before the baby comes. Take it easy you know? Oh, but I have to finish the two courses I signed up for on Educational Leadership (so that one day I can take over the world…of education that is).  And the other day at a neighbourhood BBQ, I kind of got voluntold to be the treasurer…

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Grateful Post

I’m finally in the home stretch! The third trimester! I should definitely use this time to get as much rest as I can before the baby comes. Take it easy, you know? Oh, but first I have to finish the two online courses I signed up for on Educational Leadership (so that one day I can take over the world…of education that is).  And the other day at a neighbourhood BBQ, I kind of volunteered to be…

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Sugar, spice and everything...scary?

Pregnancy! It feels like sunshine and rainbows. I mean, growing a life inside of you? There’s nothing quite like it! When my baby kicks me at night. I stop everything I’m doing and proceed to stare at my stomach for the next hour; yelling at J to come so he can feel her punch me again. Maybe she’ll be a kung fu master? Or bend it like Beckham? We have fun speculating. Or sometimes when I think…

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Mothers and Daughters

When you ask an expecting parent whether they hope it’s a boy a girl, they almost always say that it doesn’t matter. That as long as it’s healthy, they are happy. So it may be extremely controversal of me to say that “I hope it’s a boy!”. Of course, J asked why. “Because daughters always have such complicated relationships with their mothers.” I replied “She’s going to be an angel to you, but…

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How I found out the sex of the baby

What did you want to be when you were young? Since he was five, J has dreamed of being a father. Kind of a weird dream for a five-year-old if you ask me. I didn’t know what I wanted to be, so I always just said scientist because that was the only job I had heard of at the time. When I grew older, I never caught the baby fever that swept through my gender. I don’t gush over babies on the street.…

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Big Little Secrets

It’s been forever since I last posted, but it’s for good reason I promise. Many of you already know this, but I am…drumroll please…pregnant! Omg, what a relief to say that out loud! I’ve waited over three months to share this news. Three painful, agonizing months of keeping a secret this big to myself. And now that it’s out, I can finally share all of my pearls of wisdom in these past three…

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Turning 37

I woke up on the morning of my 37th birthday one year older, with two new grey hairs, and aches in places that had never ached before. And they say age is just a state of mind.  I don’t quite remember turning 30. When I was in my early thirties I still felt pretty much the same as I did when I was in my twenties. Unlimited energy, an insatiable appetite for going out (to do what? It didn’t…

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Productive Women

In a previous post, I mentioned wanting to pick up some hobbies. One: because I have the time. Two: because I didn’t want to become a boring person that just complains all day about this or that because they got nothing else going on in their lives (I may or may not be referring to a coworker that I cannot stand). So in an effort to become a more interesting person, I signed up for Guitar…

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Clubbing in your 30s

When was the last time you went clubbing?  For me, it was more than 10 years ago, back when I was living in Shanghai. I’ve always loved going out in Toronto, riding the Vomit Comet home at midnight. But partying in Shanghai was a whole other beast. One time I was having so much fun that I missed the last train, so I thought what the heck, I’m just gonna keep going! So we partied until 6am and…

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So I signed up for a dating app

‘But you just got married! Wait a couple of years at least!” I imagine you yelling at the screen. It’s not what you think.  Did you know there’s a Bumble BFF version just for making friends? This is all news to me because I’m still stuck in the flip phone era.. God I miss my Nokia, that thing was indestructible! Anyway, I have never used a dating app before, not even for dating. So I was…

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Guess who's back!!!

That’s right, it was about time that I took this baby off the shelf, dusted it off, and gave it some new life! One of the reasons that I decided to start posting again is because the universe had finally heard my whining and decided to give me a lighter workload this year. So, instead of spending every single spare moment after work marking papers, I now get to walk the dog, cook dinner, and go…

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Epilogue

This may come as a surprise to many people but Johan and I actually are very different people. He’s an introvert, I’m an extrovert. He’s a dog person, I’m a cat person (Sorry Coco). I like hiking, whereas he’d rather be on the couch climbing mountains in the Legend of Zelda. There are so many ways that we are different, so it’s not always easy to find activities that we both enjoy, but if we…

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The End

As exhausting as our trip was, and at times terrifying, I did not want it to end. I was set to return to Canada the day after we got back from Malaysia. And this time, for good.

Last year I was so certain that it was time for me to leave Shanghai. But now that it’s finally here, I wasn’t so sure anymore. Where else could I live like an Arabic prince on a school teacher’s salary? What other cities…

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Malaysia Trip- the end

Malaysia Trip- the end

Trails of laughter could be heard whenever I passed by a group of strangers and frankly, I don’t blame them. What a comical sight I must have been. My mini skirt flying up to reveal my undies. My flip-flops making loud pitter-patter sounds against the marble floor as I frantically made my way through the terminal. In my defense, if I had known that I would be running through the airport trying to…

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Chapter 74- Malaysia Part 4 (aka. will it never end?)

Chapter 74- Malaysia Part 4 (aka. will it never end?)

Imagine this: You’re on a boat with your lover, watching a million fireflies light up around you like a Christmas tree. It’s the most romantic thing in the world.

Except he’s dying.

At least he looks like he’s dying.

As I admired all the tiny winged creatures surround me, blinking like all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy, my lover struggled to lift his head up.

“ Look! I caught one in my palm!”…