Five Facts About Being a Mother

Happy Mother's Day. Don't forget to tell/call/skype your mother  today. I am sad that this is our first year we can not spend mother's day together. Sorry Mom!!

It seems endless to talk about her. Two years ago, I wrote Five Life Lessons My Mother Taught Me and last year, I wrote Five Things I Admire About My Mother. Please take a look.

This year, I am going to write what is being a mother. I learned following five facts; not only from my mother, but also from my grandmother. My grandmother was an amazing woman, too. She worked diligently to raise her four children, and she was a very kind lady. I am not a mother, yet, but when I become a mother someday, I will follow these five steps. 

1. Show Love to the Children: Most my mother love their child; however, some young children can not understand mother's love unless their mother actually shows it. My mother showed her love by giving me kiss everyday when I was younger and giving me courage as I grow up.  

2. Help the Children Whenever They Needed: My mother was always there to help me. Every time I had problem with homework or career choice, she took the time to help me even she was busy working or doing her own study. She said "children comes first." My grandmother was still willing to help her children as much as she can even she was old and they were all grown up.  

3. Teach Children the Limit: It is important to love the children, but do not spoil them. Parenting is about giving love AND limit.  My mind of good parents are able to balance both well. My mother is sweet, but she is very strict, too. I know she spoils me sometime; however, I have limits. 

4. Raise Children to be Mentally and Physically Healthy: Children's health is another significant part of parenting, and it is the hardest. Mother raised me to be heathy by making healthy food, taking me to exercise, and teaching me the positive mind. 

5. Set a Good Example for the Children: Sometimes children might not listen to their parents, but they are always watching their parents. Sometime showing them what to do is better telling them what to do. My mother showed her good example by always keeping the room clean, so I never said "mom, I don't want to clean my room."


I will always love you, mom!!

I'd like to close this post with this quote:
"What is being a real woman? It is about being somebody's mother.
When is the for a woman to look most beautiful? It is when she became a mother. 
All women are perfect when they are holding their children in their arms." 

Uniting the World: Five Ways To Find the Connections Across Different Cultures

I grew up in different counties: China, Japan, and the United States. The difference in culture and language were the huge struggles for me as I live in other countries. I had a lot of hard times throughout my childhood to communicate well with others and to find the right fit for wherever I go. They were all difficult memories for me as a child. 

However, after being involved with International Students Association (ISA) at Southern Oregon University (SOU) for the past year, I discovered that people can still bond well together even they do not speak each other's language. I discovered following five categories that will break the language barrier and make world unite. 

This week was International Week, we had Food Fair, Bazaar, Talent Show, and Fashion Show etc. Among all the events, Talent Show was the biggest one. There were singing and dancing that show the cultural spirit. The committee worked very hard for this event and week. It was so much fun!!

Our group photo after the "Talent Show"

Due to the time issue, I was able to participate in the Talent Show; however, I still showed my Chinese Dress in the Fashion Show. I also cooked some Food for the Food Fair and Bazaar. People liked my dress and the food I made disappeared in seconds!!

1. Food

Food brings people together. People love food no matter which country they are from. Each country has their own holiday and celebration. The tradition always involves certain kind of food. If you are having a hard time starting a conversation or fit into a group, try to offer others some food. I love to cook, so food helped me meet people and introduced to the social world. 

2. Music

Language of music is Universal around the world. We do not have to be able to speak the language, and still could sing the language well. People in Asia love to listen and sing English songs. The picture from International Show, we sang Gangnam Style in the end. I did not know the meaning of the lyrics, but I still enjoyed.  

3.  Dance

Dancing does not require verbal communication and it is fun and bring joyfulness. I saw various cultural dance through the show, I felt people can dance regardless of their background. I like to see people from different countries connect through dancing. 

4. Games

People from all over the world loves fun games. There are a lot of games that do not require language to play. The photo is from Indian Color Festival (Holi). We all had fun coloring ourselves with chalk powder and water guns. I love to see people from various places play and laugh together. 

5. Sports

Rules of sports do not have much difference among nation, so people can still play sport with each other. That is why we have Oympic. Being a team player is a great way to bond with teammates. Good thing about sports is that people communicate using gestures and eye contact, so language barrier would not be the problem to interact.  

Now, you should realize people can still have good time together even they do not understand each other's language. 

So, if you have to have a friend or try to make a friend from another country, try to connect with him/her from cooking and eating, singing and dancing, and playing games and sports.  

A Place of Me

This post is a little different (boring) compared the regular posts. The reason I started this blog almost 2 years ago (WOW!! Time Flies), I wanted to keep touch with my friends from my updates. I was also thinking about I should practice my writing and keep tracking my daily life. I kept writing even only one person is reading (Hi, Mom!!) 

Another reason I started blogging was that I got inspired by several bloggers around the world. One of full-time bloggers Michelle from "Brown Eyed Baker" stated in her blog "Don't try to sound like someone else, or copy someone else's style. The very best thing you can do is to be yourself."

A few weeks ago, my hall mate Lizzy, she is also a blogger, told me that blogging is like having a space of her own. 

The purpose for this blog was for everybody to get know me better. However, I realized understood myself better through blogging. I'd like to thank "Xiaoxi's World" for allowing me to be myself and creating my own space. 

"This is the place, where I come to find myself
This is the place, where I can just be myself
This is the place, where I do not have to worry about how other people think of me. " 


 
Erika, my another hall mate posted this on her door. It is so TRUE. 

So, if you want to understand yourself better or need a space for yourself, I recommend you to start a blog. 

Remember to be unique!! 

Make sure to check out: Michelle from Brown Eyed Baker and Lizzy's Blog

What I LOVE About Spring

If you been reading my blog long enough you will realize I posted What I LOVE About Fall and What I LOVE About Winter.  Weather is getting warmer and warmer, and this week is first week of April. It is a good time to write about spring. This post is my way of starting April and Spring term. Enjoy!

1. Flowers: I always start with nature related favorites!! For spring is definitely flowers!! It is the season of full blooming. They are just too beautiful and hard to resist. Whenever I see flowers on the street, I can't help myself staring at the flowers and take picture. Sometimes I even want to pick some flowers.   

2. Hope and Starting Over: Usually second one will be holiday related. The holiday during spring time is Easter. It is about rebirth. It gives a hope. Generally when the weather is getting better, people would start to feel the hope.  Spring is also the start of new school year in Japan and Korea. I lived part of my childhood in Japan. Spring is time to start over. 

3. Dress Up for Warm: I hope you already read about my previous posts, and you will realize I love dressing up. Spring is time to big coat (even I like them), and change to lighter cloth. During the spring time, I like to wear one piece of long sleeve with jeans. They are so comfortable. 

Accounting is NOT math

This is serious lack of blogging. My life is busy and it is so hard to find time to blog. Plus when I have time to blog, I feel very tired. It is not that I have nothing to blog; however, I have SO MUCH things I want to express in here. If you followed me, several of my recent posts were the something I wanted to write for a long time. Well, this is another one. I have been studying for accounting for two years now, and 99% people would say "You Must Be Good at Math!!" to me. I am sick of denying the answer. So here is the post to clarify the real meaning of accounting. 

1. Language of the Math and Number: Accounting is not just math, it is more about the meaning of the math. Not only we have to have the compute the correct number, but also we need to understand and explain the reason behind. The number often tells the liquidity and risk of financial situation in a company. Management uses the number to make decision and forecast. 

2. Right Number in the Right Place and Time: Most of the time, the accounting software can do the math for us.  Jobs for us are make sure we enter the number in the right place and at right time. We usually deals with series of data and some numbers are even accruals and deferrals, so we must difficiate. If one step was mixed up, it will ruin the entire result. It is pretty scary. 

3. A LOT of Rules/Laws of Math: Math in accounting is more complicated and tricky. There are SO MANY formulas, tables, rules, limits, and policies must follow. It is easy to get the wrong answer. Furthermore, we have to use human judgement applying those rules/laws to make sure the number make sense. 

4. Enter the Right Amount of Zeros: Math in accounting is extremely DETAIL oriented. One zero can make a HUGE difference. We really need to be organized and careful about our data entry.  

5. Make Sure to Balance and Match: This is VERY important (above four are important as well). If the number does not balance nor match, that means the financial information is wrong. We could spend hours and hours to find out what went wrong. Sometimes I feel accounting is "finding the penny." (no joke)


All in all, accounting is so hard!! I don't blame anyone who think that way. This is my face when I study accounting.... 

My Five Favorite Things to Conquer Stress and Get Motivated

Once up the time, I heard this phrase from a wise woman "life would not get easier, it only gets different." My understanding is "stress happens to people regardless of their age, gender, nationality, occupation and economic status." Everybody is the same, no one is better than other. Stress seemed never end, so I had to come up with ways to conquer stress.  

1. Music: I love listening to songs. This help me a lot. I forgot how many times I was saved by all the wonderful and powerful lyrics. Every time I feel scared, down, or pressured, I will listen to my favorites, then I would stand up again. 

2. Exercise: I release a lot of stress from exercising. I feel refreshed and cleared my mind after a good work-out. If you do not like exercise, you can just simply take a walk. You will be surprised how much you will feel better after that. 

3. Food: Eating is the easiest way to enjoy life. Great food is always make me love life, and all the stress will be forgotten. I also like to cook. After I finish a wonderful meal, I would feel motivated again. 

4. Movies: Good movies teach people life lessons. Movies shows different side of life and make us see things we don't usually see. Sometimes I watch movies to learn how to get over with all the problems and tough times in life. 

5. Writing: Part of blogging is my stress management. That is why  I kept writing. Writing is a way to "express" your stress. I believe portion of the stress will be released after "expressing it." This blog is not only where I use it to release my stress, this somewhere I can just be "me."

If you love music, you will life will be fill with melody
If you love exercise, your life will be filled with energy
If you love food, your life will be filled with abundance
If you love movie, your life will be filled with entertainment
If you love writing, your life will be filled beauty

SOU vs. PSU

I have been to two universities for my college experience; they are Southern Oregon University (SOU) and Portland State University (PSU). I like both of them very much. Each school has its own uniqueness. I will share the good things I discovered. 

*These are based on my opinion about the schools, so they might not be 100% accurate, and if you been to either of the school, feel free to disagree with me. 

Individual Good Things
SOU
1. Cheaper Tuition: SOU has the cheapest tuition in Oregon. It saved me several hundred dollars going to SOU instead of other schools in Oregon. 
2. Smaller Classrooms: If you prefer bigger classroom, this might not be the good thing for you. However, I liked the classroom size of SOU because I can reach out to professors easily when there are not many students in the classroom. 
3. Free Wifi: I do not have to log in every time I use Wifi on campus. It stresses me up sometime when I have to log in whenever I want to go online. 

Here are some photos of me in SOU: 

PSU
1. More Convenient: PSU is in the middle of downtown area of Portland. Students can easily access to the city and there are more public transportation options such as bus and train. 
2. Larger Diversity: PSU probably has the largest diversity in the US. It is a non traditional campus, so there are people from all over the world, and the age range of graduation class is always huge (my class was 19 to 76, I believe). 
3. A Lot of Opportunities:  Various local communities work with PSU, so students have different kinds of opportunities to explore. It is a great place to network. 

Here are some photos of me in PSU

Shared Good Things

1. Friendly Staff and Great Professors: I did not like taking test and being graded, but I really enjoyed going school and attend all my classes. Thanks to all the kind school staff and genuine professors for making student life easier and fun.  

2. Strong School Spirit: I love both Raider and Viking!! It is so hard to choose. Even I am not a sports fan, I still liked the spirit. It motivates me for studying and achieving my goals. 

3. Beautiful Campuses With Great Sustainability: Not only the building itself is gorgeous looking, but also very clean inside. Buildings are always been remodeled and spaces are expanding. Both schools embrace nice environment and encourage recycling.