Book review-Jimmy (幾米)

I was introduced to Jimmy's book by 王老师 and I find these books really interesting and thought-provoking. His picture books have won him several awards and he translated them to many other languages like French, Korean, Japanese and English. 王老师 gave me the book on the right of the picture《真的假的》as she had an extra copy. It was really nice of her.

After reading 《拥抱》, I had a sudden flow of thoughts in my head. Do you remember when was the last time you hug someone? A week ago? A month ago or a year ago? I haven't hug anyone since 6 weeks ago. Missing my loved ones back home after reading this book.

Hugging is an art. There are many reasons why people hug and there are also dos and don't s of hugging. When hugging someone, respect each other and hug at appropriate distance depending on who you are hugging. There is this page of the book that mentioned about the 12 do nots when hugging:

1. Do not hug for only 1 second or keep hugging.
2. Do not get distracted and start talking on the phone. 
3. Do not drool... 
4. Do not fantasize.
5. Do not compare hugs.
6. Do not be fake. Be sincere.
7. Do not fart.
8. Do not sneeze or cough.
9. Do not stop breathing because of the person's body odour.
10. Do not talk about politics.
11. Do not use violence.
12. Do not not hug.

Some hug to seek comfort and security, while others hug to attract attention and invoke jealousy in others. Hugging requires courage, be it a bear hug, a gentle loving hug, a koala hug, an upside down bat hug or a hug from the back.... No matter how tough the person may appear to be, or how scary he may be, there will sure be a soft gentle spot deep inside them which they yearn for a warm hug at their lowest point in life. Jimmy's book clearly illustrated the different kinds of hugs between humans using different kinds of animals such as a Whale as metaphors to describe a big guy, and a porcupine to describe a person who may seem to be dangerous.

So hug while you can. Do not wait till you lose the chance then you regret...

On a side note: I made my host family Laksa today for dinner with the help of my host's daughter. I think they kinda like it although it's a bit spicy for them. They don't really take spicy food so I reduced the spicy level. It's my first time preparing this dish so I was kinda nervous. I brought the pre-mixed laksa paste from Singapore. As for the ingredients wise, some of it are not available here. So I replaced it with what's available here. I used 日本冬粉 in replacement of 粗米粉.

stay tune for my next post on Keelung and Jiufen. ><