About Me

About

I’m a teacher and an educator.

Without really realizing it, I’ve been giving advice to people around me for awhile. Since primary school to be precise. Probably why I thought I wanted to be a psychologist of some sort too. I decided.. maybe someday.. ? Though one thing is certain: How developmental psychology affects behaviour and the way we manage various aspects of our lives is a strong reason why I wanted to work in education.

Let’s just rewind a bit.

I remember being in kindergarten and classmates wanted to speak to me because of my ethnicity. Yes, I “am” Chinese but I’m very much Canadian. My mother tongue is French. I only started speaking English when I was three and a little Hakka to communicate with my grandmother. So, you can understand why I felt conflicted when the French thought I could teach them Chinese or the Chinese hoped I could translate in French assuming I spoke Cantonese or Mandarin.

This had me thinking, if I can’t offer them exactly what they’re looking for, maybe I can guide them towards what could?

Grade 6, the curiosity of interpersonal relationships had me become Pandora’s box instead: many people’s confidante. *Lightbulb* –in Gru’s voice, of course. I learned through my mistakes that I couldn’t help them by doing things for them. I had broken some of my friends trust in doing so. My understanding of the world changed again: Humans are pulled towards others when they need something, whatever that is: knowledge, company, or help. A connection. Why else would you interact with others? Think about it. It is part of human survival.

By the time I reached high school, I wanted to only (or mostly) be a confidante because helping others gave me purpose. I felt like I tried to be an undercover therapist or something. It was important for me to know that my classmates were okay and if not, they knew they had someone to talk to regardless of our past, our friends or affinity. Entering college, I grew into a full-blown-awkward social butterfly, studying health sciences, not knowing 90% of my classmates, trying to build these interpersonal connections in vain.. Finally, university, I decided to throw myself into psychology because the human mind just boggled mine.

I’m a geek.

I discovered early (like 9?) that I was a hidden geek. I would spend hours in my room, reading books that I secretly took from my brother’s bedroom: Dragon Ball Z. I loved it. I thought the drawings were super cute! Then again, I just wanted to hang out with my brother like any little sister would, right? We always think our older siblings at that age are just so cool. (I still do!) Though sometimes I feel like he doesn’t see it and sells himself short but that’s another story. Anyways, I wanted to play video games with him but was always too stressed with Pac-Man, so that was a no-go for a while.. Either way, does a 10 year old brother want to spend all his time with his 5 year old sister? Let’s be real, very few. So I decided to take random things apart to see how they worked. I’d unscrew music boxes to see what made the sounds and how something could be coiled so tight to be released at a steady pace. I’d stare at the gears and how things would rotate for like.. hours, seeing if I could replicate the song, or change it. (No you can’t bend metal with tiny fingers, I tried so hard!) I did this with everything, from clocks, to Walkmans, to CD players… to websites. Then I started learning html in Grade 6 when I found out I could modify code sites more easily than I thought. Back in the day when Windows OS was so easy to manipulate.. Ahhh the joys of technology and the internet!

Fast-forward again to adulthood, I’ve worked in web analytics and IT project management for a few years. Long enough to know that it’s still one of my interests. Precisely, I’ve worked on Canada.ca, our country’s official website.

Still, change is constant.

I’m a health enthusiast

Thank you, Dragon Ball Z (or my brother for not yelling at me when he found I took his books) for teaching me the ways of simple life with no real gym weights. Gym class was a tough one because 1) I’m a short small asian girl and 2) I’m a short small asian girl! No one was going to tell me I’m not good enough, so I decided to use what I knew and trained myself to be stronger. For example, Goku wanted to feel light as a feather and used to carry around this super heavy turtle shell all day for days. The day he had to take it off, he could basically jump so high like he was flying. Why not apply this to real life? I filled my backpack with all the books and heavy stuff I could find and secretly started doing squats in my bedroom. Next thing you know, I was holding my bag on my chest and doing sit-ups with it. Endurance and cardio was tougher. I didn’t like swimming classes much in my primary days. In high school, I played handball and badminton. Yeah, not the roughest sports around haha. In college, ultimate frisbee. Fast-forward to university and I was signing up for my first Spartan Race, then Kendo classes, then spinning classes, then latin dance, snowboarding, skiing, rollerblading, etc. Mind you, I wasn’t really great at any of them haha! I just wanted to keep my body in motion.

Finally after I got my bachelor’s degree: CrossFit classes 3-4/week and Bootcamp classes 1-2/week had become my routine. The ultimate test for me in overall fitness. I survived and learned how strong you can be with the proper mindset and mental strength. If you believe it in your mind, your body will follow.. but being aware of your limits is crucial to avoid injury.

Yet again, change is constant.

I’m a food lover (or foodie)

Last but definitely, not least:

I. am. in. love. with. food. Seriously. Since I knew how to speak.

*3-4
Mum: Christelle, you have to taste it before you can say you don’t like it.
*Shakes head*
Me: No, Mum, no waaant any, I don’t like it.
Mum: Try it first, then you can say you don’t like it.
*Grabs a bite. Stares at Mum. Gobbles the entire thing*
Me: I want more!!!

Indeed, humans are instinctively drawn to saying we don’t want something that’s foreign to us. I learned real fast to listen to Mum when she said she knew I’d like something. ‘Cause who else would know what you like best?

For example, we had a project to finish in high school and my mother made us one of my faves: smoked salmon sandwiches. To my friend’s surprise, he watched me eat one for the first time. It was made with sliced French shallots and bits of capers. I think they hadn’t tasted it the way it was made but I convinced them to try it. (My food reputation was quite high by then.) He thought I was making love to my food by the way I was ecstatically grumbling to myself with my eyes closed saying “Mmm. dish. ish. shooooo gooooood!!!!!” Yeah. Go figure. I couldn’t control my happiness. That’s me with pretty much all dishes which find that amazing umami delicious yummy sweet spot. *drool* Yes, I’m a foodie.

Did you know I’m also a published food photographer? Yeah, a company contacted me because they wanted to pay for my pictures in their calendar. How awesome is that? My pictures have been used by many restaurants and companies on social media too. It makes me happy to know I can share one of my passions with others.

… but why?

‘Cause life is too short not to keep developing all these different parts of yourself.

So, here I am!