What’s up fellow Steemians! It’s been a hectic week for me, and today I’ll announce the winners for the guessing game I hosted 7 days ago. :D

At the end of my post about Sintklass Day, I asked what the objects are in my photo (the head image here). Some thought they were pebble stones; some guessed turkey eggs (very creative I have to say ;p ), and many answered chocolates, as I was posting pictures of chocolate figurines, plus Belgium is known for great chocolates (if you do know the existence of this small country, and I appreciate it ;)). Hmmm, so did they get it right?

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大家最近好吗？我这几天忙成狗，很少玩Steemit，但是，现在到了揭晓七天前猜图答案的重要关头，我必须抽空爬上来冒个泡！ 🎈

上周12月6号是圣尼古拉斯节，我写了篇关于这个节日的帖子，结尾郑重地放了枚小彩蛋🎊，让大家猜猜我照片里拍的是什么。下面是各位给出的答案：

@starrouge： 巧克力或者糖果盒
@hmayak： 巧克力豆
@sunai： 類似涼糕的小點心
@tanlikming： 糖果
@alvin0617：巧克力
@kelvinzhang： 石头
@ericet： 巧克力
@aaronli： 朱古力豆
@kidsreturn： 夹心糖
@honoru： 糖果
@windowglass： 火鸡蛋
@annepink： 鸵鸟蛋
@cherryzz：巧克力糖
@tydebbie： Chocolate or dessert

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那么，正确答案是什么呢？？准备好了吗？擦亮你的眼睛，请看我咬开这些东西之后的照片：

Here’s the answer (druuuuuum rooooooll please…):

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如果你没看清楚，下面这张照片的标签上有名字 — Marzipan Stones，也就是杏仁糖豆！主要成分是杏仁和糖，鉴于它们周围也包了一小层巧克力，我决定把钱分给提到糖和巧克力的各位盆友！不好意思，猜石头和蛋的几位对不住了，虽然很有创意我喜欢，但实在是差得有点远，哈哈哈~ 😂

As you can see from the picture below, they are Marzipan Stones! The main ingredients are marzipan, so no one offered the exact answer. But there’s indeed a tiny bit of chocolates lining the marzipan, so I am going to give the rewards to Steemians who guessed sweets or chocolates! =)

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Marzipan是个德语词，这种杏仁软糖在欧洲各地很常见，有各种外形，比如做成金条状和水果状，软乎乎的挺可爱~ 我刚查了下，说是起源于意大利。下面还有几张也是我当天拍的杏仁软糖，我买的小袋子里那几个小球也是软糯的marzipan，却伪装成一副巧克力的样子😏：

Marzipan is mainly made of sugar or honey and almond meal, though it’s a German word, the birth place is said to be Italy. I’ve seen them in most countries in Europe, and here are 2 more pictures of marzipan I took last week:

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Thank you for reading. Please tell me what you think in the comments. Until next time! =)

感谢阅读！你的关注/点赞/留言/转发就是对我最好的支持~ 下次见！:)

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Here are some of my travel shots. Check out my travel posts on Steemit World Map, and follow me for more adventures around the globe!
https://steemitimages.com/DQmWSyM6PcNQJ9LL5UciWHWdZjHvcKQwP63HHMyJzvzvobB/4.jpg

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘#164 Guessing Game Winners Announcement 🎉👏 | 猜图答案揭晓’

Greetings everyone! Today is December 6th, Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas in Dutch) Day here in Belgium. So I’m sharing some stories I know and a few pictures I took about this festival. Hope you will enjoy them! :)

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各位好啊~ 今天是12月6号，在荷兰比利时卢森堡等地是传统的圣尼古拉斯节。尼古拉斯这个白胡子老人据说就是圣诞老人的原型哦！这篇文章我就结合今天刚拍的照片来分享一下这个节日的故事。（我和黑皮特白马合影的照片是挖坟6年前的…… 因为今天在街上只看到吃的~）

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According to legend, Saint Nicholas is a patron saint of children. This older cousin of Santa Claus is especially popular in regions like the Netherlands, Belgium, northern France, part of Germany, Luxembourg and the former Dutch colonies including Suriname and Curaçao. In some other Christian countries such as Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and USA, this tradition is also celebrated, but in varied ways.

Here in Belgium and the Netherlands, the main figures of this festival are Sinterklaas, his horse and Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), his helper.

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这个节日在各个基督教国家有着不同的庆祝方式。在荷兰比利时这边，主要出场的有圣尼古拉斯 — 孩子的守护神，他的坐骑马儿和帮手 — 黑皮特。

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As the primary source of Santa Claus (just think about it - New York City used to be New Amsterdam founded by the Dutch), Sinterklaas is depicted as an elderly man dressed in red, with white hair and beard.

Since I am curious about the differences between these 2 festive figures, I checked online and found this fun comparison:

Sinterklaas VS. Santa - 8 Humorous Differences

https://i1.wp.com/www.invadingholland.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/inv_sint_home.jpg?zoom=4&resize=600%2C315&ssl=1

https://i2.wp.com/www.invadingholland.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/inv_sint_gifts.jpg?zoom=4&resize=600%2C315&ssl=1

^{👆 the 2 images are from the same source listed above}

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If you want a clearer vision, here’s a form from Diffen.com :

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The origin of Sinterklaas is the historical figure of Saint Nicholas (270 – 343), a Greek bishop. Now you see why there’s always a cross pattern involved, be it a fabric decoration or a coffee cup.

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Most believe that Sinterklaas comes from Spain, possibly because half of Saint Nicholas’ relics were transported to Bari, the Italian city that formed part of the Spanish Kingdom of Naples later.

Sinterklaas carries a gold-coloured crosier and a big red book. From the book he can tell if the kids have been well-behaved or naughty in the past year.

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His horse is called Amerigo in the Netherlands, and Slecht Weer Vandaag (meaning “Bad Weather Today”, so true, haha, it’s been gloomy today again… This also reminds me of “Friday” in Robinson Crusoe).

Sometimes you see the horse in white color, sometimes it’s gray, you never know… But don’t worry, it’s only a legend anyway… and it’s good, since as such you can get both white horse chocolate (more cocoa butter, very fat) and dark horse chocolate (more cocoa mass, still fat), isn’t it? ;)

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Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), the helper is said to be a Moor from Spain. So his face is usually painted black, and he wears colorful Moorish clothing with a feathered cap and a lace collar, based on 16th-century noble attire.

Or, to avoid the problem of being perceived as racist or associated with slavery, some people say that Zwarte Piet’s face is blackened with soot when climbing through chimneys to deliver gifts for Sinterklaas.

Legend has it that Sinterklaas tossed golden coins through the window of 3 young girls to pay their dowries, so they were saved from prostitution. This could be why chocolates wrapped like gold coins are one of the traditional treats from Zwarte Piet’s bag.

Except for climbing chimneys and offering treats, Zwarte Piet has been developed over the years as a multi-functional superman, who could help Sinterklaas in almost everything, such as navigating the steamboat from Spain to the Netherlands and Belgium, and wrapping all the gifts to children. So you normally see more than one Black Pete in colorful costume accompanying Sinterklaas. ;)

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Traditionally, in mid-November, children start to welcome the arrival of Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet by a steamboat from Spain. They reach Belgium at the port of Antwerp, while in the Netherlands, the arrival port can be different each year. For other towns without any ports, no worries, they arrive at the train station or anywhere convenient for a certain transportation tool. =)

During Sinterklaas’ parade through the streets on his horse, Zwarte Piet helps him throw candies and round cookies (called kruidnoten or pepernoten) into the cheering and singing crowd. You can watch this popular event live on TV in the Netherlands and Belgium.

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My Belgian families and friends told me about their sweet memories from childhood: on Saint Nicholas’ Eve (evening of December 5th), most children put a shoe (or shoes if the kid wants more presents ;)) next to the fireplace or the central heating radiator. The shoe is usually filled with a carrot or some hay for the horse, a poem or wish list for Sinterklaas, and a bottle of beer for Zwarte Piet is placed next to the shoe. Sometimes they also offer a cup of coffee for Sinterklaas and sing a song. :)

The next morning the kids would be happily finding the shoe full of treats - typically include mandarin oranges, speculaas cookies, gingerbread biscuits, chocolate coins, marzipan figures and other sugary confection. Chocolate letter in the first letter of the child’s name is also a pupolar present.

However, in most parts of the Netherlands, the gift-giving happens in the evening of December 5th (called Sinterklaasavond or Pakjesavond), and the treats from Sinterklaas are a bit different.

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The treats I got today, not from a shoe but from a shop (reality bites in adults’ world ;p) :

下面是我今天的礼物，因为不是小孩子了，所以不是从鞋子里找到，而是店里买的，哈哈：

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At last, let’s play a little guessing game. What are these objects in the following photo I took?

The first Steemian who gives the correct answer gets 1 Steem, and the second person who gets it right will receive 0.5 Steem.

Ok, give it a go now! Tell me in the comment what they are:

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上面刚讲到了圣诞老人原型的故事和节日的习俗，现在我们来玩个“猜猜猜”的小游戏：

上图中我拍的是什么东西呢？

第一位猜对的朋友会得到1Steem的小奖励，第二名会得到0.5Steem。快来留言给出你的答案吧！

Thank you for reading. Please tell me what you think in the comments. Until next time! =)

感谢阅读！你的关注/点赞/留言/转发就是对我最好的支持~ 下次见！:)

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Here are some of my travel shots. Check out my travel posts on Steemit World Map, and follow me for more adventures around the globe!
https://steemitimages.com/DQmWSyM6PcNQJ9LL5UciWHWdZjHvcKQwP63HHMyJzvzvobB/4.jpg

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘#163 MyPictureDay - Stories about Saint Nicholas 🎅 + Guessing Game Steem Giveaway 🎁 | 圣诞老人原型的故事（有猜图彩蛋 🎊）’

I was just trying out uploading the same image from different frontends to compare, since the photo was clearly compressed today. So I suggest that you view the picture on other frontends or apps such as Steempeak, busy.org, esteem, partiko…

P.S. 刚发现今天通过steemitimages上传的图片突然被疯狂压缩，画质大大受损，建议使用其他前端或app来浏览图片。

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This is a moment I captured in front of the Central Market in Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh. The large market constructed in 1937 was in the shape of a dome with four arms, and it’s a busy place full of visitors.

After I tried some great local food at one of the street stands outside, I walked towards this indoor market. At the entrance, I saw these 4 boys having fun with a phone, and I quickly took out my phone to freeze this scene. To them, all the hustle and bustle didn’t seem to exist. The little joys of life~ :)

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这是我在柬埔寨首都金边的中心市场前抓拍的一幕。这个建于1937年的老市场被大圆顶覆盖，来逛吃买东西的人络绎不绝。市场前面还有很多小吃摊点，很多当地人和游客都在此大快朵颐。

我也在这里大吃了一顿，然后就往中心市场室内走，在门口看到这几个小男孩。他们全神贯注地盯着那只小手机，任由面前人群熙攘，车水马龙。我觉得挺有意思，就掏出小手机，“咔嚓”下了这个瞬间~。 : )

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Thank you for reading. Please tell me what you think in the comments. Until next time! =)

感谢阅读！你的关注/点赞/留言/转发就是对我最好的支持~ 下次见！:)

Here are some of my travel shots. Check out my travel posts on Steemit World Map, and follow me for more adventures around the globe!

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘#162 Boys’’ Little Joys 🇰🇭 | 金边街头’

What’s up fellow Steemians! Today I’m sharing some photos I took in the Andean mountains of Ecuador. The head image is my entry for the Peoplephotography contest by @worldcapture. Check out his page and join the photo fun! :)

大家好！今天分享几张在南美厄瓜多尔中部的安第斯山区拍的几张照片。用来参加@worldcapture的摄影活动。感兴趣的朋友也可以查看他的页面，一起来玩吧！

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I visited a local family with some other solo travelers on our way back from the Quilotoa crater lake. Here’s the stunning lake:

我当天早上从首都基多出发，在青旅门口坐车，一路开到中部去看这个绝美的火山湖，是不是很惊艳？

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If my crappy Spanish did work out, this couple should be the grandparents of the lovely boy, and his parents were working somewhere else at that moment. So I did this candid shot of the grandma out of their hut, when she was waiting for her husband to enter. Beautiful smile, isn’t it?

回程途中，我和同车的其他几个新认识的旅伴一起参观了这家当地人的住处。如果我的破烂西班牙语没有理解错的话，这对夫妇应该是小男孩的祖父母，他的父母当时离家在别处工作。题图的这张照片是我在他们家门口抓拍的，祖母正在等着她丈夫进屋，脸上绽放出灿烂的笑容，幸福真的就像花儿一样~。😃

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These indigenous Kichwa people are descendants of the Incas, the largest of the 13 indigenous communities in Ecuador. They speak Kichwa/Quichua, which is an Ecuador variety of Quechuan languages, a native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andean mountainous regions.

From the 2 photos above, you can see the Kichwa women’s traditional clothing: a durable felt hat, a bright synthetic sweater, shawls held over the shoulder, a vibrant skirt, long stockings and black leather shoes. All these keep them warm high up in the Andes mountains, at an elevation of almost 4000 meters.

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这些安第斯山区的土著居民被称作Quechua，主要居住在秘鲁，玻利维亚和厄瓜多尔，在哥伦比亚，智利和阿根廷的山区也有分布。

Quilotoa这块地区的山民是古印加国民的后代，是厄瓜多尔十三个原住民聚居区中人口最多的一个。插播一句：厄瓜多尔这个国家麻雀虽小却五脏俱全，从西到东，海滩、高原、丛林都有，迥异的地理环境自然会孕育多样的原住民文化。

在这寒冷的海拔近四千米的高原地区，原住民女性们都戴着传统的毡帽，穿着色彩鲜艳的羊毛衫或外套，暖和的大披肩，下身继续色彩鲜艳的中长裙，厚厚的长筒袜，脚穿黑皮鞋。可能你会觉得她们衣服的颜色搭配有些神奇，😅 但在南美这片神奇的土地上，这种轰轰烈烈的大红大紫却很稀松平常。我当时去还是初夏时节，穿着一件外套爬到山顶，已经被火山湖边缘的凛冽寒风吹得瑟瑟发抖，不禁羡慕起她们保暖的传统装束来。

I’ll show you how their living environment looks like and the hundreds of guinea pigs they kept in their house in my coming post. Stay tuned and see you soon! :)

接下来的帖子里我会继续展示他们的居住环境，比如他们和几百只豚鼠住一起的视频，还有那苍莽连绵、如梦如幻的安第斯山脉~。😊

Thank you for reading. Please tell me what you think in the comments. Until next time! =)

感谢阅读！你的关注/点赞/留言/转发就是对我最好的支持~ 下次见！:)

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Here are some of my travel shots. Check out my travel posts on Steemit World Map, and follow me for more adventures around the globe!
https://steemitimages.com/DQmWSyM6PcNQJ9LL5UciWHWdZjHvcKQwP63HHMyJzvzvobB/4.jpg

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘#161 An Ecuadorian Woman in the Andes - Peoplephotography by Worldcapture Week #10 🇪🇨 | 安第斯深山里的原住民’

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How’s it going my Steemit friends? Any plans for Friday night? I’m having a cold here, and I noticed it’s the last day for the Mascots Design Contest, hosted by @cryptoast for HKCEXP. So it’s great for me to do some drawing at home instead of going out tonight.

HKCEXP is a Hong Kong-based exchange platform that is about to launch next month. And @cryptoast was started by @htliao to showcase Blockchain projects with bounty programs. If you are interested in blockchain, make sure to follow these accounts, plus they host airdrop events and contests regularly!

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Steemit的朋友们大家好！不知你们周末有什么打算？我感冒头晕在家歇着，所以周五晚也不出门，正好来画点东西放松一下～参加@cyptoast和HKCEXP香港虛擬貨幣交易所合办的吉祥物设计活动。对虚拟货币感兴趣的朋友可以关注他们（上面英文部分有链接），还会有丰富的空投和竞赛活动哦！

活动要求设计的吉祥物为一对金色和枣红色的马，并带有HKCEXP的logo。

这里分享了我的创作过程 - 最后做了两个版本：一个是全手绘，包括我自己写的HKCEXP字样和简化的五角星⭐️logo，另一个是融入了原始的logo。你觉得这对情侣马怎么样？更喜欢哪个版本呢？欢迎留言告诉我～ =)

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Now let me show you how I made the mascot design. As required by the contest, participants are to design a pair of horses in gold and burgundy colors, with HKCEXP logo in them. You can do that with software or hand drawing.

I’ve always enjoyed drawing and coloring by hands. The process calms me down. So I chose to make a sketch and color it with pencils. As the star logo of HKCEXP looks pretty complicated, I simplified it in my sketch version.

And in order to keep the same branding, I also did a version with the original logo in. So I kind of combined both hand drawing and software to make 2 versions of the mascot.

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Here’s the breakdown:

• Step 1:

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• Step 2:

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• Step 3:

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After I finished coloring, it looked like this:

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So I first uploaded it to my laptop and blended in the original logo:

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After that, I went on drawing with pencils to add the “HKCEXP” and the simplified stars:

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When the lighting changes:

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So that’s it for my designing process. Do you like these mascots? Which version do you prefer? Tell me in the comments please! :)

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Thank you for reading. Please tell me what you think in the comments. Until next time! =)

感谢阅读！你的关注/点赞/留言/转发就是对我最好的支持~ 下次见！:)

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Here are some of my travel shots. Check out my travel posts on Steemit World Map, and follow me for more adventures around the globe!
https://steemitimages.com/DQmWSyM6PcNQJ9LL5UciWHWdZjHvcKQwP63HHMyJzvzvobB/4.jpg

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘#160 My Mascot Design for HKCEXP | 给香港虛擬貨幣交易所设计的吉祥物’

How’s it going my Steemit friends?
Here’s my screenshot of using Partiko iOS to comment on friends’ posts, for participating the Thanksgiving Steem Giveaway by the Partiko team.

@Partiko is an awesome mobile app with beautiful UI for Steemit. If you haven’t used it yet, go ahead to try it out. I’m sure you will love it!

If you would like to join this activity too, check out their post (I put the link at the end here).

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感谢@htliao的提醒，我发现Partiko的感恩节活动快要结束了，所以赶紧来参加。上面是我用它的iOS系统给朋友评论的截图。

如果是安卓手机用户，因为Android已经可以享受聊天功能了，所以是需要截图聊天消息发送的页面。

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也想参与的朋友可以点下面这个链接查看详情。活动还剩一天就要结束了，赶快来参加吧：

https://steemit.com/partiko/@partiko/thank-your-friends-by-sending-them-partiko-messages--unlimited-reward-nfpummao

Thank you for reading. Please tell me what you think in the comments. Until next time! =)

感谢阅读！你的关注/点赞/留言/转发就是对我最好的支持~ 下次见！:)

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Here are some of my travel shots. Check out my travel posts on Steemit World Map, and follow me for more adventures around the globe!
https://steemitimages.com/DQmWSyM6PcNQJ9LL5UciWHWdZjHvcKQwP63HHMyJzvzvobB/4.jpg

This page is synchronized from the post: ‘#159 参加趴地🐶感恩节活动 | Partiko Thanksgiving Steem Giveaway’