The journey thus far........

The countdown is on. In matter of hours, we will be bidding adieus to year 2006 and ushering in year 2007. As I posed and reflected on the highlights, the ups and downs, frustrations, failures, blessings etc, of 2006, my feelings was that of one huge emotional roller coaster. It had been an eventful year for us, with Ruth taking on the first of her many public examinations in her school life and the "launching" of my writing "career" through this blogsite. Of course, there were many more less significant events that add colour and variety to our lives, but that life's in inevitable cycle. The ebb and flow. We have to move on. Let those lessons and historical episodes be our almater and teacher.

What is in store for year 2007? How, I wish that I could lay my hands on one of those " magic binoculars" that would allow me a little peek into the future. Just a short glimpse into what's the journey is going to be like. But, in real life, no such "magic binoculars" exists. We just have to take each step a time and count our blessings. Like what they say, happiness is a journey, not a destination.

Of rice balls & roasted peanuts

We celebrate the winter solstice or "tung chieh" festival today. The occasion falls on third day of the eleventh month of the chinese lunar calender. In Malaysia, the festival is normally celebrated in the month of December, close to Christmas. The highlight of the celebration includes the preparation of a special dish of boiled glutinous rice balls dipped in crushed soya bean, roasted peanut and sugar. Alternatively, the boiled rice balls could be eaten in sugar syrup. For once, I am not quite sure how this dish originated, but I must admit that I enjoyed this sweet and special dish at least once a year. This festival, together with the traditional lunar new year celebration, moon-cake festival and rice dumpling festival or "tung Chiu chieh" forms part of our rich chinese culture and heritage.

With Christmas just around the corner, we had been busy with carolling and church activities. Our program includes visitation to several homes and families to share the Christmas spirit and message. Ruth and her friends were also busy teaching some of the younger girls the tamborine dance, which will be presented during the Christmas morning service on 25 December. Merry Christmas!

Odds and ends

Recently, I had an attack of the blues. Tired, depressed, despondent, run down and over-whelmed by my lot. I could'nt really put my finger on the real "thing" but I guess that one of the main reasons is that age is catching up. Those old creaky bones and sometimes " rusty" mind just do not have the vigour, energy and enthusiasm like the yesteryears. Tempers run short and I had a big argument with Ruth before she left for her trip to Sarikei. I assigned her some homework to be completed but she tried to put it off until after her trip. She had plenty of time watching the television and surfing the internet but just could not devote an hour or so to complete her homework. I insisted that she completed her homework on time and she compomised by bringing the workbook to Sarikei and complete her homework before she got back to Bintulu.

Well, life is such. The ebb and flow. But that's what adds colour and variety to it. Anyway, Ruth and hubby got back yesterday. Ruth had a most exciting time visiting her aunties and cousins. They had several rounds of durians, rambutans and other local seasonal fruits. She even managed to visit the local funfair with her cousins and won two prizes. Her auntie also gave her an "angpow" of RM100.00 for doing well in her UPSR examinations. And she completed her homework before she got back. Looking back, I should have been more optimistic and less overbearing..

Reunion

Just this evening, a few of us, old acquaintances hosted a reunion dinner for a good old friend and his family who left Bintulu some five years ago and migrated to Australia at the beginning of this year. As usual, its the reminiscences about those good old times, sumptuous food and updating each other on the latest goings in our lives. Like most immigrants, our friends did fairly well in their adopted homeland. He managed to secure a good IT position in one of the local university, purchase a decent house and their children are doing well in the university and high school. It sounded so good and rosy ! In my fantascies and musings, I had always dreamed of living in a foreign land, a land of flowing milk and honey. Maybe, I am just an illusionist, running away from realities of life.

At the homefront, things are catching up with the up-coming Christmas festivities, carolling and church activities. In addition, hubby and Ruth will be making their annual year-end trip to visit his sisters and other relatives in Sarikei. Ruth will be meeting up with her aunties and cousins and catching up with their lives. This will the one last trip before she starts her school year on 3 January 2007. Sigh.......... Time really flies!

Coming of age

Ruth celebrated her twelfth birthday yesterday. Intially, we planned a small birthday party with some of her close friends. But with the whole family down with cough and flu, we decided to keep the occasion low keyed, so it's a family affair only. I bought a cake and we had chicken dinner at one of the fast food outlets. After posing for a few photographs, the "party" was over. Ruth was quite disappointed as she was looking forward to receiving presents and having a jolly time, but she relented when hubby promised that her that she will have a party on her thirtheen birthday.

As I watch Ruth blow out the candles and cut her birthday cake, it suddenly dawned on me, that my baby is standing at the threshold of adolescence, growing and maturing into a young lady. Was it only yesterday that I held her little hands tightly in mine, guiding her little feet, lest she trip and fall down? But today, those hands and feet have grown strong and sturdy and I had to accept the inevitable fact that I had to let go of them one day, when she finds her rightful place in the world. As a parent, letting go is never easy.

But I thank God that she had been quite an obedient and sensible girl all these while, although occasionally she could be rather stubborn, no doubt, a chip off the old block. She is indeed, God's beautiful gift entrusted to us to love and cherish.

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And we move on.....

Howdy folks! Sorry to inform that my previous blogsite under http://fireflies.eponym.com/blog will be discontinued due to technical support problems. During my last post, I did drop a line that we will be taking a week's vacation in Shanghai, China. Well, after our 8 days-7 nights circuit tour of Shanghai-Suzhou-Nanjing-Wuxi-Hangzhou-Shanghai, we also took the opportunity to spend another two days in Kuala Lumpur before returning to Bintulu last Sunday.

After almost two weeks' of relaxation, good food, company and biting cold, we have finally came back to real life on the run. The break had been a refreshing one for us and Ruth, after a year's of hardwork and studies.

The tour had been an eye-opener for us, especially for Ruth on her first visit to her ancestral "homeland". Most of the cities that we visited were very modern complete with state-of-art infrastructure facilities. For one, Shanghai is a modern, bustling metropolis with a population of 20 million. Traffic jams were common with the motor vehicles horns blaring incessantly. Part of the tour intinery included a night cruise on the Huangpu river, along the famous "Bund" with a spectacular view of the city and night life. We also visited the city's most famous landmark, the Oriental Pearl Tower. Hailed as the third tallest tower in the world and the tallest in Asia at 685M, it also provided a spectular view of the city from its observation decks. Shopping was a hurried affair, but we still managed to grab some souvenirs and local delicacies.

The city of Suzhou is unique in its 2,500 years history, complete with its many restored historical buildings and water villages. We even took a tour of one of the water villages in a "tourist boat" specially designed and decorated for this purpose. This was one of the highlights of our tour.

Hangzhou is essentially a local tourist attraction with it's panaromic "West Lake" and the birthplace of the chinese classical romance of "Liang San Poh" and "Chu Ing Tai". According to the local tour guide, their graves are located somewhere in Hangzhou. All through the tour, we had the opportunity to sample the local deliacies and visited some of the government owned tourist shopping centres. Some numbers of our tour group bought tea leaves, silk, crystals, jade, pearls, tea-pot at I must say, quite exhorbitant prices. Maybe we had been ripped off without our even knowing it.


So much for our tour, before it turns too boring. We had another two days of visiting and some shopping in Kuala Lumpur before we headed for home sweet home. It was an enjoyable trip, except for the biting cold. With an average temperature of 13 degrees C, most of us were caught shivering in our pants even with several layers of warm clothing.