A little here and there.....

Hubby left for his China trip on Thursday. So, he's going to enjoy 10 days of sight-seeing and relaxation before returning home to real life on the run. Ruth, as usual reminded her dad to buy some goodies for her. I am just curious to see what hubby will get her.

Been a rather busy week. Loaded with office work and busy supervising Ruth's assignment and homework. On Wednesday, I accompanied her to attend the Yayasan Sarawak Excellence Award ceremony. The awards were presented to students in recognition of their hard work and excellent results in the 2006 public examinations. A total of 304 UPSR, PMR, SPM and STPM students from Bintulu attended the ceremony. It was indeed a proud moment for her and other students, for their hard work and scarifices finally paid off.

I had a frightening experience yesterday. While taking my evening stroll, I was chased and almost bitten by two very fierce dogs. The neighbours usually let their dogs out in the evening and it was unfortunate that I had to meet them. After relating the incident to Ruth, I cautioned her to be very careful and not wander around alone in the neighbourhood. No one relish being bitten by dogs!

Nuances

Last Saturday, I visited my favorite cafe for lunch. I love the fried rice cakes there, savoury with lots of vegetables, eggs and meat. The owner cum cook is an enterprising and friendly man in his middle forties. While I was enjoying my fare, he came over and we struck up a conversation. I was commenting on his business, which seems to be picking up, judging from the number of people patronising his place. He told me that besides this cafe, which caters for breakfast and lunch, he also runs another barbeque and grilled fish outlet at one of the shopping malls in the evening. Ir's hard work, running two businesses, but he's taking things in stride. He commented that he's no stranger to hard work, having lost his dad when he was only 16 years old. His widowed mother could not afford to send him to school and thereafter, he had to fend for himself working as a restaurant helper, cook and mechanic, often holding onto two jobs at a time to survive. I was impressed by the virtues of hardwork, diligence and long-suffering cultivated through those difficult times including his ability to "eat bitterness" as quoted by the chinese saying. Here is a man who had really gone through the hard knocks of life before emerging successful as he is today. Still, he did not allow himself to rest on his laurels or remain complacent, but continue to work hard to earn a decent, honest living.

Of course, this was not the first rags to riches story that I had read about or encountered. But, after listening to his experiences and fighting spirit to overcome the difficulties and challenges in his life, I could not help but left the cafe with a greater insight and sense of appreciation of hardwork, long-suffering and honesty in real life. Truly, I could draw inspiration from someone, who may not have the priviledge to the "education" and comforts that I enjoyed but move to challenge me in many aspects of my life. I must admit that many a times, I complained and grumbled when I encountered challenges and difficult times in my life. Somehow, I just do not have the courage, resilience and guts to fight on like him. He's an eye-opener, though.

Of projects & assignments

Had been real busy recently. Helping Ruth with her projects and assignments which seems to be piling up daily. A civics project due this coming Tuesday and a science report on Friday. She almost completed her civics project but had yet to start on her science report. A geography project will also be due at the end of May. It's a real busy time helping her search for suitable information from text books, magazines and the internet. Armed with a new digital camera "donated" by hubby, we went around searching and photographing suitable materials for her projects. It's a whole new expereince for Ruth, who had never written any reports or projects before.


Hubby's busy with work, cramming to finish his deadlines before his tour of Southern China next week. He will be taking 10 days off to visit relatives and friends together with his sisters and cousins. So there's packing and last minute tour details to be finalised. Ruth and I will be staying back in Bintulu. As an incentive to encourage her do well in school, hubby promised Ruth a year-end trip. Destination, a surprise! Hopefully, she will put her best foot forward.

Lessons along the way......

With the coming of the customary Ching Ming or tomb sweeping festival, I travelled by coach from Bintulu to Selangau last Friday. Although the actual festival falls on the 5th of April, I decided to return to Sibu earlier due to family and work commitments. My brother John, who was travelling from Mukah, stopped to pick me up at Selangau before continuing our journey to Sibu.

Mum was pleased to see us and as usual, she fussed around preparing her favorite herbal chicken soup and sweet-sour fish. She even boiled some awful smelling and equally awful tasting herbal concoctions, which she claimed as very nutritous and good for health. Much as John and I detest the herbal preparations, we drank them to please her. Although she could be quite fussy and overbearing at times, but we understood that she really cared for us. Sometimes, I feel guilty for not spending enough time with her but just visiting or dropping by for a night or two. Strange as it seems, I feel more appreciative of mum as of now compared to that of my younger days. I must say that during my teenage and young adults years, I found my parents "do's and don'ts", curfews, "rules" and "regulations" rather stifling and uncompromising.. I yearned for the "freedom" to make my own decisions, friends, peers and rebelled when they were too strict. Looking back now, as an adult and parent, I realised that those rules and regulations were not meant to intimidate or curb my freedom but to teach and inculcate in me the virtues and values of honesty, scarifice, long-suffering, hardwork, chastity and filial piety. I guess that as we age and approach those "golden years" our outlook and perspective of life do change.