Beijing, here I come.....

Came back from Beijing, China a week ago. After washing 3 lots of dirty clothes accumulated over the seven day tour and cleaning up hubby's apartment, I can now rest a bit and reminscience over our holidays.

The tour is quite tiring and I fell sick with a hacking cough.Tthe air over the city is both polluted and hazy so much so that one can hardly see the blue sky. Traffic congested in the morning rush hour and evening. But, the trip cannot be all complaints without some of the highlights. There are 51 of us in the group, mostly overseas chinese from the United States, Taiwan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. There were also 3 "ang moh" in the group. A big group no doubt, but very jolly holiday makers. It was a 44th high school reunion for the group of ladies from Taiwan and they really enjoyed themselves.

We visited several tourist attractions such as the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, the iconic Bird's nest stadium, Water Cube, Ming Tombs and a few of summer palaces and resorts. Not to mention the shopping at the silk factory, tea houses, jade and pearl stores. We also did some good bargaining at three other shopping malls and hubby seems very satisfied with the imitation Polo and Ralph Lauren shirts and jackets that he bought.

I had my first paranormal encounter at the Chengde Imperial Summer resort. This resort was used by  the chinese emperors and their empresses, concubines (can't remember their names, as the chinese history seems complicated) to get away from the hustle and bustle of court administration, summer heat and  enjoy respite on its scenic grounds and beautiful lakes. Everyone was busy taking photographs of the courts and living quarters when one of the ladies in the group check her camera and noticed a cat like creature with two big eyes staring at her on the screen. She later told me that she had this gift of paranormal sighting and although she sense that there was "something" in the resort, she did not see it until it materialized on her screen. It made my hair stood on end when I saw the ghostly creature. She said that the creature could be the restless soul of someone who was burnt to death there. True enough, the resort was burnt down sometime in the middle of the seventeen century but rebuilt some 150 years later. A conicidence?

Ghosts aside, I must stay that I was a good break and brought back some good and interesting memories of Beijing.

What's new.....

Thank God! Renovation works to mum's house is finally completed. I did not get to see the finished product as I flew back to KL last Sunday. When I left, only the painting and electrical works remained to be done. It has taken us one long month to do a small renovation work as the contractor is real slow. Mum had to "chase" him almost everyday for more workers, tools and materials. Even though he signed the agreement to complete the work within 2 weeks, it seemed that every promise was hopelessly broken. His dawdling really infuriates us and mum sworn that she will not use his services again should the need arises.

The mopping and cleaning up at the end of each day is very tiring, so much so that I lost 3 kgs just by doing cleaning and mopping! Great way to lose weight, I say!

Renovations aside, I am back in KL. It is another round of cleaning up and mopping as hubby's being real busy with work and the apartment has not been properly cleaned for 3 months. Plus the cooking, ironing, etc. It's really being bogged down!

I am looking forward to our 1 week vacation in Beijing next week. I really need a break! 

Finally, reno works are here...

Finally, after more than 2 months of negotiations and bargaining, renovations to mum's house is about to start. For days, we had been busy putting away all the furnitures, fixtures, fittings, photographs and other odds and ends. Even the TV set was removed from the sitting room into the mum's "nap" room. The materials arrived yesterday.

So, I will be busy helping mum to supervise the works for the next 2-3 weeks. Hopefully, the work will progress smoothly and the completion on time so that I can return to KL by the end of the month.

Renovations aside, I will defintely miss Sibu's famous "kampua" mee when I get back to KL. In my younger days, I never really like the mee but after living overseas for the last 2 years, I learn to appreciate its "distinctiveness" and even crave for it once in a while. So, I better get my fill of the dish and buy some of the dried mee to bring back to KL. No denying that my homecooked can never be at par with the original Sibu version. But, what a heck, something is always better than nothing,  when the craving is there, right ?

I had eyes, but I could not see....

 This is a backdated post.

The incident happened about 4 months ago when I was still in Perth. I love to read, so visiting the Willetton Public Library every 2 weeks is a must. The library opens everyday except for Wednesdays and Sundays. There are quite a variety of reading materials for seniors, adults, teenagers, school children and even toddlers. No doubt, I enjoyed books by my favourite authors.

I was busy browsing through the shelves, looking for books that might interest me when I stumbled upon this handicapped lady. She had no hands and was manoeuvring around with her motorised wheelchair. A book in one of the upper shelf caught her attention and she asked me to take it down for her. I willingly obliged and tried to pass it to her. She asked me to put the book on her lap. At the moment, I felt foolish as I knew that she had no hands to receive it and yet I could not see pass her handicap. Somewhat, it did not register in my mind to be more sensitive and discerning to her "problem". It was a real eye-opener. From that moment, I resolved that I would be more sensitive should I encounter a similar situation in the future. A lesson learned.

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Yesterday Once More

Just 2 days ago, I was helping mum sort through the boxes of old textbooks, exercise books, novels, magazines and periodicals that she had been hoarding eversince we finished our primary, secondary and tertiary education. Mum had a habit of hoarding and almost every corner of our family house is full of old stuff and things that she had been "keeping" for the past 40 years. 

As we went through the boxes of books, old memories started coming back. There were textbooks, workbooks and even testpapers from my primary and secondary school days. These books reminded me of my childhood and teenage years, when I did my homework with the help of dad, as tuition were unheard of during those days. Memories of my classmates and teachers, many whom I have not seen or heard from for ages. I remember vividly, when I was in form one, we had a very unpopular integrated science teacher, an Indian known as Mr. V. Mathew. He had a reputation of being very bad and quick tempered and struck terror in our hearts in the science laboratory. When his tempers flared, he resorted to tearing our science worksheets and yelling at us at the top of his voice. Whenever any one of us failed in his test, he would punished us by forcing us to rewrite the questions and answers all over again, sometimes 50, 100 or 200  times. There was one occasion, when a classmate failed her test on the chapter of reproduction in humans, and she had to write the word "penis" 100 times! Just imagine that! Fortunately, he was transferred to another school the following year and thereafter, a more mild mannered teacher took over.

I also came across my report cards and looking at those marks I scored, it is a wonder that I managed to do that " well" without the tuition, internet, reference and assessment books. Well, as the saying goes, life is alot "simpler" those days. We did not have internet or facebook, MSN so we improvised our own games, played with marbles, swam in drains and rivers, climbed the trees and so on. We can say that we are also a resilient, knowledgeble and capable lot.

Sadly, the books had to be dispose off as both Ruth and her cousin Jane would no longer be using them.  Most of information are outdated and no longer relevant to the current school curriculum. So, there were 10 boxes of the books and other odds and ends to be picked up by mum's scrap collector. .

Just remembering..

It's almost 2 months since I left Perth, Western Australia. It has been home for the last two and half years (on and off) and I must stay that I am beginning to miss the place, food and the friends there. I enjoyed the quiet and laidback lifestyle, food and the company of my church friends. When I first arrive there in early 2010, I was quite concern as most of the residential houses there do not have any perimeter fencing or gates. Back home in Malaysia, almost, if not all, residential properties are fortified with brick or metal grilles fencing, often times additionally installed with electronic survelliance cameras and equipment to keep out any intruders. One could not avoid observing in the passing that some of the fencing walls are constructed at such a height that the occupants seems to be living behind "prison walls". Of course, some of the wealthier malaysians could also employ security guards to man their premises. Thus, the phrase " gated and guarded" communities are the catchword of most developers nowadays, especially those in bigger cities like Kuala Lumpur, etc.

As such, when we first moved into our rented property without the fencing and gates, Ruth and I had a few sleepless nights as any slight noise outside the house will keep us on alert. It took a while for us to get use to the situation until I heard from one of my friends that some families do not even lock up their houses when they go out! Some of homes do not have any garage, so the cars are just parked in the open carport.

Needless to say, the issue of security and incidences of house break-in in Perth depends very much on the suburb one is staying. There are comparatively less of such incidents in the better suburbs compared with the others. I must say, that comparatively, I felt safer living in Perth than in Malaysia.

Randomness.......

I have been back to Sibu, Sarawak for almost a month. Things have fairly settled in a routine with household chores, church on Sunday and surfing the net during the free time. But, it's getting really boring. I love to read but there not much reading material around. When I was in Perth, I often visit the Willetton Public Library where there are lots of novels, magazines, periodicals, etc to keep the day going. One can borrow up to 10 books for 3 weeks.

I hope that mum will start renovating the house sometime next week, at least, I will have something to occupy myself with. I am also looking forward to our planned tour of Beijng in October with a few church friends from Perth. Hubby had always wanted to visit the imperial city with its iconic Great Wall, palaces, Water Cube and Bird's Nest Stadium.

Hubby's in Adelaide visiting Ruth. He also took the opportunity to fly to Alice Springs, to see first hand   Ayers Rock, a famous tourist attraction in the Northern Territory.

Oops! It's the empty nest syndrome.

I came across the phrase " empty nest syndrome" on several occasions in the passing but never seriously dwelt on the implication until Ruth left to continue her tertiary education in the University of Adelaide, South Australia.

For about 17 years, she has always be my confidante, friend and someone for me to nag and boss around. After she left for university, I began to miss her. Suddenly, it hit me hard, that I am experiencing the empty nest syndrome. Like many others, I did not anticipate it coming that soon. The first few months were difficult as I was feeling lonely and lost without her. Although our mother-daughter bond remained strong, her presence gave me the assurance that everything is well with her.

Like many parents, letting go for the first time has been difficult, especially when she is my only child. When she chose to study away from home, I questioned the decision many times and wondered about the implications, more on her well-being and ability to cope on her own. But she told me that she wanted an opportunity to manage her own life and learn to live independantly.

After about 4 months, I visited her in Adelaide. I found that she has grown into a more sensitive and mature lady, able to manage her studies and make decisions in her life. I realised that she needs to be "away" to grow as I will not be able to "accompany" her for life. By letting go, we learn to appreciate each other more.

Latest news.......

I am really ashamed. After almost 2 years MIA , I finally decided that I had no further excuses not to continue my blogging. Time really flies. Ruth finished her high school last year and move on to university. It had been a long and challenging  road but we made it.

I have also worked on a casual basis as a cleaner for almost a year, trying to make ends meet. It's an eye-opener, as back home in Malaysia , most of such menial tasks were done by our Indon maids. In Australia, cleaners are quite well-paid but the work is hard. I work with another guy and we sometimes clean up to 4 houses a day.

I have also managed to fulfil my 2 out of 5 years of permanent residency requirements, so we can apply for the return visa to maintain our PR. At the moment, I am in Sibu, Sarawak keeping mum company and helping her with the house renovations.
Looking back for the past two and half years in Perth, I found that God has been good. He has seen us through those good and not so  good times. I really receive lots of prayer and support from our church and friends.