3 years on......

 
Well, its almost 3 years since my last blog. I must admit that I had somewhat lost interest in blogging with the excuse that I just do not know what to blog about...

Time flies. During these 3 years, a lot had happened. Ruth finished her first degree in 2015. She was unsure whether she to continue with her Master's or seek employment. We prayed about it for a year and God seems to be leading her to continue with her studies. She finally decided to pursue a second degree in pharmacy. She told me that she enjoyed studying, so she got herself into another 4 year undergraduate program.

God is indeed gracious. After studying for a semester, she managed to get a casual job as a pharmacy assistant in a community pharmacy. She had never worked before, and at her age, it is pretty late to start casual work. Most Aussie kids start working in their high school years. It helped a lot in boosting her self confidence and esteem as she was by nature a rather shy and timid person. With a job on hand, she is financially independent for the first time in her life. She can plan her purchases and holidays with her friends.

Ruth aside, hubby will be retiring in July, after a 26 years stint in the oil and gas sector. He wants to take a short break before embarking on the next phrase of his adventure. Wish him a happy retirement....

So far so good....

Another update.......

It's almost mid-August. More than half of 2014 had already gone by. Ruth came over to to visit during her semester break in July. For the past year, she had been complaining of pain in her lower abdomen, frequent passing of soft stools and mucus in her stools. She want for consultation and was advised to do a colonoscopy to ascertain whether she had any bowel disease. She was anxious and the diagnosis kept us worried. I quickly booked the procedure and the gastroenterologist did the check up a week later.

We prayed hard that everything would be alright and it was a relief that her colonoscopy went on well. There were no symptoms of any bowel disease but she had to pay attention to her diet and consume more fibre. Her dad was diagnosed with Crohn's disease two years ago and we were worried that she might have inherited the disease from him. Crohn's disease causes inflammation of the bowel. It most commonly affects the lowe small intestine and the large intestine, but may involve any part of the digestive tract from the mouth to the anus. The inflammation extends through the entire thickness of the bowel walls. Such inflammation can cause abdominal pain, diarrhoea and a range of other symptoms including fever and weight loss.

With her colonoscopy behind her, she enjoyed the rest of her holidays and managed to reconnect with some of her high school mates. Hubby also visited for 2 weeks and we had a great time together. We managed to visit some of the landmarks in Perth and he also "enjoyed" the cold weather! 

Just a note....

I am really ashamed. My blog's gone stale. Time flies and its more than a year since my last update. Well, I guess is plain laziness and busyness.

Fast forward, quite a lot had happened. On my 53rd birthday this year, I made a decision to go back to college for additional qualification and certificate. After leaving the university some 30 years ago, it was  challenging to settle in a classroom routine. I had always being active and staying in class for 5 days a week can be quite daunting.

My course was for 4 months, with 3 months of theory and 1 month practical placement. I managed fairly well, albeit the study lapse and occasional short term memory loss. No doubts there were assignments, tests, workbooks that set my adrenaline rushing and brain thinking!

I had completed my theory and in the midst of finishing my practical placement in an aged care facility near my place. It is truly an eye-opener seeing older people succumbed to the ravages of dementia, senility and other diseases. Ageing  is a continual process of development, change and decline that starts at conception, taking one through adulthood, and into the later years. Something that will affect us sooner or later..

Some updates.....

I have not been updating my blog since October 2012. Somehow, the intiative and the drive had waned and I just couldn't figure out what to write. Maybe it is just plain laziness.........

After my return from Beijing in October 2012, life had settled down to a predictable routine, with the household chores, church on Sunday, reading books, magazines, surfing the internet, marketing on Saturdays and Sundays. Hubby, as usual leaves for work early in the morning and arrives home in the evening in time for dinner and his favourite Korean movies.

The only "interruptions" I had are calls from mum, emails from friends and Ruth. Mum has not been feeling very well lately, complaining of pain in her wrist, cough and aches her and there. In her early eighties, she is still springy but with a stubborn streak. My friends are the ones who updated me with their newsy bits about life in Perth. Ruth as usual is busy with her studies and needed lots of encouragement to deal with the occasional groanings, glitches and hiccups.

Well, Ruth is back from Adelaide to spend the rest of her holidays. It is good to have someone to talk and boss around, at least for the time she is here. We will be making a trip to visit mum sometime in January. Plus a tour of Vietnam during the coming Chinese New Year holidays. Something to look forward to. 

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 ?