GOLD COAST EPISODES

GOOD MORNING, AUSTRALIA! - Pt.1

2012-01-28T23:59:00.000+10:00

Have been working at a call centre for 5 months now and it has been a crazy mishmash of experiences for me - of fear, pride, tears, joy, anger, sadness and amusement. When I first took on this job, it was (and still is) with fear and intimidation that I would not quite cut it as as a telemarketer. Everyday, I call different cities across Australia making appointments for conferences.

For obvious sensible reasons, I shall not disclose where I work, but it is very near where I stay. So, I have been very blessed in the sense that I don't even have to drive if I choose not to, it is just 7 minutes brisk walk from door to door.

I could write a book of the many different characters in my workplace. The team I work with consists mostly of ladies in their fifties. But there are also younger girls and mums like myself who struggle to cope with managing a family as well as make it on time to the sometimes unearthly hours of work (i.e. 8am). And because Australia has 3 different timezones, we could be starting really early one week and then starting at normal 9am the next, depending on which cities we call for the week.

During my calls, I come across interesting names, funny, serious people, the very old and the very young, very rich and very poor, very rude and very polite. I get a taste of Australia's different households, how they live, work, eat, think and function as a family. One thing I had found is that Australian life spans are generally much higher than in Asian countries. I have talked to many retirees in their nineties, late eighties and guess what? Some are still working, so it tells me, they are a pretty fit lot... I have talked to quite a number of people who tell me they are dying of cancer, people who tell me they just had a baby, just got engaged, just had a divorce, just got a new house, new immigrants from India, Africa, China, perhaps some illegal ones, doctors, nurses, miners, engineers, accountants, teachers, mango farmers, cattle farmers,.. all walks of life, but with one aim in mind, to invite the right people and hope they show up for my conferences.

On a good day, I get 4-5 people, on a bad day, I get none or just one. It's insane, and a little trivial to feel good about having managed to invite 3 or more people a day after having called like close to 220 people. So, yes it is not the most fantastic job on earth but hey, it helps to pay the bills for now.......If you think it's an easy job to sit there everyday and talk to people, you are so wrong. I admit it can be pleasant to meet nice people on the phone who will tell you their life stories and joke with you but there are also many crappy instances of putting up with horribly rude, drunk and OD'd people who shout at you and insult you. There were many times in my earlier days of this job that I wanted to just give up and walk away because I felt so lousy about having to annoy people and intrude upon their lives and being screamed at for daring to call them. But I know this is also a season of dealing with my inner self, to learn to take rejection upfront and not take it personally. To learn that a job is still a job at the end of the day and that when you tuck away your headphones and go back home, you DON'T need to carry back that 'f' word spoken to you, or that lousy feeling of walking away with zero bookings for the day... I have found that it helps to segment and clearly and precisely shut the door when you step out of work, otherwise, you could feel crappy the whole time.

But then, there are also the happy triumphant times when I look back at how the grace of God prevailed at a crucial time when I was told I had that week to show results or face losing the job. This is the episode I will always remember and a lesson in faith that God teaches me. Being a newbie at this kind of work, I had very low bookings. However, I marvelled at how I still managed to have people show up for my conferences. That had saved me for the first part of my career as a telemarketer eventhough I had very few bookings. One day, my manager pulled me aside and told me they wanted to let me go that very week but she stood up for me and insisted I could do it, with proper training. So, I asked if my show rates were good would it be the determining factor to keep me on for the coming week? She said yes. So, praying really hard and walking to work the next day, I was asking for minimum of 5 people to show up. Why 5? It's the biblical number of grace and I needed that sign for me to stay on. As I walked to work, a van shot past me and drove ahead of me..and strangely, it had the word GRACE written clearly on the back. Hmm, pretty apt, I thought. Things got more interesting towards the afternoon when my boss came up and shook my hand, telling me I did very well for that week. I was pleasantly surprised. When the scores were given out, I was one of the highest performers. And guess how many showed up that week for me? 5 people! Awesome, the grace that covers me. That kept me on the job for the next following weeks....stay tuned on this channel for other interesting stories......

THE ONLY SNOW YOU WILL FIND IN GOLD COAST THIS CHRISTMAS...

2011-12-23T23:36:00.000+10:00

The only "snow" to be found falling in Gold Coast in the middle of summer, is the 'mock' one of icing sugar --flicked all over the attempted christmas yule log cake I made today. It is a traditional French Xmas musthave but most western cultures, including Asians, have adapted it to be part of the Christmassy thing to have.

Baking has always been my way to destress, to prove to myself that things that look hard or impossible can still be achieved. Never done a log cake before, and decided to get adventurous today, using the famous Aussie chef Nigella's recipe. Yes, ambitious me had to aim for the best, and ignoramus me actually thought that the grand dame of Aussie cuisine had been careless and left out flour in her recipe!!

Actually, this was a flourless log cake and I actually couldn't believe I had launched onto this project not noticing that flour wasn't in the recipe, otherwise I wouldn't have tried it, because I always prefer my cakes, fluffy, doughy, and cake-y- nothing of that flourless version..(sorry Nigella. Who cares about carb anyway, I mean it's Christmas...

Anyway, too late, had to proceed, as the stage had been set. So, with bated breath, I rolled up the cakes and was relieved they did not totally fall apart. Cakes did not rise very nicely, maybe, I opened the oven too often to check, I don't know. Am clueless about how flourless cakes should look like or taste, so I expect whatever I rolled out at the end would have to do. It didn't taste too bad, and the icing was lovely. Jordie wanted to do the sprinkling of snow, and that helped quite a bit to cover the 'flaws' and I had these recycled christmas tress and miniature santas from days gone by lifted off a previous xmas cake. We had fun putting little weetbix squares as part of the scenery to pass off as rocks.Jordie said the xmas trees did not look real but the log did, but who cares? It's all in the name of breaking barriers of reality. Anyway, santas don't exist, so what are they doing on a log cake, huh? Merry Xmas, and try not to be make sense about everything. You will find life more interesting and happier that way...and now, we shall look forward to eating up this log on Christmas day..

GETTING BACK INTO THE SWING

2011-12-11T20:46:00.001+10:00

Recently..ok not so recently, coz I had been soo.. busy.. no time to even update this blog for gosh like..umpteen moons!! Back to "recently" my mum was in town and when we took her and her sister (my 2nd aunt ) to the beach at Burleigh Heads for a BBQ nite out, her sister told her she had a go at the swing. To my surprise, my mum decided she wanted to have a go at it too. So, here goes my 73-year-old mum, whom I have never recalled ever seeing her sitting on a swing before, decided to plonk on one next to Jordie. Cute shot of granny and Jordie. You're never too old to relive your childhood, I like that...

OF BEDS & TOYS

2011-02-18T10:11:00.006+10:00

So, what's so special about this bed shot you say? Well... I have started to look at normal things and learnt to appreciate them more. Actually, it is rather abnormal if you think about it... b'cos this bed looks like this every morning after Jordan wakes up. He MAKES HIS OWN BED!! I mean, it is stuff you don't expect boys to do rite? Well, ok there are days when he's in a rush and it gets overlooked, but that's fine. Meanwhile, I appreciate his efforts to be neat and well-organised this way. It makes a nice sight to come home and plonk into rite?

And considering him being already close to 10 and playing with boy macho games like guns and xbox, he still loves his cuddlies. Last night, he took out all of his soft toys and they each have a story behind them.

The largest pooh bear was from his Godma, who bought it from HK Disneyland for him. The donkey bolster, Eeyore was given him by this girl called Isabel during a Port Dickson church convention when he was just 2 years old. The yellow elephant tucked behind Pooh is from his paternal grandma.

1st two from the right: Meet Boris the bulldog and Squigee the dark brown dog side by side which were companions since his toddler days and bought from China during his 1st Beijing trip. They were his 1st soft toys from mummy & daddy.

On the far left is Puddles, the only bear in the family given to him by Uncle Kai Seong. He was named Puddles because his eyes always looked shiny and wet. The smallest dog in the family right in the center, is named Squirrel Chaser, given to him for Christmas from Auntie Ebbie.

Last but not least is Chubbs, the light brown and white doggy- one of his faves. Compliments again from Godma who has been a real blessing to him and sent this via the post because she knew he was missing daddy much at one point.

So, there you go, toys with a bit of history behind them, everyone of them a testament of the heart and love for him from different people in his life.

SWEET THOUGHTS

2011-02-14T10:44:00.005+10:00

Was surprised to find this piece of romantic relic sitting on my Mac laptop this morning. Had totally slipped my mind today is Valentine's Day...Awww that was so sweet of him! Ferrero Rocher chocs, what a treat!

LO YEE SANG - the friendly food fight

2011-02-05T10:59:00.005+10:00

Had some friends over for dinner on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year and treated them to a Lo Yee Sang which is the typical CHINESE NEW YEAR appetiser musthave in Malaysia and Singapore. However, since we weren't sure if they would be used to raw fish, we used smoked salmon instead and they loved it. Some of them termed it a 'food fight' and to all appearances it may have looked like it. Everyone thought the chopsticks were a real novelty and ate pretty well with it, except for me and Jordie who are staunch spoon-diners.

They loved the novelty, the colour and the action. We so often take it for granted when we have it in the past so, we didn't realise it would be such a nice refreshing thing to introduce to them. Perhaps it was also the licence to play with food for once which made it more fun...

Samuel explained the significance of this dish but we did it also like a prophetic act. We wanted to speak prosperity, grace, favour and better things ahead into this act. So that made it all the more meaningful, hihi!

THE FLOOD EFFECTS PT. 2: PLAGUE OF SNAKES, CROCS, MICE AND EVERYTHING NOT NICE.

2011-01-16T23:00:00.004+10:00

As if having your homes submerged isn't enough problem already, the poor residents of affected areas of the flood have been battling more than just water & damages, but also undesirable creatures. Floods in Queensland have also unleashed a 'plague' of pests & dangerous animals like mice, frogs and snakes and worse-crocodiles which have wandered into places & waterways near residential homes and even town areas.

When these animals get out of their normal habitat and get washed into unfamiliar zones, they tend to seek hiding places, which may be in a closet, under a bed, or other spots that could lead to disaster when the unknowing homeowner returns and encounters the frightened animal victim that may then lash out. Spiders do something similar, and Australia certainly has no shortage of poisonous arachnids.

Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter has warned that the flood waters also contained crocodiles.

"There is the risk that we have a number of crocodiles that live in the Fitzroy River," he said. "We do not think they are a risk to public safety if people keep out of the waters but if people do enter the waters, their safety cannot be guaranteed."

The New York Times reports that dozens of snakes have taken over the backyard beer garden of the Fitzroy Hotel Pub in Rockhampton. Owner Tony Higgins said, “I reckon the snakes are using it as a lap pool to get ready for the next stage of their journey."

Yup, you wouldn’t know what’s in the water, you really wouldn’t know. It’s a bad place to be.

THE FLOOD EFFECTS PT. 1: EMPTY SHELVES

2011-01-15T22:27:00.008+10:00

Yesterday, when I went out to get some vege's, this was what I saw, amazing and appalling: Empty shelves and empty tables at major supermarkets (that kinda reminds me of what the French students sang for Les Miserables- Empty chairs and empty tables)..this is probably the first time in a long, long time, that the shops have this problem due to the floods. Farmer crops have been affected drastically, even meats were not as plentiful. Quite pathetic to see people fingering through a few stalks of veg left on the shelves. Milk was all sold out, including UHT shelves which were typically well-stocked... So, eventhough GC was unaffected by the flood waters, the inland tsunami that hit Queensland still had its ripple effects much felt here...hopefully, the supplies get back to normal soon.

THE FLOOD OF 'BIBLICAL' PROPORTIONS

2011-01-13T22:22:00.004+10:00

Some call this the worst flood in Queensland since 1974- a disaster of biblical proportions. Lots of homes, shops, offices, schools awash and inundated in flood water in many districts of Queensland. Just 2 days ago, Brisbane got hit as well. Here's the clip of just how bad things can get. Man against nature, this is truly one of the best reminders of the fragility of humanity in modern Australia. My heart goes out to those who lost their homes, loved ones, pets, and belongings. In Toowoomba, a district not too far away from here, many people never took flood insurance because they thought they were living in high areas, non-susceptible to flood disasters. So, they were literally caught by surprise and left with virtually nothing. The clip of the cars floating down the river is in Toowomba.

Sad sight .. but then hey, somebody took the opportunity to have some wet 'n' wild fun at the end of the clip!!?? There's the oz spirit for you... ride the waves and the water, dude... coz tomorrow is another day...

EPISODE 48: APPRECIATING THE HERE & NOW

2011-01-08T23:26:00.008+10:00

Jordie finally had his friends from school over today to visit and play during the holidays. He was so looking forward to them coming. Their mum brought them to our place today. We'd never met before so we chatted for a bit and got to know each other a little. During the conversation, she revealed to us that her husband was dying of cancer and probably only had a few months to live.

I really felt for this woman -yet she looked so strong. She just had to take what she had and go with it, get the income, manage the household, bring up her kids and make sure her husband gets taken care of. She told us she was glad the boys had their own network of friends to play with to take their mind off the family crisis. You may look at your life, think it stinks, think your problems bigger than others till somebody comes along and flashes a bigger bin of problems and then suddenly, yours seem to shrink to mini proportions.

It dawned on me how short life is. I mean, we go thru life with its motions of things, waking up, grooming, cleaning, cooking, eating, minding our business, getting the kids to school, nod off to bed, and then what?? Certainly, there is more to life than this everyday replay. There comes days when people or situations jar you and wake you out of your normal deadpan mode of comfy predictability and scream out to you, make your life count!! It could be an accident, death of someone you knew, a very unusual incident, or even a stranger just coming into your lives with extraordinary situations like in this case. And then you realise you had been selfishly moaning about your poor tired life and all that moaning energy needs to be channelled outwards because elsewhere, someone is always in worse shape than you.

During the day, one of the boys kept telling me in his straight, serious demeanour, "My dad's gonna die, He's gonna die, you know, by this year, it makes him sad and then it makes me double sad because I know he is gonna die and I'm sad because he's sad about it." SIGH! Wish I had a healing wand to go around zapping everyone back to health, but only God can do that.

But the boys had such a lot of fun together today and you know what, there was no sadness in that. I heard their laughter playing in the tiny drizzle outside with some water guns and light sabres. So, I realised, life may be short, but we make the most of it whatever we have and enjoy the here and now, the fun, the sun, (yes we had heaps of rain and even flooding in some areas of Queensland, really bad but today was nice weather to play outdoors) the food, the friendships, family, and then take everyday as it comes.

We told her that if at any time she needed for the boys to be away should she have a difficult time coping, that they were welcome here. Sure, it is inconvenient, privacy intruded, house messed up, but as Jordie puts it, " Its okay, at least we have fun together." So, yes, I thank God for family, for health, for joy, laughter and the blessings we have each day.

IN THE YEAR OF COOKING DANGEROUSLY

2010-12-01T21:50:00.026+10:00

Have been taking my long absence from blogging for a while... just been too busy, tired, lazy lately to have any inspiration for writing anything. But December is the final month of this year and wow, it's been like so incredibly fast the way this year has shot by.

Everywhere, signs of Christmas mood popping up in houses, neighbourhoods, malls.. this year a little bit more upkey than last, at least in shopping malls. Santas with their elves in every mall and crying babies plonked on their laps for cute pixes by eager parents for that memorable shot to go down their albums for years to come...Maybe they just need to drum up the sales, so need to pound into the heads of customers, it's Christmas coming your way soon.. BUY, BUY, SPEND now, or else it will be too late??!!

This year has also been a year of creative adventures in the kitchen for me, I think at no other time have I been trying out so many different things like this year. Maybe the initial plans to perhaps someday run a restaurant got me into this mood to experiment with different stuff... but let's see... I have tried (this is by no means a brag list, just a reflection and wonder at how brave I have become...), but much of it was to salvage food that might otherwise go bad, so you might say, I cooked to avoid wastage..

PESTO- one day, I found myself with so much basil leaves, so I blended them up with some peanuts, olive oil, salt, onions, garlic and pepper and then used it later for cooking with pasta, ham and mushrooms, pesto pasta is a yummy and nutritious must try...

APPLE MUFFINS- Found myself with lots of apples, and threw them into the muffins with some cinnamon powder and raisins and sometimes chopped walnuts. Sometimes, I even popped in leftover Weetbix cereal crumbs which I saved from Jordie's box for extra crunch.

APPLE JAM- Also, because again, I had too many apples rotting away in the fridge, I took them out, cut out the bad parts

and stewed them up into a jam. The 1st time I did it, didn't add brown sugar and 2nd round which is this pix, I did so the it turned out a little brownish, but better tasting and smoother. You also have to add some lemon juice which sorta preserves it longer and sugar. Cinnamon sticks give it a nice flavour and I think I prefer it than cinnamon powder.

Need about 1 hour of constant stirring and simmering.. and it just disintegrates into pulpy jam slowly but surely. ..

.. Jordie loves it with bread and butter.

NASI LEMAK - Have never attempted this Malaysian favourite until we invited some Aussie friends over and decided to treat them to some traditional Malaysian fare. We did the mild version which they liked.Later this year, I decided to slip the spice level a notch up, so sambal was used instead of just sweet chilli. Jordie loved it, esp the fried chicken drumsticks... of course anything fried and crispy for him is a sure winner.. No banana leaves to be found here, so a 'banana leaf' melamine platter was the ambience setter. What to do?

SWEET CHILLI FISH - Deep fried dory or basa fillets, chopped up topped with sweet chilli sauce. Great with capsicum stirred in.. I used some 5 spice powder for fish batter just to zing it up a little. And added in a dollop of (you won't believe this, thousand island dressing) to the sweet chilli sauce topping to give it a more emulsifying texture...

FISH CAKE- 1st attempt was successful, but a teed bit too salty. I mashed up some basa fillet, chopped green beans, onions, garlic, fish sauce and flour, then fried it up with sweet chilli for dip.

BEEF WANTONS- never really attempted this, coz pork was the normal type. Beef is normally cheaper here, so I thought we'd try it out on wantons and what do you know, it tasted pretty good! With garlic, chopped carrots, onions, some spring onions and even celery, most of the beefy smell is dealt with..

ROASTED ALMONDS -decided to try the type coated with egg white and sugar and cinnamon and it really tasted great and not as sticky as the honey roasted type. The ones in the supermarkets cost quite a bomb at bout $10.00 per for packet of less than 500g, I think. Makes nice christmas gifts and holiday snacks.

AVOCADO MILKSHAKE

- inspired by my hubby who used to taste them at Jakarta with some chocolate topping. Really nice with some milk, ice cream and mix of yogurt and ice and texture comes out like some green thick custard but deliciously cold and creamy.

Well, that's just some of the stuff that came out of the year of cooking dangerously, and I thank my hubby, son and willing guests for daring to eat dangerously alongside with me....they're still walking and kicking, I did at least pass the toxic test...

DAM GOOD NEWS

2010-10-14T10:58:00.004+10:00

THOUSANDS of litres are gushing from the Hinze Dam, Gold Coast's largest and main dam, after the spill gates were opened yesterday morning. Blessed with lots of rain this October, the new spill gates were finally put to good use. The gates were opened at 7.30am on October 13 yesterday after the dam reached 100 percent capacity. Now, that's dam good news -no water shortage for quite a long while.

EPISODE 47: TURNING 9

2010-10-05T11:58:00.007+10:00

Jordie turned 9 yesterday. He was so excited about it as it was his 'treat' day. We took him to AMF for a morning bowling session and he had a blast. Totally. The bigger blast was of course, that his dad scored lower than him. For some reason, daddy could not aim straight and the ball kept rolling into the side gulley. But Jordie had help too. The junior alley had support fences to 'nudge' the ball back onto course. Most of Jordie's throws ended up skidding on the floor before the ball started rolling but hey, still got the strikes nonetheless. .

AMF had a very good discount for school holidays and for a game of about $6.90 each, one could play roughly about 45 minutes, depending on how good you are. I don't know much about bowling and was just a spectator. Looks like fun but was contented to just watch for now. Then, we stopped by the Cheesecake shop and he got to choose his fave cheesecake flavour, strawberry glazed from the stack.

Jordie said this was one of his best birthdays ever and we were glad we decided to do something different for a change. For previous years, we held parties for him and invited neighbourhood kids over. But he has now discovered... the art of personal enjoyment..ahh.. the pleasure of not needing to entertain, and just get to do the stuff you like with people you love. Again, this might be just a phase..oh well, we'll enjoy it while it lasts, maybe in a few years' time, he won't even want us around for his birthdays.. He loves his new tommy toy gun too.

We enjoy pampering him, because he's been such a good boy. Makes his bed every morning, keeps his room tidy, did well for his piano and studies, helps around when asked. He's never complained about us not bringing him anywhere for this term break, or any of the previous breaks, so, he really deserves his treat on his special day....we love you Jordie... muacks!

MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB

2010-09-26T17:25:00.010+10:00

Recently, a friend invited our family to a Marriage Supper of the Lamb event organised by Heart of David Ministries. It was held in Nerang Bicentennial Culture Centre and was a Jewish celebration which was held to depict a future point in holy history when the saints will pass through the gates of splendor to enter the mansions of glory. There they will be ushered into a love feast and a glorious consummation of marriage of Christ and His bride.

When we arrived, we heard some familiar either Singaporean or Malaysian accent English being spoken by one of the chinese couples who were in charge of reception.

They had lovely tabletop centrepieces and we saw some booths also selling stuff like books and Jewish souvenirs. Food was great. We had lamb (of course), roast beef, chicken stew, salad, baked potatoes, rice and some salad. We also had a cake-cutting session, with words written "Shalom Jerusalem".

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is based on scriptures which indicate that this climactic banquet of the ages will come at the end of this present evil age at the second coming of Christ. At that time we shall see Jesus/Yeshua face to face on the occasion of His return to this earth. This time He will come not as the Suffering Servant but as the returning conquering King of Kings. Revelation chapter 19 (below) gives the context of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

They made a wedding tent under which traditional jewish weddings were held and danced under it.

It was lovely to watch people just being free to dance unto the Lord in this fashion, and meaningful as it was symbolic of the relationship we had with Christ, when He comes back for His bride, the church. More importantly, it reminded us how much God loves us and the type of intimate relationship He was looking for in His people.

Sharing the lantern

2010-09-24T16:42:00.001+10:00

Jordie wanted to share lanterns with his neighbour pal, Liam, so they both walked the lantern together the night following mid-autumn festival. It was fun watching them enjoy it. His friend thot the whole thing rather 'cool' and enjoyed the mooncakes very much too... He found it such a novelty and we were glad to be able to share the chinese culture with an aussie.

ONCE IN A PURPLE MOON

2010-09-23T12:59:00.009+10:00

Once upon a purple moon ago, when mooncakes became scarce and super expensive on Gold Coast land, and chinese heritage was seriously in danger of becoming obliterated in the Lim family, we decided let's just celebrate this year's Mid-Autumn Festival in mini-fashion for the evening and get Jordie acquainted with some of his chinese roots before he totally lost it... So off we went on the hunt for mooncake lotus paste plus the mould for it, with the ambitious aim of wanting to make our own home-made ones since they really cost a bomb here. To my dismay, no shops carried those mooncake moulds and the lotus paste was just nowhere to be found in asian shops here. They only had black sesame and red bean- not so divine. Lotus paste which is the filling for mooncake is so tedious to make, I'd rather not bother with it and might even not manage to make a good one anyway. So, yesterday, on the mooncake festival date itself, we went to try to get some mooncakes,... well, most shops were out of stock and the ones left were so expensive, so we just got the teochew types and the mini round ones. After dinner, we told Jordan the origin and legend of the festival. Then, we 'walked the lantern' outside the neighbourhood streets and he had fun, the thrill of 'playing with fire' I guess.... too bad his neighbours were already in bed by then.

We then had some mooncakes, which Jordie found lip-smackingly good and daddy taught him the finer aspects of chinese tea appreciation and preparation.

For once, he enjoyed the tea and wanted 2nd and 3rd helpings so daddy was quite happy because he had now found a tea companion. I never really enjoyed chinese tea myself, coffee's more my thing...

Well anyway, when I quote purple moon, I mean it really IS RARE for us to get traditional in this manner... I mean while in Malaysia, I never really went into this kinda chinese heritage embracing and it was a virtual non-event there. Now, it just felt important to do it, because when I look at Jordan growing up in this land, amongst Aussies and many other internationals, I feel he is slowly losing his identity as a chinese. His hair had been turning brown lately maybe due to the sun or the high chlorine content in the water and he seemed happy about it because he felt he was turning into an 'aussie' boy. So, I feel we needed to teach him to be proud of his background, who he is and where he came from. Of course, speaking the language, behaviour and understanding of lifestyles to blend in well here is just as important, but knowing who he is and being able to live out this diversity in his life will be a definite advantage.... I hope...

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

2010-09-05T12:18:00.005+10:00

Dear Papa:

Today is Father's Day (in Australia) and I thought about you. This letter is a tribute to you and the great person that you were during your lifetime.

It's been like 36 years - such a long time, I barely even have any impression of you in my life.

My memories of you were unfortunately, not so vivid because you left this world too early in my life. Some of the earliest flashbacks I can recall were when you were ill.. lying in bed at home, asking me for back massages and me playing with those 'ice cream' sticks which you used for oral therapy in your mouth when you were battling face cancer. Of course, I also remember the few playground trips and you bought me these colourful layered cakes from the roti man. But vague, really vague for me at the moment... What is not vague is that cheek pinching! You loved to pinch my cheeks when you came back from work, and it really hurt. I disliked that, but now looking back, it really spoke volumes of your affection for me.

However, mum always had such good things to say about you. You were a good dad & hubby, the best that you tried to be. You saw to our family's needs and prepared as much for us as you could before you went off. This much I knew about you from the people and relatives who spoke of you. You were kind and generously helped many people in their time of need. You believed in education for young people, gave tuition and helped to ensure many of your siblings and their kids and even some of my uncles had the opportunity to finish off their school and have a fair go at a better future. You were the only son in your family to complete a diploma education and fought for your right for higher education. You taught and gave tuition to support your own education because your family just could not afford to put you through college. They did not believe in higher education either.

Agriculture became your destiny when you went to the College of Agriculture and studied agricultural science. It opened doors for you in ICI and you became a very good salesperson in that company.

You were promoted to Assistant Manager for your division and dined with British colleagues and professionals, moved to various towns in Malaysia to do your work. What you had achieved was amazing considering your circumstances and family background. Well, if you had chosen to stay on in pigfarming and helped your brothers, you might have eventually turned it into something outstanding too because you had great intelligence and foresight.

You loved life and all the joys it could offer, family, sports, friends, food, travel, photography. You played football, went hunting, fishing, took up archery (I think mum still keeps the bow somewhere in the house...)..and golf and travelled to many places for work and pleasure. I know you loved taking photos coz we had stacks of those 35mm slides which I loved to hold up against the sunlight in my younger days to see the life that you had led. You lived a life that was so different from the rest of your family. You believed in true love

and didn't settle for the normal matchmaking practices that happened in your family during those early days. You zoomed in on your girl and relentlessly pursued her. You made sure mum finished her studies at least till Form 6, even when her dad wanted her to drop out of school to work. You supported her family financially to keep her in school so that she could eventually qualify for a teaching post. She was just a student and you were her English teacher. But you were a gentleman and waited for her to grow up. Now, if that's not true, mature love, I don't know what is.

Often, people & relatives would come up and tell us, 'Your dad was a very good brother, good man. He was good to us." Now, I may not have gotten to know you as well as my brother and sisters but you know what? The memories and image of you are still good. And that's the way I wanna keep them always. Some people had dads with them all their lives but unfortunately, never really got to know them anyway. Some aren't even talking to their dads... but you, I know you loved us with all your heart,

each one of us was special in your eyes. Reminds me of the bible scriptures: "We love him because he first loved us." ~ 1 John 4:19

To be loved and know that you were special to someone ( even if only for a short time) inspires you to move on, to hope, to grow and to live and to love that person back.

MAN WHO BUILT ROBINA DIES IN FLIGHT

2010-09-01T22:59:00.006+10:00

Robin Loh with masterplans of Robina Town Centre

August 30th, 2010 ~ THE Singaporean industrialist who masterminded the development of Robina has died during a flight to Hong Kong. Dr Robin Loh died on Saturday after a long battle with Parkinson's disease and related conditions. The 81-year-old was on a flight from Singapore to Hong Kong when he succumbed to breathing difficulties.

Not many people today know about this, but Dr Loh secured a place for himself in Queensland history when, in 1980, he acquired a 20 square kilometre parcel of scrub and grazing land on the southern end of the Gold Coast. The name Robina was logically named after its founder...!!

Three decades later, Robina has become a master-planned community of 30,000 people, with a specially constructed town centre as its anchor point, along with parks, transport, health, entertainment and other infrastructure. Robina, as it stands today, is one of the best planned townships in Gold Coast. Since then, other planned communities have since been built across Australia using the same formula.

In May, the Queensland government flagged three new, similar cities for the state's southeast, to be built on greenfield sites at Ripley Valley, west of Springfield, and Greater Flagstone and Yarrabilba, in Logan's south near Jimboomba.

''He was a visionary with an exceptional work ethic and he will be sadly missed by all those close to him,'' Dr Loh's daughter Louise said in a statement.

''My father was very proud of what has been achieved at Robina. We were hoping that he could make it to Robina to mark the 30th anniversary, but that wasn't to be.''

At the peak of his career, Dr Loh was involved in shipping, shipbuilding, oil rig construction, banking, insurance, hotels, property development, manufacturing, research and development, and primary industries. The Robina landholdings are no longer part of Dr Loh's interests, after being acquired by entities associated with Ms Loh and her husband, Robina Land Corporation (RLC) chief executive Richard Wyatt. - (Source; AAP)

EPISODE 46: SOMERSET MUSIC FESTIVAL 2010

2010-08-23T14:01:00.004+10:00

Yes, it's that time of the year again, when Somerset organises its annual music festival for young performers. This year, Jordan played in 5 entries and included one jazz piece in his repertoire.

He was rather nervous but handled it better this year. Last year, he was just a bundle of nerves, but this year, he somehow seemed calmer and enjoyed the challenge of the competition. Actually I wouldn't term it a competition because it isn't truly one in the real sense of the word. You could for eg, have one entry which is for Year 4, Any Composers and get all kinds of levels for pianists. Some children started out learning at an early age so by the time they are about 9 yrs old, they are quite advanced in playing skills, then you have those that just only began at age 9, so really, it was a rather wide range of different levels performing in the same section.

On Saturday, the 1st day of competition, Jordie scored 2 blue ribbons (best performing) for his Sonatina and jazz piece and a red ribbon for his duet performance with little Emma, who also studies under his piano teacher. Aww.. they looked so cute playing together!

Yesterday, Jordie made a few boo boos and didn't play quite as well so, he got 2 green ribbons (3rd place) for both sections, but nevertheless, even though he was disappointed, he took it rather well, as we told him we were proud and happy that he did his best. His piano teacher was very supportive and sat in on every one of his performances so we really appreciated her involvement and interest in his development.

In between, we had time to go in and watch some young talents perform in the strings section and they were really good. Somerset also had other sections such as drama, vocals, individual speech, poetry recital, keyboards, guitar, harps and brass. It is good exposure for kids learning music to watch others play and be inspired to play better. Of course, the stress involved in performing before a crowd also hits home so kids do generally buck up on their effort to practice before the event, which is a good thing for discipline.

Anyway, whew so glad it it's all over! All that mad rush in the morning to get him there on time, practice, practice.... Now, I can unwind for a bit....

EPISODE 45: THE CUSTODY ISSUE

2010-07-31T10:19:00.010+10:00

We just said goodbye to our Taiwanese exchange student boarder. It has been quite an experience... We were landed with a very unusual situation where his mum was in town and wanted him to stay with her and visit her own host family.

This was where the lines of custody were tried. Firstly, we had committed to EQI (Education Queensland International) and the school to take care of this boy during his stay in Gold Coast. Then when his mum appears on the scene and claims she has every right to take him back to her own place, we are caught in between. We were fine if she wanted to drop by and visit him occasionally. We were worried that should anything happen to him during his time with his mum, we would be liable and we wanted a black and white written consent to cover ourselves. Unfortunately, his Taiwanese tour agency tried to bypass the system by telling the school he was just arranging a 'visit'to his mum but never mentioning that she was planning to have him stay overnight at her host's place. So, the school then gave their ok. This was a very controversial issue because who would then be accountable for his safety? The other host family or her or us? So, we refused to budge until she had written consent. She kept pressuring the tour agency to speak to the school coordinator. We were really stressed because we were getting these phone calls from 'unofficial' parties to release him. In the end, his tour rep as well as the mum called and said they had spoken to the school authorities and the mum told me she would like me to drop the boy off at her campus where she was studying so she could bring him home for 2 nights. I said, sure, as long as official green light was given.

But then to be sure, we decided we'd better check back with the school on this arrangement. The school knew of no such thing about staying overnight and told me to hold on. I supposed certain parties were then embarassed by this issue. We had en email by the tour company apologizing for the episode and promising it won't happen again cc'ed to the Queensland authorities. However, subsequently, these episodes still went on, with the mum pushing for his visit to her house, and him also wanting to stay overnight with his other friends' homestay parents. It was just so trying to explain to him that we had to follow protocols. He said the other boys were doing so, and staying with other families. His mum also rang again to ask to meet him. By this time, we were really feeling bad about the situation.

We rang the tour company boss and told her about these requests. She sounded like we were at fault and hinted that we were too rigid with following by the book and that this had never happened to her before. It was never an issue with other people. But then again,this was clearly a unique situation. Who would have thot his mum is in town and made such requests? And if she (the tour company) had gotten away in the past making informal arrangements like these, we are sorry to have been the 'bad guys' to bring all this to light.

At the bottom of this issue, lies also the fact that if you wanted your child to be part of a host family program, and to fully assimilate here, it would not help at all by letting him know mummy is around, tell mummy if you want to be with me. All this molly coddling defeats the whole purpose of sending your kid overseas for a different cultural independent experience.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the woman finally got her son to stay with her for the last 3 nights of his Gold Coast stay. They fly off tomorrow on Sunday. We had to ask him to pack and release him back to the school and her. It was a very unpleasant situation and I think all parties felt very awkward and upset about it. Of course I never mentioned to the school authorities of the few 'unofficial' visits the tour agency made to our home as well as the mum to inspect his bedroom. It was just sheer insult to us that it appeared as if we were not giving him proper accommodations and living amenities.

We later got feedback that his mum complained we didn't include him as part of family living-... I mean, GIMME a break! Am I expected to bring your son to theme parks, supermarkets everyday after school or something? We had TV watching Masterchef almost every evening with him (which he enjoyed), took him to the church, the beach, McDonald's, made him feel at home as much as we could,cooked lamb for him because he loved it, made sure his lunch had stuff he would like to eat,even tried to get him to play with neighbourhood boys soccer, BUT he just wasn't interested... and all we got was this very expressionless look on his face, no sign of gratitude,interest to assimilate, not even a please or thank you, no effort to help in the house. I even did his laundry after he left (not to mention all the unmentionables I had to scrub off his underwear each time.) and handed them to him the following day. Well, if this is how Taiwanese people bring up their sons, I am sorry for the whole generation of them and their wives when they eventually marry....

Anyway, the school was very apologetic that this had to happen to us and felt we had done the right thing to inform them. So, that at least was our vindication for this issue. I did raise the point that we were concerned if the mum was not thinking we could give her son the 'real aussie family' experience, and she asserted that Australia is a multicultural country and the homestay should reflect that, not just white families...

Well, for now, I wash Taiwan off my hands and homestay probably for a very long, long time. Once bitten, twice shy. Twice bitten, surely die....

EPISODE 44: THE TAIWANESE 'SON'

2010-07-18T23:28:00.006+10:00

No, we did not adopt anybody. But these days, we are hosting this 12-yr-old Taiwanese boy from Kaoshiung. The boy arrived last week and has been settling in nicely with us. We volunteered to be host family for the Taiwanese students visiting Jordie's school so he will be living with us for 3 weeks.

It's fun and interesting to watch our boy interact with him as Jordan speaks very little Mandarin - so the Taiwanese boy was forced to speak English with him. He was initially shy but is now more confident and comfortable with us. We were told to speak English with him even though we can converse in Chinese, so that he will have the benefit of learning to communicate more in English. Found out he likes beef and lamb. Quite a carnivore,... and takes to Aussie milk and soft drinks. We are given an allowance for his stay though, which helps with the extra food bills.

To be honest, we thought we wouldn't qualify since we were Asians, but the school homestay coordinator thought we were a nice family and spoke English well enough to qualify for the role. So, she helped us apply for a blue card, which is a must for any work/ volunteer handling children below 18 years of age. My responsibilities as host mum is to make sure he gets to and from school on time Mondays to Fridays; 3 square meals daily, pack school lunches for him, communicate in English, do laundry and help adjust to OZ culture. It's quite an experience... handling 2 kids instead of one, but they are both very good, so it's still manageable. I had initial fear images of boys jumping on sofas, raiding fridges and wrecking the bedrooms, picky eaters, etc...but so far so good....

Meantime, Jordie is enjoying his company very much and told me he wished he had a brother. Oh well, a temporary one will do for now....

1ST Female PM For Australia.

2010-06-24T11:10:00.005+10:00

Someday, it was bound to happen..and it did.

Although I don't see it happening yet for America or Malaysia, primarily in any kind of chauvinistic societies, but I was surprised that happened in Australia today, in the wee hours of the morning. Okay, probably power shift rumblings were already happening invisible to the public eye, but today, I think most were taken by surprise that Julia Gillard decided to step up after Kevin Rudd lost his majority votes for the Labour party, Australia's ruling party in parliament.

Kevin Rudd has given up the leadership of the Labor Party before completing his first term, conceding defeat to Julia Gillard before the spill was even put to a vote, resulting in the installation of Australia's first female Prime Minister. Ms Gillard will be sworn in at lunchtime by Governor-General Quentin Bryce, and will hold a press conference shortly, with details expected to emerge on the mining tax and possible ETS commitments.

There is also speculation an election could be held sooner rather than later due to the leadership change. Yesterday's dramatic crisis within the Labor Party resulted in the positions of party leader and deputy leader being declared vacant at this morning's caucus meeting. According to Labor Party returning officer, Michael Forshaw, Mr Rudd gave a gracious speech to the party room, in which he declared he would not be standing for the position of leader. This left Ms Gillard elected to the position of Labor Leader and consequently Prime Minister unopposed. Wayne Swan was then elected to Ms Gillard's former position of deputy leader, also unopposed. Ms Gillard arrived at this morning's minute at 8.59am accompanied by both Treasurer and now Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan, and a security detail. Upon departing the meeting Ms Gillard said: "I feel very honoured and I'll be making a statement shortly."

Mr Rudd's popularity had been in freefall in recent months and Labor powerbrokers yesterday acted on the dire polling, confronting Mr Rudd urging him to make way for Ms Gillard. Mr Rudd fought the move by putting the leadership to a vote at today's caucus meeting. However, after a night of working the phones, Mr Rudd failed dismally to garner even a respectable amount of support and this morning decided not to put his name forward for re-election as party leader. He is expected to remain on the back bench until the election, when he will most likely leave politics.

How sad.... u know, I did think he started his career in a very good way and built good bridges both locally (with the aborigines) and internationally (China). Mr Rudd listed the apology to the stolen generation, keeping the country out of the global financial crisis and the education revolution as some of the achievements he was most proud of. "I was elected by the Australian people as Prime Minister to bring back a fair go for all Australians, and I have given my absolute best to do that — I have given my absolute all," he said. "I hope I've been able to demonstrate to you that this has been a very busy two and a half years." A pity it had to end in this fashion. Australian politics is hard to crack.. it will be interesting to see what unfolds in the next few months with this new shift in power...

BERYL'S FUNERAL

2010-06-08T23:48:00.007+10:00

Today was Mum Beryl’s funeral. We arrived just as it was about to start at Allambie Memorial Park in Nerang. We saw many familiar faces there, including Pastor Dexter, who specially flew in that morning from Malaysia to be at the funeral service, Pastor Len, Beryl’s pastor of Genesis Church, Ebbie, Dexter’s daughter who flew in from Melbourne, Neil Falcke and his dad and daughter, Marnie, Neil Bishop and his wife, Pam from Brisbane, Sue McBeath and hubby Ken as well as church members from Genesis like the Youngs and Brett.

It felt strangely peaceful there in the graveyard because the surroundings were so green and pretty. My first time on an Australian burial ground area and many graves, unlike those grandly ornamented Chinese graveyards, had very inconspicuous tombstones (or rather, plaques ) which lay flat on the ground. Almost stepped on one!! Beryl is a very dear friend of ours and as we laid her to rest today, we knew that she had indeed lived a life that had touched so many others. Here was one ordinary lady who had made her life count for God in an extraordinary way.

This was a closed casket type of funeral so we never got to take one last look of her. At the end of the service, we went forward and scattered petals on her coffin. But it didn’t feel the least bit tragic at all, because she had really lived a fulfilled life in God and went in a dignified, painless, peaceful manner. I think the sadness was more for ourselves, those she left behind.

After the funeral, they held a celebration service for Beryl . Seems like over here, especially for christian practice, they have the funeral service & burial first, attended by the closer friends and family members, then have a subsequent service for others in the form of a celebration service to celebrate the life of the departed. Then again, it may vary according to individual preference of different families.

Dexter gave a 30-minute eulogy on Beryl and ended with one of her fave songs: "You shall cross the barren desert." He strummed it on guitar while Ebbie sang with him.

Peter read from Psalms 91 and her son, Jeff shared about her family background.

Neil Falcke sang a beautiful rendition of ‘To God Be the Glory”. He joked that Beryl told him he must do so, so he said he’d better sing it today, otherwise he might ‘get into trouble’…Neil has been a fantastic spiritual son to her and taken care of her so well. We saw how he faithfully chauffered her for walks, bought shopping items, ran errands and did up her house to be ‘Beryl-friendly’ when she got too weak to climb upstairs. He read scriptures and shared with her when she laid in hospital. He used to cut her toe nails for her when she couldn't bend over. Every Sunday after service, he brought her out for lunch. He is a fine example of a great son and we are so proud of him- such a gem.

So,…Goodbye Beryl for now. You were a caring friend, mum, aunt, confidante to me amongst many others in Gold Coast and I don’t think I will ever meet another quite like you. The tears shed this morning were more for the loss of a great friend, than for your death. We love you and miss you already.

BREASTS FOR SALE

2010-06-06T22:41:00.008+10:00

On the way to church this morning, we were so amused to see our favourite butcher advertising his wares in this fashion, getting a staff to ride on a bike at the junction where traffic lights were with a white t-shirt advertising 'BREASTS $6.99/kg' You see, initially they got slapped with several fines for advertising with the guy standing at the corner of the junction with the word 'breasts' which Gold Coast Council said was inappropriate, a traffic hazard causing too much distraction and too far away from their outlet to justify standing there. Lots of publicity over this issue but definitely caught the attention of the public. Don't know if sales increased as a result, but today, the cyclist advertiser sure caught the eye of the public again. And I must say, I am impressed with the creativity of the advertiser. Mobile advertising means wider exposure to different sets of eyes at different times.

Today, probably in their attempt to beat the system, the Mad Butcher (literally that is the name of the butcher shop) got our favourite 'breast man' to ride around with the sign on his bike. He stopped at traffic lights obediently, and pedalled across the street, to and fro, he went...looking just like any other innocent biker, except with this controversial 'breasts' signage displayed behind his bike.

And yes, we did go in after church (the shop is just doors away) and got our breasts (chicken) for $6.99/kg -all 3 of them. So, you see, advertising has its results...

EPISODE 43: GOODBYE FOR NOW, DEAREST BERYL

2010-06-02T21:39:00.013+10:00

Today, as we were driving Jordie to school in the morning, a call came in from a friend, Karen, reporting that our dear friend, Mum Beryl has passed away before midnight yesterday. We weren't surprised as she had been ill in hospital for over a week but we were also sad. In that second, we knew we had lost a very dear and encouraging friend of many years to us.

Beryl died on the 1st day of winter in Australia, June 1, 2010 at 83. How significant, the 'passing of the old guard' as we enter a new season. She had been diagnosed with cancer last year but mercifully, she suffered very little pain and went peacefully in an unconscious state.

She had been serving God faithfully since her fifties and travelled to many lands as a missionary including Malaysia, Indonesia and England. She served alongside with Pastor Dexter and Lily in the early pioneering days of Latter Rain Church and had been a great inspiration to many- both young and old. Possibly she had travelled to many different parts of Malaysia more than the average Malaysian would have done, and given her life towards encouraging and teaching many people about God. She made many visits back to Malaysia to be part of the church. Many Latter Rain church members know her and have been blessed by her ministry.

Jordie calls her his "Billabong Granny" (because her residence was called 'the Billabong') and she seemed to be really proud of that nickname. One of the 1st Australians to welcome us when we arrived in Gold Coast, she made sure we were welcomed, settled in well and adjusted when we first moved here.

Can't quite describe the loss, but before we feel sorry for ourselves, we know she is now in a better place. In the last stages of her life, she was actually pretty cheerful and strong about her situation, even though she was in discomfort, she kept her humour and faith in God, always believing Him for the best and seeing even the hospital as her mission field. Last Monday when we last saw her, she was even talking about going next door to pray for another patient who wasn't doing so well....such is her heart and compassion for people around her.

We will miss her heaps. She's been such an encouragement to me during some of my difficult times...

The winter has come but you have gone.

To dwell and enjoy home in a better place

Many lives you have touched, Many seeds you have sown

May we join with you someday to see God face to face.

So, good bye for now. Beryl. Until then, we will always have loving memories of you.