In this lifetime...

Change of Registration

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Chubby kid's registration has been changed from sight impaired (partially sighted) to severely sight impaired (blind).

Her earlier diagnosis of cone dystrophy has also been changed to cone rod dystrophy after the most recent electroretinography test. I guess we will spend our whole lifetime worrying about chubby kid.

Expect the Unexpected

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:51:00 +0000

Life does not always go the way you plan it. Take for example; in the midst of the busiest time of my PhD research, little did I expect that I would get the “double line” at the clinic, followed by a tiny heart beat on the ultrasound scan.

And so, what do you know? Nine months later, I find myself becoming a mother again. What a wonderful blessing from God! (Though I cringe at the progress of my PhD research and thesis)

Summer Holiday 2011

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:17:00 +0000

Time passed by so quickly that in a blink of an eye, summer was over. I could not even remember when it did begin for that matter. Everything was just a blur of activity. Life had been hectic and exhausting for the past six months. Therefore, there was no overseas holidays planned for this summer, only local ones in the UK.

Once again, we head to London, this time to pick up my mum who came for a holiday. So, of course, we visited the usual tourist attractions in London. I didn't take a lot of photos though. Maneuvering through the crowd was already such a big effort most of the time.

Here is chubby kid, spelling out London Bridge.

We had some lobster noodles in Bayswater as we craved for seafood all the time.

We also tried Gourmet Burger Kitchen's burgers. It was the first time I ate a burger using fork and knife.

Again, because of time constraint, we had to give Greenwich a miss. We had always wanted to go back there after our first time stepping on the GMT line. Perhaps next time.

Chubby kid gave me such a fright one morning when I woke up and saw a large spot of blood on the pillow. Apparently, she had a nose bleed while sleeping.

Back in the North West, we visited the Lake District. It was my first time there. The view was breathtaking but the crowd of visitors was overwhelming. We had a 30-minute boat ride in Lakeside, at the southern tip of Windermere Lake.

Then, we headed to Bowness, which is situated in the middle eastern shore of the Windermere Lake.

We also visited North Wales. This time, we drove a little bit further to Anglesey and enjoyed the wonderful coastal view at Holyhead and Cemaes Bay.

It was the first time I stepped on a pebble beach.

Absolutely fantastic view.

Then, we headed to Bangor to spend the night and visited the pier the next morning.

On our way back to Liverpool, we stopped by Conwy and walked around its town and the Conwy Castle boundary. I have always liked exploring small towns.

Here's chubby kid with Papa, on top of the small slope, getting ready to run downhill.

Found a perfect parking space for a bicycle in Conwy town.

Then we headed for Llandudno. We could not visit the pier because the crowd and cars packed up the whole place. It was utterly impossible to find a parking space. Instead, we drove once again up the scary and steep hilly road to the top of the cliff overlooking the sea and enjoyed a 15-minute break inhaling fresh sea air and basking in the sunshine.

We spend the remainder of Mum's holiday walking around Liverpool, but mostly, it was just us enjoying her cooking, after three years suffering under our limited cooking skills. Then it was time to send Mum back to the airport. After saying our goodbyes, we then headed for one last short break to Cambridge before summer holiday was officially over. The architecture of the historical buildings there was interesting, particularly the colleges. Of course, the famous King's College was quite a sight to behold.

Some other sights around the historical city site.

We had wanted to go punting but chubby kid did not want to, and so, we could not. We just watched longingly from the river bank while chubby kid adamantly insisted that the boat would tip and all of us would fall into the water and get wet. This is what reading too many story books does to your imagination.

We also spent some time sitting by the river bank at a park, watching boats, ducks and swans.

And so, there goes my summer holiday. All over. It's back to work now.

Losing the Race Against Time

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:40:00 +0000

Lack of sleep, lack of energy, frantically catching up with the tight schedule.

Sleepless in Liverpool

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:13:00 +0000

Seriously troubled by insomnia every night.

The Eternal Cycle

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:21:00 +0000

This is how I live my life for the past four years.

First, come the feeling of total devastation upon receiving the news confirming that your child suffers from some disorder. It does not help that the more you read (especially from the internet), the more you sink into the black hole. In the loneliness of the dark night, you will lie awake, thinking. Then, the feeling of desperation sets in; the desperation to do something useful to hopefully make things better. Obviously, lots of money is spent in this desperate stage. There is also the countless times in and out of different hospitals and clinics. Days turned into weeks, and then into months, and before you know it, a year have passed by. You wonder how you manage to get through life in your desperate months. Then, slowly, very slowly, the feeling of desperation evaporates because you are no longer as desperate. You have done all that there is to be done and together with that, spent half your life's savings. Life goes on as usual, with that little nagging worry in the back of your mind and deep in your heart. On good days, there will be lots of other matters cluttering your mind and heart, and if you do not dig deep enough into that clutter, you will not reach the core of your worry. On bad days, when there is nothing to clutter your mind and heart, then there it is, the core of your worry, in the spotlight, wide-open in view. But as time passed, the feeling of acceptance slowly comes. Acceptance of the fact that it is meant to be and nothing you do can ever change it.

For awhile, I thought I had arrived at this acceptance stage; that I would have inner peace with my mind and my heart and accept the fact that I had done all that I could for chubby kid. For awhile, I felt at peace. But, I was wrong. How totally wrong I was! It came without warning. I hardly expected the content of the medical report to read what it says. After all, this was not discussed in our previous appointment.

And then the cycle begins once again, back to the feeling of total devastation, waiting for the feeling of desperation to set in and wondering when acceptance will come again in this never ending cycle of emotional roller-coaster.

And I suppose this is how I am going to be living my life in the future.

CNY Celebrations in Liverpool Chinatown

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 16:26:00 +0000

Some photos from the festivities today.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:20:00 +0000

Happy CNY to all my family and friends!

Frosty Anniversary of My Birth

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:38:00 +0000

Walking around in temperature of -2C with trees and grass all white with frost is actually quite a sight to behold, if not for the fact that my fingers and nose were numb with acute chill. It was not as bad as the other day when it was -5C but then again, today I am a year older, so that makes me a year more vulnerable to extreme weather. But of course, I thank God and count my blessings that at least Liverpool is not -20C like some place else in the UK.

Somehow, as years passed, and after chubby kid was born, my own birthday was not as significant anymore. I felt more excited about chubby kid's birthday than my own. Heck, I had even forgotten that it was going to be my birthday the other day because my mind was full of chubby kid's birthday.

Oh well, it is just another day and life goes on. Thanks to my loving husband for the gift, the one thing that I had wanted for quite some time. I thought that I would not be surprised but I pleasantly was. Now, I just need to patiently wait for my micro SIM card before I can use it.

Third Language

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:27:00 +0000

When I was doing my undergraduate studies, we all had to take a compulsory third language course. At that time, I took Mandarin and studied diligently to get my strokes right. (But of course, I have forgotten all of it now.)

Now, in the midst of my PhD studies, I am going to take another "third language". It has nothing to do with my course but it is all for the sake of chubby kid. She has started pre-Braille lessons and I should properly equip myself with the same knowledge of Braille.

Otherwise, how am I going to check her homework in the future.

Where's the Light?

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 07:08:00 +0000

Today, I am officially starting my third year of research. I am supposed to be moving towards the end of the tunnel. But, where's the light? Why am I not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel?

Oh, it must be night time. I'll just wait for the sunrise.

:-)

Le Fantome de l'Opera

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 21:33:00 +0000

I can't wait.

:-)

Bronchoscopy

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:02:00 +0000

Early in the morning, on Friday the 13th last month, we drove through our usual route to the hospital. Chubby kid was due to have her bronchoscopy done on that day. In preparation, her last meal was the night before and her last drink of water was only about 20ml at 7am. We were promptly in the day care unit of the hospital before 8am.

After the usual pre-op procedure, we accompanied chubby kid to the operation theatre. I held her hand and we walked in together. She had absolutely no idea what would happen but I was very proud of her for being brave. I had never seen the inside of an OT before, apart from a few seconds of blurry recollection during my emergency caesarian. I had certainly never seen anyone being put under general anesthesia before, apart from myself that is. Chubby kid was knocked out one second after being injected through IV. That was fast. I had to leave her after that.

Some 40 minutes later, we were brought back to the outer room of the OT to bring chubby kid back to the day care ward. She was still unconscious and continued to sleep for another hour.

Upon waking up, she was not yet allowed any drink for another further 30 minutes. Hunger seemed to be showing in her although she was quite taken in by playing with the toy kitchen in the ward. When she finally was allowed a drink, we gave her a bottle of milk and then some custard and rice pudding. She was then discharged after a short discussion with the doctor, who said they did not find anything alarming. Thank God she was her normal self with no side effects showing after that. My worry though, is that she has to continue taking her weekly antibiotics till October. Can that be good? :-(

Montreux, Switzerland

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:15:00 +0000

Montreux is yet another town located by the shores of Lake Geneva. A direct train journey from Lausanne to Montreux takes approximately 20 minutes and a return train ticket costs CHF20.40 per adult. Once we arrived at the train station, we headed straight towards the direction of the lakefront. The view that met us was superbly magnificent.

We could even see the snow-capped Alps some distance away.

A pretty flower arch with the lake and Alps in the background.

There are lots of hotels, flats, apartments all along the lakeside.

Breathtaking view of the mountains.

Amazing view of the lake. The water was so crystal clear that I was very tempted to jump in for a dip.

This is where the water from the mountain flow into the lake.

Our aim of visiting Montreux was to visit the Chateau de Chillon.

It was quite a distance from where we got to the lakefront. We could actually take a train there but we chose instead to walk by the lakefront and marvel at the view of the lake, of people swimming, sunbathing and having picnics. I looked on with envy, regretting that I did not bring my swimming suit along. There were lots of people even along the walkway.

It took us slightly more than an hour to walk there, so I estimated it to be about a four kilometres walk. An hour's walk was actually nothing much for us except that we were under extreme hot and bright sun, with an estimated temperature of about 33C at least. Mind you, just 30 hours before that kind of hot and bright sun hit us, we were under cool and cloudy weather of 18C in Liverpool.

As we walked along, the Chateau de Chillon appeared nearer and nearer.

And finally, we got there.

And then, we walked four kilometres back again under the same hot and bright sun. Hmmph... talk about determination of seeing one old chateau. Altogether, we must have walked more than 15 kilometres that day. I remembered myself falling asleep some seconds after my head touched the pillow that night.

Lausanne, Switzerland

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:32:00 +0000

Lausanne is a city also situated by the Lake Geneva. It is the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee and so, is known as the Capitale Olympique. A direct journey by train from Geneva to Lausanne takes approximately 35 minutes and a return train ticket costs CHF41.20 per adult. This is the Lausanne train station.

The first place we aimed to visit upon reaching Lausanne and after having McDonald's breakfast was the Lausanne Cathedral. Without a map, we just took the steep uphill route based on our hunch and my recollection of Lausanne on Google Maps that the lake is one side of the train station and the city centre is on the other side.

More uphill. Do not be deceived by the photo. It is pretty steep.

Our hunch was very fortunately correct. On our way to the Lausanne Cathedral, we passed by a market in the city centre. I think I read somewhere on the internet that every Saturday, the roads surrounding this area will be closed for the market to operate.

Here is chubby kid, busy surveying the fruits.

More vegetables.

A whole load of different shapes of tomatoes.

A huge Swiss flag.

See how insanely packed the streets are.

Yet another shop selling Rolex. They seem to be everywhere.

I think the sewer cover looks nice :-) (No, I am not out of my mind.)

This is the Lausanne Cathedral.

The view of roof tops of the city centre from the cathedral.

It is a very nice city to visit. We regretted that we could not spend more time exploring every nook and cranny of the city. We hurried off to the train station to catch the train to Montreux, at that time, not knowing how very delightful the Montreux lakefront was.

More of Geneva

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:57:00 +0000

For two years in a row, I have not been able to go to the Kuching Food Festival. Therefore, it was a happy coincidence that there was a food and fun fair in Geneva very much similar to the one in Kuching. There were international food stalls with all kinds of food.

There is also a concert stage with performers and a huge crowd watching.

One very interesting stall was the one selling cocktails. They had very intriguing huge glasses in which they stored the cocktails in.

And then there was the games section, where kids and adults went on rides and gambled away their cash for a stuffed toy.

And not forgetting the G-string candy ;-)

The food and fun fair was held in a section along the picturesque lakefront. They even had a huge statue of Michael Jackson there.

In the older part of town, we visited the Cathedrale St Pierre.

Drinking water is abundant throughout the city. Everywhere you go, you see a pipe spurting out drinking water. This is one of them which we filled our bottle with.

Nearby is the Parc des Bastions, a park within the University grounds, showcasing a giant chest set and the Reformation Wall. This is one of the University's building.

Play a game of chess if you are up to it.

The Reformation Wall, featuring statues of prominent figures in the Protestant Reformation.

Another place of attraction is obviously the United Nations office at the Palais des Nations.

There is this huge chair with a broken leg right opposite the United Nations office entrance. I must say it is quite a piece of art to look at.

Behind the huge chair, a series of mini fountains squirt out water every few seconds. Chubby kid just had to cry when the wind blew tiny water droplets onto her face. What a spoilt brat!

We also visited Carouge, a town referred to as the Greenwich Village of Geneva, modelled after the city of Nice in France. Hence, you can see that the architecture of its building is rather different from those in Geneva.

We also stopped at the Plaine de Plainpalais to visit the flea market. It is very much similar to a small section of Kuching's Sunday market.

While on our way back to Geneva city centre, we spotted this very old car. Hard to find nowadays.

Here are some miscellaneous shots in and around Geneva.

:-)

Geneva, Switzerland

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 07:58:00 +0000

We came back from a wonderful, sunshiney holiday in the French-speaking part of Switzerland two weeks ago. It was just a short holiday. We stayed in Geneva and had a day trip to Lausanne and Montreux. Geneva, Lausanne and Montreux are situated by a huge lake called Lake Geneva or in French, Lac Leman.

Our hotel was in the city centre, just by the edge of all the buzzing activities. The room was typically small but clean and comfortable.

We arrived in the evening but because it was summer, we had a few hours of daylight left to explore around. The main attraction in Geneva is of course Lake Geneva itself. From the lakefront, we get a marvellous, breathtaking view. My camera cannot do the view justice though.

Here are some shots from another day during broad daylight. The fountain called Jet d'Eau, jetting water high up into the sky is such a view to behold.

Swans swimming in the lake.

Yachts parked at the mini jetty.

More yachts.

More shots of the Jet d'Eau.

Water droplets from the Jet d'Eau casting a rainbow on the lake surface.

Needless to say, it was crowded to the max and while we were there, a food and fun fair was operating all along the lakefront.

Switzerland is quite famous for its watch industry and thus, everywhere we go, we will see shops selling branded watches that we can never afford in our lifetime.

Almost every significant building will have a clock on it. Even flowers can be arranged into a clock. Here is the famous flower clock by the lakefront.

OK, it is bedtime now. I am too exhausted to continue. More photos of Geneva in my next post.

Being Small Reigns

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 06:50:00 +0000

Sometimes, being small has its advantages.

:-)

By-Product of PhD Research

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 20:10:00 +0000

A full white strand, plucked right out from the top of my head by my lab mate.

Signs of middle-age approaching or the side effects of too much research? *Sigh*

More Sunshine

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:35:00 +0000

Got back from more sunshine a week ago.

Updates as soon as I sorted out all the photos :-)

Food in Barcelona

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 08:33:00 +0000

We were way over our budget for food in Barcelona. Food was much more expensive than what we had expected. Walking around so much made us hungry very quickly, and so we had to have a few meals a day.

We ordered tapas in a set of five because we hardly know how to order individual ones in Spanish.

This costed €24 and was our first decent meal of the day, so we practically licked the bowls clean :-).

After more walks, we sat down for another meal. Having tasted sangria in Madrid, we decided to order some more sangria to quench our thirst in the horridly hot weather.

Despite not tasting as nice as the one we had in Madrid, we slurped up the whole glass in minutes.

Of course, we had tapas again.

And chicken paella.

Oh boy, were we hungry!

For dinner, I had more sangria while my husband decided to try the beer. Needless to say, because he had beer and not share my sangria, I was pretty dizzy (read a little bit drunk) after that huge glass.

Oh no, chubby baby, you wait another 15 years, OK?

We had more paella, seafood this time.

And chubby kid had pizza.

Another day, another meal and another seafood paella.

Spaghetti bolognaise for chubby kid.

And berries smoothie.

Enough of sangria for one trip.

Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:01:00 +0000

This is one of my favourite places in Barcelona. It is a market selling fresh seafood, fruits, vegetables, etc.

Fresh fruits.

Fresh fruit juices.

Vegetables.

I am not too sure what this is but I think it is smoked ham.

Fresh seafood.

Oh no, Paul. Is that you? Hehehe...

Tapas bar in the market.

If we had rented a self-catering apartment, we would have bought all those seafood and do our own cooking. But alas, we could only look on and drool.

Tibidabo

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:50:00 +0000

Tibidabo is another highland area from where we can catch a breathtaking view of Barcelona city. To get up this mountain, we have to take the old Tramvia blau (blue tram) and then the Funicular del Tibidabo.

This is the view halfway up the mountain taken from the funicular.

Situated on this mountain top is an amusement park called the Tibidabo Amusement Park.

There is also a catholic church called Temple de Sagrat Cor.

Inside the church.

The view of Barcelona city.

It was another hot and scorching day which contributed further to our tan.

Works by Antoni Gaudi

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 08:51:00 +0000

Many famous places in Barcelona are works by Antoni Gaudi. One of them is the Sagrada Familia, which has been under construction since 1882 and is not expected to be completed until at least 2026. Its massive and grandeur structure is really a sight to behold, though my crappy kit lens does not do it justice.

Casa Mila (La Pedrera) is another of Gaudi's design.

Nearby, the Casa Batllo looks as amazing.

Another popular tourist site designed by Gaudi is Park Guell, situated on the hill of el Carmel. To get there, we had to walk uphill all the way. When we reached the entrance, there was more uphill to climb.

With chubby kid on a stroller, we only managed to get up to the first level at the park. Being outdoors with the heat and bright sun made chubby kid even more cranky than usual, so we had to leave after awhile.

This is the view of the entrance of the park from the first level.

I love this part of the park.

It must be here that we were all tanned to the core, under extreme and direct strong sunlight. Heck, chubby kid has got different shades of tan on her skin.

More Sightseeing in Barcelona

noreply@blogger.com (chuasteph) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 07:05:00 +0000

We went up the Montjuic Hill, where the 1992 Olympics stadium was located.

The grounds surrounding the stadium was nicely landscaped.

This amazing piece of steel is the Montjuic Communications Tower.

From the side entrance of the stadium, we could peek inside, looking at how much the preparation for the European Athletics Championship 2010 was already on the way.

This is Palau Sant Jordi, an indoor sporting arena.

We also found Nadal's and Federer's footprints there.

From there, we walked downhill to the National Art Museum of Catalonia, housed in the Palau Nacional. This is the view from the back.

This is the view from the front; pretty grand eh?

The view of the city from up there.

The magical fountain, called Font Magica, situated right in front of Palau Nacional, was in a maze of steel. We think that they are hyping up the place for a big event, some sort of concert or celebration, presumably for the European Athletics Championship (we are just guessing, did not bother to find out).

This is the statue at the roundabout in Placa d'Espanya, a busy and popular city square, near to the Font Magica.

The Venetian Towers, also near to the Font Magica.

We then returned to Placa de Catalunya to have a little rest on the side benches in the square, watching the fountain and the world went by.

The areas surrounding Placa de Catalunya were extremely busy. Just look at the crowd at Rambla de Catalunya.

And the crowd at La Rambla.

We finally picked one of the cafes/restaurants at La Rambla for dinner and sat down watching the crowd.

It was already dark when we finished dinner. But the crowd was just getting denser.

We were totally exhausted but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.