Life’s So Beautiful

Archive for the ‘Family Life’ Category

Almost a fortnight has gone by since my last blog article.  After all the Chinese New Year visiting and activities, I got bitten by the lazy bug and have just been relaxing. I guess it is time to get back into the normal day-to-day routine again.

During the first few days of the Chinese New Year, my family visited the houses of quite a lot of relatives. With my son Clarence and his girl friend back from Penang to spend the Chinese New Year with us, our house was  noisier and livelier than usual.

During the course of our Chinese New Year visiting, we came across this house with its water meter secured with barbed wire to prevent theft of the meter. It is truly surprising that there are people who would resort to stealing water meters but I have read newspaper reports about such thefts.

In another relative’s house, we came across quite a number of unwelcomed visitors. These visitors were crawling on the floor and the walls….upon closer examination, these visitors turned out to be dog lice! A relative of mine tried to kill the lice that he saw.

The lion dance troupe from Democratic Action Party (DAP) passed through our housing estate and performed a short dance in the garage of my house.  Here in Miri, it is a very common practice for lion dance troupes from Chinese schools, associations and political parties to perform from house to house to raise funds. It adds to the Chinese New Year mood.

An unfortunate event happened on the third day of the Chinese New Year . One of my relatives hosted an open house on that day and we dropped by his house. My relative had ordered several dishes from a Malay so we savored the food. That night, both of my sons and I came down with bad diarhoea. My son Clarence was the most seriously affected as he had fever in addition to a severe case of diarhoea. I immediately suspected that the cause must be the curry that we had taken at the open house. My wife was not affected as she did not take the curry. The next day we found out that a lot of our other relatives who had been to the open house had diarhoea. And my relative who hosted the open house later told us he only found out that there was something wrong with the curry later that night. The curry had turned frothy!

My son Clarence and Amanda left Miri for Penang on the fourth day of the Chinese New Year. I felt so sad to see them go. And I felt so sorry for Clarence as he was still unwell from the food poisoning with bouts of fever as well as sore throat. On arrival in Penang, he had to see a doctor immediately and had to take the following day off as a medical leave.

Today is the twelfth day of the Chinese New Year. And in three more days, it is Chap Go Meh ….another round of big makan (eating) again!

Today is the eve of the Chinese New Year. It had been a tiring day doing last minute cleaning to make our house look spick and span.

We went to the airport at about 5.10 pm. to pick up my son Clarence and his girl friend Amanda who flew back from Penang to Miri by Air Asia. We then had our reunion dinner at the Han Palace Restaurant in Grand Palace Hotel. It was a seven-course dinner: Fatt Choy Yee Sang, Five Hot & Cold Varieties, Shark’s Fin Soup with Crabmeat, Crispy Fried Chicken, Steamed Cod Fish in Light Soy Sauce,  Stir Fried Lamb Chop with Black Pepper Sauce and  Stir Fried Prawns with Mushroom.

The food was good but not outstanding. For desserts, we were served fresh fruits and peanuts dumplings or tang yuan.  And we were given a few mandarin oranges nicely wrapped in a small hamper.

It is 10 pm now. In two hours’ time, it will be Chinese New Year. And the whole Miri will be like a war-torn zone with firecrackers erupting everywhere and fireworks lighting up the dark sky.  It will truly be a sight to behold!

On this day fifty two years ago,  a baby boy was born in a tiny town called Binatang in the state of Sarawak.  Binatang is a Malay word meaning animal. Whoever named that town must have been a animal lover. The town was later renamed Bintangor as the name Binatang has a negative connotation.

Ya, that baby boy is me lah!  I’m really getting old.

I wish to say thanks to my wife and my sons Clarence and Leslie as well as Amanda for their birthday cards and wishes.

This morning my wife and I dropped by Jenny Hiu’s house in Taman Tunku to pick up a kilo of “limpeh bahkua” (barbecue dried pork) made in Singapore. Jenny is an ex-colleague of mine in Teck Guan Group in Brunei. She left for greener pasture in Singapore a few years ago and is now attached to an American oil & gas company there. I had asked her to help me buy a kilo of the famous Singapore bahkua (Lim Chee Guan bahkua) a few days before she came back to Miri on Christmas Day for her holidays. Jenny not only bought a kilo of the bahkua that I wanted but she also bought another packet of the “three-storey meat bahkua” ( something like bacon bahkua) for me. And she refused to accept my payment…..okay, Jenny, I owe you a favour.  By the way, your house in Taman Tunku fits the “title” that I have bestowed on you since our days in Teck Guan….I’m sure you know what I mean, hahaha!

I have been planning to make  a trip to Brunei for quite a while now but last minute circumstances forced me to postpone my trip on two previous occasions. This morning I decided to just make the trip so my wife, my younger son Les and I left Miri for Brunei at about 8.45 am this morning.

It has been quite a few months since my last visit to Brunei. Arriving at the Malaysian side of the Sg Tujoh border, I was surprised to see the many new shophouses under construction. A lot of the existing shophouses there seem to be “white elephants”. Maybe the new shops will boost the economic activity at the border once completed. I would not be surprised to see restaurants, pubs and so-called “foot reflexology and spas” commencing operations there. These “foot reflexology and spas” are all over the places in Miri and have given rise to a lot of complaints especially from housewives whose husbands seem to be coming home late nowadays. The population of “dragon ladies” or ladies from China have shot up quite a lot in tandem with the mushrooming “foot reflexology and spas”.

We went through the Malaysian immigration and custom checkpoints without much delay but it was a different story on the Brunei side of the border. We got through the Brunei immigration checkpoint quite promptly but getting through the Brunei custom checkpoint was a test of your driving guts. They had three immigration checkpoints open but only one custom checkpoint was open. So cars from the three immigration checkpoints all converged on one custom checkpoint. You need a bit of driving guts to manoeuvre your way into the  queue. From my past experience, I was able to get my car to the checkpoint quite quickly. I was asked to fill a vehicle registration form so I had to park my car and fill the form. I guess that slowed down our journey a bit.

We arrived in Bandar Seri Begawan at about 10.30 am. We went to Hua Ho Supermarket in Yayasan Complex where I bought some chocolates for my ex-colleagues in Teck Guan Plaza. I went alone to the fifth floor of Teck Guan Plaza intending to give my ex-colleagues there a surprise. But instead I was in for a surprise! The boss had given them the day off today. Luckily my previous assistant Marissa was doing overtime and we had a good chat for over half an hour.

After leaving Teck Guan Plaza, I went to the waterfront to take some photos of Kampong Ayer (Water Village) where people live in houses built on stilts above the river. This is one of the major tourist attractions of Brunei.

Proceeding on to Yayasan Complex to meet up with my family, I took some photos of Yayasan Complex and the famous Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque. The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque is one of the most spectacular mosques in Asia Pacific and is one of the major tourist attraction. The mosque is constructed on an artificial lagoon near the banks of the Brunei River. There is a marble bridge connecting the mosque to a ceremonial ship-shaped structure. The main dome of the mosque is covered in pure gold! The weather was very hot and I was sweating profusely on my forehead when I finally met up with my family.

We went to Teo Poi Hoon Restaurant in Kiulap for lunch. We opted for the set lunch for three consisting of sweet corn soup, fried broccoli, salad prawn and butter chicken plus  iced “cincau” (grass jelly) for dessert. This set lunch was very reasonably priced at B$38……we enjoyed the food.

We popped in to the nearby Hua Ho Supermarket to continue shopping……ended up buying quite a bit of foodstuff and tidbits including a cheese cake and a kahlua cake.

On our way to the Gadong SupaSave, we stopped at NBT to take photos of their impressive Christmas decor. NBT Brunei has always put up very creative Christmas decor every year. And I must add that I have not seen such nice Christmas decor in Sarawak.

At Gadong SupaSave, we bought some foodstuffs and tidbits again before popping in to the Sin You Me  Restaurant to have a drink and to wait for my friend Ken. After chatting with Ken for half an hour or so, we began our journey back to Miri. We left Bandar Seri Begawan at about 4.30pm and arrived home in Miri at about 6.00pm. Because it was  a day trip and partly due to the hot weather, we were real tired on reaching home.

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”

~ Norman Vincent Peale

It is Christmas and I wish all of you a very blessed and happy Christmas and may 2010 bring you an abundance of joy, love and peace.

Christmas is about giving. If there is no joyous way to give a festive gift, give love away.

Christmas gift suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, your heart.

To a customer, service.

To all, charity.

To every child, a good example.

To yourself, respect.

~ Oren Arnold

Keep this in mind:

“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:the presence of a happy  family all wrapped up in each other.”

~ Burton Hillis

Have a fun-filled happy Christmas……….ho ho ho!

Today is not only Christmas Day but also my 27th wedding anniversary. How time flies! I can still remember my wedding held in Kuching. And the wedding photos we took at Monica Salon in Kenyalang Park now looked really “outdated” compared to the stylish wedding photos we see today.

Wedding anniversaries are the remembrance of the most special day in a person’s life when he or she agreed to share his or her life with that special someone. When two persons exchange marriage vows it is a solemn and sacred rite which binds these two persons in holy matrimony for the rest of their lives. Sadly in our modern society these very same vows are not treated with the respect that they deserve. Nowadays a lot of marriages last only for a short period of time. This sorry state of affairs threatens the very sanctity of marriage institution.  Anyway for those few couples who make it through their first year of marriage they have every right to celebrate their wedding anniversary. In fact every year of a wedding anniversary should be celebrated in a special way.

Candlelit dinners, romantic holidays, gifts and bouquets of flowers are all commonly associated with wedding anniversaries. A carefully planned and executed anniversary will no doubt show your spouse how much you still love him or her

As the old saying goes it’s the thought that counts. The most important thing is to remember the wedding anniversary date itself. Woe betides any spouse who forgets this day as there will be hell to pay later.

Here are the corresponding symbols and gifts for each Anniversary:

1st Wedding Anniversary — paper

2nd Wedding Anniversary — cotton

3rd Wedding Anniversary — leather

4th Wedding Anniversary — flowers or fruits

5th Wedding Anniversary — wood

6th Wedding Anniversary — sugar or candy

7th Wedding Anniversary — wool

8th Wedding Anniversary — bronze

9th Wedding Anniversary — pottery

10th Wedding Anniversary — tin

11th Wedding Anniversary — steel

12th Wedding Anniversary — linen or silk

13th Wedding Anniversary — lace

14th Wedding Anniversary — agate

15th Wedding Anniversary — crystal

16th Wedding Anniversary — silver hollowware, peridot

17th Wedding Anniversary — furniture, watches

18th Wedding Anniversary — porcelain, cat’s-eye

19th Wedding Anniversary — bronze, aquamarine

20th Wedding Anniversary — china

21st Wedding Anniversary — brass or nickel

22nd Wedding Anniversary — copper

23rd Wedding Anniversary — silver plate

24th Wedding Anniversary — musical instruments

25th Wedding Anniversary — silver

26th Wedding Anniversary — original pictures

27th Wedding Anniversary — sculpture

28th Wedding Anniversary — orchids

29th Wedding Anniversary — new furniture

30th Wedding Anniversary — pearl

31st Wedding Anniversary — timepieces

32nd Wedding Anniversary –conveyances (including automobiles)

33rd Wedding Anniversary — amethyst

34th Wedding Anniversary — opal

35th Wedding Anniversary — coral or jade

36th Wedding Anniversary — bone china

37th Wedding Anniversary — alabaster

38th Wedding Anniversary — beryl and tourmaline

39th Wedding Anniversary — lace

40th Wedding Anniversary — ruby or garnet

41st Wedding Anniversary — land

42nd Wedding Anniversary — improved real estate

43rd Wedding Anniversary — trips

44th Wedding Anniversary — groceries

45th Wedding Anniversary — sapphire

50th Wedding Anniversary — gold

55th Wedding Anniversary — emerald or turquoise

60th Wedding Anniversary — diamond

65th Wedding Anniversary — diamond

70th Wedding Anniversary — platinum

75th Wedding Anniversary — diamond

To my wife Jennie, I just wish to say this:

After 27 years in this sacred institution of marriage, I can safely say: There is no one with whom I would rather be institutionalized.

Today is Dongzhi or Winter Solstice Festival. This is a festival celebrated by the Chinese on or around December 22 every year. For countries in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice has the shortest day and the longest night of the year. This phenomenon is more obvious further north. After the winter solstice, the northern hemisphere enters its coldest period. From that day onwards, people in China divides the next 81 days into nine periods. The coldest days begin with the third period. After the nine periods, spring begins and farming begins again.

The festival is a time for families to get together. The most important activity is the making and eating of tangyuan which are balls of glutinous rice symbolizing family unity and prosperity. The balls, which may be plain or stuffed with condiments, are cooked in a sweet soup. A lot of Chinese in Malaysia also prepare and eat the tangyuan coated with peanut and sugar.

Many Chinese, especially the elderly, insist that one is “a year older” right after the Dongzhi. Oh dear, that means I will be one year older tomorrow.  No wonder more and more white hair are appearing on my head….at this rate, I will look  like “pehmo” (white hair) in a couple more years!

I watched the China movie “In Love We Trust” (the mandarin title is Zuo Yu meaning left right) a few days ago. The movie won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival.

The movie is a drama about a young girl who was diagnosed with leukemia that requires a bone marrow transplant or else she would have only a couple more years to live. The girl’s birth parents are divorced and she is staying with her mum and her mum’s new husband who both love her dearly. The girl’s father has remarried an air hostess.The girl’s parents’ bone marrow was found to be not a match and the doctor advised that the girl can only be saved with stem cells from a sibling.  So the girl’s natural parents decided to have another baby through artificial insemination. This failed though they tried three times. They wanted to give it a few more attempts but the hospital declined as it was deemed a waste of time. The mother, at her wit’s end, asked the ex-husband to sleep with her to get her pregnant again. The mother’s fierce love for her daughter blinds her to the potential damage she is doing to everyone around her. That is the gist of the story.

The movie is very slow-paced and is quite sad. However I laughed a lot during the course of the movie. You are probably thinking that I am contradicting myself. Laughing a lot watching a sad movie? Am I going bonkers?

I laughed a lot because of the atrocious English subtitles. Quite a lot of the subtitles will have you in stitches. And some of the subtitles had me scratching my head trying to make head or tail out of them.

A sample of the “gems” :

My horse go up (direct translation from the Mandarin words meaning I will go immediately).

I beat to you (direct translation from the Mandarin words meaning I will phone you).

You good you good (nihao nihao).

Do you stir my telephone? ( Did you phone to me?).

Eat point more, the disease likes quickly (The Mandarin words mean eat a little more and the illness will go away faster).

Since today, you can’t cry again, be the kid’s noodle especially ( In essence, the dialogue in Mandarin means from today onwards, don’t cry in front of the kid……the Mandarin word for face can also mean noodles).

Fill this watch ( The Mandarin dialogue means fill this form….the Mandarin word for form can also mean watch).

A father and his young son were out walking one afternoon when the youngster asked how the electricity went through the wires stretched between the telephone poles.

“Don’t know,” said the father. “Never knew much about electricity.”

After a while the boy asked what caused lightning and thunder.

“To tell you the truth,” said the father, “I never understood that myself.”

The boy continued to ask questions throughout the walk, none of which the father could explain. Finally, as they were approaching their home, the boy said,”Pa, I hope you don’t mind my asking so many questions…..”

“Of course not,” replied the father. “How else are you going to learn?”

Sooner or later, of course, the boy will stop asking his father questions, and that will be most unfortunate. Curiosity and the desire to learn should be encouraged and nurtured.

Parents who want their children to do well in school but who don’t respect learning are deluding themselves. Not many children will be motivated to do it on their own.

The father in the above story should have told his son that he does not know but he will find out the answers. That way his son will be greatly encouraged especially if the father search for the answers together with his son. This will create a strong bond between them.

Christmas is a mixture of secular and religious traditions. At its core, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. For Christians, it is the time to renew one’s faith. But Christmas is also a secular celebration of family. It has become widely accepted by people of other religions

Christmas is a bonafide gift-giving bonanza. Desperate parents scrabble over the under-stocked toy of the season. Stores bring out the tinsel and greenery as early as October.

I was in Bintang Megamall yesterday and saw this nice Christmas decoration. It really put you in a festive mood when seeing such decor.

Christmas is a time for reunion and giving generously. A few days ago I received an email from my eldest brother with this wonderful true story. And with Christmas less than two weeks away, I really want to share this story with you……

The new priest, newly assigned to his first ministry to open a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about the opportunities. When he saw the church, it was very run down and need much work. He set a goal to have everything done in time to have the first service on Christmas Eve.

He worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc, and on December 18 was ahead of schedule and just about finished. On December 19 a terrible tempest – a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the priest went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. The priest cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home.

On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory coloured, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colours and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The priest invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later.

She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the priest while he put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The priest could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet. ‘Father,’ she asked, ‘where did you get that tablecloth?’ The priest explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.

The woman could hardly believe it as the priest told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria.

When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.

The priest wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the priest keep it for the church. The priest insisted on driving her home; that was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.

W hat a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the priest greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return.

One older man, whom the priest recognized from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the priest wondered why he wasn’t leaving.

The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike.

He told the priest how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison.. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.

The priest asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the priest had taken the woman three days earlier.

H e helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.