Dinner with friends at Leicester .....

I was invited to old friends’ places in Leicester. First, Man Lan invited me over on Wednesday. Her husband Phil picked me up to their house in Wigston. It was a nice 4-course home cooked meal – fish, spare ribs, egg and chicken breast. Ah, yummy.


Then, on Thursday, Esther invited me over to her house. I had known Esther since 1996 when I first came to Leicester - she was a staff of COCM (Chinese Overseas Christian Mission) who was also attached with the LCCC (Leicester Chinese Christian Church) as an honorary pastor. She really took good care of us students. From that time all the way until I finished my Ph.D. in 2002, I had shared many meals with her (or rather, she had cooked many meals for me). During all those times spent with her, and talking to her, she had influenced me greatly, and I would dare say that she is the greatest influence in my Christian life!

So anyway, on Thursday, I went to church at 2:00 pm (Esther was having prayer meeting in church) and we (Esther, Siu Man and me) drove to Esther’s house. She cooked up a simple meal of noodles. Simple, but very tasty.

Then, from 3:00 pm all the way until dinner time, we just shared and caught up about each other’s lives, and also about the life of the LCCC.

She cut up a lovely ripe pineapple for tea-time.

Then it was dinner time. Again, it was a feast – boiled prawns, ‘pak cham kai’, home-grown beans, and …. spare ribs in black bean sauce! (YUMMY!) Siu Man kindly washed up the dishes while Esther and I still chatted.

Finally, at about 10:15 pm, both Siu Man and Esther drove me home. It was a fantastic few hours that we shared together. Through the things that she shared with me (though she wasn’t directly advising me), I felt very much ministered, in the areas of family, relationship, children, parenting, ministry, and faith. I was re-inspired, and refreshed. Even if nothing else was achieved in this trip to Leicester, this day alone would have certainly made it all worthwhile!

bedtime without papa

some photos for Papa... taken with Kong Kong's camera.

sleepless in my own bed

The kids have been depriving me of sleep for the past 2 nights. Since Edwin is on the other side of the planet, Joseph has been sleeping with me. He says it's because I would otherwise have no friend if he sleeps in his own bed. I'm just thinking of the electricity saved from using only 1 fan instead of 2.

On Monday night, Joy-Anne decided she wanted to sleep with us too. While she normally sleeps with Nana, that night, she simply refused to do so for reasons I know not. When placed on my bed, she fell asleep almost instantly.

With Joseph in the middle of the bed (not too near the edge otherwise he might roll off) and Joy-Anne next to him, I'm left with about all of 1-foot width of bedspace.

Not being able to move, I woke up on Tuesday morning feeling rather stiff. On top of that, I hardly slept a wink because Joy-Anne kept rolling and kicking. She rolled from beside me, to a 90degree angle near my feet and then she rolled to my head with her feet in Joseph's face. At which point Joe got up to complain, "Mama....Joy-Anne is kicking me!"

Then Joe went back to sleep and a little while later got up again to go to the toilet. Add in the several times they each semi-woke up to sleeptalk and I had quite a dramatic night.

Oh but Yee Yee, don't let this put you off having kids. It's really a whole lot of fun. :-)

Last night, it was another drama. Joseph went off to sleep alright but Joy-Anne wouldn't drink her milk. She wanted to play and walk here and there. So I let her while I watched CSI. By 11pm, she still didn't want to drink her milk. I put her on my bed (because Nana was out) and I lay beside her (to keep her from falling off the bed). I don't know what time she fell asleep because I fell asleep myself.

The same drama happened as the night before.... sleep talk, kicking, rolling, Joe gets up to pick pillows from the floor, goes to the toilet to shee shee....

I anticipate 2 more fun-filled nights because Kong Kong is coming today so Joy-Anne will have to sleep with me.

On another note, I'm quite pleased with Joseph's bladder control. Previously he would wake up in the middle of the night and shout "I want to shee sheeeeeee!!!!!" And either of us would have to get up, run to his room with a potty for him to pee.

Now, he gets out of bed, walks to the toilet, climbs a stool to switch on the light, pees, switches off the lights and gets back into bed all by himself. He started doing this while we were in Melbourne where the light switches are much lower, within his reach. Since coming home, he parked a stool below the switch so that he can reach it. I no longer worry about accidents. He's certainly smarter than his mother because according to my mother, I was still on night time diapers at 4 years old.

Leicester ......

So I'm back in Leicester since I last left in May 2002. It's been 7 years!

I was invited to a birthday party yesterday, somewhere in town. So I took a walk down to town. Things haven't changed much. But the Shires has been renamed HighCross ......

And there are plenty of Subway restaurants in Leicester! Yesterday as I walked towards town, I already saw 4 Subways! Not counting the one in Queens Road that I saw on Sunday. So that's 5 Subways!

I tried to find Finley for Joseph, but couldn't find it. Went to an Early Learning Centre and saw this ..... Rocket from the Little Einsteins for 6 pounds. The best part is - it floats! Can imagine bringing this to the pool or when Joseph is in the bath-tub. Ahhh - there's nothing like making the day of a little boy! :)

The party was held at a bachelor pad. These group of people are known as LOAF in the Chinese Church; they are the young working adults. I think they stand for something like Leicester Over-aged Adult Fellowship (or something like that). It's an extension to the YAF that I was in last time.


This is Jennifer. I used to teach her Math tuition during my PhD days. She was a little girl then. Now she's in 2nd year university (Loughborough) doing textile design. Everyone has grown!

And this is the birthday boy - Raymond (and his wife Michelle). Very lovely and kind couple.

Message for Joseph .....

Barcelona - Nou Camp

How could I visit Barcelona without seeing the Nou Camp (official stadium of Barcelona Football Club)? So I skived off some of the conference sessions and took a walk to the Nou Camp, which was just about 20 minutes walk away. Apart from Nou Camp, there's nothing else that interests me in Barcelona; old churches etc. don't interest me.

Saw this tourist bus on the way. Costs about 20 something euros. Nope! Not gonna part with my money that way!



So, after 20 minutes of walking, I arrived at the Nou Camp. It's HUGE! Real HUGE! Can imagine the atmosphere here when Man. Utd. won the Champs League in 1999. However, the sad thing is that the whole stadium is fenced up, and so I could only take photos from the outside.

Before I left, I saw this bunting, and I liked it a lot and found it to be very meaningful, making a difference in the lives of these children. By having UNICEF as their shirt sponsor, Barca have given up a lot financially as they could have easily had gotten a much richer sponsor. Though I'm sad that they beat Man Utd in the Champs League final, I like what they are doing.

A message for my son :)

Barcelona .... another day

Some more photos from Barcelona. My room - not very big, but at least it's clean and tidy. Suitable for simple business traveller. No carpet on the floor. Hotels in Malaysia are much better for a much lower price.

Another photo - dinner at an Italian restaurant. Had a seafood pasta. Nothing great. Cost 10.50 euros before tax. So killer expensive!

Barcelona - seafood dinner

I went out for dinner with Chris (my former PhD supervisor) and his friends. All together 12 of them. We went to this place in Ramblas for some seafood. It was beside the sea. Below is some photos that took along the way.






We had some starters - fried sotong, clams, mussels, ham.

This is the main course paella that we had - it was 'beehoon' and 'rice'. Quite big plates actually.





Final bill - 360 euros!!!!!!!!!! I nearly fainted. There were 12 of us so we all split the bill for 30 euros each. WHY MUST EUROPE BE SO EXPENSIVE ???!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Barcelona - Expo hotel breakfast

I'm staying at the Expo hotel, which is just 5 minutes walk from the conference venue, the Barcelo Sants hotel. The Expo is OK. Not really high class but it's clean. These are the photos from the breakfast. It's an OK breakfast; fruits, yoghurt, and there is even salmon! But it's not as extensive as the Malaysian hotel buffets. Sigh, everything is so expensive in Europe!

In Barcelona

Hello, this is Edwin. Now in Barcelona (arrived about 2 days ago). Flew from KL to Dubai, and Dubai to London, and then London to Barcelona. Below are the photos of the Airbus A380 that took me from Dubai to London.






More photos of Barcelona in the next post! I can't view the photos after I upload them, so have to do them in 'small chunks'.

little chatterbox

I defaecated fine this morning! No more lau sai!

Bodily functions aside, I am more and more amazed with Joy-Anne's speech. Not yet 1.5years old, she speaks like Joseph did when he was about 2.5 years old.

She says things like

Banana (when she sees a banana)
Papaya
Animal (when I switch on Animal Planet for her)
Yoghurt (when she sees the yoghurt)
Yakult (when she sees Yakult)
Sit down
Bye Bye Nana
Wait ahh...
Abigail (her friend)

This morning after I washed her bum, I put her on the bed and told her, "Wait ahh...mama go take diaper."

And as I walked to the other room, I heard her say, "Wait ahh..."


Then as I was leaving for work, I went to say good bye to her. She put out her hands and said, "carry". When I carried her, she waved to Nana and said, "bye bye Nana".

Nana : Mama is a...?
Joy : dentist
Mama : Where is mama going?
Joy : clinic
Mama : Where are you going?
Joy : clinic!


A few days ago, she was giving a lot of nonsense at naptime. And so Nana said, "come...go sleep in Aileen's sarong". (Aileen is the baby my mum babysits)

So Joy-Anne climbed down the bed, walked out of the room and to the sarong in the hall and she said to Aileen (who was lying in the sarong), "Aileen....get up!".

I think it's true....girls talk a lot more!

And by the way....sorry Yee Yee...no photos or videos now because my camera is in Barcelona!

sick and busy

I was sick and busy the past one week. After some sinful gluttony on durians, I developed sorethroat. And then I caught a bug from the kids and had runny nose (NOT H1N1!) and a log of phlegm since last Thursday.

On Monday, I started having bad stomach aches and I've been purging for 3 days. Everything I eat comes out the rear end 2 hours later in a watery form.

The kids still have drippy noses. Joseph's cough has officially hit the 6-month mark. I've seen 2 paediatricians. One says it's slight asthma and allergy to dust mites. She prescribed Zyrtec, Ventolin and Flixonase. The other said his lungs are perfectly clear and he's just having one bug after another (common with kids starting pre-school). I don't quite know what to do for him now.

Cough aside, he's growing well and now weighs 19kg. I find it very difficult to carry him now.

Joy-Anne started eating again 2 days ago, in tiny amounts. Eating means a piece of cheese, 2 spoonfuls of yoghurt, a piece of keropok....

I'm also busy putting together a childhood video montage for Reuben's wedding. Digging up old photos....I'm surprised how much the kids have grown in just 6 months!

I'm so glad Joy-Anne's hair has grown so much and she looks much more feminine now.

And lastly, I'm also busy because there's 2 hands less in the house with Edwin halfway around the world for a fortnight. Joseph tends to give me more nonsense when his father is not around. In fact, he told Joy-Anne, "papa cannot 'tiak' you because he is far far away...his hand cannot stretch so long!"

To move or not to move...

Since coming back from Melbourne, many people have asked us the inevitable : So are you planning to migrate?

A friend shared this article, written by Bishop Hwa Yung - a man I greatly respect. (We even chose his name to name Joseph and Joseph had the privilege to be baptised by Bishop Hwa Yung).

So should Christians emigrate?

I know for a fact that our senior Pastor at DUMC, Dr Daniel Ho is one who greatly opposes this. God has placed us here and we should not run away.

I have no comments about what others do but here's my personal take.

I do not deny that I loved it in Melbourne. Living there for 8 weeks gave me a taste of what it would be like, although not totally for real because we were in vacation mode. The air was cleaner, fresher and the grass greener (literally!).

My nose was clear and the kids were great.

Back home :

- I have stuffy nose everyday.

- Joseph has allergic rhinitis (or more commonly known as sinusitis). He's only 4 years old!!! It breaks my heart to see him wake up in the middle of the night, gasping for air and trying hard to breathe. His eyes itches and he has had a chronic cough for 6 months (which disappeared while we were in Melbourne).

- Joy-Anne has diaper rash + fungal rash on her bum everyday. Her forehead is covered with red spots (like rashes) and she's scratching all the time. Mozzie bites are everywhere.

Edwin and I have agreed that we will not put in a PR application. If and when we are to move, it will be because he is offered a position there, and the university pays for our PR application and our relocation.

I am actually quite hesitant to move for the time being. Joseph has just settled into Juara Cerdik and loves it there. We are quite happy being in DUMC and are happily serving there. As much as we feel needed here, I believe that no one is indispensable and God can raise up people where there is a need.

In any case, Edwin has put in an application for a Research Fellowship position. It is a very prestigious position and will do his career a lot of good. It is also a much sought-after position hence it is very difficult to get and probably successful only by divine intervention. We will know the results in a couple of months.

IFFFFFFFFFF he is successful, the position commences early 2010 and will be for 4 years. My prayer is that the application will be successful only if it's God's will for us to relocate.

So back to the original question.... no, we are not planning to migrate but if God wills, we will relocate.

In the mean time, Lord, if it is your will for us to stay here, will you please heal my kids completely!

Girls are more gentle....NOT!

I was told that girls are more gentle.

I know now that this is so not true.

Joy-Anne is just as samseng as her brother if not more samseng.

And I absolutely love the way she says "please".

My first Teacher-Parent Day

Yesterday (sat) we went to meet Joe's teacher at our very first teacher-parent day. Initially Esther told me that we didn't have to go but I said it was not troublesome to go because we would be there all Saturday anyway.

So I was her last parent for the day and I had a good chat with Teacher Esther. She said that Joseph is a good student. Very attentive and obedient. But he day-dreams a lot. And she has to remind him to swallow his saliva!!!

I think day-dreaming must be a 'skill' he inherited from me. My kindergarten teacher also complained about my day-dreaming when I was a kid. Day-dreaming progressed to sleeping in class which I did all the way to secondary school and into university. ( I don't fall asleep while treating patients though. )

To this day, my school teachers remember me for sleeping in class.

Back to Joseph, teacher said he's good with numbers.

I'm surprised he got his chinese all correct.
He recognizes the words and know their meaning but he hesitates to say it because he's afraid of getting the sound wrong. I realize he would rather smile and pretend to not know, or say "I don't know" rather than try and get it wrong.


His english is not a problem either.

I like how he coloured the birds so neatly.

He got only this vowel wrong. (why does blogger keep rotating my pictures???)

Teacher said that he 'reads' with pictures. When she covers the pictures but not the words, he can't read. I told her that he can memorize entire books.

His writing....

Messy... but good enough for me. He's only 4.

Teacher Esther commented that he takes a long time to colour.

Partly because he day-dreams. I think it's partly because of how meticulous he seems to be.

He can write his name all by himself and will tell me NOT to spell it out for him. Usually, he writes alright. But I've no idea why he wrote right to left and mirror image on the Father's Day craft today.

Nevertheless, Papa wore it proudly while eating lunch at the DreamCenter cafe.