December has arrived

Today is already the sixth day of December. Mum and dad's 52nd wedding anniversary was on the 4th. Sis, mum and I went to a fancy hotel at Robertson Quay for a four course dinner to celebrate the significant date. Mum has spent the last three anniversaries without dad. Life has to go on, for better or worse. But for the rest of mum's life, we pray she will see brighter, happier days.

Worst Tiff with Sis to date

Last night, I believe I probably had the worst tiff with my sister to date. It was over her insults at my decision to accept a Nepresso coffee machine from my bro and sis-in-law as a house-warming gift. She said it was a white elephant gift and ridiculed my poor decision calling me my mum's "baobei laoya" daughter in mandarin which kinda just threw me in a rage, and made me spew venom at her. The incident made me realise how evil I am and can be when antangonised and aggravated.

In any case, it was good to have poured out my woes to D and she treated me to lunch just now. Also, I drove her to Yishun St 43 to have a sneak preview of what my renovation works in progress look like. She also said she wanted to get me a housewarming gift of a few hundred dollars. I suggested a set of WMF cookware that is $100plus. I do not wish for her to spend too much. God has given me super generous friends and family. Praise Him indeed!

New Home on the way

I have become a proud new home owner on 1 November 2018. My dearest mum and my childhood bestie bore witness to my key collection event at the HDB Hub. On that afternoon, three potential contractors have viewed my flat. The very next day, God sent Matthew, a church friend, an interior designer who is also an actor and singer to consult with the layout and design of my flat.

I pray for wisdom to work with the right people for the right home that will glorify God the most. Yet, I also pray that I will keep to the $15k budget that I had. If reno package with contractor is $11k, ID fee is $3k, I only have $1k left for miscellaneous items.

Lord, I pray that I will enjoy the process of doing up this home for your glory. Amen!

Karen's 50th Birthday Lunch

Today being 20th September is Karen's 50th, Htike's 38th and Sam's 19th birthday... And both Ann and I got to celebrate with Karen at Tingkat Pera Makan nearby EAST at 119 Owen Road. It is a Peranakan restaurant nearest EAST. The food is simple but soulful. We enjoyed our lunch and fellowship. It was a simple celebration but fun enough. Thanking God for life, health and friends to celebrate birthdays with. Just two days ago, a few of us at EAST celebrated Joseph's birthday with a blueberry cheesecake.

Three Sessions with A

The past three sessions with A have been very helpful for my personal growth. I was due to meet her on coming Monday afternoon. However, I have decided to end it already because I felt the cost per session seemed rather hefty. Even though deep down, I know it is good investment in myself as a person. I hope to be able to pick it up again sometime in the future, Lord willing.

8-16 October 2018 Trip to Shenzhen

Looking forward to a 寻根之旅 with mum, two uncles, a cousin and an uncle's friend. Destination: Shenzhen and Dapu's surrounding areas. Maternal Grandfather's hometown.

Post-trip reflection: I had an excellent trip travelling from Shenzhen, through Huizhou, Meizhou, Songkou, Dapu to reach the highlight of my maternal granddad's hometown in Xihe, before travelling back to Shenzhen and returning to Singapore within a week or so. It was wonderful staying at the many different luxurious five stars hotels, with an especially memorable stay at a Tea Plantation at an elevated altitude with really fresh mountainous air. It was also significant to trace the footsteps of granddad at Songkou where he took off for Nanyang over a century ago.

The old mansion, 9 halls 18 wells (air wells), unfortunately is currently in a state of disrepair. We felt rather sorrowful that the once rather stately manor has not been maintained over the centuries. Upon our return from the trip, there was much interest in doing some repair and renovation works to the old ancestral mansion, but soon interest dissipated as time goes by. Too hefty a cost is involved, and much organisation work has to be done as well. No idea if anyone is willing to follow through with all the work and costs involved.

I have started to look into renovating my own 2 room flat, effectively a one bedroom apartment, in the far northern part of Singapore, Yishun St43. I hope my apartment will be livable by end of the year, or even before my birthday, Lord willing. Feeling really excited about it.

Post Jogja Trip

30 Aug to 2 Sep - mum, sis and I travelled to Jogja together. It was sis' birthday trip. She planned it and she paid for most of it. Air-tickets and accommodation. And the trip almost didn't happen as I often threaten not to go along with it when we have our usual siblings conflicts. Nonetheless, God was gracious to us all and it happened. We enjoyed ourselves despite a tiff here and there even during the trip. That's how my family rolls, I guess. Especially now that the family nucleus has been watered down to just three ladies in the house. Mum is in her mid seventies, sis is in her early fifties and I am in my early to mid forties. Two middle aged women and one elderly senior lady who isn't willing to admit she's a senior. Well, I guess it's probably because mum doesn't look a day over fifty, to her credit. :D

28 August 2018

Over the past weekend, my family (mum, sis, bro, sis-in-law, nephew and I) celebrated my sis' 51st birthday in advance at Chui Hway Lim Teochew Cuisine along Keng Lee Road with a Sunday's lunch. That is mum's current favourite Teochew restaurant and in recent years, we have celebrated mum and dad's birthdays there. For sis' birthday celebration there, it's a first. Last year, for sis' golden birthday celebration, we celebrated at Au Petit Salut at Harding Road around Dempsey area on her actual birthday but we had a pre-birthday brunch at The Flute at The National Museum and had a buffet lunch at Elleborough Market Cafe at Swissotel Merchant Court as her post-birthday-joint-celebration with our dear cousin P. It was our cousin's 60th last year. We had a lot of feasting last year and it was wonderful that cousin TF was in Sg to join in all the festivities. Those were cherished memories of good times and yummy food.

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to sis' birthday trip from 30 Aug to 2 Sep. Mum, sis and I will be in Yogyakarta from Thursday to Sunday and it will be my first time there. It is Lisman's hometown and he sent me some interesting links and itinerary to look at. I hope mum, sis and I get to see some interesting sights and eat some yummy food as well. I pray that it will be a joyful, memorable birthday trip for sis.

Cousin YH's Stroke

Last Thursday evening, auntie J called from Sydney to inform mum and I that my cousin YH is in ICU. He had a brain haemorrhage. When my mum, sis and I visited last Friday at Khoo Teck Puat hospital's ICU, he was conscious and able to speak to us. He was transferred to a regular ward on Sunday. Thursday evening itself, I also received news of BB's departure to be with the Lord. I attended BB's wake on Saturday late morning with Sheela. I wanted to attend her funeral service on Monday but had a vomitting spell on Monday which prevented me from going. Today, an alumni Paul Kim came by EAST for a visit with Jeremy. Paul had likely come by Singapore to attend BB's funeral.

Update: 28 Aug - Cousin YH has since been transferred to a regular ward and his blood pressure is now in the normal range. Praise God.

Session with A

This afternoon I had my third therapy session with A. We discussed issues of my growing independence and adulting as an adult by being more assertive towards both mum and sis. It was interesting how the concept of sis treating me as her "baby" came up. It was something which sis had herself recently vocalised. It was therefore also reflective of her dominant, patronising behaviour towards me which has been counter-constructive towards my self-development. I suspect to some degree it might be similar towards mum's interactions with me although to a different degree.

We also spoke on the relationship between staff and students - how it is unadvisable to get into any romantic relationships (even if the age differences might seem appropriate), as there are ethical concerns and I should always establish clear boundaries with students in a professional manner (no coffee talks, personal interactions, especially involving the opposite gender). There would be clear conflicts of interests when official matters come into play and then personal relationships would sour. Teachers, staff and students are somehow not to be friends in a professional setting. This is to err on the side of caution. Wise words for me to chew on. Group outings are somehow okay.

Admin Ladies' Birthdays

Remembering Admin Ladies' Birthdays

M ~ 22 Jan, A ~ 6 Feb, AT ~ 24 Apr, S~ 27 Jul, K ~ 20 Sep, J ~ 12 Nov

- First typed the above entry in 2018.

Now, being March of 2020, both A and K have left EAST. What a lot of changes have happened over 17 months, yet much remains the same.

Chappati Lunch at J's home

Lunch plans can be so spontaneous at EAST. Initially, I was supposed to be meeting D for lunch at 11:45am. D remembered she had an appointment and had to cancel on me. K wanted to have lunch at Beach Road, so I consented to drive her there for lunch, together with Ann. While waiting for A, we realised Ann was only going to arrive at EAST by 12:30pm. Karen and I decided to head to Beach Road by ourselves. As we were heading out, J was heading home with E and invited K and me along to his home for chappati lunch. Spontaneously, K and I decided to join them and abandoned our Beach Road lunch plans.

It was a good chappiti lunch at J's home today.

1st Post in August

Today being the first day of August of 2018, it means seven months have already passed us by. I have gathered the four birthdays of my Ping Pong team members.
Ray ~ 17 Feb, Ben ~ 22 Aug, Joe ~ 18 Sep and Erik ~ 14 Oct.

I went to Tekka food center thinking I could get discount using the PayLah app but ended up without using it because the stalls which I bought my food from did not have that facility. Oh well. Nonetheless, I had a pretty good lunch there.

MGS Founder's Day

Today, MGS my alma mater celebrates 131 years of founding. 1887, 25 July, this school was started with nine little tamil girls on Short Street by Miss Sophia Blackmore, an Australian methodist missionary, so the historical archives go. I stepped into the institution the centennial year, 1987 and graduated from her in 1990, finishing my O levels there scoring 4 distinctions in English, Geography, Elementary Mathematics and Additional Mathematics, had Bs in my Chinese, Physics, Chemistry, Literature and Bible Knowledge - decent results for my secondary education. I studied in Yishun Junior College during my first three months and changed to Anderson Junior College following the showing of better O levels results than my preliminary results.

Somehow, I always had faith in my own intelligence even though I may not exactly be brilliant. However, because of the belief that I am intelligent, I might not have been as diligent as say my elder sister has always been. My sister has always compensated her slight lack of intelligence with sheer hard work and diligence. Therefore, she is considered by most a success at work, with high earning power and relatively high status at work. For me, I am currently doing an administrative function in a post-graduate seminary and have been at the same position for over a decade.

Nonetheless, I am at a happy place in my own personal life.

Boundaries

Boundaries - something I need to establish better in my life.

1st Post in July

Today, as I left the therapist's office, I am reminded that I am a 44year old adult and look every bit like one but inwardly I seem a bit unsure about my adulting. One homework given me was to communicate to my mum and sis in a positive way to stop nagging me about my bedtime. I hope that homework can be done well when mum and sis come back from their holiday.

It was a good session with Andrea. She affirmed my capabilities as a contributing, responsible, working adult and pointed out the incongruity of how I am still treated as a child, not a full adult member of the household at home. My public and private lives are facing incongruence.

Andrea was good in helping me establish certain boundaries as an adult in my own life, within my primary relationships.

Mum & Sis vacationing in Budapest & Prague

Last Thursday, 21 June, I sent mum and sis to T3 to catch their flight to Doha and then transfer to a flight to Budapest. They have been travelling for nearly a week now. Sis has been sending lots of nice, picturesque shots home via whatsapp. I believe they should be on their way to Prague pretty soon. I have been enjoying my time without them - living life at my own pace. Attending conference that I enjoy, going to JB to check on Brownie, and basically just savouring solitude which I do not get enough of when both mum and sis are around.

Cousin TF's Passing

My beloved cousin TF went to be with the Lord on 21 April 2018, about two months and six days ago. I travelled down to KL on a coach to attend her funeral on 22 April. My mum and sis were by her side as she passed on, along with a host of close family and relatives. She waited till her favourite niece Nat returned from the UK to KL to bid her farewell, before breathing her last. Also, the last person she beheld was her favourite auntie J who was by her side daily during the last week of her life in the hospital. I give thanks for my cousin TF who had given so much of her time, talent and treasures to her immediate family, extended family and church family. I will always hold cherished memories of this dearly beloved "tai jie jie" in my heart.

1st Post for 2018

It is already 26th June 2018 and almost half a year of 2018 has gone by. My last entry on this blog was last October, two days after my 27th baptism anniversary where I recounted God's greatest blessing - in keeping my faith in Jesus well and alive.

June has been very eventful for me. The 5th Asian Christian Teachers Conference happened during 15-18 June at ACS Barker Road. The nearly 100 international delegates from ASEAN (Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Timor Leste, with a sprinkling from Singapore) stayed at Oldhall Hall. The morning sessions and evening vespers were held at the Drama Theatre and afternoon workshops and seminars were held at the Learning Centres at the Secondary Block. Together with the local participants, we had over 170 delegates. I was thoroughly exhausted but exhilarated throughout the very inspiring conference. It brought back some wonderful memories of the 1st Asian Christian Teachers Conference I helped organised at the newly opened Girls' Brigade Centre in 2003. I remember back then, we had Rev John Ting speak on the theme "Jars of Clay". For this year's conference, the highlight for me was definitely Ms Seah Jiak Joo's nightly vesper.

Following hot on the heels of ACTC2018, was EAST Faculty and Staff Retreat 2018, at Changi Cove, themed "One Heart". We had Dr Daniel Chua, senior pastor of Mount Carmel share from God's word in 1st and 2nd Samuel, highlighting the spirit of Jonathan and the spirit of Saul, and their differing relationship with David, God's anointed. We were called to imitate and cultivate the spirit of Jonathan when relating with our fellow co-workers with the Lord. The retreat was a refreshing time for most, if not all, of us who attended.

Over last Friday and Saturday, I was able to attend sessions at Go Forth 2018, with the theme, "Go Forth, Go Urban". I was deeply inspired by the messages of God's call on Singapore as the Antioch of Asia, way back from 1978 by Billy Graham. I was also inspired by how God has been using Singapore since and is continuing to use Singapore from then till now and into the future. I am blessed to be part of this call that God has placed on Singapore.