Piano Lessons

Every day for 1 hour, between 11.00AM to 2.00PM... the sound of fingers striking on piano keys sifts through our apartment corridor. I believe there is a little girl that stays on the same same floor as us. She must be a very diligent scholar of music as I never fail to hear her practicing every day. But we have never seen her before.

I am quite certain that this musician must be a little girl because of the sometimes erratic way she practices... sometimes fooling around with her scales a bit and sometimes rushing through the pieces with a slight tinge of impatience... which reminds me very much of myself during my piano practicing days.

I wonder if her mother nags her to practice like mine did. I wonder if she dreads playing the same repitition of majorm minor and chromatic scales and appergios. I wonder if she gets bored of painstakingly working through a long piece by Bach or Brahm, note by note and bar by bar... never realising how beautiful it all sounds until weeks later after so much hard work, it all finally comes together as music.

I used to sometimes dread going to piano lessons. They seemed to be such an inconvenience at that time. I'd rather be playing with my brothers or reading a book, than sitting in a cold cubicle, being criticised by my teacher for missing this or that little detail. She was actually a very nice teacher, and I did like her and admire her very much all the same.

I wonder what made me stick through piano lessons as long as I did. My brothers had long given it up along the way. I must have pleaded and begged my mom to let me stop many times. But somehow I never did give up.

In the end, when I was old enough to understand, I realised what a gift and privilege it was to be able to learn to play a musical instrument as this.

Bonjour! Comment Allez Vous!

Salut, everyone!

We've just attended our first French class on Monday night. I was actually feeling bit sian of having to attend some sort of class and worried that I might get bored halfway through. Plus I was disappointed that I didn't manage to squeeze myself into one of the Italian classes which was my first choice. But French could turn out alright too!

There's 15 of us in the class, and our teacher Julie is from the South of France. She's a jolly person and is a fantastic teacher. It would have been a tremendous waste of money to have an uninteresting teacher anyway. So I am glad that this could be some form of educational entertainment for MH and I every Monday for the next 10 weeks.

I'm already picking up a smattering of French sentences, and it's quite amusing to put on those exaggerated French accents. Our teacher encourages us to exaggerate the French accents as much as possible because it's apparently better to force it out at first and let it soften over time.

Here are some French phrases for you to learn:

Bonjour (pronounced "Bonzjuo") = Hello / Good Day
Salut (pronounced "Saloo") = Hi
Comment Allez Vous (pronounced "Komentaleivoo") = How are you?
Bien = Good
Merci = Thanks

If you have no talent whatsoever in picking up any French, at least learn this catchall phrase: "Ca Va!" (pronounced as "Sa Va"). It functions both as a Question, as well as an Answer...

Ca Va? (with question mark) = How ya goin'?
Ca Va. (as an answer) = Fine / Alright

Cute, eh?

We also learned to count from zero to twenty in French, and how to sing the French alphabet.

Cool.

Chill: EAT...

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Winds of change in the weather

A slight chill in the air is brewing.

Summer's time is almost up.

Autumm will be here soon.

New friends

First connect group for 2006 last night. Our connect group has evolved into a couple's group. Besides D&G; and ourselves, 2 new young married couples have started joining our group. That leaves only the other "pseudo couple" (more on that next time) so technically, we are ALL couples in a sense.

All of us are young, below 30 years and married for less than 2 years.

I'll describe the 2 new couples:

Couple 1: An indonesian couple who've been in Australia for 3 years, but recently moved to Sydney from Melbourne and started joining our church. Married 1 year and 2 months. The wife is a graphic desginer and the husband is an accountant

Couple 2: Aussie-Chinese couple. The guy has been in Australia since he was 3 years old (when his family migrated to Sydney from KL). The wife is an Indonesian Chinese and also been in Australia for most of her life. He's a structural engineer and she's currently studying at uni and working part-time in a childcare centre.

We've only just met them, so not much stories to tell yet. But it's nice to have our circle of friends grow.

(Okay, 4.45PM: Time to start cooking the rice)

Dead Beat

Tired.

Reached home at around 3.00PM. My day started early at 7.00AM, woke up early same time as hubby to start getting ready. Got dressed, make-up, look through documents and jot down notes, then caught train at 9.00AM. It was a 1.5 hour journey to my destination near Cronulla (which you might heard was where those racial riots broke out). I also had to catch a taxi for the last 1km leg of the journey from the train station to the interviewee's office. I was at first daunted at the prospect at facing 3 senior men at the same in one room. Somehow, almost the entire marketing team was present for this "meeting". But I had nothing to fear, they were all just regular nice fellows and the conversation sailed on smoothly for over 1.5 hours. The manager was so friendly that he offered to drive me back to the train station instead of catching a taxi... he also took the opportunity to give me the grand tour of the little town. Apparently, this site where the famous Captain Cook first landed and "discovered" Australia. The manager guy chattered on about the town, his family and declared that those so called "racial riots" were over-hyped by the media. He assured me that I had absolutely nothing to fear and encouraged me to walk around the local shopping complex where he dropped me off near the station to go on and "have some fun". Unfortunately I was quite tired already, so I didn't walk around much to "have my fun" and decided to go straight home. I caught the 1.15PM train and arrived in Burwood at 2.30PM. After that I still had some errands to run at the bank, the post-office and picked-up some groceries for dinner.

It's 4.30PM now, and I am multi-tasking, checking my email, typing out notes from the meeting and preparing dinner. Speaking of dinner, I gotta go check on the soup I'm boiling right now.

Nothing much

Tonight will be our first connect group meeting for 2006. There will be a number of new friends joining our group. Tell you more about it tomorrow.

On another topic, I stopped by Woolies today to buy some cheese. This time I decided to opt for the healthier option of cottage cheese, instead of the tasty cheddar I usually get. Thought I'd try it out and see if it might work for us.

Been working on my new project already and have my first interview with a supplier tomorrow morning at 11.00AM. This should be interesting.

V-DAY:

OK.

Could be better.

P.S. Do not like caves.

Fermented Black Beans

Hubby did not like the mixed fried vegie I whipped up on Friday. Sigh. He claims that the beans taste terrible cooked this way. Apparently he only likes them in one way and one way only: In tinned fried dace with black beans. Obviously this is not a dish I can cook for him myself. Now I have an entire jar of black beans which I seriously do not want to see go to waste.

I personally like the pungent salty taste of these beans, so I want to see if I can work it into my cooking somehow and not be pelted with insults from dear hubby. So I Googled it and copied down a few recipes which I hope might work. Wish me luck!

Uneventful vs. Eventful

Uneventful day today... nothing much happened so far. I went out to the shops and bought a few items for dinner later. I'm attempting to fry one of the pomfret tonight instead of steaming it as usual. My only concern is that my stove being an electric one will not be able to create the high heat effect of an open fire stove. So to balance out the uncertainty, I'm cooking a slightly more elaborate vegetable dish: a mix fried vegie dish with cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and mushrooms with black beans.

Back in Singapore, our partner is frantically juggling a myriad of events coming up at our cafe. A local PR firm is organising a Traffic Light party this Saturday with a live band, contests and everything (in case you didn't know, I believe Traffic Light is a mild dating event where guests dress up in colours to signify their availability: Red = Unavailable, Green = Available, Orange/Yellow = Not Sure). I've been busy doing up prize vouchers to be handed out during the event... it's gonna be a blast and I wish I could be there. Also been working on posters and vouchers for our Valentine's Day Promotion this coming week. It's all going to be very interesting.

The Board Game Meet-up group will be meeting at our cafe as usual on the third Sunday of the month. We'll also be sponsoring some of the prizes for the Board Games Fiesta organised by NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Science.

Our partner back in Singapore will also have another go in the spotlight. Some students from NUS will be interviewing her for a program for Channel U. So exciting! Positive media exposure is always good. We don't even have to fork a cent like many companies do paying for expensive TV ads. We are indeed privileged.

Remembering my heritage

My gong-gong was found to have died peacefully on Wednesday morning, 25th January 2006, in the nursing home he was then staying at. His health had deteriorated to such a degree that he required full-time professional care. I visited him once there last year when I was back in KK for holidays just before we moved to Sydney. He had changed so much over the years. But I was more surprised that he seemed more talkative then. He was always so quiet when we used to visit him at his house. Perhaps it was because he was not constantly being overwhelmed by my more talkative grandma. Or perhaps his hearing condition had deteriorated so bad that he couldn't hear anything we said, so he tried to talk more to keep up his end of the conversation. Or perhaps we all seemed more inclined to listen to him more now, so he felt more comfortable speaking now that he had an intent audience. Or perhaps he somehow knew his time was coming to an end, so he was making up for lost time to pass on whatever words of wisdom or thoughts on to his family. Who knew?

When I think about my grandad, he makes me remember all the stories and anecdotes of my heritage: i.e. the early Hakka settlers that first came to Sabah. Okay, although I may be considered a "failure" as a Chinese or a Hakka because I don't know how to speak my so called "mother tongue", I am nevertheless truly proud of my heritage and always eager to know more about my family history. It gives me a sense of belonging to be able to picture in my mind how my forefathers worked hard to build a legacy for future generations. I'm not sure if these fine thoughts passed through the minds of my forefathers as they laboured in their new land, Sabah... but it's certainly what they accomplished. I truly love Sabah and am proud of my home state, and I am proud that I descend this line of hardworking and steadfast people. It doesn't matter if they are not royalty or blue-blooded... this is who I am.

Whenever I think of my grandad, I start reflecting on the life of my forefathers, and I try to piece together my simple family tree from snippets of conversation with my dad...

Both my great grandfathers were one of the early Hakka migrants to arrive in Sabah. They came as labourers... one was a plantation worker and the other split timber and logs for a living. They worked hard every day and had arranged marriages according to the customs and traditions of that time.

My po-po's mother was actually a local native woman. I find her character especially intriguing because she managed to break through cultural barriers to pick up the Hakka language. My dad seemed to have fond memories of visiting her and playing in the river behind her house. Plus she was responsible for passing on her native blood through our bloodline, giving me the sino-mixed-blood look which I now I possess. My po-po grew up being able to speak both Hakka and the local Kadazan-Dusun language. But I unfortunately picked up neither.

My gong-gong became a tailor's apprentice from a young age. I always picture him as the conscientious young apprentice diligently learning all the skills of the trade and over the years building up his own little tailoring trade. It must have been a hard life because the family was relatively poor even though he must have worked very hard every day. Actually sometimes I wonder if he had more enterprise and better business sense (like how the Teochew are reputed to have) he would have made more money. But my dad says everyone else was poor in those days, so it was hard making money from poor folk. Maybe he was too kind-hearted and didn't charge a high fee for his work. Or maybe he let too many people "hutang" him. But I'm certain that my dad and his siblings wore the best looking school uniforms back then... profesionally tailored bah!

My gong-gong's marriage to my grandma was also an arranged one according to the customs and traditions of those days. I don't think there was much romance and passion in their marriage as we know of today. But something certainly compeled my gong-gong to be a responsible husband and father, with no nonsense and squander about him. Dad said he never drank or smoke or gambled like other common labourers. I read (from the book "Hakkas of Sabah") that the migrants who were members of the Basel Church had more decent and moral lives than other Hakka migrants. So my gong-gong must have been a rather unusual man: he was bright enough to take up apprenticeship as a tailor, and he attended church faithfully and live a moral and upright life.

I couldn't communicate much with my gong-gong due to the language barrier. I did however dutifully greet him with the usual "gong-gong" and smile every time we visited him and grandma. He always seemed content sitting quietly in his corner, listening to the chatter of conversation around him, and watching us grandkids play among ourselves. He was a born worker, even when he was quite old, he was still sewing pants for the whole family. Each of his sons wore the same familiar tailored pants sewn by him. I used to like exploring his work table and investigating the interesting items in his work box; especially the different coloured threads and hundreds of buttons. And he liked to use old style razor blades to cut thread; my dad does the same to this day.

I am glad he fulfiled his wishes in being able to visit his homeland China. He talked a lot about that trip after he returned. I know it brought great joy to him. But one thing I am sad about is that the many good deeds he did when he was alive were never told to us grandkids until only after his death. Like how he was the church's official tailor, and how he bought goodies and sweets for his children after work every day. It's little anecdotes like this that keeps the memory of a loved one alive. So I made a resolution to pass on whatever memory I have of my parents and my family to my own kids. Otherwise who is left to remember our heritage? It will be too sad if we forget. So I will help by remembering and passing it on.

Fishy Blessing

Xing Nien Kuai Le... Nien Nien You Yue!!!

The second statement is something new I picked up from a sermon I heard in my hometown church during the CNY. Allow me to share an excerpt with you: In all your years may you always have "more than enough" in abundance of blessing!!! The interplay of words for the "Yue" or Fish should be of significance to us as Christians because Fish essentially signifies Christianity (since the time of the early Christians). Plus Fish is also significant because we are called to be Fishers of Men. And if you take the greek word for Fish which is "Ichthus", it's actually an anagram for greek "Iesous Christos Theou Uios Soter" which translated to English means "Jesus Christ the Son of God, Saviour". So "Nien Nien You Yue" also means "May every year, you have Jesus Christ the Son of God, Saviour". Cool eh? So during CNY I went round greeting everyone with "Nien Nien You Yue" which has a double and more significant meaning now to me.

As you probably guess, we had a great time with family and friends over the hols and a good shopping spree in KL after we left KK. It has been an eventful CNY because actually just before CNY, my grandad (my dad's dad) passed away peacefully in his sleep. So our family was generally a little more emotional and reflective than usual this time. (I didn't get to attend the funeral, though). Being Christians, we didn't really let all the pantang stuff get in the way of celebrations. So we gave out ang pow as usual. Only change is that my mom moved the dates of the open house later so it's not so close to the funeral day (2nd day instead of 1st day). So part of our family dialogue revolved around death and beyond. Which was surprisingly refreshing.

(I write my thoughts on my grandad in a separate entry later)

I really do enjoy the entire CNY chink-chonk thing.... even though I am a complete BANANA... the whole RED deco, the tong-chiang music, and the FOOD, glorious food. The food alone is enough to make anyone want to switch races to become Chinese. It's better than the big deal ang-moh's make at Christmas (in my humble opinion of course). I thought I might have been just happy because of the ang-pows, but now that I cam pass the ang-pow receiving stage I know now for sure that it has a deeper meaning than that. And how can you resist everyone greeting you with good wishes of weath, health, plumpness and good fortune to each other. My next project will be to learn how to say all those tacky Chinese good wishes and greetings.... which will be especially useful at those Lou-Sang or Yee-Sang sessions. I must expand my vocab beyond just "Gong Xi Fa Cai..."(...Hong Pau Na Lai, I can't say the latter any more now).

OK, post-CNY celebratons: I shall mention a few words on the spoils from my shopping spree in KL... I won't mention MH's stuff which is mainly computer, hardware and tools stuff... but for me I was especially pleased with 2 new pairs shoes I got at NOSE which is a new shoe shop I highly recommend. Great selection and price is reasonable. I almost bought 3, but I decided to reign myself in. One pair was pretty yellow sandals which was similar to the one Sarah Jessica Parker wore on the episode that Miranda gave birth to her baby boy (the one which Miranda's water broke and spilled all over... yup, that one). The other were purple velvet wedged heels. Both pretty. I also bought 1 symetric cut blouse from a new local Malaysian designer Donna C @ Sungei Wang. 2 more blouses from French Blues @ Sunway. 1 M.A.C. lipliner in their bestseller colour "Spice". I also got a haircut which set me back RM100 from "A Cut Above" salon @ Sunway. I almost regretted doing it as I watched my lovely mane being harvested, but hubby said it looked real cute and chic, so I decided I would believe him on this.

Sadly, I was not able to go as crazy in my shopping in Singapore as we were tied up with cafe business (which was perfectly fine as well as I love working with this business). But I did manage to buy one B/W vintage print dress from Zara @ Orchard and a pair of tweed fabric shoes from Charles & Keith (I love Charles & Keith, they never disappoint me).

Unfortunately, we didn't take many photos this time round. But I will post whatever I have as soon as I can.

On Business Class and Steamed Pomfret

Our Chinese New Year Holidays are now over. We touched down in Sydney at 5.00PM on Sunday 5th February. We flew by Austrian Airlines for the first time, and I give it a two thumbs up... but that was because we upgraded to BUSINESS CLASS as their flight was overbooked... MH and I were so psyched!!!

This was the second time I was flying business class... the first time was only a short trip from KK to Singapore the first time I left home for overseas university education.

We were really treated like honoured guests, the seats reclined in the most comfortable way, and the meals were exquisite with freeflow of bread and rolls. And I was especially excited about the complimentary toiletry bags which included "Origins" products... not any cheap generic stuff in there. Even the men's shaving cream was from "Origins". So you can be sure that we had a very comfortable flight.

It's certainly good to come home to a home... our home... once a place develops this familiar homey smell, I know I can call it home. Thankfully, the unpacking business was not a pain because I was looking forward to unwrapping all the goodies I bought during our shopping spree in KL. I didn't buy as many things as I used to because I realise that I have become so much more selective in my garment choices, so this narrows down my choices a lot more... plus the the items I choose seem to be more expensive nowadays... sigh... so that tightens my budget quite a bit too... but I am nevertheless still happy with my small and selective purchases.

Today I am steaming one of the pomfrets given by mom. As I try to recall the details of how mom prepares the fish, slitting three cuts along each side and rubbing salt all over, and feeling the sting of the chilli as I slice it... a gentle nostalgia sweeps over me as I reflect back on the precious moments spent with my family... both in KK and Subang.

Isn't great to be part of a family? The best family in the world!

OK gotta go check on my pomfret.

The best friendships

I want to write a few thoughts on my childhood friends. During my recent trip back to KK for Chinese New Year, MH and I went out for coffee with some of my old comrades. Irwin was back in KK too... it was soooo good to see him because I hadn't seen him in ages. I can't explain how I felt. It was a little different from meeting Wini and Janice because I still see them a little more often. But seeing Irwin again made me remember the days gone by at youth fellowship and serving together as leaders and in the worship team. It all seems like it happened only yesterday... but then again as I watch the new generation of youths jumping about the church, it can also seem so long ago and I feel strangely older... not old (because I am not old yet)... just old-er.

We met at the Coffee Bean at Damai... which was where Burger King used to be at in "our time". Sigh, again I cannot explain how good it felt to be sitting together with Wini, Janice and Irwin, reminiscing about the old days and teasing each other about past crushes and the personal dramas we lived out together. I cannot believe how close the bonds of friendship still remain... I never realised those friendships forged in our youths were truly friends for life.

So many things to remember, it would take books to fill it all... so much to remember... Camping out in the hall togetherat the BCCM retreat centre in Kundasang... The silly ice-breaker games we played at JYF meetings every Saturday... JYF committee meetings that lasted for 5 hours... the gossip and drama of who-liked-who back when... we even when as far back as sunday school days when the boys wore socks up to their knees and shorts pulled high up their waist... and the silly boy vs girl debates we used to have in class...

I haven't laughed that hard in ages... I always need a good laugh every now and then... the really painful ones that bring tears to my eyes are the best. Those were good days.

I reflected that I can't always control when and how people walk into my life. These are people that are part of the community I was born into. In a way they are just like part of my family as well. To a certain extent I suppose I can control the people who become my friends. But the best friendships are the ones that just happen. These friends are more than just friends but truly brother and sister.

So when I think of happiness, I will think of vanilla ice-cream, Christmas, family reunions, as well as friends... like these.