Party

Today, there was a party at my apartment. It was a farewell party for Gek Teng and a surprise birthday party for Anthony. Gek Teng would be leaving this Sunday and we have it today because for the next few days, the colleagues would be working on shift and so, they would not be able to make it.

Anthony's girlfriend, Salynn whom I met before as she came over to see Anthony...She told me to organise a surprise party for Anthony. I did not mind at all because I like making people happy..and thought he would be happy that his friends can celebrate with him since he is so far away from home...I also wanted to give Gek Teng a farewell party..so it was a "kill 2 birds with 1 stone" affair. Haha.Hmm...actually more than 2 birds cos we ended up celebrating all the Oct babies birthday so as not to put Anthony on the spot and to create some sort of fairness to the rest as well.



I prepared Dumpling soup and Char Siew. There were other food like curry chicken, chicken rice, pork cutlets, bee hoon, assam fish, xiao bai cai with oyster sauce to go with chicken rice, fruits, birthday cake. There were lots of chicken and pork cos Chen Twok does not eat beef. Anyway, we all had a great time..the food was great. Highlight was the chicken rice!! very fragrant...prima brand. CT kept asking me to buy but I said it is for 6-8 people portions..how to cook.

Anyway, after dinner, we brought out the cake and surprise Anthony. Salynn told me that she does a surprise party for him almost every year. I wonder how she pulled it off.












After dinner, we brought out the cake and sang the usual song and blow, cut cake etc..

There were 4 Oct Babies altogether..so we all celebrated together with them.


We placed 4 candles in the cake and each other must blow one candle at a time. So, each took turns to blow. It was successful...all blew accurately.

From left to right:

Teck Meng (the one whom I sometimes invite over for dinner and he gave me a blender in return), Cecilia (a mother with 2/3 kids), Anthony (the one whom we supposed to surprise) and Kok Fong (Gek Teng's husband who stays nearest to us)

Hurricane season ending??

Another hurricane churning up in the Caribbean area and moving up to USA towards Florida just when everyone thought Hurricane Katrina and Rita marks the end of the season cos of the damaging effects it has caused.

The Hurricane taking place is Hurricane Wilma. It wobbled toward Mexico's Cancun resort and Florida this morning, an "extremely dangerous" storm that has already killed 12 people in the Caribbean and was labeled the most intense ever to form in the Americas. It jumped from a Category 1 to a Category 5 rapidly...

In Florida, officials ordered residents and visitors out of the Florida Keys area- it was a mandatory evacuation once again...all too familiar.. Tourists are generally told to leave ahead of others on the chain of islands connected by one highway. Heavy rain from Wilma's outer bands forced evacuations in Honduras, Cuba, Jamaica and Haiti.

At 2 p.m. EDT, the Category 5 hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 165 mph, which is about 265kmh. Forecasters said Wilma should avoid the central Gulf coast ravaged by Katrina and Rita. Those storms killed more than 1,200 people. Wilma is the record-tying 12th hurricane of the Atlantic season, the same number reached in 1969. On Monday, Wilma became the Atlantic hurricane season's 21st named storm, tying the record set in 1933 and exhausting the list of names for this year.

Look at how big the hurricane has formed..heading towards Florida.

Pls pray for this hurricane that it would weaken and would not cause much damage.

Gek Teng's first day out

Gek Teng has been rather obedient in listening to her family and in-laws as she has not been bathing for 12 days and had been eating ginger food. Today marks the day she is free..She has not left home for 12 days so far and has been eating and drinking ginger stuff. How sad. She has been complaining to me past few days about her hair being oily and all cos she is not allowed to bathe or touch water.

I was wondering if I were her, I would not care so much and just go ahead and do what I like. Hehe...rebellion!

Anyway, at 1030am, she walked over in her jeans, and with a cardigan cos she still scared cold...though the weather was sunny..and hot in a way. Haha..she looked strange.

We watched TV together as usual and talked. I let her try the Indian crackers and at once, she requested water. Yup..it is hot!

She left at about 12 noon as Kok Fong would be coming back to have lunch with her. He is going back work at 4pm till 12 midnight..so he can leave in afternoon. CT and his colleagues all having some kind of shift work which confuses me and Gek Teng as we do not know when they are on shift..so it is diff to remember when they need us to prepare their dinner or lunch.

I cooked ginseng chicken soup tonight and passed some for Gek Teng's dinner as she would be all alone and she would be eating spaghetti only. I cleaned a bit of the house in preparation for tomorrow's party and arranged furniture to create more space in the living room.

In the afternoon, I was ordering the birthday cake by calling up the shop which Tracy (church friend) recommended. I ordered a small one since there is green bean soup tomorrow night as well. I am quite prepared that the cake will turn out very creamy and sweet as suited to American taste.

Went to collect mail today with Gek Teng and she changed out of her jeans back to shorts and t-shirt cos she felt silly as well, wearing jeans and long sleeve. Haha..

CT being secretive

During the late afternoon, CT called me and told me he would be taking me out. I kept asking him where and he did not want to tell me.

He came home, bathed and we went out. On the way to the mystery place, he still kept quiet. I told him I was happy cos I love surprises..but I was so curious that it got kind of irritating. Ha..

Anyway, finally, I guessed it. We went in search for a Indian grocery mart. We passed by it before and CT wanted to go there to buy Indian crackers as he heard from his colleagues that it is very nice. The streets arent litted very well, so it was difficult to find. Finally, I saw this sign, "Asian Grocery". So, we turned round and went there. Yup, it was run by Indians and the stuff there are mainly Indian goods like all sorts of curry powder etc..

We bought 4 packets of Indian crackers for his colleagues and for ourselves. I also got a Indian curry packet to try and cook. I must say the crackers is very shiok..cos you eat until cry! So hot but so addictive.

While we were driving home, we saw how big the moon was in front of us that it looked fake. So, I took pictures while CT was driving and when we were back at our apartment..

Inspirational stories

Eversince I have been here, I have been watching Oprah every afternoon during the weekdays and many people see this show only for housewives...They would relate Oprah with soap operas here... Many a times during my conversations with Americans..they would all ask me what I do in the apartment. I would tell them that I watch Oprah and the next thing they would say is, "And soap operas?" I guess there is some relation between Oprah show, soap operas and women. Hmm...go figure out.

Last week, Oprah invited Jay Leno in her show and interviewed him with his favourite child prodigies. There are kids about age 6 with photogenic memory, who plays piano well etc.. Lastly, she interviewed this African-American girl who inspired me.


This is her story...

Four years ago, Adanech was living in a hut in Ethiopia with her ailing grandmother. One day, on the way to the market, Adanech was struck by a train. Her right arm was severed, and her right leg was crushed and amputated. Adanech's grandmother was too sick to care for her. That's when Yonus, an aide worker, came to the rescue.

Yonus brought Adanech to Atlanta where she was treated for her injuries and fitted with a prosthetic leg. The Spratlins, friends of Yonus', agreed to take care of the 7-year-old while she was in America. Three months after meeting this special little girl, the Spratlin family fell in love and decided to adopt Adanech with her grandmother's blessing.

Since moving to Georgia with her new family, Adanech has adjusted remarkably well. She has tried out for the school play, won a student council election and swims competitively.

Isnt that amazing?? They showed her swimming butterfly and freestyle in her swimming competitions. She said that she saw her brothers swimming in their house pool and she grew bored watching them swim. So, she decided to join them and teach herself how to swim.

After watching this episode on child prodigies and learning of this inspirational story, I realised that if you are determined to do something, you will def attain your goal. I read that child prodigies have a passion for one thing. For e.g if they have a love for music, they would spend hours and hours practising in front of the piano and so therefore, it is not surprising how they can be so good at it..because they are passionate about something. Of course, they are gifted..but I am sure if a regular person spends the same number of hours, they can be good at it too.

So, just like the story above...this girl was determined to do things that any normal person can do..She excels even better than a normal kid in school by being in school council and swimming competitively without an arm and leg.

Today's Oprah show touched me as well when she interviewed phenomenal females. One particular woman inspired me...Her name is Sabriye, from Germany. At the age of 12, degenerative eye disease took away her sight.

Eventually, Sabriye went to a school for the blind and learned self-reliance. She went on to college where she studied the complex language of Tibet. At the time, Tibetan had never been translated into braille—but that didn't stop Sabriye. She created her own Tibetan-German/German-Tibetan braille dictionary, the first of its kind. Her past struggles with blindness sparked an idea that would take Sabriye to the other side of the world.

She established the first school for the blind in Tibet in order to give blind children confidence and freedom from shame—a grim challenge in a place with a deep prejudice against the blind. While traveling through Tibet on horseback, Sabriye encountered blind children hidden away in dark rooms and exiled from their own families—one boy had spent his life tied to his bed.

Sabriye and her boyfriend Paul opened "Braille Without Borders" in order to help children around the world stand up in society and say, 'Hey, I'm blind. So what?'" Thanks to her school in Tibet, blind children who were once outcasts can now read, write, use computers and speak in three languages—giving them the skills to be the main breadwinners in their families!

There was this particular sentence that she said, spoke to me...hope this encourages you.

"People very often see only the reasons why things are not possible," Sabriye says. "They never think of the one reason why it IS possible. … A lot of people, they see problems.

Then she jokingly said, "This is a good thing about being blind: You don't see the obstacles!"

Another lazy day..

CT left for work at 530am this morning. He would be working from 6am to 4pm today. I am glad he is working overtime only for these 2 weeks. So at least when my friend Esther comes, we can enjoy our weekends together.

Whole day, I watched TV, did my emails and did bible study as well. Just before CT came home, I was playing computer games and watched this show on diving in Maldives. So beautiful. Maldives has always been my dream place for diving and relaxation as the waters are so beautiful and so many kinds of fish. Hope to catch manta rays and whale sharks in my lifetime. These are always the 2 main things any diver would hope to see cos they are huge and tame creatures. Whale sharks is the biggest fish in the sea and they eat only planktons and organisms..small little tiny things for food. How sweet and gentle...

Manta ray is a huge sting ray that glides in the water. Very graceful..

Anyway, when CT came home and saw the diving show..he was also interested in it and asked where it was. I hinted that it was my dream place-Maldives.. Hehe..Hope he got the hint and we could go there some time. :p

We went Asian Mart after he came back as I wanted to make Lo Hei for my party this Wednesday. Having a farewell cum birthday party for CT's colleagues this wed. So, I wanted to see if they have plum sauce as that is the main ingredient. I spotted plum sauce and bought it without checking the ingredient in the bottle. I bought 2 bottles as it was quite small bottles and came back to realise, it was the wrong one!! SOB... So, I decided not to make Lo Hei.

We played tennis in the evening and I was playing horribly as my eyes were getting dry from the weather and so I was distracted while playing..I even missed hitting the ball..about 3 times! I could not believe it as I did not miss hitting before..

So, anyway, the final score was pathetic 6-1 and 4-3..I stopped after that tellin CT that I really do not wish to go on cos I was not only hungry but my eyes kept blinking cos of the dry weather..I lost both games.

After bathing, we went Walmart to buy some groceries for this Wed. I would be cooking char siew and dumpling soup. So, went to buy charsiew meat. I had to find something closest to it..which ended up some country pork loin ribs. Haha..oh well. Every grocery store selling pumpkins as halloween is coming. I spotted huge pumpkins in the store and it costs US$15. Take a look!



















After Walmart shopping, it was quite late already. We decided to go for a Chinese take-out since we did not have to pay extra for tips and felt it was better to take out than to eat at a restaurant where we have to wait 30 mins for a seat.

Usually, the portions are big..so we ordered only one dish- Cantonese Chow Mein. It was under the Chef Special column. So, decided to try that and they said there was gravy which I wanted. I spoke Cantonese with them. I think they are from Malaysia. Anyway, I did not know what to expect for our dinner until we reached home and opened it up. I was pleasantly surprised!!! For one, it was small portion..sobsob..For another, it was actually sheng mian!!-the fried crispy noodles which I have not eaten for many many months! YAY!!!

We places the box in the middle of the table and we both gouged down our food.It was fun eating the improper way but just leaning forward to eat our noodles sharing from the box. We finished it real quick..too yummy.

So, the dinner was not too filling. So, we microwaved cheddar cheese popcorn in the bag and ate it while watching our Jap serials. The VCD that we watch is really in Jap as there is no dual sound. But at least, there are chinese charaters to read..so in a way it is good for me to improve my chinese and jap at the same time.

CT working on weekends

This morning, I checked my mail and my mum told me that dad was brought back to hospital at about 7pm as he had a fever. So, the ambulance came to bring him back. However, the fever went down already..so he is ok. So, in a way, I was glad I called him last night cos if it is the time I arranged with my mum to call,I would have the opportunity to talk to Dad.

Today, CT worked from 12 noon to 8pm.From all the overtime work, he will get about 4 extra days of leave. He needed that for us to travel more. So, I have no complains. In the morning, we watched our DVD as we needed to return it today. The DVD we rent from library is only for one week at $1 per week. We watched "Heidi". It is a very nice show. I loved it...very touching. We watched until 11 plus am and I panicked cos CT supposed to reach work at 12 noon..but he seemed relaxed and said it was ok. He even asked me to go library with him and he would drop me back. He said he wanted to take me out as he cannot do so in the afternoons.

Actually, today, we planned to go Gulf Shore for the shrimp festival. They have lots of stores set up in the Gulf Shore Beaches selling prawns and seafood. Expected number of visitors would be about 100,000. So, I wanted to go since I would not have any more opportunity to since it is held once a year. But because of CT's work, I cannot go. Sobsob.

When CT returned the library stuff, I quickly ran up to get some mags for myself to read since CT would be away and I would have lots of time to read. I borrowed Readers Digest and some more health mags.

It would just be like weekdays when CT is away but better since he left at 12 noon.

I checked my email again and saw this mail from Anthony's girlfriend, Salynn. Anthony is CT's colleague and Salynn told me to organise a surprise birthday party for him next week. I agreed to it and I quickly sent email to CT to organise with his colleagues. I said we can tell Anthony it would be a farewell for Gek Teng since she leaving next week as well.

At about 6 pm, I went over Gek Teng's house to ask her if I could organise a farewell party for her. I also told her that it would be a surprise birthday for Anthony. She agreed and I quickly email CT that we can go ahead and tell the rest it would be a farewell. SO fun..hehe

Kok Fong does not need to work this weekend cos he is doing a diff area. So, he was home when I visited Gek Teng. We watched TV till about 7pm and then Kok Fong came back with me to borrow VCDs. He wanted to borrow the set of VCDs which my bro bought for me. Kok Fong said that they are quite bored already as they finished their own sets of VCDs. Yup, after a while, you can get quite sick of American programmes and start to miss HK shows.. :)

CT came home early at about 740pm. He said nothing to do at work..haha..

We had dinner immediately. I cooked chicken curry with potatoes, spinach and steam egg. CT said it was delicious. Yay!

Dad went home

Tonight, I called home as Dad could go home from morning to night. I called at about 11am (Singapore time) and they were having their breakfast. Dad told me how much food they were eating. He sounded so much better from the last time I spoke to him in Sept.

I asked him what he was going to do for the day and he said watch VCDs.. Yup, I am sure he missed that. He also told me Ashley was excited to see him. Actually I was supposed to talk to my dad at night before he goes back to hospital. That was the time I arranged with my mum. But I was too excited to hear from my dad and to welcome him home in a way...So, I called before I went to bed.

My dad has adopted a god-daughter, Chloe and she was there in the house as well. Chloe is my dad's a physiotherapist in hospital and he found out that Chloe is from the same church as me- Adam Road Presbyterian Center. She is also the same age as me. She has been a great help and even today, she spent the wholel day at my parent's place to accompany my dad. It felt as if she was God-sent and I am def not jealous..but happy that my dad is well taken care of.

After talking to dad, I told CT how happy I was talking and hearing from him...but at the same time, sad that I cannot be there to physically welcome him home and be with him.

Home-style cooking

Today as usual, I cooked lunch for Gek Teng and brought it over to her place to eat together. Cooked 2 simple dishes today..one dish was minced pork with ginger and salted fish. The other one was spinach, xiao bai cai with minced beef and ginger. Take a look!

I have learnt to cook my dishes more simply as I realised that if I cook 3 dishes or 2 dishes, the difference is only if there would be any leftovers. So, since I did not want anymore leftovers, I decided to cook 2 dishes and to finish all up.

CT and I went to a new restaurant today. I have always wanted to try cos I read the reviews in the internet and it seems quite good. It is slightly ulu but still, the place was crowded...so it had to be good.

From the outside, at once, you can tell that the cooking would be very southern and home-style. When we entered, there were animal heads on the walls..everything was made out of wood and the waitresses was dressed it cute traditional costumes like milkmaids..very nice! While waiting for our seat, we sat on rocking chairs and enjoying the music from the self-playing piano..

Yup, CT was dozing off under the comfort of the rocking chair. The rocking chair kinds of have some magic of curing insomnia! haha..

We waited about half an hour (usual waiting time here) for a seat. As usual, we ordered too much. We had 2 main dishes and 1 appetizers. The servings here are very big..so it is way too much. What I enjoy was the cool plates and cups..all metal.

I ordered fried catfish with baked potatoes while CT ordered grilled catfish with river fries. The fried one is much nicer..very tasty and fried to perfection. They serve lots of sides- hush puppies (ball-like corn bread), pickled onions(which amazingly taste very good), lots of coleslaw, skillet bread (bread in frying pan). After eating the sides, we were so full already.. We also went on to order fried onion rings and fried dill pickles for appetizers. I love the dill pickles. Very good.

Here are the leftovers we packed- got 2 big boxes and one bowl of coleslaw. Check out the metal plates and cup..so cool when your lips touches the ice water and metal cups.

New additions

As you noticed, there are new things in this site. I have added a column of blogs on various topics that might interest you (e.g Hurricane Katrina, babies, Computer, Movies and lots lots more), blogs written from all over US,....as well as my personal blogs written by family and friends. The last section is on photography-one area which I love to look into and to grow.

So, if you are interested, feel free to look around and enjoy the sites as I share them with you.

Have fun!

Ladies night out

This morning at about 8am, I started vacuuming. I was up already at 6am but I did not vacuum then cos the cleaner is very noisy and I do not wish to wake up my neighbours. I had to vacuum because of the fixing of pipe the workers did yesterday. So, my floor is a little dusty.

After vacuuming, I mopped the floor by putting few squeezes of Dawn dish washing detergent into the pail. I did not have any floor soap..so I thought since my dish washing detergent cleans grease and stains, it will be good enough. Haha.. I mopped the whole floor from the toilet, laundry room to kitchen and dining room. As long as the floor is not carpetted, I mopped it all creating a foamy floor which looks really nice and I enjoyed walked on the foam.

After that, I cleared the water and with a pail of clean water and clean mop..I used it to wipe the foam. Then, I dried the floor with a sponge and then, the last round, was with a towel. So, I had to run through all the floors in 4 stages. It was fun as I was exercising at the same time and getting the satisfaction of the floor getting squeaky clean. :)

After all that, I turned the air con cooler and switch on the fan to dry it more quickly. Then, I went on to prepare lunch at about 10am. I cooked braised mushrooms with dried scallops and hair...added hong shao pork ribs as well. SO, I had to cook early for the mushrooms to be softer. I love this dish and since this dish is mainy a ginger-based dish, I could cook for Gek Teng.

I also cooked chinese cabbage with chicken breasts. I cooked only 2 dishes as from yesterday, Gek Teng told me that I cooked too much which I agreed. So, I cooked more simply today. I went over at 1145am and we ate together. We had left overs and I told Gek Teng to leave it for tonight as I have remainder at home for CT's dinner. I cooked my lunch and dinner together..so it would be the same food for CT as well.

So the remainder I had at home was for CT's dinner n his lunch the next day. I packed everything in a lunch box- one for each meal. I needed to pack cos at night, I had a ladies night out. They are from my bible study class in church. We went to Olive Garden Italian Restaurant. CT dropped me there and Julie would sent me home.


We had a great time in Olive Garden as we not only had great food but also, a great time of sharing. Julie was the organiser and she asked us questions and we went one round of answering. I felt it was good questions to break the ice and to get everyone involved in talking. The first question she asked was " What makes you happy?" Many of them shared about their kids, shopping etc. I shared that my husband makes me happy, going on holidays and teaching a lesson in classroom where the students behave and the lesson was delivered well.

Then the second question was, "If there was one question you would like to ask God, what would it be?" Many of them would like to ask God about the sufferings people face or the bitterness they have like- Why me? Why must this happen to me? When it came to my turn, I honestly shared that when "bad" things happen to me, obviously we would question God..but I said that it would go away as the answer would unfold by itself when you are reminded of how God causes everything for a purpose and His reasons are always for the best. So, all those bitterness questions would just dim and peace would take over.

Julie gave us a short article to read and we shared about it. It was an article written by this girl who was sexually abused from 7 to 18 yrs old. She questioned, "Why me?" She felt worthless and lonely, thus searching for a way out and desperately longing for happiness. At 13, she asked Jesus into her heart thinking this would change things. She served God with all that she had, yet the abuse continued another 5 years. She got angry and continued to think she was worthless.

Even though she knows His word said thet He loved her and would protect her, she couldnt see it. For 1 year, she did not talk to God and lived life on the edge. At the end of that year, she was tired and broken and could no longer run from the truth.

She realized she was searching for the wrong thing. She have found that happiness is temporary. Like eating a bowl of ice cream-the enjoyment vanishes once we finish eating it. The joy that only comes from God is what made the difference for her. The Bible says in Isaiah that the redeemed of the Lord shall have everlasting joy on their heads and their sorrow shall flee away. The bible also says that God will give us joy unspeakable and full of glory. She doesnt know of any ice cream that can compare to that. In the article, she says, "Life is sometimes painful and uncertain, but the journey serves a purpose. I no longer have to ask why me for the joy unspeakable overshadows the years of shame."

Lunch with Gek Teng

This morning when CT left the house for work at 625am (usual for Wed as he has conference call in the morning), I quickly prepared for lunch as the workers would be coming to fix the pipe in my house and then, I would not have the space or time to prepare lunch. I would be cooking lunch for Gek Teng and eating with her.

So, in the morning, I cut up lots of ginger for my cooking as right now, Gek Teng has to eat all that.. I prepared one dish while the other 2 dishes, I would cook at Gek Teng's apartment just before lunch. I cooked the chinese rice wine with chicken and black fungus first. It was my first time cooking and I must say, it tasted good. I roasted peanuts as well and added into it..just as my mum taught me.

The workers came at 8am and they started working on the pipes first by laying out plastic sheets over the table top to prevent dust from getting onto my stuff and all over the floor. They ripped out my top cabinets to get to the pipes beind the wall. After looking at what they do, it confirms my understanding of how flimsy American houses are..only wood and so easy to rip walls out. Sigh..

At 11 plus am, I brought all my food to Gek Teng's house to cook. We had a sumptuous lunch. I cooked fish with ginger and dried mushrooms, spinach with gei zi (wolfberries) and egg with garlic and ginger, and of course, the chinese rice wine chicken soup. Could see that Gek Teng loved the lunch cos every day, her husband has been cooking and it has been the same stuff- meat with ginger and veggies. Very plain and simple. So, she was glad to eat all that I cooked for her.

After lunch, I stayed behind a while more to watch TV together. Then, I decided to go back to see what my kitchen has become. I was glad that they were finishing it up. After they left, my house was dirty and I had to clean the cabinets to put back all my stuff into it. I did not dare clean the floor as the wallpaper guy supposed to come and patch back my wallpaper. SO, I did not want to wet and mop the floor in case they come as they wear their shoes in..

I also wanted the flood water to dry up so that I can first vacuum the floor of all the dust. So, thought I shall clean up tomorrow instead. I was only cleaning the table tops.

After dinner tonight, I finished up my watermelon which I bought 2 weeks ago!! The water melon was too huge for me and CT to finish quickly. CT's method of de-shelling the watermelon is so funny that I had to show you. I told him that I eat my watermelon if it is only in bite-size...cos it is less messy..so this was what he did.

He would use a spoon and just scrape the melon. I guess he looks for the fastest and easiest way to get almost the same result. Oh well..no complains as long he tries.

Watched DVD which I borrowed from library. It is a foreign film called ,"Picture Bride" about brides coming from Japn to Hawaii to meet their other halves for the first time after sending their pictures and communicating through letters...and their lives in Hawaii after that. It is a drama show, something like Joy Luck Club type of show..slow moving and lots of talk. I guess this show made me learnt that there are Japs like that, doing such things and immigrating to Hawaii for a better life.

So, the story is about this girl from city life in Japan, going to Hawaii to meet her husband to be. His real life and the photo is totally different. It is not a recent photo. So, when she met him for the first time, she was shocked as he looked so old and dark. Most of the Japs worked in the sugar cane fields. So, she wanted to earn enough money to pay him back so that she can go back Japan. This show is about how she grew to love him and eventually accept her life in Hawaii.

Would not recommend this show if you do not like slow moving movies. A very simple story on the life of this girl. But if you like shows like Joy Luck Club, Whale Rider..then, this would be almost the same type..

Flooded day

Today woke up and found that the area where it was wet last night, was more wet. As usual, we had our breakfast at the dining table and CT found that the floor was wet as well. After careful checking, we realised that water was coming from our neighbour's place.

At about 8am plus, I called the office and reported. I went to the car after that to check on the rented car mileage to report back to Avis (something which we have to do consistently). CT did not drive today..so the car was home. I went out and met my neighbour who just moved in few days ago. She told me her place is flooded. No wonder my floor is wet.

When the maintenance guy came, they were walking in and out of my apartment to go out and check at other apartments. They told me it is due to some pipe leakage and we are not allowed to use our kitchen sink and dishwasher as it causes the leak.

Later in the morning, the floor was getting more flooded. I put newspapers everywhere to soak it up but within some time, it was soaking wet. I got more towels to put as well..and again, it was totally drenched. I called Gek Teng and apologised for not being able to visit her in the day as I explained that there were people going in and out my place which made it inconvenient to leave.

After they finally left at 4 plus pm, they told me that they would be back again in the morning and asked me to clear everything in the kitchen cabinet as they would be taking it down to access the pipe. Good grief.

I quickly pack the stuff in boxes and prepared dinner. Since I did not have much time to cook...I made spaghetti with tomato, minced beef, mushrooms and onions.

I was cleaning up the house and clearing all my wet newspapers as I did not want CT to come home looking like a war torned area. So, I quickly clean up the mess and soaked up the water with my sponge.

The water was cold and dirty..take a look!

After clearing the water, I cleaned the floor with soap and dried it with a clean dry towel. When CT came home, we went over to Kok Fong's place to cook our spaghetti as we cannot use the kitchen sink..So it is more convenient to cook there and wash up.

After dinner when we got home, the floor was once again flooded. I was tired and sad cos I spent the late afternoon cleaning up on my knees and it was back to square one. So, CT offered to clean up and asked me to rest. So while he was cleaning, guess what I did?? Haha..take pictures--what else??

Before we slept, we placed towels where the water is seeping out from so that it would not be so flooded the next morning. I just wish this would end soon..

Finally...

Today, Kok Fong was still on leave as Gek Teng needed to go back hospital for check up. I did not go visit them in the day since they were out. So, I just did my usual cleaning, vacuuming and washing of laundry. However, did something special today. I learnt from "Martha Steward Show" how to fold towels neatly. So, that was what I did to all my towels in the laundry room. I folded until nice and neat.

When CT came home after work, I asked him if he noticed anything different in the house as I wanted to test how observant he is. And when he walked everywhere in the apartment and when he entered the laundry room, he said and pointed at the towels..."Hmm..it is always like that, right?" I was like arrghhhh...I told him that was what I did today and he laughed.

Anyway, today, I cooked Herbal Soup for Gek Teng to replenish her blood.It is a very bitter soup. I passed to her before me and CT went to play tennis. Yup, played tennis again with CT as I wanted to beat him. We only played 2 sets cos there were people coming in to play and we have not eaten our dinner. This first game, I won 6-2 and I thought, everytime I play with him, I always win the first game but subsequent games, he would win. But who knows, today, he played badly..all his power shots all went OUT! So, I won! yeah! The second game was 6-5. We played until the first person reaches 6.

Tonight, we discovered that one of the floor heading towards the toilet was wet. It seemed to be coming out from the aircon room. So, we called the apartment office and left a voice mail. About half an hour later, a maintenance guy came and we showed him the puddle of water. He did something to it and told us he would come back again to continue.

Great session

Today during bible study class, we continued from what went on last week on the dream God has placed in us. The leader got me to share and I shared about how God brought me into teaching and prepared me for it despite facing many challenges.

CT also shared to my surprise. He did not really mention about his dream and living it out...but he shared about how God brought us into US-without knowing anyone here and how many things happened here- his colleague got robbed at gunpoint in our apartment compound, 2-3 of his colleague's dad passed away during their stay here and have to go back for funeral, the train accident, and recently, Gek Teng getting a miscarriage. CT mentioned about how all of his colleague are so skeptical about US now and cannot wait to go back to Singapore cos of all these happenings...but the thing is, me and CT still love it here despite all that has happened.

CT shared that as long as God is with us, it does not matter where we are and the peace in us is always there. It does not matter whatever happens, the important thing is that we have this God who would see us through and carry us.

Really proud of CT for sharing this.

During service, pastor continued sharing on David. He has been speaking about David for the past few weeks. Today's sermon was "Friend for Life". It is about David and Jonathan..their deep friendship they have for each other etc.. It reminded me of my friendship with Marianne, my good friend. I rem in 1997 during the youth church camp, me and Marianne dedicated our friendship to God as a covenant.

After service, I went home to cook porridge. CT helped me out. Cooked porridge with dried scallops. Fried egg with chai poh and fried chinese cabbage. Wanted to eat something light cos for the past 2 days, have been eating oily food.
However, I all along wanted to eat Fried Chicken as they have spicy fried chicken in "Church's" Restaurant. So, CT surprised me by driving us there to buy. We were out actually to shop shop..but after that, he drove to Church's to get fried chicken to my surprise.

Before dinner, CT jogged while I was preparing lunch for him tomorrow by cooking fried rice and putting in the plastic container.

Watched VCD while eating our fried chicken..yum..Love it!

CT won me again

This morning, woke up at 645am and played tennis at 7am. The weather was about 20 degrees. The weather has dropped suddenly from 30 degrees to low 20s. In the afternoon, it will be about 23-28 degrees...but in morning and night, it will be low 20s or slightly below 20 at times. I love the cool weather..as I can start wearing my long sleeve shirts and jackets soon..

Initially, we were freezing while playing tennis. But after a while, the sun came up and it was slightly warmer. I won CT for the first game : 6-4 while CT won second and third game. Sobsob.. Again, he proudly said, "Here comes the champion.." Hehe..cant stand him..Enjoyed the game as my strokes seemed like they are getting better. Think I have improved on my backhand.

After the game, we quickly bathed and met Jaimie, her mum and Hsiang Yang (another colleague) for breakfast at Dennys. They have a breakfast offer- US$4.99 for a big breakfast! There are 2 beef patties, 2 sausages, hash browns, 2 sunny side up eggs and 3 huge pancakes. Jaimie paid for the breakfast as I guess, her mum wants to repay the time I spent with her, taking her out. I did not touch my 3 pancakes and some sausages. Jaimie's mum did not finish as well..We put all the left overs in the box. I had lots of left overs as Jaimie's mum gave me hers. So, lots of food for lunch.

After breakfast, Chee How (Another colleague) went to Jaimie's house to fetch Jaimie to Pensacola airport as it is about an hour drive there. Her mum had some time..so we went Asian Mart together. I wanted to show her what there are in the shop...and at the same time, I needed to buy veggies and chinese rice wine to cook for Gek Teng..and lots of ginger!

After shopping, I took a picture with Jaimie's mum before she went to airport.




After talking to her for these past 2 days, I found out that her family is made up of the same number as mine and almost the same age for everyone of us. Jaimie is same age as me-25 years old...Jaimie's bro is 2 years older than her- same age gap as me and my bro...and Jaimie's mum is same age as my mum..(I shall keep this age confidential..haha). But my dad is older than Jaimie's dad...only one difference.

Last night during the farewell dinner, Jaimie kept saying thank you to me for taking her mum out. I told her that it is not a problem and moreover, I treat her mum as my friend..so,its a privilege to bring her out and have lunch with her. Her mum used to be a policewoman for 15 over years and during my lunch with her, I asked her more about it as I told her my childhood ambition was to become a cop. Haha..

At Asian Mart, I bought more veggies for Kok Fong and passed to them when we reached home. After that, we went Walmart to shop..This morning, bought a lot of groceries as I planned to cook for Kok Fong and wife next week when Kok Fong goes back to work.

Heated up our breakfast leftovers for lunch. Still had some more leftovers for dinner. Too much...

After lunch, went to Library where I borrowed more audio CDs, DVDs for Gek Teng. She also likes to read fashion magazines..so I borrowed about 5 mags. I am sure she needs it as she would be bored since she is confined at home. Her family from Singapore says she cannot catch a cold by going out and cannot bathe.

The worse thing is that in 2 weeks time, she would be going back to Singapore for good and so, she cannot enjoy her stay here before she goes back.

Farewell dinner for Teresa

This morning, went over to Kok Fong's house to take their library books from there so that I can help them return it on Saturday since Gek Teng is still confined at home. Also stayed a while to chit chat with them and watch TV together. Gek Teng's sister called from Singapore and Gek Teng cried over the phone. After talking on the phone, she apologised for crying in front of me. She told me that she cannot control when people mention about the miscarriage thing in front of her. I told her I understand and it is def alright to cry.

Kok Fong went out Walmart grocery shopping as he has been cooking for her. How sweet. So, since Kok Fong went out, I was worried to leave Gek Teng all alone. So, I wanted to stay till Kok Fong came back. However, Gek Teng told me she suddenly felt a little pain and want to rest in bed..so I left. I went home to prepare a ginger drink for her lunch. I added ginger, dried longan and brown sugar in it for her to drink. I cooked too much so I drank some too! yum..i love ginger drink.

At night before dinner, we went over to visit them as CT wanted to pay them a visit as well. We stayed a while and talked. CT updated Kok Fong more on the happenings in office. We left at 640pm for dinner as Teck Meng came to pick us up. We arranged for dinner at "Fire Mountain Grill" buffet place for dinner together with the rest of his colleagues and Jaimie's mum. It was meant for Jaimie's mum-Teresa farewell as Jaimie and her mum would be going San Fran tomorrow for holiday and her mum will fly back to Singapore from there.

We have not eaten in this place before. Some of CT's colleagues wanted to eat it last week but was too crowded..So, we got to eat this week. It is a western buffet place with steak and seafood...for about US$10. I still prefer another place. But anyway, I had loads of fun talking to CT's colleagues.

This afternoon, Jaimie's technician colleague brought her mum out to factory outlets to shop. How nice..She asked me if I wanted to go along...but I declined cos it was too last minute and I did not let CT know. So, I did not go as I dunno how to let CT know and I was quite tired.

After dinner, Jaimie called and asked us to go out breakfast together tomorrow morning at Dennys. Their flight would be early afternoon..so have time for breakfast. Jaimie and her mum would be flying from different place. Her mum flying from Mobile as the company pays for her flight but Jaimie flying from Pensacola, Florida as it is cheaper. She needs to pay on her own since she took leave to go San Fran..so she wants to save money by flying from a cheaper place. How strange...

Tough day

This morning, got woken up by a call at 545am. It was Kok Fong. He called to let CT know that his wife is in hospital and he would not be going to work. Gek Teng had a miscarriage. Of course, I woke up and we were shocked as just yesterday, I was congratulating her on her pregnancy.

We washed up and I told CT that I wanted to go visit to at least, give some support. So, I packed 2 muesli bars, 1 banana and made korean ginseng powder drink for Kok Fong as he would prob be in hospital for some time. We left the house at 6am and it was only about 10min drive to Springhill Hospital-the same hospital which me and my mum were.

It is so strange that few months after the train accident, I am still going back to the hospitals. Anyway, we went there and ask the reception where is she and the nurse heard and informed Kok Fong. We saw him and gave him the stuff. He told us what happened. He said that Gek Teng woke up in the middle of the night and was bleeding a lot..So, she was admitted to emergency straight away. Sigh.. We asked him if they are ok and Kok Fong said they will be alright.

We left shortly after as CT had to drop me back before he went to work. I did not go back to sleep when I reached home though I was exhausted...but just felt quite sad.

Anyway, I met up with Jaimie's mum alone and brought her to the Vietnamese Restaurant for beef noodles and sour plum drink. Yup..I love the beef noodles there..and of course, my fav plum drink. However, guess the soup has lots of MSG cos feel very thirsty after that.

After lunch, we walked to the Fresh Market and to TJ Maxx-a small departmental shop. Then, we walked to "Dollar General" shop where things are cheap. We both bought some stuff. Then, I showed her my apartment to see how does a 2 room apartment look like. She stayed a while before she left.

Just before CT came home, Kok Fong called and informed me that Gek Teng would be discharged this evening. So, when CT came home, we went to "Party City"-a party shop to buy a big bear "Get Well" balloon for Gek Teng. It is about 1m tall. Very cute...When we were queuing up to pay, this person behind me was saying, "Aw...that is so sweet.." Haha..

So after that, we went home and I got some soup for both of them and brought the balloon and a card for them as well. We managed to see Gek Teng. She was lying on bed and we talked a while. Kok Fong would be preparing meals for the next few days. I offered to cook..but he said since he is around, he can cook. So next week on Tues, when he goes back to work, I would cook for them. We kept telling them that if need anything, just let us know. I am def willing to do anything for them.

When we reached home, CT kissed me and said, "I am very proud of you." In my heart, I am very proud of him too. :)

At night, we watched "Mulan 2" cartoon DVD. Gek Teng borrowed 2 cartoon DVDs from library and has watched finish already. So, she lent us. Quite funny and nice. Watched till 10 plus pm. So sleepy..What a day!

Went airport

Today, Jaimie's (CT's colleague) mum would be coming to Mobile. I am pretty excited cos I understand how exciting it is for a loved one to come visit. So, I was pretty excited for Jaimie. However, she is not able to go airport cos she has no more leave to take.

Instead, the technicians would be going to airport to pick her mum up as they are on shift work. So, it is their off day today. Jaimie told me that one of them would be Feroze. So, I called him this morning at 7am to ask him what time is he leaving and whether he can pick me up. Well, I called so early in the morning as I was afraid her flight might be morning. So, I did not want to miss it. And quite expected, he was sleeping and when he answered my call, he sounded so groggy. So paiseh..hehe..

So anyway, he would be picking me up at 1115am as she will touch down at 1150am. So, at 1110am, I left my apartment to throw away my garbage before he comes to pick me up. But when I walked out, he just came and I went into the car...he drove me to the garbage bin and I got out of car to throw my trash. This is the American way of throwing rubbish...Everything is drive drive drive. Nobody believes in walking here! haha..

Another technician was in the car as well. So, there were 3 of us to welcome her mum. Cool..Throughout the trip, I got to know the technicians better and I like them..It was easy talking to them..they were friendly and nice people. We talked about where we stay, their families and kids...etc...and actually, I discovered they all stay in the East and we started talking how much we love the East. One stay in Bedok and another, in Tampines.

We reached the airport too early as her flight was slightly delayed and we ended up waiting for about 40mins. I watched TV while waiting as the airport is rather small. So, while waiting, I could actually sit on a rocking chair, watch TV and yet, view the plane coming in and the passenger coming out of the gate. It is unusually small airport as we can get to be with the passengers to collect their luggage. They see us first, before they collect their luggage.

We did not know how she looked like but we presumed it was not difficult to spot an Asian woman who is travelling by herself. So, we spotted one Asian lady and I approached her and asked if she was Jaimie's mum..and she acted so blur and then said, no.. Argghh...how much more paiseh can I get today??!! grrr...

The second one came out and I told the guys to ask now cos I had enough..haha..and they were right! We talked on the way back to the apartment and got to know her better. After we settled her into Jaimie's apartment, the guys left and her mum insisted I stay and chit chat with her. So, I did..She was unpacking and I was reading "The New Paper" from Singapore. I was reading about the Bali blast and it was terrible as I read..the detailed description of this caucasian family who was affected by the bomb and their son died. Very saddening as I can imagine what it means when they described that they were looking forward to this trip to Bali as they have not been there..and a peaceful holiday became like that..I totally understand.

After a while at her place, I went back and had my lunch as she had lunch in her bag-leftovers from breakfast. I chatted with Gek Teng online as she asked me where I was. She did not know I went airport to pick Jaimie's mum up as it was very last minute and moreover, I did not think there would be space in the car.

Me and Gek Teng planned to bring her out for lunch tomorrow but when I was chatting with Gek Teng, she told me that she cannot make it as she would be seeing a doctor. I was curious..then I probed further. She said her husband would be bringing her to doctor for check up as she is pregnant! I was so happy for her and congratulated her. She and her husband are in their 30s and I guess they do want a child since it is about time. She said she needed to check up cos she has been having some bleeding. I asked if her family knew and she said yes and they are very happy.

When CT came home, the first thing he said was, "Do you know your good friend pregnant?" I said yes..then I asked him how he knew..He said cos Kok Fong told him as he needed to take leave to bring Gek Teng out. Kok Fong inform CT as they always take turns to drive together since we both stay near one another. All his colleagues found out as well as they guessed it. I mean..who would take leave to go bring wife to see doctor unless very very urgent..so, they all guessed she was pregnant. Jaimie said she is even more excited for Gek Teng's pregnancy then her mum coming. Haha..

Tonight, after dinner, we cut up the watermelon and made juice. Putting the fruits in the blender is different from juicer as we get the fibre and all..it will not be taken out..so the juice is thicker than usual. For Wed night, I would watch either America's next top model or "Think you can dance". Both reality shows.. I wanted to watch, "Think you can dance" as it was the last episode. It is like American Idol but a dancing show. However, CT changed the channel to this movie show which was very interesting. So, I did not mind. It was about drums..The show is called "Drumline." After watching for some time, I realised my friend actually lent me the DVD of the show!! haha..but I did not have time to watch it yet..so it is still lying in my house in Singapore.

It is a very nice show about drumming competition in College. Very cool...since both me and CT loves drums. When CT was watching the show, his head keep moving..haha..cos he was prob visualising hitting the rhythm. During advert, I channel surf as usual and was watching "Nanny 911". This episode was about a family who has 4 kids. 3 of them show absolute no respect for their mum. They would hit their mum, bite her and shout at her, saying words like.."I hate you"...etc. Very terrible. Then, the nanny would come to the rescue and teach the family. Interesting...

Another peaceful day..

For the past 2 days, I have not been seeing Gek Teng but only chat online. I guess we are both lazy to go out to each other's apartment. I prefer sometimes to just be by myself doing the things I like to do and moreover, had to cook and prepare dinner. So, inconvenient to leave.

I have been reading the stuff I got from library. I borrowed few magazines on Health, Photography, books on fishes and sharks.. Yup...love all these stuff.

Today, there was a package which CT ordered. He bought a mouse which does not cost anything! There is website with good deals and has rebates..so the optical mouse actually cost US$14.99 but they will rebate us back once we purchase..so we ideally pay nothing. I love receiving packages cos it is like Christmas. I think the UPS guy recognise me already as there have been a number of packages coming to my place as my friend, Esther also purchased some stuff and deliver to my place. It is always the same guy delivering to me..haha...and he always ask me for my last name when I collect the package..and sometimes I give my last name as GOH, sometimes as LING..help..I am confused!!

CT tell me that when I go back Singapore in Jan, I better change my IC and other stuff to GOH..but hor, I told him, it is very troublesome cos not only IC, but my bank cards, my whole lot of other cards, passport etc..So, I feel as if I have 2 identities now..haha..

Today, CT went to play tennis with the guys when he came back. I did not go cos of my Smallville show and had to prepare dinner...and also, they have more than enough people to play...I will only be picking balls for them if I went.

Every Tues, there will be Amazing Race: Family Edition. IT seems that it includes only states in US and as long as you are a family of 4, you can join. So, some teams have 2 parents and 2 young kids,all 4 siblings1 father and 3 adult sons.. etc. So, I feel, quite unfair cos strength wise, the teams with young kids quite tough..

Cooked Western today- panfried catfish, veggies and fries.. Here is a picture of it. One reason why I take pictures of what I cook is so that next time when I go back Singapore, I can rem what I cooked. :)

























The fries were not ready when we ate..It was only ready after we were finishing our food as it was still in the oven. So, I could only take the fries with half finished food. Hehe..

Guess how much is the fries? I only baked half of the packet of fries..so there is quite a lot in one packet. It costs us only about US$1 !! Can you believe how cheap it is? And it taste good and crispy..yum.