Today is the last day of April 2012!

I've moved to KL for a month already!

I still remember vividly the day when Pr.WS & I moved to KL. That was the first day of April, April Fool.

Now it's already the last day of April!

I'm slowly settling down in KL, slowly getting used to traffic jam & lack of parking space. Back in Ipoh, at 10.30p.m. I already felt that it's late. However, in KL at 10.30p.m., the night is still young. Most of the time we were just on our way back home from visitation or care group. I thought I'd find it difficult to get used to KL life, but by the grace of God I'm fine and not suffering from sleep deprivation (no matter how late I sleep, I have to get up early., it's my biological clock).

In fact, I have come to like KL a lot, because of its convenience, the many bookstores, and the most important, the loving church that Pr.WS is assigned to.

I look forward to many more months in KL! :-)

Collect moments, not things

And...

Clocking in... clocking out...

One of the reasons I chose to be a lecturer is flexible working hour. I'd rather get lower pay than to work long hour. While I was working as a tutor in Mission College, Thailand, I was never told to clock in and clock out. I thought it's the same everywhere.

That's why when I came back to Malaysia 4 years ago and apply for a teaching position in Ipoh, I was surprised to find that a lecturer also needs to clock in and clock out. Maybe in Malaysia the system is different.

Anyway, I'd been clocking in and out for almost 4 years. It was my routine. Clocking in before 7.30a.m., clocking out at 4.30p.m. When I got used to it, I actually enjoyed the consistency. There was a clear boundary between work and home, between being a lecturer and a wife. I could switched my role easily. After clocking out, I could put all my works behind (I don't bring works back home).

Currently I'm jobless and there's no more clocking in and clocking out. At first I felt a bit weird, I was not sure when to really start my day. But then I quickly get into a new routine. Nowadays I woke up without alarm clock (I'm still an early bird, a habit since young), have my breakfast, do my devotion, then read and study (yes, I study for fun, to kill time!), then do some houseworks or cook. If Pr.WS is going out for visitation or care group, I'd follow. His timetable becomes my new routine.

So I clock in when I wake up, clock out when I sleep. I clock in and clock out with God. In the morning I say Hi to Him; before sleep I bid Him good night. I love my new routine! :-)

Some insights from a newbie cook

This year I'm learning to cook. Here are some insights about cooking from a newbie cook:

1. Pray before you start - First thing first, ask for God's guidance! Of course prayer doesn't guarantee that your dish will turn out perfectly. You'll still need to go through the trial-and-error process. Praying helps us to be persistence - with God besides us we can always go on!
2. Your attitude is important - My previous attempt to learn cooking failed because I didn't have a right attitude towards cooking. I saw it as an obligation, and it became a burden that I wanted to get rid of. However, this time I told myself cooking is enjoyable; it's going to be my new hobby. It took me a few months to be mentally prepared. I prayed hard about it. Changing my attitude helped me to accept whatever I'd encountered during my cooking adventure.
3. Cook with love - This is a continuation of #2. I believe (not scientifically proven :-P) your mental state during cooking will affect the taste of your dishes. If you are unhappy while cooking, it's very likely that the food won't taste very good. You are cooking for your family, whom you love. Don't grumble!  
4. Plan your menu weekly - You can plan daily or month or any other interval, but I find weekly the most convenient. Plan your menu so that you know what to buy in the grocer's. This can also reduce wastage and frustration. 
5. Try simple recipes first - Don't look for complicated recipes. Start with something easy to prepare (such as fried egg) so that you won't get frustrated when things don't turn out right. In addition, simple recipes means cheaper and lesser ingredients. If your dish didn't work out, you are not wasting lots of money. Trying simple recipes helps to improves your basic cooking skills. 
6. Don't buy fancy kitchen equipments - You don't need fancy kitchen equipments. Two or three knives, a wok/frying pan and a pot will do.
7. Be flexible - There's no need to follow exactly what's in a recipe. You can always adjust the ingredients. Because of my lab training during college, I was used to being precise, down to the centimeter, mililiter and miligram. But kitchen is not a lab. A little bit of imprecision actually creates more surprises!
8. Expect your kitchen to be messy - Don't be misguided by advertisements - A kitchen is never a tidy place when someone is cooking in there. Expect a bit of carrots or rice or whatever ingredients to fly out of your wok, and also a bit of soy sauce, salt, or any other seasonings to spill on the kitchen counter and the floor. A tidy kitchen is an unused kitchen. Even your body will get dirty, that's why we need apron.
9. Be prepared to screw up - You can't be a perfectionist in kitchen. There are a lot of unexpected results. You need to be prepared that your dish might get burned, undercooked, or the colors/texture/taste don't turn out to be what you want. You are learning, so it's OK to make mistake. Next time you'd do better!

Happy Cooking! :-)

PPE in the kitchen

PPE = Personal Protective Equipments

In the lab I wore goggles & lab coat. In the kitchen I wore these:

An apron &....

A pair of gardening gloves, when I was frying fish or removing something hot. Very useful, now my hands don't get burned anymore. :-)

See you in heaven, my friend!

Just can't believe it... one of our friends in Thailand passed away a few days ago. She was the wife of Pr.WS' classmate, Pr. Kungwalpai. I just can't accept it - she's such a sweet lady and yet she is already gone. I still remember that she worked in Mission College cafeteria, scooping ice cream for Pr.WS & I. And now she's no more on this earth.

Why did God allow her life to be taken away? I don't know why.

One thing I know, and I'm very sure - When Jesus Christ comes back, we are going to meet again. At that time, death will no longer have any power on us.

See you in heaven, my friend!

4-year bulletin collection

These are the bulletins of Ipoh English Church, a 4-year collection. Pr.WS kept each one of them since his first Sabbath in Ipoh, for record purposes.

4 years, 208 Sabbaths. Time flies!

KLCC inconvinience?!

Can't believe that this is found in KLCC, the landmark of Malaysia!

Actually I saw this typo a few years back, and it's still there!
Aiyoyo... There are so many tourists shopping in KLCC, I wonder how would they think about our English here?

My first canopy walk

Been very busy yesterday (currently I'm jobless and there are so many church activities to keep me occupied!) and didn't post anything. Attended philantropic training the whole day and visited a church member's house at night. By the time I reached home it's almost midnight and I was totally exhausted. I'm still trying to get used to traffic jam in KL!

Just wanna share a little experience I had 2 days ago, at a church outing at Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM). It was my first ever canopy walk. Maybe you are thinking, this is not  big deal, it's just walking among trees. For me it's a great challenge, because I'm acrophobic - I'm afraid of height. Even looking down the balcony makes me dizzy and my knees weak. However, I decided to give it a try. I asked Pr. WS to talk behind me so that in case I panicked he'd be there to help.

We hiked about 500m up to the canopy walkway, which was about 30m above ground level.

At first it was scary. I didn't dare to look down. My knees were getting weaker, and I walked very slowly. I held on to the net afraid that I might fall out of the walkway. It's was only about 150m long (3 sections of 50m), but it felt like a long time. The scariest part was when I reached the middle of the walkway. I was asking myself, "What if I fell? Why is this so long that I haven't reached the other side yet?" But then I felt assured when I heard Pr.WS' voice behind, asking me, "Are you OK?"

Before I started walking, I took this picture without looking down, I just pointed the camera downward.

The strange thing was, after a while, I was not that scared anymore. At the third section I was able to stop and look down for a few seconds. Even though I felt a bit dizzy, my knees were not feeling that weak anymore. Probably I got desensitized. Then I looked around, I was thrilled to see the top of trees - we don't usually get the opportunity to be this high up in a forest!

I guess I need to go there more often to cure myself of acrophobia. :-)

Friday the 13th

Today is Friday the 13th, an unlucky day according to Western superstition.

Not sure why it is unlucky so I looked it up in Wikipedia. The number 13 is irregular, an extra 1 for 12, which is a complete number (12 months, 12 disciples, 12 tribes). 13 is also a prime number. Friday is considered an unlucky day. So 13 + Friday is a very unlucky combination. There's even a word to describe the irrational fear of Friday the 13th - paraskevidekatriaphobics. There are people who wouldn't drive or go out from the house or buy properties on this day.

Of course I don't believe in that. :-)

Today is Friday, it's the day of preparation for the Sabbath, it's the day when Jesus was nailed on the cross and His blood was shed for us.

Today is Friday the 13th, I have no fear, because the number will not stop God from loving me.

Happy Sabbath!

3 things we need to do according to C.S. Lewis

A letter from C.S. Lewis to a girl named Sarah, 3 April 1949:

"Remember that there are only three kinds of things anyone need ever do. (1) Things we ought to do (2) Things we've got to do (3) Things we like doing. I say this because some people seem to spend so much of their time doing things for none of the three reasons, things like reading books they don't like because other people read them. Things you ought to do are things like doing one's school work or being nice to people. Things one has got to do are things like dressing and undressing, or household shopping. Things one likes doing — but of course I don't know what you like. Perhaps you'll write and tell me one day."

Life is short. Don't waste time on things we ought not to/no need to/don't like to do.

Roadside Tau Fu Fa & vegetarian rojak

I like eating at the roadside.

During primary school, one of the lessons I learned in the class was not to eat at the roadside because it's unhygienic. However, I've never listened to that teacher (a naughty student!). I like eating at the roadside because there's where you find authentic & yummy food like Mee Rojak & cendol and Chee Cheong Fun.

And I've never gotten sick from eating roadside food. I guess my digestive system is already used to it. :-)

This little stall was nearby my previous house in Ipoh, besides Public Bank in Canning Garden. Soya bean curd pudding is the English translation for Tau Fu Fa.

My Tau Fu Fa + soy milk + ginger sugar. I prefer palm sugar but I just wanna give ginger sugar a try.

We also ordered vegetarian rojak, a mixture of fruit & vegetable + dark spicy sauce. The non-vegetarian sauce contains shrimp paste, which I don't eat because I'm a Seventh-Day Adventist & I'm also allergic to shrimp. It took the man a long time prepare our rojak. By the time it's ready we had already finished our Tau Fu Fa, so we brought the rojak home.

Vegetarian rojak + rice cracker

Not sure why there's rice cracker, it's YUMMY anyway... 

I don't really get the chance to eat rojak, because most stalls would include shrimp paste in their sauce. I'm glad to have this vegetarian version!

Thanks for the house!

This was the house we stayed while in Ipoh. It's a semi-D turned bungalow (because the owner next door demolished his house and is building a bungalow). This was not ours; it belongs to a Ipoh church member who has moved to Singapore with his family.

We stayed here for 3 years. Didn't expect to move here. We were staying at the parsonage during the first year of our ministry. The Chinese Church pastor was moving in the coming year so we were planning to move out. Was told that the owner didn't want to let this semi-D, so we were looking at houses elsewhere.

The day after Christmas 2009, someone knocked on the door. I was taking a nap, being tired after the busy Christmas week. Half-conscious, I heard someone talking to Pr.WS, and it sounded like the voice of the owner of this house (I know him because he used to attend my hometown church in Kuantan). Then Pr.WS came into the room and woke me up, saying with a surprised look on his face, "Min, wake up, Uncle P. is here!"

Immediately I was awake. I went to the living room and saw Uncle P. He drove all the way from Johor to Ipoh (that's like 5-7 hours of driving) to meet us and invited us to stay in his house! And he was not charging us any rental! The house is fully furnished too. We lived there happily for 3 years. :-)

Now that I've moved to KL, I just wanna thank Uncle P. for his house. It's has been a blessings to Pr.WS' ministry. It's a big house; we'd had youth overnight at the house preparing for church activities, small group gatherings with church members. Furthermore, it allowed us to work for God without worrying much about a place to stay. At that time both of us were just starting our careers, and we were not having lots of money. We were just planning to rent a small house and God gave us a big one for free!

Thanks again, Uncle P.!
Thank God!

Assembling Ikea stools

We bought 2 types of stools form Ikea. Very easy to assemble, like this rack...

Flat packaging, that's how Ikea reduces cost of transportation. So the designer not only needs to design the product, but also how it's going to be packaged.

Do not stand on this stool?

The wooden stool

Another stool...

This stool comes with a manual, probably because there are more screws.

All pictures. Even kids could understand it. 

Any problems? Just call Ikea!

A simple black stool...

Assembling furnitures is fun! I enjoy watching Pr.WS working with his hands and passing him screws & screw drivers, hammer, bolts and nuts. :-)

Thanks my friends at Masterskill

The farewell cake

Just wanna express my thanks to my friends at Masterskill College...

Thanks for the delicious cake; pandan is one of my favorites! :-)
Thanks for your guidance and advise.
Thanks for the wonderful time (almost 4 years!) together at the college.
Thanks for everything!

May God bless all of you!
May you prosper under the guidance of God!

Assembling Ikea rack

I've always liked Ikea furnitures; they are neat & compact. Another thing is the DIY concept. It's quite fun assembling your own furnitures, it's like playing Lego.

We've been to Ikea a few times and bought some furnitures. One of them was this nice little rack:

That's Pr.WS' foot - he was holding the box for me to take picture.

So the task of assembling fell on Pr.WS. What I did was to read the manual and pass the tools and parts to him.

The manual. I like reading manuals! (A habit from my lab-intensive undergraduate years)

All pictures & no words. Very straight forward. The assembling was very simple, didn't take Pr.WS a long time. He's very good with his hands!

The end product!

Thank God the time bomb didn't explode

"You're a time bomb," a doctor told me jokingly last year, about a month after my first anaphylaxis.

I'm not a terrorist; I don't know how to make bombs.

I'm a time bomb, because, according to the doctor, my immune system is overly sensitive, and anything around me could have triggered another anaphylaxic shock. She recommended skin allergy test, where 50 different allergens will be introduced to the body through skin pricking. However, because of busy packing and moving, I haven't done it yet.

During the 3 months of staying alone in Ipoh, what worried me the most was another anaphylaxis.  The first time I had anaphylaxis I fainted 15 minutes after the symptoms appeared. If it happened again, especially at night, will I be able to drive alone within 15 minutes to the nearby clinic?If I called for help, would my friends/neighbors be able to reach my house before I passed out?

Whenever I entered my backyard, I'd be extremely careful - I checked for ants; anything crawling around would bring me to high alert mode. I killed them with my flip-flop and insecticide. At night, before I went to bed, I'd check for ants again in the room. I was almost bitten by the red fire ant a few times while hanging clothes at the backyard, but thank God I manged to kill it before it attacked me.

Thank God that there's no second anaphylaxis during the 3 months. Soon I'm going to visit the doctor's again and take the skin allergy test. Hopefully I'd find out what else causes allergy in me, besides red fire ant sting.

I thank God for my life! :-)

3-month weekly routine, finally ended

March 23, 2012, Friday, marked the end of my 3-month weekly routine. Pr.WS was transferred to Kuala Lumpur on January. He was informed of the reassignment on September 2011. I resigned immediately, however, I still needed to serve a 6-month resignation notice, so I could only move to Kuala Lumpur at the end of March. I stayed alone in Ipoh, counting down weeks and days.

From January to March, I would take ETS every Friday evening to go to Kuala Lumpur. I preferred train more than bus, because taking a train is more comfortable. I can read on a train, not a bus. There's more leg space and I can stretch my legs from time to time. And there's toilets on the train; I didn't need to wait for the bus to stop.

I always took the 6.15p.m. train on Friday. I'd pack my things on Thursday night. On Friday, I left the college on 4.30p.m. and rushed back home to change. Special thanks to Pr.Andrew Hau, who drove me to the train station every week. Usually there'd be traffic jam around that time. Once I only go into the train 5 minutes before it left.

Usually I'd reach KL Sentral around 8.30p.m. and Pr.WS would pick me up.

I filled in this survey form and got a pen & a mug.

I got another mug while taking ETS the Friday before Chinese New Year. I wrote a post about it before.

I'd tried Nasi Lemak Rendang once (the picture is a bit blurred because the train was shaking at that time). Not bad. However, I still preferred bringing my own food (didn't see any sign saying that food is not allowed).

Looks like breakfast?

A devotion for the journey & RM 1.50 (USD 0.30) Nasi Lemak

I'm very happy that this 3-month weekly routine has finally come to an end. No more rushing during Friday, no more alone in Ipoh. It was a difficult 3-month for me to stay by myself. Thank God it's all over and I've moved to Kuala Lumpur!

Bye bye Ipoh! 

Bye bye Ipoh!

Finally, I've moved to Kuala Lumpur!

After 3 months of staying alone in Ipoh, now I'm at Kuala Lumpur. I'll remember the day of moving to KL, because it's April Fool! Yesterday was also the first day of Qing Ming, the day of remembrance, where the Chinese would visit the grave of their ancestors. We were driving on the North-South Highway and there was a traffic jam for about an hour because of the festival. It was a long journey. We were driving different cars, so we put on handsfree and chatted with each other all along. By the time we reached our home, my right leg was sore from pressing brake - and we still needed to move our things from the cars to the condo.

It was tiring, but I'm very very happy! Finally!

Finally I got to change my location in Facebook and Blogger from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur!

Finally I'm here, no more alone in Ipoh! I look forward to my new life in KL!

Time to Say Goodbye...



One of my favorite songs. By the way, Andrea Bocelli is blind.

Chinese version by A Mei...



Goodbye Ipoh! :-)