Teachers' Day

My first teachers' day in Sunday school. This just about made my day :)

And tomorrow,we're havin' waffles!

Working outside is pretty cool

The Dome outlet at Dempsey rocks. Power socket, wifi, tea and cake.
What more could I ask for?

Elixir in a red thermos

Today I was tasked with the responsibility of personally delivering some home-brewed goodness to my aunt Lil, still in hospital. She's recovering well, due in part to the food she's been getting, I'm sure...

This is a glimpse of my luan-see (what's the translation - endearingly complicated?) family in action:

My mother, early in the morning, bright-eyed and busy thinking up permutations of schedules - who to visit, who to do this and that. Plopping onto my bed to set the plans in motion.

My mother, waiting for NTUC to open at 8:30am in order to buy some liver and cook up a concoction of liver, pork fillet, ginger and just a teensy dose of brandy for the patient. It's not my kind of thing but Lil slurps it up at mid-morning and in the early afternoon. My uncle calls the potion the 'elixir'.

Me, arriving at 10am at the hospital with said concoction in a thermos container. My mum had thoughtfully packed the thermos into a decidedly auntie-looking red seagate re-usable bag, with some golden kiwis in an NTUC plastic bag, and a plastic container of apple muffins. I eyed the bag. "You're making an auntie of me", I said. "You think this is bad, I had to carry 3 bags the other day - and they were heavy ok!", pipes up the cousin who has arrived to go to church with my mum. My mother and cousin take a lift from some fellow church members who stay across the road (more permutations in action).

My grandma, who just got back from Kuching last night, arriving at the hospital at 10:30am. She has porridge in another (smaller) thermos container. I put the thermos containers side-by-side and contemplate taking a photo but (a) you're not supposed to take photos in the ward and (b) it's time to feed the patient.

Emails and SMS-es fly across and out of the country providing updates on Lil's status.

My uncle arrives at about 2pm, thereafter K and I leave. Mama stays behind to stay the afternoon, and probably because she wants to meet...

... aunty Day who will get there around 6pm with special food for dinner and to stay the night.

I love my luan-see family.

The week in summary

This week my thoughts are with Lil, one of my beloved aunts, who has been warded for fever and what seems to be some infection of her brain lining (?!). I miss having her all lively and bossing everyone about. But it's pretty marvelous how the family network sprung into action - people bringing porridge and bovril for the patient, visiting, checking in on the family... it really feels like some sort of safety net: fall, and the rest link up to catch you.

So as I went to check in on my cousin this week, I thought about how - many years ago, I was a blur sotong of a twelve year old, and my aunt came to my rescue. I was supposed to go to my aunt's after a class event at the national stadium. Only thing is, I figured it would be faster for me to take a public bus rather than go back to school. So I persuaded my teacher to let me go... but after the class had left, I found that I didn't know which bus-stop to take the bus from.

Recap: Twelve years old, all alone at the stadium, hardly any money, handphones didn't exist yet, and I think I asked some passers-by for a coin to make a phonecall with:)

At any rate, I managed to call my family to let them know where I was. While waiting for Lil to come get me, it started to pour. I felt sooo miserable and lost and pathetic.

In the end, Lil zoomed down in a car that she happened to have possession of that week - borrowed from someone at work who was overseas (again, cars weren't all that common then). It was raining buckets, we were both drenched, and I was so cold my teeth chattered together in the car. But I was safe with my aunty Lil, and that's all that mattered.

Ah, the drama of it all. Missing my aunt the drama queen...

***

As for the rest of my week: busy juggling some new areas of work as I get ready to switch units at the end of the year (finally).

Chasing Bubbles

It was dusk, and the little girl was a whirl of pink as she chased
after bubbles blown by her mama. Precious moments indeed.

Back to work

It was a pretty laid back long weekend. I had some alone time at home, which was nice.

I had time to check out old blog links that I chucked under my less-frequently-visited blog folder. This post by a field journal is so pretty and dreamy! Now I'm wondering how she did it.

And continuing the sightseeing theme... this time in Paris...

Have a good week ahead!

Pretty weeds

I have a great fondness for these weeds. I like the shades of purple and white. I like walking by quiet places and finding them growing free, in a place that hasn't been earmarked for development and is just being left to its own devices.

Head over heels for TTV

Oh long weekend, I'm so happy you're here.

My blogger posting issues somehow disappeared so I am back to being able to post photos and links. Whee.

And to celebrate... Photo time! This how-to-do-TTV video was a majorly instructive 5 minutes and 17 seconds. Via Elsie, whose blog is always full of inspiring craft ideas. And thanks also to Nesster who generously shares overlays for photo-editing in that awesome world known as flickr.

About the photo - I took it last December on a family holiday to Sarawak. This was taken outside Kuan-Yee-Poh's house. Living someplace with lots of open sky and low-rise buildings is great for photo taking.

En

The photo doesn't do the place justice but I'm posting it anyway cos I enjoyed looking out of the window of En Japanese Dining Bar, and it is much prettier in real life. What was really good: the beef carpaccio, sashimi, fried beef cubes, unagi fried rice.

I was there with a special group of friends - people who have shared many ups, downs, joys and trials of youth ministry well over a decade. It sounds like a long time but it has passed by so quickly - truly in a blink of an eye. When I look back, I see that God has brought us together, brought us through the challenges, healed many things in my life which are no more than a painless memory now. So the dinner was really a toast to the journey thus far and that which lies ahead. There will be more changes in our lives and areas of ministry but regardless of that, I think the bonds that have been formed will last a lifetime - something which I find deeply moving.

Sun Day

A happy day after church. Taking photos. Zipping along the AYE to
Chelle's. Relaxing with the doggies. Indulging in scrapbooking stuff.
Ahh.

Spotted

Another house, but a real one this time. I like the clean lines and
monochrome colours.

Spotted

I want to see UP! :)