Thursday September 29, 2011

Remembering Soo, the service dog

WHEEL POWER
By ANTHONY THANASAYAN

Farewell Soo, loyal companion and dear friend.

THERE was great sadness in my home last week. Soolam, my senior service dog, was put down. He was 13. The decision to euthanise Soo, as my other dogs and I fondly knew him, was not at all easy.
The move was quickly reached when the Golden Retriever could no longer stand or walk. He could not even eat his meals without throwing up.

However, everything about Soo’s final journey on earth turned out to be as intriguing and uncanny as the day when he first arrived.

He was barely two months old then. The pup was a gift from a couple who were doctors. The purpose was to see if a retriever could make a good service dog.

Friend for life: The writer spending precious moments with Soo before he was euthanised.

 

He needed to be fed as many as four times a day. I had to clean up after a dog that seemed to have an endless supply of poo.

The most difficult part, however, was to grab the pup and put him back in his crate. Fortunately, his senior canine partners literally lent their paws to solve the problem.

Soo had a knack of chasing the big dogs around the house. One of them would cleverly use the situation to dash back to me so that I could grab Soo.

The experience of raising and training Soo helped to psyche me up. And as for Soo, he went on to become a service dog that was parallel to none.

He was the perfect companion to attend meetings with. He’d been to church numerous times and even stayed completely unnoticed at government meetings. Some of the chairpersons discovered his presence only after the event.

He has helped me in unusual places, too. These include in the toilet at the United Nations building in Kuala Lumpur (when my shoe was out of reach and the soap fell on the floor).

He also sat through a serious discussion with people with AIDS at the Malaysian AIDS Council.
On top of all these, Soo had appeared scores of times in the media which included newspapers, TV and radio. He was the main star of a special video which featured my service dogs.

Once when I was caught in a 30-minute thunderstorm in a forest, Soo chose to get drenched with me in the heavy downpour rather than seek shelter elsewhere.

In his more than a decade of service, Soo relished his car rides the most – so much so that I became his private chauffeur. We must have travelled thousands of kilometres over the decade and only once, in all those years, did he throw up in the back seat.

Once our adventure led us all the way to Penang on a gruelling 24-hour trip where Soo performed and wowed several hundred people at a dog event with his service dog skills.

On that fateful Sunday morning, an extremely feeble Soo looked straight into my eyes. It was as if he was telling me to be strong for him and do the right thing to painlessly end his suffering.
He never once whimpered or flinched. He took every opportunity to lay his head on my shoulder or hands whenever I was by his side.

Despite the pain, Soo remained resolute and dignified in the back seat of my car during his final journey to the veterinarian. He was on my lap with his head held high as I wheeled into the clinic.
I made sure that my hero fell asleep before he entered into eternal sleep. The clinic didn’t charge me anything for putting a great dog down.

Another doctor, who is an expert in dog show winning breeds, offered to bury Soo in his yard at home.

My king, I’m proud to say, is now privileged to be the only retriever laid to rest with other national and international champion Doberman and German Shepherd Dog breeds that have crossed over the rainbow bridge before him.

Even more amazing is the fact that Soo is buried in the home of the mother of my latest and youngest service dog candidate, Dobe Ace Zhar the Doberman.

Last Saturday, Zhar and I were at an international dog show in KL with more than 200 dogs from all over Asia. And although I was the only person in a wheelchair there, Zhar stuck close to me much like Soo used to do during happier days.

And by a very strange coincidence, Zhar kept climbing up on my lap several times as if to say: “Don’t worry, you’re safe now. I’m with you.”

Angels don’t always come with wings; sometimes they have tails, even if it happens to be a rather short one.

He did it his way

I found this article that is very meaningful and very inspiring. If you happened to stumble on this post, read the post till it´s end.
It´s a sad story, with a sad ending.... but then again, it teaches us many things about life.

Sunday September 11, 2011

He did it his way

By NG ZHU HANN

A young man who placed family first showed that nothing is impossible when your heart is in it.

MY best friend Terrence Phang Ying Choy was from SMK Bandar Utama, Selangor. I had known him for 12 years, since primary school. I literally grew up with him and he was like a brother to me.

Ying Choy came from a poor background. His father is a contractor and his mother, a housewife. He had two younger siblings and they live in a rented apartment.

Like most Chinese-educated students, his command of English was comparatively weaker than that of his peers. He was also an ordinary student with no special talent in sports or music.

However, Ying Choy worked twice as hard as his peers and did really well in school. He scored 6As and 1B in his UPSR, 8As in his PMR and 9A1s and 2As in his SPM.

Beloved son, brother and friend: Terrence Phang Ying Choy.

Despite his good results he failed to secure any scholarship after Form Five. Because his father’s construction jobs are seasonal, he decided to work to supplement the family’s income and support his younger brothers, instead of furthering his studies. He did sales and marketing for his uncle’s firm, worked on a construction site and gave tuition four times a week for one full year. In fact, he was the sole breadwinner during the economic downturn in 2007.

When his father’s income became more stable as the property market picked up again, Ying Choy decided to go back to his studies. He felt manual labour was not enough to help the family.

He enrolled in Form Six, studied for about three months, then dropped out. He switched to A-levels at Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR) College, where he got a full subsidy for his course. But he dropped out after two months.

Finally, he enrolled in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman for a foundation programme, which he completed. Once again, he stopped studying and went back to work for some months.

Ying Choy dropped out three times because he could not focus on his studies knowing that his siblings would be leaving school soon and needed money to further their education.

One day, he saw some Facebook pictures of his secondary school friends who were studying in London, on tour in the Swiss Alps. He wondered why others could do it while he could not. He realised it wasn’t because they were smarter but that they had better opportunities.

So he withdrew the RM17,000 he had saved from working and took a leap of faith – he signed up for an express A-levels programme that Sunway College had just introduced.

The gamble was that if he did well, he would get an offer from a good university, which would enable him to get a scholarship. He could then use the money to study and save some for his family.

After being away from books for almost one-and-a-half years, Ying Choy had to struggle to cope. Every day he attended college from 8am to 6pm; went home for dinner; gave tuition from 8 to 10pm, and then revised his lessons from 10.30pm to 12.30am. He did this for a whole year.

Early 2009, Ying Choy received offers from five top British universities: the London School of Economics, Imperial College London, Warwick University, University College London and University of Cambridge. He also got offers from Melbourne University and the National University of Singapore.

He was shocked and elated. He least expected to get a place in Cambridge, which many top Malaysian students had failed to get into, what more a boy whose pre-U studies was never exceptional.

Despite the good news, he still had to get the scholarship.

After being rejected by various companies and foundations, he finally received an offer from Sime Darby, one month before Cambridge’s acceptance deadline. Ying Choy had defied the odds to attain a place in the one of the best universities in the world.

That year, he stepped on an aeroplane for the first time in his life. It was his first trip abroad and the first time he had left home. He was the first in his family to go for tertiary education.

He promised them he would come back and life would be good after he graduated. He would take them to Europe and buy a new house so they need not have to rent.

Ying Choy spent wisely and saved substantially. Every month, he sent home a large portion of his allowance.

He did remarkably in his first year at Cambridge, scoring first class honours and was ranked 37 among the 160 engineering students in his batch. He did equally well in his second year.

In July, Ying Choy came home for the summer holidays. His family had been looking forward to his return and everyone had a good time with him back.

But life took a cruel twist on Sept 1. At 6am that morning, he had breathing difficulties and collapsed by the side of his bed.

My best friend died about six hours after I last saw him. He had looked perfectly healthy then. In fact, he was a basketball player and a gym rat.

He was buried on Sept 4. He was only 22.

A large portion of his savings – he had saved over RM50,000 for his siblings’ education – was used for the funeral expenses. His family, who are still in shock, now have to worry about their younger sons’ education even as they grieve for their eldest boy.

Ying Choy strongly believed in self-help. He was vehemently against using connections as the way to success. He was living proof that meritocracy still exists today.

I will always miss him.

I´m sorry (The story of the Pencil & the Eraser)

Pencil: I'm sorry
Eraser: For what? You didn't do anything wrong.
Pencil: I'm sorry cos you get hurt bcos of me. Whenever I made a mistake, you're always there to erase it. But as you make my mistakes vanish, you lose a part of yourself. You get smaller and smaller each time.
Eraser: That's true. But I don't really mind. You see, I was made to do this. I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong. Even though one day, I know I'll be gone and you'll replace me with a new one, I'm actually happy with my job. So please, stop worrying. I hate seeing you sad. :)


I found this conversation between the pencil and the eraser very inspirational. Parents are like the eraser whereas their children are the pencil. They're always there for their children, cleaning up their mistakes. Sometimes along the way... they get hurt, and become smaller (older, and eventually pass on).

Though their children will eventually find someone new (spouse), but parents are still happy with what they do for their children, and will always hate seeing their precious ones worrying, or sad.

"All my life, I've been the pencil.. And it pains me to see the eraser that is my parents getting smaller and smaller each day.

For I know that one day, all that I'm left with would be eraser shavings and memories of what I used to have..."


This is to all the parents out there...

Ending of September

September is coming to an end once again..... Time seems to be passing by extremely quickly. Maybe it really is or maybe just cos we never realize that it is passing by so fast..... Can´t believe it that the year is almost ending and September is ending - with it comes October *bright and shining*


23rd September marks the day (Calender wise) Autumn begins officially, although temperature and weather wise, Autumn has already arrived a long long time ago. However, even until now we still get to see the trees changing the colors of their leaves, some even already balding.... Amelia finds the colors of the falling leaves very interesting. Always asking me why are there so many different colors of leaves on the ground......

As I sit here and pen down our thoughts, daily ongoings and such, a pang of regret hits me..... regret that time is passing so fast always. Regret that we couldn´t celebrate the Mooncake Festival the way it used to be back home here. But from those regret, appeared new hope, new ways and new life.... I guess that´s always a part and parcel of life.......

In a glimpse of an eye, both of us have already been here 7 months and 14 days already. We have experienced the ending of Winter, the beginning and ending of Spring and Summer and now finally Autumn. We have gone through alot of hardships together, also together with our new Papa / hubby. I won´t say life has been a bed of roses here for us. We have our share of ups and downs together with Sven and also with each other.... Especially for me and Sven.


We knew it won´t be an easy path, especially when bringing two different cultures / beliefs / traditions together. When East meets West, When Western meets Asian.... everything goes haywire. But we try our best to make it work.


I guess the most painful one is the one involving my daughter. We, Sven and myself, have very different opinions about her behaviour and such. For me, being from a very "cincai" family, I basically have few basic requirements in Amelia. As long as she behaves, has manners and isn´t rude - the rest of her naughtiness can sometimes be "overlooked" by me... however, here in Germany, there are many "dos and don´ts" involving children. Believe me...... even if I take the whole day blogging, I won´t be able to finish penning down the things they allow and don´t allow down here, especially in children. 

Somehow, I feel that they are just too strict in the upbringing of children. Here I thought back home is being a total idiot and moron for doing certain stuff, here.... there are certain things that just baffles me..... Children are always noisy..... so what? But here... *sighs*......... voices must be down by 730pm latest 8pm, you can´t go stomping and squealing about and etc..... Feels quite uptight sometimes bringing up children here you know, in my personal opinion..... hence there are argumentations between me and Sven occasionally or constantly when it comes to Amelia.


Sorry...... One thing everyone and anyone should know.....


I do not take orders nor do I allow anyone to just scold and scream at my daughter. Hell... not even my ex husband I allowed back then. I understand... things might be slightly difficult for Sven at the moment as he never had a kid before, never married before and never lived with a kid 24/7 before. There are different set of expectations from him - especially from a different upbringing than mine. I mean.... hell.... even my ex-husband used to have problems blending in as our daughter´s father back then. We are only human..... But I don´t want my daughter to undergo a complete 360° transformation for anyone - even if we are living in a different country. 


Amelia and myself have been learning every day tremendously the moment we stepped into Germany. We have been learning from street wise, culture wise, food wise and even language wise. I have to praise my daughter. She is coping far more better off than me. Probably she has the protection of me and also Sven from things - although Sven is more of "let her experience more on her own" while me, being typical me - and all that she has been thru the past 4 years of her life, tend to be slightly more "overprotective" than him. But thank God, she is integrating herself much more easier than I am, learning faster than I am and most importantly.......blending in better than I am. The only problem she ever has..... like any growing child....... attitude and manners problem.


I know I know.... the "honeymoon" years are almost over. My baby is a big girl now. She is smarter (definitely) and also more naughtier. She pushes her luck to the maximum most of the time, purposely doing things she knows will make you angry... and then starts crying when not getting her way or showing her temper when not getting her way. It really hurts to scold or even smack her as punishment.. but somehow, she doesn´t seem to react with talking nicely and reasoning. *sighs* Do all parents go through this stage? :(

Anyway........ September met with us meeting up a numerous times with Audrey and Ley Poh together with our kids, and also Winnie & family visit to Berlin for 4 days. We had made many numerous memories and photos together with many people that came to visit us in this month, together with our daily photos and activities together. With the changing of seasons...... I guess in a couple of months time would be time once again to catch my daughter in her beautiful snowsuits and winterboots out in the snow making snowballs.

We shared many joyous moments and created many valuable memories with the friends and love ones. Hanging around Potsdam and all around Pankow, Berlin with our local friends as often as we can, and more importantly spending time with each other and with Sven as a family. The happy moments all captured in photos - I love candid shots.. sometimes they are the most beautiful shots a person can make......


But.... for me, personally.........

The most joyous moment and the most treasured and valuable moment for me was to finally be able to bridge the gap with my ex husband once and for good. We spent a good deal of time messaging each other the other day and........ finally alles klar. Although that is one chapter of my life that will remain locked forever with love and precious memories, thank you dear..... for bridging that gap. Because for me, to me, you have always been not only my partner and husband back then, but also my most trusted friend whom I can turn to and count in whenever I am in need of help, advice and so forth. And I am glad to have you back into my life again, especially for Amelia. For her, it means a great deal for her.


She has came to accept the fact that she is one very special little girl who has 2 daddies there to love and care for her. One whom she calls daddy and the other she calls papa. But, she loves both the men in her life equally much. Thank you God for such a wonderful little girl.


Happy Ending of September and Hello Autumny October


Oh oh......... and from what I heard from hubby....


Happy Halloween!!!! *Soon*

Hello Kitty Baking Day

Today is baking Sunday once again..... after so many months... we are baking once again, for the 2nd time......


But this time... it´s only Papa and baby baking session.... Mummy is the photographer, taking photos of all that is transpiring between the two of them...... 


It´s special today..... Baby has to help.... because we are baking Hello Kitty muffins today! Baby´s favourite "idol" at the moment : Hello Kitty.... she was literally jumping for joy when Papa say lets do baking, Hello Kitty baking today!


Well, we decided to change the muffins abit... instead of the icy thick pink icing on top of the muffin, we diluted the sugar completely into water and used a small spoon to cover the top of the muffin with them - each and every one of the muffins. Then after that, we took an additional 1 hour to nearly 2 hours for the sugar coating to dry up and soak into the muffin before serving it......

Outcome of it?

                         


Amelia LOVES It completely! Kept saying "Danke papa" non stop to Sven! *smiles*

Decision : We are gonna make them again next month or so... but this time we will try the thick icy pink icing... xD 

No Plastic Bag day? Customers say ‘I would rather pay’

Sunday September 25, 2011

No Plastic Bag day? Customers say ‘I would rather pay’

By QISHIN TARIQ and WINNIE YEOH
newsdesk@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Consumers in the Klang Valley are still using plastic bags when they shop despite the “No Plastic Bag” campaign introduced early this year.

Trader Mohd Noor Mohd Salleh, 32, said the policy was not that effective.

“At 20 sen a plastic bag, people can afford to pay for a few if they don't bring their own bags,” he added.

Gentle reminder: Signage in hypermarkets urging customers to bring their own shopping bags on Saturdays or be charged 20 sen per plastic bag.

Retired teacher Datin Zainab Karin, 71, said she has been making a conscious effort to reduce her use of plastic bags since the policy was introduced.

“I usually keep a few reusable bags in my car, as I sometimes forget to pack bags when I go shopping,” she said.

Recreational supervisor Mohd Arsat Marzuki, 24, said the policy might change the habits of people, but it still wasn't effective as many shop on impulse when they are near a hypermarket.

“Those who shop that way don't mind paying for bags as they don't usually buy so much anyway,” he added.

Fomca secretary-general Muhammad Sha'ani Abdullah said the campaign should be expanded to more days instead of just Saturdays or Sundays.

In Penang, where the policy has been in effect every day of the week for the past nine months, it has been a resounding success.

“We have noticed that there is less clogging of waterways ever since we embarked on the campaign which later included the ban on the use of polystyrene packaging at council-owned hawker centres,” said Penang Health, Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh.

Phee said the state government had taken a risk when it implemented the ruling as plastic bag manufacturers opposed it.

He also said the state government has collected almost RM1mil from the 20 sen sale of plastic bags at outlets since July 1, 2009. The fee is imposed on people who insist on plastic bags.

A source said that since the implementation of the ruling first partial, then total in 2009, the state has recorded a reduced usage of at least 33 million plastic bags

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I seriously wonder when will Malaysia, the whole of Malaysia, even ever implement this without a glitch....... Somehow, in my opinion, the plastic bags to pay for is rather "cheap". They should take more measures if they want to make it more effective. 

Over here in Germany, depending on the sizes of the plastic bags you take or the type of bags you take, the prices ranges from 0.09 - 1.50 euro per bag. And I don´t see anyone complaining about it...... guess they are "born" with it.... or they are adapting better than the Malaysians back home.....

Kids Talk About True Love

Found this really cute video..... showing the innocence of young minds and children. Their opinion of love really puts a smile on my face....... Them not knowing the hardships and such. :)

They talk about what is love, what happens next and so forth.... Worth a watch ;)

Really love the part, especially when at the end the little girl was talking about babies..... makes me wonder how can some people just hurt the innocent minds.

My baby and her bestie

A day out to meet up with Audrey and Mia to get my winter jacket and boots ended up window shopping and having 2 little squealing kiddos running around Alexa like two long lost buddies finally meeting up with each other after decades of not meeting!

Was indeed really nice to see both of them being so high spirited.......




 In fact...... when they saw each other ... instead of walking to each other, they ran to each other and hugged each other tightly! :-O Wasted I didn´t have my camera on hand at the time..... xD

Meeting up with old friends.........

Tuesday and Wednesday have been a great day for both of us.......

Winnie, Carlene and her parents came to Berlin for a 4 day stay and we managed to meet up with they all for two days...... first was a Hello long time no see dinner which we had on the 2nd day she was in Berlin. We took her to a strictly traditional German restaurant serving strictly German food. Was a great experience for her and her family and they were completely fascinated with the taste and the names of the food served.

Anyways..... Amelia and myself had our 2nd trip to Potsdam today together with Winnie and her family. The decision was kind of last minute..... and Amelia was whisked onto the train together with Winnie and the rest of us to the quaint little town of Potsdam once again..... but this time, we sort of ventured slightly more compared to the other time when we came..... we managed to go into that quaint little street that is filled with shops and had a fun time window shopping through the street...... There was even this small quaint little shop that was selling personalized items with all your names on each and every item, from teas to gummi sweets to candles etc..... But oh well... it stays as window shopping. Afterall, the Christmas Markets aren´t officially up... and there is no way I am gonna waste money shopping like this.

Schloß Sanssousi was indeed a remarkable trip this time.... Amelia was happily running around Winnie and her family and even myself... and acting the miniature Tour guide to Winnie´s parents telling them "you should go here to see this" and etc.... was really cute watching her playing tour guide.... and it was even nicer of Winnie and especially her parents to even entertain my little imp throughout those two days we met her....... They seriously enjoyed playing together with her... running up the stairs and all. *fascinated* xD


We didn´t manage to complete the whole place, as the entire grounds is really huge and that walking around not only made my daughter tired, but everyone in the group was tired.... thankfully the weather was indeed perfect, sunny and windy at the same time..... Not too hot nor too cold..... I really love this kind of weather... ^^ 


My daughter was completely like an Energizer battery that keeps going on and on and on with her endless energy, running all over the place, holding hands with everyone - especially with Winnie´s mum. She just completely clicked with her and kept saying "I want to hold popo´s hands"........ Guess she must be missing her grandparents back in Malaysia alot...... but.... she completely made the day of both Winnie´s parents alot..... Was really nice seeing all of them enjoying themselves thoroughly :)

When we were in the Bus on our way back to the Main station, we stumbled upon the shopping street.... Winnie was extremely curious bout it and we decided to hop off the next stop and to take a 5 min walk to the destination. Was worth the stop as that quaint little street had so many quaint little shops all around it.... Indeed a wonderful and rare sight, especially for me and baby as we barely wander around Germany *yet*.......... 


But with us stopping there, we managed to get a quick bite for lunch... Hotdogs..... before making our way back to the main train station to make our way back to the other side of Berlin........ 


Thankfully, me and Amelia made it back in time.... we had an appointment with Amelia´s doctor for her immunization (again)..... yeap.... Amelia is getting immunized all over again.... its good in a way..... as we are now in a foreign country, we are getting all the immunizations for the disease normally found here instead... :)

We managed to meet Winnie and family one last time for the day. We had dinner together... Asian dinner. Was indeed a very long and nice dinner, simply with chatting and sharing food by passing food all around the table... *ahem* hubby gets culture shock here :P But.... after hours of sitting and eating and chatting, it was time to say goodbye.....


It was indeed great to meet Winnie again after all these years. It´s good to hear she is engaged and getting married by end of the year or so.... and even greater to meet the acquaintance of her parents.


Thanks Winnie for the opportunity to be able to spend time with you :) Hopefully we get to meet one day again when we go back KL for a visit :)

Parents Teachers Meeting

So, today we had the first Parents Teachers Meeting with Amelia´s teacher in Kindergarten.


Was kinda amused with the way they have the Parents Teachers Meeting here in Germany. So much different from back home in Malaysia where the teachers meet the parents one by one.... here, all the parents sit together in the class room, with cookies, coffee, tea or milk or plain water while discussing about the children´s progress in class, their behaviour and etc. There is also a question and answer session whereby if the parents have any questions at all regarding to their children or the kindergarten, they are free to ask the teacher there.


Anyways........ my daughter first started kindergarten in June 2nd 2011. Right up till now, she has attended in total 3 nearly 4 months of school...... And this is the first Parents Teachers Meeting........ 


Her teacher´s name is Bianca. She´s really a cool lady.... big plump blond lady that is cheerful and smiley...... although most of the time I have a hard time talking to her as she doesn´t know much english and my german ain´t that fluent enough...... but I find her quite helpful and pleasant.


Anyways........... 


From Bianca´s observation for the past 3 - 4 months of Amelia´s schooling days in kindergarten :

"Amelia is integrating herself very well in class. She is a very helpful girl that is willingly helping anyone in need and she is picking up German extremely well. She can blend in very well and make friends easily, although occasionally she fights - especially with one particular girl (girly fights) call Lizzy. Apparently she and Lizzy are 2 girls that can´t live without each other and can´t stand each other. Hence you´d see them constantly fighting and being close to each other. Amelia is also a 101% perfectionist which sometimes makes her classmates baffled and hence the statement "Aaawww Amelia, it´s completed" or "Hurry up Amelia". She also loves eating (apparently) as she eats 2 - 3 helpings of lunch every day in school *omg*...... And most obvious factor, she loves drawing"


One good thing.....
Thank you God for Amelia blending in to our new life just fine! Shows that we have finally.... completely.... moved on! :)

The end of WoW

Clicked "Start" button, then clicked World of Warcraft....... Clicked play, keyed in password then login..... and the message that the account has been closed and need to top up the account popped up.... *Oh!!* *smacks my forehead* I forgot..... my account was terminated and the last playing day was 19th of September for me....


Yeaps... I forgotten that I have terminated the account. How ironic and dumb can I get *ponders to myself* 


Somehow I am amazed with myself. I never was the gamer, well not until back then when I played to accompany my ex husband and the one game that caught my heart right up till today was Ragnarok Online. And now, I finally found another game that replaced Ragnarok... and that was WoW..... *ouch* 


Hmmmmm Where is the sensible Pat that doesn´t game? *wonders* haahahahaha 


Anyways, it is 2 years now since I first touched WoW....... Was introduced to me by my hubby when I first visited him in Germany. Initially, like all other games that was introduced to me by everyone, I was skeptical (hell I take a long time to adjust and learn one damn game......) about WoW. But then again, after nearly a year playing, I finally managed to understand and learn the basics, although speaking wise - as I am stranded in the middle of a German server - ain´t something I learned yet.. Hahahaha so barely have friends in there except for Hubby and Thomas..... 


I had alot of fun times in WoW although the desire to play alongside my hubby was strong then. I remember those long grueling nights I struggle to stay awake to level up my priest and hunter asap so that I can join hubby in raids and dungeons...... But sadly, that part I am slightly disappointed. Haven´t been to a full fledge raid yet with him at all. Guess cos I don´t have experience and the equipment to be qualified into a raid alongside with him.......


Oh well... that´s past.......


I will miss my uber healer...... and my favourite hunter........ Time for sensible Pat to re-appear and conquer once again ^^

Why parents must play

20 September 2011

By ANNA WONG
Setting: On the bed at 9pm
Players: Mum and her five-year-old boy


Mum was trying to get her child to sleep but the little boy wanted to play a little longer. After promising that he would definitely go to bed after five minutes, mum and child started to “set up their camp site”.


Then, they looked up at the clear night sky and marvelled at the twinkling stars and bright, round moon. They talked about the different stars that appeared in the sky and how the stars appeared to be dancing and laughing at each other! They also talked about the different planets in the galaxy and wondered which planet ET had come from.


Soon the mum reminded the boy that five minutes had gone by and that he should be going to bed now. He wanted to prolong the play but the mum was firm that he honours the promise that he had made. He was reluctant initially but after his mum assured him that they would return to this campsite, the boy got under his blanket and kissed his mum good night.


In the above scene, by playing with her child, the mum had shown love, enforced discipline, communicated and educated her child, as well.


Play is so important and yet, many of today's parents allocate the least time for the child to play and also, to play with their children. A child's most important “daytime job” is to play. “Play” includes all fun activities, such as music, arts & craft, dancing, creative play, sports, reading/storytelling, etc. And to a child, what can be more pleasurable than to have his mum or dad play with him?


The role of today's parents is a lot more complicated and difficult compared to their parents' time. If a parent does not have a close relationship with her child from Day One, parenting becomes even more challenging as the child grows up. One of the ways to ensure that parents and their children develop a strong bond is through play. Parents will have a higher success level of reaping the rewards of a strong relationship with their child if they spent time nurturing the bond at the foundation level.


All parents love their children and they aim to provide the best for them. One of the best things you can do for your child (and for yourself) is to spend time playing with them. Contrary to what parents think, a child does not need more than the basic material things; what he really requires is his parents' love, time and attention.


When you spend time engaging in play activities (whether it is structured or free play) with your child, parent and child will have fun and get to know each other's inner soul. You will know your child as an individual, his likes and dislikes, his temperament, and his outlook in life. His personality will also shine through in play. How does he react to winning/losing? What motivates him? Is he highly imaginative? Creative? Musical?


During playtime, you will also be able to take note of his developmental progress. His playing mannerism will tell a lot of his cognitive, motor and emotional development. During play, you should observe if his play is age-appropriate, that is how he plays with his toys. Does he enjoy a wide range of toys? Does he make eye contact with you? Is he exceptionally shy? What is his attention span? After the age of three, he should seek out the company of other little friends. He should be able to communicate, learn to share (or fight for) his toys and wait for his turn.


When you are playing with your child, you can also take the opportunity to impart family and social values. Think about the values cherished by the family and the general social values that a child should learn from young. Whenever applicable, inject these values into the play sessions. If the child hears of these values over a period of time, the values will be “cemented” into him. It is hoped that these values will become useful to him when he needs to make important decisions in the future.


There are also lots of opportunities to increase your child’s general knowledge during play. In the above child-led play activity, the boy learnt about the stars and the moon. In subsequent play sessions, the topics of conversation can be expanded to cover the animal kingdom, the various “picnic foods” and everyone's responsibilities of taking care of the forest and, in general, taking care of the environment.


In the course of play, mum too would learn something new – “mobile refrigerators”, salad made with sausages (!) and a magical stove that heats up on its own. A lot of speech and language development would also take place.


Play also benefits the parent tremendously. Besides forging a bond with your child, it is also a great stress-reliever. It will put you on an emotional high and feeling good means looking good!


So, if you want to feel young and look good, be child-like and play!


“You stopped playing not because you grew old,
You grew old because you stopped playing!”


Anna Wong, mother to a 16-year-old special girl, founded Glen Stream (www.senses-at-play.com) in 2005 to assist other parents on this challenging journey. Her company offers related products and services.

Remember Me

Remember me when I am gone away,

Gone far away into the silent land;

When you can no more hold me by the hand,

Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay,

Remember me when no more day by day,

You tell me of our future that you planned;

Only remember me, you´ll understand,

It will be late to counsel then or pray,

Yet if you should forget me for a while

And afterwards remember, do not grieve;

For if the darkness and corruption leave,

A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile,

Than that you should remember and be sad.

A trip to Potsdam

Saturday came and just went like the wind.......


Autumn is already upon us as the weather changes rapidly and without any warning. Sometimes, the sun shines the whole day but yet the temperature is chilly and cold. Other times, it is hot and sunny making you sweat like as if in Summer. But these hot moments are rare lately..... nowadays it´s difficult not to go out without a jacket. The weather changes so fast, sometimes, its better to be dressed for the chills than for the hot sun! *in my opinion that is*


On this particular weekend, hubby is working. Leaving only me and my cheeky adorable daughter alone for the weekend...... So, earlier in the week, I already made plans with Ley Poh to meet up during Saturday for lunch and some time together...... and also to pass her some smaller size clothes for her 1 year odd daughter and something to "tumpang" her when she goes back to Malaysia next weekend for 2 months... something to pass to my dad when she is back in KL.


Ohhh... did I miss out a fact... she lives in Potsdam (kinda like a neighbouring town in Berlin), which is like 1 hour 10 mins by train there! 


The menu for lunch...... strictly and typical Chinese food and.... BAK KUT TEH!!!!! *yummies* 


Been a very long time since we ate Bak Kut Teh...... and I relish and welcome that wonderful meal! *grins cheekily* Besides, Ley Poh was quite a good cook for chinese dishes ^^ 


We left home at approximately 945am, went to develop some photos to be sent back to my parents and then made our way to the train station...... only to stop at Gesundbrunnen and to take the train back home because silly mummy here forgotten to take something along....... and so.... making our way back home and all the way back to the train station.... had delayed our journey for like 1 hour odd... -.- *damn* getting old here hahahahahahahaha


And then there were some glitches here and there, due to the upcoming elections in Berlin, so many trains were.... "disrupted" their services.... took us slightly more than 1 hour 10 mins to even reach to Potsdam........ in the end, we had to take the Regional train just to get to Potsdam Haupbahnhof station...... -.-

By the time we arrived in Potsdam, it was already past noon, approximately bout 1230pm..... I had to call hubby via phone a couple of times thanks to the trains disruptions to ensure that there were no "riots" whatsoever and also to ask which is the next best solution to go there as the one that I know of were unavailable.. -.- But thank God, in the end, we arrived safely there, although late for lunch but at least before 1pm ^^ 


Potsdam town is a very nice quail and olden town where the buildings are all so in the olden times, makes you feel like as if you are walking through the 1920´s or something...... the feeling I get walking down the streets of Potsdam is like a dream come true...... where you only can see such stuff on TV (back then as a little girl growing up till now when I watch tv when in Malaysia on all the western lifestyles etc).  Amelia was so fascinated with the surroundings, the beautiful structures of the buildings and even the double decker buses here are much more ancient looking than the ones that we sat in Berlin Pankow area...


After a nice lunch and some chatting at her place, Ley Poh and her husband took both of us to the Schloss Sanssouci Park in Potsdam. Her daughter... knocked out in the stroller even before reaching our destination *haha* leaving only my daughter to run around and wander around the park.... 

Schloss Sanssouci Park is indeed breath taking! I have never seen such a beautiful vast park before! The summer palace was a grand sight indeed, although we didn´t walk into the palace... I prefer the outdoors and besides, admiring the structure and the surroundings of the palace ground was somewhat more interesting for me than being stuck inside the palace and looking at the interior of the place........


In fact... somehow, makes me wonder..... what will this entire place with its hundreds and hundreds acres of gardens and woods surrounding the palace look like in Spring time when all the flowers are in full bloom! *sighs* The wonders of nature!!!! And most importantly....... the entire palace and the surroudings, even mother nature, was and still is greatly taken care of by the people there!!! Something I rarely see when in Malaysia....... *ponders* Why we can´t do it back home also?! Oh well.. hahahahaha was just speculating.. 

There is various places to go about but we didn´t manage to walk to everywhere, just for a few spots.... Because first of it was too big the place to walk the entire place... Hahaha even Ley Poh and her husband haven´t fully covered the entire area! And secondly, Amelia herself was growing extremely tired also....... But we managed to see the Chinese Tea House that was on the palace grounds itself, although not the chance to enter and see the interiors of it. 

Somehow, am hoping maybe one day we can go back there with Sven to visit... I would love to go there one more time... although definitely not during winter.... *hahaha* I feel like hibernating for the whole time during winter... judging from the cold that we are experiencing at the moment... xD But then again, there is so much more for me to experience .... especially during winter...... heck, even my daughter needs to experience see and feel so much during her first winter this year! :) Can´t disappoint my little baby can I? ^^


But it was indeed a great experience, this Saturday, it was indeed for the both of us! We traveled across Berlin to another city (entire completely.... had to buy new tickets for bus rides and such :-s ) without Sven by our side, met up and hang out with friends and.... most importantly, enjoyed ourselves thoroughly despite the changing of the weathers from extremely cold (in the morning) to burning hot (in the afternoon) and once again back to crazily cold in the late afternoon early evening!

I am sincerely thankful for Ley Poh and her husband´s hospitality throughout the whole afternoon till evening..... and even their cute adorable daughter, that was asleep most of the time when we were in Schloss Sanssouci..... 


And am very happy and touched with her husband too for being so nice to take care of the kids and play with them while we ladies were just sitting on the bench and enjoyed talking and getting to know each other more..... Thank you for that kind gesture :) It´s indeed appreciated by me alot......


It´s rare to find such quality in men, especially from men from Malaysia.... ^^ No offense meant to anyone though... but majority always rules :P


Now.... I can´t wait for the Christmas markets to launch so that we can go visiting and taking more photos day and day of all the wonderful decorations that is gonna be coming up for the Christmas festivals......


*sighs*


We are indeed contented..... 


Ohh...... and.... Thank you hubby...... for being so nice and cooking dinner just for me and baby when we reached back home at 7pm... *hugs*

World Peace

Today, after my classes, instead of rushing to the train station like I always do, I decided to venture into the shopping mall just beside my school for some food. Well, normally I am kinda rushing straight to the train station to get on the next fastest train to go back to get my daughter from Kindergarten as I don´t want her to be the last one left there or something like it.


Anyway, I decided to do something different as I was hungry like crazy... the weather is cold like crazy and I am having fatigueness and etc non stop... so had to ease my poor stomach.....


In the centre of the mall, on my way to food, there was this pillar with 4 sides pasted all over it drawings and messages of world peace that gotten my attention. Written in various types of languages including English and German, these posters talk about world peace, and that everyone is human irregardless of skin color or race or beliefs. The posters are actually very meaningful and portray a very clear message to anyone reading it or just standing there glancing at each and every one of these posters. They clearly state world peace, 1 world, 1 people. 

You know, if the people who draw them are children..... my heart really goes out to them. Why do adults, those who lost their "innocence" in them start fighting for power and lust and etc? Why do we condemn someone else just cause they are different from us or speak different from us? Why are we so greedy that we want something that isn´t ours? Why do we demand that everything is ours?

If one is really all that God fearing and believing in God, these lands belong to God. Not mankind. You can´t take the lands and your wealth together with you when you die..... they all still exists out there and they all belong to God. So why are everyone trying to out do one another in this dying world? Why are we condemning the future generation to live in slumps and dying life forms all around us? Why are we educating our young to fight amongst overselves? 


Why do people preach so much about God and the values of God when they themselves don´t even follow and practice what they preach? Why do they keep asking God for repentance and protection when they go seeking trouble head on? Why can´t people see that the whole world is dying from their greed and their demands......

I really love those posters that I saw today in Gesundbrunnen Centre. It really touched my heart and my heart really go all way out for these people who are voicing their thoughts and opinions through these drawings. All they and many others out and around the world only want peace. We should do something about all these fighting instead of watching people fight over every single good for nothing reason. 


We all should respect each and every individual. Be it whether they believe in Allah or Jesus or Buddha etc, we should respect their beliefs and not proof each other superior. God doesn´t teach us this. Look up each and every own bible of your own. Irregardless of which religion, God doesn´t teach us to fight and proof each other superior. God teaches us to spread love and care amongst ourselves.

Learning to accept, the past & the present

The past and the present...... two things, two different times. Sometimes, the past is forgotten, other times the past lives hand in hand with the present and..... there are times the past just cannot see eye to eye with the present. Depending on individuals and the way they see into things, not every past and present and live together in harmony side by side. 


If I have a choice, I would rather have both my past and my present be able to live hand in hand together without any prejudice with each other. It makes life easier, especially for my daughter. On one hand is her biological father, whom she have no contact whatsoever for more than a year before he wanted and made an effort to see her every weekend to every once a month before we migrated and now is completely out of sight and mind for 7 months now, and on the other is her Stepfather whom has been her surrogate father for the past 7 months - playing the role of father from educating, playing, spoiling and every thing a father does together with my daughter.


I don´t want to see my daughter torn apart because of the two men in her life.


I was talking to someone online yesterday... and that person happened to be, once upon a time, a mutual friend of me and my ex husband. Thanks to his help, I realized alot of things regarding my husband - straight from my husband´s mouth (or should I say typing). For that I really thank him for it...... anyways.... I was talking to this friend of ours... and he was asking me a question, almost everyone has been asking me : "Will you let Amelia know about her father?"


First of, he is her biological father. Irregardless whether he was a good father or not, or whether he has played a fatherly role in her life before we separated - that is not the point. But the fact and the reality at the moment is, both of us (myself and my ex husband) have moved on (finally). Myself and my daughter, we migrated 10,000km away from the only home we know, aka Malaysia, to start a new life completely. New home, new friends, new surroundings, new marriage and etc. My ex husband is also already dating anew. 


At this point of time, I rather Amelia forgets her past... which isn´t hard to do. We left and moved back to my parents´ place when she was only 1 year 3 months old. My ex-husband never even came to visit or call us for more than a year. He only started seeing her again (every once a month minimum or every weekend if he can) after our divorce was finalized (which was March 2010 - Amelia was already   3 years the) and the visitations started. His visits was from every weekend to every once a month to any weekend that he was available, which isn´t all that frequent. Besides, there are many a times he let her down - as in he promised to turn up but last minute didn´t turn up. I really hated seeing the rejected look in my daughter´s eyes every time he stood her up back then. 


Hence, at the moment, I rather she forget as much as she can and move on with life. But, however, when she is older and of age, she wants to know more about her father, I would gladly tell her about the man I love and loved and probably in a strange forbidden way continue to love. Though I would not tell her the details of our separation, our affairs will be left between me and him although I won´t be able to stop him if he wants to tarnish and tell her everything. It is better for her to grow up, mature without the shadow of my ex husband overshadowing her life. Heck even he does overshadow mine with the stressing memories of our past 12 years. 


My main concern here is that my baby, my life, grows up into a gorgeous beautiful studious and intelligent lady that I know she will be without the past haunting her. I know, from past experience as a teacher in elementary school....... a child from a divorce family will grow into two types of person only : 1) If she can accept the divorce / forgot much about the past, hence she will grow up like every other normal kid. 2) If she has hatred over the divorce, then she will grow up destroying everything and everyone whom she see is having a happy life.


I don´t want my daughter going through that path. Hence I want her to forget and move on as much as possible. If given a choice, I will even ask my ex husband to stay out as much as possible to avoid her getting more confusion over her current situation.... but, I know my ex husband well enough. He is a very understanding and loving man despite his and my misunderstandings. And my trust and love for him wins that I know he will know what is best for our daughter. 


But, if I ever have a 2nd chance to talk to my ex husband, I´d say one thing. Both Amelia and myself loved him alot, more than words can ever express ourselves.


But...... We will continue moving on