Pistos Philos

ocbc cycle 2011...

2011-04-15T13:13:00.001+08:00

that's me, suffering...

itchy finger and broken wall...

2011-04-02T23:31:00.003+08:00

Well, it all started one fine sunny afternoon when little little chung noticed a bubble on the wall. With curiosity that could kill an elephant, little little chung stretched out his tiny minute little pinky and poked the bubble, which then cracked! Noticing with little might he could cause a crack on the wall, little little chung push a little further and managed to make a hole in it!

By the time, elder brother Little Chung walked past, the hole soon turned into a size of a twelve inch pizza and by the time daddy was summoned, it was all too late to salvage (not by scotch, duct or black tape or any sticker) little little chung's masterpiece...

and here you have (picture below) little little chung proudly showing off what he had done. The green part, that was the original wall constructed about 30 years ago before the very first layer of paint was ever applied. Ok, little little chung did not make such a big hole. his creation was just a patch which is about the size of his head at his eye level. The rest was done by me. I was thinking that I might as well repair the wall by scrapping any portion of the wall that might have bubble trapped in it... Little did i know it was such a big patch to be fixed!

so... off to the hardware store to get tools, paint and stuff to fix the wall. Little chung was really excited because daddy is acting like his two favorite cartoon characters, bob the builder and handy manny... fixing and building things...

with all the necessary stuff at the back of my pouch, i started to work on the wall... first, got to clean up and plastered back the wall (below)...

got to make sure it is totally plastered up....

and with sandpaper, the plastered wall looks flat and smooth...

add a layer of paint, and ta-da!!! all is good again (below)...

a pat on my own back for a job well-done. now, to add electric fence to keep little little chung away...

kids do say the darnest thing...

2011-03-22T14:13:00.004+08:00

While having breakfast at the coffeeshop, little chung with an agonized expression whispered into my ear, "daddy, a snail is going to come out of my backside"...

"WHAT?!" I have no clue what he was talking about... after some exchange, i finally realized he needs to use the toilet...

and man, he was right, it does look like a snail, a big snail that is...

*disclaimer - for those with vivid imagination and good visual formalization, the blogger is hereby not liable for your unfinished food, spoiling of appetite, nauseous or throwing out resulting from reading this entry...
if you insist on compensation - escargot only...

same same...

2011-03-16T14:30:00.003+08:00

I had to renew my passport as it is expiring soon. This could be done online and the authority required me to submit a photo of myself which is taken within the last three months. I searched through my database and could only find a pic suitable, which was taken in 2006...

I gave it a try anyway, and sure enough... my photo was rejected. So i tried to be a good citizen and obediently took a picture of myself and resubmit the pic. It was approved.

Wait a minute... I just compared the two photos (left to right: taken in 2006, taken recently) and what's the difference man!? I thought both look exactly the same!

attitude of my two year old...

2011-03-15T13:40:00.003+08:00

in my drowsy state at three in the morning, i stuffed a six hour old half-filled milk bottle down the throat of my wailing two year old.

After a sip, the crying actually stopped, but my son gave me the "are you kidding me!?" stare, plug the bottle out of his mouth, turned and went back to sleep.

He rather starve than drink stale milk... fiesty...

sending grandma home...

2011-03-11T12:26:00.004+08:00

on the 9th March, we buried grandma back at her hometown in malaysia, in a sense, it is bringing her back home... what is more significant was that she will be buried beside grandpa, which the spot had been prepared for her twenty years ago...

so from singapore, a convoy of 5 cars made our way towards malaysia. I thought it was very meaningful journey for us and grandma. In a way, it's our way of saying goodbye to her and a closure

.
goodbye, grandma...

grandma...

2011-03-08T12:51:00.000+08:00

grandma (maternal) passed away on the night of 5th March 2011 which happened to be my birthday. When mum tried to contact and informed me that night, I was already in bed, preparing for the 40km cycling challenge the very next day...

on the wee morning of 6th, mum called me numerous time on the phone while I was cycling... I knew something must have happened, so by the side of the cycling lane, me was on the phone receiving the news from my mum.

to those in the loop, you know my grandma's health had been a roller coaster ride for the past half a year, with two occasions of her body shutting down and 'rebooting' again... everyone in the family knew she is of old age (almost 100 maybe, nobody is sure because she lost her birth cert during the world wars and she couldn't remember when she was born) and her body is frail.

anyway, the last 15kms of cycling to the finishing line was a reflective ride for me (subconscious dedicating it to my grandma)... I thought about her and her life. Early years, we (my parents and mum's twelve other siblings and us grandchildren) are fearful of her as she was fierce and scolding everyone she meets. Afterall, she got to take care of 13 kids, she must be tough lest being push over by the kids eh? grandpa (who passed away 20 years ago), on the other hand was the nicest grandpa you could wish for. Ever so gentle and nice, we love to be around him. So whenever we visit them in their home in Malaysia, we would sure receive a warm smile from grandpa, and a stare from grandma... nevertheless, grandpa often reminded us that grandma's joy in seeing us doesn't often reflect on the face... she is pleased to have us around but refuse to acknowledge that.

but she changed completely when grandpa died and she was brought over to singapore to stay with the children, moving from house to house in a half year interval (so that she could spend time with every family). For a period of time she was staying with my family and the fiesty old lady we knew had turned into mother teresa... there's always a smile and once a while she would stuff money into my hand, which actually help me tide through army days with those miserable pay (or allowance as the government would call it...). We grew closer during those years...

The last two to three years of her life was, however difficult for her. Being illiterate, she often stayed at home and not venture out on her own. As everyone goes to work, she would be at home alone, or with the maid and they can't communicate at all... while mrs chung and i were away oversea for the last few years, she gradually became senile and when we came back to sunny land, she barely could recognise us as we visited her... people had often associate her illness due to her old age, but i wonder if we have not engage her enough and let her become what she is, or was... senile. Nevertheless, we thank God she had spend many good years with all of us, and we with her...

It was a simple wake for grandma even though the family was pretty large. We chose it that way, and we see it as a celebration of her life instead of mourning... as the family chatted, she was close to a hundred years old, 12 children, 20 odd grandchildren, and 10 odd great grandchildren... isn't that something? So it was a time when the family came together to share and laugh together of the life of grandma and what she had given, and done for us...

Grandma, this is for you, my tribute. For a lady who do not speak much, but her presence made a lot of difference to my life...

highlights of 2010...

2011-01-23T00:09:00.005+08:00

cycling again...

2011-01-21T00:27:00.005+08:00

One resolution this year, is to exercise... after very much convincing myself that eating, which actually involves the working of a lot of muscles in the body (jaw chewing, stomach digesting, hand moving with chopsticks/fork for food etc etc) is not exactly a form of exercise. I thought I should I go back to the kind of exercise, acceptable and which I am actually pretty good at.

Yes, mr chung do excel in certain form of sports... and that is cycling. many moons ago while i am still a lean mean fighting machine........... ok i was never lean, occasionally mean and often fighting to stay awake, ahem, machine... i actually cycle pretty regularly and i think i do cycle very well... a group of us will hit the road on friday evenings just to cycle... ~~Looking for food~~.

anyway, as things would turn out, a few guys in the cell group thought we should sign up for the OCBC cycle thing (which is only a mere 40kms ride) and I thought that would be a good motivation for me to start cycling/training isn't it?

so I finally lay hands again on my trusted and beloved aluminum steed, hanging by the wall, pretty much alone for the past 6 years and boy, she is in bad shape... layers of dust, rubber components breaking down, rusted cables, unaligned wheels... it took me a couple of trips to the bike shop to get the necessary components and parts to bring bikie back to her former glory...

I am proud to present her once again! (*Drum rolls with trumpet on D minor fanfare...*) Nice?

anyway, bikes are not meant only to be nice... it's time to ride it!... so excitedly I arranged for a cycling trip with the guys in my group and six of us came together on a (you guess it...) Friday evening to cycle from East Coast to Changi village...

It was funny. We chose to meet at Mac's at east coast. Not knowing to us, that's what all tom, dick and harry kind of cyclist would think too... such a prominent location for meet up... and there we are, on a friday evening with about two thousands other cyclist waiting to start the ride... and you thought we would blend into the crowd... nope, we stood out...

We stood out, in an unglam way, because we are old, wrinkled and out of shape, we dress in t-shirts and shorts with sports shoes, standing beside our cheap bikes while those pros, who are almost half our age, came parading in their most flashy and expensive bikes... and they dress in professional cycling jerseys and tights with the cool-looking eyewear. There was even this guy who wore an full face helmet! what the heck! I mean, did he installed some kind of engine on his bicycle??!!

back to the ride, it was a good start... I seriously meant the first 30 seconds of the ride. By the first km, I could feel myself breathing harder and gasping for air, i can't even muttered "I can't breathe..." before long, i got to find myself an excuse to rest and still look cool... "toilet break", that's my escape. It's the cyclist wall, if you were to call it, just that mine came really early...

nevertheless, I made it to Changi village after an hour plus ride... motivation? - cycling ~~for food~~ . I know at the end of the ride, I have exercised ~~and i could dig in to my favorite food~~... that's why even though, the butt was painful, the hand was numb and the neck was stiff, i kept going... ~~nothing beats eating up a plate of fragrant malay rice dish feeling fully justified and very well deserved~~... heh...

after the ~~hearty meal at~~ 2 o'clock in the morning, came the most painful part of the ride... cycling home... well, you know i made it because here am I writing this blog, and nowhere in the newspaper's obituary had feature me yet...

~~eating~~ cycling again next week, guys?

happy new year, and a happy new us!...

2011-01-11T16:02:00.000+08:00

Well, well, well...

Finally, a reboot and revamp to our blog page...

a mini form of revival, relive, reignite, revitalise, re-energised, re-entering, re-retreating to the world, and reminding myself to remember...

Everyday, there's something to be thankful for...

Gasp!!

2010-09-08T00:12:00.003+08:00

Six months of not writing. Tsk, tsk, tsk....

We have been so busy... My (Mrs. Chung's) waking hours are spent on the boys, the schoolwork which is really killing me (I sleep less than 5 hours a day), the household chores (thank God for part-time help) and meeting up with friends. In the midst of these six months, we moved from the North back to the East (for Mr. Chung). Both Little Chung and I finished one semester in school. We celebrated B2's (from now forth will be known as Nate) 1st birthday; Little Chung 3rd birthday and Mrs. Chung 33rd birthday. We also met up with friends from Xining and hearing stories from them just make our hearts yearn for the middle kingdom. Mr. Chung completed his two weeks reservist and is going away for ten days end Sept (God, please help me).

I wished I have photos to share but they are with Mr. Chung and he refuses to let me have them. Its too much of a chore for me to upload them from Mr. Chung's laptop but I will try. I know some of you miss seeing the boys - I am refering to Little Chung and Nate, of course.

Who Am I? The losses that mark our lives

2010-03-10T00:45:00.004+08:00

today's class touched on the topic of losses in our lives and how each loss is very much a part of the experience of living. To ignore them is to do injury to ourselves. We did a Grief Tree - jotting down the history of our losses.

if I were to share about my loss last june, I probably would have cried. But this morning, I was able to share without feeling sad... perhaps as a student training to be a counsellor, i was able to process my loss fairly soon after the birth of nathaniel. Not the loss of him. He is now one happy healthy baby. But the loss of having a normal delivery. The loss of nursing him after delivery. The loss of having a warm tiny body in my arms after delivery (i only carried nathaniel 2 months after his birth) The loss of one month celebration because nathaniel was still in nicu. I grieved over these losses.

as I shared with my small group, i came to the realization that i have not had a closure. i am not sure what will bring about this closure. i still grieve but not that much anymore. i have learnt to see that nathaniel is now with us and i guess in a way, that's a closure.

Lack of posts

2010-01-23T12:57:00.003+08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. The Chung family has been busy. Little Chung started his pre-nursery in church. He loves school alot. Mrs. Chung resumed her studies at SBC and is daunted by the many papers to write and clinical to do. Mr. Chung is busy with work in church. In the meantime, B2 is gaining good weight. As he progresses in his age, many health issues are slowly being resolved. He is no longer anaemic. He passed his hearing test and no longer needs to be reviewed on that. His eyes are getting so much better. We are up for another eye review soon and are praying that he no longer has to go back. The doctor is pleased with his weight gain. He has also started sleeping through without any help on my side to train him.

This year is going to be a year of transitions. In the midst of our studies and work, we are preparing to move from the North to the East. House hunting has started. Potential buyers are also looking at house apartment. We are thankful that we got a good valuation on our house. I reckon the person valuating our house was impressed by Little Chung's incessant bugging to see his full set of Thomas and Friends.

How has the year been for you? Its just the beginning but we would really love to hear from you.

P.S. Will try to upload pictures soon.

the impromptu road trip...

2009-11-28T13:34:00.006+08:00

Those who knows mrs chung well enough knows that she is a structured and plans-needed woman. Only God knows what she sees in me, an unorganised, flexible lazybum, she chose to marry me when she could marry an Army Regimental Seargeant Major (RSM) who is probably similar to her in the character traits department... anyway, five years on, we are still married and in one piece...

But you never know how God works, and how she thinks... on a wednesday afternoon, while I was munching on my lunch, mrs chung looked up at me, going,"let's go for a trip...", (and I just collected Nate's passport)

"ok." I interjected without her finishing her sentence and naturally asked the next question, "when?".

"how about later? if we could get air tickets for the family to thailand?"

by now, my month full of food, with a couple of rice trying to make the great escape due to opening of my mouth translated by the certain shock mode... shocked that mrs chung actually made such a unlike-mrs-chung statement...

after determining she was not joking, and she was not sick... it got fun... we check through the internet for available air tickets, call some numbers to travel agents but to no avail... we thought it might be no-goer... however a visiting friend that fateful afternoon eggs us to consider a road trip to Malacca (in Malaysia, and she is technically half a malaysian) and she was rather shocked too, that we took her advice and left in an hours time...

I still do not believe it, but few hours later, we were on the way to malacca, a three to four hours drive up north. As I was driving, it feels rather surreal, this is so unlike... mrs chung, so not us... but here we are on the road for a short holiday!

It was fun, in fact, and we realised this was actually the first family vacation this year. Though the vacation spot was rather quiet with nothing but mainland chinese tourists... what made it really worthwhile was that we call it a family vacation... and it all happened without much planning!

Daddy, for the second time...

2009-11-08T12:56:00.000+08:00

is redoing what you are doing for the first child, and applying it on the second one, however at half the time, half the concentration and half the intensity with the same result, all these at the same time while keeping an eye on the firstborn making sure he is not up to any no-good.

Not easy, but you'll be surprise what you, as a father could do (I'll let mrs chung shared her own story). Nate has been home for two months now, and we are just glad to see him grow... that tiny little mouse has grown to be a rather chubby kid and nowadays often break into a charming little smile or a one-sound laugther, when daddy, mummy and big brother Zach made eye-contact or breaking into the goo-goo sound...

one and a half years ago, i held my firstborn in my arms and determined to love, protect and take care of him with my life, and now, holding my second boy, I've made the similar promise... I did not know that, seriously, I have the capacity to love so many at one time... but for sure in my heart, the boys along with their mother meant alot to me...

Nate's journey which is very much infused into my very own definitely would be something that remains in my mind for a long long time... by now, Nate probably didn't realised what he had went through, a few years down the road he probably would never remember he was a premature baby and what that meant to him...

but it does, to me at least... that he came not easy, and i need to do all i could to treasure him and of course the eldest boy... and the wife too...

Refreshed

2009-10-25T23:27:00.004+08:00

Today was the first time we brought both Little Chung and B2 for church service after one month of hiatus. The doctors have advised that we not bring B2 to confined and crowded areas. After much deliberations, we decided that today will be the day, by faith, to bring the boys to church. For me, it was a good time to worship Him with the rest of the congregation. Little Chung was overjoyed to step into the creche again. B2 was feeding most of the time.

We had cell meeting today after church. Mr. Chung had to attend a meeting so I attended the cell with B2 while Little Chung was parked at my in-laws' place. It was a refreshing time. Though I couldn't participate much (cos B2 kept nursing), I felt encouraged and renewed. It was good to just catch up with the ladies in the group.

The other day, Brenda brought Keia to our house for a playdate. What a lovely time it was. We missed Lyndis and her sweet little Kate. Next time, ya? It was amusing to see Little Chung trying to impress Keia with his mountain load of toys. Will post pictures of them hugging soon.

Singapore's weather has been crazy for the past few weeks. It has been increasingly hot and humid. It is times like this that I wished for the weather in Qinghai - cold and dry. I so miss China.

Course registration for my studies has started. I am excited and wished I could take more modules but I need to remember that I am now a mother of two. My priorities are now different. B2 might join mummy in the class. I am not sure yet. Remember us in your time.

Life thus far

2009-10-17T14:26:00.008+08:00

Ah.... finally found some time to blog when the two boys are sleeping. It has been a busy period for the Chung family especially with B2 coming home. No, we are not complaining. Just sharing how the past few weeks have been. Mr. Chung and I attended a workshop on parenting. The seminar was pretty good. The best part? Exchanging tips and ideas with fellow parents who have young children themselves. B2 was the youngest participant. Well, he has to come with us because that's where the milk source is.

Mr. Chung and I have been talking about our future plans recently. We dialogued alot on when we should start preparing to return to China; how we are progressing in our studies; any change in plans etc. The more we talked about it, the more we are excited... It probably will be another 2 more years before we can head back but we need to start preparing now.

Mr. Chung and I have also started looking around for school. Little Chung is of the age where he 'should' be in pre-nursery. In addition, with me resuming my studies next year, we have to ensure that he is taken care of. He enjoys the school-hunting - running off to the classroom and picking out books to read while we talk to the teachers and tour the facilities. We have not made a decision. In the meantime, he is at home with mummy.

Mr. Chung and I are constantly amazed by the progress which B2 is making. He has been feeding very well. The doctors are happy with his weight gain. He is currently 4 kg (doubled his discharged weight of 2.3kg on Sept 14). There are still some issues with his eyes but we are in good hands of the eye specialists who have been doing regular checks. It probably will resolve by itself when B2 grows older. We trust in His daily grace.

I am enjoying this period of being a stay-at-home mum and will relish every moment. Next year will see some changes when I return to my studies. However, I trust that He will work out the best arrangements for us.

Presenting to you - B2

2009-09-18T15:41:00.005+08:00

After 78 days in the hospital, B2 is finally back home with us on Sept 14, one day after Mr. Chung returned from his overseas trip. Little Chung loves his brother to bits - planting kisses on B2's forehead and trying to poke him when we are not looking. We have to remind Little Chung to be more gentle. B2 has been feeding and sleeping well. We are thankful for that. More pictures to come. Stay tune.

It has been a while

2009-09-12T20:21:00.002+08:00

It really has been a long while since we last updated the blog. B2 is currently still in the hospital but we are expecting to have him home with us really soon.

The past few months have been a flurry of activities - Mr. Chung in China; Little Chung having pyjamas parties at his grandparents' place; B2 having his hernia operation; me visiting B2 in the hospital; attending a wedding - hence the lack of updates here.

We have been so blessed by dear friends, church mates and family members. They came in strongly to support, encourage and pray for us.

We promise to post pictures of the family soonish....

My reflections

2009-07-04T10:38:00.002+08:00

Mr. Chung has been the one doing the updates while I was in the hospital. I thought perhaps it is time that I write from my own perspective about the whole thing. Well, if you have not heard, the stork has arrived. B2 arrived into this world on June 29, 2009 at 7.13 am. He came out early at almost 3 months ahead of his expected due date of September 20.

It has been an emotional roller coaster ride for me. The three-week stay in hospital was not exactly an enjoyable experience for me. But it was certainly made more bearable by the numerous visits from cell group mates, church mates, close friends and parents. Of course, the daily visits from Mr. Chung and the occasional star appearances by Little Chung were bonuses.

There are so many things to pen down. And I really do not know where to start from.

Perhaps, I can start from my expectations. I had expected this pregnancy of B2 to be smooth sailing. Morning sickness and cravings eluded me for most part of this pregnancy. I ate well and was zipping around as usual - from my classes, to driving lessons, to cell group and to staying up late writing my papers. It was an ideal pregnancy. I have expected that I would carry B2 to full term. He will be a good size baby because he was gaining good weight as compared to Little Chung. But things were not meant to be. I started leaking amniotic fluid on June 5 and was admitted to KKH on June 9. That marked the beginning of an arduous journey into my third trimester.

The stay in the hospital was filled with anxiety. The initial determination of making the stay a positive one soon dissolved into gritting my teeth to go through each day. It was not a restful stay with blood pressure and temperature check every three hourly; blood test every two days for infections; ultrasound scan twice weekly; IV drip every four hourly for the first week; CTG monitoring twice daily; trips to the labor ward every other day due to the contractions, bleeding and baby’s erratic heartbeat. It was all too nerve-wrecking. But the three weeks are now over.

The delivery of B2 is one which I will remember for a long while. For mums who are reading the blog, you probably are interested to know how it went. It was an 8 hours long, epidural-less, no cut, no tear, 2 pushes and B2 was out labor. Mr. Chung was very encouraging and co-coordinated in clamping the gas mask on me whenever I have contractions. He kept quiet most of the time – not even touching me. He has learned well from the previous labor. The worst part of the delivery was when the umbilical cord snapped (after it was cut from B2, thankfully) and the medical officer could not pull the placenta out. We prayed and by His grace, a more senior consultant came, instructed that Mr. Chung clamp the gas mask onto me and did what was the most excruciatingly painful thing which I ever experienced – she literally, according to Mr. Chung shoved her whole hand in to extract the placenta. I felt like my whole gut was pulled out. Anyways, the delivery is now over.

B2 is currently still in NICU. The doctors have mentioned that he is doing clinically well. Mr. Chung and I have been visiting him often at the hospital. Mr. Chung joked that we should apply for some form of privileged membership since we will be making trips there in the next couple of weeks.

Little Chung seems to be adjusting well without much presence of mummy around. He enjoys the grandparents and they love having him around. Little Chung spent the evening with me the other night. It was nice to cuddle and hold him. To smell his baby smell. It hit me that I missed him, my firstborn so, so much.

Mr. Chung. My dear husband. He has been a pillar of support for me during this period. He has taken on such much while I was in the hospital – a chauffeur; a domestic worker; a mum to Little Chung; a counselor to an emotional wife; a liaison person to update our friends how we are doing. And a husband who ‘in sickness and in health’ stood by me. Thank you, dear for walking this journey with me.

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Throughout all this, I have often been reminded about God’s daily grace and provision to the Chung family. Even till today after B2 has been born, that each second, each minute, each day, each week and each month is a grace from Him. I should not take it for granted. I do not know what the future holds for us as a family but I do know that I can rest in His perfect and good will.

happy father's day, to myself...

2009-06-21T23:02:00.002+08:00

While Mrs chung continues her stay in the hospital, and little chung with the grandparents, and me who is nursing a cold (not going to pass the bug to anybody), I have decided to cook myself a nice and simple meal (picture above) to celebrate father's day.

I'm alone but not lonely... and my second son (B2) had given me the best father's gift that I wanted this year, that is to stay inside mrs chung. Well done, B2!

Happy Father's day, me!

mrs chung hospitalised... part two...

2009-06-19T23:43:00.000+08:00

We found encouragement from our churchmates during this tough times. From the brother who I shared to, and the few closed ones we asked for prayer, practically within days the whole church came behind us to support us through prayers and words of comfort. Ladies who had similar experience shared with mrs chung what they went through and it brings comfort and peace to her.

and our parents and siblings came in strongly too to help in any way possible. Little chung is especially excited and happy with the sudden extended stay with the grandparents which translates to unlimited access to cartoons, yakults, french fries and apples... we are thankful that he bonded very well with the grandparents that he is not missing mummy at all, and daddy could freed up to take care of mummy in the hospital. We are really thankful that at least we are in singapore now, with help and support from our famiy and friends.

currently, mrs chung is in hospital probably all the way till she delivers. The first priority for the doctors is to keep B2 in mrs chung as long as possible, and we are praying that B2 could be in till at least 34 weeks. By the time this entry made it to the blog, mrs chung has already been in the hospital for over two weeks and B2 is in his 27th week. 7 more weeks, or 1.5 months to go...

Please pray alongside with us, for mrs chung and B2.

Thank you.

mrs chung hospitalised... part one...

2009-06-19T23:07:00.000+08:00

Beginning of June, which mrs chung was in 24th week plus of pregnancy, one fine morning she was found to be leaking aminiotic fluid. The medical term is actually premature rupture of membrance (PROM), basically which means that the water bag which B2 is in, cracked and the aminiotic fluid within leaks out. This should not be happening until the day that Mrs Chung is ready to deliver B2, or by calculation anything after 37th week.

By leaking, it meant that mrs chung is going into labour soon if without any treatment, this is basically not ideal for B2 who is only 24th week old inside mummy (he actually had at least 13 more weeks to go), at the same time, it also meant that B2 is not in a sterile environment anymore inside mummy because of the crack... both mrs chung and B2 are suceptible to infection.

We immediately went to our gynae, who had advise us to admit mrs chung to the hospital. The objective is to control the leak, and also to stop any labour process that might induce B2 out at this stage. We are not expecting this complication at all. It is about a week before we set off for our church camp, and suddenly everything goes into a different drive, which we had not prepared for or discussed about.

We are really afraid, because we do not know what is happening and what will happen. All we know is that a life is at stake here, and that is our second child, B2 and our only aim is to make sure we have done whatever we could to make sure he is safe, be it to continue to stay in mrs chung, or in the event that he was to pop out of the womb, he will recieve the best medical care...

Decision were made instantly to adjust the family's situation. Mrs Chung in hospital, and little chung ended up with my parents who will take care of him in the event that I need to rush to the hospital and spend time with mrs chung.

Even though we trusted God, we are still asking the Lord, why? why us? why is this happening? we can easily accept God's will in anything for us, but when it involves another life here, a matter of life and death, it was really difficult for us to let go and said,"God is in control...". Many thoughts went through our minds, why make mrs chung go through this? why let B2 suffer in this manner? etc etc... we don't have an answer at all.

that very sunday, i was in church all by myself, and it was miserable, being alone... all i could think of was, I have a family, but i am worshipping God alone today. at the same time, there was where I draw my strength and comfort from too. As i walked into the church hall, a brother was walking past me and asked how am I, and I was just being casual and replied "I'm fine"... A second later, I actually turned around and said to him that I am actually not fine. I shared with him what happened to mrs chung and he prayed for me... there and then, I actually broke down and cried. I am an emotionally-controlled person and i have been in church for almost twenty years, that is the very first time I actually cried because i am really overwhelmed by the situation and by the prospect of what we are going to face. The brother continue to encourage me to trust God even though it's such a cliche to say that, but both mrs chung and I knew, that is the only thing that we could do, and the only motivating element that kept us going in this really difficult time.

if only i knew...

2009-05-10T01:19:00.003+08:00

if only i knew, what they are laughing about....

when mr chung writes...

2009-04-16T00:45:00.003+08:00

Because blogging is now officially a luxurious hobby which requires my reflection (not thinking too much recently), wit (not thinking too much recently), logic (not thinking too much recently), philosophy of life (not thinking too much recently), that I do not exactly possess at the moment...

according to Austin Power, I probably have lost my mojo somewhere... but the crucial point is, is that a good or bad thing? I can't answer you that.

Having to sit in front of the computer, reading articles and typing report... blogging seems to be the least exciting thing at the moment, between hammering the keyboard and staring at a banana, I probably will choose the latter. Is that a good or bad thing? I can't answer you that.

Not that life is boring, meaningless and full of thorns... but just that, after trying so hard to understand what the textbook is trying to tell me what is the thinking pattern of the Apostle Paul (Jewish monotheism vs hellenlistic thinking), the last thing you probably want to do is to write into the blog the following, " dear blog, today i learn about Paul from the bible, and he is a true bloody Jewish Christian who believes in the faithful God of Israel who had send his son, Jesus Christ, through death and resurrection, to redeem the world!", that is practically like living the nightmare twice (not the Jesus part, but the reading and writing part). Is that a good or bad thing? I can't answer you that.

I think I have not express my opinion about being a student again publicly... but here goes... I think I loathe it!!! I come to realise what I am good at, and what I really suck at... getting things done, working with my hands, getting my feet dirty - that's my cup of tea. Christian theory, theological arguements, systematic thinking... woe... it doesn't rhyme with my name at all... Is that a good or bad thing? I can't answer you that.

I think I loathe it... but ironically, I am learning so much too... fascinating isn't it?... for me, my life is probably at its greatest, weirdest, unexplainable, once-is-enough ironical experience...living in the "You do not want to do that certain thing, but yet you want to do that certain thing" paradox...

The question is, is that a good or bad thing? I can't answer you that neither...

ah... this entry should be under the 'raw and senseless' category, or simply straight to the 'deleted post' area... Is that a good or....

nevermind.

Because Mr. Chung is not writing ...

2009-04-09T00:18:00.003+08:00

I really need to get down to writing my papers. But instead I felt that I needed a break from the research on counseling theories; the doctrine of God and predestination. So here I am writing something for the blog. So much for trying to de-stress.

Some had asked if this pregnancy is different from when I was expecting Little Chung. I feel pretty much the same save for some night sickness and feeling tired. One noticeable difference is that I seem to have gotten bigger sooner. In the first pregnancy, Mr. Chung drew much flak for calling me a ‘fatty’ when I was 21 weeks pregnant. But this time round, he started calling me ‘fatty’ 15th week into my pregnancy. Thanks lor. Some had said that you get bigger earlier for the second pregnancy. Maybe it is B2 growing. Or maybe it is really just fats. You know, spare tyres?

Anyways, on a different note. How have we been doing as a family?

Well, there are definitely ups and downs; good and bad; sunny and rainy; wonderful and not so wonderful. Perhaps it is the reality of being back in Singapore that hits us – finally… or eventually. I don’t know. Different expectations from ourselves of ourselves. Different expectations from people around us. So much to do but so little time. The joy of studying but the struggle to keep myself awake at night for the readings and paper writings. The rush of each morning to prepare for school (my school) and for Little Chung to have his breakfast but the importance of taking it slow to enjoy the presence of God. The scarcity of time but the significance of spending quality time with friends who need a listening ear.

Where is the balance to this all? I guess I just have to plod slowly and find my way around.

just checking in

2009-03-18T14:54:00.002+08:00

And so February passed by with the celebration of our 5th wedding anniversary (we actually survived five years. clap!clap!clap!) Mr. Chung celebrated his 31th birthday san the pomp pomp. It was nothing spectacular. Little Chung dressed up as a jester or rather I dressed Little Chung up as a jester and presented a mango cake to Mr. Chung early in the morning. I think Little Chung was more excited than Mr. Chung. While we live day by day trying to catch up on our readings and papers to write, we discovered in January that we are expecting baby number two. We shall henceforth refer baby number two as B2 in our future posts – as requested by Mr. Chung. I don’t know why but Mr. Chung gets a kick out of calling our number two, B2. He says B2 reminds him of the 'B2' in ‘Bananas in Pyjamas’. Anyways, I digress.

Little Chung is growing. He can now do cartwheels, somersaults and swing from pole to pole. I am kidding, of course. But he certainly is very active. His latest antics -manipulate us to bring him out. He would sign 'please', run to the door and gesture towards it. Always in that order. His amused grandparents often are preys to his tactical manipulation. As bad parents, we have allowed him to watch TV. Hi-5 ranks top one in his list of to-see DVDs. He still brings us much joy despite his sporadic tantrums.

B2 is growing well. The obstetrician, as usual, has strongly encouraged me to drink more milk, eat more cheese, and take more supper – basically, try to put on more weight.

I am growing. Well, at least I hope I am growing. Three big meals and two snacks in between a day surely will help me put on the necessary weight. Yes?

Mr. Chung on the other hand has lost some weight. Just the other day, one of our church mates commented that Mr. Chung seems to have slimmed down. That made his day.

Well, the Chung tribe is growing. Check this space periodically. We will try to update as much as possible.

Now, back to readings and assignments.

of life lately...

2009-02-18T02:10:00.006+08:00

life moves on whether we like it or not... and here am i, in middle of the night trying to collect some thoughts on what went through my life in the last two months. I definitely make a lousy writer, by the rate i made entries... it probably take me (assuming each journal contains 50 pages, double sided would be 100), 1 entry in 2 months * 6 times for a year, about 18 years to complete the journal... stationary shops probably would not give me their platinum member special discount, and my diary would probably be a memoir instead. Not too bad, actually... if i'm faithful enough to write for the next 18 years, or more...

one wedding coordinator role, one chinese new year (thus the CNY), one VD (Valentine's day) and the beginning of another academic pursuit... here I am in the midst of february...

i'm not sure if it's just me or everyone feels the same way.. but seems like time passes so much faster then before, here was i not so looking forward to mondays and before i could spell out the entire 'monday', here am i staring at friday... maybe the earth is spinning faster, and blame it on global warming...

whatever, like i said, life goes on... but there are always things to be discovered about one self... just depending on which angle you are looking at your body... well, here's mine...

firstly, i am no longer able to go for late night studying anymore... one of those night (at about 2 in the morning, i was trying very hard to study, next thing i remember, i fell asleep on my desk in a sitting position, a pool of saliva in front of me and the clock shows 4am.

secondly, i'm eating much lesser now, still put on weight at double the rate and and have to walk 4 times faster to feel the burning of calories in my body. i concluded that i am still growing. AND as everyone said, I'm in shape. a good shape. round is a shape, and therefore I am in good shape.

thirdly, i love my son to bits, and i'm beginning to hate him at the same time... at the corner of my eyes, there is this little figure zipping around, taking out books, flipping through toys, tearing off pages and papers and the worst part of it, he's slight hay-wired... when you said no, it means yes... there were times i just wanted to choke him to death, the thought of seeing him turns blue thrills me actually... (don't worry, i'm recieving counselling... my wife is studying to be a counsellor and she is doing well on me thus far... well at least zachy is still zipping around)

fourthly, i learn to shut myself from the world around me... i found myself nonchalantly digging my nose, ears, mouth and trying removing eye wax, and burping loudly (all of these not at the same time though) while everyone stares at me. I am not blushing anymore, maybe my blood circulation system is down...

fifthly, i am philosophical, especially on the concept of peace-loving... as my wife nags and goes on about why the dishes are not washed, clothes not hanged, why the floor is not sweeped and mopped, newspaper all over the place, zachy's toy lego set as landmines everywhere etc etc... i found myself replying with just a 'ok', instead of the usual long list of reason why it is not my fault... with the love for peace, comes the great serenity... loving it...

so what have you learn about yourself lately? don't bother to tell me.

Back to School

2009-01-14T07:42:00.003+08:00

School has started for me (Mrs. Chung) since last week. And I must say that it has been really wonderful! Great lecturers for their passion in teaching. Amazing coursemates ranging from pastors, elders, housewives and grandpa of 2 grandkids!! For me, I am trying to understand what is the difference betweem psychology, philosophy, cosmology and efficacy of empiricism while trying to finish my long list of required reading assigments. What a privilege it is to have this opportunity to delve into His word.

enjoying the view...

2008-12-26T23:07:00.002+08:00

you don't have to be in a cold snowy place to enjoy christmas... sometimes, what matter more is where you are looking at that makes the difference...

christmas presents...

2008-12-26T21:20:00.002+08:00

saw those presents underneath the christmas tree? only one is mine and that's from mrs chung... and mrs chung also only got one, and... from me... so what about the rest? it's all little chung's...

while our exciting unwrapping moment just took merely a 30 nano-seconds to be over... little chung took half a morning unwrapping and exploring all the presents he recieved from his uncles and aunties and our friends...

i'm starting to feel like to the neglected child of the family, who no one bother to ask about or care if dead or alive...

while little chung pound on his new toy, let me just go one corner and sulk...

christmas party...

2008-12-25T23:52:00.002+08:00

this is our cell group. over at our place during christmas for a gathering as well as a house 'rewarming'...

with these people around, it's always a 100% guarantee there would be good food and lots of laughter...

Must say it's a good way to start our lifes in singapore again...

housekeeping...

2008-12-12T23:38:00.003+08:00

we were actually back in Singapore since beginning of december. and we were kept busy with our old apartment. Not that the apartment was in a mess or the tenants had vandalised it. In fact, the tenants was so good with the upkeeping of the house, they did a better job than we were staying there.

It just that most of our walls are white, and we thought we could add some colours to make it a little nicer. especially for little chung's room. Now that he got his own bedroom, we thought we could splash some colours, stickers, wallpaper to make it look really child-friendly. so for the past weeks mr chung had been kept busy with the painting of the rooms... mrs chung of course chipped in a little of her help... it was almost non-stop one-man painting for the man who was alone, and just armed with a paint roller and a brush... for the colours we have chosen to use really bright colours for our bedroom while little chungs would be bright cheery yellow with a big stash of happy blue...

initially, the colout did not came out quite right for our bedroom... with obvious contrast of red that makes it look like one big giant tortise shell...

but with much persistance, and many layers of red paint... it turns out pretty alright.

Little chung's room was much more satisfactory... with the blue on top and yellow below and the border in between... i could at least humbly give myself a gentle pat of the back... and little chung like the room too, so that was assuring...

and after the painting, came the rearranging of furniture and sorting out of our stuff...

yes, our house is ready and you could visit anytime... I must say it feels good to be back home, out singapore home...

last look of china...

2008-11-29T23:34:00.000+08:00

Technically, that was said for the dramatic effect... the pic was actually HongKong, which is part of China anyway.... well, we were at the head office (which is based in HK) saying goodbyes to our colleagues before heading back to Singapore...

feeding...

2008-11-16T20:52:00.000+08:00

Little chung could feed himself now... "ao.... so heartwarming and nice?...." some might say. From the pictures here, it definitely makes a sweet precious moment for many parents to remember their child by and the pride and joy of seeing the little one, transiting from a "need-help-all-the-time" to 'could help themselves now'' status...

Seriously, it is not.

Like all wars, people back home always get the beautiful, victorious, heartwarming & heroic stories of the things happening, and very often do not see the damage, devastation, destruction and mess occured at ground zero.

feeding zachy is like a war... pictures only show half truth... because it is a mess. while one tea-spoonful of food went into the mouth that the tiny hand intended to feed, 3 table-spoonful of debris was littered onto the body and surrounding.

a cup with half-filled water? only a sip made it down the oesophagus. The rest ended up on little chungs shirt as the art piece of the day...

And the day when mrs chung was creative enough to cook fried bee-hoon for little chung... we spend half an hour feeding him, and two hours removing the food from his shirt, pants and socks...

and now we know why parents always tried to keep their house clean. Not because they are neat freaks... but trying to prevent the kids from turning into "human vacuum cleaner". Little Chung was one such machine. ever so often, we found little chung bending/squatting down at a corner, and pick up a little something and pop it into his month before we could say "no!".

Bread crumbs, biscuits bits, chocolaty corners, nuts, he had already experienced... not that he just put everything into his month... he could easily differentiate a toy, piece of paper from real food (that's a relief), but in terms of time-concept... no... it was quite stomach wrenching when we found him chewing on a three days old biscuit bit found stranded underneath the sofa... I hope it is biscuit bits, and i hope it is only three days old...

feeding, definitely not fun... but i do agree it's funny...

to speak, or not to speak?...

2008-11-11T21:26:00.000+08:00

I found myself staring into the eyes of the caucasian waitress in the foreign-owned coffee house near home.

She started speaking to me in almost perfect chinese, asking for my order... for a moment, I thought about what language should I answer her in... Believe me, this is a difficult choice. Being in a practically-totally all chinese environment and having a ang-moh (caucasian) lady speaking to you in chinese, and i am ready to speak in both english and chinese, i am lost how should i approach this.

in the end, I replied her in chinese... she was satisfied, and i was... alright.

the very next day, i went back there with two friends, and after asking for their preferences, i actually went back to the same caucasian lady and ordered in, english... the lady, looked up, paused for a moment and gave me the "if-you-know-english-why-don't-you-speak-to-me-in-english-then?" look, while i could just only guiltily mustered a 'but-you-are-the-one-who-spoke-in-chinese-what?" glance...

sometimes, i still not sure what am i... an english-speaking chinese? or a Singapore chinese who could speak english...

hack. what's the difference?

hack. what am i talking about?

retreat 2008...

2008-10-30T21:17:00.000+08:00

We made it just in time for the team's annual retreat. So it was nice to see everyone again... A lot of catching up and laughter exchanged. It was also a time of saying goodbyes, for the time being...

Yah, we have decided. We are going home after spending 2.5 years in yak land... but for just a while (2 years)... We are packing up now... and come Christmas, if you see someone that looks like mr, mrs or little chung walking around the streets of singapore. Yup, that's us....

but for now, we are still in yak land finishing up the water project, enjoying the extremely cold weather, eating roasted lamb, drinking half-decent coffee, watching chinese-dubbed america movies, chatting with the local friends, etc etc...

just enjoying everyday that we have here...

poster boy...

2008-10-27T21:12:00.000+08:00

one of the best potrait shot of little chung i've got to date... thanks to the not so bright lighting, dried up flaky cereal on the cheek and the "I've got you" stare from the main cast...

back to yak land...

2008-10-22T12:10:00.000+08:00

After 22 hours (started at 3am in the morning), 3 transit flights, numerous hours sitting at Guangzhou airport and Xian airport. We are finally back in Yak Land, at 1.30am. We were welcomed by one of the heaviest downpour, cold weather and a rearranged home...

Little Chung was so tired and grouchy, and we were so gone that we literally just lie down and sleep...

Nevertheless, it still feels good to be back here... even though it's just for a while...

What Mrs. Chung Does When She is Stress

2008-10-16T21:51:00.000+08:00

Stress-eating

what's up?

2008-10-15T20:25:00.001+08:00

I'm back... my apologies to the faithful that I have only managed to churn out two blogs in the last two months. That is totally unacceptable, I agree. So to appease all, I'm trying to catch up with the blogs, starting with this one.

Someone recently asked me in a motivational way what is something i possess that no one else has... eh?

eh...

eh...

"ugliness?"...

and that's multiply by two sometimes when mrs chung indulged me...

Like I said, I'm back....

seasons...

2008-09-16T12:04:00.001+08:00

i was often told that life goes through phases of seasons... though not as systematic and regular like the typical four seasons that we know of, but still, there are... for a start, the durian season in singapore is about to fade away, thus we smell less of the durian-flavoured burps in the packed bus, and come less into contact with those durian-breathed conversations... how will the life of singaporeans go on without the king of fruits??? I wondered... for a second.

maybe this is one of the season i'm going through... cold, dry and humorless... where life just brisks away with nothing exciting and adventurous to blog/talk about... that's why the silence of this blog...

maybe there is alot of things to talk about, i could maybe gripe about the hundred and one things that piss me off this week, or how my mother-in-law had cooked one of the best fish-in-chilli gravy dish i have tasted in my life... but, i think, i am too blank to actually notice the nitty-gritty, funny, exciting details of everyday life... and maybe, i have lost my funny glasses at the back of the sofa, crushed by the soccer ball that zachy just kicked over...

i am in the mood of just sitting in that dark corner while watching and waiting for planet earth to orbit around the sun. And maybe one of this day, i will just decide to get up and ride my bike, and explore the world and life around me again...

but not now, folks... sorry about that... go look around and come back later eh?...

walking...

2008-08-13T10:25:00.000+08:00

No, that is NOT mr and mrs chung (it was Senior mr/mrs chung aka my parents)... thirty years from now, maybe, when we walk our grandson around...

For those who has missed little chung's growth process, the boy has been crawling non-stop, exlporing all areas when let loose... recently, he is also on the walking spree, assisted that is... just as long there's something to hold on to, a hand that stretched out to him, he would grab it and started walking...

He's pretty into cats and birds lately too... running (assisted, of course) after the four legged furry creature, and pointing at the winged animal all the time... so proud of him, definitely a son of nature-loving mr chung....

mr chung is seriously preparing himself for the day when little chung would just pick himself up, strive out in steps on his own and run... i would definitely have a lot of catching up to do...

someone game for some jogging later?

unique species...

2008-07-29T22:56:00.000+08:00

When biologist/foresters/environmentalists made small talks, one of the break-the-ice question is, what is the native or unique species (whether fauna or flora) you could could find in your own homeland...

kualas - says the Aussies
kakapo - says the kiwi
panda - says the Chinese
Bald eagle - says the Americans

And in Singapore? I would proudly proclaim, the "edgehog"!...

Have not heard it before right? That's why it is so unique, and only could be found in Sunny Land... I think even citizens here probably would not know what an edgehog is...

Let me explain...

Edgehogs are interesting species only availabe in Singapore, unlike their cousin, the Hedgehogs which are noctornal by nature, the Edgehogs are only active from about 5.30am to 12 midnight... They can be found practically on all public buses... Highly allegic to walls and windows of the bus, they are often found sitting away from it. For an additional layer or protection to prevent them coming into contact with the walls or windows, their belongings such as bags, shopping stuff are placed beside them... They are often best seen sitting near the walking asle of the bus, and most preferred spot? the seat beside the exit door.

Being extra territorial and shy, they do not like anything coming near them... and they would avoid all eye contacts with humans to ensure that their privacy are retained while still taking up two seats instead of one... no matter how crowded the bus would be. If anyone would attempt to go near them or take up the inner seat, very often, you could be sure edgehogs would defend, or attack with their killer stares...

Have you spotted any today yet? I just saw at least four or five today...

To my foreign friends, you finally know what an edgehog is eh?

indeed... uniquely Singapore (slogan of singapore tourism board)...

biggest fan of the blog...

2008-07-22T12:49:00.000+08:00

After much hesitation, I have decided to introduce the self-proclaimed greatest fan of the pistos-philos blog... Yes, ms yeh! you are the one!

It's a tough call on who actually is that greatest fan, as we do have a few faithful readers telling us how they have earnestly visit our blog practically everyday be it rain, shine, thunderstorm, typhoon, hail storm, tsunami, earthquake, vocalno eruption, meteorites shower and whatever catastrophic events.

Well, ms yeh emerges among the few and win the title due to her persistent reminders to us that she is indeed the biggest fan of the blog, that truly moved us...

Despite warning from ms yeh that she will heck into this blog, put in virus, hang our system, remove all important files and link our blog page to some cult-worshipping link-site if she were to find me writing something too 'witty' (in her own words) about her. I still decide to make her part of the pistos philos blog history. but it took me days to just screen and filter the entry to make it 'witty-less', just in case i incur the yeh's wrath... if this entry is boring, it is probably ms yeh's fault....

anyway, we eventually found out and realised that ms yeh's obsession with our blog was not so much of the blog, but rather, as usual - little chung... It was certainly little chung's privilege to meet his greatest fan face-to-face, and on his birthday some more! This meeting was unplanned, by the way, but certainly still an honour...

The first encounter - did not go too well for little chung, i guess...

but after some warm up and peekaboo... things got a little better...

Before going our separate ways, little chung managed to flash his killer-smile at the greatest fan, and melting her heart (i presumed...)

well, ms yeh, if you are reading this, cheers to you!!! We know, we know... YOU are the greatest fan and thanks for that...

five loaves and two fishes...

2008-07-21T11:07:00.000+08:00

The Chung family are big fans of Corrine May, the Singaporean Singer based in US... a lady with a beautiful voice, and wrote and sing songs that is stirring to the heard and soul... we have all her albums to date... the latest album entitled 'beautiful seeds' was pretty inspiring...

one song that i really like and ponder upon alot was call 'five loaves and two fishes'. you guessed it, it was written based on the incident in the bible, about Jesus feeding the five thousands with just five loaves and two fishes... the main gist of this biblical account is how Jesus took this small puny amount of food from a boy, performed miracle and feed a crowd of five thousands who hear him speaks... one of the main lesson christians learned from this passage is that God could use such an impossible situation, and it make possible - with God, all things are possible...

Actually, the song is about the boy, how he chose to just offer up his little amount of food, all that he had, to Jesus who without this portion, probably could not orchestrated the whole miracle. well, maybe he could work with nothing, maybe just turning rocks into food, but i guess it will not be as dramatic or happening if he chose to do so... people would probably question the edibility of the food rather than be awed by the miracle. and above all, if he had chosen not to use the boy's food... the boy probably won't bring home a personal lesson...

the boy was only mentioned once in this whole account, that he had stepped up, passed his five loaves and two fishes to one of the disciples, and thereafter, Jesus did the rest of the work... nothing was mentioned about the boy anymore... nothing about him boasting to his friends what Jesus had did with his food, or how proud he WAS, being the one with the food, or went and became one of greatest disciple of Christ... the boy just poofed, disppeared and never to be heard again in the rest of the pages of the bible.

I often wandered why the boy chose to give up his food... with thousands sitting around with no food at all, and as i look down at my lunch box containing only five sambal fish and two pratas (singapore version), how much can it do... heck, i think it can't even fill my own stomach. I'm sure there are those youngs and elderlys around... even if i would to give it away, shouldn't i be giving it to the most senior citizen in the crowd... that seems to be most moral and sensible thing to do... I guess the boy recognised that Jesus was the master, and to honour him, the boy offered his lunch box, and God made him famous (or special) that day... well, probably no one remembers him after that day, but i'm sure, in heaven, he's going to be the one walking around with the paper taped to his back that says "the boy who gave the five loaves and two fishes"....

the usual question we disciples of Christ Jesus often asked... maybe God wants us to be like that boy - what is our five loaves and two fishes, our everything that we are offering our Lord, for him to turn into a miracle? these could represent our amibitions, skills, wealth, possessions, life, desires, fears, etc etc...

I know what my five loaves and two fishes are.

but the difficult part is surrendering and giving my 'lunch box' to Jesus entirely... In a world where we believe in insurance, CPFs, savings, backings, contigencies, giving everything to the Lord doesn't seem to the 'ideal' thing to do... Worst part of it all, we never know what kind of returns we would yield... what happened if we give 100% and only get back half? sometimes I tried to bargain, how about I just give three loaves of bread and one fish... afterall, this is better than nothing isn't it?...

The questioning never stop, and neither does the Lord's gentle prompting to hand over the lunch box... unless Jesus has our lunch box in his hands, how can he perform the miracle?... maybe our little puny life - our amen to let God to do as He pleased to our life that will make that miracle happen...

I am not there yet, to totally offered up my five loaves and two fishes... but maybe someday, and I hope it will be soon... maybe then you will notice a miracle happening around me... that would be the day...

car...

2008-07-20T00:25:00.000+08:00

i got my first set of wheels at age 24, my son got his at one...

check me out on his brand new car. Anyone wants to pimp my ride? zhng my son's car? But don't expect me to give you a ride anytime soon...

happy birthday, little chung!

2008-07-18T00:20:00.000+08:00

Little Chung turn one today! He status has changed from being a infant/baby to toddler now... Happy Happy Birthday...

As we documented his growth and life for the past one year, we are just so thankful for this little bundle of joy...

many more to come, many more to come... I mean the birthdays...

blessing & honour & glory & power...

2008-07-17T22:58:00.000+08:00

"Blessing and honour and glory and power, forever, forever...". this simple line of a chorus, of a song (By Hillsongs - You are near), kept repeating itself as mrs chung & i sang, during a conference we attended here back home...

I felt weird... and the next thing, my eyes welled up and a drop of tear ran down my cheek... I was reminded once again who I am living for... Jesus, our Lord & saviour. It was a emotional moment and strangely (or rather maybe not...), I felt relieved and re-live after that...

Now, faithful & loyal readers to our blog since its inception in 2006 knows that our blog entries had always been rather optimistic and i would like to think of 'jovial' accounts... Well, not that we never have bad moments or trying to cover up our difficulties and 'sufferings' we experienced in yak land for the past two years, or try to come across gung ho, just that, well, we always (or try to) take things in our strides... laughing off the bad incidents and encounters... afterall, blogging is rather therapeutic. it is writing something after it happened, so we could take time to reflect and see from another light ad laugh really hard about it...

recently, our blog entries (besides those outings and playtime), if you read between the lines and deep into it, would realised it was a little more... eh depressing?... not that we are trying to move into a more philosophical approach on life, or trying to bag the most depressing and almost suicidal-inclined blog of the year award, and no way near mid-life crisis... the fact is, we are really in a diffcult phase of our life at the moment... the 'boot' out of yak land because of visa issue, and being back in sunny land had indirectly impacted us more than we thought it should...

As i reflected, the depression was real, the day before i (mr chung) left yak land... I actually took a walk around the whole city, just to have a final look because I'm not sure when i will touch the soil of this part of the world again, and the day when i touch down at sunny land's airport - i felt a sense of defeat... i can really say that both mrs chung and myself (maybe little chung as well) do not want to head home, not when we have gotten used to life in yak land, made many wonderful friends, both locals and expats, there are still work to be done and have to leave suddenly...

these few weeks back home, love ones and friends encouraged us to see it as a time of rest... but how can we actually rest fully when our minds and hearts are still at yak land? Almost everyday, our conversation would revolved around what we would be doing at that moment if we are back in yak land... the aimless wandering around time and attractions (zoo, birdpark, playgrounds, cinemas, food centres) helped to take the time away, but did not help much in reducing the longing of the life in yak land... it actually got to the point where i started to feel upset, resentful and frustrated with this whole thing... I have told mrs chung "let's not go back anymore!", but somehow we know, this was not exactly what and how we should react ... afterall we are still in transition and with a fair amount of uncertainties.

this whole ordeal was till two days ago... but comfort and peace came as i sang, "Blessing and honour, and glory and power, forever, forever..." it was like a magical and gentle touch, like the good Lord had placed His hand on my shoulder and said to me, "it's alright, all blessings, all honour, all glory and all power belongs to me..." I am made to surrender myself totally to the Lord. He is in control...

the whole frustration, defeatness, heartaches and haziness seemed to just slide away, along with that drop of tear running down the cheek... not that things are back to perfect and normal, but i had refocus...

It's all about Him... and I am to wait patiently on Him.

You are near

In awe of You we worship
And stand amazed at Your great love
We're changed from glory to glory
We set our hearts on You our God
Now Your presence fills this place
Be exalted in our praise
As we worship I believe
You are near (x2)

Blessings and honour
And glory and power
Forever, forever (x5)
In awe of You we worship

songs on youtube here

wetland park hong kong...

2008-07-12T21:14:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong, often known by many Singaporeans as a land of shopping actually do offer more than that... as we do travel to HK quite a bit on our journey in and out of yak-land, i began to explore HK more... rather than the shopping or touristy site, i thought i should see more of its natural sites. So under the recommendation of a HK colleague, I was strongly suggest to visit the wetland park...

so during my last journey home to sunny land from HK, I visited the park... what impress me most about the park was the close proximity between the park and a residential area. Apaprently, there are quite a number of bird species found here, despite its urban developement... a shame it was raining heavily the whole day, and I did not get to have a proper walk/trek around the whole area... so can't really provide a full detail.

Anyway, will definitely go again during my next trip to HK...

playtime!

2008-07-08T22:10:00.000+08:00

there's this place which was designed and catered for kids ~ babies to toddlers to play in...

we went, we saw, and we played...

Vain

2008-07-05T23:04:00.003+08:00

Left the camera lying around and this is what you get - Little Chung attempting to take a self-portrait.

too blur

too close

just right!

marriage course...

2008-07-03T20:08:00.000+08:00

There's an alpha marriage course organised in church, and since we are going to be in town for a while, we thought we might just go for the 7 week long course (ok, once a week for seven weeks). Targeted at married couples who wants to bring their marriage to greater heights, it was quite a interesting course i must say...

the first lesson is on building strong foundations, and in one of the test exercise, in a list of fifteen items of needs (e.g. to be listen to, to give more gifts, more love etc etc), we're supposed to tick three needs that are most important to ourself, and we attempt to tick three which we think is the most important to our spouse...

As usual, the ever-attentive/loving/wonderful mrs chung got all my three needs right. and me? none... not too ideal as a husband i guess... well, according to the comforting words of the organiser, "the one who get none right, learn the most tonight..." we did end on happy note, if you care to know, with mrs chung showing grace, and me vowing to do better the next time...

little chung's impression of his grandparents...

2008-07-02T21:28:00.000+08:00

little chung loves his grandparents... so much so that when he sees anyone of them, he would drop all toys he's playing, let out a shout to get the attention, raise up both hands to indicate he wants to be carried, crawl towards them to show sincerity, smile to melt the heart, or cry to gain sympathy... works all the time...

Basically, daddy me is on his least lovable person list, or "attempting to go to as a last resort" when none of the grandparents or mummy is around... after numerous disciplining and stern "no!" from daddy. i got a son who bites the hand that feeds him, figuratively and literally...

I have observe him with his grandparents for about two weeks now... and trying to get into his little mind... i think he had come up with his own conclusion, which grandparent is good for what kind of scenario...

"ye ye" or 爷爷 = nice to sit/sleep on the belly, a lot of cushion, a lot of funny faces, say things which i will not understand but will make me laught, not to go to when needed a walk, and the person to run to when daddy starts to discipline...

" nai nai" or 奶奶 = the person to go to acquire new taste... had been given thus far (and still adding onto the list) tea, coffee, noodles, chilli, salt, durian, chocolate, sweets, ice-cream and many more to come! (Yummy)... ideal for all kinds of walk... and very accomodating to go wherever i point, and the person to run to when daddy starts to discipline...

"gong gong" or 公公 = going to the playground, gets to play with the steering wheel in the car, always play peekaboo, and the person to run to when daddy starts to discipline...

"po po" or 婆婆 = will cook nice healthy food when hungry, also caters to alot of carrying & walking around, gives gentle showering (as compared to daddy), ideal to bring around when attempting new moves/stunt (e.g. stand up and not holding on to anything, and fall backwards...) her pair of hands will always been there to catch me, and the person to run to when daddy starts to discipline...

on the zoo trip...

2008-07-01T23:12:00.000+08:00

Some people just turn animals off... i don't mean the scared and run away kind... but rather, the disgusted and appalled by what they see situation... I think i'm one of those on the animal top-ten-turn-off-human-list... otherwise, i can't really explain why am i getting all the butt-shots.

zoo trip...

2008-07-01T22:45:00.000+08:00

Well, you can never be a true blue singaporean unless you have been to the singapore zoo, the iconic attraction of Sunny land. I still have those fond memories of the trips to the zoo twenty-something years ago when my parents brought my sister and me there, and it still feels like yesterday... To make little chung complete, the tradition/ritual lives on...

and there we are tuesday afternoon, walking around the zoo with my parents. little chung was REALLY fascinated with the animals he saw... ever pointing at a new species as we walk the whole trek... i spared him the agony of imparting the scientific names of the animals... that probably would be more appropriate during the second trip. For the maiden trip, we just stick to the simple names (e.g. elephant, giraffe, monkey etc). One thing we noticed, he doesn't like animals that are dark or black... he refused to look at the black creature, turn his body and face towards us and kind of expect us to walk on, or the animal to go away... haha... so poor mr gorilla did not really had a good look at little chung...

while little chung had his initiation to the zoo, it was a nostalgic moment for my parents... it was many many moons ago that they were here, and a generation later, they finally step back into this place... the logo had changed, the treks are nicer, but according to my mum, the animals are still the same, which i don't think so... i think this place probably aroused a lot of feeling in them, they had brought us (my sis and I) here first, and now, they are here with their favourite grandson (actually one and only grandson...)... they are just beaming radiantly as we walk around with the baby...

by now, you may have noticed i did not mention mrs chung at all... what do you think she is doing all the while in the zoo?... having fun of course, but not with the animals...

breaking the silence...

2008-06-29T23:31:00.000+08:00

After the slews of blogs by mrs chung and seeing how well and on form she is going... i thought i might have a break from blogging, and enjoy the singapore heat for a moment... Well, as they say, " the ginger, the older, the better..." I am coming out of the shell to just share a couple of my misadventures whilst back in sunny land this last few weeks...

I thought i might use this opportunity to clarify something. No 1 on the list...

If you see me around and noticed that maybe I have put on weight or look rounder than the previous pictures in the blog. It is not true... firstly, everyone knows you usually look thinner in pictures as compared to real life... it is the work of creative lens on cameras, and how the world wants to look nice and thin through technology...

secondly, science 101 - cold contracts and heat expand... you may not believe it at all, but sunny land is so hot, i have expanded a little as compared to yak land, which is practically cold all the time. I am rounder all thanks to global warming and the heat...

ok, so much for the round issue. For me, these three weeks back in Singapore is like a cold-turkey process... trying to adjust to the heat, culture, food and pace of life here... unlike other re-entries to sunny land that came with purpose (last july for little chung's delivery, and this Feb for Chinese New Year), this was a rather difficult one where we came back to town with no purpose, and just to wait for the visa situation in yak land to get better... aimless and pointless, if you ask mrs chung, she would probably tell you that i have went through a depression and back...

on the positive note, there is always something to smile, laugh and smirk about... little chung can testify to that...

Two Piggies

2008-06-28T14:44:00.000+08:00

What can one do on a hot Saturday afternoon? Sleep, of course.

What we have been up to...

2008-06-23T22:31:00.000+08:00

We have been reading and reading and reading and reading. Not just us but also Little Chung. Its just so wonderful to be able to read materials in English again.

Apple of Their Eyes

2008-06-22T10:44:00.000+08:00

As mentioned numerous time, Little Chung is the little precious of our parents. My (Mrs. Chung) dad would often bring him out to the playground in the evening. Mr. Chung's parents love carrying and swinging him every time we visit them. We relish in the attention that Little Chung is getting.

Little Chung has been really obliging as well - claps when the grandparents cue him to; point to his ear when asked; kiss when prompted to (strangely, he kisses only the ladies!) and dance when the music comes on.

However, he has his naughty times as well. Recently, he has been throwing tantrums when Mr. Chung and I refuse to give in to his demands. Mr. Chung believes in 'Spare the rod and spoil the child' which means he spanks Little Chung. Me being the softhearted finds it difficult to spank him. I rather let Little Chung screams till he is tired and realized that screaming does not yield any attention. While our discipline methods may be different, we realized it works for us. But we know we need to be consistent. So how? We are not too sure. I reckon we need to pray about it and decide.

Erm, readers, maybe you let us know - which is your preferred method and why.

Sneaking Out

2008-06-18T23:36:00.000+08:00

for a late night movie after putting Little Chung to sleep.

homed, & missed...

2008-06-17T20:46:00.000+08:00

Homed, and back in Sunny land now... Good to be back home with family, friends and food... but the weather very least desired... the moment i stepped out of the airplane, I could feel the warm current gushing towards me... I missed the days in yak land where i do not sweat at all for days, and the once a week shower... sigh, just thinking of that, I missed yak land already...

And in loving memory of yak land, here's some of the shots i took before i left...

Not sure when we will be in singapore though, and not sure when we will be back into yak land... will update once we have a clearer picture. Meanwhile, time to enjoy the food and fun in Sunny Singapore!

Good Times....

2008-06-16T11:12:00.000+08:00

Yep, the SOS (Stop-Out-Staff) sisters met again to catch up. The last time we met was when they visited me at the hospital after the delivery of Little Chung. We had an absolute great time at Absolute Heaven, talking and eating. The restaurant we went was dimly lit and is really suitable for couples. I think our laughter spoiled the evening of the couples' who went there for a date. The food was great but serving too little. So we headed to Selegie for Tau Huay (soya bean curd) and other stuff. I thank God for them. For the friendships that He has blessed us with.

P.S. Photo courtesy of Mdm Cheong

new discovery...

2008-06-08T21:24:00.000+08:00

after staying in this estate for two years now, I have walk in and out of the main gate, where this poster is situated... Never took much notice of what's on the poster until today, when i move closer for a clearer look, and guess what? the background picture is actually Sunny Singapore!

A little bit of home here eh?...

This is not the only one I spotted where Singapore is in the background, the most ultimate was the one I saw somewhere near the lake, a big big signboard on a desert... Maybe it's the ultimate dream, to make that piece of land into Singapore...

Live the dream...

baby-sitting...

2008-06-07T14:15:00.001+08:00

I was slotted to take care of the kids today... even though I am already a father of one... Baby sitting a group of kids ranging from 1.5 to 8 years olds is a completely different story. I am having much difficulty sometimes trying to manage little chung on my own, and imagine i have to take care 12 little chungs at one time of different age range... if I have to summarise the experience today into a single word - chaos.

Well, not to say it was a total disaster, something do turn out rather good... they are at least good models to work with...

Changing plans...

2008-06-06T23:02:00.000+08:00

We had our regularly team meeting today... after having not seen each other for six weeks, where all the whole visa saga started in yak land... it was the first time to hear from one another of what's happening and what's the plan... on a general statistic (and mentioned in previous blog-post), about half of the people are affected by the new visa policy, and if remaining status-quo, we are expecting a great 'exodus' of foreigners working in NGOs, out of yak land, within the span of the next one year, with mrs chung being the first to go, two weeks ago...

People thinking, plans changing... practically, all of us who are at the meeting had to adjust, altered or re-direct our work direction due to the new visa policy and changes...

A little challenging, a little disappointed, a little frustrated as well... but nevertheless, nothing is too much for our Lord, who we trust in...

still working on it...

while mrs and little chung are gone...

2008-06-04T23:58:00.000+08:00

I am up to this for the past two weeks... what's this? Not going to tell you yet... heh...

lanzhou...

2008-06-03T23:43:00.000+08:00

I am really lonely and depressed that Mrs Chung and Little Chung are away... So in order to console myself, I made a trip to the next province beside yak land for a short break... just 3 hours bus ride away, lanzhou is the next city of the Ganshu Province, where it is part of the silk road back in the really early early days...

What is exciting there? nothing... no offense to all true blue lanzhou lover, but I found nothing there that is really intriguing, at least within the city... well, the yellow river runs through it, so that's probably something. Below, a picture of the yellow river shot in the late evening (about 8ish pm)...

Nevertheless, it is consider a break from yak land... if anything to fall back on, the bus ride was good...

Back in Singapore

2008-05-30T21:21:00.002+08:00

Little Chung and I (Mrs. Chung) are finally back in Singapore on Tuesday after a travel from Xining to Guangzhou via Xi'An, with a 1 night stay in Guangzhou. Little Chung travelled really well on the plane. He enjoys the kisses from the pretty air stewardesses and also the various treats by the ever so friendly aunties on the plane. Little Chung was received warmly by his doting grandparents (both Mr. Chung's and mine) who turned up at the airport.

I am not too sure if Little Chung misses daddy. But I sure miss Mr. Chung. Coming back to Singapore has been and still is a bitter-sweet experience for me. Sweet because I love seeing the grandparents planting kisses on Little Chung. Sweet because I get to eat all the chocolates!! Sweet because I get to see Mdm Tan and her huge baby. Little Chung is 2 months older than her but she looks bigger than him physically.

But I still struggle. Mr. Chung is not here. The relationships which I have built in China is not here. There is no routine here. Back in China, I know what I need to do and what I should do. I struggle. I want to go back.....

Despite all this, He keeps telling me to press on. He has a purpose. He has a bigger picture. I know I need to press on. I know there is a purpose in all these. I know that there is a bigger picture.

And I chose to believe.

This is afterall a journey of faith.

chinglish huh?

2008-05-25T17:11:00.000+08:00

my english (or singlish) is really bad, already. but this... i really don't understand what the heck it means!... anybody got a clue?

transformer...

2008-05-24T00:33:00.000+08:00

our son has discovered his gift. The gift of transformation...

today, we caught him trying to transform himself into a bat... hope by doing hard and long enough, he will succeed...

Set To Go

2008-05-22T12:49:00.001+08:00

The tickets have been booked and issued. The bag is more or less packed. Little Chung and I (Mrs. Chung) will be leaving next Tuesday and will arrive into Singapore at an unearthly hour of 0040 on Wednesday.

I struggle to leave. The feeling is like I am sleeping soundly and is suddenly being yanked out of the bed. My friends here have been really encouraging - C and R kept reminding me to focus on Him and to see the bigger picture and that this departure is only temporal. I know He has a purpose. He has the best for me. But, it is still difficult.

He (Mr. Chung) struggles for us to leave. He will be all alone here - trying to fight the system; trying to get the organization registered and trying to look at other options. It will be 3 weeks before he gets to see Little Chung. He is worried that Little Chung will not recognize him after 3 weeks (his worries are unfound, of course).

Little Chung? Well, he seems oblivious to the whole situation. He is still happily blowing bubbles and stuffing things inside his mouth (he now has two teeth!). I am sure he will be more aware of the situation when he gets his jabs in Singapore!!

The grandparents? Well, they were elated that we are coming back. Or rather - that Little Chung is coming back. They can once again hug and touch his lotus-inspired arms and chubby cheeks.

On a positive note, I am definitely looking forward to going back to a group of supportive friends, humourous and crazy CG mates and loving family. I also will get to see the newborns and perhaps attend a wedding.

So, Singapore, here we come - again.

bubbles...

2008-05-17T23:18:00.000+08:00

sometimes, we just have to experiment what kind of toys little chung... and yes, bubbles, he enjoys...

visa saga and yak-land drama...

2008-05-13T23:11:00.000+08:00

if you travel to China alot, you would have by now know that we (singaporeans) can't travel to China visa free anymore. We use to be able to come into China for 14 days without one... but as beijing 2008 draws nearer, with things happening around and many many foreigners trying to get into the country... we were informed by the Singapore embassy that we (singaporeans) would not be able to get multiple entry visas in china anymore (at least this would be the case until the end of the olympics), and the single entry visa would only be valid for 14 days...

apparently this is across the whole of China and applys to all non-chinese citizen... Not that we are very much affected by it, since we are holding work visa... so we thought, but there are dramas taking place here in yak land too...

three weeks ago, we recieved a call from the work permit office, with immediate effect, they would not be issuing or renewing all workers of NGOs here in yak land, anymore residence and work permit. This is not good news! Because mrs chung's visa runs out in end of may and mine sometime in mid june... With no visa or work permit, that means we can't stay here anymore!

There were many speculation why this was happening... things like the authorities wanted the NGOs register with Beijing officially, for number control issue due to Beijing 2008, for security reasons blah, blah, blah... but the point is we can't stay on. and this will happen in less than a months time!

This move affects quite a numbers of foreigners here, and we heard news about some NGO's office here closing, NGOs worker decided to pack up and head home... even for our organisation, if we are not going to do anything about it, within the span of one year at different time, we will have more than half of our colleagues leaving town...

mrs chung and i would be the first to bite the bullet, and we don't intend to go... so the last three weeks, we are weighing, considering and consulting the options we have... we don't have a definite answer what we will do yet... but it seems that we are led a certain path and our plans has been affirmed by friends in Singapore... the plan is... can't tell you yet... will update once we have completed our research and decided...

but given the shortness of time (about two more weeks for mrs chung), it may be inevitable that we have to head home once our visas expire and we will try to work something out from Singapore through the Chinese embassy there. so you may see mrs chung and zachy walking around the streets of sunny singapore (sipping starbucks coffee, eating chicken rice and shopping at toys' r us....) while i try to sort something up with my remaining times here in yak land...

isn't it exciting to live in the land of uncertainties... you never know what news each day will bring...

still fighting on....

expressions...

2008-05-13T22:49:00.000+08:00

Little Chung is soon to be ten months in a few days time... It is always a wonder, a mystery and a joy, that as we watch this fellow grow, he is learning new tricks everyday... deciphering every word we say, pushing every boundary we have set, pointing and demanding things that he wanted...

Now he understands the concept of taking pictures. Whenever a camera is pointed at him, it is 'showtime!' Watch him go with those expressions...

Just So You Know

2008-05-12T20:30:00.000+08:00

By now, most of you would have read or heard about the earthquake in the western part of China.

Just so you know, the Chungs in Yak Lang are safe. Mrs. Chung was in the office building when she felt the tremors. The photo frames were rattling on the wall for a few minutes. Mr. Chung and little Chung were out somewhere on the streets. Other than the few minutes tremors, everything seems normal. Thanks to those who msned, smsed, skyped and emailed us to find out how we are doing.

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T16:11:00.000+08:00

Mr. Chung finally brought me a bouquet of flowers after numerous reminders that Sunday is Mother's Day. I almost killed him when he asked if Chrysanthemum flowers is alright with me (In Chinese custom, Chrysanthemum flowers are bought for the dead). He says it is more practical to buy Chrysanthemum flowers as I could still use the dried parts for brewing tea after it withers.

Anyways, we were busy on Sunday and so did not get to celebrate. The flowers arrived only on Monday. Well, better late than never, hor?

3rd Class Citizen

2008-05-10T15:45:00.000+08:00

Even when taking pictures, Mr. Chung is cast aside......

lost...

2008-05-09T16:50:00.000+08:00

and apparently, according to mrs chung, my mother and brother-in law... we have found the long lost tibetan who was stranded in Singapore...

The local Tibetan

my father-in-law

New Younger Brother

2008-05-09T15:51:00.000+08:00

My (Mrs. Chung) mum loves little Chung to bits. My brother and I always joked that we have a new younger brother and that my mum has a new son. When she visited us recently, she was basically the one holding little Chung throughout the time. Even on the last day, she was still holding on to her precious.

in-laws...

2008-05-08T23:21:00.000+08:00

So... my in-laws were in town... It was really nice to have them here to visit. It was nicer to have the Singaporean food/snacks they brought along... For a week, zachy get to play with his next dearest Gong-Gong, Por-Por and uncle Paul...

A Conversation With Mr. Chung

2008-05-03T21:38:00.000+08:00

After 11 hours of traveling, my parents and brother are here! One day before my family arrived, I had a conversation with Mr. Chung.

Mrs. Chung: Hey! My parents are coming tomorrow! Are you excited? I am!

Mr. Chung: Ya… (without much enthusiasm)

Me decides to try again.

Mrs. Chung: Imagine the fun that we will have.

Mr. Chung: Ya…. (again without much enthusiasm)

Me decides to change topic.

Mrs. Chung: What (DVD) shall we watch tonight?

Mr. Chung: How about ‘Monster-in-laws’?

I SO love my husband.

meeting...

2008-05-02T12:47:00.000+08:00

in yak land, when a foreigner meets another on the street, they would get so excited and stop for a chat... no matter where they are...

holiday...

2008-05-01T19:16:00.000+08:00

It's the May 1st holiday and we get to have the day free for some family time... So we thought that maybe we could bring zachy to a park and chill out... Somehow, we forgot that 5 millions people in yak land were also on holiday as well... so going to the park, we could only make it as far as the main entrance...

Determined not to go home without first stepping into a park, we managed to find an open space, at least with grass and trees around somewhere in town... it was crowded too, but at least we could sit down and get a pic, very chinese...

weather in yak land is warming up... if you noticed mrs chung's dressing... but not for long though, we heard some cold draft are passing through yak land soon, again...

taxi ride...

2008-04-30T16:42:00.000+08:00

we hailed a cab to go home.

As we settle into a taxi, the driver looked at us with that very very small eyes, curious look...

"you are not locals, are you?", asked the cab driver.

So we explained, nah, we are from Singapore...

The driver gave a nod and a 'ooh' for a while and went silent...

He turned to look at me suddenly, and ask, "so how come your hair is not blond?"...

because we are not dumb?...

Aiyo!

2008-04-29T21:15:00.000+08:00

That’s what my (Mrs. Chung) brother said after I told him about my cracked screen. 'Why so careless...?', he asked. The laptop is less than a year old. Mr. Chung has told me to send it for repairs. But it will cost S$300. It is not just the cost. The laptop has to be sent to the HP service centre in Xi’An for verification and then to Beijing for repair. Well, I am not willing to send my laptop for a round-the-world trip so I reckon I just have to bear with it for now until I return to Singapore or make a trip to Hong Kong. And its not going to happen anytime soon.

On the positive side, it does look like nice, isn’t it? Like a flower motif. Hur, hur…

While Mr. Chung Was Away....

2008-04-28T11:16:00.001+08:00

Mrs. Chung and little Chung had a great time with the other kids...

camping...

2008-04-27T23:03:00.000+08:00

It was Doc. Wang's 40th birthday, and he wanted to celebrate it with a bang... so he decided to invite all the guys in the team to head up the mountains somewhere in yak-land, 2.5 hours away from the city for an over-the-weekend camping trip. So all the guys, yes, all seven of us turned up.

We were promised a relax and nice camping trip, sitting by the camp fire, roasting marshmallows and drinking hot chocolate... Instead, it turn out to be drafting session for the top elite military unit consisting of Navy Seals, Delta Force, SAS, Special Ops Forces, etc etc... We scaled treacherous mountains, swam across icy-bottomless river, ate live yak meat and drank pine tree juice as we traversed from camp to camp... OK, I exaggerated, it was not that tough, there was really mountains to be climbed, but it was a rather enjoyable time the guys could spend together, and the scenery was superb and breathe-taking (maybe I'm not really sure the breathetaking was because of the majestic mountain, or because i was panting really hard climbing the mountains...)

here's me in my most suitable camping gear, with cool looking jungle hat, timberland hiking boots, GPS, ecologically friendly greyish-green shirt, water-proof pants, all covering the bloated, unfit body...

the guys stopping for a break, somewhere on the top of the mountain, while waiting for me to catch up...

And for Doc. Wang's memorial sake, he had made us do wierd things, forming human pyramids and head stands... you can't reject the birthday boy's wish, can you? and Who say old men don't have fun?

I don't think i am as adventurous (or psycho) as Doc Wang when it's my turn to celebrate the 40th birthday... probably, a 3 days non-stop buffet meal, with DVD movies playing non-stop will be sufficient...

more pics on the camping trip here

守的云开见月明

2008-04-26T00:49:00.000+08:00

Literal translation – an old Chinese saying that if one perseveres in waiting for the clouds to disperse, one will get to see the beautiful moon. Important thing – persevere.

Thank you so much to the friends who called, emailed and left a comment on the blog. I did not mean for the post to sound so bleak and depressing. I was not feeling THAT depressed. At that point of time, I was just ranting. Anyways, like the Chinese saying, I will persevere. I know I can trust in Him and that He has a purpose for everything.

On a lighter note. Mr. Chung left on Friday afternoon for a camping trip up in the mountains. More pictures, I am sure, will follow when he is back this Sunday. Me? Well, I will be having a leisure breakfast of bacon, eggs and bread with this Swiss lady and her adorable three kids. Zachary seems really excited about the breakfast after I told him about it.

Life is not a bed of roses

2008-04-24T17:55:00.000+08:00

The past few weeks have been trying for me (Mrs. Chung). Very trying. I face difficulties in all aspect. From relationships, to work, to household matters and to taking care of little Zachy (cos' he has been sick). And even my laptop!!! (clumsy me stepped on the laptop and the screen cracked. I am now looking at black blotches on the screen). At times, I wonder what I am doing here – am I just another human being on earth? Or is all that I am doing going to make a difference in someone, somehow, some time? I do not have answers to all this. But you can bet that these questions will be added to my list of ‘To Ask God’ when I see Him eventually.

Life is not a bed of roses. Even if it is, there will still be thorns on the roses, isn’t it?

But I will press on.

another new week...

2008-04-21T12:13:00.000+08:00

What a good way to start the week... about 3 inch thick of snow welcomes us to a beautiful morning...

and thanks for praying, little chung is almost back to normal. The fever's gone, so are almost the flu... Almost back to his mischevious mode soon...

Have a great week, everyone!

sick...

2008-04-20T14:23:00.000+08:00

Little Chung had been sick for the past few days... with fever hovering around 39+ degrees, and diarrhea, and a little running nose, The kid had been in great discomfort. The past two nights, he had not been able to sleep well, waking up every so often to whine and cry of his pain... All symptoms are pointing to the process of teething, but we still see nothing, not even white spots under the gum... maybe it's just some bugs, which may means that if the real teeth comes, he's gonna go through this process again... sigh...

mrs chung, being patient, gentle and sympathetic (as usual...), had been wonderful in making him feel comfortable and nice... I tried my best to soothe him at night (techincally, the exact word I would actually use is "shutting him up from crying") if i'm awake, that is... he is definitely recovering, but not back to his usual active, chirpy self yet...

Please pray for him if you could eh? that he will ride through this ordeal soon... thanks people.

pics of mengyuan...

2008-04-15T12:29:00.000+08:00

site visit...

2008-04-14T01:50:00.000+08:00

hey, hey! water project no 2 is back! Was at the village today as the villager commenced the construction of the water project. Similar to the first water project, we are supposed to construct a gravitational water system that brings water from the top of the mountain (a stream) into each house using underground pipes. The difference this time is, it is bigger and badder... there are more villagers and houses here, and the terrain and construction are harder... the water source even though was only about 1.8km away from the village, it is really high up, with a 300m elevation difference.

The digging of the trench to lay the pipe was not easy too... apparently, this is quite a rocky area, with big rocks lying around. But the villagers themselves, with their own resources and contact, managed to contact a nearby mining company to loan a excavator to dig most of the trench... This yellow mean machine is fast... what is suppose to be done in two weeks by hands (many hands in fact...) was done in just two days!

anyway, this is phase one... the next phase would start hopefully sometime in June, when we aquire the needed funds to purchase the water pipes to lay the pipes...

Big yellow, mean caterpillar excavator at work, digging the trench for the laying of water pipes... and picture below, all of us are facilitated what the yellow thing could do... not even in singapore, we get to go so close to see the machine in action... for a moment, we were just 'awed' by it's capability...

On the other hand, I was checking out another site for another project possibility. Recently, I came to know of a piece of vacant land in this area available for renting. We were in discussion with the university and the villagers on the possibility of renting this piece of land, and using it as a tree nursery. Situated in a nature reserve, the condition seems to be favourable for going into a tree nusery project. the main gist of the project was that we will grow a few species of forest trees here, with the villagers maintaining it for a year or two, before selling it to forestry departments or private planters, for landscaping use. Through the sales, profits will be generated that would be divided to the villagers. Once the trees mature, we could also pass some of the trees saplings to villagers around who are willing to plant it on their farm land, and they could also sell it off after the trees mature. Hopefully, this project site could also act as a training center for villagers who wish to go into the tree planting trade, to learn a trick or two here...

Picture above, the potential tree-planting project site... Though yellow and barren now... if the project would to take place, we would like see it tranforming to something as shown below... green and orderly...

We are still in the research stage on this tree-planting project. If possible, we may try to sort out the rental and buyer details by last quarter of the year and start the planting process by summer next year...

hmm... maybe could get to ship some real Christmas pine to Singapore by 2010 eh?

winning...

2008-04-12T00:53:00.000+08:00

"Winning alone is called losing"

that chapter in John Ortberg's book struck me really hard...

A single simple phrase but it caught my attention. "What's wrong with winning alone?", I asked... and a list came to mind.

When I win an arguement, I don't feel good at all.
When I win by staying away from people I really dislike, I don't feel a sense of victory or peace, instead I seem to hate that person more.
When I win by having the last piece of cake, I grow fatter.
Need me to go on?...

"Winning alone" mentality is a very subtle "self-righteous-centerness" manisfestation... very often, we did not realise we are winning alone, because winning is a good thing. Who ever want to lose right? As long it benefits me and I do not stand to lose anything why I can't win even though through the process we may be hurting/affecting someone else... "that's their problem, or if that's how they feel, I can't help it" is probably our favourite justification tack line.

John Ortberg's point is that winning alone brings isolation (ok forget about the point of the last piece of cake and grow fat sentence), When we move towards winning alone more, we tend to be isolated/cut off from people around us. We are made different and there tend to be differences... I have already seen a few who had chosen the 'dark side' and being isolated... and they got so caught up with winning alone that they (still) do not see what's happening to themselves. I feel that I'm also moving towards winning alone as well, especially when i sense that my rights, views, stands, lifestyles, cultures, points etc are being challenged...

The cure? help somebody else win. The act of just putting out your inviting hands to someone else and said to them "here, you go ahead to the finish line first" breaks down our pride and melts the heart (not the lovey-dovey sense). Helping someone else wins display love (again not in the lovey-dovey sense) and isn't that what God had commanded us to do?

Quoting from John Ortberg who quoted the great apostle," If I speak in the tongue of men and of angels... if I... can fathom all mystries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing... I gain nothing."

hmm... Who am I helping to win today?

typing...

2008-04-09T02:56:00.000+08:00

apparently... the silence did not really help to tell what's happening to the chungs in yak land eh?

while the land is getting warmer by the day, with errantic rain and cold draft to remind us we are still in 4000km away from Sunny Singapore, life for us this days had been pretty much behind the desk, both in the office and at home, typing away... Mrs Chung, putting in place admin policies and salary scales and me, churning out some project proposals that might be put into action this coming summer... Definitely there would be a water project no. 2, constructing a similar water project as of the previous one, and there is a possibility we might work with the villagers to do some forest tree planting project, for environmental and economical purpose. I am still trying to come out with a eco-tourism project, that i could present to the local tourism bureau for a possible collaboration... still researching...

I am also working on registering our NGO with the local Authorities. There are some new policy for foreign NGOs working in China, with new rules and administration guidelines to adhere to... Me, being the representative to the officials, have to work on it... Things are not going as smoothly as we would like it to be... the discussion and enquiry so far is pointing us to the east. Beijing that is... we have to go there to register. Not only the branch office in Yak land, but our head office in Hong Kong has to be register as well...

Not going to bore you with the admin/paperwork details, but yup... that's pretty much what's happening to the chungs in yak land for the past two weeks... typing, typing, typing... For those who knows me (mr chung) well enough, you would know that behind a desk would be the least likely place to find me... I am also surprised (& impressed at the same time...) with myself for being able to stay put in that little corner reading through documents and papers...

and little chung? as cheerful as ever...

One hundred and twenty something days to Beijing 2008...

moon...

2008-04-08T02:18:00.001+08:00

The moon in yak-land is bigger than Singapore's eh?

shot at 300mm, F14, 1.3s, ISO100

Hunk Wannabes

2008-04-03T00:28:00.000+08:00

speculation...

2008-03-21T02:07:00.000+08:00

speculations continues that little chung is teething, as he seems to be chewing on anything that he is laying his hands on... when i mean everything, i mean everything... for the sake of viewer's discretion, i have chosen to upload pleasantly nicer pictures of him chewing cute stuff, rather than what he is usually eh... biting...

still, we see no white teeth... or rather tooth popping out anywhere yet. Guess it's going to take a while's while before the tooth fairy decides to drop by yak land...

peaceful & quiet...

2008-03-19T01:48:00.000+08:00

for those of you who have been keeping yourself updated of news around the globe and especially around here, would probably have read about the riots and clashes happening in tibet,which is just a province beside yak land.

some had asked if things are alright here, and if there are any ripple effect and ramification overflowing into good old yakky land. well, I'm glad (and proud) to announce that the city here is peaceful and quiet... life goes on as usual for everyone, and sipping tea as usual... so don't worry about us (if you ever are... )...