ONCE IN A PURPLE MOON

Once upon a purple moon ago, when mooncakes became scarce and super expensive on Gold Coast land, and chinese heritage was seriously in danger of becoming obliterated in the Lim family, we decided let's just celebrate this year's Mid-Autumn Festival in mini-fashion for the evening and get Jordie acquainted with some of his chinese roots before he totally lost it... So off we went on the hunt for mooncake lotus paste plus the mould for it, with the ambitious aim of wanting to make our own home-made ones since they really cost a bomb here. To my dismay, no shops carried those mooncake moulds and the lotus paste was just nowhere to be found in asian shops here. They only had black sesame and red bean- not so divine. Lotus paste which is the filling for mooncake is so tedious to make, I'd rather not bother with it and might even not manage to make a good one anyway. So, yesterday, on the mooncake festival date itself, we went to try to get some mooncakes,... well, most shops were out of stock and the ones left were so expensive, so we just got the teochew types and the mini round ones. After dinner, we told Jordan the origin and legend of the festival. Then, we 'walked the lantern' outside the neighbourhood streets and he had fun, the thrill of 'playing with fire' I guess.... too bad his neighbours were already in bed by then.

We then had some mooncakes, which Jordie found lip-smackingly good and daddy taught him the finer aspects of chinese tea appreciation and preparation.

For once, he enjoyed the tea and wanted 2nd and 3rd helpings so daddy was quite happy because he had now found a tea companion. I never really enjoyed chinese tea myself, coffee's more my thing...

Well anyway, when I quote purple moon, I mean it really IS RARE for us to get traditional in this manner... I mean while in Malaysia, I never really went into this kinda chinese heritage embracing and it was a virtual non-event there. Now, it just felt important to do it, because when I look at Jordan growing up in this land, amongst Aussies and many other internationals, I feel he is slowly losing his identity as a chinese. His hair had been turning brown lately maybe due to the sun or the high chlorine content in the water and he seemed happy about it because he felt he was turning into an 'aussie' boy. So, I feel we needed to teach him to be proud of his background, who he is and where he came from. Of course, speaking the language, behaviour and understanding of lifestyles to blend in well here is just as important, but knowing who he is and being able to live out this diversity in his life will be a definite advantage.... I hope...

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Dear Papa:

Today is Father's Day (in Australia) and I thought about you. This letter is a tribute to you and the great person that you were during your lifetime.

It's been like 36 years - such a long time, I barely even have any impression of you in my life.

My memories of you were unfortunately, not so vivid because you left this world too early in my life. Some of the earliest flashbacks I can recall were when you were ill.. lying in bed at home, asking me for back massages and me playing with those 'ice cream' sticks which you used for oral therapy in your mouth when you were battling face cancer. Of course, I also remember the few playground trips and you bought me these colourful layered cakes from the roti man. But vague, really vague for me at the moment... What is not vague is that cheek pinching! You loved to pinch my cheeks when you came back from work, and it really hurt. I disliked that, but now looking back, it really spoke volumes of your affection for me.

However, mum always had such good things to say about you. You were a good dad & hubby, the best that you tried to be. You saw to our family's needs and prepared as much for us as you could before you went off. This much I knew about you from the people and relatives who spoke of you. You were kind and generously helped many people in their time of need. You believed in education for young people, gave tuition and helped to ensure many of your siblings and their kids and even some of my uncles had the opportunity to finish off their school and have a fair go at a better future. You were the only son in your family to complete a diploma education and fought for your right for higher education. You taught and gave tuition to support your own education because your family just could not afford to put you through college. They did not believe in higher education either.

Agriculture became your destiny when you went to the College of Agriculture and studied agricultural science. It opened doors for you in ICI and you became a very good salesperson in that company.

You were promoted to Assistant Manager for your division and dined with British colleagues and professionals, moved to various towns in Malaysia to do your work. What you had achieved was amazing considering your circumstances and family background. Well, if you had chosen to stay on in pigfarming and helped your brothers, you might have eventually turned it into something outstanding too because you had great intelligence and foresight.

You loved life and all the joys it could offer, family, sports, friends, food, travel, photography. You played football, went hunting, fishing, took up archery (I think mum still keeps the bow somewhere in the house...)..and golf and travelled to many places for work and pleasure. I know you loved taking photos coz we had stacks of those 35mm slides which I loved to hold up against the sunlight in my younger days to see the life that you had led. You lived a life that was so different from the rest of your family. You believed in true love

and didn't settle for the normal matchmaking practices that happened in your family during those early days. You zoomed in on your girl and relentlessly pursued her. You made sure mum finished her studies at least till Form 6, even when her dad wanted her to drop out of school to work. You supported her family financially to keep her in school so that she could eventually qualify for a teaching post. She was just a student and you were her English teacher. But you were a gentleman and waited for her to grow up. Now, if that's not true, mature love, I don't know what is.

Often, people & relatives would come up and tell us, 'Your dad was a very good brother, good man. He was good to us." Now, I may not have gotten to know you as well as my brother and sisters but you know what? The memories and image of you are still good. And that's the way I wanna keep them always. Some people had dads with them all their lives but unfortunately, never really got to know them anyway. Some aren't even talking to their dads... but you, I know you loved us with all your heart,

,

each one of us was special in your eyes. Reminds me of the bible scriptures: "We love him because he first loved us." ~ 1 John 4:19

To be loved and know that you were special to someone ( even if only for a short time) inspires you to move on, to hope, to grow and to live and to love that person back.

MAN WHO BUILT ROBINA DIES IN FLIGHT

Robin Loh with masterplans of Robina Town Centre

August 30th, 2010 ~ THE Singaporean industrialist who masterminded the development of Robina has died during a flight to Hong Kong. Dr Robin Loh died on Saturday after a long battle with Parkinson's disease and related conditions. The 81-year-old was on a flight from Singapore to Hong Kong when he succumbed to breathing difficulties.

Not many people today know about this, but Dr Loh secured a place for himself in Queensland history when, in 1980, he acquired a 20 square kilometre parcel of scrub and grazing land on the southern end of the Gold Coast. The name Robina was logically named after its founder...!!

Three decades later, Robina has become a master-planned community of 30,000 people, with a specially constructed town centre as its anchor point, along with parks, transport, health, entertainment and other infrastructure. Robina, as it stands today, is one of the best planned townships in Gold Coast. Since then, other planned communities have since been built across Australia using the same formula.

In May, the Queensland government flagged three new, similar cities for the state's southeast, to be built on greenfield sites at Ripley Valley, west of Springfield, and Greater Flagstone and Yarrabilba, in Logan's south near Jimboomba.

''He was a visionary with an exceptional work ethic and he will be sadly missed by all those close to him,'' Dr Loh's daughter Louise said in a statement.

''My father was very proud of what has been achieved at Robina. We were hoping that he could make it to Robina to mark the 30th anniversary, but that wasn't to be.''

At the peak of his career, Dr Loh was involved in shipping, shipbuilding, oil rig construction, banking, insurance, hotels, property development, manufacturing, research and development, and primary industries. The Robina landholdings are no longer part of Dr Loh's interests, after being acquired by entities associated with Ms Loh and her husband, Robina Land Corporation (RLC) chief executive Richard Wyatt. - (Source; AAP)

EPISODE 46: SOMERSET MUSIC FESTIVAL 2010

Yes, it's that time of the year again, when Somerset organises its annual music festival for young performers. This year, Jordan played in 5 entries and included one jazz piece in his repertoire.

He was rather nervous but handled it better this year. Last year, he was just a bundle of nerves, but this year, he somehow seemed calmer and enjoyed the challenge of the competition. Actually I wouldn't term it a competition because it isn't truly one in the real sense of the word. You could for eg, have one entry which is for Year 4, Any Composers and get all kinds of levels for pianists. Some children started out learning at an early age so by the time they are about 9 yrs old, they are quite advanced in playing skills, then you have those that just only began at age 9, so really, it was a rather wide range of different levels performing in the same section.

On Saturday, the 1st day of competition, Jordie scored 2 blue ribbons (best performing) for his Sonatina and jazz piece and a red ribbon for his duet performance with little Emma, who also studies under his piano teacher. Aww.. they looked so cute playing together!

Yesterday, Jordie made a few boo boos and didn't play quite as well so, he got 2 green ribbons (3rd place) for both sections, but nevertheless, even though he was disappointed, he took it rather well, as we told him we were proud and happy that he did his best. His piano teacher was very supportive and sat in on every one of his performances so we really appreciated her involvement and interest in his development.

In between, we had time to go in and watch some young talents perform in the strings section and they were really good. Somerset also had other sections such as drama, vocals, individual speech, poetry recital, keyboards, guitar, harps and brass. It is good exposure for kids learning music to watch others play and be inspired to play better. Of course, the stress involved in performing before a crowd also hits home so kids do generally buck up on their effort to practice before the event, which is a good thing for discipline.

Anyway, whew so glad it it's all over! All that mad rush in the morning to get him there on time, practice, practice.... Now, I can unwind for a bit....

EPISODE 45: THE CUSTODY ISSUE

We just said goodbye to our Taiwanese exchange student boarder. It has been quite an experience... We were landed with a very unusual situation where his mum was in town and wanted him to stay with her and visit her own host family.

This was where the lines of custody were tried. Firstly, we had committed to EQI (Education Queensland International) and the school to take care of this boy during his stay in Gold Coast. Then when his mum appears on the scene and claims she has every right to take him back to her own place, we are caught in between. We were fine if she wanted to drop by and visit him occasionally. We were worried that should anything happen to him during his time with his mum, we would be liable and we wanted a black and white written consent to cover ourselves. Unfortunately, his Taiwanese tour agency tried to bypass the system by telling the school he was just arranging a 'visit'to his mum but never mentioning that she was planning to have him stay overnight at her host's place. So, the school then gave their ok. This was a very controversial issue because who would then be accountable for his safety? The other host family or her or us? So, we refused to budge until she had written consent. She kept pressuring the tour agency to speak to the school coordinator. We were really stressed because we were getting these phone calls from 'unofficial' parties to release him. In the end, his tour rep as well as the mum called and said they had spoken to the school authorities and the mum told me she would like me to drop the boy off at her campus where she was studying so she could bring him home for 2 nights. I said, sure, as long as official green light was given.

But then to be sure, we decided we'd better check back with the school on this arrangement. The school knew of no such thing about staying overnight and told me to hold on. I supposed certain parties were then embarassed by this issue. We had en email by the tour company apologizing for the episode and promising it won't happen again cc'ed to the Queensland authorities. However, subsequently, these episodes still went on, with the mum pushing for his visit to her house, and him also wanting to stay overnight with his other friends' homestay parents. It was just so trying to explain to him that we had to follow protocols. He said the other boys were doing so, and staying with other families. His mum also rang again to ask to meet him. By this time, we were really feeling bad about the situation.

We rang the tour company boss and told her about these requests. She sounded like we were at fault and hinted that we were too rigid with following by the book and that this had never happened to her before. It was never an issue with other people. But then again,this was clearly a unique situation. Who would have thot his mum is in town and made such requests? And if she (the tour company) had gotten away in the past making informal arrangements like these, we are sorry to have been the 'bad guys' to bring all this to light.

At the bottom of this issue, lies also the fact that if you wanted your child to be part of a host family program, and to fully assimilate here, it would not help at all by letting him know mummy is around, tell mummy if you want to be with me. All this molly coddling defeats the whole purpose of sending your kid overseas for a different cultural independent experience.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the woman finally got her son to stay with her for the last 3 nights of his Gold Coast stay. They fly off tomorrow on Sunday. We had to ask him to pack and release him back to the school and her. It was a very unpleasant situation and I think all parties felt very awkward and upset about it. Of course I never mentioned to the school authorities of the few 'unofficial' visits the tour agency made to our home as well as the mum to inspect his bedroom. It was just sheer insult to us that it appeared as if we were not giving him proper accommodations and living amenities.

We later got feedback that his mum complained we didn't include him as part of family living-... I mean, GIMME a break! Am I expected to bring your son to theme parks, supermarkets everyday after school or something? We had TV watching Masterchef almost every evening with him (which he enjoyed), took him to the church, the beach, McDonald's, made him feel at home as much as we could,cooked lamb for him because he loved it, made sure his lunch had stuff he would like to eat,even tried to get him to play with neighbourhood boys soccer, BUT he just wasn't interested... and all we got was this very expressionless look on his face, no sign of gratitude,interest to assimilate, not even a please or thank you, no effort to help in the house. I even did his laundry after he left (not to mention all the unmentionables I had to scrub off his underwear each time.) and handed them to him the following day. Well, if this is how Taiwanese people bring up their sons, I am sorry for the whole generation of them and their wives when they eventually marry....

Anyway, the school was very apologetic that this had to happen to us and felt we had done the right thing to inform them. So, that at least was our vindication for this issue. I did raise the point that we were concerned if the mum was not thinking we could give her son the 'real aussie family' experience, and she asserted that Australia is a multicultural country and the homestay should reflect that, not just white families...

Well, for now, I wash Taiwan off my hands and homestay probably for a very long, long time. Once bitten, twice shy. Twice bitten, surely die....

EPISODE 44: THE TAIWANESE 'SON'

No, we did not adopt anybody. But these days, we are hosting this 12-yr-old Taiwanese boy from Kaoshiung. The boy arrived last week and has been settling in nicely with us. We volunteered to be host family for the Taiwanese students visiting Jordie's school so he will be living with us for 3 weeks.

It's fun and interesting to watch our boy interact with him as Jordan speaks very little Mandarin - so the Taiwanese boy was forced to speak English with him. He was initially shy but is now more confident and comfortable with us. We were told to speak English with him even though we can converse in Chinese, so that he will have the benefit of learning to communicate more in English. Found out he likes beef and lamb. Quite a carnivore,... and takes to Aussie milk and soft drinks. We are given an allowance for his stay though, which helps with the extra food bills.

To be honest, we thought we wouldn't qualify since we were Asians, but the school homestay coordinator thought we were a nice family and spoke English well enough to qualify for the role. So, she helped us apply for a blue card, which is a must for any work/ volunteer handling children below 18 years of age. My responsibilities as host mum is to make sure he gets to and from school on time Mondays to Fridays; 3 square meals daily, pack school lunches for him, communicate in English, do laundry and help adjust to OZ culture. It's quite an experience... handling 2 kids instead of one, but they are both very good, so it's still manageable. I had initial fear images of boys jumping on sofas, raiding fridges and wrecking the bedrooms, picky eaters, etc...but so far so good....

Meantime, Jordie is enjoying his company very much and told me he wished he had a brother. Oh well, a temporary one will do for now....

1ST Female PM For Australia.

Someday, it was bound to happen..and it did.

Although I don't see it happening yet for America or Malaysia, primarily in any kind of chauvinistic societies, but I was surprised that happened in Australia today, in the wee hours of the morning. Okay, probably power shift rumblings were already happening invisible to the public eye, but today, I think most were taken by surprise that Julia Gillard decided to step up after Kevin Rudd lost his majority votes for the Labour party, Australia's ruling party in parliament.

Kevin Rudd has given up the leadership of the Labor Party before completing his first term, conceding defeat to Julia Gillard before the spill was even put to a vote, resulting in the installation of Australia's first female Prime Minister. Ms Gillard will be sworn in at lunchtime by Governor-General Quentin Bryce, and will hold a press conference shortly, with details expected to emerge on the mining tax and possible ETS commitments.

There is also speculation an election could be held sooner rather than later due to the leadership change. Yesterday's dramatic crisis within the Labor Party resulted in the positions of party leader and deputy leader being declared vacant at this morning's caucus meeting. According to Labor Party returning officer, Michael Forshaw, Mr Rudd gave a gracious speech to the party room, in which he declared he would not be standing for the position of leader. This left Ms Gillard elected to the position of Labor Leader and consequently Prime Minister unopposed. Wayne Swan was then elected to Ms Gillard's former position of deputy leader, also unopposed. Ms Gillard arrived at this morning's minute at 8.59am accompanied by both Treasurer and now Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan, and a security detail. Upon departing the meeting Ms Gillard said: "I feel very honoured and I'll be making a statement shortly."

Mr Rudd's popularity had been in freefall in recent months and Labor powerbrokers yesterday acted on the dire polling, confronting Mr Rudd urging him to make way for Ms Gillard. Mr Rudd fought the move by putting the leadership to a vote at today's caucus meeting. However, after a night of working the phones, Mr Rudd failed dismally to garner even a respectable amount of support and this morning decided not to put his name forward for re-election as party leader. He is expected to remain on the back bench until the election, when he will most likely leave politics.

How sad.... u know, I did think he started his career in a very good way and built good bridges both locally (with the aborigines) and internationally (China). Mr Rudd listed the apology to the stolen generation, keeping the country out of the global financial crisis and the education revolution as some of the achievements he was most proud of. "I was elected by the Australian people as Prime Minister to bring back a fair go for all Australians, and I have given my absolute best to do that — I have given my absolute all," he said. "I hope I've been able to demonstrate to you that this has been a very busy two and a half years." A pity it had to end in this fashion. Australian politics is hard to crack.. it will be interesting to see what unfolds in the next few months with this new shift in power...

BERYL'S FUNERAL

Today was Mum Beryl’s funeral. We arrived just as it was about to start at Allambie Memorial Park in Nerang. We saw many familiar faces there, including Pastor Dexter, who specially flew in that morning from Malaysia to be at the funeral service, Pastor Len, Beryl’s pastor of Genesis Church, Ebbie, Dexter’s daughter who flew in from Melbourne, Neil Falcke and his dad and daughter, Marnie, Neil Bishop and his wife, Pam from Brisbane, Sue McBeath and hubby Ken as well as church members from Genesis like the Youngs and Brett.

It felt strangely peaceful there in the graveyard because the surroundings were so green and pretty. My first time on an Australian burial ground area and many graves, unlike those grandly ornamented Chinese graveyards, had very inconspicuous tombstones (or rather, plaques ) which lay flat on the ground. Almost stepped on one!! Beryl is a very dear friend of ours and as we laid her to rest today, we knew that she had indeed lived a life that had touched so many others. Here was one ordinary lady who had made her life count for God in an extraordinary way.

This was a closed casket type of funeral so we never got to take one last look of her. At the end of the service, we went forward and scattered petals on her coffin. But it didn’t feel the least bit tragic at all, because she had really lived a fulfilled life in God and went in a dignified, painless, peaceful manner. I think the sadness was more for ourselves, those she left behind.

After the funeral, they held a celebration service for Beryl . Seems like over here, especially for christian practice, they have the funeral service & burial first, attended by the closer friends and family members, then have a subsequent service for others in the form of a celebration service to celebrate the life of the departed. Then again, it may vary according to individual preference of different families.

Dexter gave a 30-minute eulogy on Beryl and ended with one of her fave songs: "You shall cross the barren desert." He strummed it on guitar while Ebbie sang with him.

Peter read from Psalms 91 and her son, Jeff shared about her family background.

Neil Falcke sang a beautiful rendition of ‘To God Be the Glory”. He joked that Beryl told him he must do so, so he said he’d better sing it today, otherwise he might ‘get into trouble’…Neil has been a fantastic spiritual son to her and taken care of her so well. We saw how he faithfully chauffered her for walks, bought shopping items, ran errands and did up her house to be ‘Beryl-friendly’ when she got too weak to climb upstairs. He read scriptures and shared with her when she laid in hospital. He used to cut her toe nails for her when she couldn't bend over. Every Sunday after service, he brought her out for lunch. He is a fine example of a great son and we are so proud of him- such a gem.

So,…Goodbye Beryl for now. You were a caring friend, mum, aunt, confidante to me amongst many others in Gold Coast and I don’t think I will ever meet another quite like you. The tears shed this morning were more for the loss of a great friend, than for your death. We love you and miss you already.