Jia you Sis!!!

It was somewhere in August when my 3rd sis telling me that she's pregnant her 2nd child. It was quite unexpected though, but they'd been waiting for it to come and very happy with it. Congratulations Sis!! Her hubby started to become very attentive to her after that hahaha... I always heard my sis praising her hubby who clean up the house, do the laundry, do the cooking, prepare for lunch box, etc. He even did the massage for her. So lovely.... :)

My brother-in-law's application for Australian PR was approved in 2007 and he decided to move out from Singapore. In the beginning, my sis was a bit hesitant to move as it'd be quite far from our hometown. But since her husband had convinced her how life in Aussie would be much better than in Singapore, she then followed her husband, started their lives all over again, and moved to Melbourne. In the beginning, they stayed together with one of our cousins in a rented apartment. After quite some time, they decided to buy the land and build a house on it in a suburb of Melbourne. Their first son was born in May 2009 and not long after that, their house was done and three of them moved to the new house happily.

With their first baby boy :)

Throughout their lives there, which have been almost five years, they have faced many challenges. My sis often confided in me what was happened. She trusted me enough to keep it from the others. In fact, both of us are very close to each other. We grew up together, played together. I learn many things from her. In my eyes, she was the bravest woman I've ever known. Haha... She was good in Tae Kwon Do, defeating many opponents with her balcha-gie kick on their faces. Hahaha... I will never forget that memory. She was also the one who encouraged me to take public bus in Jakarta. Fyi, the bus condition in Jakarta many years back was very terrible. We didn't have proper bus stop and we could just stop anywhere we wanted. The bus didn't even stop properly when we went in or went down. There were even lots of pickpockets, perverts, and if you're lucky, you'd get the bus thrown by the stones (those big stones from the footpath, mind you) - It happened to me twice in my whole life. Anyhow, we went through lots of things, thick and thin together since we were young until we've grown up. Even sometimes, we hadn't opened our mouths, but we knew what we were thinking. And lots of times, we'd say the same words at the same time and we ended laughing at each other.

She is also the one who has been reading my blog and commented on my posts all this while. Although we were separated geographically, she still wanted to know how I am doing here and how well my situation is.  Why suddenly I posted this is because I am worrying her situation now. With her 2nd pregnancy, the due date is still 3 months away, but she has been complaining of many things that weren't happened previously. It's not life threatening though, but it made her suffering.

About two months ago, she was complaining about hay fever. In Australia, during spring time, the grass pollens would fly anywhere blown by the wind, and when inhaled, it would cause sneezing, itchy, and watery eyes, swelling and inflammation of the nasal passages, and increase in mucus production. She suffered a lot, made her difficult in breathing. She was worrying the baby not having enough oxygen. At that time, she almost gave up and wanted to fly back to Jakarta for a refuge. She endured the pain for a while and managed to pass the hard time and still remains staying there until now.

Then this morning she was complaining the pain and numbness on her both hands. Both her feet and hands were swelling too due to the blood didn't circulate properly. Later on she found out that she was suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome. Pregnancy is one of the cause of this thing to happen.

Things to straighten her wrists

My sis and her husband went around to look for the Chinese physicians. Since it's Sunday, many were closed and they had to find it elsewhere. Luckily the find one in Footscray. The physician gave her Taiwanese medicine, which he said it would be safe for pregnant woman and the baby, just hope that he was telling the truth, because usually the doctor will forbid pregnant woman to take any Chinese medicine.

Sis, I just want to say, no matter how hard things happen to you, hang on there and never give up, Ok? You've come this far and all of us will support you with our prayers. We really hope that you and your baby will be fine. It's just 3 more months to go! I'm sure you can get over it! Ok? Jia you Sis!!!

Recover soon please...

It's been 4th day. Every night I slept with no air-con. In a big bed, all alone. Just heard the sound of the fan in a quiet room. The medicines, don't know if it helped me or it makes me getting worse. I always felt asleep tiredly, and in the middle of the night, I would be awoken by the urgency to clear my bladder. It felt cold, shivering, although blanket has covered my body. A lot of times, I was dreaming too, meeting people that I have never met for so long, she suddenly said 'hello' to me, which in real life, I don't think she would bother to do so (my ex bf's mother), haha.. Dreaming about picnic with so many friends I long never met (perhaps we met recently only in fb). Dreaming about climbing a very high stairs in each step, and I had no energy to do it (and yet, I was thinking of climbing it more often once I get well), and lots of other funny dreams.

It felt so hot. I was sweating. My neck was struggling, longing for being free. Seemed that something was holding into it. I was just thinking, perhaps those inside me were battling. The immune system supposed to work out when I was sleeping rite? But I doubt who it attacks to.. The virus? Or the good ones? I still haven't recovered. Still hiding inside my thick blanket. I still feel hot and sweating, and praying that it will get better soon. I don't want to be sick for such a long period. Please let me be healthy again, and do things independently. Something inside me, please battle the correct way and let me recover soon. My life and happiness will depend on you...

Flu again :(

I started sneezing yesterday in my office. I thought I was just feeling cold. Didn't expect that it got worst. Even after I wore my sweater with long pants, I still felt very cold for the whole day. I started to have running nose. It was terrible!!!

Weather kept changing from cold to hot in a day, then from hot to cold again. Not only that. Many people caught flu and cough and they boarded inside the same MRT. While standing or sitting down, there was not much space left available and you could hear them sneeze and cough just next to you while the wind was blowing towards your direction. So, it was almost unavoidable.

After work, I straight came back home. Had a bowl of spicy pepper bakuteh soup to warm up myself. Then I boiled Chinese herbal tea in a big pot and had a cup. After that I took a bath and took out my leftover flu medicines from the previous doctor's visit. I could feel sleepy right after that. Before 9pm, I went into my room, lying down on my bed and fell asleep in less than 5 minutes. But I woke up at about 11pm, to go to toilet, and tried to sleep again.

This morning, I woke up late. I didn't hear any alarm ringing. It was 7.35am. Usually I set the alarm at 6.50am. Hurriedly I took a fast bath, dressed up, and walking, almost running to MRT. I messaged my collegue, telling her that I might reached office late, but lucky I wasn't late. I reached my office before 8.30am.

It's second day of closing. That's why I had to go to work. I finished my work at first half day and I felt sleepy, tired, and hungry!!! Despite having two slices of bread and a cup of coffee in the morning, my stomach started grumbling at 11am. Lunch time was still in another hour to go but I couldn't wait. So I went to the cafetaria and luckily they served red apple as fruit for lunch and I grabbed one, peeled and ate it right away. I felt better after that. Hehe...

I read somewhere, to fight flu, people have to eat more fruit and vegetables, also drink fruit juices and try not to eat solid food. I couldn't survive without eating solid food. During lunch time, I took a half bowl of rice filled with soup, while at another plate, I took a piece of fried fish, stir fried long bean with tofu, and bunches of Mesclun mix salad together with tomatoes and cucumbers. My boss who sat in front of me commented me of being healthy, while another colleague teased me, saying that Chinese New Year is still in one month's ahead, why I started to diet already... hehe... No dear, I wasn't on diet, I was having flu. Before leaving the cafetaria, I took another red apple, for afternoon break :D

It was quite busy at another half day preparing costing for new food promotion, also to prepare things required for tomorrow's meeting. I was thinking of taking sick leave actually, but when I opened the common calender file, I saw no one took sick leave yet. Even my boss's secretary who was having bad cough didn't take sick leave. So, let me endure one more day before taking a full rest during weekend. So sad, plan to spend the weekend for flu recovery.... :P

After work, I visited the doctor. While waiting for my turn, I had my dinner at the food court nearby. Since there was still time, I went to a library and I was so happy to be able to find another  Hiraku eh.. Haruki Murakami's book. Ahh, it's still quite hard for me to memorize his name... I still can't remember his name properly. So when looking for his book, I was searching in another side of shelf kekeke.... Two weeks before I managed to find one, After the Earthquake, then last weekend, I found other two: South of the Border, West of the Sun and After the Dark. I've returned the After the Earthquake back and done with South of the Border, West of the Sun. Now is reading After the Dark.

I found myself quite lucky that I didn't have to buy the book in order to read it, but could just go to the library and borrow it for 3 weeks time. We could borrow 8-12 books at one time and it's totally free. If you return the book late, then you will have to pay the penalty. So today, I found the book that I wanna read, Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

I have a friend who loves to read his book. But before recommending him the book, I must read it first so able to tell if the story is nice or not. Hehehe..... So if not nice, don't buy la... But of course, it's relative. What is nice for me, may not be nice for him, and the other way around, right?

I also borrowed another book, Will you be there by Guillaumo Musso. Dunno nice or not. When I translated what my friend wrote for me during high school time, I just realized that I actually used to love to read a novel. In Jakarta, it takes time to travel from one place to another due to the distance, inconvenience (change 2-3 buses to reach one place) and traffic jam. I used to take public transport wherever I go. So usually, I would bring the book to read while taking the bus and I borrowed the books mostly from school's library. The reading habit disappeared after I went to study abroad.

Since I gave birth and now get older, I think I've lost quite lots of memories from the past. Haha... I even forgot the habit that I used to have. I only know I don't like wasting time while traveling. Even until now, I still bring book (any book including exam material) and /or newspaper while taking MRT to work.

Ok, it's 10.20pm now. I don't want to oversleep again tomorrow morning. I'd better rest early. Hopefully after eating more fruits and vegetables, I will get better soon...... :) One more day to work, after that, I can lie down on my bed reading the rest of the book while listening to the radio... Hm.............................

Quote of the day :)

Happy New Year 2013

New Year's Eve Dinner - Teppanyaki plus Steamboat

My friends (David and Sheryn) who stay in the same area, just the opposite of our block, invited us for New Year's Eve dinner at his home. He and his wife prepared the food for teppanyaki (Japanese style cooking using iron plate) and steamboat or also called hot pot (Chinese style simmering the ingredients inside the pot). They also invited his close friends and sister. There were 11 of us.

It was raining since afternoon and keep continuing until night time. The air was very cooling, suitable for this type of dinner. David also opened a bottle of red wine to warm up ourselves.

We ate, chit chatted. It's third time we gathered like this. Our ages are similar and most of us have just moved into new flat of our own, while Bernard (David's buddy) and his family will move to new flat soon (they have already purchased the built-to-order flat, and now is being built, but not done yet). So we share the common topic for conversation. Sheryn's sister, Hui Xin, also stays nearby, just one block away from our place. She is now pregnant and will give birth estimated next Feb.

After dinner, we took rest for a while, watching King Kong on Channel V. Hui Xin has made cupcakes - carrot cake - and each of us took one. Hubby bought a can of coffee capsules and some of us had a coffee so that we could stay awake. Hehe... We stayed until 11pm then went back home. Hubby didn't feel well. He was having fever, perhaps eating too much pizza the night before, and working too hard cleaning Baobei's room.

So we did count down at home. We could hear neighbors around counting down loudly. Some even counted down minutes before the right time. Haha... There were fireworks in two separate areas nearby our neighborhood, but we couldn't really see it as it was blocked by HDB buildings. We could only see when it was bigger one, flying much higher.

I slept at 2am and woke up at 10.30am.. hehe... As hubby was still sick, I decided to cook porridge for our lunch, also took out vegetables and egg from fridge, cooked three simple dishes to start the new year :)

The weather today was so hot and sunny!! Perfect for drying up clothes. Haha... I did the laundry and hung it in our balcony, let the sun and wind drying it up. Then I took a nap for about an hour. Was woken up by the call, and also my sister-in-law was sending me message, asking me which vodka I wanted to buy (they just reached Singapore airport, coming back from Jakarta). Hehe... I managed to add one more flavor Absolute collection, but too bad they couldn't find the other two that I wanted. But that was good enough!!! :)

Since the weather was so good, I decided to have a brisk walk in Punggol Waterway. I asked my son to take his bicycle and let him cycling while I took my time slowly walking there. Baobei went to the other direction, making one round, then going to the same direction as I was taking. I told him to meet up in Popeye. He would surely cycle faster, that's why I asked him to take the longer way so he didn't have to wait for me too long.

Long queue at Popeye

Finally I could do the brisk walking there. Usually I cycle and keep wondering how it feels to walk. So I did. Hahaha.... I used the headphone listening to the music from my hand phone. It took me an hour to reach Popeye and when I reached, Baobei had also just arrived and he was going around Popeye to check if I were there. Haha... I asked him to park his bicycle. Wow, it was dinner time by the time we reached (8pm), and there was a very long queue... Since Baobei wanted to eat, I asked him to queue, while I was outside looking for a seat and also to take a look at the bicycle.

Finally!!! (His bike behind him hehe...)

It took him half an hour to queue and got the food. Kekeke.... So slow... If I was alone, I would just give up and cook something at home. We shared the food and finished it up with ice cream (there was free ice cream with the package we bought). Not bad, but sinful.

We took the other way to go back and stopped by a supermarket to buy ice cream, carrot and tomatoes. It took me an hour to go back and my new shoe stepped on the dog's poo... Haiz... When I was walking, I kept looking up, at the people's new flats. To see what it looks like, how they decorate, and so on. Hahaha... Then I felt my shoe stepped on something soft yet watery... Hahaha... Although I didn't see what I stepped into, but I got the feeling that it was the poo.... Hiks.. my new shoe.... Reaching home, I removed my shoe and washed it right away.. and now dry it up in the balcony.

Well... it feels good after the walk. Hope I can have a good sleep tonight (despite drinking green tea and eating ice cream). Tomorrow it's gonna be a busy day again!! Closing time!!! Just hope everything will go smoothly. Wish us luck!!!

Btw, it's the 800th post in this blog. Although in the beginning, some posts were not written by me, and there were 9 post in draft that I decided not to post as it's too personal and I wanted to keep it to myself, this blog has been around since November 2004. So it's been over 8 years. Wow! I didn't realize that it's been so long. If Passu didn't tell me, I also didn't notice actually. However, not many people know about its existence as my goal to create this blog is just to record what I feel, what I do, more on personal thing, to recall things back one day when I get old or maybe lost memory, and to leave some stories to my son and families if they miss me one day when I am no longer around in this world. No matter what, I will keep writing while I can. It's been part of my life unknowingly. Just to express what I feel.....

Well, write till here. It's late now. Time to sleep. Have a good rest everyone!! And have a great day!!!