Trip to Newzealand part 2

For the first week we spent most of the time visiting places in the North Island of Newzealand.  There were not many cars at the outskirt.  Sometimes for five minutes I did not see any oncoming cars.  In fact we could sit in the middle of road to take photogragh.
As we travelled we stopped at the side of road to snap some photographs of beautiful scenery.  My son and my husband took turns to drive.  We cook breakfast and dinner at motel or backpackers.  For lunch we just took some potato chips or biscuits in the car while travelling.  I love the potato chips here especially the one with vinegar flavour.
We stopped at Lake Taupo to walk along the lakeside.  It is big and beautiful.  The scenery in this country is like beautiful picture.  We found a bench and put our bread and margarine there.  I spread the margarine on the bread but the bread dropped down on the sand.  As shown in the picture it formed a nice picture.

We felt free and relax to travel on our own.  All the kitchen stuff and food were in the car with us.  We had to make sure the petrol enough to go from one town to another town.  The price of petrol was different in each petrol station so we went around to look for the cheapest.  We had to abide by the speed limit strictly as you could be caught and fined the next moment.
We visited Huka Falls.  I was so amazed when I first looked at it.  The water was flowing down at great speed at bottle neck junction.  It rushed down splashing white foams.  The water was clear and blue in colour .  We stood on the bridge and admired the majestic sight.

Then we moved further down along the upper stream and stopped at lake side to fish.  There were many wild ducks and they were not scared of people.  They came to us for food.  They were beautiful.  After feeding I washed my hands in the lake water.  It was ice cold.  I never realised the cold could stay on in my palms and fingers for few hours even though I tried rubbing my hands.  It was winter time.  That day we caught no fish.

It was quite far from one town to another town.  In the afternoon we had to decide whether to go to the next town, whether there was enough time to reach there before 6 pm because we had to find a lodging place to stay and cook.  We checked the price of different motels or backpackers and
booked the place.  In backpacker those who wanted to cook had to go to a common kitchen to cook.  Everybody had to put back the things in order after cooking.  We usually bought the food to cook from hypermarket nearby.  They closed early that was why we had to stop travelling before sky turned dark.

Trip to NewZealand part 1

Newzealand is my dream country to visit.  My son and wife went there to work and tour for about 9 months.  Two weeks before they came back my husband and I took the opportunity to visit the country together with my daughter.
We did not join the tour group but traveled on our own.  Earlier on Air Asia provided direct flight to  Newzealand.  Now we had to take a transit from Singapore.  Changi Airport is beautiful and clean. Food is not too expensive.  I particularly like the Awang Stall there.  With about six dollars Singapore money, I could enjoy a bowl of curry mee ,two slices of toasted bread and a cup of coffee, all satisfying.

We flew across the continent of Australia and soon we reached Auckland.  It was winter time in Newzealand.  I had not experienced winter before so I was quite worry whether I could stand the cold.  I managed to get a winter coat back home in my country.  It was good and cheap though I got it from a second hand shop.  The weather was cold but bearable.
My son and wife waited for us at the airport.  We were not allowed to bring in any food at the airport.  We drove a short distance to have breakfast at Mc cafe.  My son bought a stationwagon for travelling.  Cars are cheap here.  We managed to put all our luggage inside the boot.  My son and wife had stopped working and packed up everything to travel with us.
In tropical country we see tall trees everywhere.  Now I could see large areas of pasture with few trees.  We wanted to stop and take photogragh but my son said there were better scenery along our journey later on.  But the first sight attracted us so much.
Along the way we saw many pasture land with a lot of sheep.  It was common there.  We saw some fruits being sold at road side.  Nobody was there but any buyer would just put the money and take the fruit.   In my country we could never do that.

For the first night we stayed in a motel in Taupo.  We rented a place where we could cook.  We had bought some food at hypermarket.  We baked some oysters.  It was cheap.  Everyone of us helped to prepare food and soon the dinner was ready.
After the hot water bath, I felt stronger and could resist the cold as it was getting colder at night.  The toilets were in another building about ten meters from our room.  In the middle of night I struggled to leave my warm blanket to go to the toilet as it was very cold outside.  I had to run fast
to and fro.

The next morning the windscreen of the car was covered with a thin layer of ice.  I used to complain about too much sunlight back home in my country but now I yearn for the sunlight.
I felt happy with the surrounding.  The land is big but the population is small.

Turning over a new leaf

Pure and undefiled religion before God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
There are many people in this world that need a shelter even though they have their own house to stay.  My cousin in Pulau Ketam is one of the case.
When he was young he was a good man, handsome and hardworking.  His job was to row a small boat called sampan to transport the passengers from the ferry to the fishing village.  When the jetty was built he lost his job but instead he was given a place at the jetty to sell drinks and other things.  His was the one and only stall at the jetty.  He was doing well and soon I saw him wearing a lot of gold on his neck and hands.  This is what the villager normally invested in when they have money.
The houses here were built above the seawater and the roads were built above the swampy mud.  Only bicycles and motorbikes are used as transportation.  No car is used in this island.
The past time for the villagers are gambling, cinema shows, videos and karaoke.  The island is small.  In fact most of the young people went to big cities to earn a living.  The remainders are mostly old people and small children.  Not many people are interested to continue the grandfather's profession of catching fish.
I did not see him for about 15 years.  Recently I visited my auntie.  I was surprised to see him changed totally.  He is no longer innocent and kind looking but he looks like a bad guy.  His sister told me about many things that happened to him that caused a lot of trouble to the whole family.  He takes drugs and sells drugs, owes people money.  The brother and sisters had helped him to settle a lot of debts but he still continues to live in the same way.  His sister is fed up of helping him to pay his endless debts.
One week ago he was beaten up by the neighbours who gambled with him claiming that he played trick.  One of the man rode motorbike and knocked him from the back.  His right leg was broken and he was hospitalized.
Knowing that I am doing social  caring work my cousin sister wants me to house him after discharged from hospital.  The Vietnamese wife and the small daughter came together.  For me it is a joy to be able to help him.  The sister fears that he might be further harmed by the neighbours.  He needs to get out of the former environment.  So my place provides a new and healthy environment for him.
Every morning we have prayer and worship time in the sitting room.  His bed is in the sitting room as he cannot walk upstairs.  He will need few months to rest and recover.  I hope his life will change after knowing Jesus as his personal saviour.  No drugs and cigarettes are allowed so that he will get rid of these bad habits.

 

Unable to sleep?

Recently  I visited my cousin who is staying in Johor Bahru.  I have not met her for many years.  My cousin is near to 70 years old.  She is not so healthy and so is her husband, Alex.  Alex is 72 years old.  He looks weak and tired.  He cannot sleep well at night but always wake up in the middle of night.  He finds hard to fall asleep too.  So every night he will spend time doing Chinese brush writing copying the Psalms in Bible.  This is one of the ways to make himself tired and sleepy.  During the day he cannot drive alone as he sometimes dozes of in the midst of driving.  The lack of sleep makes him weak and tired.
Many years ago I also suffered from the same kind of sickness.  I was busy working, taking care of  my family.  I did quite a lot of part time job at the same time.  I could not take the pressure and one day I reached my breakdown point.  I felt giddy and could not concentrate my mind.  The doctor said I suffered from anxiety.
Since then I was always in tension even though the surrounding was peaceful.  I could not calm myself even though everything was going on fine.  I found hard to fall asleep.  It was my first time taking sleeping pill.  When I took the first sleeping pill I felt nice as if I was sinking deep into the ocean.  Soon I fell asleep.  But then I knew I could not depend on sleeping pills.  I need to get over it in a natural way.
The tension in my mind tortured me.  Outwardly I looked alright but inside me was terrible.  I dreaded the news of mentally sick patient jumping down from tall building.  I worried I would go mad.  It was one of the worst kind of sickness.  The doctor told me that this sickness could not be healed completely because it will reoccur under pressure.  What a negative statement that sentenced me to death.
I began to read up many articles concerning this type of sickness to find out ways to get out of it.  Everyday I worried about getting to sleep at night.  Sometimes I could not sleep till the morning.  I drank milk every night as milk helped a lot.  Another way of calming myself was attending the praise and worship church services at night.  It helped even more.
When I started to serve God full time in discipleship training centre the sickness was gone completely.  Everyday I was so busy doing work and helping people in the community.  I worked until I was so tired.  I fell asleep straightway when I lied down to bed.  The problem then was not unable to sleep but craving for more sleep.  I had to wake up for early morning prayer everyday.
The feeling of that sickness did come back once or twice.  Instead of harboring the fear of madness I confronted it literally.  I told myself,'So what if I go mad.  Let it be.'  Then I realized that I have overcome the fear and soon the feeling of sickness coming back was gone.
If I believe in what that doctor told me I will always be in the same condition.  Thank God He has healed me and helped me to overcome the negative feeling.  I could cope with pressure and it did not make me sick again.

Learning to cook

Cooking was a difficult chore for me in the past.  I could only cook some simple things like cooking rice, frying eggs and cooking instant mee.  That's all.  Before the day of marriage my father had to tell my mother in law that I could not cook.
After marriage, I avoided cooking.  My husband and I used to eat in food stalls or restaurant.  Most of the time I catered food.  My food caterer sent the food to me everyday except weekend.  Occasionally I would cook something but the result was not good.  And I would wonder why my stewed chicken was not good as others.
My cooking improved as I joined the discipleship training and live together as a community in the church.  When I first joined the training, my pastor put me in charge of kitchen and food.  I did not tell him that it was my weakest thing but then I just obeyed and gave a try.  Pastor's wife was my spiritual father and teacher.  She taught me how to cook.
Fried rice is the easiest thing to do but I failed many times, countless times.  I felt bad because if I did not cook well everyone had to suffer eating the lousy fried rice.  The rice turned out to be soggy.  According to expert, the rice grain should be able to 'jump' in the wok but mine was wet.  Then I realized that the rice for frying must not be cooked with too much water.  It must be cooked with just enough water for best result.
Frying eggs first will leave a smooth surface on the wok so that the rice will not stick to the wok and be burnt.  No water is added in the midst of frying.  I do not use soya sauce as it will make the rice wet.  All the lumps should be loosen.  I learned it through many failures.
I told myself that it would take a miracle for me to be a good cook as I was slow in learning in the area of cooking.  I jotted down all my mistakes so that I could refer to it to avoid future mistakes.
In the beginning I did not know how to cut carrot and long beans into small pieces in a fast way.  I learned the ABC in cooking.  I learned to cut different types of vegetables.
I learned budget cooking.  With the least ingredients and the cheapest things to produce tasty and nutritious food.  We do not use artificial seasoning.  To improve the taste we use meat, bones or small fish called 'ikan bilis'.  Vegetables like carrot, cabbage also improve the taste of soup.  Mushroom does wonders in taste.
Coming back to fried rice, we can use frozen mixed peas, corn and carrot .  Most of the time I use carrot, long beans or French beans, big onions spring onion and eggs.  For seasoning I use pepper powder and salt only . Some dark thick soya sauce added to add some brown colour.
Learning the basic is very important as it can enable us to upgrade to more complicated way of cooking.
I thank God that today I am able to fry rice not just for my family but also for more than fifty people or even for a hundred people.

Selling goat milk

Selling goat milk at night market is one of the most exciting activity we used to have.  It is one way to get some income for the work in centre.
We started to rear goats about four years ago.  Since then we started to sell goat milk.  In the beginning we put up advertisement at bus stops but it did not work.  Then we tried to sell near train station.  We managed to sell a few bottles only.  After that we tried to sell at morning market and  night market.  The best sale is at night market.
In the beginning we were so shy to call out to the people who walked pass our stall as we had no experience of selling.  We did some studies about the benefits of goat milk and found that goat milk is indeed better than cow milk.  Its molecules are much smaller and can be assimilated into the body within half an hour.  It is one of the antidotes for jaundice.
Most people can accept goat milk but there are some who are allergic to it.  Some people cannot stand its smell.  However we found customers who drink goat milk regularly.  One of the customers used goat milk to reduce his weight because his body was allergic to it and he purged after taking it.  I could not believe it but he did it.
Another customer took goat milk as breakfast as it filled the stomach till noon so that she would not feel hungry.  She used it for slimming purpose too.
One old man who coughed for a long time was healed after taking goat milk.  Another lady testified that she no longer feels cold and needs not put on socks at night.  So you can see that goat milk helps people in different ways.  Another lady was so happy because new hair started to grow on her head.  Two old ladies who drink a bottle of goat milk continuously for two years found their complexion fair and without age spots.  A bottle of goat milk is about 250 ml.  It is especially helpful to the undernourished old people or invalid.
Most people are not aware of the goodness of goat milk so at times it is difficult to sell.  We give out leaflets to introduce to the people around.  It is not easy to find a place to sell if you are new to the night market.  Before going to a new night market I normally walk around to look for an empty
 space to put the ice box.  If certain stall does not turn up that night I can use the place.  Sometimes  
the stalls besides me demand money from me as rental.  If there is no empty space available then we have to push the trolley to and fro as mobile stall.
On rainy day the sale is very poor as there are not many people.  to boost the sales it is better to bring a small goat along.  Most of all prayer and faith is very important for good sales.

Happiness of a simple person

Not everybody can survive well in the society.  There are weaker people who need the support and help from the stronger ones.  When they are young they can depend on their parents but their parents will grow old one day.  Some can depend on their brothers and sisters but some are unfortunate.
Ah Yong is an example.  He came into the centre when he was twenty two years old.  After many years he claims that he is still twenty two years old.  He does not know  he ishis age as he cannot count beyond digit 5.  He cannot recognize colours.  Everything to him is either red or black in colour.
Physically he is mature,tall and strong but mentally he is same like a ten year old boy.  His face has a weird look.  If you do not know him you might be afraid of him.  He cannot pronounce clearly so it is very difficult to understand what he is saying.  And yet he is so eager to tell you many things.  I could only catch what he means by guessing.
Most of the time he is cheerful but at times he can be very moody.  He is quite open and can share his feeling.  The most exciting time for him is going back home for Chinese New Year.  Every now and then he will ask you when is Chinese New Year as he does not know the time.
He likes new slippers and like to wear other people's clothes.  If you forgot to collect your clothes from the clothes lines , the T shirt will become his the next day.  Even though he is mentally undeveloped but I feel comfortable with him.  He is friendly and likes people.
He does things in a slow manner.  He can do things quite well like washing plates, sweeping and washing toilet.  His main job is washing the lorry and follow the lorry driver out to carry things.   When I took over the job of driving the lorry around, I was not familiar with the route.  To my surprise he was able to direct me to the destination.
The happiest time for him following me driving the lorry is drinking ice tea.  He always begs me to buy tea for him.  I would gladly buy for him ice tea packed in plastic bag.  After all he does not demand much in life.  He only wants to eat and drink tea.
During fasting time he becomes very cunning.  Often time he secretly went to the neighbour to ask for food.  When he followed me out to fetch things he would think of ways of getting food from the people .  But the people do not mind giving him food.  Even though he is simple minded but he can be very intelligent in times of his need.
Helping these people and be with them brings joy to my heart.  It is a joy to see them happy and being loved.