2014 Look Back and 2015 Resolution

Last month, we completed our team performance workshop.  One of the discussion topics was goal setting.  Then we discussed about giving feedback and 2015 work plan.  While I am sitting in the room, quietly I am thinking to myself that I would need to do that for my personal life too.

As year 2014 is drawing to a close, year 2015 is just within reach.  Many people will probably get excited to write about their look back and resolution, but I am already feeling that this post is not going to be a pleasant one.  I hate to admit but 2014 has been a very stressful and difficult year for me.

Flashing back on year 2014, there are too many occasions that my stress level was high, my cortisol level is hitting the ceiling.  For a very long period of time, I have been in a state of lethargic and constant tiredness.  They both come from the different expectation of work life and personal relationship.  I know that others will expect me to react, but knowing my own characters, I will just show off my face and walk away to avoid argument, whether you get it or not.  Yes, I know that this is the worst way to communicate.  Sometimes, I do try to open up to talk about it but when talking doesn’t do the job, I will revert back to my old self.  Perhaps, I will have to continue brush up my communication and emotional intelligence skill in year 2015.

2014 has also been a very sickful year for me.  I have been fallen ill almost once every month in the year.  I have been trying to convince others and myself that it is because I am bad at adapting to cold.  While I know that besides the cold weather, there are many other contributing factors.  The stress level has impacted my immune system.  Besides, Xi Ning has not been very well particularly latter half of the year.  She has developed eczema and often can’t sleep well due to itchiness and scratching throughout the night.  That made her to be even more demanding of her breastmilk in the night.  I have to wake up many times in the night to feed her and rub her back to soothe her so that she can fall back to sleep.  It has never been a sleep through night for me.  Very often, when she is not well, then it is my turn to fall sick partly because of the transfer of virus and the overnight taking care.  Lacking the quality sleep coupled with everyday work, there is no much room left for me to take a slow time to relax or do something I enjoy.  Of course, I would not complain much about this.  I do this out of love and that the only one thing I want is for her to get well.

While 2014 couldn’t be bad for all year long, we visited a few beautiful countries, i.e. Spain, Iceland and Amsterdam.  They are all very worth visiting.  It is a shame of me that I have not enjoyed them to the fullest.  It is the negativity accumulated around the year that caused me to lose sight of the beauty of all things.

Depressing as it may sound, I don’t plan to set a goal or a hard target for myself next year.  Goal is something tangible, or measurable that one aimed to achieve.  Next year, all I wanted to do is sit back and embrace on what life has planned upon me.  But, I do have a few wishes in 2015.  Hmm…I wish, I wish, I wish…

Nothing beat having a healthy body and minds to materialise all the things we wish to do.  That is the first thing I would wish for my family.   For those of us who are staying far away from family, receiving phone calls and emails at unexpected time have always created bad feelings and sent chill to me.  Last month when my dad called me unexpectedly while I was working in the office, it was again those creepy bad feeling struck me immediately.  As suspected, my dad has not been feeling well where he suffered some chest pain.  It was an early discovery that he had some blockages in his arteries. This could lead to a stroke if it was not discovered and treated early. Following that, he underwent some treatment to clear the blockages and it was a success.  Needless to say, it was a real great relief for me.  In year 2015, the first thing I wish for will be my families to be healthy and happy that they can enjoy whatever they wish to do.

While for myself, I wish that I can continue to grow and learn the wisdom to handle all the challenges that fall upon me without creating a bad atmosphere for people around me.  I wish I can attain the inner peace and state of bliss.  I wish I could get back my appreciation for the beauty of all things.

For Xi Ning my lovely daughter, I wish she continues to grow healthily and be a good person.  I wish you enjoy every phase of development and may love always be with you.

For my hubby, I wish he continues to achieve his goals and be happy.

May year 2015 be a good year for all of us.

This year during the Chinese Moon Cake festival, we had the Aberdeen Malaysian friends came over. Everyone enjoyed making their lanterns.

We headed down to the Aberdeen beach esplanade for the kids to have a walk with their lanterns.  While the adults busy writing down their wishes on the Kong Ming lantern.

I think the children are really quite excited.  Xi Ning is squatting happily at the front posing for photos.

Oh. Now they are ready to ” roar”.

Hubby and baby Xi Ning are feeling chilly.

Oh yes oh yes, let’s make a wish and wish our wishes come true !

One Year in Scotland 。

At a first thought, picking the title for this post is going to be a difficult one.  There have been so many things happening lately, not knowing where to start.  There are stories about Xi Ning (In my world, there are always exciting things to talk about her), us moving into new house, the Scotland referendum (though we probably shouldn’t be too bothered by it), a dear relatives of mine passed away and me being away from Xi Ning for the first time ever.  While I was struggling to find a name to fit all the mixed emotional feeling, I thought sticking a date to it will just do the job.  There it is – 21^st September 2014 marked our first full year of residency in Scotland.  And I am amazed how quickly time flies.

Looking at how sparingly each post occur, one follows another by such a big time gap in between, I know I haven’t do my job at keeping records of all the very precious moments that I should be doing.  Hubby has always been complaining that I am not a very effective person; I guess he could be right to some extents.  For many times, I am trying to justify myself for the high demanding work delivery, tight deadline of projects milestones, the never-ever ending house chores, the unavoidable time required for taking care a toddler, therefore postponing the least important things, i.e. writing, reading, and running.  I thought I can do them some other times, until eventually I realise that every times is another time and I will never get them back.  I am always in a state of catching up.  Catching up to complete all the work but soon realising the work is growing as the more that I completed.  Catching up to clean the house but soon realising the area that I have just cleaned got dirtied in minutes.  I concluded that I need to learn to be a little hand off.  Besides that, I can only constantly reminding myself to prioritize things and be more effective.

During our first year in Scotland, the most frequent question we got was “How do you like Scotland?”  Or frankly one probably get the same question whenever one moves to a new location.  I always wonder if I can ever answer a straight no.  But of course, I don’t.  I do quite like it a bit, for the exception of its weather.  I know plenty of people enjoy cold weather, but not me.  Ironically, I fall ill easily when it is cold.  Scotland has its own unique attractions, knowingly the highlands cultures, piping, dance, castles and many more Scot’s specialities.  Not forget to mention their long-standing culture of men in skirt.  Locally brew whisky and ales have also made their names into the world famous spectrum.  For the next few years ahead, I believe we still have many things to explore in this country.

One of the achievements we have been in Scotland for one year is that we finally bought a house.  Whoever living in UK will know that renting in UK is expensive.  For this reason, buying a house is the first logical goal if one plans to stay for some periods of time.  So, that is exactly what we did.  Though we should have expected that buying a house in UK is horribly expensive too.  In short, properties are real expensive thing to even think about.

The first house we rented was the beautiful well-known granite stone house.  They are really beautiful from outside but they are not cosy to live in.  We moved to Scotland when winter was just around the corner.  We were all happily moving in until winter hit us and we were squeezing in a small corner in front of the fire place as that is the only warm place in the whole house.  I blamed it on the relocation agent who didn’t warn us about the bone-piercing coldness living in a granite house.  To make matter worse, she didn’t even told us that it is colder to live in the ground floor.  And bearing in mind, we have a 6-months old baby at that point in time.  Well, we survived the winter full of flu, cold and cough.  Now, I should be glad that I build up some sort of resistance to cold.

Hubby being him is always on the moves (or rather runs).  So, we did travel quite a lot particularly in the early half of the year.  With the budget tied down for house latter half of the year, we trim down a lot on travelling.  Travelling has always been a joyful thing to do.  But if there is too much of it, it becomes a duty of packing, unpacking, and hassle of getting from one point of destination to another.  There is minimal enjoyment especially with crying baby who doesn’t want to stay in the car seat for long journey.  Having said that, the many travels that we embarked on, for example the Iceland trip was thoroughly a great experience.  Reminding myself again hopefully I will be able to complete the Iceland post in no time.

On exactly one year anniversary of us residing in Scotland, I flew to Den Haag for a company training course, living behind my one and a half year old Xi Ning with hubby.  I hope that she will miss me.  But obviously I am wrong.  I was teary when leaving her and full of emotional waves beating in my heart but she was absolutely fine.  I rang her every night but she was too busy watching her Peppa Pig to be bothered entertaining me.  She was far more independent compare to what I thought and hubby can handle her just as well.  I guess I am the one who has the separation anxiety and been worrying too much.

This week is going to be a tough week for hubby.  As we just moved in to our new house and then off I went for training.  He would have some cleaning, unpacking to be done and at the same time handle Xi Ning all by himself.  While on a second thought, it probably is a good thing for hubby to have some quality bonding time with Xi Ning.  I do have much confidence in hubby that he will do a great job taking care of her.  I should just sit back and relax.

Xi Ning at one year old 。

March 2014, my little girl, you are now one year old.

From a tiny little bean, you have grown into such a big girl, full of your own characters. It was a Tuesday on your first birthday. We just returned from Rome on the Monday night. With all the rush and hassle traveling around the weekend, we didn’t plan for any fancy celebration. Feeling guilty, I was trying to snatch some cakes, biscuits and souvenirs from the Rome airport so that we can bring some to your nursery the next day. Both your dad and I are not a big party thrower. Moreover daddy was ill due to the tiredness and long travel over the weekend. Yet, we did manage to get some Italian cakes, biscuits and little bookmarks souvenirs for your little friends.

Not on the Tuesday itself, but on the Friday, we invited some friends to our house for a small celebration. At this time, we were in Aberdeen. Yes, you have your first birthday in Aberdeen. Though we didn’t tell others that we are celebrating your birthday, they have come over with presents for you. As a parent, it feels good to know that a lot of people like you. We truly hoped that you will grow up into a well-mannered and thoughtful girl.

We count our blessings for each and every day that you are able to grow up happy, cheerful and healthy. I look forward to many more years ahead of us together, mother and daughter, sharing lots of laughter, as long as we can.

Happy Birthday again, My Little Girl. We love you.

Note: While I am typing this, you are also busy helping me to type. We were wrestling in front of my laptop. I wonder if I will ever really finish typing a post.

Xi Ning at Two Months Old。

Dear Xi Ning,

You are now two months old and you are growing too fast for me.  You probably wish that you can grow up fast enough to explore the world, but you wouldn’t know how much I wish time could pass slower so that I can enjoy every one more day with you.  Raising a child is not easy.  Similarly, we have gone through all the bitter and sour moments raising you.  Yet, it is all worth it.  We are filled with joy and happiness everyday watching you achieving little progress.  You are our proud little daughter.

Never had I expect that there is so much learning involved in being a mother.  Because of  you, I have learned to be a better me.  I used to be a very self-centered person, now I am learning to give unconditionally.  I used to get irritated easily, now I am learning to become more patient.  I used to condemn a housewife job thinking that they always have plenty of time, now I am learning to be considerate to others and always putting myself in others shoes.  Motherhood is a journey to humbleness and selflessness.

Do you know that you have a lot of nick names when you were a baby? We used to calling you “a piece of fatty meat”, “meat ball”, “little puppy”, “hippo”; all because you are such a cutie pie.  You have a round face and a sunshine smile.  When you wink, we just couldn’t stop laughing.  We pray everyday that you are always happy, healthy and good.  Nevertheless, you have also showed us that you are a strong and delicate girl.

At slightly less than two months, you had babbled your first sound or words in your baby language.  Since then, you love to talk, a lot.  Every day, I spend hours talking to you; when changing your diapers, after your shower and after your feeding.  In return, you entertain us with all types of sounds you could produce.

As day goes by, we got to know you better.  We know that you get cranky and cry whenever you want to sleep, but can’t.  In this occasion, we would have to cuddle you, carry you and pace you to sleep.  Up to two months, you are still an exclusively breastfed baby.  You have put on weight from 2.8kg at birth to now 4.8kg, averaging an increase of 1 kg per month.  The breastfeeding moment that we shared together is so special and irreplacable.  I cherished each and every of these moments.  It is a quiet moment solely for both of us. I wish that our breastfeeding journey would last as long as possible.

Lastly, I just want to tell you that we love you..

Your mum (still trying to get used to the “mum” title)

This is your favorite sleeping position.

The Lesedi Cultural Village。

Am I really going to write about this?  Let’s be frank.  I visited this place and not at the same time.  Why?  Because we went there in the afternoon at around 3pm but the evening tour entry was only starting at 4.30pm.  While we were not determined to do the full tour, i.e. the dinner, there was no other alternative to enter without taking the full tour package.  Hence, we decided to give it a skip and only spent some times strolling around the handicraft shops in front of the reception.

As I could remember, the tour package cost around 400 Rand and would take approximately two hours to complete.  Included in the tour package is the tour guide, introduction to the cultural of the five biggest tribes in South Africa, the cultural dance and the dinner or lunch.  For someone who would like to know about South Africa’s people and cultural but couldn’t afford a long stay at South Africa, this tour definitely is a quick introduction.

Perhaps sometimes in the future, I should be coming back for a “Truly South Africa” experience.

Welcome to the Lesedi Cultural Village.  Obviously besides taking the tour, you can also spend nights at their huts.

Various local handicraft sold at the Lesedi Cultural Village.

The handicraft shops.

The café area.

SAB World of Beer。

Beer lovers absolutely are going to love this – The South African Breweries World of Beer Tour.

Together with Chen’s friend, this was another place we visited in March.  Actually it wasn’t an appropriate option as they came in a family with two very young kids.  Thinking back, I regretted because the young kids had been asking several times during the tour that why they were not allowed to drink.  It is always very difficult to explain to kids of which things that adults do but kids are not allowed to do.  As I was pregnant during that time, I used that as an opportunity to explain the harm an alcohol drink could bring to young kids.  Of course, I was not drinking back then.

While it wasn’t part of our initial plan to visit the SAB World of Beer, I found the tour to be a very informative one.  The beer tour had received good reviews on the web which was the main reason we went there.  Indeed, it was a relaxing outing to do on a weekend’s morning.

The tour costs 55 Rand for adult and 15 Rand for children below age of 17 years old.  With that price, it includes a tour guide, one half way beers, a souvenir glass, two drink vouchers redeemable at the Tap Room and some bar snacks after the tour.  The tour started off with a movie showing the background and history of beer brewing industry in South Africa.  As we proceed down the walkway, it led us to the beer stories of other countries.  Then we entered the ingredients section – the greenhouse settings section.  It is the place where they showcased the essence of beer – the malted barley, the hops and the water.  Next, the tour guide explained the different stages involved in the beer brewing process and their machineries.  Finally, the most exciting sections for the beer drinkers are the halfway beer stop and the final Tap Room.

The Draught Beer Barrel on the move.

The movie showing the history of South Africa Beer.

History of German Beer.

The Greenhouse Settings Room growing the barleys and the hops.

The essence of beer brewing – the malted barleys.

The craftsmanship of the beer barrel.

The beer car which is still in use for major events.

Welcome to the halfway beer stop.  The beer glass is the souvenir that given to visitors.  Of course, the empty glass is mine.

Different degree of roasted malt which made up to the different tastes of beer.

One of the big fancy machineries.  There are a few of these look-alike equipment but with their own functionalities.  The stand board video explained it all.

Lastly, the Tap Room that served beers and snacks.  So, go grab your beer now and enjoy !

Satisfying My Buttery Cake Craze。

I have started to download those long overdue pictures from my camera and saw this.  It makes me salivating again.  It was my first attempt in baking the marble cake to satisfy my buttery cake craving.  I have tried many cakes in South Africa.  As much as they look appealing to me, they never taste as good as they look.  Particularly those cakes selling at the supermarket or groceries shops; they are generally packed with sugar, flour and artificial flavorings.

Since after baking the raisin butter cake, I immediately fell in love with this simple yet tasty type of butter cake.  This time, the end result was not perfect.  The chocolate portion raised more compare to the butter portion.  Chen has also commented that the cake is somehow drier compare to the raisin butter cake.  While they are only for my own consumption, I am happy with the outcome.  However, I am so going to do this again and looking for room of improvement – an excuse for another round of cake craze!

Gold Mine Museum at Johannesburg。

For the past 1 year living at Johannesburg, we have not been spending much time exploring its CBD downtown area.  Nevertheless, the main reason was that we spend more time outdoor exploring the nature, the wildlife, and the scenic landscapes compared to the buildings.  However, with Chen’s friends visiting us in March; we seized the opportunities to tour around the downtown area.  One of the places that we made a quick stop is the Gold mine museum situated at the 5, Main Street, CBD Johannesburg.

Johannesburg is a city boomed by its gold mining industry, tracking its gold history back to afar of 1886.  The gold rush had brought in large number of inhabitants, and thus the development of Johannesburg town.  There are a few gold mine museums scattered around Witwatersrand area.  The one that we went was the mine showroom (I wouldn’t even call it a museum given the size and the amount of displays) located at the underground of Standard Bank.

Do these museums worth a visit?  Well, not so much for me.  In my opinion, it is sufficed for me to know the relationship between gold mining and Johannesburg.  I don’t mind it to be an extra stop along the way, but I personally won’t drive down to town merely for this.

Underground Gold Mine Showroom located at the Main Street.

Not to be missed the explanation signboard at every tourist sites.

The lift leading to the underground showroom and the interior of the showroom.

I am grounded。

I have deserted my blog for 6 weeks now and the reason being “I am grounded”.  To be more precise, my new born daughter keeps me so occupied days and nights.  Being a fully breastfeeding mum, tonne of housework to do and with my study, sometimes I really hope that I can split myself into many.  It is not about having more hours in a day but rather because my girl has been very clingy.  She is a comfort baby who needs to be carried to sleep.  Most of her waking hours were spent in my arms.  She would rather sleep in my arms or my chest than her cot.  As such, I barely have time to do anything else.  Leaving her alone with self-soothing is not an option.  She would cry her lung out if she doesn’t get the attention or comforting that she wants.  As she grows, her volume has increased to the level that it can’t be ignored.

Since after she was born, I lost the luxuries to do things with all the times I want, i.e., savour my food slowly, enjoy my cup of coffee, spending time reading every column on the newspaper, enjoy my time in the shower and have an undisturbed 8-hour of sleep.  On the contrary, very often I would need to skip meals or simply swallow my food because she needs someone to pace and cuddle her to sleep.  I can’t even go into shower/toilet with a peace of mind because I don’t know when she is going to wake up crying.  I don’t have the chance to groom myself in front of the mirror before going out because I have to carry her on one arm and packing her things with another hand while husband is rushing to go out.

I knew that being a mum is not an easy job but never had I thought that it can be so demanding.  I entered motherhood with a care free mind and least expectations.  Many people have said that “Think that pregnancy is difficult? Wait till the baby comes out.”  Oh well, now I know.  If you were to ask me, I would tell you that it is a total change of lifestyle.  It will never be the same again as when you were single.  It is a trade of freedom for a lifelong commitment.  So, never ever enter motherhood if you are not ready for the challenge.  Of course, you may consider yourself lucky if your husband is willing to pay for a nanny and you would still have some times for yourself.

So, have I regretted having a child?  Of course not, having a child is a blessing.  No doubt, there is so much hardship involved but just one smile from her will make everything worth it.

I saw this quote today in the Facebook. I thought most mother will agree on this.

Note: Though getting back to the blog has always been in my mind, it is way down my priority list now.  Needless to say, there is so much to write about, particularly the progress of my little girl.  I wish if only I have the time to do that.  While I am having a break now from my study before the next paper, I would need to constantly remind myself to start writing down before my memories start to fail on me.

 

Journey of Pregnancy – Part II。

When we first found out that I was pregnant, we were still debating whether I shall be delivering the baby at South Africa or Malaysia.  Scrutinising the pros and cons and convenience of both options, we finally agreed to deliver the baby at South Africa.  Chen checked up the reviews for all the hospitals around Johannesburg area.  Amongst the many, we settled on Life Fourways Hospital for our monthly check up and to have our baby there.  Life Fourways Hospital has one of the most highly recommended gynaecologists in town.  However, the consultation fees and the delivery fees were also one of the top in town.  When we called up for inquiries prior to our first visit, they emailed us the consultation fees quotations for the different stages till delivery.  In the quotation, we were warned in advanced that their price could be as high as three folds of the normal price.  This is something to be noted as not all Insurance company will pay up for this.  Fortunately, this did not bother us too much as Chen’s insurance policy paid for 100% of the cost.  Thus, our selection criteria were the travel distance from our house and the quality of the service provided.

There were several gynaecologists located in the Life Fourways Hospital.  Dr. Córne Brink was our gynaecologist and her services did not disappoint us.  It was slightly different compared to the Malaysia maternity system.  Here, they would also provide the midwife services if one opted for vaginal natural birth.  Hence, my monthly check-ups were not all conducted by the gynaecologist.  It was only during the 2^nd month, the 3^rd month, the 5^th month and the 9^th month that I was checked by the gynaecologist.  Otherwise, the monthly check-ups were done with the midwife.  My midwife, Louette MacCallum was good, experienced and professional.  Except that she would need to refer back any medical consultation to the gynaecologist; otherwise she was very patient to answer all the questions.  She did not skip a step on the check-ups and was very proficient.   The routine check-up included the urine test, the ultrasound scan, the blood pressure readings and any other enquiries.

At the 2^nd month of pregnancy, the gynaecologist checked for the viability of pregnancy and whether it was a single or multiple pregnancies (twins or triplets) – Mine was a single pregnancy.  In addition, blood tests were requested during this time.  The blood tests were necessary to investigate if there were any deficiency and risk of Down syndrome.  Upon receiving my blood tests result, everything was fine except for the hypothyroid syndrome.  My thyroid hormone level was falling outside the low end of the range.  As a result, I would have to be on the Iodine supplement medication.  At the 5^th month check-up, a detailed ultrasound scan, which encompassed the Nuchal Translucency Fold test, the Fetal Nasal Bone, the blood flood in the heart, the femur length and etc., was conducted to check for anomaly.  The combined blood tests and the detailed ultrasound scan had ensured us that everything was looking fine and healthy.  Hence, we did not proceed with any invasive test.  Following that, every other check-up was to ensure mummy and baby conditions were fine.

Visiting the gynaecology and the physiology had been my routines for the past few months.  It made me realised how important it is to have a good insurance plan in South Africa.  The public medical services at South Africa had always been a second choice for anyone who can afford to pay for the private hospital.  I was not being paranoid but according to the survey, the risk of a woman dying due to complication of pregnancy in South Africa is 1:110.  In these circumstances, the risks in the public health service account for 90% of all deaths.  Yet, the sky-high charges from the private practices were also daunting.  I counted my blessings for Chen having a good insurance plan with the company.  At the 32 weeks, I joined the maternity unit tour for the mummy-to-be, registered myself with the maternity unit and made my bed booking.  So, these were the anticipated procedures in South Africa – you take charges of yourselves.

Well, nine months cruised by in a blink of eyes.  I am trying to recollect back all my physical and emotional feelings evolving through these nine months periods.  First, it started off with uncertainties.  The first trimester was the critical periods with risks of miscarriage.  Emotionally, it was a feeling of secretive excitement while trying to hold back the joy of sharing the news with others.  Physically, I was experiencing lethargy, exhaustion and nausea which could be due to the unfamiliar cold weather and the early symptoms of pregnancy.  I shamelessly plunged myself into the bed days and nights.  That was the exceptional luxury of being a homemaker.  Then, as times passed by, we started to share the news with bigger crowds and friends as things became more prominent.  Occupied with a lot of running and traveling on the second trimesters, we moved swiftly into the third trimesters.  Later stage, on some days during the 3^rd trimester, the lower back pain strike me so hard that I need to rest myself.

At last, it is now the final count down and there are only exactly three days left to the Estimated Delivery Date, which is projected to be the 24^th March 2013.  It even reached the point where people were constantly asking “Is she here already?”  I started to question myself why is it taking her so long even though I feel I would never ever be ready for parenthood.  It is a mixture of intense feelings.  At one hand, I am anxious and excited over meeting her face to face.  On the other hand, I am nervous for the labour.  During the previous check-up, we were informed about the option of induced labour.  Reading through various articles on induced labour, the risks of complication arise significantly with introduction of induced labour.  It leads to increased chance of epidural and possibility of emergency caesarean.  I prayed hard that I would not end up at this stage.

At this point in time, I thought it would be appropriate to digitize the ultrasound scans for safe keeping before the labour starts.

1st ultrasound scans at 2nd month –

She is still a tiny embryo at this point.

3rd month ultrasound scans –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5th month ultrasound scans –

The 6th, 7th and 8th month ultrasound scans –

Prior to the 5th month, the fetus development was mainly measured by the length from crown to rump. After the 5th month, the fetus progress was measured by the estimated weight.  The last check up at around 39 week, the baby was weighing approximately 3.2 kg.  Meanwhile, I had also put on a nice +/- 10 kg.

 

Chen’s Birthday。

[March 12, 2013]

So, it was Chen’s 30^th Birthday on March 12, 2013.  How did we celebrate it?  Well, as one grows old enough, one wouldn’t mind a quiet celebration.  Chen did not ask for anything special for his birthday.  When I asked him about how he wanted to celebrate it, he said “Let’s just go out for a simple dinner.”  OK, I am cool with that and it is easy for me. 🙂

However having said that, I know a little extra effort will make him happy like a little puppy.  I am desperate to see that little puppy wagging his tail happily; so I need to make this little bit of extra effort.  First, a homemade cake is a must for the loved one.  But, I need to find something easy to do and at the same time, to clear the stock at home.  After giving it much thought and searching on the websites, I settled on the idea of a Raisin Raspberry Butter Cake.  You probably still remembered that I had a large half packet of raisin, which I could not finish them during the last baking of the Raisin Cinnamon Bread Roll.  I hoped he doesn’t mind me using his birthday cake as an excuse to clear the food stock.

If you are a fond lover of a moist, very buttery and rich butter cake; then you must try out the rasamalaysia.com ’s raisin butter cake recipe.  Though I am not a seasoned baker, by following the recipe steps-by-steps, I was still able to get the perfect butter cake.  My product appeared to be exactly like what I wanted it to be.  Whilst the cake was baked in the oven, the whole house was filled up with the buttery aroma.  I was pleased that Chen loved the butter cake as much especially when it was served piping hot from the oven.

The perfect Raisin Raspberry Butter Cake

Next, a birthday will not be complete without a birthday present.  So, I bought him a Wallet as his birthday present.  This will be a useful thing for him as the one that he is currently using is barely holding the cards and notes together.

The old torn wallet is replaced by the new one.

Ever since I am a homemaker, I become very careful with my spending and always make myself think long and hard before I spend on something luxury.  Sometimes, I may even visit the same shop a few times and comparing the prices of different shops before I decided to buy the items that I wanted.  It was a total different lifestyle compared to the time when I still have my earnings.  While it may sound a little sympathy, it is not a bad thing.  It makes me think twice whether it is a necessity or can I live without it.  And in many occasions, the filtering mechanisms eliminate a lot of unnecessary expenditure and indirectly save on the planet.  Nevertheless, nobody is perfect.  Sometimes I still pamper myself with some affordable things I wanted.  Having explained so much, this is just to imply that the gift that I bought is not measured by the price rather by the usefulness. 🙂

 Birthday’s eve dinner – simple curry chicken with spinach noodle.

A healthy peppermint, lemon and apple to go along with the cake.

Whilst at last, Chen, you being 30^th now and soon to be a father, I would like to give you some sincere advices –

• A tidy house creates a comfortable and peaceful atmosphere.  So please do not simply mess up the house after I tidy them.

• Knowing where you place your things will help you to save a lot of time searching for it and money by not needing to buy it again.  So please take good care of your things and do not misplace them by keeping them in proper place.

• Hygiene is important to health.  Please do not simply leave all the dirtied dishes, beer cans and clothes all around the house.

Otherwise, you are my greatest partner and I am blessed to have met you.  Wish you healthy always and happy like a doggy.  *Muacks :-)*.

Baking the Raisin Cinnamon Bread Rolls。

It was last month that I baked this Raisin Cinnamon Bread.  But due to lots of travelling; and OK, I don’t want to lie – a little bit of lazy bugs kicking in that I have a long list of backlogs for the blog posts.  Besides, I am always wondering how the other bloggers manage to upload their beautiful and perfect posts so efficiently in such a short time.  Not to mentioned that they have a family, children and career to manage.  It usually takes me a long time to go through the photos, filtering them for selection, minor editing if required, drafting my posts, proof reading the texts, and finally start to sketch and input into the blog, they probably already at least two weeks passed the actual date of occurrence.  And nowadays, the baby delivery due date of end of next week and winter is approaching give me even more reasons, or rather excuses, to rest and sleep in.  *Excited :-)*.

Last month when I checked through the food rack, I realised that I have a lot of leftover flour, half big packet of raisin and some cinnamon powder left by my friend when she was here making dessert.  So, baking the Raisin Cinnamon Bread is the perfect recipe to clear the stock.  I am not a good cook.  Admittedly, the Internet and Google search have helped me a lot on cooking.  These days, just by a simple search on the web, there is easily a long list of steps-by-steps recipes to guide you through the cooking – Thanks to all the bloggers.  Hence, of course, the Raisin Cinnamon Bread recipe that I baked is the one that I searched from the web.  Many of the recipes are not much different among them; I normally choose them based on the pictures they post.

My carbohydrates intake has increased as a result of pregnancy but Chen on the other hand, on his strict diet to reduce and control his weight in preparation for the Comrades run.  Consequently, he does not fancy breads, cakes or any heavy Carbohydrates food.  Never mind of that, our maid who is coming every week will help me to finish them.

The bread tastes crunchy and soft when served piping hot.  When aired dry, the bread is a little hard.  However, they are really not bad. 🙂 .

In the end, these are how much the bread turned out to be – almost equivalent to four standard packets sold in the market.  Chen and I definitely can’t finish all of them, so they were given to the guards and maids.

Escape to the Wild。 Hlane Royal National Park, Swaziland。

The 10th of February 2013 – it was a fine morning with good weather and sunny day. We would be driving down to the Swaziland for a 3-days and 2-nights getaway at the Hlane Royal National Park. According to Chen, this adventure would be our Valentine day celebration. In actual fact, the truth was to get his Visa extension for a couple more days before he travelled to Gabon for a proper 3-months Visa extension. If you were an expatriate at South Africa, you will soon get used to the many obstacles and lengthy processes along the way for Work Visa application. We could whine endless about this but looking at the bright side, we got to visit Swaziland in exchange of the visa complication issue, which was just brilliant!

Kingdom of Swaziland is a small independent country situated in the land of Greater South Africa. It has very low population and depends largely on agricultural for revenue and employment. It is considered as one of the poorer Africa countries and has faced with bankruptcy threat. In general, many Africa countries suffer from high HIV infection rate which lead to low adults life expectancy, high infant mortality and death rates. And Swaziland suffered the same if not the worst. The catastrophic HIV widespread has greatly hindered the overall Swaziland development and growth. Despite the many banes, Swaziland itself is blessed with many beautiful landscapes and terrains. Along the way of our drive, the mountainous landscape just took our breath away. Entering the land of Swazi, the people were friendly and the streets were clean, even in the town area. I had foolishly assumed that it would be worse than South Africa but it proved to be the opposite.

It was an outbound journey of approximately five and a half hours drive from Johannesburg to Hlane Royal National Park. As usual, we always travel with our tough buddy “the black GWM Hover” whenever we visit the National Parks. The Hlane Royal National Park is the largest protected area and national park in Swaziland. It is home to the usual animals we see in many National Parks in South Africa except for the Cape Buffaloes. When one is a frequent visitor to the National Park, one will soon realise that spotting the Big Fives especially the predators via self-driving require enormous luck. Soon after many trips to the wild, it was not only the Big Fives that thrilled me. But I began to appreciate many other occurrences. A mug of hot coffee, cool breeze blowing to my face and some yummy food in the car during drive; the huge savannah and the different landscapes and sceneries; and spotting rare animals like the spiders, the tortoises and the jackals in the National Park; all of these excited me. Just recently I was telling Chen that how blessed we are to be able to experience the life in South Africa. Where else in the world would have the Safaris and animals as real as in the Africa continent!

Hlane Royal National Park is approximately five and a half hour drive away from Johannesburg.

By the time when we arrived at the Hlane National Park, it was already nearing 5pm. It means no game drive today and rest early. After all, we were planning for an easy breezy trip. On the first day, we were allocated a cottage somewhere further north part of the park. They were the newer cottages with electricity access. They were clean, cosy and fully equipped. But there were only six of them and seemed to be rather remote. While on the second day, we moved to the little hut near to the reception area but there was no electricity access in the hut.

Arriving at the Hlane National Park Gate for registration.

The routes in the Hlane National Park were all gravel roads and rather narrow. Hence you would really need a good 4×4 vehicle to explore the park. On the second day, we went out for our self-driving game drive in the morning. The roads were so bumpy that even our tough buddy had a hard time. Thus, later that afternoon we decided to go on the park sunset game drive programme to give our tough buddy a rest. The sunset game drive was awesome. The guide was experienced and we got to have our complimentary drink while admiring the beautiful sunset. Furthermore, this was the ever first time in our experience that we were allowed to descend from the game vehicle and approached the animals for a closer distance.

The small little hut on the right picture is the park reception hut which is located in the NdLovu Camp area.

The restaurant area with the bar.

The cottage for our first night stay.

The Little Hut for our second day stay. There was no electricity for these huts but the National Park provided all the candle lights and the oil lamps.

Chen was preparing the dinner which was bought from the Chinese New Year celebration at Nan Hua Temple earlier on.

The Wildebeests

The Impalas

The Warthdog

The White Rhinos

The Giraffe

The Elephants

The Lioness

Huge Spider

Animals lazying around the water point in front of the restaurant.

Walking in the bush to a closer distance to the animals.

Head skeleton of different animals.

We later realised that many animals that we tried to spot through the game drive would gather at the water point just in front of the restaurant. The elephants, the rhinos, the hippos and the antelopes would normally spend their leisure time here. So even without doing the game drive, one would still able to watch many animals by sitting in front of the restaurant.

All in all, it was a slightly different experience compared to the well-known Kruger National Park with its less visitors-packed and quiet atmosphere.

Visiting the Nan Hua Temple （南華寺）on the 1st Day of Chinese New Year (CNY) 。

Another place not to be missed during CNY is the Nan Hua Temple.  The Nan Hua Temple is the largest Buddhist sanctuary in South Africa.  It is situated in the Culture Park suburb of Bronkhorstspruit.

On the Sunday morning, the 1^st day of CNY （大年初一）, we have earlier on planned to drive down to Swaziland Hlane National Park for a two-day getaway.  As Bronkhorstspruit is right on our way to Swaziland, we decided to make a quick stop at the Nan Hua Temple.  Most of our Singaporean friends would also be there.

It was around an hour drive away from Johannesburg.  We arrived there at slightly passed 10 am.  The performance began exactly at 10 am.  By the time when we arrived, the temple was already packed with people.  Once again, we were astounded and overwhelmed by the huge crowds rejoiced in this event and the local Whites that outnumbered the Chinese.  We noticed the same phenomenon at the CNY celebration at the Commissioner Street (the Old Chinatown).  I sensed that the Whites enjoyed themselves as much as we do.  They appreciated the long established Chinese festivals cultures that we inherited.

People were wandering around in the temple, taking pictures, chit-chatting, and enjoying the atmosphere of CNY while waiting for the performance to start.

The performance that they put up was equivalent amazing compare to the CNY celebration held at the Tian Hou Gong （天后宮）back at Kuala Lumpur.  Visitors streamed in to pray, to donate, to witness the lion dance and dragon dance performance.  First, we went in to the hall to pay our tribute to the goddess and made some donation as usual.  We met up with our friends.  Then without further delay, Chen and I quickly made our way to the food stalls.  Almost 80% of the stalls were selling the typical Taiwanese Night Market foods.  While some others were selling the Chinese souvenirs such as paper umbrellas, tea pots, drawings, potteries, clothes, jewelleries and so on.

Buddha statues inside the hall.  We paid our tribute here.

The dragon dance performance after the firecrackers.

The lion dance performance.

As we don’t generally get to savour the Taiwanese food even at Johannesburg, we were drooling over the foods.  We regretted that we came so late and had to squeeze ourselves amid the large crowd to purchase our foods.  I was such a happy girl with food on one hand, drink on another hand and a few more packets of food dangling down from my wrist :-).  Though we promised it was only going to be a quick stop, in the end, we spent around 2 hours there.  The Nan Hua Temple is a worthwhile and heavenly visit during the CNY.

We bought the Salty Rise Pudding from this stall.  I once ate this from a roadside stall at Taiwan and just fell in love with it.

We had the bubble milk teas, the sour jelly drink, spring rolls, deep fried chicken chop and the stir fried oysters on the spot.  In addition, we bought the dumplings, mua ci and wua kuai for our dinner tonight at the Hlane National Park.

The Vibe of Chinese New Year Eve (CNY Eve) at Commissioner Street, Johannesburg。

Perhaps not many people know that there are two Chinatowns at Johannesburg, namely the Old Chinatown and the New Chinatown.  If you were to ask any Jo’burgian, they will probably direct you to the new Chinatown located at Cyrildene.  The new Chinatown is the place where many Chinese people nowadays, whether they are from the mainland China, the Taiwanese, the Hong Kong people or other places, operate their businesses and purchase their daily goods.   It is a street comprise of many Chinese restaurants, grocery shops, cake shops, butchery shops, vegetable and seafood stalls, just to name a few.

However, it is not my intention to go into details of the new Chinatown today.  The prime focus is the almost-long-forgotten old Chinatown located at the Commissioner Street, Johannesburg.  We had once visited the Commissioner Street on an ordinary day.  It was nothing more common than any other streets at Johannesburg CBD, except with an extra signboard stating that it is the first Chinatown in Johannesburg.  It is only once in a year time, during the CNY eve, that this little quiet street turned lively.  And it is only on this very auspicious occasion, the street is closed down from traffic, with people gathering on the street, merrily indulging in the celebration of CNY.

People gathered around the stage and waited patiently for the performance to begin.

People strolling along the street.

We were glad that our Singaporean friends have organised a table and invited us to join them for the CNY eve dinner at the Commissioner Street.  The table had to be booked at least 2 weeks in advance in order to secure a spot.  On that day, the restaurant owners would fill the street in front of their shops with tables for the diners.  It allowed the diners to enjoy their food at the same times witnessed the various spectacular performances of the dragon dance, the fireworks, and the stream of people.  Along the street, there were also some stalls selling food and drink to cater for those who didn’t book a table.  Furthermore, there were also heaps of people who merely appeared with beers and stools of their own, purely to dip themselves in the air of CNY mood.

This is our Singaporean cum Malaysian table.  We were happily feasting ourselves.

Did you get it right?  This is not a roast pig.  It is the roast lamb.

Large crowd filling up the street.

Fireworks were lighted all night long till almost 10 pm.

Formerly, we have been warned not to expect too much from a local CNY celebration at Johannesburg.  Setting the low bar of expectation had got us very excited and gave us a total different experience.  The large crowd of local Jo’burgians appeared at the scene, enjoyed this festival as much as we do, had really amazed us.  That night, we had our typical Chinese full course dinner, witnessed the dragon dance, the lion dance, the firecrackers and the fireworks.

The lions went from shops to shops for greetings and lighting up the firecrackers.