Number 9

I was just reading through my previous blog and discovered that today, 27 Nov 2009, 9 months ago, we returned home to Malaysia. My, my... how time passes by.


I have not had the chance to sit down and think through what has been happening. All I know it that too many things have happened and is happening. No time to even catch a breath.


Life has just been crazy.


It's been constant change and the year 2010 is going to be even more changes. When I get to sit down and write, I will do that, I think.


By the way, I noticed that the number "9" has been creeping up a lot lately....

• The number of our new house is No. 9,
  
• this month is the 9th month of us being back to Malaysia,
  
• also on this 9th month, we purchased our new house,
  
• the number 9.9.09 is suppose to be a significant number for this year,
  
• I saw the huge number "9" on the church bulletin front page, the day I asked Pastor Mark & Rose to pray for our house (if we should purchase it or not)

Being curious, I went into the internet to search the meaning of number "9":

• marks the end; and is significant of the conclusion of a matter.
• end of man, and the summation of all man's works. Nine is, therefore, the number of finality or judgment.
• grace and finality.
• The ordained, fullness of God's plan
• Nine is also most noticeably a transitional number, being the last of the digits. Prophetically, as such, it may mark the end of an era

What does it really mean to me? That, I am not sure.

House Hunting - Part 3

I told my boys that if I have extra cash after the renovation of the house, I will ask the carpenter to build them a tree house in the piece of land, just in front of the house. What a joy to be able to play in a treehouse whilst staying in the city!


You see, when I was a small little girl, we had a tree house. A make-shift one, with few pieces of wooden planks plopped on top of the tree. I remembered those times when I used to climb trees. It was great fun. I had often wished that for my 2 boys but it was difficult to get such opportunities, especially when we stay in the city. Now, it seems that God is granting my wish for my boys. The joy of childhood.

How about a simple little tree house?

Nice tree house... A great design

If I have this tree house, I wouldn't even want to go back home!

Joel, my 13 years old son is so excited with the idea of moving to the new house that he tells me EVERYDAY! He has plans of playing BB gun wars in that small little jungle! Both of them have drawn up the plans for their tree house and fantasized about what they will do there.


Well, not only the children have been fantasizing and planning, so, have I. Thinking of ideas to be done to the house has taken quite a portion of my time.


With limited budget for the renovation, I will be busy looking for bargains. Well, I will have a few months to compare prices and to continue to look out for bargains.


Lastly, I want to thank God for providing a miraculous house to us at a great price. I hope to be able to pass on the house to my grand-children. Haha. Such long term planning, eh? It would be great to see my grand children playing on the same tree house, their daddy had. Here I go dreaming again......

House Hunting - Part 2

At one point in time, it was so frustrating that we almost purchased a house which was a whopping half-a-million and it was just a double storey link house of 24 x 75!


We made various mistakes in the purchase of our previous home that I didn't want to repeat the same mistake this time round. So, I seek counsel from various people e.g. real estate agent friends, personal friends, my Pastor and his wife, my sister in law and even my Mother. Eventhough it was really confusing hearing many different comments/views but there is safety and wisdom in the multitude of counselor, as written in the book of Proverbs in the bible. I know that at times, our arrogance and pride stops us from wanting to hear what others have to say, especially if it contradicts what we want. Humility is the way to go!


There were various times when I went 'house shopping' with my friend, M. It was cute, 2 homemakers sitting in a car driving around, calling Agents, staring into houses, undecided where to go and even ended up at another friend's place chatting for 2 hours!


There was a particular time when I was talking on the mobile phone and an Agent asked me, "What is your budget?" and I replied, "Less than RM500K", knowing full well, that most of the properties were ranging RM400K and up. Even with half a million, it wouldn't be "the best" they have.


M gave me a nudge and said, "RM350K!!!".


I gave her a passing look. Not daring to stare in disbelief. But in my heart, I thought that she obviously have not been shopping for houses as long as I have. I have not heard of a corner unit house that cost RM350K. Its ridiculously silly to even have suggested it! But of course, not wanting to offend her, I kept that thought to myself.


Unknowingly to me, not her, this woman spoke out of faith. It was an impression that God gave to her. Obviously my faith was not up to her level. I couldn't believe God for a miracle... "Forgive me, God". Well, that's the reason why I asked her for help. So that eventhough this little "hard ears" of mine is unable to hear God, I will still not miss His best for me. Everybody needs help now and then....


A few days later, I contacted an Agent that took me around to view some houses. He brought me to 2 houses which I felt, I could shortlist. The 1st one, was a fully renovated corner house at RM500K. It was renovated to my taste but it was slowly breaking down, being almost 10 years old. The next house was an endlot with land but was a basic unit. A little rundown because it is 10 years old and has been tenanted all these while. The disadvantage to this place is the surau which was diagonally situated in front of the house. Will it be noisy? But its an affordable RM360K. Hmm.....


It took us another 1-2 weeks to decide on purchasing the house, after viewing another dozen or so houses, sitting outside the surau to 'test' the sound of the 'singing', if its bearable.


At last, I think that the house by the surau was what we were looking for and a good price to go with it. The Seller also reduced the price of the house to exactly RM350K, no more and NO LESS (we tried).


We paid our downpayment on 11 Nov 2009.


You see, that house by the surau (mini mosque) had all the criteria which we wanted. Not only that, it faced a piece of land which will not be developed because it is neither big nor small. I enjoy the view of the huge trees and the many papaya trees planted by the current tenant.


To be continued .................

House Hunting - Part 1

We have been house hunting for many months now. Its been tiring and frustrating!


We couldn't decide where to live!! We were shopping mainly at Putra Heights, Subang Jaya and Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam. Well, there were no shortage of houses to choose but unfortunately, we had a budget to stick to.


Honestly, the price of houses were almost ridiculously expensive, in my opinion. A double storey link house was going for RM450K to RM580K. Let's not even mention about corner units. The funny part was, people were buying them like hot-cakes!! If you take more than a few days to decide, its gone! Taken! Purchased!


I used to drive around these housing area, looking at "For Sale" signboards and would have spent hundreds of ringgit calling up Agents. It was a tiring affair but yet, I persevered knowing that there is a house specially stacked away somewhere by God, just for our little family.


I had my little "wish list" ....

1. Quiet area, away from city buzzing and traffic jam
2. Convenient to major destinations for children activities and Hubby's office
3. Guarded, for safety reasons
   
4. With heaps of greenery
5. Ample parking space
6. Not facing another house
   
7. Housing area which is children friendly e.g. playground, not many passing traffic
8. Preferably a corner or endlot with land
9. Not overly large or small but comfortable for a family of 4
   
10. Good buy and affordable
    

Is there such a house tugged away somewhere?



To be continued ........

Unpacking

This post is a little belated... relating my story on the unpacking of our goods..

************************

My goods arrived from Bangkok on 7 March 2009, Saturday.


We were excited.


At last, we can settle down properly. Since 5 March 09, our Landlord has given us the keys to the house. We had to do some cleaning and even some painting, which we did, the next day. It was hardwork.


The Unpackers from Allied Pickford Malaysia was unfortunately a real disappointment. Their workers consists of 3 Malaysian Indians and 4 India Indians. The foreign workers were helpful and hardworking but had communication issues. They could speak little Bahasa Malaysia and no English. The locals could communicate in both English and Bahasa Malaysia but were not friendly, unmotivated to work and ordered the Indians workers around.


The Supervisor was not managing his workers well. So, everybody was doing their own thing. Some hanging outside the house chatting with my FIL! Some just smoking....


Some example of incidences...


Putting things into the shelves.... The Unpacker opened up boxes and asked me to put plates into the cupboard!! He unwrapped and I put it in for him!! The 2nd day, the Supervisor himself opened up the boxes and just left all the plates on the kitchen top. He neither asked me to put it into the cabinet or asked his men to do it. It was just left there.


On another occasion, when I told the Supervisor that I needed my shelves to be put up, he looked shocked at me. I felt that I was doing something wrong. He rudely said that I did not mention it earlier (he didn't ask) but I did mention to the fat Malay guy on the 1st day and he said that the handyman will be coming. I also mentioned to the office staff and she mentioned that there will be another crew who does installation. Supervisor then said that he does not have a drill. Handyman without a drill? Anyway, I told him that I had one. He reluctantly called out to his worker to put up the shelf and without saying a word, went off to do other things.


Slow, slow and slower...


On the 2nd day, it took 3 man x 4 hours = 12 man hours to assemble a cupboard. Mostly 2 man doing it and 1 man "pretending to help". I noticed that he often likes to do this kind of "observing". Good trick, I must admit.


Can you imagine my frustration of having to order the workers around and trying to get all my things unpacked and sorted!! And they were more happy to sit on their butt!


It was stressful with me managing the workers all by myself, sorting the things out, cooking lunch and having my 2 children around! Thank God my BIL, Kerwin whom I requested to be around entertained the children by taking them to the park and doing some stuffs. There was no TV, computer or anything else to do. My FIL was bored stiff hanging around, so he chatted with the workers. I know, you must be wondering why the workers are hanging around chatting, right?


I didn't cook dinner that night but just ate Maggie Mee, I almost died of exhaustion! It was impossible to cook, I could see that FIL was not exhilarated with the prospect of instant noodle but unfortunately my physical condition did not position me to even think about pleasing anyone's tastebuds. All I could think of was my bed, resting my feet and having a good night's sleep.


The next day, I called the Allied Pickford office to complain and requested for another crew but unfortunately the impression has already been made. The stress was just too much for me to be a repeated customer.


I was hoping their performance could match the Thai's but.... sigh.

Grapes

I didn't know that grapes can be cultivated in the Malaysian weather - hot all year round. So, I was absolutely fascinated when I discovered that my elder brother grew some in his garden!

A whole bunch of beautiful looking grapes

Ethaniel with Baby Ji Ann, his cousin sister

I am waiting for the day I can taste the grapes. Will let you know if its sweet or not.

Water Works - Syabas

After staying in our rented home in Malaysia for about 1 week, the problems in the house began to creep up one by one. Sometimes two by two :-(


One of the most frustrating thing was to discover that our whole house water supply is accessed through a small little tank. To top the cream-on-the-cake, the water flow into the tank through a pipe which trickles ... like my little boy's pee ... I mean, takes forever.


I almost went into a panic when there was no water supply in the master bedroom toilet, then the children's toilet... Even after waiting for a whole night. The plumber was called in for a rescue and the diagnosis was the pipe problem i.e. the source coming from the main pipe into our home.


I called the Syabas people at about 4pm and the guess what? They were "knocking" on our road at 9am the next day!!


I was shocked!


Awe strucked!


They must have gotten the wrong address!


Malaysian government department has changed that much since we left 3 years ago???!!!


Malaysia Boleh!

Syabas workers making good progress

See the old pipe?

Good job and well done!!! Thumbs up to Syabas!

We related this to few of our friends and neighbours and they too were shocked at the promptness of the Syabas workers.


So, the conclusion was... This is not a normal behaviour of the Syabas workers but it was because God was merciful to me and caused a miracle to happen. It was nothing short of a miracle, honestly.


There were the baskets of laundry to wash, plates to clean, floor to mop, meals to cook, vegetables to clean, hands to rinse, body to scrub and the list goes on....


You want a miracle? I just had one!

Guess Who Visited?

The trap was laid out at the back since 2 days ago. All I needed was some bread. I was wondering if it will work...


How I initially discovered the unwelcomed guest was.... It made a rude intrusion into the kitchen and made an even more abrupt get-away when I went downstairs to get some water. Oh no, another one. Eeewww... I hate pest!

Ethaniel and Joel proudly showing off "the hunted one"

I don't like pest but I have no fear of it or any qualms if I need to squash a huge cockroach, trap a rodent... incidentally, I have killed a rat with my bare hands. It was quite a traumatic experience. I had just wanted to stop it from going out through the hole but instead I suffocated the fella. My story, "The exciting life of a teenage girl".

BBQ rodent, anyone?

I honestly don't know who/what else will be making a visit soon. What is this? Why are there so many pest in this concrete jungle I stay in?


This Mummy job thingy is getting tougher by the minute.... Now, Pest Controller. Sigh.


BTW, we drowned the fella. No funeral. Good riddance.

Sleepover, Ice Skating & Fun

My nephew and niece came over to stay during their school holidays. This is their first time sleeping over at our place. Previously we stayed at their home, twice, so they got used to us. That was when we returned from Bangkok for holidays. So, this was a good thing because none of them made any fuss. Even the little girl.


Incidentally we were invited by a friend who was celebrating her son's 6 years old birthday, who decided to have it at Sunway Pyramid, Ice Skating. We have been to the ice skating in Bangkok various times but not the one at Sunway Pyramid.


Eventhough it's advertised to be the biggest in Malaysia, its still half the size of the one in Bangkok. Still enjoyable, I must say.

Timmy was extremely brave eventhough its his first time ice skating

I can't believe this! She is so gung-ho that she will just hold on to the side and walk around the rink without help

Joel's new friend

Everyone freezing... Ethaniel didn't want to play... There was once that he fell badly while skating in Bangkok. So, paranoia rules!

The children enjoyed themselves immensely. I promise to come back on another day when its not this crowded. A weekday will be nicer.

1st Month Anniversary

Today is the 1st month Anniversary of returning to Malaysia and having left Thailand.


So fast the time passed.


We are doing OK, I think.


Just a little recollection....


25 Feb - Returned to Malaysia and stayed at my bro-in-law's place


1 March - Stayed at my Mum's place


5 March - Moved into our new rented home


7 March - The Movers came and unpacked Part 1


11 March - The Movers came to unpack Part 2


Since then, settling in....

Horn! Horn!

I officially received my first horn while trying to park this morning.


I was trying to reverse my car into a carpark. I probably took 15 seconds to do it. Immediately was horned by the car waiting and then a cold stare by the passenger.


I have experienced extreme patience for the last 3 years in Thailand. Nobody horns anyone for parking there. People might even stop to help you direct your parking. But not horn. The downside of that is... everyone takes their time on the road :-) People stop their car in the middle of the road, walk out and try to pay for parking ticket! I experienced it personally. I was too shocked to horn.


We have a private joke in Thailand whenever we hear someone horn on the road. We will usually comment, "That's a Malaysian lah"



Can't get the best of both worlds.

Toilets

Public toilets in Malaysia are known for being horrible, dirty and smelly. Arrgghhh!!!


I went to a restaurant during the weekend. The food was good, the place was cool looking but the toilet was horribly dirty! What was worst, Ethaniel had to do a poo-poo there. Eeewww! I had no choice but to help him. Motherhood. We should be paid more! No, no. Let me rephrase. We should be paid!!!


When I was came out from the toilet I couldn't resist approaching the Owner to give him a piece of my mind. Mostly what I thought about his filthy toilet.


Me: Boss, your toilet very dirty lah


Owner: Today, so busy. Didn't have time to wash.


Me: *wide eyed in disbelief* Your toilet looks like not washed for a year lah. Not one day. So much of slime on the floor and walls.


Owner: No lah... Busy lah... *sheepish smile*


Me: *walk away feeling like throwing up*


Help me, we need to give toilet-washing lessons!!!

Malaysian Food

Actually I have been eating so much of Malaysian food since I returned but have not posted any photos on the blog.


You see.... I am sensitive to the feelings of my Malaysian / Singaporean friends who are currently still stuck in Thailand. I know how awful it is to see the pictures of char kueh teow, chee cheong fun, satay, curry laksa, hokkien mee... etc. and cannot taste it. Saliva drooling.


The prices of hawker food varies greatly depending on location. Kota Damansara is expensive. RM5 per bowl of curry laksa. Whilst in Klang its RM3.50 per bowl.


Maybe later, I promise to post some but at this time, too busy eating, running around.

My Boring Daily Stuffs

Photo taken at Koh Tao Island in Thailand

I am not sure what happened to me but I had sore throat and my body ached for the last few days.


I was really tired... but still I had to fetch hubby to work every morning at 7.30am *wiping sweat off forehead* and will usually reach home by 9.30am. Then to pick him up at about 4.45pm to be able to get there on time and trying to beat the traffic.


Sometimes the traffic is amazingly clear and other days it's really congested!


I need to stay healthy, have got heaps of things to do before our goods arrive from Bangkok this coming weekend. Yippee! Can't wait to settle into our own home, again.


Hey, you Bangkokian friends who is reading this blog.... I miss you....

At Work, Again!

After being retrenched for a total of 4 months, hubby started work today. That is a whole quarter of a year!


We are currently without transport, so, my Mum has been kind enough to offer her car. So, I sent Hubby to work at around 7.30am. The traffic is bad! It took us 45 mins to reach the office and since we had 30 mins to spare, we had breakfast at a nearby restaurant. Roti canai and teh tarik. A common breakfast for Malaysians.


Hubby is excited to be working again. I am sure. Its strange to be on vacation for such a long period of time. Too much of something is never a good thing.


I cannot imagine what its like to be retired. Who came up with such a lousy idea? Have you ever thought about it?


My personal opinion is, we should have a job and enjoying life all at the same time. Yes, we work and then we also should have time off to enjoy life with the people we love. Rather than having such an unbalanced life of too much work or too much free time. And then do this for the rest of our lives.


I cannot imagine myself being "retired" and not having anything meaningful to do. It's too scary a thought.


Does the bible talk about being retired and not doing anything? Hmm.... not that I know. So, if its not biblical, who came up with the idea?


Anyone knows?


As far as I know, an idle mind is a devil's workshop.

Crime Rate

One of the fears that I had returning to Malaysia was the crime rate.


Robbery, theft and crime seems to be at a peak.


Everybody is living in fear.


Something is obviously not right.


The neighboring coutries like Singapore and Thailand is surprisingly safer. What is happening?


I agree with a friend of ours who suggested that we the citizens should be given the right to protect ourselves with weapons. Be it legalised gun, "zapper", pepper spray, etc. Of course, the issue has always been argued is that when you legalise these weapons, then, criminals can easily get to them. Well, look at it now. Its not legalised but there are so many criminals having weapons. We the innocent citizens are consistently being bullied and living in fear.


Why is it that we are not given the right to defend ourselves?