United Buddy Bears

Visited an exhibition featuring United Buddy Bears at Esplanade, Penang.  Of the 146 bears from Berlin in Germany, 140 represent countries in the United Nations while six are general ones.

The bears have been exhibited since 2002 and travelled to five continents covering cities such as Astana, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Havana, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Montevideo, New Delhi, Paris, Pyongyang, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, St. Petersburg, Sydney Tokyo, Vienna and Warsaw  to promote tolerance and understanding.

It was last exhibited at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur in 2011.

A charity event in KDU

A charity event in KDU Penang University College was held on the 7th of May 2016 in Bon Appetit, its training restaurant facility in conjunction of Mothers’ Day. 38 elderly people from The Penang Home for the Infirm and Aged enjoyed an evening full of fun activities and performances by SHTCA students and a singing group from Jia Ying Association.

The main target of this event is to invite around 40 elderly people from The Penang Home for the Infirm and Aged to have a dinner and a parents’ day celebration in KDU Penang University College.

Musical Performance

We were blessed when we attended our first musical performance at PenangPac
, Straits Quay, Tanjung Tokong, Penang on 12 January 2012.

MALAYSIAN GIRLS show us the existing world of a beauty pageant. It is full of catchy songs and explosive dance moves on high-heels together with glitzy costumes and high energy performance. The music is a bold fusion of iconic and equally captivating numbers.

Video games make you smarter ??

Long after researchers branded video games as possible health hazards, educationists and scientists are now singing a more positive tune. Playing video games, they say, can promote multiple types of intelligences.
Fast-paced, action-packed video games can boost visual acuity, spatial perception and the ability to pick out objects in a scene.
Complex, strategy-based games can improved other cognitive skills, including working memory and reasoning.

However, the negative aspects of video gaming are addiction and aggression. Extremity of anything is bad.

[New Sunday Times dated 16-01-2011 by Chan MeiLing/Tan ChoeChoe]

This 'curse' or addiction are essentially terms that have been applied to those that spend excessive amounts of time online at the expense of and to the detriment of other aspects of their lives.

So this 'curse' is real and to avoid this addiction why not get addicted to JESUS instead. Because only Jesus can fill any vacuum that you have in your life.

Song of Solomon in Chapter 2, verse 15 reminded us what little foxes can do to our live "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom."

Rapid Penang

Today I experience my first bus ride after many years of driving. After a short walk from my office, I arrived at the Weld Quay terminal and board a bus [No. 206] and met a friendly bus driver cum attendant.
The bus started its journey at about 5.20 pm and travelled through Lebuh Chulia-Jalan Penang-KOMTAR-Jalan Dato Kramat-Jalan Sungai Pinang-Jalan Trengganu-Jalan Hamilton-Jalan Masjid Negeri where I embarked at about 6-10 pm. The journey were considered smooth despite a heavy flow of traffic. It was indeed a stress free ride without having to worry about traffic jam for once.

Thankful for a time of peace.

bus ticket

Day Trip To Padang Besar

On Labour Day, we gathered in front of Wisma Jelutong at 7-30 am before we journeyed to Seberang Jaya to picked up Micheal Ong and his family for our day trip to Padang Besar, a town bordering Perlis/Thailand.

Our bus of 44 [including the tour guide, Bro. Rodney] then journeyed to Sungai Petani for our breakfast. After breakfast, we continued our trip to Kota Kayangan Museum, located about 12 km from Kangar. The museum ground were once a palace under the reign of Sultan Dhiauddin Mukarram Shah (1661-1687). It displays archaeological relics as well as historical artefacts.

Before heading to Gua Kelam Recreational Park, a place tucked away in the town of Kaki Bukit, we stop to collect our lunch (Tua Pau). All of us gathered under some trees in Gua Kelam Recreational Park for lunch before continuing our exploration of Gua Kelam. Gua Kelam [Cave of Darkness] was famous for tin ore cave mining during the middle of last century. Historically, it got its name from the tin ore miners which uses carbide lamp to lighten the caves.

We arrived at Padang Besar, a quaint border town at about 2pm where we spent 2 hours shopping for food and clothing, handicraft as well as household items.
Before heading home to Penang, we detoured to Permatang Tengah, KhunThai Village Restaurant for an early dinner.

Praise God for a wonderful trip.

Kota Kayang Museum

the 'tua pau'

Mid-Autumn Festival Big Party

For this month Big Party the church celebrated Mid Autumn Festival which falls on 3 October earlier. We held it on the 27th September night where more than 330 people attended. The church santuary were decorated with about 70 lighted paper lanterns while Bro. Wilbur together with Bro. KB birth out a big traditional lantern made up of white polystyrene foam.





There were 12 participants, where some uses polystyrene foam plates, aluminium cans and cardboards to come up with various shapes of lanterns.

Facebook

Tonight [07-08-09] I finally joined facebook with the help of my daughter.

Now to start keeping myself busy with more networking !!

Teens to adulthood

As the parent of a teenager, we have many decisions to make every day, ranging from approving their clothes and hairstyles to boyfriends and girlfriends. If your child wants a part-time job, however, the decision is easy - let him/her take it.
Part-time jobs are great for teenagers as they teach them responsibility, the value of hard work, and money management skills that they will learn nowhere else but the real world.
My son came back from his semester break last November. From past experienced, I encouraged him to start looking for a part-time job rather that wasting time in front of the TV or computer. I strongly believed that by exposing teenagers to the working world slowly and when they are ready, it will enable us parent, to step out of the way and letting the adult world teach him/her these skills.
Whether it's mowing grass or washing cars for the neighbours, selling merchandises or clearing plates and cutleries in a restaurant, a job is where your teen learns a variety of real life lessons. Learning these lessons will be an experience to them now and when they grow up - learning to handle people of various back grounds and emotional needs.
The important element of doing well at a job is showing up. If your teenager can manage that, consistently and on time, they are ahead of the game. They'll also practise this skill as they works on the tasks required by the job - to do them consistently and accurately. Most part-time jobs also require repetitive tasks or manual labour - neither of which is a lot of fun.
On the job, teenager also learn about money, saving, credit and other financial subjects. They will need this information as they grows into adulthood, and it's wise to use their own money to help them learn.
While it can be difficult at first to let our child work, remember that part of our job as a parent is to let go when necessary.
A part time job is a great way to practise sending our young adult out into the world, while we're still around to help them work through their mistake.
I thank God that my son learns to give a small token of his wages to his grandparents when he came back with his earnings. Eventhough the sum may be small, I believed the spirit of generority is activated, as the book of Galatians teaches us to be generous.

CHRISTmas

Last Monday, December the 8th, our Hokkien Ministry had an early Christmas celebration at Hai Pin Restaurant with a turnout of about 230 people (children included). God is good, as we were given the entire first floor to ourselves to have our buffet dinner. Games and fun times under Bro. Joseph were well participated with Bro. Jeffrey leading in Christmas carols.

Bro. Koay then shared on the meaning of 'Christmas'. It is not just a time of celebration but the importance of 'Christ' in it. Without 'Christ', our Saviour and Lord, Christmas is just a 'mas'. We must always treasure Christ in our lives - always having HIM in our daily walk, guiding and showing us the right path to take.
As Christ fills our lives, then only can we share out the goodness and promises of Jesus. How are we to share what we do not have ?

The celebration ended with gift exchange participated by all those that bring along a gift each.

Special treatment

Mary Schneider wrote in The Star today (24-11-08) that sometimes a parent favours a particular child without realizing it. I believe it can be true, as sometimes we parents just brushed aside the complaint or did not see the imbalance in our affections.

Favouritism, such as extra pocket money, special dishes cooked because he or she liked it are some of the actions of special treatment.

Sometimes, parents also favoured or attracted to one child due to intellect, looks, personality, etc. So parents we should always be careful with our words and actions because our children or the younger generation is always watching us as a living example.

Back Again After A Long Sleeeeep !

Have been busy & lazy lately to write. Came back from Miri last week, after 6 days attending a home cell (youth gathering) and two church services [a Charismatic & Anglican]. Caught up with my son and got to know about varsity life in Miri.
Life in Miri is very much relax compared to Penang. But student life is totally different - a lot of assignments, tutorials & discussion sessions to attend. Thank God, I am not into varsity life, I am sure I am not made for it.
Hope this is not the only available blog until another five months.

A new beginning

Yes, I am now a blogger after a Japanese supper @ Yatai Mura.
Not before a little help from my dear daughter & her friend, Patsy.