ABC Wednesday: T for Toast and Toastmaster Mr. Ting Ming Siong

In 1991, when i was living in Singapore, I was very surprised and proud that a man from my home town Sibu, Mr. Ting Ming Siong held a Guiness World Record. I read with pride that he held the record for being a best man for the most number of times.

That Christmas, I returned to Sibu to visit my relatives. My aunts treated me to a restaurant at the See Hua Daily News factory at Sungai Antu. Lo and behold, who did I see seated at the next table? I asked my aunt if he was who I thought he was. My aunt said yes, and asked how I knew. I told her I read it in the Newspaper in Singapore.

I asked my aunt why he was so popular. She said he is very eloquent in his speech. He was not just a bestman, people requested his services as a Toastmaster and his toasts.

I went to congratulate him and asked if I could have a photo with him and his lovely wife and family. He was very happy to oblige and that the news paper in Singapore published an article about him.

Last evening, I made a new Facebook friend orignally from my home town, but now workinging in Miri. Christopher Gan is a Wedding Planner at Grand Palace Hotel, Miri. His friend commented that he must have organised so many weddings that he could be in the guiness records, I asked Christipher if he knew about this Best man.

Christopher said yes, and told me that Mr. Ting runs a coffee shop called Delta Cafe in Sibu. He sent me a photo of that important document.

Thank you Christopher for the Coffee Shop photos and his own with the chef.

Here's another of my bucket list ticked. To be photographed with a famous person, a Guiness World Book record holder. It pays to be shameless and ask to have a photo taken with famous people.


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Kiwiana Christmas

I just got back from the Mt Albert Baptist Church Annual Christmas at Rocket Park. Tired but happy. My students and I must have given out 3000 goodie bags.

Santa came and he had stripped his thick suit for a singlet because it is so hot here. He also shaved off his beard either because of the heat or he heard that in New Zealand, men shave their beard for the movember cause for men's cancer. Along the way, he went to Germany and picked up a pretty helper, Anja Blaske. The elves were happy and couldn't wait to get out of santa's trailer. I suspected the reindeers went on strike because of the heat, and santa had to borrow a farmer's quad bike.

All very entertaining, James.

My students say, it is not Santa, It is his son. I could the kids to compare a traditional santa and a Kiwi/New zealand santa. Can you spot the difference?



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Photohunt: Handwritten

I teach English as a second langauge to adult immigrant students as well as primary school children. I use a lot of plans which I print out for the students. But I hand write on the white board.

This lesson was on The Mooncake festival. I had no intention of recording this lesson. If I had known my students had wanted to photograph this, I would have done it neatly. At the end of the lesson, a student from Taiwan asked if she could take a photo. LOL

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weekend reflection: During the rain.

The storm leaves a thin film of water at the asphalt playground of Pt Chevalier school. It made perfect reflection photos. I was walking with my students and saw their reflections. I got them to model for me, but sorry I can't show you their faces. Privacy rules.

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ABC Wednesday: S for socks and square

My beautiful and talented Olivia on the Gold Coast of Australia turns old socks into cute stuffed toys.

According to her mum, Helen: Olivia has started a new hobby business making sock toys. She uses odd socks that lost the other one. Her friends like the dolls and asked her to make them some. She is selling them for $2.00. So far she had sold 4 and there are more orders.
Thomas saw an opportunity and sold his to Daddy for $4.00. Phil complained that his was not very detailed and Thomas told him that his was different from Olivia's shop. Scammed again!!
I hope Olivia can continue to sell at school.

Way to go, Olivia. Olivia is only 9.

St Marco Square



My Cousin Bart Ngieng is the Travel Manager with Wah Tung Travel Service Sdn Bhd. in Kuching, Sarawak Malaysia. www.wahtung.travel

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mellow yellow, ruby red, rednesday :seats

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My cousin Ambrose snapped this in Malaysia. I joked with him $1 seat, and 50 cents seat. When I am hungry, I am not fussy where or what I sit on.

photohunt:wet/rain

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Photohunt: wet/rain

My cousin Ambrose visited Thailand. How wet can you get? Living on top of the water.

Reader's Digest Story Contest

Dear all,

Voting ended on November 15th. I did not expect to win as I entered really late, on October 20th. But it was a great exercise. I wanted to bring exposure to baby Loss Awareness and bereaved parents.

I joined the International Catergory, and a quick counting showed I garnered enough votes to rank 4th out of 800 entries. The TV New Zealand You tube clip had more than 400 hits, compared to the other clips that were aired that day.

Thank you to all who voted, and those who rallied for me.

Thanks,

Ann




When I was young, I always read the Readers' Digest and marvel at the bravery of the mothers who struggled with sick children. When I had Andrew in the hospital, and accepted the doctors' advice that the kindest option was to let nature take it's course. When Andrew didn't die when the doctor predicted, I struggled with myself and spoke to the doctor about those mothers I read in the Readers' Digest, and I wanted to be these mothers, Dr James said that Andrew was different.

Today, I found out that Readers' Digest was inviting people to submit their stories. I am submitting mine for media exposure. But if you like to vote for me, it is appreciated.


"Diary of a bereaved mother"
My journey of having a baby who died and now I am the self appointed spokes-person for bereaved parents. My story is from my heart and will resonate with anyone who has had the misfortune to give birth to a child who has struggled to live. Synopsis: Your baby is dying. Andrew did not die that night as predicted by the doctor, he didn't die after 3 days, 10 days and finally he died at 55 days. Friends did not know whether to congratulate or commiserate us. He was declared dead after his first at 40 days, but he bounced back. That was more excruciating than his actual death. After Andrew, what have I done? Have I become a better person? There are many of the things I am most proud of. I spearheaded raising funds to separate a pair of Siamese twins from Nepal in Singapore. For 16 years, I raised funds for the Deafhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif Children in Kenya. I did the publicity, marketing, cooking and selling. I volunteer at teaching new immigrants.
http://www.youtube.com/asiadownunder#p/c/C9FEF73B56807B22/3/IZk9w-uywAs
Vote up!

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weekend reflection:Blast from the past.

Mr. Lee You Han and the students of Form 1B , Kai Chung school, 1974


I went to Crystal mountain and took these Jade turtles.


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1974 photos, it needed to be scanned.

This is a tribute to Mr. Lee You Han, my form six form mate in Methodist school Sibu, and my colleague in Kai Chung School. He was the first person I knew when I arrived in the school in April. He and Mr. Chieng had been teaching there since January. We went out to the same eating place for our lunches. He took care of me.

A fellow blogger showed a photo of a upside down turtle. It reminded me of Mr. Lee because of this incident.

Your turtle, did you flip it over? Your photo reminded me of a time when I was a young teacher. A student gave me a terrapin. As I was on my way to my next class, I flipped it over on my teacher's desk, and left. When I came back, it was gone. I was upset with myself. My Colleague Mr. Lee who sat at the desk in front of me said I was so stupid when I asked if he had taken my terrapin. He said, of course, the terrapin will flip over and crawl away.

Would he survive the fall of one meter from my desk? I looked around and couldn't find it.

Recently, I found some of those students and colleagues on Facebook. They told me Mr. Lee had died. yuks, only in his fifties. We used to have class photos taken, and this was Form 1B, and I taught them all.

May be the students will find Mr. Chieng.

Save the world,: Save the battery chicken

Photo by Rachel Yang.


A free ranged mother hen.



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When I was young, we lived in suburbia, Mum and Dad always kept some chicken and ducks. We had mostly free ranged ducks and chicken. But we also had about twenty caged hens for laying eggs. So I know about battery chicken and animal cruelty. Chickens have weird personality. If one chick gets pecked, the others will peck her too.

On Sunday, I watched a program on TV. There is a group of SAFE activists going round the country to expose egg farmers. There are some "bad" eggs among the farmers.

My friend Rachel Yang snapped this photo at Spencer Hotel in Takapuna in Auckland. Rachel is my facebook friend. We both belong to the Auckland University Chinese Alumni.

The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) in February released a draft welfare code for hens which would phase out the use of existing cages for the nation's 2.88 million battery hens, which each lay about 25 dozen eggs a year.

New "enriched cages", which feature a nest box, perch and a scratch pad, have been proposed.

The proposed colony systems would require 750cu cm per bird. A piece of A4 paper is equivalent to 623sq cm.

Would you pay a lot more for a free ranged egg?

ABC Wed: R for roller coaster

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My cousin Bart's Baltic cruise. Roller Coaster at Stockholm. The next item on my bucket list.

If you are interested, Bart's the travel manager of http://www.wahtung.travel/

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Last 2 days to vote, ends on Nov 15th.

Mediterranean Cruise

My Cousin Bart Ngieng on holiday on a cruise. http://www.wahtung.travel/




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2 more days to vote:

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Vote for my story, you can vote once a day. Voting finishes on November 15th. Thanks.

photo hunt: 2 helicopters & 2 cruise liners

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My husband went to Papua New Guinea for work, and he flew in helicopters a lot.




My Cousin Bart Ngieng is the Travel Manager with Wah Tung Travel Service Sdn Bhd. in Kuching, Sarawak Malaysia. www.wahtung.travel

He took his wife and my aunt and uncle to a cruise to Europe. Ka pai , paki paki Bart for being a good husband and son. Ka pai means good job and paki paki means clap clap in New Zealand.

Bart tells me it is "Pacific Primcess cruise ship, together with Silversea anchored off Sorrento, Italy. How cool is that?


3 more days to vote:

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Vote for my story, you can vote once a day. Voting finishes on November 15th. Thanks.

Weekend Reflection:

This post is about if you are passionate about an issue, do something about it.

The first issue is my personal appeal. I am the self appointed spokes person for bereaved parents, For every 1000 babies born in New Zealand, eight will be stillborn. One in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage. Nearly 600 babies are stillborn or die within 28 days of birth in New Zealand every year. 4 days left to vote for this cause. I am trying to make more awareness of the plight of this poor group of people.

So please, vote for my story. There are only 4 days left. one vote per day per IP address.

http://apps.facebook.com/yourlifecontest/content/diary-bereaved-mother
Vote for my story, you can vote once a day. Voting finishes on November 15th. Thanks.




We are having our general election in a few weeks. The Greenpeace is making a stand against deep sea drilling.
The run aground tanker Rena off our coast reminded us all how damaging an oil spill can be, and how ill-prepared NZ is to cope with even a small spill - let alone a disaster like the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon blowout.

As the toxic oil washed ashore we heard Prime Minister John Key claim that there is no connection between the Rena spill and his Government's plans for risky deep sea oil drilling.

But clearly, if the deep sea drilling goes ahead and there is an accident, there would be many similarities. Oil in the water, oil on the beaches, dead and dying sea birds, poisoned seafood and huge expense to the taxpayer. Just like the Rena only on a much more devastating scale.

We can provide posters or signs and can help with installation. We can do various sized signs for grass verges, front gardens, houses, fences or walls, and we have weather-proof posters or print your own posters.


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ABC Wednesday: Q for Queen Street

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Queen Street is the most famous Street in CBD, Auckland.

Most peaceful marches and victory parades in Auckland start at Queen Elizabeth Square because of it's strategic location. This square is an entry to the Britomart Transport Centre and the start of Queen Street. It is in the vicinity of the Ferry Terminal. This transitory paved area features a Kauri forest and a fire boulder water feature. Otherwise, it is a square in the downtown where people sit and have their lunches. In our very own The Apprentice, one team chose this location to sell their sausages and won.






The marches proceed up the main street, Queen street. They finish at Myers park. Myers Park is a narrow park in central Auckland, New Zealand, running parallel to the upper part of Queen Street. It is characterised by steep, grassed slopes and canopied with a mixture of large exotic and native trees, including an alley of large palm trees. Benches and artwork (including a heritage marble copy of Michelangelo's sitting Moses statue) line the paths connecting to Queen Street, K Road, Grey's Avenue and Aotea Square.

Here the tired marchers sit or lie on the grass to listen to speeches and have BBQs.






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Vote for my story, you can vote once a day. Voting finishes on November 15th. Thanks.