20250530- Mui’s first wall climb @60!

I have been thinking of trying out this rock climbing for sometime.  Must really thank Aaron for accompanying me on 30/5/25! John expected me to only climb the first few rocks ?

Guess what? I managed to scale this 9m wall ! Quite a first time feat for a 60 old lady! 😂 

Some interesting stuff learnt?

1. How to belay and be a belayer with the 1-2-3-4 grasp of the rope!

2. ⁠How to use the leg muscles power to scale up this wall like Catwoman!

3. ⁠How to scale down in finesse! Like Spider-Man!

Reflections?

Must say that this particular exercise can be exerting on the body. We perspired after the first attempt. 😂 Looking at the climbers seem easier. But the climb can be an uphill gravity cardio exercise! Guess climbing requires a little thinking and planning too. Which to step and which to grasp to make it to the top. 

Aaron did not manage to scale the purple one. Kept giving up after the 3m height? So perhaps another time to try!

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Mui’s Climbing Video!

Aaron’s Climbing Video!

 

20250510- English Tuition !

Early this month of May, At the request of the parents of little 14 YO Ting, I started offering twice a week Conversational English with her. 

Reflection 

1. Technology changes many things!

This brought back my memories of Tesol teaching to foreign students back in 1998 and my tuition to another little 12 YO in 2003 

After more than 30 years? No more physical classroom learning! But via WeChat video!

You see, Ting is actually from Guangzhou China! 🇨🇳 

I am also learning Malay via an apps Duolingo! Amazing technology  But still, language is best mastered with practice and environment of use!

2.  Discipline is the Key to learning!

Many a times, I too , SLACK OFF in my Duolingo practice? With Ting, I was a little unsure as to how discipline she would be? Surprisingly, she was quite an encouragement to me  Why? She was very “automatic” in her WeChat video to me so far in this past one month! She was on time ! Hardworking! And I was amazed   

I think her study environment back in China is very competitive   She comes back late at about 8 or 9 pm from her school everyday! Shocking  Yet she kept her appointment with me around 9:45pm each time! And we had a 45min to an hour of lesson!

3. Committment is another key to learning?

Initially I was not really prepared to undertake this project   Simply because it requires some commitment of 3-6 Mths at least   It was a trial too    Distance learning    🤔 

Reliving a bit of my past encounters with W and H for this English learning in 1998 and 2003   Fastword 30 over years later? Another little Ting to commit too? 😂 

Final Thoughts

John thinks I enjoy teaching  So he urges me to take up such a task  

Well , he is not that all wrong 

I did relief teaching in a primary school after my A levels  Did some tutoring - earning some of  my pocket money back then. 

I applied for Teaching as a career after my university cos I thought that was my First love.     Alas I was rejected by MOE and so ended up in the finance industry instead!

But in 1997, I did a career break by going for a Tesol course!

Well well  so here I am    30 years on… English tutoring again!

So here’s my little ting ting thoughts ! A full circle?⭕️ 😂 

20250505 Played Spontaneous Host to XY, Yibin Chengdu!

Proud to be a Red Dot ambassador to a new found guest from Yibin , Chengdu!

A strange encounter on a Sichuan flight back.

A lovely chat with XY on flight !

Her first footing into Spore!

So from 2/5 arrival Home?

We played a tour guide on 5/5!

Very proud to showcase her some

Beautiful spots at Fort Siloso, Marina Barrage and dining at Newton Hawker!

What a bunch of Crazy Brave Asians? 😂 

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What a beautiful Red Dot Nite skyline!

20250502- Chengdu

Covered Chengdu in about 4 days itself. Fun facts!

1. Chengdu population now 23mio. After the major earthquake in 2008 & 2017?  Chengdu pp seemed more chill about material stuff. Saw broken! If they earn 3000? They save only 200!  But other main bigger cities like Shanghai or Beijing does the opposite? 😂 earn 3000 save 2800!

2.  Pandas! Less than 2000 in the whole world! And there are about 5 main panda breeding research centres in Chengdu! The one we went was supposedly the biggest with 200 But we saw only 20 +\~! So the loaned panda in spore is now in Dujiangyan Panda Centre!

3. ⁠Chengdu - main river Is Minjiang River which was dam in Dujiangyan. To prevent flood and provide irrigation to Chengdu.  Quite an amazing Li Bing the engineer in Qin state to come up with such a unique way of separating the river into 2 parts and also making the filter of the sand and rocks to prevent clogging !

4. ⁠ There was a lost civilization called San Xing DUI.  Remains found in 1929. More excavated in 1980s and 2021/2. So now the museum has great artifacts collections. Weird looking bronze and jade masks! 

5. ⁠Sichuan - home to Mala food. Rabbit stuff! And their opera is good! ESP their magical face changing dance. And they love to have their ears dug with Services all over!

6. ⁠Several old ancient streets In the city centre itself. But we managed to over only 2 old ones: Wide and narrow and Jinli streets. The other 2 are the modern “orchard” road kinds in Chunxi and DaKooLi :)

7. ⁠Restaurant Food is Michelin but a fraction of the price here in spore! LOL.  And after this? Gerry and I waved white flags to other mala toufu and hot pot! So so so spicy!! 🌶️ 🥵

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Here is Chengdu!

 

20250424 Jiuzhaigou 4D3N

 Long lake? A bit like Lake Louise in Canada?

Juizhaigou… hmm. Not the right season to come? Not too colourful … 😂 only comfort- nice weather 

JzG- big earthquake in 2008 and 2017. Then came Covid. So the place is pretty quiet ?

The Romance JzG musical is a nice one to watch. As usual- the standard is high! So here is the recap! On the way back to Chengdu on first class train :)

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Here is the JzG video!

20250416 He who has ears , let him hear : A Miracle of the hearing aid?

Interesting creative Ear. The 13000 hairs inside the inner ear? Once gone cannot be re grown. Hence the lost of our sense of hearing as one age 

Interesting audio test. The grey patch is what we are supposed to be able to hear. Any thing below is the loss of hearing from moderate to severe!

Background

On 15/4/25 I accompanied my sister to this Hearing aid company to test her hearing and got a loan for a pair of hearing aid set for 2 weeks. It was confirmed that the loss was moderately severe for the 80 year old. 

I began to appreciate this tiny little thing. 

They are expensive!

The basic set cost from $5.6k! 

And the premium one cost almost double!

I wondered why this thing was so tiny yet costly ?

Made in Canada , Swiss or German! Such is technology costs!

Bible Verse

Matt 11:15 He who has ears let him hear

Same for Matt 13:8-16 and many repeated verses in the book of Revelation. 

Isaiah32:3 and the ears of those who hear will listen

The Incident on 16/4/25

This morning at past 11am, I received a frantic call from this sister of mine. She was in great 😱 panic. Almost crying over one of the ear pieces she lost after her activity at a centre. It was her first day of loan! And one piece cost $2.6k!!

The voice call was on hold and I could hear every conversation from her and some staff from the centre. 

Apparently they searched all the premises at the centre and could not find it. She had returned to the centre to search for it after finding one missing upon reaching home. 

I was imagining the wings of the $2.6k flying off as I was put one hold on the line. Hearing all the desperate conversations. Then suddenly I heard from the other end “Found it found it!”

It was kind of amazing. 

A miracle! 

Apparently one of the staff Mr Lim back tracked her path back. And then suddenly with his sharp eyes, he saw the little thing along the pavement! What a miracle find! 

I would have thought that looking for this tiny ear peice would be liken to looking for a needle in the haystack! 😂 I almost considered it lost for good?

But seemed that the Lord God must have really loved this sister of mine. Panic. Prayer. What a joy finding it !

I was also overjoyed. Overwhelmed by this find which I thought was impossible. Cos so tiny it was! 

I was at the receiving end of hearing my sister’s cries and anxiety. I was helpless. And dare not imagine what would she do knowing the lost of a loan piece. And it cost $2.6k!!! But thank God within the 6 min of her voice call, the thing was FOUND!

I had a deep sigh of relief. For myself. 

If my sister had lost this, she would become hysterical and I would be living in hell In the next 1 week or more! I would

Also become hysterical perhaps! LOL

Reflections

I guessed I learnt a fair bit about our EAR yesterday!

We can hear but not listen. 

We can hear but with no understanding. 

Decibels! From low to high 

Pitch frequency from low to high. 

This is our amazing ear that God created. Those hairs inside that made up 13000. Losing them as we age as our sense of hearing hence decline. 

Now we understand what is deafness like. The world of silence?

Like the sudden loss of that little earpiece by my sister this morning, we really dun get to appreciate what we have until we “lost it”. Literally. 

The sense of the awesome found was liberating. 

It is like the story of the parable of the lost sheep? lost coin? Think my sister experienced that sudden joy of “being found “. So did I. 

Just a simple tiny little ear piece. What a miracle. 

May our ears be hearing. Hearing the beckoning call of our Creative Father God. Come.  Come to Him. Never let our ears be dull. 

Today if you hear His voice …. Harden not your heart. 

Yah?

Come. 

In 2 days , we celebrate Good Friday. The day was good for us but not for Jesus in some sense. He died so that we can live. 

come 3 days later , may we celebrate His risen promise! He lives!  Conquered death! No more fear to those who come to Him. To those who trust in Him. To those whom He shared his miracles of lost and found of such a tiny ear piece. Or even my “lost “ guitar in Myanmar back in 1998.  

Awe …..give thanks! amen!