Dear Members,
May I add my name to the member list. First of all, I want to tell you the reason why I have to join the club.
On my last "balek kampong" trip to Singapore, my teenage son accompanied me to have lunch with five of my long lost and recently found schoolmates. I knew it was a mistake but my schoolmates insisted that they want to meet him. Anyway, it didnt bother him as he made himself occupied of his time with the help of his ipod and mobile phone. On the way back from lunch, nothing has prepared me for an off the cuff remark from him. He said, "Gee Dad, you don’t have many friends left in Singapore, I can count them with one hand." That’s hurt, but dont feel sorry for me. I need your help. I have made a challenge with him that on the next luncheon not only he has to use his other hands, he needs his toes to count the friends I have.
Let me briefly tell you about myself, Have been working away from Singapore for more than half of my life. Sydney is home at the moment. I am turning 60 in Oct. Still working as a support worker with the Department of aging and disabilities and Home Care in NSW. Went back to school 2 years ago just to embarass my teenage son. Manage to come out with an educational degree in May. (took me 40 years to obtained it.) Like the old Chinese saying says " There are many paths to the top of the mountain but the view is always the same." Many of you have finally reach the top but hopefully we can all still continue to make new friends and enjoy the view. Thanks for having me.
Hi Philip
Welcome bck 2 ur origin. Most of us hv manage well wif degree of not more than 37 since young.
Do come n join us on 9 Sep 08’s gathering n dine 2gether. U will definitely hv frenz more than all ur fingers n toes can count.
Hi Philip,
Welcome to the Club! Which part of Sydney do you hail from? I used to stay in Penrith near the Blue mountains for three months to six months period.
How often are you back here in Singapore. Hope to meet you in the various activities being organize here.
Dan
Hi Philip Wong
Welcome to SHC! Your profile is very interesting, almost funny! We can all relate to the fact that as you get older, it is more difficult to meet like minded friends. Not that we can’t but we all need to make the extra effort to widen our circle!
BTW, you write well and I’m hoping to round up a few perspectives on how Singaporeans living overseas celebrate X’mas away from home for a publication meant for Silvers, like us. I am looking to cover a couple of personal stories from different countries for my X’mas issue.
This invitation is also open to all those aspiring to be writers. My access on this site seems to have been downgraded for the moment so please contact me via my personal email address : diana_loo@hotmail.com separately and I will give you more details if you are interested to contribute a story!
Thanks!
Diana
Hi Philip,
welcome to SHC. Glad to know that more Singaporeans from overseas are joining the club. No doubt that when you next balek kampong, your son will be dizzy with the number of friends you have here. We have Mary & Joan from Perth. We also have Ron Oz in Melbourne and he was here for the D&D early this year and made many new friends.
I am quite familiar with Sydney as my two older daughters studied at the UNSW. And my youngest will probably be there next year. I will be accompanying her there and will be there for about 3 weeks. Hope to catch up with you when I am there. During this trip, I will also be visiting my sister and brother-in-law who live in Canberra.
Have fun on the forum.
Warmest Regards
Caroline Gee
Hi Philip.
Welcome to the club. I am sure you’ll find many on-line friends here, but being geographically apart, you’ll not be able to join in our various activities. So to keep it going, you’d hv to put in more effort to keep this thread moving. And let us know in advance when you come to Singapore. You can then join in the activity, and show your son just how many friends you’ve made.
I like Sydney & planning to visit there sometime in Jan 2009. Hope we’ll still be in contact by then.
Regards, Lydia.
Hi Folks,
Thanks for rolling out the welcome mat. I still need the numbers to win the challenge from my Teen son. There are already five. I need more than a handful.
1. Hi Yew Kwong,
It is so true, isnt it. Falling leaves returning to their roots. But I would like postpone it to a later time. Thanks for answering my call for help.
2. Hi Dan Huang,
I am living in Epping for the past 20 years. About 35 mins by train to the CBD of Sydney. Maybe 2 1/2hrs drive to Blue Mountains or longer, if my wife is at the wheels. She will stop to smell the flowers on the way and patronise every quaint little art and craft shops that she can find in the villages during our breaks. I must admit we don,t hold them well these days even with our careful rationed fluid intakes. Hold your laugh. We are all heading that way. We look forward in seeing you guys in ours next balek kampong trip. Hopefully mid 2009 as we have planned to go to the Middle Kingdom in Jan 2009.
3. Hi Diana Loo,
Talking about meeting of minds,Now that I know the number of friends are coming, I better start my moonshining in my garden shed soon. “A thousand cups of wine(samsu in my house)do not suffice when true friends meet but half a sentence is to much where there is no meeting of minds”. Okay, I do have wine stored under house. I will raise a toast to all my newfound friends. I wish you well in your coming Xmas publication. Will contact you in this matter.
4. Hi Caroline Gee,
Thanks for answering my call and your offer of friendship.To meet a friend in a distant country is like delight of rain after a long drought. BTW we are still not drought-free despite a record rainfall in summer. We still impose our the 3 mins shower rule in our house. Yes, we do have a timer with alarm when Teen son is using the bathroom. We are not being mean to him but still continue this save water habits from our good old water rationing days in Singapore. Hope your visit does not coincide with our holidays in China. Your baby will be okay. We will look after her. But watch out for naggings from Uncle and Aunty. Just joking, we are as laid back as the kangaroos and koalas. Oopp!
5. Hi Lydia Chin,
Yes, to open a thread is easy to keep it open is an art. Lets hope we keep it open. My family and I look forward to meet you. Beside I need more Singapore uncles and aunties to help Teen son to understand why we need to call the taxis driver to a complete stranger we meet in the street as uncles. Please do not be surprised if he addresses you in your first name. I apologise here for his upbringing. Just give him a whack on his ears for me. Won’t you?
Hi Philip,
Thanks. You need not worry. When you balek kampong, just write to let us know when you are coming and we are most happy to meet you and your family. My son-in-law calls me Caroline and my daughter calls her mother-in-law Gayle. Its not so much the upbringing but more so the culture.
When we drive through the little towns in Australia, it was my husband who would stop to look and buy from those craft shops.
My eldest who is married to an Australian will be back in Sydney before my youngest goes there. My younger sister, the one who lives in Canberra, is her Godma. She must be going “Oh no….” So many rellies and friends to nag at her.
At least I feel comforted there are so many pairs of eyes looking out for her.
Warmest Regards
Caroline Gee
Hi Philip,
So nice to hear you have joined SHC. I am retired in Perth, hubby and I look after our grandkid. SHCians are a group of happy, lively and beautiful people…Terence, Caroline, Norlinda, Catherine Ho and many others. I enjoyed meeting them when I ‘balek kampong’. Some visited me in Perth and Catherine Ho stayed at my place last June. Hope to meet you one day in Sydney or Perth or even Singapore.
Mary Lee (from Perth)
Hi Mary,
Wow, another day another friend is added to this thread.I hope this thread acts as a continual exchange based on our shared identity for a collaboration, evolving ideas across our “island home” SHCians and overseas SHCians. Together, we make this thread as an ongoing meeting point, place of exchange and dropbox of ideas and inspirations. Let’s get thread ball rolling.
BTW, how old is your grandchild? What a lucky child, to have Kong2 and Ah Mah in his playgroup.
Best regards,
Philip
Good’day Philip,
My grandson is 7 years old. This morning Kong2 & Mah2 enjoyed watching his dance performance for the school assembly. Kong2 & Mah2 are 54 & 53 yrs old respectively. We communicate with grandson in Teochew & he attends Mandarin lessons at Chung Hwa n Saturdays. We enjoy the simple life here…vegie patch, fishing.
Great to hear u have done heaps for the disabled. Last week, we did winter collection for Vinnies & next week we do the door-to-door collection for Red Cross. What are your hobbies?
Mary Lee (Perth)
G’day Mary,
What are my hobbies? That’s a good question…something that I enjoy doing in my spare time?. Sorry, I am momentary stumped by the question. Because they are such a variety. Well, they range from moonshing samsu(my late Mum-in-law’s potent recipe)to dreaming of building my mud house for my retirement retreat in Tasmania (fell in love with Tassie after spending a month bushwalking and tracking with my family last Dec.) I will let my fellow SHCians know of more details in later posting, if they care to become kakis and join me to make mud bricks for my eco friendly house. It would be therapeudic fun I promise. Imagine yourself wallowing in mud bath. I hope Terence would include my retirement”kampong” in his plan for the short overseas stay retirement scheme.
To be continued..
Bye for now.
Philip
Hi Mary,
Sorry for signing off abruptly. Teen son had just broken a peranakan plate on the mantlepiece while practising his “Olmypic inspired” badminton shots. You know what he told me. “It won’t help by standing there and staring with your mouth opened. Mum won,t know a thing if you help me to superglue the pieces together.” He further added,”it’s an old plate after all”.Is there such a thing as justified murder?
Philp
No worries, Philip, it’s all part of ‘growing pains’ with the teens. Some years ago, when I brought a pre-historic mover to the Sunday Market for sale, my youngest son lamented, ‘Aiyoo, please lah, mummy who wants to buy this rusty heavy broken cob-webbed infested machine?’ You know what, Philip, when we reached the market at 5am, one bloke paid $50 for that rusty piece before I open my stall.
And if you decide to buid your eco friendly retirement nest in Tassie, do remember to rope me in. Do you read GR (Grassroots)? GR has articles from self-sufficiency secrets (how to use a moon planting guide for gardens), keeping chooks, basic car car, aquaponics, permaculture, how to grow jaboticaba and of course how to build a sustainable house using wasted sunshine, free hot water, insulation & ventilation and more.
Hope you can share your moonshing samsu with me one day. I grow my own Asian herbs and greens for ku-chai kueh and chilli paste. Last night I made salted eggs – my hubby bought 2 doz duck eggs from the farm.
Got to run now – to the lobster farm to get some fresh lobsters to add to the birthday noodles – it is my birthday party tonight.
Have a blessed weekend.
Mary Lee (Perth)
Hi Mary (Perth)
Happy (belated) birthday! Many happy returns! :)
Am curious about the phrase “wasted sunshine”. Does it refer to sunlight not harnessed for energy?
Cheers,
Hi Philip
Apologies for using your profile thread to communicate with Mary (Perth) @# 14.
I enjoyed reading your posts in your profile thread and find your teen son cute. Hope that your dream of building a mud house in Tasmania becomes a reality soon, so we city slickers can go and experience a different kind of life there. :)
Wishing all the best,
Jassmine
Hi Jassmine,
You are most welcome to join and help us to build this bridge between Overseas SHCians and “Our Island Home” SCHians. As I have told Lydia that to start a thread is easy but to keep it open is an art. So let us keep it open as an ongoing meeting point for all.
BTW,Teen Son was grounded on the weekends. You can imagine the expression on his face when we told him that he is barred from using the computer for breaking Mum’s peranakan plate. We are cosidering to auction him off for adoption on the Ebay if he doesnt stop to create havoc by playing badminton in the house. Any taker?
Hi Jassmine,
You are most welcome to join and help us to build this bridge between Overseas SHCians and “Our Island Home” SCHians. As I have told Lydia that to start a thread is easy but to keep it open is an art. So let us keep it open as an ongoing meeting point for all.
BTW,Teen Son was grounded on the weekends. You can imagine the expression on his face when we told him that he is barred from using the computer for breaking Mum’s peranakan plate. We are considering to auction him off for adoption on the Ebay if he doesnt stop to create havoc by playing badminton in the house. Any taker?
Dear all,
Sorry for the double. It is not your eyesight.
Gomen nasai.
Philip.
Hi Dianna,
I went to the local library to collect and mail you a quarterly publication by the Hornsby Shire Seniors Advisory Committee. This is not publication I have mentioned but I hope you find it useful for your referencing. Let me know when you recieved it.
Cheers,
Philip
Dear Jassmine,
Thank you2 for your birthday wishes.
There are ways to tap the sun’s energy during the day by using solar hot-water heater. Any extra or left over energy can be sold to a energy supplier. We can get free natural lighting through sola tubes from the roof into dark corners of the house or install reflectors to reflect sun’s heat into rooms during winter days.
You are an active SHC Member – keep it up and have fun!
Mary Lee (from Perth)
Hi Philip,
That auction idea is so funny! Book a badminton court and play with your teen son. My siblings & I play badminton and table-tennis with other Perth-Singaporeans here.
Got to run now, have to fry bee-hoon for my brother and his wife – today they have no time to prepare or eat lunch because there will be a huge crowd at their lotto shop – they sold a division I for last Saturday’s AUD19 million draw – this is their 11th division I ticket! and I have got a ticket too – shared among my old SJC classmates from Singapore.
Have a good day
Mary Lee (from Perth)
Hi Mary,
How was your birthday dinner party? I bet you had a good one.
Glad to know I am not the only “old hippie and pot smoking” leftover of the flower children generation of the 60s.to enjoy reading the GR. Just joking. It is indeed a good read.
I can still fondly remember my time in Papua New Guinea’s jungle and how I drove to the unsealed airstrip and waited for the single propellered Folker plane on its weekly mail-run to deliver this wonderful magazine.
Yes, I will relinguish the copyright of my late Mum in law’s samsu recipe here. She used them by the gallons when she was preparing and cooking postnatal food for her daughters and in laws.
Cheers
Philip
Thanks Philip, it is very good to celebrate life with my siblings and family. The mud crabs cooked with ginger and spring onions were really yummy!
Wow, you were in PNG’s jungle – what sort of work were you doing at PNG?
Bye for now
Mary Lee (Perth)
Hi Mary,
Just mention the word mud-crab. Teen Son will be salivating like a pug. BTW he was like a pug when he was a tiny tot. We always run out of bibs. We remembered rampaging through the rucksack for a dry bib at the Central Railway Station in KL and a kind Mak Chik offered this advice. “Catch a falling leaf and wipe his mouth three times”. Did it work? Yes, provided food is not mentioned.
I worked with the Forestry Deparment until Teen Son came to our lives. We have him quite late in our lives and eversince he turns it upside down. But we don,t mind.
Bye for now,
Philip
Hi there Philip Wong (Sydney) & Mary Lee (Perth)- really enjoyed reading your exchanges/blogs (hope you don’t mind?). We were a hair’s breath away from moving to DownUnder in 1989, but instead we moved to Florida. But we’ve visited Sydney & Perth. Love the Blue Mountains..& the cute Hi-Tea areas (fresh baked scones & cream). Like Philip, we had our TEEN SON late – but what a BLESSING. Life’s a joy with him, sometimes our cups runneth over with joy and……Hey, just let all the cups runneth over….with whatever…like yours, practising badminton in the living room. Our TEEN SON loves basketball…yep, just imagine…Philip, a basketball is much bigger than a shuttle-cock…..imagine….Cheers, Florence (formerly of Jupiter, Florida & Belgium. Now back for good in Singapore).
Hi Florence Ho,
You are most welcome to join the party. Hey, what about starting a Teen son Exchange Programme? As I have said before, that this thread is a dropbox for ideas and inspiration and we are open to suggestions from fellow SHCians. Do drop us a line or two.(Do we have to observe the 15 lines max?)
Cheers,
Philip
Hi Philip (Sydney),
If my understanding of your Teen son exchange program is right, then I think this is a great idea. A great opportunity to learn and explore the different parts of the world. Cant wait to have my son explore the world too; but mummy too tired of looking after him every day; and papa cannot take too many days off.
And the 15 lines limit is for those forum writers who tend to write many screenloads, without paragraphing, and causing severe headaches. So far, one gentleman in SHC has this self-imposed punishment. Have fun.
Terence Seah
Hi Terence,
I think it would be great if our brainchild becomes a reality. Imagine all the peace and quiet. But be warned.(I vividly remembered Teen Son first camping trip with his school outwardbound programme. Our house became too quiet for us.) Seriously speaking, it will good for the young ones to learn the different cultures and be exposed to new enviroment for themselves. When can we get the programme started?
The other propramme I have in mind is “house sitting” for SHCian. We could exchange each other house and you can stay in the house while we are visiting. Imagine, we dont have to send our pets and “teen sons” to boarding kennel while we are away. Someone to water the garden and collect the mails.
We promise to leave the fridge full of beers/ samsu, if you take up the offer.
Cheers, Philip
Hi Philip n Terence
How abt an adult exchange program? I shall volunteer myself 2 be the 1st. I promise to be cute, loveable n obedient. How???
Hi Yew Kwong,
Sorry mate, but we will consider your application for the house sitter programme. To make sure that you are house trained, we still have to send you to the local obedient school. Hehe.
Cheers mate,
Hi Florence Ho,
Nice to hear from you. Do you play basketball with your teen son in the house or he throws the ball to the wall and catch the rebounce. I used to do that in my teens to brush up my netball.
Hi Philip,
I did homestay for 16 year olds mostly boys from China, HK & Singapore so can I volunteer to train the potential house sitters and run the local obedient school…you can send Yew Kwong to Perth.
Mary Lee (Perth)
G’morning Mary(Perth) & Philip(Sydney): just noticed your posts. Sorry for late replies. I do not login daily. Very, very busy!
Today volunteering at TEEN SON’s school – its Teachers’ Appreciation Day.
Also we’re busy house-hunting – yesterday we were shown NINE locations!!! Very tiring.
I’m also helping a friend’s Expat relocation business (part-time work only – I’ve to keep busy – I’m the cannot-sit-
still-type!).
Philip: your TEEN Exchange programme sounds very interesting. Let’s elect YK to be Chief-Sitter (after he’s been properly trained of course. Haha)
Mary: you’re so funny (& cute!). 6ft tall TEEN SON pictures himself a Michael Jordan – twirling the basketball on the finger-tip – and then it goes oooops, twirling OFF the finger-tip! He’s also into FENCING. Zorro would have been plenty proud of him – when he waved that long sword to try and execute a L (first letter of his name)& the sword’s tip ALMOST touched the leather sofa. Imagine what would have happened if he tried to execute a Z, just like Zorro!
All in all, TEEN SON is a joy to have around. Like Philip, I remember the sudden hollow/empty feeling when he went on a field trip.
Gotta run, till next time, have a good day.