[imgid=0]For the older generation at home, weeks will be spent spring cleaning and making all the other arrangements and preparations to welcome the younger generation home for the spring festival. The last week will be spent purchasing food from the wet market and the supermarket. Thus the food preparation began with the soaking and washing of the dried sea food, for example the sea cucumber and the cuttlefish. Lots of care and love went into the preparation so that the younger generation can eat their favourite food which they dont get to taste nowadays. It was hard work but at the end of the day, the smiling faces of the younger generation was reward enough. Pig stomach soup and "lou sang" 3 generations enjoying dinner

I met Dave when he was still in his mothers womb. I had been going to this NGO centre where I met his mum, a frail drug dependant, 6 months into pregnancy. We went through numerous counselling sessions and the day came when Dave had to be brought into this world by ceaserean and I was quietly pleased that all went well. It all happened on the 6th day of the Spring Festival nearly 24 years ago..... I visited Dave once every month and watch him grow but it was a very sad scenario. Before he could walk, I watched a malnourished baby soaked in urine and crying his lungs out each time I visited, while his mum was still sleeping. When he could crawl around, he was still the very angry urine soaked crying baby. He would bang his head on the floor and wailed his heart out. They rented a room upstairs a coffeeshop and there was this long flight of stairs which you come downstairs by. I was told by the people around there that the mum wakes up at around 2pm, puts Dave in the basket in front of the bicycle and would be away till 2 or 3 am, when she would then bathe him with cold water amidst all the wailings and screamings and slappings. When he started walking and talking, I often found him sitting on the last step of the long stairway, in his little underpants, still urine soaked and staring into space. Looking at the flight of stairs, I was so worried that he might tumble down one fine day, but the people around told me that he descended the stairway backwards. He had no expression except to cry when he was hurt. Through it all, Dave grew and I had never seen him sick. At about 3 to 4 years of age, he was surviving on the glass of water and fruits left on the alter beside the stairway while waiting for his mum to wake up from her stupor. Whatever money given to him was taken away by the mum and I resorted to buying him some necessities while the coffeeshop owner gave him food. But through it all, Dave was still expressionless and seldom talked, it was always a shake of his head for no and a hmmm for yes. it was hard to get through to him as he was always staring into space. Dave started school armed only with whatever I manage to teach him, meanings of certain words and the alphabets. By then, I was visiting him more often and he would come to the centre after school.This lasted till he was about 12 years old when his mum took him out of school. He then started helping around the coffeeshop and his meagre wages paid to his mum. This went on till he was 14 or 15 years old. Then he joined a certain 'uncle' and started servicing airconditioners and keeping some of his pay. On his 18th birthday, we had a long talk and Dave cried and cried and soon he was opening up and talking about his feelings. I then through some 'guan xi' got him a job where he had to stay away from his mother. I assured him that it was alright that he was not qualified, so long as he is willing to learn, is hardworking, polite and humble, and honest in whatever he does, he should be able to go through a decent life. It was not an easy journey and we had to overcome alot of hardship but I made sure I was always there to cry with him. Dave went from strength to strength, he has kept his promise to learn, to be hardworking, polite and humble and honest. Today, he is full of expressions and jokes, any setback will be considered minor, compared to what he has been through. It will be Daves 24th birthday in about 3 weeks time and guess what, he received the keys to his own apartment last September. So I guess this will be his happiest birthday yet. I am just so happy that he has turned out to be a decent human being. He may not be highly qualified, but this self preserving spirit - Dave - has given me reason to be proud.

As a kid, I remembered havings loads of cousins from my various aunties and uncles and school holidays and any other festivals was a time to rejoice. We would all be visiting some auntie or uncles house and there would always be at least 10 to 15 of us kids. There would always be plenty of food and things for us kids to do. We would all be jumping off the wooden jetty into the sea during high tide, collecting clams and mollusc during low tide, catching crabs with a forget-me-not flowers or chipping off oysters from the rocks at an aunts house near the sea. At the next, we would be spending most of our time in the park, holding a towel beneath the waterfall, and by the end of the day have enough little fresh water prawns to make our own crackers. Or we would all be wandering around the padi fields trying to catch little fishes, learning how to cycle on an old uncles bicycle, or if it rained, we would all squat beside the drain waiting for the horse shoe crabs to come in with the tide. These strange creatures come in, in a straight line with their tails straight up in the air and we can just lift it out of the water, mark them and let them race to see who is the winner and then release them back into the drain when the tide goes out. At night, we would all sleep in the open telling ghost stories and laughing our heads off. Those days, I suppose, were days of simple pleasures, where we as kids did not dare demand for anything and were left to look for our own enjoyment as long as we do not disturb the elders. Some aunty or uncle would give some money to the eldest cousin and that would be enough for us all to stuff our faces or even better buy 4 or 5 tickets for the cinema where nearly all 10 of us can go in and sit around the corridors to watch a movie. Fast forward to today, a child of 4 has to start going to kindergarden till 7, then on to school till 20 before going to college or university for a few more years. There will hardly be any cousins around as everybody will be busy studying or doing their own things. Grandma and grandpa most probably live far away. Everyday, it will be school, tuition, extra curriculum, music lessons, homework and weekends it will be more tuitions and homework. You are either alone or has a brother or sister. Mum and dad has to go off to work. You come home to an empty house and you do your own things like calling your friends on your mobile or go straight onto the computer to get you connected to your friends. You will be drilled day in and day out to excel in school so as not to disappoint your parents. The emphasis today is to excel in school and then university so that you can get a respectable job when you are done with schooling. Sometimes, I do wonder if all these are making our younger generation such a rebellious and sullen lot. It really cannot be much fun being a kid today.

Merry Christmas to all our Christian members of the forum. The world over is celebrating Christmas on the 25th December. For people in some parts of the world, it is the cultural dimensions of celebrations and festivity which dominate the day with gifts, food and decorations. There is also a very strong consumer and commercial orientation attached to every celebration of any cultural festival, not only Christmas. The main reason for the celebration has long been forgotten. There has been much anger, hate, killing and enmity and we see humanity tearing itself apart. We are moving further and further away from the purpose of living. The culture of greed and materialism fosters selfishness and the abuse of the resources given to us by our creator. History tells us no historical evidence that Jesus was born on this day or that in the early period, his diciples celebrated this day. We see the institutionalisation of this day with the conversion of Emperor Constantine (about 312AD). Christianity was viewed as a "tiny and persecuted religion" especially in the time of Emperor Nero(64AD). It then became "the established religion in medieval west" and today its influence is global in every part of the world. Today Christmas is thinking of what to buy or what you are going to receive, or where or how you are going to spend the day, thereby feeding commercialisation. Celebrating Christmas should imply sharing universal love with all humanity and passing on the message of love for a hurting world. A message of peace to all humanity that we can be in peace with Mother Earth and at peace with all human beings. Christmas is therefore a time to think of others, share our time and resources so that the light of faith can shine the love, compassion and justice of God upon all human beings.

As we get older, we cannot help but wonder what life is all about. Sometimes, I tend to belief very much in the fact that everybody who comes into your life has a reason to do so and it is up to you to learn something from him or her. When that reason is done, he or she will just disappear out of your life for no reason at all, like a close friend who has moved away or someone dear who has just passed away or a couple who is divorced. I actually belief in cause and effect and it is mostly our actions which brings happy or sad results. Everybody has a different karma and everybody suffers differently for their causes in their own samsara during their lifetime. I read a book titled "Many Masters" and through regression, the hypnotherapist managed to discover that the girl has lived 72 life times. All her fears and discomforts in this life were remnants from her past life. The bit I find most interesting is that he found out from her that everybody around you or who comes into your life has always been around you except that they play different roles in each lifetimes and it goes on and on with each successive lifetimes. How intriguing. When we were kids, we believed so much in ghosts and spirits but try as I may, I have yet to see my mum or dad or grandma, maybe, just maybe, I might get to see them again in a different lifetime but then I will not be able to recognise them anymore would I?

Travelling is in my blood and I derive the greatest pleasure from travelling alone. IT keeps me on my toes and I learnt alot about other cultures. On 1 such trip, whilst in Greenland I actually stumbled upon a very interesting discovery. 3a.m. and it was like afternoon back home and I could still see boys playing football in the small park. Unable to sleep, I went out to look around the hotel foyer. There were lots of ornaments in the show cupboard and my eyes landed on a unicorn with its horn held straight and proud in front of him. There were also lots of other mammals like seals, walruses, whales and dolphins. What tweeked my interest was a whale with a kind of unicorn 'horn' on its head, as I seem to see it everywhere around the hotel, pictures on the wall, wood carvings etc. On enquiring, the old receptionist told me that it is a narwhale and that they are still surviving around the seas of Greenland although not as much as before. He showed me a 7 feet horn which is placed on brackets above the entrance door of the hotel and I just could not take my eyes off it. I never knew such a mammal existed and I always thought they were just fairy tales, now I am also beginning to believe that perhaps the unicorn also existed once upon a time. I was told that when the seas around the area iced over during winter, that is when the horns come in useful for the whales as they need to surface once in awhile. Nature is indeed awesome.

Life always have its ups and downs, I suppose that is what it is all about, the ups to make up happier for awhile and the downs for us to learn something. Some could just be in the passing and we soon forget all about it and some would bring us tremendous heartache for a long time. But I believe everything happens for a reason and it is up to us to see what we can learn from it. When the devil strikes, it can often bring us down to our knees in despair and I am sure most of us has been through this. The devil will cause us tremendous anger, hurt, despair, mistrust, misforgivings etc. If we can get over all this and learn our lesson, then we would have benefitted from the devil, for making us stronger and more resilient for the future. Every once in awhile, even during times of despair, we might even come across an angel who makes things better, like restoring some amount of faith in the human race as an example. Of course there are angels amongst us, people who go all out to help you whether in times of big or small need and people who understand how you are feeling. Angels or devils need not come from within our family, in fact, total strangers can sometimes become our angel in our eyes and I think I have met one through this site. Thank you angel.

To continue the story, when Kow Siau Wah came to know about the theft from my husband, he told Mr Lin about it. So Mr Lin went home and asked Lin tai tai whether she stole them and she said she didnt. When asked what her hairband is doing in my room, she said she was looking for cotton buds after washing her hair. I want everyone to tell me whether this absolves her from the crime.

In reply to those who wanted to see a photo of Lin tai tai, the thief, I am sorry to say that I dont even know what she looks like as I dont know her. I too would seriously like to know what she looks like.I was away in Canada when she came here with her husband. Thank you so much to huaren2323. I will try to look through my albums to see if I have any pictures with the jewelleries. In fact, I dont even know what anybody looks like as Kow Siau Wah is my husbands friend. But I would be so grateful if you would actually publish my story in the Nanping Daily. All I know is Kow Siau Wah runs a mushroom farm in Nanping and he is the son of my husbands old friend. My husband has not been very helpful with this matter as he feels that even Kow Siau Wah does not know that Lin tai tai would steal as a repayment for kindness shown.

What I have written yesterday goes to show that the world is full of all types of people and that we have to be very careful in trusting people. Sometimes, it really puts you off from showing some kindness to others. But I would rather take my chances again and completely wipe out the ungrateful Lin tai tai from my memory.