Living Hope

The short break is almost over, doing perfectly nothing is not much fun! I can enjoy them for a day or two, but after that I am in the state of depression, looking for things to distract me, keeping me busy.

The past few days, I have started reading “Giving” by Bill Clinton, and it really gets me thinking, a lot. There is this poor woman (financially, but rich in heart), donated all her life savings from washing and ironing people’s clothes. To the rich couples who said “we would rather die happy than rich”, by using what they have for good causes, greater causes!

Reading all their stories gets me an idea! Just want to jot it down now, as a reminder!

Every semester break, I am always in dilemma that without teaching I get paid. Then I would look for ways to compensate the parents! Not that I don’t deserve it after the hardwork, extra time that I would put in during the exam period, before the semester break, and it is something normal for the teachers in town, we get 12 months payment.

Anyway, for the upcoming semester breaks, I plan to donate certain amount of the tuition fee during the break time for the unfortunate kids! Getting my kids to be involved in it, teaching them about giving! That’s the rough plan! Got a lot more to do when the time comes! That’s the least that I could do. There is this helpless-feeling that I couldn’t do much, because I am too selfish, I cannot be selfless, but remind myself of Mother Theresa’s saying “if you can’t feed hundreds people, feed just one.”

There are stories of those good-hearted people who have touched my life! The real life not-so-super-kind-of “superheroes” that save and change life! I don’t know if anyone can relate to this, but as a child whose life is saved, I know how it feels to be ‘rescued’, to be given a chance to actually put together a chain of love, to live well!

We live because We are meant to! We were once a gift to some people, at least the parents who raise us, we now still are... Gifts to people who (whether or not they know us) put their hope and faith in us! For that, I want to do the little things that I am capable of doing, hope that it will get bigger one day~

Lots of Love,

Lin ^ ^

P.S. Someone who can help me carry a gallon of mineral water into the house would be a great hero to me now. =D Helpless about this~

Lazy Recap



Just back from long semester break and after 2 weeks of teaching, here is another few days break for my valuable 5th week and of course Lebaran!

 

Selamat Lebaran for all muslim friends who are celebrating. :)

 

The past week had not been easy. I had been under the weather, the sore throat, running nose, cough, fever, but am recovering and with this time off, hopefully I can get my full recovery, because I am gonna fight harder in August! =D

 

How is everything going for the first 7 months in 2014? It has been a meaningful one....

 

First lesson learned, treasure health more than anything!!! I have a cousin who is now suffering from cancer and being given 3 more months to live isn’t something too nice to hear. The fact is that the sufferer doesn’t know her own condition. The intention is good, so that she won’t be feeling down. I am not sure what is best, but I really hope miracle happens. Her young children are definitely still needs her around longer.

 

Then another close friend found a cyst in her womb, get it ‘cleaned up’, and is recovering now. Hope everything turns out well after this... J

 

Me... Just get my general check up done and my cholesterol level is high! No medication yet, but going to control the food and more movement for the next two months. I don’t know what I have been eating though, haha.. must be the fried things! Nothing serious I hope, but at time like this, wishing mom is around to cook some more nutritious food for me.  

 

Next!!! Work! Set up a goal for this year, something reasonable, and achieving now! Feeling good about it... J

 

Third is coffee consumption. Had been coffee-addict last year! However with the time off, I somehow get better in controlling the consumption. Crave for it from time to time, but hopefully am able to keep it under-control for the next 5 months!

 

Fourth, it may seems a small deal for some, but for the rest of us who has trouble with it, it’s pretty depressing. It’s SLEEPING! Lately, been going to bed with lighter mind and sleep better. Learning to let go!

 

Fifth, been doing a lot of reading, but less writing... So gonna work more on the latter.

 

Sixth, upper braces’s off for almost 2 months now. The lower one is expected to be removed latest by September. After the long 5 years, I finally am going to be parted with it and I think I won’t miss it J

 

The seventh point for the seventh month this year, been missing my partner in a good way lately. Just passed our 2 years anniversary. It doesn’t feel like two years though, after all that we have been through! There is nothing beat seeing him in person, having each other close, but... if patience and understanding are what it needs for a better tomorrow, I really wish we both have what it needs.

 

Despite the ups and downs, Life is beautiful in its own way.

 

Am grateful that I am still breathing, still perform, still love, still kind and still brave and still live!

 

Prayers to those in Gaza and other lands of chaos... May peace be with you soon.

 

To life... be kind, be good and be beautiful~

 

Lin ^ ^

 

P.S. Pardon the lazy write up... :p

Grateful Heart

 

Yesterday, I finally made the visit to Rahmat International Wildlife Museum and Gallery. Had been wanting to do it for quite sometimes. For me I, it's quite amazing. The collections are shown in the 2 storeys building. We spent about an hour there. If ones intend to have a close look at each collection, it can easily take up 2 hours to finish the tour. It costs Rp. 32,000 and Rp 25,000 for adult and children tickets, respectively. Foreigner might be charged USD$ 10 though (about Rp. 120,000)



Anyway for that kind of money, My niece and I or any other parents may easily spend it on food in a fast food restaurant or in a game centre on a few round of machine games! If anyone is looking for another type of entertainment in town, the museum may be a good option. J I really recommend it. FYI, all the animals conserved inside are sourced from legal hunting, those which died in zoos, donations and gifts from friends of the owner (Mr. Rahmat Shah), or Legal purchases from all over the world. So those animals you will see inside are once alived and now preserved in the museum.

 

That’s just my personal opinion over the animals. Some people who look for big fancy things may not find the joy in that small museum. I would like to keep the kid’s heart in me who find every little thing as an adventure. That’s one of the best things that I learn from kids. J

 

This may be just my upbringing too. Thanks to my good parents, I haven’t been lacking anything, not food, not clothing, not education. In the environment where I grew up, there are many good things to play with, to see, to explore, but this is a big big world, thus there are also many things outside (in a bigger city) which I couldn’t get my hands on them, or even know they actually exist, when I was young!

 

We kids of the villagers played in the paddy field, flew kites, climbed trees, ran around without slippers, cycled to school under the sun, knew how a cow and goat look and sound like since young age, played with the things that are assumed as garbage for kids in the city, but treasure to us (sounds like Amazon?! J) It was small adventure in every game that we played, we had darker skin for playing under the sun, we were physically active and scientifically it is good, isn’t it? The drawbacks are I didn’t get to play in the game centre in the air-conditioned shopping mall, I only get to play with gadgets/video games after a few years of pleading, and we don’t have a museum in our ‘kampung’!

 

So here I am at my late 20, I still find those little things in the museums amazing! In fact, last two weeks, just visited Alive Museum in Singapore. Another good experience. Last year, visited the Madamme Tussauds Museum in Bangkok and last few years visited the toy museum in Singapore. They are all eye-opening for me!

 

There is never been too late for anything! J

 

So now, I am not complaining about childhood that is incomplete without those experiences that I had missed. In fact, I am grateful for what I had when I was young and I am happy that I get the chance to see what I haven’t seen before and actually have the time and energy to explore them!