From Tintin To Alvin

Two Saturdays ago when I went back to Batu Pahat, my friend YT gave me four movie vouchers from her business partner. The vouchers, each entitled to two seats, were only valid at Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) in Melaka and by 28 December.

I had not stepped into the cinema since Chinese New Year in February. Although I was not a movie fan, I was very glad with this offer. I planned to watch three different movies with my new colleague XW, my mentee John and my brother Ah Yu's family when they came to Melaka for holiday later.

I surfed the GSC website to check the movies and showtimes at Jaya Jusco Bandaraya Melaka. My first interested title was "The Adventures of Tintin" because Tintin is a very famous Belgian comic character in France. I invited XW to go with me last Tuesday afternoon but she had a class. I thought of John but he had gone to a youth camp. As the movie was not shown at night, I decided not to change my plan. Instead of going to the cinema alone and wasting another seat, I prayed to God to give me some names. Grace and her two children appeared in my mind. I remembered she had told me they would be back to the Philippines during the Christmas season. Nonetheless, I immediately SMSed her to see whether they were around and free. Her response was prompt and positive!

I drove to pick them at the meeting time and place. Niger and Melissa were very excited as soon as they got into my car. Grace explained to me that they had cancelled their trip back to the home country. And she told me the two children had never watched a movie at the cinema previously, so they were looking forward to this experience. We arrived at the shopping mall half an hour before the showtime. There was a huge Christmas tree in the middle and beautiful decorations were everywhere. When I showed my two vouchers to exchange tickets at the counter, the employee told me that I could use them only at Dataran Pahlawan. How careless I was to overlook this important information when reading the vouchers earlier.

I was not sure if the same movie was also showing at that hour at Dataran Pahlawan, but I decided to go there even though I did not like the place because of the traffic jam. So I apologized to Grace, suggested that she took some pictures with the children before we left the mall.

There were many vehicles on the way there probably because of the school holiday in Malaysia and Singapore. We finally approached the shopping complex. We were hoping to catch the 3.30pm movie and praying for an available parking space. I turned into a place but the parking was totally full. So I had to make a big round to return to the area. With the terrible traffic if we did not miss the 4pm movie we would be very fortunate. The children began to grow impatient. This time I decided to pass the vouchers to Grace and drop them first before turning to another direction for parking. I told Grace to use the lift to go to level 4.

Praise the Lord I managed to get a small parking space nearby very fast and rushed to the mall. When the lift was open, I saw Grace, Niger and Melissa! They had gone to level 4 but it was a Karaoke. I checked the signboard and realised that the cinema complex was on level 5. Finally we went up together!

Since I had no idea what movies were available, another thing I was praying in my heart was that we would have something suitable for the children. Grace accompanied her children to the washroom first. I looked at the screen. It was a pity that "The adventures of Tintin" was not (or no longer) showing there at all. Among all the titles, my eyes zoomed into "Alvin and The Chipmunks 3".

I had watched "Alvin and The Chipmunuks 2" with the Calvary Care Home gang last year. I did not quite understand the story line especially in the beginning because I had not known the first episode. This time although I was not very keen to watch this third episode, I knew it was the best choice for all of us.

Finally, not only Grace and the children enjoyed this adventure comedy very much, me too. And I was surprised to hear French words spoken by one of the characters. When we came out from the cinema complexe, Niger and Melissa were all smiles. Then I brought them an ice-cream each. That was my humble Christmas present for this family. All of us went back satisfied. Praise be to our Lord!

Family Trip To Alita Ranch In Batu Pahat

I did not know there was a goat ranch near our house in Batu Pahat until I read my brother Ah Yu's blog entry about it last June. So, during the Raya holiday last month, I also wanted to visit Alita ranch at Parit Jabong Darat, Tongkang Pechah, with Ray and my family.

My brother Seng called up the farm and was told that it is open every day. There was not any obvious signboard outside the farm. at the entrance. When we arrived, the Taiwanese person Mr Hsu opened the gate for us to park our cars inside and guided us
to the ranch.

We had to disinfect our shoes first

before climbing upstairs to see

the milking goats

whose origine was either Europe or the US.

My brother Leong's family had already been there previously with the school trip.

Nevertheless, my sister-in-law Li Chia, my nephew Zer Yih and my niece Zer Nin were still excited to see those cute animals again.

After the wonderful experience at a sheep farm in South Korea last year, Mum was very glad to visit this local goat farm.
Our city folk Ray was also enjoying his visit through his eyes as well as his camera lens.

Besides the livestock, the beautiful trees also caught our attention.

Mr Hsu led us

to where the small goats were staying.

Although we had nothing to feed them, they were happy with our presence.

At another corner of the ranch, there was a sac of grass.

Mr Hsu held Yuri's hands to feed a goat. At first he was a bit scared.

Zer Yih was braver. Zer Nin did not even dare to try.

Lastly, the generous ranch owner

opened three bottles to let us taste their different products--goat milk with original flavour, chocolate flavour and goat yogurt.

He also told us about the benefits of goat milk. In return, we bought a few bottles. Now we knew a little more about the goats, the milk and the ranch.

My Nephew Goes To Kindergarten

Since July, my nephew Yuri puts on his yellow shirt from Mondays to Fridays. At his age, nobody would think that he is supporting Bersih 2.0.

This Monday morning I was in Batu Pahat. So I went to my brother Ah Yu's house. Then we brought his son to the "rally" venue--Dao Ming Kindergarten. It was about 10 minutes' walking distance. Holding Yuri's small hand, I remembered those days I went to kindergarten opposite my house when I was 5 years old.

At 8am, there were not many "participants".

Yuri's bag looked as big as his body. I did not help him to carry it so I had no idea how heavy it was. I was more impressed by another boy who arrived with a trolley bag.

Yuri is in one of the two classes for the four-year-old children. The assistant teacher was already there to welcome him.

I asked for permission to visit the classroom and take pictures. There were crafts everywhere on the walls

and on the floor. The theme was sea. It had never come to my mind that disposable dishes could be turned into crabs or turtles. What creative ideas!

Yuri who loves being in the pool surely enjoys the presence of these sea animals who will not bite or sting him.

There was even a friendly fish calling him by his name in English.

He came out from the classroom to go to the playground. It was much smaller than the one in the park. Nevertheless, he had fun. If his two cousins were around to play together, he might laugh more.

Next, he ran to another place and kept moving around.

Finally, I managed to ask him to sit still next to me at a wooden table for a few minutes. Although he was quite new to the kindergarten, his charisma soon drew two lovely girls to join him.

It was a pity that they were not his cup of tea. He already had someone else who had been showing care to him.

Unfortunately, when Ah Yu and I were leaving, that girl who usually arrived early still did not turn up. So I missed to see the sweetheart who is my nephew's latest motivation to go to kindergarten.

Nigel's Birthday Celebration

Tuesday afternoon at 5 o'clock, I was invited to Grace's son Nigel's birthday celebration. After work, the mother quickly went home to start cooking. Komathy gave her a helping hand.

While the adults were busy in the house, the children were still happily playing outside with their friends. They had just discovered a few newly-born kittens.

I asked the siblings to go home to wait for the guests.

Very soon, children from the neighbourhood arrived.

Many of the Seri Siantian flat residents got to know Grace's family because of Harap Learning Centre (HLC) where she was teaching.

Grace had prepared fried kuehteow, fried meehoon, hotdogs, nuggets and chicken wings. Mrs Ee who could not come had given agar-agar.

Nigel's grandfather had sponsored a 2-kilo cake with a design of an aeroplane, knowing that the grandson's ambition is to become a pilote when he grows up.

This 8-year-old boy also received a toy car from the parents, a pencil box from me and other stationery from his peers.

After the birthday star blew the candles, his mother cut a small piece of cake to feed him as the tradition. The father who was still at work had missed these scenes. Since I was there with my camera, Grace could show her husband the photographs later.

Sis Aidah came with her three lovely children. Every time I saw their big round eyes, I would unconsciously try to make my eyes wide open.

Theresa, a former HLC teacher, also appeared with her two sons.

Though more than a dozen children were present there, all of them were very well behaved when serving or eating the food. None was making the place noisy or messy. I was impressed.

Nigel requested that I took a picture of him. He did not want to open his mouth to smile because of some flaws of his teeth.

His best friend Fikri also followed his example and finally both of them posed with a serious look.

One day, they will realise that women's eyes zoom in to men's character, not appearance.

Children Are Like Sprouts

Last week, Mrs Ee told me she had passed some long bean seeds to the teachers of Harap Learning Centre Bukit Baru to plant so that the children learn how the seeds grow into plants. Yesterday morning I was quite free. So I went to the centre to have a look.

The small pots were at a corner of the toy and book library. Some of the seeds were already germinating.

Ten out of twelve children were present. They were playing with puzzles or other toys.

Farhan happily approached me and posed while urging his personal photographer, "Teacher, ambil gambar saya (take my pictures)!"

Very soon, his buddy Cinu joined him to act cool in front of my camera. This boy's younger brother Casevan was also my model last January.

Lunch was going to be served soon. Recently, we have a helper Sis Christine who is a former nurse. She asked the children to line up,

poured liquid soap into their hands, asked them to massage their hands before they rinsed well with water.

The lunch menu was porridge. It was accompanied by plain water unless the children's parents had specially prepared packet drinks for them.

I had first noticed this boy Rony during the special programme early this month. Though he was not feeling well and had no appetite in the beginning,

with Sis Grace's spoon feeding, his bowl was the first to be emptied.

Other younger children also needed the teachers' help to finish their food.

This girl Shanty was one of the older children who were able to eat on their own. She looked very different from last time in her traditional costume.

After the meal, it was colouring time.

At the age of five, Rony's elder sister Fidah already knew how an avocado looks like. I had first heard about this fruit only when I was in the secondary school when the television advertised for a brand of facial cleanser with avocado.

The next activity was watching an educational programme on DVD. The children stayed in the room until their parents came to take them home.

In the afternoon, the pots were placed outside to be exposed under the sun. Each child had to take care of a pot by watering the soil every morning. Rony showed me the one he was in charge of.

I suddenly realised that these children were exactly like plants in the stage of germination. May we adults continue to help them grow with the love of God.