My Two Girls – All About Zara and Zaria

A couple of times I’d seen Jasmine posted about her visits to Dong Zhen temple, and the beautiful photos she’d taken, and I’d told Daddy that we must also visit this temple one day.

On the 3rd day of Chinese New Year, since we didn’t have anywhere to go, we brought the girls on the long car ride to Jenjarom, to visit the Dong Zhen Temple (Actually, I don’t know why it’s called Dong Zhen, because the Chinese pronunciation for 東禪 is Dong Chan. Maybe it’s how it’s pronunced in another dialect).

We had a simple panmee dinner at some open air eatery before the temple, when we’re done, it was close to to 8pm and the road towards the temple has already been blocked. We had to park and walk about 1km.

The temple was very beutifully decorated, with red lanterns, fairy lights, and colour ligh tubes everywhere. They have very good lantern display, beautiful lanterns in all the Chinese zodiac signs, as well as in other auspicious forms were scattered around the big temple ground. The place has also drawn a very big crowd.

They had some Chinese New Year show on as well, and when we arrived, the Dragon Dance was being performed but we didn’t manage to catch it because we didn’t know the way to get to the performance area (heard it but couldn’t see it).

We only managed to catch a mini parade.

When the girls wanted to go to the toilet, I thought the nightmare has come. I assumed with such a big crowd, the toilet would be filthy. To my surprise, it was very clean. The volunteers who cleaned the toilet did such a good job I had to say.

We then got caught in a rain fall, which lasted about 20mins. The rain didn’t cool down the place, but made the ground a bit soggy (and I didn’t like it).

I didn’t want to walk any more but just sat at a bench with the girls, while Daddy went around to take more photos.

Although the whole place was beautiful, the stiffling night heat took away all the fun. Both Zara and I agreed that if Daddy wanted to go again next year, he’ll have to go alone, as we don’t want to be drenched in sweat any more.

It’s more than 10 days since I last updated. I’d been busy with work (3 Shanghainese colleagues off for the New Year, so I have to back them up) and due to some family matters, I’d been feeling a big sluggish (in blogging). Now it’s time to be back.

So what happened during the Chinese New Year (CNY)? Photos will be coming, but here is to share something that affected me lots during these last 10 days.

7th Feb, my dad got his yearly check up results, and my sis (whom my father lives with) sms-ed us and informed us that his liver readings were not very good.

8th Feb, another sms-ed came in to inform us that my father has a very bad bout of diarhea and is in the midst of being sent to the doctor’s. I went to the doctor’s to see him, he was on drips, very tired and pale looking, just spoke to me a little and went back to sleep. My BIL updated me on what happened, i.e.

My dad had roti canai for breakfast (why so soon after he has his blood test results and supposed to be watching his diet, I don’t know), and drank up the whole bowl of fish curry. He then drove from Briekfields to PJ State to do his banking, and right after he parked his car, he had the urge to purge. He wanted to go to the nearest toilet, but when he got out of the car, he just felt so dizzy, he slumped on the the floor. A couple of attempts later, he gave up. Got back to the car when he felt he was strong enough, and drove to Pudu (He was being stupid! He could have fainted half way driving and had an accident), and on his journey, purged in the car. Upon arriving at Pudu, he just spent the rest of his time in the office toilet. His colleague then called my sis, and soon after my BIL came by to pick him up from the office and sent him to the doctor’s, where he was found to be very dehydrated, and his blood pressure very low.

When my dad’s blood pressure was back to normal, he complained the right side of his upper abdomen being very painful. So painful he was cringing when he got up, or when he lied down, he only felt comfortable being at a certain position. The doctor claimed it might be caused by the gas in the stomach.

He was discharged the same day. A couple of days after, he still complained about his upper abdomen being very painful. On 12th Feb (the last day of work before CNY for most people), my BIL brought him to do an ultrasound, and that’s when the shocking news came. The radiologist found a 14cm growth on his liver! No specialists were available to diagnose what this meant, so everybody’s mood was a bit gloomy over the CNY period.

I was especially worried when I saw him on 1st day of CNY with his very greenish, yellowish complexion. But luckily, 2nd day onwards, some pink returned to his face.

On 17th Feb when the doctors are back to work, he saw his first liver specialist, Dr. Ryan Ponnudurai. A CT scan was done, and the growth is actually around 14~16cm on the left lobe of his liver.

On 18th Feb, he went to see a 2nd specialist, Dr. MV Kudva, also a liver spealist. The options given were more or less the same.

1. Surgery to remove the growth, but because of his age and the size of the growth, it’s not recommended.
2. Chemotheraphy, Dr. MV Kudva said the best chemo option is to do TACE – Transarterial chemoembolization, a procedure in which the blood supply to a tumor is blocked (embolized) and chemotherapy is administered directly into the tumor.
His other chemo option is to take chemo drug in pill form.
3. Do nothing and hope for the best.

My dad, being the funny sort, asked me, “What if I go for option 2, and my hair fall off?” As though that’s the most important thing to him!

He’s kind of decided on option 2, now we are getting another round of check on all his tests and scans by the radiologist, Dr. Asokan R. Nair, and to see if he can have TACE done on him. It’s likely that he’ll be doing it in UMMC, because Dr. Asokan will be recommending another radiologist (a professor) from UM to do it for him.

He’s still driving himself around, going to work, to church etc. He stops eating out, and on a control diet now, while waiting.

For someone who’s rather healthy all this while, this is all hard news for him and us. I’d lost a couple of days sleep, worried about him, worried about myself (I was told I had fatty liver the last round I did my check up).

The girls, not knowing what really is happening, is praying in the night, Zaria will say something like this, “Jesus, please help my Ah Kong to be better, so that he don’t have diarhea and go on drips.”

Not me, the girls, they are making plans for their wedding already. Our conversation in the car one day.

Zaria (to me) : When I get married, I’ll invite you to my wedding dinner.
Zara : What are you going to wear for your wedding?
Zaria : The princess baju (Malay : clothes) mummy bought from Bali.
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Zara : You know, Mickel is not my real real boy friend, Ling Jing is still my real boy friend.
Me : But Ling Jing is not in your school now and you haven’t seen him or talk to him for so long.
Zara : Never mind la. I’ll just get married to Mickel. o.O”
Me : Then you’ll be staying with him and not with mummy any more. (pretended to be sad)
Zara : I know what, you can stay with us in our house.
Me : What if Mickel’s mummy also want to stay with you? Your house can fit all of us or not?
Zara : I’ll ask Mickel to buy a house with 2 extra rooms. One computer (study) room, one guest room. His mother can sleep in the guest room. And in our room, we’ll have 2 beds, 1 for me and Mickel, 1 for you. (Ok la, at least I’m more important than her MIL, for now. :P)
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And then, back home, Zaria bathed and changed in to this dress, and she told us all, “I’ll wear this for my wedding!” (Thanks Aunty Jesslyn, for making her her ‘wedding dress’.)

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On another occasion, we were driving passed some bridal shop, Zara said, “You know, I must tell koo-ma (Cantonese : aunt i.e. father’s sister), when she gets married, she has to ask me to be the flower girls. All my other aunties got married without asking me to be their flower girls. Hmph!” (actually all her other aunties got married before she was born! and also not sure if her koo-ma will get marry since she’s older than Daddy, but then, we never know, the thing with fate).

When Jelly saw the C2 – Clean and Cool Green Tea that I got the other day, she said, “Oh, this one is very famous tea in Philippines.” And of course she was very happy (which is not often), when I gave her a bottle.

C2 Green Tea is 100% natural and brewed from real tea, and because it’s brewed and packaged fresh on the same day, it retains most of the green tea goodness and benefits which is normally lost in other extraction processes. Packed with powerful anti-oxidant and other green tea goodness, it is definitely better than drinking carbonated drinks.

Nicest when served cold, C2 Green Tea comes in 3 flavours, Forest Fruits, Apple, and Lemon. Zaria said, Forest Fruits taste like medicine, so she didn’t like it after a sip, but Jelly likes this best. The girls prefer Apple flavour, and my favourite is the Lemon. You taste the flavour when you sip it initially, but then you get the lingering tea taste at the end of it in your throat, which I like.

I’ll be serving this refreshingly 100% natural green tea to my guests during Chinese New Year. You can get yours too from 7-11, Mydin, Giant and Jusco.

Now Daddy is saying I should keep tab of the bottles because he doesn’t want the girls drinking it non stop or Jelly nipping it.

Photo credit : School of Evangalisation Australia

The girls have been asking us to read them their children’s bibles, and finding some of the stories very interesting.

One day on the way home from school, Zara asked “You know right, Jesus died and went to heaven, but how come we cannot see Jesus in space?”
Me : “What do you mean?”
Zara : “If he’s in heaven how come we cannot see him in space?
Is he invisible?”
Me : (Err.. I actually don’t know how to answer her, so this is what I said) “He is everywhere, so it’s not easy to see Him.”
(Luckily Zara figured it all out)
Zara : “Oh.. he has to go to every children’s house to hear them pray. That’s why.” (so He’s not staying in space at one spot to be easily seen).

She’s no piano prodigy George Li, but I’m still proud of her.

Sometimes you think he has no interest in whatever you do.
Sometimes you think he doesn’t care.
Then he took the place mat and help you with the lighting when you tried to take photos of your baked goods in the night (which is normally when you finished baking).

The man in charge of lighting (if he’s around, that is) for most of the photographs posted in my other site My Sugar and Spice.

A couple of days into her writing project, she started complaining when I asked her to do writing after dinner.
“Why every day I have to do writing writing writing only and not have fun like playing.”
I told her she had her play time from 1pm (after school) to 8pm (after dinner), isn’t that enough. She just sighed and went on to write.

Yesterday, I asked her, “Do you know why I’m asking you to do writing every day?”
Zara replied “So that my brain will be refreshed and when I grow up, I’ll never forget to write.”. *Her exact words. I think what she really meant was, she will remember events and won’t forget how to write.

On another non-related item, Zara is becoming a rather strong character. She rarely cries when I’m stern with her during homework or piano practice time, although sometimes I can see her in the verge of crying. However, she’ll cry if Zaria bullied her (the slightest punch or a tug of hair) or when she has a fall. More like cry for attention and TLC.

2 days ago, I spotted a cavity in her molar (her very first cavity), and when I pointed out to her, she started crying, and crying, like loosing something precious. Being the vain pot that she is, she doesn’t want to have rotten teeth, as she’s very proud of her nice pearly whites. I told her she’s getting cavity because she’s been having too many sweets since Christmas. So she made a vow, “I’ll eat sweet and I’ll jump day. Yesterday if I eat (ate) already, then today I don’t eat, and then tomorrow I’ll eat again.” Good girl.

*If you asked me how I remember what the girls said, I actually write them down in pieces of paper.

I just started a writing project with Zara this week.

I was worried about how she still mixes up d and b, writing j and s the other way round, and mixing capital letters and small letters in the same word (i.e. boG instead of dog, or dEb instead of bed), so I thought I should spend an hour each day with her, to get her to do some writing, what better way than to start something like a diary.

I’ll ask her to think about what she wants to write, then help her by
1) making sure she doesn’t mix capital and small letters in the same word,
2) spelling with phonics, or guide her on the spelling of sight words

After she’s finished writing, I’ll tell her the correct way of spelling some of the words that she’s spelled phonatically.

Here are her writing the last 2 days. Since she likes drawing, I ask her to attach a small picture about what she wrote.

25/1 – Both girls played with party poppers (they got from friend) without any adult’s supervision (although I’d told them before hand they can’t play with them on their own and told them what could happen if they did play on their own). I punished both by getting them to stand at the naughty corner, and when they started fighting at the naughty corner, I smacked both. She drew a sorry card for me (and drew herself on the naughty ‘chair). She crossed out the tear, and checked smile, and she said, “Having tears is not good, but smiling is good.”

26/1 – When I went to pick up the girls from school, we saw a mother’s car window being smashed by a thief who wanted to get to the handbag the mother left in the car. I like the smashed window she drew.

I hope by doing this, it’ll help with her writing.