Archive for February, 2010

I do not travel balik kampung during the peak period just before Chinese New Year. I often travel home in the wee hours of the morning during CNY and we do not get caught in any traffic jam.

However, we usually travel back home to KL during peak traffic periods and we do get caught in a bad traffic crawl or a traffic jam.

Every year it is the same. And every year the drivers behave the same. There will always be irresponsible, selfish drivers who weave through the traffic from left to right and back to left again right up to the emergency lane where they would speed up above the speed limit on the emergency lanes because there are less cars in the way. These drivers also love to tail ambulances etc. They are such a nuisance and such a pain. They are reckless and do not care for the safety of themselves or other road users.

Every year we read about road deaths and bad car accidents and bus or lorry accidents. Yet, every year, I do not see any improvements in the drivers’ behaviour. When will our drivers learn?

This year on Valentine’s Day, we woke up early and dressed in our best. Then we drove to the place where we got married. There was a girl selling roses at the gate so my Valentine date got me some. We saw a few other love birds there. They were dressed in their best carrying bouquets of flowers.

Our hearts were beating like loud drums….. no, it was loud drums beating! Haha. The loud drums of the lion dancers. The other love birds we saw were two other couples getting married on that day.

We were amused to see the bride rushing to the lion’s side to have her photo taken. Mind you, that was no easy task. There were two lions there that day but they were almost molested by the crowd rushing towards them to stroke and pat the lion’s mane. Each time the lion took a few mandarin oranges from the box laid before them, the crowd rush forward. It is considered good luck to get “gold” (mandarin oranges) from the lions and to pat the lions. The poor lion dancers almost had no chance to dance. All they could manage to do was walk around and the crowd went wild. Everyone was in a jovial and happy mood.

I must say that I enjoyed my Valentine’s Day very much this year. It was very meaningful for us to be at the place where we were married and we had our two lovelies along with us too. The two lovelies that we made with love and whom are very much a part of us. That made it all the more meaningful and a day filled with love.

Some folks would have started their balik kampung journey starting tomorrow so let me leave you with this Chinese New Year message before you do.

This is a cute Happy Chinese New Year 2010 song (in English) since I don’t know Chinese very well. It is a greeting for the Year of the Tiger 2010 and has some Valentine’s Day elements in the song as well so you are wished a Happy Valentine’s Day 2010 at the same time. Just nice.

Instead of going around jumping from blog to blog and friend to friend on facebook etc wishing everyone and going crazy in the process because there is so many to wish, I would like to take an opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year, Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Holidays to everyone.

Remember to be extra vigilant during this period. My kid’s kindy just got broken into. Thieves came in from the rooftop during the night and even had time to shower and partake of all the CNY goodie hampers before making off with some cash and other valuables.

We bought some decorative Chinese New Year Lime trees this year. When the man from the nursery put the pots in the car and we drove back with them, the car was filled with the most lovely citrus aroma.

The kids wanted to know if we could eat the fruits. The man at the nursery had told them that it was poison. Thinking that he was just kidding them, I told them that it should be fine but it is very sour, not nice at all. It is only nice for making a drink with. They thought it was mini mandarin oranges because they look very much like that to them.

My husband said we should err on the cautious side and not take them. I was not convinced so he drove back to the plant nursery to ask the lady. The lady said “No, the fruits are not edible because it contains a lot of chemicals and pesticides. You should wait for another round of fruiting first.”

I found an article which confirmed what she said. Here is the article “Deadly fruits of decorative lime trees” You should read it too. It is very interesting. It says that the fruits are so laden with plant growth hormones or enhancers, chemical inducers, insecticides and fungicides etc (just so to make sure the plant would fruit around the Chinese New Year period)  that if could be fatal to eat them and they should not be consummed in any form! You should also watch out for unscrupulous traders who put this fruit for sale at the supermarkets at the end of the Chinese New Year period.

If you want to know what the lime tree or “kumquat” represent, you can read this “Auspicious plants for Chinese New Year”. In short, it symbolizes prosperity and abundance. Here is another post from the same blog on the many uses of calamansi, limau kastari or “kat chai”. However, in using them in foods or drinks, be sure to use them not during the Chinese New Year season unless they are from your own garden and free of pesticides.

I can’t believe that in the mid of this year, our helper will be with us for two full years. I remember I was so full of apprehension about bringing a stranger into our house. With all those horror maid stories, it certainly scares anyone from thinking about having a maid.

At the end of the day, we find that having a maid has been a great help to us. Though she does work a bit slow and is often dreamy and not careful enough at times, she is not forgetful, is intelligent, quite safety concious (probably because we drum this into her often) and does not have an attitude. She is also used to our household schedule by now. We are thinking of asking her to stay longer. Does anyone know

• What is the process of renewing maid after 2 years?
• How much does the procedure to renew maid after 2 years cost?
• What are the pemits, health checks, passport permits etc that is required?
• How do you ask your maid to stay?
• Do you send her home for a month or two or is it better to persuade her to stay on? I have been told that it is better to request that they stay on with compensation, otherwise they may change their minds after they get home
• How do you persuade her to stay on?
• If you don’t renew after 2 years what is the procedure? What is the cost?
• If your maid agrees to stay, how much do you save in agency and other cost? (This information is useful in order for us to decide how much raise or compensation to give her for possibly not returning home)

Help. Anyone?

The other day it rained the first heavy rain after my roof was “fixed”. Yes, eventually, the third ( was it the 3rd, I lost count) contractor came in. The one who said for only RM300 I will give you a guarantee. If your roof continues to leak, call me anytime. I will come to fix it again.

Well, it rained. Parts of the roof continued to leak. Some parts were ok just to give “credit” where it’s due. When I told him about the continued leak, he said. “Oh, that part of your roof is very dirty. It requires a lot more work.”

“But you said you will guarantee??!!!!” was met with “No, no, I only guarantee small leaks. Not big work like that.”

When I asked him what he suggested next, he said “I will have to come and look at your roof again before giving you a quotation. I can’t come now. I have too much work. Chinese New Year is approaching.”

Imagined that! Whatever happened to guarantee!!!! I thought he had had a look at my roof the other day and had fixed it with a promise to come back if it leaks again! What a liar! Whatever little faith I have left in contractors has vanished POOF! into thin air. I will never trust another contractor EVER again! GRRRRRRR! *Grumble grumble grumble*