Hand made bags

Hmm... I should take photos of the pouches that I have sewn before giving them away. 

Frankly, I feel a bit embarrass to give them away as Christmas gifts because someone dear to me keeps saying they're just not good enough. 

Yesterday, I had a chat with my best buddy. And she's always good at assuring me that what's matter is the effort and love put into making them. And she suggested that I venture into sewing pencil cases because she likes them! She won't mind how they look as long as they're practical with many pockets and space to keep all stationeries in. 

💪💪 Now, instead of giving up, I feel inspired to try on new style and patterns. 🙏

Note: Words can either build or break someone. Use them wisely! 😉

Have a great weekend! 🌈

How does God answer me?

I asked God a question. He didn't answer me straightaway. 

But today, He did. 

I went to a place which I was not familiar with and I used Waze as my guide. Because I trusted the signboards better, I refused to follow Waze completely and had a detour and got stuck in the jam for more than an hour. During that one hour, I passed by many old buildings. If it was not because of the detour, I wouldn't have taken that route. I wished I had been more "obedient" to the Waze. 😰

I was quite amused that I wasn't really mad or frustrated at myself as I used to be. 😏

In fact, I had peace. What I had in mind was that everything is in God's hand, be it good or 'bad' at the moment because all would settle perfectly in the end. 

As the traffic began to ease, I passed by a building and many memories started to flash back to live. My heart was flooded with tears. Oh my! 

My God is so great! He knows me more than anyone does, even more than I know myself. When I was convinced that no words from the lips of human or even books could penetrate through my heart which was saturated with hurts, pain, anger and disappointment, no words were needed. Just the building brought back many memories that are able to erase all the hurts and revive love.

What can I say? My God knows so well what is the best way to melt my heart at the right time and the right place. He works miraculously! Praise The Lord. 🙌🙌🙏

Backside vs. Back

Backside VS Back

Today while waiting for my son who was competing in a challenge, the head invigilator announced, "Invigilators, please stand at the backside." 

The parents who were sitting behind me laughed immediately. Though it was not heard by the head invigilator, I felt they shouldn't have acted so. 

The husband and wife then discussed about the word "backside" used by the head invigilator. While I understood that she meant "后面”, it is totally different from 'the back' in English. 

"Backside" in English = bottom or buttocks which you sit on. 

The mistake is due to the direct translation of "面” to "side". Chinese use "面” in all directions which differs from English which don't. 

前面 = the front 

后面 = the back 

上面 = on top / above

下面 = under / below 

So, you can say, please stand at the back but not "please stand at the backside." 

And the main point of this sharing is, none of us is perfect. We shouldn't laugh at others when they make mistakes in languages as all of us are learning and learning is a progress. It never stops. I'm sure the head invigilator has better Mandarin than I do or the parents sitting behind me.

Please line up...

Queue up, please..

My whole family moved to Setapak 17 years ago. I took public bus to the city to work when I was 24. I had to be at the bus stop at 6:30am or I would be late for my 8:30am work. Taking bus was not something fancy because the bus stopped at every stop to pick up people and we were most often sandwiched between each other than getting a seat. Nevertheless, the most unforgettable experience was the moment of stepping and being stepped on while getting on the bus. It was no surprise that NO ONE actually line up for the bus. When the bus came, everyone rushed to it, elbowed and stepped on each other to get on it. It was like a WAR each morning! 

Now, fast forward 12 years later, I was impressed to see the TAR College students lined up for their bus to the college. Well, I don't remember seeing this before. But ever since the bus stop was renovated or upgraded with roof top, the people lined up. Or maybe, once upon a time in Setapak, there was a HERO that started the principle of lining up and hence, everyone does it today. 

I believe that not many like to line up. They line up just because they have no choice but to follow the majority. So, for a LINE UP culture, someone has to start it, and others support it. 

It is disheartening to see people nowadays jump queue at traffic lights or toilets or anywhere if they could find an excuse to do so. 

We should "upgrade" our mentality like how we wanted to upgrade our facilities.

Civilized mentality?

Nothing is better than waking up earlier than usual and taking a very deep, deep soak in God's words. 

And after that, it's time to fulfill the physical needs (to reduce the fats in the belly!😱). I enjoy going for a walk of nature rather than cycling on the stationary bike. 

While walking around the lake, we enjoyed the gentle breeze. Hand in hand with my little girl, we saw green grasses and the big fat cat that was sleeping on it, enjoying its morning nap. It's amazing to see water lily grows amidst muddy and rubbish-filled lake. We also enjoyed looking at the birds flying freely in the air. Alas, I don't have a good camera to capture the birds in motion. Otherwise you might be able to enjoy the beauty of nature from pictures too. 

And then, an uncle walked pass us. He was wearing just slippers but it was fine for him. Not having branded sports shoes didn't stop him from going for a morning walk. 

It feels good to go back to the nature. It's so true that nature speaks of the mighty hands of our Creator. And thence, our thanksgiving for every little thing in our daily life. 

P/s: btw, I was wondering why people like to treat FREE things as something cheap? shouldn't we appreciate even more of the FREE lake? The FREE fresh air? Look at the rubbishes in the lake and around it and everywhere. What makes us simply throw our rubbishes- out of the car, on the road, into the river or lake, etc. etc?