Kaki Lang

Today I met a 'kaki lang'. He was Mami's university-mate, studying in the same course. We met him again a few months ago, he is working in the same building.

But this morning, while having breakfast with him, I found out he's a Hainanese as well!

And the first thing, a Hainanese will asks another Hainanese (at least in Malaysia) is ....

"Do you speak Hainanese?"

Unfortunately, neither of us do. LOL!

I never got to learn the Hainanese dialect when I was a kid. My dad speaks Cantonese with my mom, who's a Hakka, and to me and my brother. At family gatherings, the elders used to 'taruk' me for not knowing the dialect, like my other cousins. So I was never the favourite grandchild. I tried learning by listening to my dad's conversation with his siblings. But as years went by, with no one to practice with, the skills just vanished. However, I managed to 'keep' a few 'useful' phrases.

Mong Kang - "Stupid"
L@m P@h - hehehe...u guessed it.
Who There - "Where are you going?"
Chiak Bui - loosely translated 'Eat rice' or "having a meal".
Bo Bat - "Don't know".
Bat Dit Dit - "Know a bit".
Siang Yak - "Taking a bath"

As Hainanese speakers are getting less and less, we didn't really want to lose the Hainanese dialect, and lose our 'root'. A language is the root of an ethnic group or race. So I am getting my dad to teach Yiyi the dialect, and hopefully she could bring it down to her generation. :)

Kaki Lang - Hokkien meaning "own people" or "of the same ethnic or race"

110 Fahrenheit

I am begining to suspect that Yiyi's day-dreaming/seizure could be from me.

When I was in the secondary school, I had a series of high fevers. I remember one time my dad brought me to the clinic and the doctor said my temperature was 110 Fahrenheit. That's 43 degree celsius!!

I don't really know why I wasn't sent to the hospital, but the doctor just asked us to go back home and rest. And to put some ice on my forehead.

I remember at home, I took some pills, ice pack on my forehead and lied down. My body was hot all over. Then I remember drifting to sleep.....

When I woke up, I was sitting on the sofa and my dad was applying medicated oil to my legs. And my mom was standing there, watching us, looking terrified. And I kept mumbling, "My leg hurts, my leg hurts...", although it is not. And my neighbours were there too.

Later I found out that, to quote my mom, "the high fever fried my brain". I was hallucinating and was not myself. According to my mom, I was sleeping, when suddenly I jumped up and shouted "Superman!! Superman!!" (Superman's my idol hero that time hehehe...). I ran back and forth the house, and climbed up the stairs and tried to jump! All the while shouting "Superman!!".

Immediately my mom cried for help, and my neighbours came over to hold me. Yeah, I was much bigger than my mom, and she's a bit small size. You can imagine her fear when I ran amok. LOL!! Poor mom.

Then she called my dad at the factory nearby, he rushed home immediately. He came back and calmed me down. Put some minyak kapak on my forehead, and I kept saying my leg hurt, so he massaged my legs. It was at this point, I started to 'wake up'. It's like just waking up from sleep, but talking rubbish and moving, and struggling at the same time.

I have no memory on what happened during that period of an hour or so. All I know was I went to sleep and had a nightmare. A very scary nightmare, and hurt my leg. After that first time, my parent were worried everytime I got a fever. And if my fever was very high, my dad would took time off to be at home, because he knew my mom won't be able to handle me. Of course, it happened a few more times, with fever as high as 110 fahrenheit. But luckily, I turned out OK.

So, everytime Yiyi is having a fever, Mami and I will be extra worried and have sleepless nights. Since I have a history of very high fever, I need to be extra careful with Yiyi as well.

Seizure

We brought Yiyi to see the paed and to get her 2nd dose of JE jab. There, we asked the doc about Yiyi daydreaming.

Shocked, the doc told us it could be a case of Yiyi having a fit!

Although he can't say for certain whether it's a minor case of seizure or just a staring spell, he recommended an EEG (Electroencephalogram).

He went on to say that it's not really dangerous, as Yiyi is still a toddler and is always in the presence of adults. However, when she's older, there is a possibility of losing consciousness in the middle of something, say, crossing the street, which could be dangerous. He also added if it's really a seizure, then it can be controlled through medication.

We are planning to get an advice from Mami's uncle, a doctor himself. Then only we'll plan our next move. We are now doing some reading on epilepsy and seizures. When people talked about seizures, normally we would imagine tongue-biting, violent fits. I suspect it's probably Absence Seizure, but we hope it's nothing.

And yes, it tends to run in the family, probably from my side. :(

What can you do with RM5 Million?

With RM5 Million,

• My family can have one chicken every week for at least 120 generations! (That's more than 9000 years). RM5/kilo, average 2 kg per bird.
  
• I can give every single one in Namibia a pack of Gardenia bread.
• Mami can have her Milo kosong at home everyday for the rest of her life. (Milo RM17.90, assuming 1.5kg tin per month. That's more than enough for 23,000 years!)
• I can drive around Earth at the equator for 1368 times with my Waja (RM1.52 per litre, Earth circumference at the equator 40,076km). Assuming the Waja can still run after 3 rounds :)
• I can belanja everyone in Singapore a glass of Teh Tarik (Singapore population 4.4 mil)
  
• More than enough for YvonneFoong to have her surgery in the US, with all expenses fully covered.
• Ah-Pek can go taruk "oh kau" with Muthu, Mamak, Aneh, Mangkali every night for more than 20,000 nights. That's about 57 years! (RM12 per bottle, 4 bottle per person)

Of course, if I have 5 mil, I no need to work already lor. Sit at home, shake leg. LOL!

Water Recycling

When our neighbour drinks from NEWater, some of us laughed and joked about it. Air taik lar, pee water lar, macam macam.

Now, our Department of Irrigation and Drainage is proposing it! LOL!!

Via The Star:

“It is a crazy idea. The cost of treating sewage water is high. You can always harvest water from the rain and it is cheaper,” said Fomca adviser Prof Datuk Hamdan Adnan.

“It should not be considered unless there are no other options,” he said yesterday when asked to comment on the Department of Irrigation and Drainage's proposal on the possibility of recycling sewage water in future.

Personally I don't think we have to do that. Like the Fomca guy said we have other options.
But if we don't conserve water and starts destroying our rivers, then we'll have to consider this one day.

“The water from sewage treatment plants must go through another treatment using the membrane technology before it is channelled to the water treatment plant. IWK had brought this in about two years ago,” he said adding that the Penang Water Board was currently testing this technology.

Huh??! PWB is testing this? I hope it's for industrial use and not to your home. hehehe...

Two Bloggers Charged!!

Two (Singaporean?) bloggers have been charged in Singapore, with committing a seditious act, by promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between races in Singapore.

Read all about it here and here.

Some bloggers have been saying it's their own blogs, and they can write and publish whatever they want. "Freedom of speech and expression!", they yelled.

The truth is, although it's your blog, but if you wrote something, and published it to the public, you have to be responsible for what you wrote. People, young and old, regardless of race and continent, will be coming to read your posts, and if they feel offended by what has been written, the writer has to be responsible. As simple as that.

And yes, you can still write whatever you want, but just becareful of what you wanna publish. Please blog with care.

I am just wondering what ST has to say to XX.

Tricky

Yiyi's almost 2 years old. Sometime, she'll say things that leave us stunned.

Conversation 1:

Yiyi : Mami...Mami!

Mami : Yes, dear.

Yiyi : Yiyi wear this shirt. No more fever. (It's a sleeveless top.)

Mami : Yes dear, no more fever already.

Yiyi : Mami, no more fever, can eat chocolate!

Mami : Errr......


Conversation 2:

Papi : Yiyi, come her and have some water.

Yiyi : *sip sip*

Papi : Good girl, after drinking water, no more coughing lor"

Yiyi : No more coughing, can eat chocolate lor!

Papi : Errrr.......

Singing

After that incident, my dad was feeling freaky. Then one night, something happened....

On weekdays, Yiyi sleeps with her grandparent. At around 10pm, Yiyi asked YehYeh to bring her upstair to sleep. While Yiyi sleeps in her baby-cot, YehYeh sleeps in his bed.

That night, according to my dad, Yiyi suddenly stood up and started singing in an old-lady voice! In the dark!!

"Twinkle twinkle little star..."

"Yiyi..."

"How I wonder what you are..."

"Yiyi, go to sleep."

"High above the sky so high..."

"Yiyi, stop singing. You are scaring YehYeh."

"Like a diamond in the sky........................."

"Yiyi... Yiyi..."


*giggle giggle*

Actually Yiyi was having sore-throat. But she's ok now. My dad really freaked out when she started singing. LOL!!

Daydreaming

Does your 2 year-old child (23 months to be exact) daydream?

Yiyi does.

Occasionally she'll just stare blankly at nothing in particular, as if her mind is drifting into some far, far away land. Any call to her or distracting her would be no use. Sometime, I just waved my hand in front of her to try to snap her out of it or I just put my palm in front of her eyes - to block her view. But she'll just stare and stare, and sometime she can even answer and talk to us. But we know her mind is not there with us.

And I'll have to raise my voice to get her attention.

We often joked that the daydreaming gene came from the other half (actually from Mami lar... hehehe..). I know I daydreamed, or rather I was in thinking mode. Blocking and shutting everything surrounding me, while thinking of a serious issue. But what could Yiyi be thinking?

Is this normal? We are just worried if it's something more serious.

Sleep

I really envy those people who can sleep real easy. Just give them some space, a chair, anytime, anywhere, any conditions and before you know it, they are already snoring away, playing chess with Zhou Gong. Just like my dad.

Me, on the other hand, is a fussy sleeper. The conditions have to be right, and the environment has to be comfortable and familiar. The pillows have to be the correct height. The temperature has to be just nice. And even if I fell into slumber easily, I would wake up a few times at night. And once I woke up, it's real difficult to get back to sleep again. I am not the only one, Mami is also the same.

If I go for a holiday, I'll never get a good sleep. Being in an unfamiliar environment (hotel room and bed), I would have problem sleeping. Everytime I went away, either on a work assignment or on holiday, the first thing I look forward to when I got back, is to sleep on my familiar King-sized bed. Of course, with Mami beside me. ;)

So, how 'bout you? Do you have problem sleeping?

Yiyi saw something..

Last night, Mami and Yiyi were playing with her tang-lungs just outside the lawn of my parent's house...

Yiyi : *play play..happy happy*

Mami : ... :)

Yiyi : *suddenly run run to Mami, hug Mami, looks scared*

Mami : Yiyi..

Yiyi : Mami, Mami!! Carry carry!!!

Mami : Why? What's wrong? *carry Yiyi*

Yiyi : Mami, Mami, what is that? *point point to empty space in the dark*

Mami : What? Where?

Yiyi : *point to empty space in front...head down, don't dare to look*

Mami : What is there? Yiyi, what did you see?

Yiyi : Yeeeee...eerrrrrrrr....Yeeeee...eerrrrrrrr....... *making ghostly sound*

And that sent Mami running back to the house, face all white. Later, when we asked what she saw, she sticked her tongue out.

The door not yet closed meh?