Rising Sun over Malaya

A few nights ago, after tucked in Caleb for bed, I switched on the tv, clicking away. I stumbled upon this documentry on Astro History Channel 555 - Rising Sun Over Malaya.

It was an intriguing documentary tells the personal stories of Malayans who endured turbulent times under Japanese rule during World War II. This happened exactly 70 years ago, the British General Officer Commanding Malaya signing the surrender document to enable Japanese rule over Singapore and Malaya.

I never heard much about it from my mom or dad. Or maybe they did, just that I forgot. Anyway, I'm gonna to ask my mom if I'm going back Bentong this weekend.

The most vivid story told by one survivor, Seow Boon Hor now 78. He was only 7 years old when he witnessed his parents and younger brother's death at the hands of Japanese soldiers. He managed to survive all because of his quickthinking mother who was pregnant at that time, shielded him with her body. It was her act of sacrifice that saved his life.

Greatest love from a mother....

And they even mention about comfort women. Ex-comfort women, Rosalind Saw now 79, broken her silence about the years she spent as a sex slave during Japanese Occupation. She was 24 years old when she abducted from her home. The soldiers put her into a lorry with other women from her village and took her to a 'comfort' facility in Penang. She was then given a Japanese name of Hanako and as a result of the rapes, she became pregnant and after giving birth to a boy, she had to return to the 'comfort station'. 

From google, I found out that she was also visited by a historian Nakahara Michiko who writes in the Journal of Critical Asian Studies. This was what he wrote from his interview with Rosalind:

[Rosalind] was taken to a big house and locked in. (The house, which still stands at the junction of Jalan Burma and Jalan Zainal Abidin, is now the Tong Lock Hotel). A sign saying ‘Exclusive Army Use’ was hung at the entrance of the hotel…She was raped continuously, on a daily basis, by Japanese soldiers. Beginning at 8.00 A.M. the soldiers would start coming in to satisfy their sexual needs. At night, officers came and stayed all night. Rosalind was given lunch and dinner. On a busy day, she would be raped by about thirty soldiers. She would just lie on the bed, naked. There was no time to get dressed.

I heart just sank. I found myself gritting my teeth, clenching my fists......
She did survive the ordeal but the scar would never be heal.

Another story told by a man that still remained in my mind for days. He witnessed his little brother who was not more than 1 year old, snatched from his mom's embrace, threw up in the air and went through the soldier's bayonet when it fall down. Cutting through the baby's stomach and all intestines split on the ground. The baby was still crying on the floor. That's how cruel and ruthless they were.

At this moment all I was thinking is to go into room and hug my baby. Gently I hugged and kissed him on the cheek. That probably woke him up from slumber. He mumbled; "Caleb sleep-sleep jor" - Caleb sleep already....

Haha..oppsss......

For those who are still interested in catching this documentary, you can watch it in youtube:








The synopsis of the documentary:

"The Second World War in Malaya from 1941-1945 was a time of darkness and despair - where innocent lives were lost and blood ran freely. The Japanese rule with an iron hand, slaughtering tens of thousands of Chinese citizens. They force young women to work as sex slaves, or ‘comfort women’ and trick others into working on the notorious ‘Death Railway’. The people of Malaya struggle for survival. When the Japanese surrender in 1945, Malaya plunges into a period of turmoil that brings it to the brink of civil war. But amidst the fire and ruins, sparks of resilience and courage grew. The painful war experience gave a great impetus to a new awakening. “Rising Sun Over Malaya” tells this little known story through the eyes of the people of Malaysia who had a personal observation of the occupation."

Home-brewed Luo Han Guo

Blame it on the weather, everybody at home is having some sort of sickness now. I'm recovering from flu and coughing, Caleb in the midst of clearing mucus in his nose (those sticky glue..eiii), BIL also coughing non-stop and jk having sore throat for a few days now.

So, I bought 2 whole of Luo Han Guo (罗汉果) to brew at home. RM3.50 each from the Chinese Herbal shop.

"Luo han guo has long been a highly regarded ingredient in Traditional Chinese Medicine, being touted as a longevity fruit. Its well known health benefits include expelling “heatiness” from one’s body and combating chronic throat and respiratory ailments such as throat inflammation. Do you know that it is also a natural sweetener, with its fruit extract nearly 300 times sweeter than sugar, while being much lower in calories"

Bought a packet of honey dates too.

Washed the outer skin with water and cracked it open with my hands. Bring a pot of water to boil, put everything including the seeds and skin in. I added a few pieces of honey dates too.

Simmer for about 45 minutes. Crushed the honey dates to bring out the sweetness in it. Wait the tea to cool and sieve it through a strainer. Pour in cups, serve warm or chilled.

Everybody had a cup or two last night.

Amazingly, I felt much better this morning. No more coughing and my phlegm was nearly gone. Jk said no more sorethroat for him too but he doubt it was due to drinking this tea....

But it worked for me. Hahaha....

I shall boil another batch of Luo Han Guo tea next week. 

Caleb's hair cut day

Caleb's hair has been very fine and curly and very very little since he was born. Every strand is sooo refine, just like mine. In fact you can see right through his scalp. Yea, is that rare!

We'd normally bring him to hair salon to get it fixed in about 1.5 - 2 months time. His father's favourite salon where he frequent since he was a teenager. :)

Everytime, he woke up looking like this:

My mom exclaimed: "Aiyooo..... so cute, like 'crazy guy', dont' cut the hair la...!" each time she saw him looking like this.

But he hates it whenever his fringe touches his eyebrow. And when his head flaring up like a hot potato on warm, sunny day, the sweat is tickling down every strand of his hair. I guess long hair constraint more heat than short hair eh, no?

Anyway, before we came back, we took him for hair cut at the favourite salon.

He sits soooo quietly on the chair. We were surprised. The last few times we took him for  his hair cut, he was squirming around, yanking that piece of cloth off, keep on wanting to jump down.

But this time, he was steady. Hahaha...looking into the mirror and his eyes drawn together all the time. Looks like he was intense and scare of the sissor flying around his head.

"Hey uncle, go easy on that pair of sissor, will ya?"

No wailing, no screaming, not even move an inch! WAUUU...bravo, bravo...

I intended to reward him with an ice cream on the way back but the shop that we went in DIDN'T sell ice cream. Ohhh..what a bummer. We went in Watsons, wtf.... haha... 

The final outcome. Quite leng chai also ma..right? No more 'crazy guy' look already :))

A surprise on Valentine's Day

*hick hick hick *

Got this today from dear jk.

I don't normally get things on any other special day (i.e my birthday, Anniversary, Valentine's...). Imagine my surprise when he handed me a bouquet of flowers.

Jk just drove back from KL, fetching us going back to reality tomorrow. My 3-weeks-holiday officially coming to an end.

I'll definitely miss thee:
- just eat whatever my mom cooked without having to think and plan what to cook.
- if I'm craving for something, I can make an order to my mom and puff...there, I have it on the table. :)
- laundry has been perfectly taken care of... haha
- somebody to play with Caleb and he didn't come and bug me. Ahhh...bliss
- free time to go online and blog as much as I can :)

6 stalks of champagne color roses and forget-me-not makes

a perfect combination

Caleb said he wants to give it to Amah. Ohh...how sweet.... *.*



Even we don't say this much, I know you'll always be there for me.

You know I'll do the same too.

For we will treasure each other on every single day and many days to come.

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all.......

Caleb and the swimming pool

Ever since Caleb had his first dip in A'Famosa Malacca and second dip in Port Dickson (uh, I havent blog about this yet), he can't take his eyes off whenever he sees a pool or a fountain or a bucket full of water *.*||

Everytime when I bath him, he would take out a bucket (the one that usually soak clothes in it) and asked me to fill it up with water so that he can 'squat' in and pretend that he is swimming in there. Haha..... But now, he've already outgrown most of the buckets I have at home. So we thought why don't we ask somebody to come and construct a swimming pool just for him.

I checked a few websites online and shortlist to these:

Nice eh? Too bad we don't have enough money nor space to build. Hahahaha!! Crazy... Kidding, kidding :))

So, I bought this instead. Darn cheap, only RM29.90! Can you believe it??? Measure at 4' x 10" Rigid wall... I can sense Caleb is going to have a helluva FUN!

Fill up with water

Oh, he can sense it too. He was so eager to come out but I asked him to stay in first. I closed the door grill and ask him to wait in the house while I filled up the pool for him. But then he 'con' my dad into opening the grill for him, saying he wants to sit on the stool. Then slowly he said wants to sit on bench, afterward he said wants to wear shoe.... Chis~

Hahaha....Ah Kong kena tipu already. :")

"I want to sit on bench jek and watch from afar ok?"

Finally....... I took his shirt off and let him in.

I insisted on him wearing the pant so that his 'birdie' wont get expose but he keep on yanking his pant down. Keep telling me "Mami take off pant, take off pant". So ok lor, what the heck.... take off for him lor.

Hahaha...Nah! Somebody in nude, come and see, come and see! Lai lai lai...lelong lelong.

When I asked him to show me how to swim, immediately lowered his chest and start flapping his hands. Lolz...

In the evening, my nephew joined in the fun.

The sun was scrotching hot, I opened up 2 unbrellas to shield them. If not, they'll end up become BBQ squid.



I'm still staying at my parent's house and will be going back to KL 2 days from now. I really hope that we dont have to drag Caleb back since he is having so much fun here. Got kor-kor, got amah, got ah kong, got bicycle.... Sigh...we'll see.

"I'm sure everybody will miss you too, superbaby. You have bring so much fun and laughter to your Ah Kong and Amah. You never fails to make them smile and laugh. I promise to bring you back real soon, ok?

Marketing with mom

I used to hate following my mom to the market everytime she asked me to. Hate it to the max especially in the wet area where they are selling fishes, prawns, squids, crabs..... Most of the time, I just wear a flat sandal and it's really really irritated the hell out of me when those stinky-foul water gets into my toes. Grrrr.... Frantically I would find a tissue paper and stuffed them between my toes. But then the tissues was all soaked too... Hmpph...why oh why.

But now I find it enjoyable. There is so much things to learn and so much things to see and with my mom around, I can asked her all sort of questions. How to choose, how to look for freshness, how to avoid being con by ruthless seller... hah!

So here is it. Pasar @ Bentong. The red color building is the wet-market.

Mom decided to buy one whole bird for curry chicken tomorrow. Yay! And black chicken for black bean soup. Yum!



The pork seller stall. Mom's advice. Try buying from one stall all the time so that you can build good rapport with them. They will give cheaper price sometimes and when you need something, you will be their VIP customer. Haha...I think that's true :)

Mom choosing the fish. I remember this Ah Pek selling fish. He used to be quite a chap when he was younger. But mom hardly buy from him, except when she was looking for specific kind of fish and couldn't get it from her favourite stall. For this case, Mom wanted a black promfet for Sambal Tumis Curry.

Varieties kind of fishes. I only know a few. Two, three the most?

Live fishes. Absolutely guarantee the freshness. Aiks, one already down. "Ah Pek, one already si liau (dead) wor. Still selling ar?"

Fresh vege section. Gossiping are a norm in market. If you want to update on something, you should come to the market. Lolz...

Mom is picking up okra (ladies finger) to go with Sambal Tumis Curry later on. I can't wait ler...

Potatoes!! That's my nephew and Caleb's favourite. Both of them can walloped a can of baked beans with potatoes and fried eggs in a day. Mom asked me "Why la every kids also like to eat bake bean? I'm feeling so 'jelak' cooking it already." "Hahaha....mom, it's better that they have one favourite dish rather than not having one at all. When you out of idea, just cook baked bean la.."

Pork Leg Vinegar, anyone?

Mom cooked this a few days ago. Pork Leg Vinegar....

Nope, I'm definitely not in confinement now. Anyway who said only those in confinement can eat this? :)

It was sooo good. I don't even remember I ever like pork vinegar. Even when I'm in my confinement last time I didn't eat this. Well, maybe once or twice.... because my MIL is a bad cook 's cooking don't suit my tastebud. :p

Mom stir-fried ginger and pork before pour everything into claypot. Braised with vinegar for ... I don't know. 2 hours maybe?

Mom said she's going to cook again for me to bring back home this weekend. Hee hee hee....

Order anyone?

Potty Training with Caleb

Before I forgot, I really need to jot this down. It is another milestones for me and Caleb @ 2 years and 6 months old.

It's been a week since I started Caleb on potty training. He's already 2.5 years old and I'm sure he understand the word 'wet-wet', 'shh-shh' and 'potty' in which I tell him 'red color tong-tong' very well.

By 1 year old, he hardly pooped in his diaper anymore. It has been a routine for him to sit on potty right after his milk in the morning. Every morning without fail. There was time when he couldn't output a single 'ahem' but when he knows it was coming knocking, he would point and drag me to his potty. :)

Since I'm here (still) at my parent's house (so that I can have a few extra hands), I began the so-called POTTY TRAINING which I dreaded. Who like to cleaning after wet floor with pee right? Well, a man got to do what a man got to do. In this case 'a mommy'...

Day 1:

Early in the morning after he had his milk, as usual I put him up on his potty. Done pooping in minutes time. :) Straight away I put pant on him and with his 'ahem' hanging free. Haha....
He seems ok with it. Didn't yank it down or something like that.
Told him over and over and over again that he need to tell me if he wants to 'shh-shh'. Enhance his memory at 15 minutes intervals if he wanted to 'shh-shh'. He would tell me 'no' each time and came to me later with wet pants and only he would tell me 'mami, shh-shh....' while holding on his crotch, pointing to the puddle of pee.

Results: He wetted 7 pants in one morning, and 4 more in the evening. We only have 1 time of success with me forcing him to pee in the potty when he still told me 'no'....

Day 2:

Again, told him over and over again 'got shh-shh' tell mami, ok? I think I've turn into life-size radio recorder. At times, I insisted on pulling down his pant and held up potty in front of him. Demanding him to pee :) Sometimes there is but sometimes, well..no....

Results: He wetted 4 pants in one whole day... yay!! He told me once that he need to pee....double yay!!!

Day 3:

Started to get the hang of it. I realised that he able to hold on his pee and didn't pee as often. Daily chanting 'Got shh-shh, tell mami,ok?' again....
I would still put on diaper for him when he's having nap in the afternoon. After he fully awake, I would put pant on him again. Make him pee before and after nap. Diaper is dry :)

Results: Only 2 accidents happened. He told me twice that he needed to pee. Ohh, that's improvement. Big improvement I would say.

And today day 7, there was no accident at all. Well, that's something I'm proud off.

Most of the time he would told me pee is coming. I guess seeing me dropped everything in hand and attending to him, made him feel important. He knows when he did the right thing, I would give him a peek on the cheek and said 'Good job, Caleb'.... There were times he said 'Well done, Caleb' to himself too. Hahaha....

Let see how long he can handle it and most importantly, when we get back to KL. Our own house..... Got to know from some sources changing the environment might trigger irregularity. Until then, I'm enjoying diaperless moment for now. *psss....no need to wash CD (Cloth Diaper) mah...*

Kid says the darnest thing

I completely forgot about this until my mom brought this up when she talked to my aunt over the phone on other day.

I went over to my mom's house on CNY eve (jk's house and my house is just 8 minutes drive) as every year my mom would cook up a feast to give our offering and prayers to the ancestors. This year we are adding another name to the call-up list, my youngest ah chek (uncle) who just passed away last December. My mom reminded my father do not forget to call up his youngest brother to come  too.

Anyway, as usual, my mom would prepare steamed chicken, meatball soup, chap chye, fried mee, rice, fruits wine, Chinese tea. My father was setting up the table and chairs just in front of our main door. I helped out by bringing out the foods and arrange nicely on table.

Caleb was playing with his toys all these while me and my father walking to and fro from kitchen bringing foods, chairs, bowl, chopsticks and glasses. After all done, I said "ok, all foods out already" and suddenly Caleb dropped everything on the floor and proceed climbing up the chairs (which mean for the 'guests') and said "Ok, Mami come, let's eat"......

I was stunned. My father was stunned too... Hahaha. I quickly pulled him off the chair and said "No, cannot eat". He think for a while and said "Baby chair?"

Hahahaha.....I almost die laughing.

Apparently back at home, after I've cook dinner, I would bring out all the dishes and put it on our dining table and I did said "Ok, come eat-eat" :D

And the baby chair, yes, he need to sit on baby chair everytime he eats at home.

Yes, kids say the darnest things when you least expected it. :)

Random post on Thursday...

I couldn't remember when or how I got this dog (does it look like a dog to you?) but it's been around since my uni year. I used to place it with my undies in the cupboard :)

Hence my room mates called it 'The Royal Guardian of the Undies. Haha...

For whatever reason, I love this dog when I flipped its ear to the back,

like this

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Funny right? Never fail to make me laugh :D

My forever happy looking dog :)

What Caleb has been up to this CNY.....

This CNY, we went back to our hometown a few days before CNY. Me and Jk stay in one same kampung. Lucky us..... Looking at those jam, we were lucky that we don't have to travel far to hometown. 

So, what Caleb has been doing back in his kong-kong, amah and yeh-yeh's house?

Here what he did.....

Riding on the bicycle with kor-kor. This is my nephew and Caleb loves this kor-kor very much. He would keep on asking his whereabouts if he didn't see him for one second. Basically Caleb attached to him like glue.

Yeh yeh teaching him numbers with those blocks. (p/s they are not Lego....hahaha)
Occasionally Caleb would say A, J, Q and K..... ;)

What CNY means without some firecrackers right? These 'pops' are mean for kids but it makes me jump every time Caleb plays with them. Here, he just woke up in the morning and after his morning routine (milk and pooed).

This is how he play with it. Not throwing away but stepped on them HARD. Those popping sound makes him so happy. Well, boys will be always be boys....

 

Riding on bicycle by himself. He can maneuver the bicycle very well despite just started riding on it for 3 days. He'd give you one cheeky look whenever he succeeded in doing something.

This is where he was sliding down a slope at the drive-way. See, all smiles and giggles and laughter. MY BOY~ Such a happy baby.

FIL bought this lion for Caleb to play with. At first we thought it was the kind of lion head where you can wear it on your head and goes dong chiang dong chiang all around. But no, it's not.

This is, in fact a tissue box holder.

I was scratching my head why on earth my FIL would buy a tissue box holder for Caleb. And my FIL said he too had mistaken took it as lion dance costume/toy.

It doesn't come cheap. This alien tissue box cost RM26.90..... Gosh, pricey...

But Caleb loves it very much and played with it almost everyday. How to play with tissue box holder?

Shoved small tangerines inside the lion's mouth one by one and when it stuffed to brim, he'd asked the lion to spit it out.

Caleb: Lion! Please 'phui' (spit).....orange.

All of us laugh and seeing Caleb having so much fun, FIL said it's all worth while. :)

He's an apple to his yeh yeh's eyes.