END YEAR CELEBRATION

December 2019
Last year end saw a few happy occasions with my family and friends.

5/11/2019

  

This was the last baking I did before I fractured my wrist for an event.

17/11/2019

We had the privilege to attend  the 50th wedding anniversary of this lovely couple (my cousins). Both of them are friendly, generous and very down to earth people. 

12/12/2019

thanks for the beautiful present.

Went for pre-Christmas lunch  with my friends.  We have been friends for more than 38 years.
This was my first venture outside on my own since my wrist fracture.

13/12/2019
Meetup with a few of my  former classmates for a healthy lunch @ MamaKim.
Inspite of her busy schedule at work, our former school captain very kindly organised this lunch treat for me to get out  after a month's rests at home.  Thanks again girls.

25/12/2019

And of course, its her birthday on 25th! 

Since I was unable to cook, we went for a Christmas dinner @ Parklife.

 

That wraps up the end-year happenings.  

BUSAN TRIP 4/9/2019 TO 9/9/2019

4/9/2019 TO 9/9/2019
6D/5N family trip to Busan

DAY 1 - 4/9/2019

Busan Tower in the background view from our hotel room at Stanford Inn Busan.

We took the midnight/early morning flight and arrived in Busan around 9.35 am. We took the taxi since there are 3 of us and arrived in the hotel for an early check-in.  I highly recommended this hotel, it's clean, good customer service and location in the middle of Nampo-dong, easy access to the subways and buses, even the airport limousine bus-stop is just in front of the hotel. 

Yay, we finally here!

My nephew and his family had arrived in Busan a day earlier and we have made arrangement to meet up for the day. After a few phone calls, we finally met up and make our way to Jalgachi Fish Market which is just located just behind our hotel in fact. 

Early to the fish market for the freshest catch!

the outdoor market bustling with locals and tourists

We went straight up to the 7th Floor Observation deck.

Observation Deck of Jagalchi Market.

Plenty of "angels" in Busan. 

Downstairs of the building,  there are plenty of fish stalls where you can make your  purchases and then have them cook for you on the 2nd level restaurants.  

Once we have finished making our orders, the banchan (side dishes) started to come almost immediately. We really love them all especially the "washed" kimchi (the dish between the potatoes and coleslaw)! According to my nephew's wife (Hyejung is from Busan) this variety is popular here, it's literally washed, none of the spicy colour .....and its refreshing and yummy. 

seafood soup 

Variety of grilled clam platter. 

Sashimi Salad with gochujang sauce...

After the meal, we took a walk around the nearby BIFF square, which is the main venue for the 1st Busan International Film Festival in 1996.  

Busan Hotteok.. hot sweet nutty snack - one of the most popular snack, a hot  fried pancake filled with a sweet mixture of peanuts and various nuts, sesame seed.  There are lot of street food and sovenier stalls around the place. 

After walking sometime, we decided to go have our coffee... 

Coffee time to catch up with gossips.... 

Little Audrey enjoying her Babycino too!.

After a long chat it's time to split up as they have to return to Changwon which is Hyejung's  hometown which will take around an hour.  Thank you for the wonderful lunch and time together.  See you in either KL or Melbourne soon.   We then decided to go to Songdo beach and its skywalk.  Most of the time our transport for this trip is by taxi, it is more economical for three of us.  

The lighthouse and the cable car in the background. 

Songdo beach is a man-made beach according to wikipedia and the skywalk; tram/cable car were added later and this is a popular beach in summer.

the Songdo Beach skywalk

This was officially opened in 2015, a 104 metres long wooden/steel bridge over the sea. Only certain portions of the bridge have tempered glass panels and as you walk you can see the sea beneath.

There is a folk story about a prince falling in love with a mermaid on this turtle shape island and there is rock structure of turtle here.  

the area has undergone a reconstruction and now it is clean and comfortable breezy walk.  This beach is popular during summer too for it clean sandy beach and close to Busan city centre, only a 3km taxi drive here.

40-steps 

This staircase is a meeting place between  the love ones during and after  the Korean war. The area around here is restored to reflect Korea in the 1950s and 60s.

Observation Deck @ Lotte Mall

Midnight fishcake snack ... we have this almost every night!!

BLACKIE IS MISSING

4/11/2019

My Blackie is missing.

4/5/2020.

This was the last post that I drafted and one that was not posted until today.

Yesterday my birthday present arrived(since February!)......yes this new computer from my daughter.  So here I am able to update my blogs.

A lot of things has happened since that evening when I came home from work.

She was actually missing on 31/10/2019.  It was around Deepavali and it has been raining the past few days.  She was always afraid of fire crackers and heavy rain.    Earlier she had managed to sneaked out of the house while we were working but she managed to stay nearby until I reached home.  I take it was my fault that she managed to sneak out that day again.  It was heavy thunderstorm the whole afternoon and already I was having bad vibes at work.   She managed to push the heavy stone out of the gap and escaped through the drain again.. When I reached  home she was nowhere to be seen.  I had immediately went around looking for her but she just seemed to have disappeared in the air.  Nobody had seen a 3 legged dog around. When my daughter came home, we both went further around the house to look for her.   Our efforts were in vain and till todate, there is no sign of her.  I can only hope that she has been taken by some kind folks and given a good home.  As always when it rains I just pray that she is in good hands and  has warm shelter and full tummy. It not our destiny to have each other for life, Blackie, live well. You will be missed always in my heart.

Then on 7/11/2019, I fell down and fractured my wrist.   I was on medical leave for  1 month but it really took around 4 months before I can fully use my right hand.  I thank God for giving me the time to slow down and to take this period to do read,  not only the books waiting but also  get into God's word and pray.  I thank God that during this period, I have the support of my wonderful daughters  and siblings to help around the house. 

Cast  and the needles were  removed 

 

have to wear this support for 2 months

So I went back to work at beginning of December.  The first thing the boss asked me when I was called into his room was to handle a file which he said was very urgent because the documents has arrived since 1 month ago!!!!!  I could not believed my ears and I told him that even though I came back to work, it was impossible for me to use my hand yet.  So instead of asking for an extension of time to be fully functional, I decided to tender my resignation. 

So I have to say goodbye to this old computer which I had been using for over 38 years

Like that mug, I am tired of working in such a negative environment.  I had given my best service and worked diligently for these years and I left without any regrets.  

January 2020 was supposed to be the busiest days because of the pineapple tarts orders for the coming Chinese New Year(CNY).    This year we had to apologise to all my supporters that we were not able to make any.   That being so, CNY was infact a joyous occasion this year.   My darling Alexa came for holiday with her daddy and mommy.   We had a wonderful time together and time really passed by so fast that the short holiday ended.  We did not travelled  anywhere except around KL and Gentings but I can still recalled the happy times together.  I thank God that they were able to travel back to Sydney before the Covid 19 pandemic reached Malaysia.

February 2020 I celebrated my official retirement age and my daughters bought me this new computer for me to pass the time at home.   I started to do some part-time work  ...must still use my brain otherwise.  I enjoyed the freedom and time to do what I like now.  I started my yoga exercise (being extra careful and modification), cook for the girls,  go jalan-jalan with my sister and brother-in-law, read, walking and talking with the dogs,(hahaha) and can watch TV and  also Netflix! 

March 2020 just when I am getting  use to this new lifestyle, Covid 19 pandemic started and we are in MCO.  With the MCO, everything again is slow down. More cooking nowadays as I am also cooking for my sister's family since she is not able to come home from Melbourne.  I thank God I am doing what she could have done if I were in her shoes.  Still have time together with my girls to do yoga, exercise and play  mahjong together.   I can say out of this pandemic, one good thing is that my girls have started to learn how to cook and bake and also learn to play mahjong with me! 

Now we are going forward to another "new"  norm  and I don't know and not sure how we can cope but I pray everyone will be able to do so.  

So stay home and be safe and I will be posting again soon.