Home Thoughts From Abroad

Kuala Lumpur is a city of malls. They are plentiful, huge and really quite amazing with indoor skating rinks, rollerblading venues, theme and water parks and karioke studios. There is even one with a seven story rollercoaster. Empire Shopping Gallery is the newest one in our little suburb, celebrating the one year anniversary this month.  Along with five levels of shopping and eating venues, it houses a hotel, business tower and residential unit, gymnasium and pool and is marketed as the place to live, work, play, shop, dine and wine all under one roof. Some of our staff live there.

Two days ago the entire region felt the effects of a massive gas explosion that occurred on the ground floor of this mall at about 3 in the morning.  The effects of the explosion reached both ends ofthe mall, and all five levels recorded  some degree of damage. As well, it  tore into the adjoining office block and studio apartments with windows as high up as the eighth floor of the 12-storey office tower  shattered. Friends in their apartment two kilometers away were awoken by the noise of the explosion.

About 300 people were rescued and evacuated; including some 170 hotel guests who were relocated to nearby hotels, but amazingly only four people were injured and none seriously. The entire structure is now closed and all operations have been halted pending the results of the forensic investigations and structural assessments in the interest of public safety.

There is much speculation about the level of workmanship in the construction of this complex but no official report has yet been released and the news this morning reports that the mall will reopen in thirty days. For the small business owners of the 180 outlets there and the hundreds of people employed many at a wage of about 8 ringgit an hour (less than $3.00) this is a huge loss of income.

It was very fortunate that this happened at 3 a.m. instead of mid evening when the stores and restaurants would have been packed with hundreds of people.  However, it will be a long time before staff and customers have any confidence about the safety of the building.  On the plus side, I parked the following day in the underground parking of the mall across the street and watched inspectors carefully examining the gas lines running in the ceilings of the adjacent buildings.  Maintenance and inspection are ongoing issues in Asian countries that often suffer from semi-official corruption on several levels. Perhaps this explosion may spark some changes so that maybe one day, maintenance will become a reality here in Malaysia.

After a nearly five months absence, it is so good to be back in Cambodia. I have been coming here for four years now and with each visit I continue to be amazed by the improvements I see.

The first time we were here we enjoyed seeing the riverfront from the balcony of the Foreign Correspondence Club but you could barely walk along it because the quay consisted of uneven paths interupted by hoarding, construction and blockades.

This morning I was up early and took a walk along the wide, spacious quay, mesmerized by the life and beauty long the way.

Sisowath Quay:

Khmer Style Hotels:

Buddhist Temples:

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Fishermen Getting the Day Underway:

A Family Enjoying Breakfast:

We are still smiling at all the memories of this past month.

What a joy to see Liz married to such a wonderful young man and to watch them make a commitment to each other.

We love you both and look forward to what God has in store for your lives.

Happy Birthday, Liz.

An early, initial survey of the traffic, the road system and the driving habits in KL convinced me that driving here was not going to be an option for me, but now that we actually have a vehicle, I may just revisit that decision. And, there is nothing like necessity to stretch a person.

On Friday, Steve needed to be at the school at 4 a.m to embark on a staff trip and cabs at that hour are pretty unpredictable. We decided that he would simply park the car at the school and I would figure out how to get it home later in the day either by driving it myself or by getting a friend to drive it home. Always up for a challenge, I determined to drive the thing myself! This in spite of the fact that I have never driven in Malaysia, never driven on the right hand side of the road and never driven a right hand drive vehicle.

Once the morning rush hour was over, I headed up to the school for the first challenge, that of actually finding the car. I had seen it once in our parking garage but it was sort of dark and I had not yet even sat in it. Armed with the licence plate number for verification, I located it fairly easily once I realized that it is actually green not blue. First things first: come up with a ruse to make it appear that I actually intended to get in the passenger side before going around to the driver’s door.

It feels weird to operate the gear shift with the left hand and to feel cars swooshing by on the right hand side but I can do this. The next challenge is that the car is facing in the wrong direction so I have to figure out how to turn around without going into the chaos that is the main road around the college. This means a very tight u-turn with vehicles double parked on the other side of the street, but that is routine driving here. Then a right hand turn crossing a lane of traffic which is just strange to me. I am directionally challenged, in fact I can’t tell left from right so I rely on symbols and patterns to determine direction. For example, left is the hand with my wedding ring on it and a left hand turn is one in which you cross the lane of traffic. Now I am turning right, crossing a lane of traffic which is coming at me in the wrong direction.

A few straight forward blocks until I reach the dreaded Frogger corner into SS12 where six lanes of traffic converge to continue through, turn left or merge to a right turn or the inevitable u-turn at incredible speeds, using the traffic lights as a suggestion only. I just have to cross one lane, guessing whether the on coming traffic is turning, without the benefit of turn signals, or intending on barrelling through the light and then I can complete a right hand turn from the center lane. This I have to do with the windshield wipers going, in perfectly dry weather, because the turn indicator lever is of course on the opposite side. I try the local strategy, which is: do what you intend to do, don’t deliberately drive into another vehicle and trust the other drivers not to deliberately drive into you. This usually works except for the motorcycles, they are the wild card and anything is possible with them as is reflected in the road death statistics.

Our main road is a relatively straight stretch on which the challenge is one of manoeuvering around heavy hospital and hotel traffic, parked vehicles, endless construction projects, massive speed bumps and several guard houses with sporadic security checks. Once safely into our condo compound there remains only the challenge of the eight narrow ramps up to our parking spot on the fourth floor. Here I really come to grips with the fact that the unoccupied passenger side of the car is actually on the left and seems to be totally independent of the vehicle as I know it. I verbally thank God that the car is small enough to fit through these tight spaces and I can finally tuck it away in our tiny little parking spot.

Yes, I am definitely going to be able to learn to do this.

Today we picked up Liz from London airport, dress in hand, at the end of an overnight flight from Calgary, along with her friend and maid-of-honour Amanda. We understand that they did not get a lot of sleep on the plane and have gone to bed for a few hours before we begin what is going to be a full week meetings with caterers, disc jockeys, photographers and the like. Our friends Al and Shelley have allowed us the use of their home for the preparations for the wedding for which we are most grateful. I finally got a decent night’s sleep for which I am most grateful.

It is hard to describe what we are feeling at the moment; so many conflicting emotions of joy and anticipation, excitement and concern. The fact that we are able to be here is a great delight; to see our daughter and listen to her planning all the details of her wedding a great joy. Life can be so pleasant at times. We are looking forward to a great week of family being together. We will keep you posted as best as we are able of the coming few days.

A Thanksgiving Dinner of a non-profit organization, Harapan Komuniti, was held on 3rd August 2011 at the Dream Centre in Petaling Jaya. The appreciation dinner was held to commemorate the NGO’s efforts in working on its numerous community projects, including with women and children, and victims of HIV/AIDS and natural disasters. Harapan Komuniti is a community-based NGO that brings love, hope and peace to the poor, needy and marginalized, regardless of race, language, religion or status. The dinner was a multiracial celebratory gathering of volunteers, leaders, supporters and members of the community who have benefited from the NGO’s work.

At 10 pm on the same night, a large group of between 20 to 30 Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (JAIS) and Police officers, some in uniform and many in plain clothes, entered the premises of Dream Centre without a warrant. They entered the hall where the dinner was taking place and started taking videos and photographs. When asked by the organizers why they were there, JAIS replied that they received a complaint, but was unable to produce a copy when asked.

JAIS officers took down details of the Muslim guests before leaving the premises with the Police.

Damansara Utama Methodist Church and Community Excel Services who rent Dream Centre are highly disappointed with the trespass and action of the JAIS and Police officers who entered and searched a private property without a warrant. They have subjected all guests at the Thanksgiving Dinner to undue harassment. We stress that the dinner was a community thanksgiving dinner conducted in love peace and harmony with the purpose of appreciating and commemorating Harapan Komuniti’s efforts to help Malaysians of all walks of life.

We call on all Malaysians not to condone this breach of Freedom of Assembly and Association as provided by Article 10 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, but to live in mutual trust and love and to promote peace, harmony and unity in the true spirit of 1 Malaysia.

Senior Pastor Dr Daniel Ho
For Damansara Utama Methodist Church and Community Excel Services
4 August 2011

http://www.dumc.com.my/cms/welcome-to-dumc

One thing that comes out of juggling two careers, three children and thirty years worth of volunteer church activity is the ability to do some advance strategic planning. We put a considerable amount of thought into the details of our England visit and it paid off at every turn. As I was arriving from Canada twelve hours earlier than Steve arrived from Malaysia, I had the time to take the train across town from Gatwick to Stansted, picking up a decent road atlas on the way. That map turned out to be a livesaver on many occasions as we wound our way from Cambridge to Newcastle, and then south again to Kent. Given that we would once again be going our separate ways at the end of this vacation, we booked the last three days for ourselves in London.

After doing some research and some Google map study, we booked a hotel in Croydon, a non-descript little suburb with excellent train connections to Victoria which runs about every four minutes and gets you into the city in about fifteen minutes. We had two full days to wander around London, taking in the sights and sounds. Steve was burning to see the paintings in the National Gallery located in Trafalgar Square, but we took our time wandering from Victoria Station, past Buckingham Palace and down along St. James’ Park to Westminister Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. Then we strolled down the embankment and stopped for tea at an upscale hotel called the Carpathia just to bathe in the ambience of the lobby. Then we crossed Trafalgar Square and spent a very enjoyable four hours soaking in the glorious art of the last four hundred years.

London is quite an amazing city with endless beautiful old buildings each with great historical significance. Every little street or alleyway has something new to explore and new and old sculptures abound. We caught a double decker to Hyde Park but must confess that we were both a little disappointed by the state of the park. Apparently the motif-de-jour in parks these days is ‘environmentally-appropriate,’ which seems to mean just let the weeds and algae take over. What was very nice was the new memorial fountain to Princess Diana, which not only blends nicely into the environment, but is aesthetically pleasing as well. We left the park by crossing into Kensington, ending up where we started back at Victoria Station. A brief and speedy train ride got us back to the hotel.

The next day we headed to the Tower of London and worked our way back from the East End, with St. Paul’s as our destination, taking our time to explore the endless little cul-de-sacs that lace the old city. We stopped for lunch at the site of London’s oldest pub, half-hidden down a narrow side street before hiking on. St Paul’s Cathedral was completed in 1710 and is the first cathedral built in England after the Protestant Reformation. It has been the site of many celebrations like Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee, Charles and Diana’s wedding and Queen Elizabeth’s 80th birthday. It is a magnificant structure and we were fortunate to be there in time to to enjoy the sound of an orchestra and choir rehearsing for an evening performance. From the Whispering Gallery high above the cathedral floor the sound was angelic.

After St Paul’s we took another double-decker to the market area. Covent Garden Market and the old Leadenhall Market are bustling with wonderful shops, stalls and restaurants. Again our timing was good as we arrived to watch a Chaplin clone mime his way through a hilarious routine that included some young participants clearly learning the tricks of the street performance art. Another bus ride took us all the way to Victoria where we sat and lingered over the coffee and crowds before heading back to Croyden
I took the train to Gatwick the following morning, while Steve drove the car back to Stansted for his evening flight. It was an odd holiday in a way, arriving as we did from separate countries only to go our separate ways again at the end, but it seemed to work for us, and with our schedules it was the only way we could see our way through to spending some time together. At any rate, and we ended up having a wonderful time in England, seeing the sights and visiting with family, some of whom I hadn’t ever seen. They were were also wonderful and I hope I won’t have to wait another sixteen years before my next visit!

My Mom is 92, rail thin, mostly blind and growing increasingly deaf. Eighteen months ago she fell and broke her hip, and three months ago she fell again, this time landing on her wrist. But if you think that is enough to slow her down, you don’t know my Mom. When we visited her we found her to be sharp and surprising agile. She needs a walker now, but gets around surprisingly well. The residence home where she has lived for the past six years recently installed a new walkway around the garden, which allows her to get outside for a walk around to the lounge, or just sit on the patio and listen to the birds, and Mom takes advantage of this every nice day she gets.

She keeps track of all her visitors and the various caregivers that come to administer medication or treatment, and still manages her little flat herself, making her own breakfast and keeping things tidy. For lunch and dinner she will go down to the lounge and take her meals there, but she doesn’t like to spend too much time in the lounge as she finds most of the other residents a little “depressing” with not many others she can carry on a conversation with.

She readily admits that she finds her present life a little lonely, but she is doggedly chipper about her circumstances and still very much in control of what happens to her. She is really quite remarkable, with an amazingly positive attitude for all she has to face just to get through a day. She talks about her friend who just turned 105, and although she hopes she doesn’t have to live that long, Mom has the stamina and fortitude to endure it if she does.

I credit my Mom with some of the most precious lessons I have ever learned. She is the one who taught me the value of good literature, especially drama, and gave me a lifelong love of the written word. She is the one who opened my ears to the joy and inspiration of music, especially classical symphonic pieces and showtunes. I still cannot listen to her two favourite composers, Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninov without thinking of her. Yet even at 92 my Mom is still teaching me important lessons about how to face the limitations of your age and ravages of physical decline with courage and dignity. She has always been a hard person to love: imperious, demanding, and manipulative to an almost Machiavellian degree. But she is an easy person to admire, and there is much about her character that is admirable.

We ended our little visit with a walk to the high street and a little look around. I left my Mom wishing that circumstances were different and I could afford to visit more often; I’m sure that there is much that I could do to help her face her final days. But I live several thousand miles away, and these visits are all too rare. I am grateful for the little time I had with one of the most remarkable women in my life.

It doesn’t matter how long you have been married, ten weeks is a long time to be apart. Pam and I have a strong and loving marriage, and we recognize that there have been fine and valid reasons for this recent phase in our lives: I had two months left of a term to finish off; Pam had a new grandchild to attend to, and as it turned out, a temporarily disabled son to look after. The Lord has His own timing on things like this, and we have learned long ago just to follow His direction on such issues and not to sweat the outcome too much. As with so much of what happens to the children of God, our heavenly Father does indeed know best.

All the same it was very sweet to finally meet again after all this time. We have another separation coming up, not quite so long, until our daughter gets married and I finally get to fly home to Canada. Looking ahead to this time, we recognized that it would be a longer separation than either of us could easily bear, and so we planned on meeting in England part way through to reconnect with each other, and to have a chance to visit the parts of my family that still live in England.

We planned to set aside a couple of days to ourselves, and decided that Cambridge would be a nice place to do so. It is not far from Stansted, where I arrived, and partly on the way to Lincoln, where we are headed next. After a fifteen hour flight from Kuala Lumpur that included refueling at New Delhi, I arrived tired and happy to meet with Pam who had flown into Gatwick that morning and caught the train across London to meet me there. We rented ourselves a little Ford Fiesta, and drove the forty-five minutes to Cambridge, threw our gear into the little B&B room we had rented and headed into town for a lovely meal at a pub overlooking King’s College.

Today after a full British breakfast that included peameal bacon, sausages, fried egg, hash browns and beans (so much for THAT diet!) we headed into town for a good look around. You can see a little bit of the charm of this university town with its medieval roots in these pictures. What you can’t see is the atmosphere of genteel respect for nature and learning that inhabits this place. Parks and walkways extend everywhere, people cycle and walk in easy ambience along the ancient cobblestone streets past doorways, arches and cloisters that are dressed in ivy and painted with age. Stately oaks and beeches gracefully line the gravel paths; boats are punted up and down the canal past colleges that were old before Shakespeare was born. It was lovely place for a reunion.

“God determines who walks into your life…..it’s up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go.’
I am not sure of the original source of that quote, but I am sure that these are eight women that I would refuse to let go.

On Friday afternoon, along with 69 other women from WLA, I headed up to Paisley for the annual Women’s Retreat. It was a full and rich weekend of worship, study, prayer, fellowship, good fun, good food, getting caught up with old friends and making some new ones. I am just so grateful that this happens to line up with my time in Ontario each year. The facility is no five star hotel but the beauty of God’s creation is evident all around in the rolling hills, the greenery and the sounds of nature.

I am so grateful for Deb, Jan and Shelley who put probably hundreds of hours into the planning that is necessary to put together a weekend of this magnitude. The theme this year was Simmer and we all came away with much to think about as a result of Shelley’s studies from Isaiah on God who is: Indescribable: Worthy of All My Worship; Incomparable: Worthy of All My Trust and Incomprehensible: Worthy of All of Me.

The weather was cool and overcast but didn’t interfere with our usual Saturday morning which we spent in a quiet place alone working through a study guide that Jan prepared. With Barb, Catherine, Kate and Anita leading the music and worship and Ang and TL as technical back up it was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on God’s greatness and His love for us.

It really is a blessing to share a weekend with a group of like minded women ranging in age from 18 to 89 and to rejoice in who God is, to share our joys and struggles, the lessons God is teaching us , and to just kick back and have fun around a campfire. Given my recent shoulder injury, I carefully avoided the “Extreme Sports”.