Tuen's Blog

I’ve been considering getting a four wheel drive vehicle for quite some time now; with a view to eventually going off road and to places in Victoria and other states where normal vehicles would not be able to go. Well, last Saturday, Tony decided to go test drive a BMW X5, which is a sort of ’soft roader’. It’s a 4 wheel drive, but is not meant for very rough terrain or climbing boulders and crossing rivers, but good enough for some off road driving and for pulling say a camper trailer or caravan. After the test drive, he decided to buy it. We were there together with them when the decision and purchase was made, and that sort of ‘inspired’ me to test drive the Prado. I’d test driven the X5 with my cousin, and even joked about buying one as well; but was met with a very interesting comment from him. Basically (insultingly) he felt that an X5 would be wasted on me because I could not appreciate the finer points of driving a superior car. To me, a car was a means of transportation, and I wasn’t too concerned about the ‘driving experience’. Well, he was right that to me a car was just a means of transportation. But a 4WD car was a slightly different proposition. It’s like my motorbike to me. The bike is not just a means of transport, like a car, but a vehicle on which I could enjoy riding on 2 wheels (or 3 in my case). So too, the 4WD would be a vehicle which I would enjoy driving off road. And that is the main reason why I decided to test drive the Prado instead of the X5. The Prado is a true off road machine, capable of tackling steep climbs and rough terrain and even some river crossings.

Well, the next day, we went to test drive the Prado (a 2nd hand model), and Tony came along as well. And just like him, we decided to purchase it. I am now waiting for delivery.

I’ve been spending the past few days reading up on 4w driving and looking up clubs which I could join. I shall be attending some of the club meetings and see where we go from there.

We could never have done this in Singapore…

I celebrated my 47th birthday recently. We had a nice dinner at Sakata again. After a certain age, one doesn’t quite look forward to birthdays anymore. In fact, I find I have trouble trying to remember exactly how old I am…

Do Blogs die?  I suppose many do.  Bit it seems they also wane and maybe even wax.  My own blog certainly has waned.  I suppose when one gets over the initial excitement of posting to one’s blog, the number and frequency of posts start to decline gradually.  But  it’s not just mine.  I’ve just taken a look at the blogs on my blogroll, and every one of them has less frequent postings than before.

The question is:  Do blogs wax as well as wane?  Mine is waxing slightly, mainly because I’ve upgraded wordpress as well as my web host.

Let’s see how long this wax period lasts…

For the last few months, I had been busy preparing and attending events relating to World Youth day 2008 in Sydney.  I was on the main support committee for the Pallottine Youth Encounter which took place at Milgrove, as well as for organising our youth to attend the main event at Sydney.  I had been in charge of registrations, accommodation and other stuff, and the amount of work that had to be put in during the last 2 months was surprisingly huge.  Had I known I was going to get myself so bogged down with the work and responsibilities, I might have tried to evade this committee earlier on; but Fr. Pat Jackson, our parish priest and inspiration for our youth encounter, has a way of getting people to do what needs to be done!

Anyway, the Pallottine Youth Encounter at Milgrove was a stay-in encounter for youth, and we had participants from Canada, USA, Belize, India, South Africa, Brazil, and a few other countries.  The Milgrove encounter was from 4th July to 9th July and most of the participants found the encounter to be very beneficial, in terms of spiritual renewal and community building.  We had a very large number of priests, and it was refreshing to see a mass con-celebrated by 7 or 9 priests.  My 4 older kids attended the Milgrove encounter, and I was there most of the time as well.

After Milgrove, the participants were then provided with home-stay with hosts from our parish church.  And for the next few days, we attended some organised church activities as well as activities of the Melbourne days in the diocese, in preparation for WYD in Sydney. 

The group then travelled up to Sydney by bus and was there from 14th July to 21st July.  Tony and I drove up in a car, as we needed the car to run various errands whilst in Sydney.  We had some last minute accommodation and transport hiccups, but thankfully all problems were solved smoothly and on time.  Tony and I had a chance to spend a few nights at my cousin, Daniel’s home.  The rest of the time, we spent it in classrooms with the rest of the youth, at St. Patrick’s primary school at Sutherland.

I have very mixed feelings about this whole project.  I had attended the WYD as a support person, rather than as a pilgrim, so I was not exactly in the pilgrim frame of mind.  Nevertheless, the events of Milgrove and WYD touched me in a special way.  It was quite amazing to see half a million people gathered together to attend mass celebrated by our spiritual leader, the Pope.  With that many youths gathered in one place, you would have expected chaos, rowdiness and nonsense; yet everyone was relatively well-behaved and a proper sense of reverence pervaded all the events.  Can you imagine half a million silent worshippers gathered at one place?  Quite incredible and moving.

The other experience I had was how things seemed to just fall in place, despite my concerns and worries over problems etc.  Don’t get me wrong; I did have to scramble and take action to solve the problems, but the results were always good.  It was as if the Spirit was guiding and taking control of all the things that had to be done.  Yes, you might say it’s coincidence, but so what?  For those who have faith, coincidences are planned by the Spirit, and when you have many coincidences in a row, you can’t help but feel the Spirit moving. 

Having said all the above, I don’t think I want the same role for any future World Youth Days.  My kids are looking forward to the next one in Madrid, but I hope that if I do attend in future, it will be as a pilgrim/tourist, without any responsibilities for any youths except my own kids!

Some photos can be found here:

http://blog.tuenproductions.com/photogallery/index.php?/category/318

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The rest of us finally got our citizenship on Thursday 24th May.  We attended a citizenship ceremony at Knox City council presided over by the Mayor and his councillors.  We had a message from a representative of the aborigines, welcoming us to the traditional aboriginal homeland.  We then went up in groups to make our pledges and each of us received a certificate, a native plant and a small stuffed koala bear from the mayor and his staff.  Refreshments were served after the ceremony, and we managed to take a photo with the mayor.  All in all it was a very interesting experience.

So, now that I’m a citizen, do I feel any different?  It’s hard to say.  Definitely, there is a sense of relief, in that I am now not just a visitor or guest of Australia, but I’m a full member of the Australian family, and this land now belongs to me as much as it belongs to the next Australian, whatever his or her origins or colour might be.  That’s quite a thought, considering that the only sense of ownership I previously had was of a tiny island without any natural resources of its own and surrounded by hostile neighbours jealous of its apparent financial success.  In fact, even though I’ve been a citizen of Australia for less than a month, I already feel that I have much more influence and say in the affairs of Australia than I ever felt I had in Singapore.  Singapore belongs to the PAP and the Lee family, and everybody else will always be servants or tenants in their service, and our freedom is ultimately at their discretion.  There are no recognised human rights (it’s a fact that Singapore is not a party to the UN convention of human rights).  Whereas in Australia, I feel the equal, as a person, of even the prime minister, and I have no fear of criticising him or his policies.

Yes, when I sit down and think about it, I really do feel quite different now!

I’ve finally upgraded my Treo mobile phone.  And now, I’m feeling a little guilty.  I bought the HTC Touch Cruise, which is a bit pricey, but a really fabulous gadget. 

Ostensibly, the reason is that my old Palm Treo cannot take the SIM card from Three, which is the telco that most of my kids are using.  That means that if I sign up with Three as well, then my calls within the Three network are free (up till a certain limit).  Considering that mobile charges in Australia are ridiculously expensive (It’s cheaper, using the same telco, to call Singapore, than it is to call my kids’ mobiles right here in the same State), I thought that this would save me money in the long run.  But of course, I guess the true reason is that I just couldn’t resist this new toy.  Sigh.

This also marks my move away from the Palm platform to the Windows mobile platform.  Hardcore Palmies would consider that I’ve crossed over to the dark side; but hey, Palm Inc. themselves crossed over and created the Treo 500 and Treo 750 which are all Windows mobile based.  Go figure!

Our two older kids have been offered Uni places.  The next two or three weeks will see them busy enrolling and preparing for this next phase of their lives.  Xuan is still in Singapore, so Mary will be her proxy for the enrollment process. 

Time really flies.  It seems like only yesterday when I was in the Uni, and now, my kids are already in Uni.  If my own experience is anything to go by, the next few years will see them maturing quickly into adults.

Just please, don’t let me be a grandfather anytime soon!

It’s exactly 2 years today since we migrated to Australia.  Time really does fly!  It seems like only yesterday when we were at the airport leaving Singapore, and all our family and friends were there bidding farewell to us.  Well we miss our family and friends, but we’ve also made a home here now, and we look towards the future.  Anyway, the world is now much smaller because of the internet and emails, so we are in constant touch with everyone.  Besides, most of them have just left hotel Wantirna! 

Jerome commented today that the house seemed rather quiet without the girls.  I’m wondering if that’s because there are two less people in the house, or because specifically the two girls are not in the house!