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canteen, a friend found a second child with cancer.

July 25, 2015, 3:25 pm
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http://www.canteen.org.nz

http://www.facebook.com/CanTeenNZ

CanTeen is the New Zealand organisation supporting young people aged between 13 and 24 living with cancer.

CanTeen was established to ensure that no young person in New Zealand living with cancer should ever have to feel alone.
Mission Our mission is to support, develop and empower, young people living with cancer through a national peer support network, and high quality educational and recreational programmes.

Their annual appeal is the Bandanna Challenge,Bandanna Challenge is CanTeen's major public appeal and fundraiser for the year and was held from 23 September - 9 October in 2011. It is over, but you can still buy them online.

On everyone's lips who are watching the Rugby World Cup is 22 year old Aaron Cruden. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which necessitated the removal of one of his testicles, and is said to have cost him a super 14 contract in 2009. The cancer has since gone into remission. Cruden started the match at First Five-Eighth against Australia on 16 October 2011, in the World Cup Semi Final at Eden Park, scoring a drop goal in the 20-6 victory for the All Blacks.

Most schools support them, and my school's student council sold bandannas and the children wore this colourful bandannas in different style. The classroom became a sea of coulour hues.

The most popular ones were designed by celebrities and sporting heros.

Some schools refused to support this cause arguing that bandannas are associated with gangs. This is a pity as the orginally intention was to identify with cancer victims who usually lost their hair and have to wear a bandanna over their head to cover their baldness.

This year's Canteen appeal is close to my heart. A friend's son and ex student of my school had cancer.
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Yellow: Tow truck

July 26, 2015, 11:15 pm
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ABC Wed: Letter C for charity.

July 28, 2015, 4:30 am
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My girl Friend Rasinah Chai has become a practising Muslim.  She  has done a lot of charity work through Macma for many years. 

Now, she is the president of the Rotary club where she will be involved in more charity work.To set up projects to help the poor and needy, especially in the rural areas. We have set up a lot of hydro projects to bring in clean water to the long houses in Bakalalang n Belaga. Smaller projects are helping rural school children with their English.






 When I was living in Singapore, my friends and I had "Foodsale." We cooked and sold our food to neighbours and the proceeds went to the Deaf In Kenya.

We were not the only people raising funds. One year, a group of Americans went and gifted gifts.

When my church had  silent auctions to raise funds to a school in Thailand. I offered to cook a Malaysian dinner for 4. I assured the successful bidder that I cook curry chicken quite well. I used to cook 5 chickens 4 times a year for 16 years for "Foodsale."




Curry Chicken with Saffron Rice : Ann Chin
For 4 adults;


http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.co.nz/

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Thursday Challenge: Old and Mood

July 30, 2015, 7:42 pm
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Great-Grand Father Chan Kwong Kwok 
 At 18, Great-Grand Father Chan Kwong Kwok was a Xiu Cai (an equivalent of a bachelor’s degree). He was the only Xiu Cai in the village. Unfortunately, because the family was poor, he could not pursue his further studies to the ultimate the Zhuangyuan(状元),

Great-Grand Father was headhunted and offered the position of the “governor”, the head of this big company Kong Nan Seng Agricultural Co, in August, 1907. The directors of the company scouted Great-Grand Father because they found him well educated and an upright man of high calibre.  

My brother Dr Henry Chan Chok Khuang. He is the leader for the Heart of Borneo (HoB) for WWF in Malaysia and Indonesia

Whether I go to Kuching, in Sarawak. He takes me into the jungle to see orang utans.



My brother Dr Henry Chan Chok Khuang. He is the leader for the Heart of Borneo (HoB) for WWF in Malaysia and Indonesia

I was eleven years old when Henry was born. Aunties said that he had a high fore head and he looked like Great Grand Father. They predicted that he would become a high official of the king like the old days.

In deed, 150 years after from when Great Grand Father was scouted, Henry has an important job, and our Great Grand Father would be very proud of him.

The theme for this week is Mood. The whole family is happy for Henry's achievement.






last week's theme"OLD" (Vintage, Antique, Rusty, Secondhand, Long ago, Aging, Senior,...) combined with this week's theme

"MOOD" (Things Happy, Sad, Exciting, Boring,...)

http://www.spunwithtears.com/thursday.html
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FSO: Vacation

July 31, 2015, 7:52 pm
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Monkeys and humans.

August 2, 2015, 7:11 pm
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This is my niece Ruth. Recently, it was reported on National TV, that a monkey worked as a waiter in Japan.

Friends in West Malaysia are having trouble with monkeys raiding her kitchen. When I was living in Singapore, we had our fun when Monkeys came to our house. The management got animal catches and shot darts at the alpha male. The rest went away.

It is a sad case of humans encroaching the monkey habitat and they monkeys have no place to go.
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Yellow: Jackfruit

August 2, 2015, 7:18 pm
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Jackfruit tree at the compound of the Malaysian Railway station in Paloh. In most places, I see the grower "saronging" or wrapping the fruit with a sack to prevent insects from attacking the fruits.

Another reason for "saronging" the fruit is to tell people that the tree is mine, not everyone's. It seems in the old days, especially if you grow your fruit tree on public land, everyone is allowed to harvest the fruit.

I do not eat this fruit. It has a very strong aroma and it makes me dizzy.

http://mondaymellowyellows.blogspot.com.au/


  

http://ourworldtuesdaymeme.blogspot.com/
 




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ABC Wednesday: Letter D,

August 4, 2015, 11:37 pm
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A lookalike Japanese hat.


Rōmusha (労務者) is a Japanese language word for "laborer", but has come to specifically denote forced laborers during the Japanese occupation

My Dad was a 17 year old teenager when he was forced to work for the Japanese during the war. He was a civilian worker accompanying the Japanese to the villages to demand rice from them. While the work was not physical, in hind sight, he realised what a dangerous job it was. He could have been killed if the local villagers revolted and he was caught in the cross fire.

A year before the end of the war, Mum and Dad were forced to marry. Women were forcefully taken as comfort women, and men as Japanese conscript soldiers. In desperation, such demand led to many hurried marriages of convenience. Mum was only 15. They wed in March. In August, the bombs were dropped. Too late for Mum and Dad. They never had a proper wedding and she didn't have a wedding photo.

A uranium gun-type atomic bomb (Little Boy) was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by a plutonium implosion-type bomb (Fat Man) on the city of Nagasaki on August 9. Little Boy exploded 2,000 feet above Hiroshima in a blast equal to 12-15,000 tons of TNT, destroying five square miles of the city  (wiki)

Two aerial photos of atomic bomb mushroom clouds, over two Japanese cities in 1945.

 Though the Japanese surrendered on 15th August, the War Crimes Trial of Japanese officers was held only in  December 1945, in Labuan. None of my people went to testify against the Japanese.

http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.co.nz/

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Yellow and red: a ten year old's painting

August 4, 2015, 11:37 pm
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the wise owl

August 6, 2015, 11:04 pm
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Happy Birthday Singapore. 50 years old.

August 7, 2015, 11:24 pm
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These Chinese structures are icons in Singapore. For a long time, Malaysians were not allowed to visit China. Coming to these Yunnan Garden served to kill two birds with one stone. They were in the university they funded, and they got a feel of China. I felt the same too, as I am 4th generations removed from China, and this is the closest I been to China.

NTU, Nanyang Technological University was originally privately raised by the Chinese people of South East Asia, including my grand parents. When I was growing up in Borneo, my grand parents and parents donated to build the Chinese University outside China. I was told that many of our Chinese ancestors owned a brick. We teased our grand dad if they gave him a number and the coordinates of his brick.

The Nanyang university of Singapore transitioned from a Chinese University to an ultra modern one funded by the Government.

When the Water Engineer went to teach in the University in 1990, it became NTI and then NTU, a fully fledged university and he became an associate professor. To date, of all the children in the Chan clan, only my daughter D attended the university.

In 1990, just before the birthday, I arrived in Singapore to live. I am thankful that I was able to live in comfort as a faculty wife. I spent sixteen of my adult years here, and the best thing is I made many friends from all over the world.
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FSO Refreshing orange juice with orange slices.

August 10, 2015, 2:02 am
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Yellow: Gingko nuts

August 10, 2015, 2:08 am
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yellow: sign

August 10, 2015, 9:53 pm
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ABC letter E for enzyme

August 12, 2015, 3:22 pm
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In 2009, I visited Malaysia and Singapore and I was introduced to making a multi purpose cleanser.

They call it garbage enzyme. A friend whose husband is a university professor gave me some leaflets of information of how a Thai inventor had started this. I was naturally skeptical. What good can come out of a third world country like Thailand.

 I was talking to my sister E who had just retired as a school principal. I was telling her about my over abundance of plums from my plum trees.

We talked about Enzyme, and she was very happy with hers. She said her floor was very clean after using it. I felt convinced to give it a try.

Here it is.

The proportion is 1 part brown sugar, 3 parts fruit and/or vegetable waste, 10 parts of water.



Steps:

1: Mix sugar with water, add the fruit/veg, orange/lemon peels will give a nice citrus smell.

2: Fill in air tight plastic containers/bottles, leaving about 2 inches for fermnetation.

3: Store in a cool, dry and well ventilated area.

4: Do not put it where there is direct sunlight.

5: After the first week, slowly open the cap to release gas, be sure not to shake the bottle.

6: Push the floating veg downward every once in a while.

7: Ferment for at least 3 months.

8: Filter and it is ready for use. You get a brownish fluid.

9: The solids can be put in the garden as fertiser. Some people recycle this to restart a new batch.




This poinsettia is evidence it works. My exercise to revive a dying stump with the enzyme burying the dregs at the base of the stump of the poinsettia. Look at it now.


10: Add about 1 tablespoon to your normal washing solution.

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I made my batch, and am using it. The dishes are less oily, but it could be pyschological.

I asked my friends in Malaysia, one told me an interesting use, her husband sprays it in her bird cage, and gives the cage a good smell.

Some people make a lot of claims about being environmentally friendly and saving money. I don't know about saving money, because you spent quite a bit on the brown sugar. Environmentally friendly, perhaps, since you reduce the use of detergent. I am still experimenting, I have started a batch with my apples.

http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.co.nz/

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New Zealand Cooking: Hangi

August 12, 2015, 4:45 pm
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In New Zealand, our natives, the Maoris have adapted their version of volcano cooking called the Hangi.









I was teaching my ESOL adult students what a Hangi is.
I was pleasantly surprised that In South America, they also cook food in a similar way. In Peru, Felecites tells me they call it Pachamanca, and in Chile, Monica says they call it Curanto. My Samoa students call it Umu.

In my other blog, annkschin.blogspot.com, I wrote about Hangis and my book, Mail order Bride., and short story, Nadine in various posts, but I didn't have a closeup photo. Here I am fortunate that Ngarimu's cousin invited me to take as many photos as I wanted.

Here are pix of the hot pit.

Cooking up a storm, chicken, pork, mutton, potato, kumara, pumpkin, cabbage, wholesome food cooked on site. Food wrapped in paper and alumnium foil placed in a basket and steamed in the ground for hours from hot stones.

The Maoris got this idea of a hangi from the hot thermal volcanic grounds where eggs can be boiled by lowering into thermal pools. In a Hangi, a big pit or more than one square yard is dug in the ground. Timber is burned, and stones are heated. The baskets of food are put into the pit and covered with jute sacks. Dirt is dug on top of the pit. The food takes a few hours to cook. It looks like a smoking volcano.

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Kiwi fashion labels Julian Danger and ITZME .

August 12, 2015, 8:26 pm
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 ITZME image
 
Julian Danger image


Hair looks to be used on the runway for NZ Fashion Week by Kiwi fashion labels Julian Danger and ITZME .
 
The two popular designers have teamed up with celebrity hairdressers Brad Lepper and Raymond Robinson to create these stunning looks in their Wella Professionals sponsored runway shows.
 
Raymond brings 25 years of experience from the highest level of international runway experience having styled hair for Kenzo, Givenchy & Prada, Sass & Bide & Gorman and more to celebrities such as Miranda Otto, Rachel Griffiths, Jackie O, Cheryl Cole, Kelly Rowland and Sophie Monk.
 
Brad is one of the most sought after hairstylists in New Zealand and has received a whole host of industry awards and accolades over the course of his career. 

Image result for wella


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Heart Research Inst.

August 13, 2015, 9:18 pm
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Met two good looking guys, Jakob and Johnny standing in the cold educating shoppers about heart disease at Pt Chevalier. Forgot my camera, so I went to their website.




Welcome to the
Heart Research Inst

 

 



  HEART FACTS
Did you know ?

  • Heart Disease is responsible for 40% of all deaths in New Zealand each year
  • Every 90 minutes a New Zealander dies from heart disease, that's an average of 16 people each day
  • 1 in 2 New Zealanders are obese
  • Heart disease is more prevalent in women


The Heart Research Institute (NZ) is a registered charity in New Zealand and funds vital research into the World’s Number 1 killer - Cardiovascular disease.
Donations to The Heart Research Institute (NZ) do not go towards the NZ Heart Foundation.

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http://hri.org.nz/
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animals

August 14, 2015, 10:52 pm
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http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2008/11/irresponsible-dog-owners.html
In these photos, some children found a bitch with seven puppies in the neighbourhood. These kids loved the puppies and found milk for them and food for the bitch. Some grown ups were also fascinated by them. But the occupant of the apartment where these dog and puppies had made their home at their basement wasn't happy. She wasn't happy with the S*** and the terrible smell. Before the residents could find homes for them, she rang the SPCA and had them taken them away.

When the kids found that the puppies were gone, they cried. Some fifteen years later, a certain person in my house is still very emotional when she talks about those puppies which had become other people's pets, instead of hers.
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ABC Wed letter E for Elephant.

August 15, 2015, 12:43 am
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