July 27, Monday
Saturday night spoke for the first time. Talked about Psalms 32:8 of God’s promise to guide us in our lives and advice us and watch our progress. Slept at about 10 pm but was 6 AM Pacific Standard time.
JETLAG STRIKES!
That afternoon I had slept from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm. At 6:30 pm they called me to dinner, and I was so tired and groggy, because my body said it was 2:30 am. Sunday morning, my body woke up at 2:00 am and I couldn’t go back to sleep. The next morning, Monday, my body woke up at 3:30 am. Good thing that my body clock is adjusting later by 1.5 hours.
FIRST OFFICIAL CLASS DAY O SUNDAY--I taught from 8:30 am to 12 noon. After lunch I went down to the beach, took about 4 minutes, and then swam for about 10 minutes.
THE BEACH IS BEAUTIFUL. The water is some parts warm and some parts cool. What a fantastic beach. I plan to come and swim every day if possible. Reviewed my strokes: freestyle, backstroke, breast stroke, sissors kick. I owe it to my Dad for teaching me the sissors kick, both forward and reverse.
From 2-3:45 we taught the students Exercise Concepts, Chapter 1 and then introduction to swimming. I divided the class into two sections: beginners were to learn to float and dog paddle, intermediate swimmers were to learn breast and crawl. Most of the ladies were in the beginners and all the men and one lady was in the intermediate class.
SLOWEST SHOWER IN THE WORLD--When I came back to shower after the swim, the maintenance men were repairing some leaking pipes in another room on the third floor, my floor, and I didn’t know. The water was coming out a little trickle at a time. I had to squat down to get some more flow. It was a long and tiring Shower.
That evening we had another 1 hour and 45 minutes of training with students really liking the chair massage demo. Food was healthy and tasty; breakfast having 2-3 fruits, a root vegetable and millet porridge. Lunch consisted of both cooked and raw, leafy vegetables, brown rice, a very special vegetarian chicken dish made of some delicious cassava and some tasty sauce. Evening supper was simpler but substantial with bread, fruits and grain dish. Two men students gave me a very good massage. And Wei Xing shared my room. He helped me learn the names of some of the students. Some are easy to remember, others are more of a challenge.
Monday, 2nd day of class. Our class covered Physical Fitness definitions and the different aspects between skill-related fitness and health-related fitness. Then gave out presents: Resist-a-bands. And taught them how to use them.
ELICIOUS LUNCH consisted of potstickers and Chinese buns and lots of raw, green, leafy vege with creamy soup and dressings. I ate till full but know that it will not make me fat. After the lunch, I did a 3-way instant message session with Josiah in Australia and Johansen in California what an interesting experience.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Trip to Xiamen July 24 to August 14, 2009
Sabbath, July 25, 2009 Beijing Capital Airport
While I’m waiting for the transfer counter to open I’ll enter a few thoughts.
Left LAX at 1:40 AM Friday and the flight took about 12 hours to reach Beijing at 5:33AM Sabbath morning. The plane was an older 747-400 with no individual monitors. The vegetarian Asian food was pretty delicious and healthy.
I listened to a lot of classical music and avoided watching the movies as there was a main screen about 30 feet from my aisle seat. So I read the Sabbath School Lesson Study for this Sabbath about obeying God’s command as evidence of our faith and love. Then I read through Dr. Albert Sanchez’s book on Faith and Righteousness Unite, a commentary about Romans 1 with applications to Health. Found about 10 typos. The bottom line is the need to have righteousness by faith in both spiritual and health actions. Pretty good thoughts from Dr. Sanchez.
Two days before leaving, I was so enjoying my life in Bakersfield: my little dog, Jack, loves me and we went for nice long walks and runs. I shall really miss him for the month I’m away.
The Tai Qi classes with Larry got off to a good staff with 12 and 11 staff attending the first two sessions. This traditional slow Tai Qi is amazingly difficult and yet effective. I hope to learn it better.
On the day I left, I went down to Torrance to help Johansen pack up Josiah’s household goods in his condo that he is renting out. A really nice American Korean lady, Jany, may be renting it for 2 years. It was sweaty to pack up all the furniture as well as kitchen utensils into a 14’ Uhaul truck. Johansen is an amazing person. I am so proud of my second son. Not only is he talented, devoted, kind, willing to go the second mile, but he is so generous, service oriented and just a really good kid. I don’t know what Janet and I did to get such a good second son.
Joyalene wanted Josiah’s bed and hifi equipment as well as a lot of other things. We had a sweaty time packing the luxury bed, dismantling was the challenge. Joyalene, I found is very nice young lady, who is generous, loving and concerned about others. She is not only an excellent sister, daughter, nurse, but a great musician. I don’t know what Janet and I did to deserve such a wonderful daughter.
After packing, Johansen and I went for dinner at this Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant and ate freshly cooked dishes, the egg plant, Szechwan tofu and hot soup, totaled $16.50 for both of us.
That night while waiting in LAX, I found to my dismay that Air china was not in the Tom Bradley International Terminal but in Terminal 2. So it took about 5 minutes to walk there. While waiting for the check-in to begin, I met this Mexican businessman who just landed from Beijing. He has been importing solar water heaters from China for the last 4 hears. He started with 1 container load of 100 water heaters and this last year has already imported 100 containers at 50K per container. The heaters are automatic and retail for about USD900, vs. US made ones that cost $2500. Interesting business!
Now I am waiting in transit for my flight from Beijing to Xiamen, a 3-hour flight. I think brothers Chia WS and Wang Peng will be there at the Xiamen airport. Stay tuned for more posts from Xiamen.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
2nd Visit to my Dad
Last Friday, I returned to visit my Dad who has early Alzheimer's/dementia. I rode my trusty Honda ST1300 motorcycle with Johansen and Jack (our little terrier/Chihuahua 2-year old dog.) We carried Jack in a little animal carrier on the back of the bike, think "Jack-in-the-box."
My sister, Annabel had brought my Mom, Ann, with the twins, Scout and Jordan; as well as my daughter, Joyalene were going there to celebrate my Dad's birthday. It was a very hot day. The temperatures went from Bakersfield at 101 to Glendale at 95 to Loma Linda at 99 to Hemet at 104 back to Torrance at 93.
My Dad was delighted to see all his family. Annabel brought cake, presents, food. Johansen and I were not prepared as I was actually going to bring him to the beach and to Josiah's Torrance condo to show a prospective renter. But when we found out that Annabel and Joyalene were going to see my Dad, we changed plans in a hurry.
My mom, Ann, was just back from 5-6 weeks in Malaysia after attending Josiah's wedding. So Dad was really glad to see his wife of over 54 years. As usual, Dad was pretty silent, only answering "yes" or "no" or shrugging his shoulders to mean "I don't know." As we sang Happy Birthday, he was all smiles. The real cheese cake was delicious. Annabel gave Dad a really nice black wallet.
As Mom was about to leave with Annabel to return to Anaheim Hills, Dad got up by himself to follow them. This amazed his care-givers, Richard and Susan. They had been helping him get up for the last 3 weeks and now he could do it on his own. Wow! In fact Dad was so enthusiastic to follow Mom that he walked boldly outside to the van and wanted to get in with Annabel and Mom, but I had to restrain him. In compensation, I offered to give him a ride on my motorcycle. Again, Richard and Susan were amazed as they helped him get on my bike and we made a few turns up and down the road. Reluctantly I had to say good bye to my Dad and promised to return soon to see him.
It is very sad that we, his family members, cannot take care of him. But we are so blessed that Richard and Susan are able and willing to take care of Dad in his situation. I hope and pray that he will have a blessed and happy stay with them and hopefully, God willing, he may make some recovery or at least delay the onslaught of Alzheimer's.
My sister, Annabel had brought my Mom, Ann, with the twins, Scout and Jordan; as well as my daughter, Joyalene were going there to celebrate my Dad's birthday. It was a very hot day. The temperatures went from Bakersfield at 101 to Glendale at 95 to Loma Linda at 99 to Hemet at 104 back to Torrance at 93.
My Dad was delighted to see all his family. Annabel brought cake, presents, food. Johansen and I were not prepared as I was actually going to bring him to the beach and to Josiah's Torrance condo to show a prospective renter. But when we found out that Annabel and Joyalene were going to see my Dad, we changed plans in a hurry.
My mom, Ann, was just back from 5-6 weeks in Malaysia after attending Josiah's wedding. So Dad was really glad to see his wife of over 54 years. As usual, Dad was pretty silent, only answering "yes" or "no" or shrugging his shoulders to mean "I don't know." As we sang Happy Birthday, he was all smiles. The real cheese cake was delicious. Annabel gave Dad a really nice black wallet.
As Mom was about to leave with Annabel to return to Anaheim Hills, Dad got up by himself to follow them. This amazed his care-givers, Richard and Susan. They had been helping him get up for the last 3 weeks and now he could do it on his own. Wow! In fact Dad was so enthusiastic to follow Mom that he walked boldly outside to the van and wanted to get in with Annabel and Mom, but I had to restrain him. In compensation, I offered to give him a ride on my motorcycle. Again, Richard and Susan were amazed as they helped him get on my bike and we made a few turns up and down the road. Reluctantly I had to say good bye to my Dad and promised to return soon to see him.
It is very sad that we, his family members, cannot take care of him. But we are so blessed that Richard and Susan are able and willing to take care of Dad in his situation. I hope and pray that he will have a blessed and happy stay with them and hopefully, God willing, he may make some recovery or at least delay the onslaught of Alzheimer's.
Leaving for China today
I'm getting excited preparing to leave for China for one month. The first time I went to China was for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Our family, Janet, Johansen, Joyalene and I were there to watch Josiah race for Malaysia in Track Cycling. Josiah and his two teammates, Azizal and Rizal managed to get 7th in the team sprints. Visiting the Olympic village was a new experience and our peak family experience was to visit the Great Wall of China together.
My second visit was in December of 08 to January of 09, about 5 weeks. I went to Beijing and Yanqing to the health center. It was cold, cold, cold, sometimes 20 below. I got sick about 3 times. I loved the 25 youth that we shared about 5 weeks together. We hiked in the mountain villages. I was with them for almost 135 hours.
The third visit was in April. I actually visited 3 places: Beijing (Yanqing), Tianjin and Shenyang. At Tianjin, I got to visit Brother Chen who royally treated me to many Tianjin sights: I only almost got sick once but was treated to 3 traditional Chinese remedies: Gua Sha (scrapping of the back with animal horn); Ba Guan (moxibustion); and traditional Chinese foot massage, all done by legally blind Chinese physicians. The cost was RMB$10 plus $10 plus $25, totalling $45 or USD $6.50 for the whole 2 hours of therapeutic time. The next day my almost laryngitis was gone.
The third place was Shenyang which has the largest SDA church in Asia, 7,000 members. The 7 church elders/pastors are women. I really had a wonderful time in Shenyang, especially at the health center with over 40 youth training to be health evangelists.
This time, I plan to go to Xiamen, Gu Lang Island/Piano Island where 17 youth await instruction in Health & Exercise as well as Obesity. I need to teach 90 hours in about 3 weeks. Then on to Beijing and its adventures again.
I shall miss my family but look forward to a safe and happy reunion next month when I return.
This time I hope not to spend too much money. And I hope to try some new, more powerful electric bikes. The first and third trips to China, I brought back two electric bikes: one a 48 Volt lead acid battery, full suspension bike with 500 Watt motor, that can go about 20 mph and the other a 36 Volt lithium battery, fold able bike with 250 Watt motor that can go about 14 mph.
I hope to maybe try a 60 Volt 1200 Watt bike/scooter that can go over 30 mph. The future is in electric vehicles.
My second visit was in December of 08 to January of 09, about 5 weeks. I went to Beijing and Yanqing to the health center. It was cold, cold, cold, sometimes 20 below. I got sick about 3 times. I loved the 25 youth that we shared about 5 weeks together. We hiked in the mountain villages. I was with them for almost 135 hours.
The third visit was in April. I actually visited 3 places: Beijing (Yanqing), Tianjin and Shenyang. At Tianjin, I got to visit Brother Chen who royally treated me to many Tianjin sights: I only almost got sick once but was treated to 3 traditional Chinese remedies: Gua Sha (scrapping of the back with animal horn); Ba Guan (moxibustion); and traditional Chinese foot massage, all done by legally blind Chinese physicians. The cost was RMB$10 plus $10 plus $25, totalling $45 or USD $6.50 for the whole 2 hours of therapeutic time. The next day my almost laryngitis was gone.
The third place was Shenyang which has the largest SDA church in Asia, 7,000 members. The 7 church elders/pastors are women. I really had a wonderful time in Shenyang, especially at the health center with over 40 youth training to be health evangelists.
This time, I plan to go to Xiamen, Gu Lang Island/Piano Island where 17 youth await instruction in Health & Exercise as well as Obesity. I need to teach 90 hours in about 3 weeks. Then on to Beijing and its adventures again.
I shall miss my family but look forward to a safe and happy reunion next month when I return.
This time I hope not to spend too much money. And I hope to try some new, more powerful electric bikes. The first and third trips to China, I brought back two electric bikes: one a 48 Volt lead acid battery, full suspension bike with 500 Watt motor, that can go about 20 mph and the other a 36 Volt lithium battery, fold able bike with 250 Watt motor that can go about 14 mph.
I hope to maybe try a 60 Volt 1200 Watt bike/scooter that can go over 30 mph. The future is in electric vehicles.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Visit to My Dad
This is my first blogger post.
Last weekend, Janet, Johansen and I went to visit my 82-year-old Dad, Ng Sui Koon, who is living with our friends, Richard and Susie P, in Hemet. My Dad has dementia or early Alzheimer's disease. My Mom has been taking care of him for the last 4-5 years and his condition has progressively declined until she could not handle him any longer. Then when we went to Malaysia to celebrate Josiah and Kim's wedding on June 28, Mom decided to let Dad stay with Richard and Susie. So Dad has been there since May 24, 2009.
This is my first visit to see Dad. He appeared withdrawn at first: eyes closed, refusing to speak, not smiling, sitting in his recliner without movement, other than putting his left hand behind his neck. I guess he had a neck ache from sitting so long. At first seeing him, I was afraid that he was not able to move. We urged him to join us for the evening meal. He reluctantly stood up with help from Richard and Susie. Shuffling to the table, he finally sat down. He refused to eat, eyes closed, just sitting like a stature in a museum. We had delicious food: rice, mock duck, pak choi and fruits. Dad just refused to eat. So the five of us ate and enjoyed our food. After 30 minutes, I put a few cherries on his plate. He took one cherry and began to chew on it. Then the flood gates opened. He began to eat cherry after cherry. Then he started on the other fruits. He just ate fruit after fruit, avoiding other foods. Wow! he reminded me of the time we went to a salad buffet, Ponderosa, in Singapore, in the mid-80's, about a quarter of a century ago, when we had a competition to see who could eat the most plates of food. My Dad won with FIVE plates of food.
That evening we went for a walk. I had read somewhere that in a study with Alzheimer's patience, walking 45 minutes 3 times a week had significantly reversed the condition; so I was determined to help my Dad begin to walk. A month before, when my sister Annabel had visited Dad, she was so afraid when he went into depression and even refused to get out of his bed. I think he missed my Mom and even when she called from Malaysia, he refused to move. So to have my Dad be willing to walk with me was incredible progress. So now I had Johansen walk with his grandpa and let our little Terrier-Chihuahua dog, Jack, come along on a retractable leash. Well, Dad was holding on to Johansen as well as holding the leash. Jack was pulling Dad and almost made him stumble. Dad at the beginning of the walk was going less than 1 mph, a very slow shuffle. With Jack's tugging, he managed to increase his cadence to almost 2 steps per second and I saw that he was struggling and ready to get towed over with Jack and so quickly rescued him from Jack. We walked about 1/4 mile in 25 minutes that evening. Richard and Susie helped him get ready for bed. The next day for breakfast Dad was even smiling and eating with gusto and enthusiasm. We celebrated his birthday 2 weeks early using some yam cakes from Taiwan as his birthday cake. We had bought this in Taipei on June 18 at Taipei International Airport on transit from LAX to KL. Dad was happy. After breakfast I took him for a walk again. I guess we overdid it, for Dad had to rest twice, by sitting on the grass of two neighbors. It was a 45-minute walk about 1/2 a mile I think. The next time I visit Dad, I'll bring the GPS to ascertain the distance. Anyway we reluctantly said good-bye to Dad around 11 AM and left my Dad with Richard and Susie. I gave him a kiss on both cheeks and told him that I loved him very much. I wonder if he will remember our visit?
I put a post on facebook and got some responses from Daniel Lim and Lucy Conn Peters as follows:
Dan Lim at 6:38pm July 12
Congrats to him! I wish to see him again. I recall him praying with us when a group of us from KL went down to SAUC (Southeast Asia Union College, Singapore) right after our O levels. He spoke for us before the college president and we were allowed to take classes before our results were out. Your dad is great man of God!
Lucy posted something on your Wall and wrote:
"Hi Andy! Thank you for accepting me as a friend. It's to hear good about your Dad. What a man of faith is your father. I had speech class from him in SAUC. God bless him richly on his 83rd birthday. You are indeed a wonderful son to him. How are you and your wife? It's been so long since I've you folk. Best regards to you and your family."
Another post from Eileen Soriton:
Eileen made a comment about your link:
"hi Andy - you did a great thing for your dad there. i remember him as our neighbour in Singapore and the gardening class we used to have with him at the back of the workshop. i remember he used to do all sorts of things like make his own yogurt (so ahead of his time! :)) and grow mushrooms. lots of love to him and the rest of the family x"
So my Dad has students that remember him with gratitude. He was student advocate, spiritual example and my hero. I love you Dad and hope that you will improve from your dementia or at the least not get too worse, too soon.
Happy 83rd birthday, Dad.
Last weekend, Janet, Johansen and I went to visit my 82-year-old Dad, Ng Sui Koon, who is living with our friends, Richard and Susie P, in Hemet. My Dad has dementia or early Alzheimer's disease. My Mom has been taking care of him for the last 4-5 years and his condition has progressively declined until she could not handle him any longer. Then when we went to Malaysia to celebrate Josiah and Kim's wedding on June 28, Mom decided to let Dad stay with Richard and Susie. So Dad has been there since May 24, 2009.
This is my first visit to see Dad. He appeared withdrawn at first: eyes closed, refusing to speak, not smiling, sitting in his recliner without movement, other than putting his left hand behind his neck. I guess he had a neck ache from sitting so long. At first seeing him, I was afraid that he was not able to move. We urged him to join us for the evening meal. He reluctantly stood up with help from Richard and Susie. Shuffling to the table, he finally sat down. He refused to eat, eyes closed, just sitting like a stature in a museum. We had delicious food: rice, mock duck, pak choi and fruits. Dad just refused to eat. So the five of us ate and enjoyed our food. After 30 minutes, I put a few cherries on his plate. He took one cherry and began to chew on it. Then the flood gates opened. He began to eat cherry after cherry. Then he started on the other fruits. He just ate fruit after fruit, avoiding other foods. Wow! he reminded me of the time we went to a salad buffet, Ponderosa, in Singapore, in the mid-80's, about a quarter of a century ago, when we had a competition to see who could eat the most plates of food. My Dad won with FIVE plates of food.
That evening we went for a walk. I had read somewhere that in a study with Alzheimer's patience, walking 45 minutes 3 times a week had significantly reversed the condition; so I was determined to help my Dad begin to walk. A month before, when my sister Annabel had visited Dad, she was so afraid when he went into depression and even refused to get out of his bed. I think he missed my Mom and even when she called from Malaysia, he refused to move. So to have my Dad be willing to walk with me was incredible progress. So now I had Johansen walk with his grandpa and let our little Terrier-Chihuahua dog, Jack, come along on a retractable leash. Well, Dad was holding on to Johansen as well as holding the leash. Jack was pulling Dad and almost made him stumble. Dad at the beginning of the walk was going less than 1 mph, a very slow shuffle. With Jack's tugging, he managed to increase his cadence to almost 2 steps per second and I saw that he was struggling and ready to get towed over with Jack and so quickly rescued him from Jack. We walked about 1/4 mile in 25 minutes that evening. Richard and Susie helped him get ready for bed. The next day for breakfast Dad was even smiling and eating with gusto and enthusiasm. We celebrated his birthday 2 weeks early using some yam cakes from Taiwan as his birthday cake. We had bought this in Taipei on June 18 at Taipei International Airport on transit from LAX to KL. Dad was happy. After breakfast I took him for a walk again. I guess we overdid it, for Dad had to rest twice, by sitting on the grass of two neighbors. It was a 45-minute walk about 1/2 a mile I think. The next time I visit Dad, I'll bring the GPS to ascertain the distance. Anyway we reluctantly said good-bye to Dad around 11 AM and left my Dad with Richard and Susie. I gave him a kiss on both cheeks and told him that I loved him very much. I wonder if he will remember our visit?
I put a post on facebook and got some responses from Daniel Lim and Lucy Conn Peters as follows:
Dan Lim at 6:38pm July 12
Congrats to him! I wish to see him again. I recall him praying with us when a group of us from KL went down to SAUC (Southeast Asia Union College, Singapore) right after our O levels. He spoke for us before the college president and we were allowed to take classes before our results were out. Your dad is great man of God!
Lucy posted something on your Wall and wrote:
"Hi Andy! Thank you for accepting me as a friend. It's to hear good about your Dad. What a man of faith is your father. I had speech class from him in SAUC. God bless him richly on his 83rd birthday. You are indeed a wonderful son to him. How are you and your wife? It's been so long since I've you folk. Best regards to you and your family."
Another post from Eileen Soriton:
Eileen made a comment about your link:
"hi Andy - you did a great thing for your dad there. i remember him as our neighbour in Singapore and the gardening class we used to have with him at the back of the workshop. i remember he used to do all sorts of things like make his own yogurt (so ahead of his time! :)) and grow mushrooms. lots of love to him and the rest of the family x"
So my Dad has students that remember him with gratitude. He was student advocate, spiritual example and my hero. I love you Dad and hope that you will improve from your dementia or at the least not get too worse, too soon.
Happy 83rd birthday, Dad.
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