Pemanjai Cuti...

Seminggu tu, puas aku betalat pasal cuti taun aku! Mula2 madah enda ulih lama, lalu ngira diri ngambi 16 hari meh aku; chukup kena. Udah aku minta 15 hari (nyadi 25 hari ketegal hari enam/minggu/hari besai), lalu diasoh ngambi sebulan terus. Nuh ingat ke jako Deb ... memperli kini tu!? Au aja meh; legi aku ngambi 1.5 bulan.

Nama pengawa aku cuti tu:-

• Majak nulis tesis
• Cuti musim chelap

Nya ya! Puji Tuhan ke pengibun & berkat!

Gereja Menoa, Gereja Menoa Pesisir (Rural Church) ...

Yesterday evening was the Fundraising Dinner for the Sibu District Methodist Churches of the Sarawak Iban Annual Conference which was attended by about 700 members from 29 local churches members and friends.

We had a wonderful time of fellowship! The entertainment was so simple & uplifting! Simplicity to glorify Him.

The objective of the dinner was to raise fund for the maintenance of the 29 rural churches. The giving of tithes among us are relatively low. Pastors are constantly/continually sharing with members on the blessings of giving tithes and at times the necessity of it. In general (my personal observation), we are most willing to give our time & energy for the church; but when it comes to money/offering/tithes, we tend to do sparingly. We need to open our mind, heart & purse for this! Yours truly included! Our church needs us!

I will dedicate one writing to my rural church ... soon!

Rev Tiong (2nd left) with some of the Methodist Women

presenting a song at the function.

Yeah, your going to ask why am I not up there with them? I couldn't make it to the longhouse for practice, so opted not to join them that night! Failed to learn, earlier, that it was one of the praise karaoke type! They did an excellent job!!

Church members

MYF

It was a great evening of fellowship! For once, I could walk around all over the hall meeting & chatting up with friends/MW ladies; as I was just an attendee instead of an organizer!

Nemalam kami sebilik enggau ngulu pengerami makai malam ngiga belanja ke gereja-gereja menoa Methodist Sitak Sibu. Ditu bisi 29 iti buah gereja menoa ie gereja di menoa pesisir ke beguna amat ke kerja ngaga utai ke jai-jai bangunan gereja. Berapa ulih nemalam? Enda nemu aku, tang kira kasar aku, RM20,000 ari jual rega mija, lagu sponsor, nyual bungai/sticker, enggau pemeri siko ari anembiak gereja (sebiliknya meri RM10,000!). Puji Tuhan!

Maya sebilik nya meri penyampau nya; aku berunding ke pemeri diri ke Gereja & Pengawa Tuhan. Pemeri terima kasih ke berkat Allah Taalah ke penyampau mayoh, penyampau sinu, serta penyampau rindu! Tu pekara ke deka dirunding aku.

Macha bup ... siti ari pengerindu aku!

Menoa hari mendung amat tengahari kemari. Datai kami duai aba simpang Pedada/Pahlawan; ujan ukai main enda lebat! 'Drive on, Mummy' ko anak kecil molek aku. Lalu 'go on' meh tua iya nuju kedai!

Sekeda bup ke dibeli: Teka kita nie nge Anak?

Some of the books we bought ~ guess which one belongs to my darlin' girl?

Au engka sekeda ngumbai aku poteng kerja tauka main ular :) aku seharti kemari cuti-cuti Hari Merderka! Ko jako cuti sehari ngambi ke ulih numpu ke diri nulis tesis ke enda nemu bergerak ari daun 1, paragraph 1 ... ! :D Pagi berhasil ngah pengawa aku; bisi nge-tiga iti utai dibaca!

Tang nama pengawa tua menyanak ... tengahari pengudah iya pulai sekul ... nurun ngagai Delta Mall, batang tuju - Popular Bookstore! Au Delta Mall tu siti ari gedung besai kami ditu ke bisi siti kedai bup ke serba lengkap. Ke ka, bisi kedai bup MPH, tang ngah nadai; Popular pen besai serta lantang nuh bejalai SERTA iya bisi sale SERTA anak pen bsi kad kaban Popular retinya bulih diskaun dua kali. Hoorah! Kebuah kad kaban alam nama anak - bayar taun anak biak sekul mudah agi!! :D

Anak pen rindu macha bup; tu meh minat ami duai menyanak ke sama; lalu siti 'habit' ke sama - semina sebilik aja tau nemu ke diatu!! Sapa2 bala ke selalu engau aku bejalai serta sebilik enggau aku; tentu sida iya nemu! :) 'Habit' ke manah!

Sekeda bup tisi katil

Before bed reading ...

Ungkos bup-bup RM303.20!! Nama bup ke dibeli? Sekada ke udah diak, aku lalu meli bup-bup revision darjah 6 ke anak, kena iya belajar maya cuti sekolah tu ila. Kami duai mega melik siti set bup pereksa UPSR - alam 4 iti mata pelajaran ianya Sains, Matematik, B. Inggeris & B. Melayu! Iya mega lalu enda tau enda meli siti pen - baka ke nadai, penuh pensil kes enggau pen! 'Its cheap, Mummy' ko iya ... melayang RM1.70!!

Cuti Hari Raya tu, ngagau kami duai menyanak macha bup!

This booklet comes with several CDs ... working on it!

One of my great passion is READING! I just love reading books of all types! I am a very well-read person :D especially of romantic novels or Mills & Boons or Harlequins. Some would say that I am a great Dreamer and great believer of the fairytale of romance/love. A woman can continue to believe ....

Some of other readings ...

When I was still in secondary school, I always tell myself that ... when I start earning, I will indulge myself in this passion .. buy books!!! This is also one passion that my daughter shared with me - so we could be sitting (not so ... as my daughter is a great chatter and she loves to discuss or tell me every paragraph that she reads ...) quietly reading our respective books.

Yesterday afternoon (I'm off work, supposedly to write my thesis; which I didn't although I did have a productive morning of reading 3 related articles towards the writing of the said thesis!), we took off to the great Popular bookstore ... as the shop was having its SALE day and we have DISCOUNT Members' Card also! Spending - RM303.20!! What did we buy? Some UPSR/Primary 6 revision books (for the holiday as my darlin' girl will be doing her public examination next year), and romantic novels.

This short Hari Raya holiday, we're bot ready to do our favourite thing - reading! That is, after we come back from our very short holiday to Land Beneath the Wind!

Peranan Kitai ...

Dini penuduk kitai indu Dayak alam Malaysia pengudah 53 Merdeka? Bakani pemansang kitai ari segi sekula, pengidup, pengawa, politik, pengubah polisi, serta alam mayoh bengkak pengawa bukai? Dini kitai? Nama statistik pemansang kitai? Nama saut bala kitai?

Keni cara kitai ngubah penuduk kitai? Penyerakup kitai indu Dayak alam semua pengawa mesti teguh. Penemu enda be-lain; tang kitai mesti ber-serakup & ber-sepenemu nuju pemansang. Semua penemu ke enda sebaka ulih di-kerandau ngambi iya ulih di-ubah ke siti penemu ke ulih diterima kitai semua!

Kebaya corak kain kebat - endang tanda kitai indu Dayak/Iban.

Lap kitai enda nyusun pakaian kitai ke stail maya diatu - ngena skaf corak kain kebat?

Sida ke laki selalu bisi enggau nguluk serta nyukong pengawa kitai indu.

Pengeran ati bala kitai, nadai bangku, biar duduk aba tikai!

Ber-sarakup meh kitai, laban nengah nya meh kitai ulih mansang. Berjako meh kitai nengah siti suara, laban jako ke siti serta terang aja meh ke ulih didinga!

Crunching time...

Bahu nuh pedis, tunjuk nuh lelah, otak nuh bergusak :D Nya meh pemedis aku minggu tu! Aku tu udah diberi penasihat progrim aku timpuh nembu ke tesis. Meda bala anak sekul masuk universiti, ka enggau ngah hari nya - diatu ensepi asai pemedis belajar baru!

Setiap kali macha bup, mata nuh kulap-kulap ka tinok; setiap kali bepikir ke utai ke ditulis, otak nuh asai ke digusak ... nie ke dianjung agi!!

Pelajar tu endan sigi pengawa ke berat kena kitai ngemaju ke diri. Naka tu cerita aku ke nulis tesis; no play play now, got to start write write!!

My supervisor have given me an deadline that is craved in stone - not subject to any more changes! So the last couple of days, I have been trying to get myself organized. Yesterday, I started on my thesis writing - by the way, I have done 2 chapters which had not been reviewed - on the two easiest chapters. The 1st chapter, introduction and the next chapter that I attempted was Chapter 3, methodology. It took me 12 hours in total to write chapter 1 and there are still some facts, graphs, and figures still missing! Whether its the proper way; I stopped on chapter 1 and started chapter 3!! Why you asked!!???? I got tired and frustrated while writing the Introduction; not because I don't have the facts or ideas; but trying to insert all the data in and tabulating it etc!! ARrrggghhh I will get my secretary to do it tomorrow - alas, I still have to draft all that for her. Now chapter 3 was much faster - it took me only 8 hours! Maybe I am 'into' it now? ;)

Lord, why do I 'torture' myself? Why do You stir me to this? What's Your purpose? Nevertheless, dear Lord, I leave it in Your guiding hands! With You beside me, I will endure and find the strength to compete this mission.

Flooding Again ...

Photo courtesy of CN
Lanang Road

Ampuh baru kami ditu! Endang setiap taun diatu sigi ampuh pasal Sibu; tang enda ngemalat ke taun 2008 suba!

Picture Courtesy of CN

Parking lot - McD

Tang ke ngasoh aku tusah bekira ke bala ke betanggungjawab nyaga pasar tu; ianya, setiap kali ai besai, endang kelam kabut sida! Nie emergency procedure/plan ke bagat ke disedia ngelama tu? Sapa ke ngemata ke iya?

Opis aku laban ke enda tentu bersangkut paut enggau pekara ke ampuh tu pen bisi atur enti ai Batang Rajang niki lebih ari 3.2m; laban ketegal loji kami ke di Jalai Lanang. Aku tu nuh beberapa taun tu, tak maya aku nganti bos aku pekara tu nyadi. Puji Tuhan ngah situasi enda tentu teruk, serta bala aku chukup CEKAP ngerja pengawa sida!

Picture courtesy of CN

Plenty of water for Bomba!

Enti nunda ke nuh pemuas ai ampuh; patut bala sida kunsil bisi atur tentang:-
1. Madah ke orang jalai2 ke ampuh, jalai ke patut dikena,
2. Ngatur jalai2 ke dikena, arah jalai ditukar ketegal sepiak jalai alun ampuh.

Enti bisi atur ke meruan agi, pengeringat mensia ulih dikurang enti sida meda atur nulong mimit ke bakatu bisi.

The fact, Sibu sits on low area etc. etc; and thus, logically you will expect the relevant authorities to consider all the facts and make provisions etc. Alas, after living in this beautiful town of mine, the concept is more of corrective than preventive is embraced by all.

Flood situation in the town is an accepted norm that my department have established procedures to deal with it. There's NOTHING we could do to prevent or contain the flood; but when it does happens, it disrupts our system. So we have procedures in place to deal with it, with alerts & monitoring set up. Fortunately or unfortunately for me, besides the 2008 incident; the recent flood situation has been under my 'watch'! Lord, give me the wisdom to deal with the situation! Am thankful also, during my 'watch' the situation had been manageable and I must say that my TEAM is just WONDERFUL!!

Yesterday, the water level had steadily rises and reaching its highest point (as reported by my staff) at 3.25m around 4:00am. With that level, I can imagine the situation at Lanang Road, the central part of the town, and also the business district area.

Below are the pictures, courtesy of friends Rudi & Alex, taken by those who brave it (or with 'giant' cars to explore the roads!

Picture courtesy of Rudi.

Area along Lanang Road

Picture courtesy of Alex

Corner of Premier traffic light

As the sayings goes ... do not fret of the things we cannot change, but deal with what we can (or something close to that); and so here are my suggestions on what steps the government can take to alleviate the situation due to flood. I would not want to tell what steps the authorities need to do - as they have talked about this extensively

When the water level rises, and the roads are flooded; several things happened:-

1. Traffic jam - authorities should motorists informed of the flooded roads, so they could avoid it

2. Motorists setting up their own road law to avoid flooded road - determine the flow of traffic, roads to be used, turning 4 lanes into 2 way road only, etc

I think these simple plan of action would alleviate some of the frustration of the public/motorists.

Continual Blessings ...

Quick update on what have been happening in my life:-

1. Busy searching & updating service records for 'the' next step. Its amazing the potential for improvement in the HR Dept.. Its always a blessing when the Lord makes the impossible into possible!

2. Realized the need to get to know all the 1st/2nd/3rd cousins & their families; and ultimately have a closed family. In a span of 2 months, the family experiences the passing/called to the Lord of an aunt & an uncle due to illness. During this period, realized that among the cousins we're not that 'close' to each other, as we actually had difficulty looking for each other for lack of contact information. We're close with the uncles/aunties as they had made a point to keep themselves updated/connected with each other over the years. So Lord, give me the wisdom & strength to re-connect with all my wonderful family.

3. This month, my thoughts are troubled in 1 particular issue dealing with leadership and I seek Him for answers. The verse that continually comes to my mind is "Do not be afraid for I am with you ... ". This was the Lord's verse that appear to me when I also had doubts/concerns when asked to take a greater leadership role about 10 years ago. Once again, I seek His guidance on this matter.

4. I salute all mothers who have successfully guide their children's growth/development according to His teaching. This has been the greatest challenge to me. So my dearest friends/family, do pray for me for the wisdom, patience, strength, and love to be a good mother.

5. My work with the Dayak women either in the church or community has brought me so much friendship, love and joy; and this service/contribution really have so much blessings in the growth/development of the young dayak ladies. I learn each day from these wonderful women in many aspects of life!

6. Who am I, without the love, understanding and continual support of my wonderful parents. Thank you Lord for gift of life from these wonderful parents.

7. Wonderful brothers, sister-in-laws, niece & nephews - bless you all for your patience & love.

8. Friends ... I am blessed because your in my life and you color my life!