Four more days to go and Thursday games ramblings

Only four more days and I'm finally off to Cambodia. It has been a hectic preparation but I think I have got all the things I need to sort out on the church side completed so I can take my trip with peace of mind.

I still have matters related to Cambodia not completed yet but I still have some time and I have an overnight stay in KL which should give me time to work on last minute matters and review my notes. Today I work on the magic part of my trip. Been too busy to really do much. Tonight I attend a farewell dinner (sad) of a friend who is returning to Malaysia. Saturday I have a lunch appointment followed by a missions team meeting cum practice and then a special youth meeting at night. Sunday is of course church and another missions team meeting to finalize some matters. After that I just want to chill and not do anything much so I can have a good rest before I fly off.... especially since over the last couple of weeks I have been feeling very tired (especially my eyes) and having headaches. And the plan is that early Monday morning I want to watch the 2 AM game between the All Whites and Italy.

A bit sore at MAS. My agent has been chasing them for weeks for our hotel tickets (transit in KL) and it only arrived late yesterday and so and he had to rush them to me via courier this morning - which may mean that I might not get them in time. I leave early Tuesday morning. And now I find out that there is no complimentary breakfast! What?! Not the right place to cut cost especially since MAS should be rolling in money if they just cut back some of the excesses and corruption among top management. No breakfast will just give MAS a bad name.

Last week we had a small dinner with some of our neighbours - the Thursday games regular gang. Very nice and great to see all our guests of honour come and thoroughly enjoy the food. I was pleased that my roast pork was quickly polished off as was my latest signature dish - deep fried crispy and crunchy chicken giblets! Many were not exactly excited about the dish but I told them to just try one piece and you'll be "converted". Lots of conversions! :-)


One sad part was finding out that Joe and Wayne's family had decided to sell their house and that they just had a buyer. They are moving away ... Joe and Wayne are around my age and are autistic and our church neighbours. But they plan to remain in the West and if all works out well, they will have their own apartment next door to their guardian brother and sister Steve and Mary so they can better learn to be independent. I have been pre-invited to come over for a home cooked meal by the boys ... once they learn how to cook properly! :-)

Good neighbours are always a blessing so it is sad. But I hope to visit them once they find a new place. Steve and Mary gave me a beautiful wooden painting of Jesus (the traditional Roman Catholic picture) as a thank you present for being such a good friend to the boys. Actually ... they wanted to give it to the church to hang up in the church (really high quality wood) but then realized that it would not suit our theology or decor so they said I should keep it instead on behalf of the church. The church leaders around that day readily agreed! LOL!!

 Here's a couple of photos of what the children and youth like to do during Games. First of all, a crazy all out football in semi darkness! We use two portable flood lights which helps but in winter it starts getting  dark at 5.30 PM! And it's not just due to world cup fever - it's been football since early year!

Then at times it is table tennis but nowadays the tables are free for us oldies. Then it's that crazy card game MAFIA as a warm down and then they jam with the musical instruments.

It's all over when we adults who by 8.45 PM start chasing them to pack up. *sigh* to be young again with so much energy to spare ... :-)