Sunday, May 31, 2015

Siem Reap: Touch A Life Volunteer Half day

On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Touch A Life is half a day volunteer work.
During half days, the food is prepared for kids who come before/ after school. The door is always open for anyone and everyone. So that they do not worry about hunger and can concentrate in school.
We begin at 8AM, and as usual, begin chopping the ingredients.
I heard, sometimes when they do not have enough volunteer, they will have to work earlier.
There are 'permanent residents', and some are expats who are long staying there who help out regularly.
 
 
If you noticed, many food prepared are mainly vegetarian, because meat in Cambodia is expensive. And to ensure the funds are able to go a long way, Mavis will have to gauge the food they prepare.
But nonetheless, they are still delicious.
 
 
For the short period I was there, I always helped out at the omelette station. hahaha...
to steal some cooking methods. ;p
This is Chef Omelette Moh. He is born Iraq but stayed in New Zealand, and travelled to many countries for the past 4 years. Haa, the difference between western culture and Chinese culture.
The courage to let go of everything and go wander.  
 

 
 
By 11.30AM, food is ready and placed outside.
We will serve them in portions, and will take note if there are any second servings. This is make sure there will be enough food to go around by the end of the lunch servings.
Also, this will help future gauging for food preparations. NO food wastage in this house.
Every grain counts.
 

 
 
Before lunch begins, they are taught simple English and politeness to thank everyone for the food prepared.
Actually, the kids are already very respectful and polite because they would go around the house and greet everybody when they come, and before they leave, they will also do the same.
 
 
Queuing up for the food and no fighting is also practised here!
These kids, I noticed, they eat more rice than the dishes. Rice is their staple, and is a huge mountain!
 
 
 
We also played simple games with them and they had so much fun, yes, without any technology equipments. 
 

 

 
 

 
When each of them finishes their food, they have to wash their own plates and cups then wiping dry before they leave. How many of us do not wash our own plates?! 
 

 
For us, after everyone is gone, we will have to wash up the whole area and scrub clean because there will be ants if we don't.
 
 
This sums up a typical half day at TAL. Although it may seem nothing, but to everyone in the house, and the owner, all efforts made are very appreciated by them.
 

I may not be able to do great things, but I can do small things with great love.

 
 

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Siem Reap: Touch A Life Volunteer Work

Hello i'm back!
Went to Siem Reap for volunteer work and a mini getaway last week.
It was scorching hot over there. If you think Singapore is hot, try going there during April-May, it's the worst weather coupled with au-naturel wind and fans. Good strong aircons is a rare find.
 
This trip has been a very fulfilling and meaningful trip for me as this is my first time doing a volunteer work overseas. Therefore, I really would like to share my experience here.
I'm not gonna go through day by day sequence, but rather topical titles. So to start with, I'll go with the heaviest full day activity of volunteer work.
 

The volunteer place:

We went to Touch A Life in Siem Reap, where a friend have already been volunteering over there yearly. This place is started by a Singaporean in fact!
 
Here's some links that you can refer to:
 
 
 I had some hiccups in life for the past few years that made me miserable and worrying, and after picking up my feet again, I wanted to do something to the society, to help and contribute part of what I can do as I had a helping hand from others previously. And at least, make someone out there know that people do care for them, whether in sickness or in sadness.
 
I finally got there last week, and I never regret this.
 
Touch A Life is a kitchen cooking for malnourished kids/ poor kids who are unable to afford a proper meal. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, a typical volunteer work is half a day where Saturdays is full day as we will have to send the food out to a village.
 
This post is what I experienced on a full day Saturday.
 

Typical full day Saturday: 

A standard practice is to wash your hands before you begin. We start early at 7AM and automatically begin chopping all the ingredients as instructed.
 
 
Almost all of us have never done cooking in Singapore, so this is not easy for us!
Especially when you have 8kg of onions to chop, it's a killer for me. I kept crying.. hahaha...
 
 
You just continue to keep cutting stuffs from 7am till 10.30/11am...

 
Meanwhile, 5 pots of rice have to be cooked and packed after cutting.
 
 
The start of the production line. Just imagine the rice is still hot, the guys have to scoop up the rice and send it for packing. We had to take turns because it can burn the hands.
And every pack of rice has to be weighed to ensure equal amount of rice is distributed and everyone has a fair share.


 
650 packets of rice on the way....
 
 
Meanwhile, 650 omelettes are on the way! This took 2.5 hrs to cook!
 
 
It's amazing to be part of such big kitchen...
I can officially cook a good omelette!!! :):):)

 
We made 3 pots of green vegetables, and that require stronger people to help stir to prevent burning below.

 
The final production, all ready to be sent to the villagers. By the time everything was packed and done, it was already 2pm.
 

 
The big tuk tuk that we used to send the food out.
A group picture! All of us were so involved and I was so glad to see everyone putting in effort and that's what they called team spirit, regardless if you have met one another 1 day or 1 year. The hearts beat as one just for the under privilege people in Cambodia.
 
 
When we reach the village, all the kids came running towards us with big smiles and laughters.
Such scene, I have never seen this in Singapore. They tried hopping on the tuk tuk and wanted to join us. Free spirited kids.
 


 
Many scenes made me very touched, and one of it was this grandma, who didn't want to go back.
She wanted to sit by the road and wave us off.
There was another grandpa who couldn't get off his bed, and when we visited him, he was ever so happy and kept blessing us even as we walked off.



 

 
Every stop we made, we also tend to their medical needs. Simple off the counter medications were items that we could only provide.
Many of them are malnutrition, and sometimes, they require rehydrating salts to replenish their basic water levels.
Many things I have learnt in this trip, and one major one is, we are very blessed to be in Singapore and this is a life changing experience for me as well.
 

 
I hope after reading this, you will take time to appreciate all the little things in life, and that if possible, do a little to contribute back to the society because there are many other people in the world who would just appreciate the basic necessity and a warm hug that you can give for free.
Because all they need is to know there is hope out there.
 

NO ACT OF KINDNESS, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, IS EVER WASTED. -Aesop-

 

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Dean & Deluca Orchard Central

We haven't had many dates since April cause we were just too busy and catching up with so many other things.
So, after bugging him for such a long time, we managed to have a 1 "us" time together and finally got to watch The Avengers like after soooo long.
 
Had to give him an early call just to make sure he won't be late for our date. Yes, he sleeps a lot. haha
And, he also says I sleep very little. That's a huge difference for both of us.hahaa...
 
Headed over to Dean & Deluca at Orchard Central for a nice quiet brunch.
I didn't wanna go to one that required long waiting time and noisy crowd, hence decided on this!
 
Any time is a good time for rainbow cakes! hehe...
This rainbow cake has a very strong grape taste which I think it came from the purple layer.
Apparently I read somewhere that it uses fresh fruits to induce the colour.
Don't know true anot, but grape definitely is one of it.
It's not dense, so you won't feel like eating until very jelat.
 
 
Had a savoury breakfast - the caramel fresh toast with ice cream and fruits.
It was nice at first, but after eating towards the end, it felt jelat.
Both of us shared this and we couldn't finished too.
The bread is too dry on its own, and the caramel syrup wasn't enough.
 
Overall I felt the place is quiet which is good for long chats and relaxing morning, but for food wise, wasn't very fantastic for its price.
Definitely preferred my Percolate coffee, and cakes. :)






Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Benji's wedding of the year: #benjixkelly

Haven't been up to date to my post as I was down for 2 weeks with flu, sore throat and everything else. Not only that, work has been quite a trouble. Had to make difficult decisions in my career as well. Well, in short, I haven't quite figured out what I want to be. haha... oh wells.
 
May started with a bang for Ben's wedding. His wedding is like wedding of the year lah. Everything so atas!!!
It was at Grand Hyatt with a theme Formal or Silver Elegance.
I would say 95% followed the theme! Very nice!
 
Grand Hyatt had renovated their ballroom and it was gorgeous!!! It used to be dull looking cause the carpet was dark green. But now, they even had their kitchen transparent so you know what's going on! U know, like the Din Tai Fung Xiao long bao like that.
Food was really good as well. Almost every dish tasted delicious.
Ben even had hired live band for songs!
But then again, I think no one really listened to it. All busy talking. haha...
 
 
 
The bomb. Abalone in a claypot for each and every one!!!
 
Of course, we hardly managed to get everyone get together, and hence it's the perfect time to take full attendance group photos!
 
My handsome kingsman. ;)
 
My only girl buddy in the group. :) 
 
All the "+1's". haha... we always name them that in group chat, which is very convenient.

 
And of course, the boyband and plus 1's. haha...
Though they really take crap sometimes, I do love the company of all of them.
Glad we are still going strong after more than 10 years.
Cheers to another 10 years, and seeing all of us in a wonderful chapter next. :):):)