Experiences

Yesterday, the boss asked some Indians to fix two banana plants at the entrance of Chang Jiang. He paid RM100 for that. This is the second time he did it. It looks good and the customers were delighted especially the Indians. At the meantime, I'm busy wrapping hampers. Business is good and we as cashiers are really busy. I have to be both cashier and hamper wrapping person.. Do you know that not all Indians celebrate Deepavali? As for us Chinese, I would say all Chinese celebrate Chinese New Year. Happy Deepavali to those who celebrate it.  

The last time when we had our Deepavali dinner, the main attaction was the curry ostrich bread. This was the first time for me and my Indian friends too.. My friends were wondering what was that before the boss pronounced the name to them. It was indeed scrumptious!

Finally, the Deepavali Challenge is over. Here are the winners.. winner of the female participants category winner of the male participants category There were 11 contestants altogether. The closing date was supposed to be on Friday but I wanted to give more chance to the others. So I had extended it to today at 10pm.  I was working today and the shop was supposed to close at 10pm. But luckily the boss decided to close it at 9pm. So I had the time to sit down before the closing time. Once it's officially closed, I started counting the number of unique commenters for every participant. The most unique comments won the challenge. Yesterday I wrapped the consolation prizes and today I did the grand prizes. So they are all ready to be presented to all contestants. This is the best challenge which I enjoyed very much as I was one of the contestants myself. But the prize will be given to my friend instead. It's her effort that got us involved.

I had a date with my customer cum friend who had lent me her saree and punjabi suit. She was kind enough to let me take two punjabi suit back and I chose one, the blue one instead of the white. She even lent me her ear-rings and necklace which came as a set. She wanted to lend me her bangles too but I couldn't as her bangles sizes were too small for me. So I used the stick-on henna which I bought from Little India recently. So at 10am we were already at the beautician's place. I was there to have a facial mask whereas my friend had a simple facial done. The beautician and her assistant attending to clients. This was the second time that my friend had her facial. The first time was years ago. So as to appreciate what she had done for me, I declared her facial foc for her.

My Indian customer gave me this gift and he told me that it's a classical clock which his wife bought for me. It was nicely wrapped. Since I knew that it's a clock, I gave him 10 sen and told him that it's Chinese culture. He accepted it but he must be wondering why. I didn't tell him but I believe we Chinese have such superstitious belief. Now it's nicely placed near my other clock in the living room. Thank you my dearest friends.

My cashier went on leave since 7 Oct recently. Recently she complained of stomach pain and visted the toilet frequently. We thought that she had food poisoning. She saw a doctor and yet she didn't recover. So she went to see the Chinese physician and she was told to go for a scan. A scan was done and a tumor was discovered in her intestine. The doctor fixed a day for her tumor removal. 12 days ago she had the surgery done on her. She was hospitalized for 10 days.  My other cashier saw her at the hospital and she brought some foodstuff for her on behalf of all of us. I was not free as I was working from morning till night. But last Sunday, I decided to pay her a visit. I saw her and she seemed alright to me but I could see that she was worried. So I asked her about her report. She told me that the tumor was cancerous. I sympathized her but I tried to console her. Few days ago, she was discharged and her FIL gave me her MC. She would be resting at home till the 12 November.

Well, it's not easy to get males to participate in most contest or rather challenges. Here, my customer has uploaded some photos for the Deepavali challenge. He is our regular customer and thus his whole family has sort of become our good friends.  In this case, we need some support from my friends including blogger friends. Please hop over to Chang Jiang and write some comments on the photo posted by Selva Raj.  On their behalf, I thank all of you! Have a nice day! I got to go work now..  

One for the album! We had a wonderful dinner last Sunday. It was raining but it didn't dampen our spirits. All my customers had fun and we enjoyed the dinner very much. Already in the Deepavali mood. Have a nice day!

Sammie was our precious hamster besides Hammie, her husband which passed away last year. She gave birth twice. Once in June last year and another in July in the same year. The first batch of babies didn't survive but her second one was great. All five babies are grown-ups now.  Sammie passed away early this morning after midnight. She had lived her life.  I promised my girl that I would give her a burial. Buried her just now right in front of our front gate besides her beloved husband. RIP Sammie..

My customers saw me with the saree at Chang Jiang facebook and they came out with the idea that the boss should join in the challenge too. So one of them offered to lend a jippa to the boss so that he could take a photo with her husband. But finally the jippa was a gift from our supportive customer. Thank you very much, Malar and Selva! So on that very night, I told the boss about our customer's idea and surprisingly he agreed. He even asked me to arrange a dinner for our customers. But of course only a selected few. So I started counting and I came out with only 14 of them. The next morning, I asked him again, "Are you serious about the dinner?" I was afraid that he might change his mind. But I was glad he hold on to his suggestion. I started inviting my customers and they gladly obliged. So last night was the night. We gathered at a restaurant in Menglembu and we had fun photographing. The food was scrumptious too. I took lots of shot of the boss and

This customer of mine is a very nice person. I got to know her only when I started working in Chang Jiang. I really admire her beauty. Furthermore, she always goes green. She would bring her own shopping shop and insisted on no plastic bags when she comes shopping at my shop. Once in a while, she would bring some used plastic bags from her home for me to reuse at my shop. I really appreciate that.  We used to communicate and soon she has become one of my friends. Best of all, she just stays near my place. So for the Deepavali Challenge, she tied her saree for me. I really love the way she handled it. She was so natural and thus making my wearing so comfortable. I was so excited that I posted this picture and I was sure that she would post another picture. But she was not doing that. She just wanted to have fun commenting. But I want her to win this challenge as she had got me to wear her saree. Of course, I won't be entitled to win for the challenge that I ha

Yesterday was a nice day for me. Firstly, I was ready to get to work at 9am and I saw a postcard in my post box. It must had been there since the other day. It's from Budapest. Yes, my girl had recently visited Budapest. Earlier she had visited Greece. a lovely card which reminds me of my Eastern Europe trip which had included Budapest. Then in the evening, I had received a registered mail from Hayley. Thanks Hayley for the gift! The elephant key-chain is so cute! Then in the evening, at 7.30pm, I had attended a dinner which I had paid (RM15) My upline drove me there as I was too lazy to go on my own. After the dinner, there was a talk by the vice-president of the Al-Insaan Sdn Bhd. He talked about the sea cucumber jelly. Last month, I had bought a bottle of the jelly for my mum as I believe it can help to ease the pain of her knee. I had bought a new one for her to take back. Recently I bought another four. Two were taken by my staff and th

Miku is actually the Hokkien word for the turtle dumpling. This year, I didn't visit the temple during the Nine Emperor Gods festive periods of nine days. I would love to buy miku for my people. Since the boss visited the temple nearby as he wanted to do some donations of food, I asked him to get me two miku. But he came back with these.. I just ate the small yellow one. Then I gave the other yellow one and the big one to my part-time cashier. Why her? Because without her, I would have to work full time. I gave the other big miku to one of my customers who gave me ang ku on that day. I also gave away the other two smaller ones to my other part-time worker who is very hardworking even though she is illiterate. So left one big miku for myself which I kept for my girl. So recently my girl and I finished up the steamed miku with the kaya..

I wanted to make kaya but I always procrastinated. Recently, I found a simple recipe so I quickly got going.  ingredients Whisk egg yolks and set aside.   In a small pot, pour in coconut milk and palm sugar.  In low heat, melt palm sugar. Stir throughout. Add pandan leaves and another 3 tbsp sugar into the pot.  Cook in high heat. Stir until sugar is melted and coconut milk bubbles. When flavored coconut milk is hot, turn down the heat.  With one hand, slowly pour it into egg yolks and another, whisk the egg yolks. Pour egg yolks back into the pot. Let it simmer and stir throughout.  The solution will thicken. It should take about 10 minutes.  If it’s not sweet enough, you can add more sugar. Discard pandan leaves with a pair of chopstick and tongs.  The kaya would be sticking on the leaves, remove them with chopsticks. Transfer to a bottle. Let cool, cover and refrigerate.  It should keep up to a week or longer.  For

When was the last time I shopped at little India? Guess it must be more than a decade. I remembered my husband took me there to shop for Punjabi suit. Once he wanted to buy a saree for me but I refused it. After all, I wouldn't know how to tie a saree!  So last Sunday, I visited it before I went to fetch my boy. I entered a boutique and I observed the bangles and the purses. They are really beautiful. I planned to buy one of those for my Deepavali Challenge's winner.    Little India in Old Town Ipoh I went into a normal shop and I saw some ready henna. So I bought some. My people and I might use them on Deepavali Day. I even bought some Deepavali cards to be given to some of my customers.. The Deepavali Challenge is still on at Chang Jiang . Do have a look at the postings..

The night before yesterday, my boy was pestering me to watch a movie with him. He asked, 'When was the last time you watched a movie?' I told him that it could be more than a year since my girl left for UK. When my girl was around, she loved to take me for a movie. I was reluctant to do so but finally he managed to persuade me.  So yesterday afternoon, I went to fetch him from his band training place in town. From there, we proceeded to Station 18. It was a long drive and I was not sure if I was on the correct road. But thankfully, I was right.  We reached there at about 4.20pm and we tried to get the 4.30pm tickets. Unfortunately, only the front seats were vacant. So I bought the 5.30pm of another show. the tickets cost RM15 each Since we had ample time to eat, we went to the Pancake House. the blueberry pancake RM9.90 and the lemon pancake RM11.90 It took quite some time for them to prepare the pancakes. When it came, we quickly ate them an