If that isn't love

It's Holy Week. Yesterday evening, I was sitting at the waterfront of Kota Kinabalu and caught the sunset.

This is the song in my heart when the sun set and left a spendour in the sky.

Blessed holy week.

If That Isn’t Love

He left the splendor of heaven,
Knowing His destiny,
Was the lonely hill of Golgatha,
There to lay down His life for me.

If that isn’t love;
The ocean is dry,
There’s no stars in the sky,
And the sparrow can’t fly.
If that isn’t love;
Then heaven’s a myth,
There’s no feeling like this,
If that isn’t love!

Even in death He remembered,
The thief hanging by His side;
There He spoke with love and compassion,
Then He took him to paradise.

If that isn’t love;
The ocean is dry,
There’s no stars in the sky,
And the sparrow can’t fly.
If that isn’t love;
Then heaven’s a myth,
There’s no feeling like this,
If that isn’t love!

Too sweet for words

Assistant Minister of Women Development Datin Fatimah Abdullah stressing a point

Datin Fatimah is one of my favourite ministers - for her commitment and always that personal touch. And of course, visiting her means food, food, and more food!

With her in the pilot project involving 44 schools here to educate students on sex through counselling sessions, I strongly believe something really going to take shape!

Incidentally, this little story is too sweet for words, yet it tells how desperately we need that sex education for the young ones!

A six-year-old boy told his father he wanted to marry the little girl across the street. The father, being modern and well-schooled in handling children, hid his smile behind his hand. "That's a serious step," he said. "Have you thought it out completely?"

"Yes," his young son answered. "We can spend one week in my room and the next in hers. It's right across the street, so I can run home if I get scared of the dark."

"How about transportation?" the father asked.

"I have my wagon, and we both have our tricycles," the little boy answered.

The boy had an answer to every question the father raised. Finally, in exasperation, his dad asked, "What about babies? When you're married, you're liable to have babies, you know."

"We've thought about that, too," the little boy replied. "We're not going to have babies. Every time she lays an egg, I'm going to step on it!"

The Pink City

I googled on Toulouse - and I am beginning to like the city!

It was quite unexpected - a free trip (working trip too) to Toulouse, a city in south of France on the first week of April!

I googled for some information, and I think I begin to like the city! Is this description enough to look forward to a break?

Known as “la ville rose”, or the pink city, for its ancient brick buildings which glow warmly in the sunset, Toulouse is a charming city in the south-west of France. It is the fourth largest in the country, home to the national aeronautics industry, a huge university campus and a booming high-tech industry, yet it is hardly a sprawling metropolis. The downtown area between the Garonne river and the Canal du Midi, where most historic sites are concentrated, is particularly pedestrian-friendly. With a history dating back to the Romans and earlier, a vibrant musical culture and a rich gastronomy, there is something for everyone.

From the river and sea

It's themed "From the river and sea", available only on Friday night at Grand Margherita Hotel, Kuching.

Bless the hands that prepare the food. Food aplenty, I did not get to take all the pictures!

And yes, my consultant is back here to do his follow-up training in Kota Kinabalu and a new course for Kuching.

"Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) and Kuching (Sarawak) are very different places," my consultant said. "KK is on the coast, Kuching is on a river."

Choosing to go to a dinner themed "From the river and sea" would definitely add memories to his memory bank, whether the coast or the river!

In a retail therapy while in Kota Kinabalu, I picked up this dress at an affordable price!

Three cups of tea

It was quite an "achievement" to have completed reading "Three cups of tea" while in Kota Kinabalu.

It's a beautiful book. Here's an extract of the review from Publishers Weekly -

Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Here's another tea story for your weekend!

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me.

I was maybe 2 ½ years old.

Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a gift and it was one of my favorite toys.

Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water.

After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home.

My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!' My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I came down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up.

Then she says, (as only a mother would)

'Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach water is the toilet?"

Cluttered mind

Image credit: Time Inc.

Results of 10 days in Kota Kinabalu - a cluttered desk in Kuching!

"If a Cluttered Desk is a Sign of a Cluttered Mind, What's an Empty Desk a Sign Of?" -Albert Einstein

My consultant said, an empty desk means a clear mind! I am also consoled by this quote from another clever mind today -

“Mess is complete, in that it embraces all sorts of random elements. Mess tells a story: you can learn a lot about people from their detritus, whereas neat—well, neat is a closed book. Neat has no narrative and no personality.”

Way to go, Yan!

Missed opportunity