Ap ap...

The husband did something he was immensely proud of yesterday night.

He managed to order duck from a Cantonese restaurant in Cantonese without me being there.

Apparently this is how it went:-

Husband :Mm goi tar pau yat chek siew ap (Please can I have a whole duck to take away)
Seller : Sai mm sai hei guat ah siew pang yau? (Do you need me to debone it, friend?)
Husband : Mm goi hei guat (Please debone it)
Seller : Hei guat ah? (Debone ah?)
Husband : Hai, mm goi (Yes, please)


The fact that he still spells 'ngap' (duck) as 'ap' kind of tells that he's not incredibly proficient but given that he's only had a partially cantonese wife for 6 years I think he's doing okay..

I think I've trained him pretty well no? Plus I get nice four season's duck for dinner tonight!

Popster

This Sunday marks our 1st anniversary as husband and wife (well... it is the anniversary of the celebratory picnic.. the actual registration was done in May)

There's not going to be a big celebration.. just a quiet weekend with the rabbits and Bronx. Also, a little trip to Horsham to spend time with our favourite children and family in the UK. = )

Bronx will also be coming with us to Horsham so he'll probably need a bath on Friday. :P

J is going to be very excited to see Bronx.. I'm just hoping he will not run L and M down with them being shorter than him.

It is nice to have people who are like family when you are in another land.. it makes us feel complete.

I used to think it is weird to be married so early on in life but now we have both gotten so used to it it feels like we've been married forever.

It is nice to be able to plan for the future.. how we want our garden to look.. what we want to do with our careers.. when we want to have our children.

Talking about children.. it feels so strange to hear news about friends getting pregnant.

I mean.. 24 and a mother?

My mum had me when she was 24 and to be very honest.. I think she was quite overwhelmed. She certainly seemed to enjoy my brother more as she was a lot more confident about being a mother.

With me she was always like an older sister. We both learnt how to sew together (today I can sew, she still can't) and when we got a free durian from a neighbour we both figured how to open it together

I really enjoyed those times with her, the simple life.

I just don't know if I want to be a mother at 24.

Afterall I am going back to school soon.. I want to have a career.. I want to drive around Europe with the husband and the dog..

Well then.. what's the problem you ask?

The problem is.. sometimes.. we get a little bit broody..

We think.. oh.. wouldn't it be nice to see little Poppy running around the house.. playing with Bronx and teasing the rabbits.

Wouldn't it be sweet to see her tiny pair of shoes amongst ours on the shoe rack..

Hmm..

We love children.. We love M and L.. T and J and my brother.. I guess we just don't know if we want one in our house full time..

The husband being a man has more other problems to dwell about.

Whenever we think about it he'll say.. oh.. we don't have the finances to take care of her.. oh.. we don't have the space to have her..

Which is all obviously true.

It is just particularly hard when it is that time of the month and your hormones are telling you you DO want to be a mother but your head says NO! Not now!

Haha.. maybe in 5 years.. maybe we'll be able to fit her into our busy schedule and everything we want to do.. At least I'm only thinking of 5, the adult M have suggested 10!

The week after..

When I was 15 a friend's dog passed away. She was crying a lot, literally inconsolable. I never understood her pain. I thought it was silly how she was mourning for a dog.

Afterall.. it was just a dog. An animal...

I was never allowed to have pets as a child, my dad didn't think our house was big enough and my mum just doesn't have much of a thing for pets.

I learnt to communicate and love animals as I got older through Daphne whose house is full of pets. I remember the first time I met Sheba her hyper excited Dalmation cross dog, I was so scared I ran for my life! Of course that didn't help... Sheba thought I was playing and chased me even more.

Daphne also had a cat called Baby who strangely liked me very much. It was Baby who stole my heart and helped me discover my love for animals. Sadly, Baby passed away a few years ago and I never got to say goodbye.

I was very sad but nothing would have prepared me for last Thursday.

Two Thursdays ago we took Jake to the vet for a full x-ray because the vet was not too happy with his health in an initial consultation.

We took him in early in the morning and left him there for the day. I remember how sad he looked when he saw us leave.

Later in the afternoon the vet called to say that he was done with the x-ray and the results were not good. Jake had numerous giant nodules in his chest and the vet suspects it is lung cancer.

We took Jake home with some antibiotics and steroids to help with the cancer and also with the knowledge that he will not be with us for much longer.

We were obviously devastated by that but we decided to hold strong for Jake and make him happy whatever time he had left. Maybe.. we still had a month or if we were very lucky, two..

As the week passed Jake began to deteriorate. At first he was constantly panting and couldn't get up as easily.. later on his back legs started failing him but what kept us on was his consistant appetite and cheeky ways.

We went to the Billingsgate Market early Saturday morning and bought a whole salmon so that he could have them for his meals (he loved salmon).. occasionally he got chicken.. anything he liked eating he got. We even bought the cranberry oat yoghurt clusters from M & S that he loved so much.

We figured as long as he kept eating properly he would have the energy to hopefully repel the cancer and get better.

He continued to stay with us until last Thursday when his front legs also failed him.

He couldn't get up despite persistantly trying and even with our help his legs were just too weak to carry on.

I knew deep inside that we would have to let him go soon.

As Jake couldn't get up, he couldn't go outside to relieve himself and had to pee wherever he was laying down. It broke my heart to see him feel so guilty and sorry for dirtying the floor. He kept looking at me as if to say I'm sorry mummy I couldn't help it.

As the afternoon progressed, Jake got worse. He started bleeding from the nose. I gave the husband a call and asked if he could take the rest of the day off and come home to spend his last few hours with Jakey.

He came home and got some time with Jakey before we had to drive him to the vet and let him go.

Our vet, Tim was very understanding of our pain and did the best to make it as easy for us as possible.

Jake laid down at the back seat of our car with his head on my lap throughout the whole journey. It was going to be our last car ride together.

Tim was kind and offered to put Jake down in the car where he was comfortable with me. I got to hold our baby as he drifted off to sleep. The husband was next to us comforting Jake. As he died he left us a smile as if to say thank you.

We are still grieving for Jake of course but we are learning to cope with life without him. At least there are still the bunnies and Bronx with us.

Bronx is also missing Jake but he is adapting to life as the only dog. We are hoping he will get used to the bunnies and find company in them.

Jakey, it's been a week since you left and we haven't stopped missing you. We will always love and remember you and your beautiful eyes and your smile. We hope you are now able to run and do everything you couldn't while you were ill.

Though.. please don't steal God's slippers when he's not looking or give him your puppy dog eyes when he eats KFC. :)

We love you baby boy.

Bronx and Jake smiling in their sleep

Painting the town purple

We had a visitor from Toronto last week! Guess who?


No! Not the squirrel! It's Purply Daph! (Purply because she likes and will buy anything purple.. I wonder if she'll buy a purpleeee strawberry?)

It has been a good 3? 4? years since we last saw each other and it was nice to have her over and catch up.

The only problem was that PD (Purply Daph)'s idea of a good holiday consists of visiting all kinds of old buildings and monuments.... whereas we are the kind of people who just don't get old buildings or paintings.

Anyway.. we did do some touring together. We drove to Dover with Dodgy Mike (DM) and PD to take the ferry over to Calais for a day trip.


Calais has 2 local markets open on Saturdays and they're both rich in local produce and food! (just the things we like).. PD wanted to go to Calais to sample French KFC (strange, yes?) but unfortunately with our limited French and without sounding too rude we manage to figure out that there is NO KFC in Calais.. haha..poor PD


We did however manage to find a superb local spit roast chicken van at the corner of the market. This is no ordinary Waitrose/Sainsbury's roast chicken. This is roast chicken with a large metal container strewn with sliced sweet onions cooked from the heat of the yummy juices dripping off the roasting chickens!

The best thing is that they actually give you scoups of that yummy gravy and onions with your chicken when you buy them!

Unfortunately we didn't take a picture of the chicken cooking but I have got these!

You know it's good when you see the big baby hogging his chicken!

Even better is the bread stall beside the roast chicken van.. good crusty on the outside soft on the inside bread dipped in the yummy chicken gravy with onions............................... blissssss!

We wouldn't find a place to eat outside and as the day was quite cold decided to go back to the car to enjoy our chicken.. a few french people passing the street actually looked in to see what we were doing.

A French lady who walked by asked the chicken hogging baby to roll down our car window to give us the thumbs up and said Bon Appetit!

That was a super good trip!


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PD also wanted to go to the theatre.. her show of choice was Wicked.

Wicked sells their front row seats for the day's show at 10am so we were there early and managed to grab 3!

The husband and I didn't really know what to expect but the show was great! It was really worth the £25 and I personally thought it was the best theatre show we've been to.



Spamalot was good as well.. Stomp was a little bit boring and Macbeth almost had me tearing my hair out..

Obviously they're all different kinds of shows and it is worth the experience but maybe next time we'll go for a lighter Shakespeare play..

Us at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre

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The funniest thing we did while PD was here had to be our Paddington Statue hunt.

Now, the husband and I have been to Paddington station many many times but NEVER have we come across the Paddington bear statue. The souvenir shop yes, the statue no.

Heck we didn't even know about its existence until PD the Paddington Bear fan told us about it.

So we made our trip to Paddington from High Street Ken by foot because the district line to Edgware decided not to run that weekend. By the time we reached Paddington my feet were already starting to complain.


PD bought her bear from the souvenir shop and asked for directions to the statue. For some reason or other we just couldn't find it!!!

1000000 circles around the station, directions from 4 other people and with my feet screaming!!! we finally found this


We walked past it at least 8 times but just didn't notice it! Yes.. it looks a little bit like oddly shaped poop.. PD doesn't agree..



We took PD to many other places but I am too lazy to write everything in detail.

Nai.. thank you for taking the effort to come visit us and we both had a good time spending time with you!!! Hugs!

Happy Birthday Bunnies!

Today Chicken Pie and Wibble turns 2.

Unfortunately they don't eat cake but we are probably going to get a key lime pie and eat it on their behalf.. hehe..

Bronx the dog met the rabbits out of their cage for the very first time today. He's been allowed to look at them from the safety gate and also while the rabbits are in the run.

The responce was good and hopefully they'll be good friends soon.

Jake the other dog is too old to climb up the stairs so he does not know yet that rabbits exist in his home.

We're both really thankful to have such wonderful pets to love and company. We give them a good home and in return they give us a full life.

Happy Birthday boys!

Last Saturday we made a 3 and a half hour trip up to Roden to collect 2 new members of our family. Meet Jake and Bronx.

Jake

Bronx

We got them both from Dogs Trust. Their previous owners are seperated and are going to sell their house and can not afford to keep them anymore.

It is quite obvious from the photos that Jake and Bronx are not young dogs. Jake is 12 with a breathing problem and is on pills daily and Bronx is 10. They had to find a new home together as they have been friends all their life and cannot live seperately.

I know that when most people decide to adopt a dog they usually look for a little puppy but because we already have the rabbits, we need a mellow dog who wouldn't go chasing them around. J and B fits the bill perfectly and we get the bonus of giving 2 old dogs a home.

Initially I was a little worried that it might be difficult to bond with them because they had lived with someone else for so many years but we didn't have any problems at all. When we brought them home they settled down really quickly and easily. After a few hours it seemed as though they had been here from the very start.

We would both really like to thank Dogs Trust for being so helpful and professional. You really get a sense that they care very much for their dogs and I think we can now really appreciate what they have done with the financial support we have given them through our university years (we used to sponsor a dog called Monica).

If you are considering supporting Dog's Trust, please do. I will write someday in another post how they are helping Jake and us cope with the medical costs for Jake's condition so that he can find a good retirement home.

The Graduate

Amazingly after 3 long years I finally managed to complete my LLB.. thankfully without much hitch.

I've known people who take 5 - 6 years to complete the programme and some who does not get to the end at all and even though I do not graduate with first class honours I am super thankful I passed all my papers without having to do any of the dreaded and expensive resits.

The Grad with a mortarboard that wouldn't stay on her head

I am also thankful for the experience I had as student representative during my 2nd and 3rd year, getting to know the fantastic and hardworking people who run the programme and it was so meaningful that on my graduation day, 7 were there to say hello and offer congratulations.

Wayne Morrison who was the programme director was there and was delighted to see me graduate. It is very sad that he has moved on from the programme and is no longer the director. He was really dedicated I am very honoured to have known him.

Kate, Wayne and me!

Also thanks to Simon Askey and Stephanie Wilson, both who have been really nice and helpful during my term at the ELC particularly Stephanie who took the effort to sit beside me and guide me through the meetings. Stephanie was the announcer during the graduation ceremony and Simon was there as assistant programme director (I believe). Simon was at the end of the stage to greet and congratulate graduates after the all important handshake with the Vice-Chancellor (whom I have never met). It meant so much to me that they were on stage at the ceremony and that I had had to time and opportunity to know them personally.

Simon Askey. We were rather excited to see each other.
He said 'You finally made it' to which I answered 'I know!!!!!!' Lol :P

Unfortunately neither the husband nor the brother got a good picture of Stephanie.

The all important handshake with the Vice Chancellor

Of course the ceremony wouldn't be complete without the husband, mumzy and brother. The dad couldn't make it to London but the graduation was podcasted online and he was able view it from Malaysia.

The mum who 'borrowed' my scarf, leggings AND boots
(yeah she wanted to look super young and trendy in London),
the brother who has his face tilted one way when he was taking photos for some reason or other
and the handsome husband who is down from a size 44 to 38!

My 'study partner' (she studies, I try to study), Kate who graduated with 2 university prizes!
We were so lucky to be seated next to each other during the graduation
(her surname being Simpson, mine being Soon)
and I could not have asked for anything better!

Anyway the husband and I are both super glad that I'm now graduated. No more grumpy wife, no more panic stricken exam phobic woman in the house and best of all no more 8 hour long marathon weekend classes (some of which he had to attend and take notes when the subjects schedule clashed!)!!!!

All said, I have had so much fun doing my degree and it doesn't matter if at the end of the day I do not actually become a lawyer. The education and knowledge I've gained is invaluable and the people I have met and supported me through will be remembered.