Milk Fruit

My brother-in-law brought back a basket of fruits on a business trip to Vietnam recently. Among the many types of exotic fruit is one called the “Milk Fruit”. Apparently, it is not cheap, one Sing dollar per fruit. We did not enjoy the fruit until a friend told us that we need to chill it and roll it until they are soft before eating it.

Buah Tarap

I have been to Sabah a couple of times and I recommend you a wild fruit called Buah Tarap. It tastes like Caster Apple but very much less expensive. One big fruit costs only 3 ringgits.
For some reasons, I was not impressed with it when I first tried it. So much so that when my family was in Sabah for holiday, I even told them to give it a miss. A trip in Oct/Nov 2007 changed my perception. The fruit tasted so good that I told myself that I must bring some Tarap back to Singapore to correct my children’s misconception.
The problem was at the airport. The fruit was too pungent to be checked-in or hand carried. In my desperation, I covered 2 Taraps with Avocado and declared them as Avocado. My children wolfed them down and it made all the risk worthwhile.
Sept to Nov is Sabah’s fruit season; you can eat till your heart’s content. But don’t think of durians in Sabah, they are more expensive than what you can get in Singapore and not so good ones too.

#17 Wiki and my students

Create a blog post on how you might use wikis with your students.
I plan to use a Wiki website at wetpaint.com to co-ordinate the ECE FOC '09 for the following purposes:

1. To facilitate discussions/suggestions.
2. To make announcements to the group of student leaders and staff committee members.
3. To share photos.

In addition, I am going to use free Web storage to share some documents such as camper namelist, camp program, budget, recruitment poster, T-shirt design and logistics.

#17 Wiki Sandbox

Add an entry to the Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki.
Honestly, I cannot make the 'head or tail' of the Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki story which is written by different people at different times. The article looks like the work of a deranged mind. By the way, the Bible was written in similar way except for the lack of technology and over a much greater period of time yet the story is consistent in every way.
I was very tempted to give up on this exercise but I would have missed the point -- the spirit of the Sandbox (scratch pad). It is meant to give us hands-on experience with Wiki, the logic of the story is secondary. The original Sandbox story has many references to cats and dogs, so I continued its tradition. My entry was as follows:

"By now, the cat’s great appetite has caused it to grow to a humongous size. Coupled with its wandering nature, it has triggered a couple of alarms in the neighbourhood. When it strayed into the neighbour’s backyard, its black colour and size give the impression of a BIG wild cat (black panther?) We were told to restraint the cat but anyone who has kept cats before would know that it is close to impossible. You only hear of “walking the dog”, but never the cat. You can confine a dog to a house but not the cat.
One day, ..."

So, you think I make up this story, uh? No, I did not. The accompanying photo shows my son and Ben, the big fat cat (Haslemere, England, 2001)

It is supposed to be a cat and dog story, many thanks to Doris from BA, the other side of the story unfolds, ...

dog decided that chasing cats around the compound and all over the kitchen was really no fun. It just made everyone mad, especially when there were muddy paw prints all over the brand new carpet. One glorious morining, it spied something more interesting in the house just across the road -a new neighbour - an oh-so-lovely maltese of agal. Such luscious eye lashes, such dainty paws and my, my, fur as white as snow. He could feel his heart skip a beat as his thoughts ran wild.Gosh! Was she some kind of a princess? Dog could almost imagine himself fetching a slipper for her to chew on... he wondered how he could catch her attention........ Could this possibly be puppy love????

Doris writes very well and from a perspective uncommon among most people. You can read her blog here.

The story continues ...

Hmm...it'a a tough act to follow. As the dog observed the new kid on the block, a lady in sports attire came out of the house with a cat on a leash, walking towards the tennis court. Whoever has heard of a cat on a leash? The dog was curious and dashed after the lady. Well, all seemed normal as the lady played a few rounds of tennis with her friends while the cat slept comfortably under a shady tree. When they decided that they had enough exercise, the lady just walked the cat home. Now, how did that happen?....No cat fights? Strange....wildrabbit

Wildrabbit is so brave. Knowing that it is a tough act to follow and still do it. We all benefited because of her spirit.

#16 Wikis

Write a blog post on what you have discovered about Wikis.
Wiki is a technology that enables mass collaboration 0n the Web by allowing users to co-edit and create on-line discussions and share photos in an accountable manner. Without Wiki, there will be no Wikipedia. On a smaller scale, Wiki is used to build interest group websites, plan camping trips (e.g. YEP), analyze case studies, write report as equal partners.
After looking up a couple of free Wiki websites, my vote goes to ‘wetpaint.com’. Some Wiki sites are free as long as the number of users are limited (PBWiki’s limit is 3) and others have time limit.

True Wisdom

I join the Chinese church service, not because my Mandarin is any good but somehow when I use English, I connected mostly on the logical plane. I feel more emotionally and spiritually when I use Mandarin.
Recently, I heard a very touching story during one of the services and I would like to share with you. Pastor Zhou was from Shanghai on a mission trip to Northern Thailand. One late evening, a child from a nearby village became seriously ill. His mother, a non-believer, approached the church for help because the church is one of the few in that area that has transport.
However, the journey to the hospital after dusk was too dangerous. It was decided to give the child some fever medicine and they would go to the hospital after the morning prayer.
Pastor Zhou led the morning prayer, in the mid of it, a terrible cry echoed the hall -- the child died in his mother's arms. It was a terrible blow to the mother. The pastor was at a lost too. His years of training deserted him; he could not master the words to comfort the lady.
Near the village where the tribal lady came from was a little rundown church building. The pastor would preach there week after week. The lady would sit quietly on the last row. One day, the pastor suggested to renovate the church building. As usual, there was silence. Then the lady stood up and volunteered to contribute the pillars. Her effort was infectious; others started to come forward too.
As the pastor work with her, he realized that she had accepted Christ as her savior despite the church 'failure' to save her son. That to the pastor is true wisdom.

Hello 2009

With great joy we thank God for the year 2008. This is not only a year of celebrations (Bible Church celebrates its 50th anniversary and NP its 45th) but also a year that spurred us on. At the threshold of a new year, we will be strong and courageous for the Lord goes before us and He will never forsake us.