Busy, Adapting, Tired, Struggling...

Nuff said.

Hahaha...

Nah, I won't be that mean. But in terms of a brief summary of my life now, that's a pretty concise but accurate few words.

I'm rather busy at the office nowadays and mostly it's because we are still adapting to life as a new school, a new office, and a new administration. Equipment is still coming in, there's so many rooms that we need to prep-up for daily use, the students have to be taught, lessons need to be planned, and we are running a full-day school which means that whatever work we have to do besides teaching has to be done outside teaching hours, which means, at home.

I guess no one foresaw this issue creeping up from under our noses. I mean, it is normal for the Principal to ask for your paperwork on your lesson plans and all that if you're doing a half-day school session, but when the same demands are asked of you whilst in a full-day session school, it's a bit different. I mean, you have your teaching periods, and in between, you have your ad-hoc jobs. Then in the afternoon, you have your afternoon lessons, and when you really get home, you're a good as toast.

I'm feeling the crunch nowadays especially when baby doesn't want to cooperate with us on his sleeping time. He's been waking us up once an hour every night for the past week or so, and it was only until last night, when we didn't let him sleep through dinner time, that he was so knocked-out during the midnight hours.

Well, I guess life's like that until we get used to everything; the work, the baby, the new life...

3 weeks plus

This is the first time that we coaxed him into the basket. He's been acting really mature beyond his days apparently. The confinement lady noted that she hasn't seen any baby like him before. He's very sensitive towards his environment and well-being. Unlike kids his age, which is only about 3 weeks now, he knows when his pampers are full, he wants a nappy change every time he passes urine, he knows how to demand his rights to clean sheets and comforts.

Apparently, kids 2 months old don't even start doing that. It seems that he has a brain that's more developed than it should, which is a good thing. However, with a kid so demanding, it's gonna be tough for us as we struggle with his demands.

I guess when you name your son, you really get what you asked for.

And now for alittle bit about myself;

It's been an exciting week so far and all our energy levels are dropping as we get used to the demands of teaching a full-day school. There's never a dull moment and deadlines keep coming at you like nobody's business. There's so much to do, so many lessons to prepare for and the students welfare must be taken care of. There's so many demands on each one of us that even the Principal is stressed out.

The only solace that we get would be that we are indeed making an impact in the lives of these few students that we have, changing them for the better and giving them some direction in life.

So do pray for us whenever you remember us.

So yeah, if you still haven't gotten the news, "HE'S OUT!!!" 

If you asked me about what fatherhood is like, it's still early days yet. 

He's been a rather good kid thus far, and he's got an attitude. Even from the start, he has his likes and dislikes. He smiles well and I think should be a rather happy kid. 

What my wife and I were really worried about was that our kid would come out unhappy. I've seen some really unhappy kids out there and we sure hope that this kid won't be one of them. 

But now, the journey begins. 

He came out looking very much like his mom and day by day, he is still changing his looks. But from what we see, his distinct eyes and mouth will make him looking closer to his mom. But we are hoping for a good mix of the best we have. He has a longish body and his fingers and toes are all long and thin. If he does grow up to be a tall lad, and looking like his mom, he's gonna look exactly like his uncle, mom's brother. 

He's eating well, sleeping well and he's got some fight in him. Even from the first day, he's shown that he's a toughie. Even before he turned a week old, he's been turning his head to the left and right. It won't be long before he'll be turning himself over in his sleep. 

As for the experience of being a new parent, it's a culture shock altogether. I've never envisaged that there's so many extra things to do. Just because his systems are weak, I have to boil everything that touches his mouth. I have never spent so much time waiting for water to boil ever in my life! 

There so much washing, there's so much cleaning up, there's just so many things to do!

Well, will update later when there's more things to tell. As for now, both mom and I and little Joshua are doing fine. 

Renewal?

At last, now that things have somewhat slowed down a bit, I get a little breathing space. Settling down while on the job takes quite a toll on the human psyche. It doesn't help when you are transfered with a price tag on your head that says 'for X amount, you will get not just one, but two functions!'

I've felt like that since arriving here and getting myself involved in a tad too much of ministry related roles. I mean, if I am alone, I wouldn't feel it that much, but now, with the baby's arrival imminent, I find that I am rather alone with my wife on a lot of things. What most people in this town fail to realise sometimes is that we are here alone, without relatives or even close friends. And we're staying so far away from anything. If I get sick, it's 10 miles down to the nearest clinic. If my car breaks down, it's 6 miles down to the nearest workshop. If my car runs out of petrol, it's 5 miles down to the nearest station. If I need electricals, it's 10 miles. Banks? 10 miles.

If I need anything at all, I'm all alone up here. Even trying to service my car becomes a challenge because I work when the workshops are open, and I get off work as they do. Even doing my banking is a challenge because some of my loans are held in banks where the cash deposit machine earns a monthly salary or the real machine is located inside the bank whereby we have to do our banking during office hours.

The locals, I feel, will not experience this kind of situation and most of these things are just beyond them. Most of the people I know have someone to help them out with their chores like maintaining the car, like mowing the lawn, like buying groceries, like paying the bills. They have gotten so used to being a closely knit society that they have forgotten that some people do come in individually, with their individual baggage and responsibilities. Therefore, they will only know how to demand from you a level of performance that is so common here. 

I have been trying to observe people here and base their situation as a regulator for my own experience. And the only conclusion that I am forming is that most of the people who are so effective at work and in ministry are mostly helped out by their family members here and there. At least they have someone to fall back on. 

My situation here is that I am 10 miles away from any close friends that I have made, there's not much to choose from in terms of amenities, and the demands of work and demands on ministry is still as high as they can be. There's the time factor, there's the proximity factor, there's the convenience factor working against me. 

And people tend to forget that. 

But don't let this get you down. I'm just ranting because I have nothing else better to do on a saturday morning at the office.

The Small Office Mouse...

Yes. We're on the brink of an infestation.

There's a resident field mouse inside the office. I've seen its shadow for 2 times and yesterday, we actually had it in our rubbish bin. This morning, it was scampering around on our office floor. So yeah, we're a school surrounded by nature. 

I'm actually rather happy to have the tiny field mouse around the office. It's a sign that there's still a God. I feel that kids nowadays are growing up in such sterile environments that they simply do not experience life. 

Being a father in the VERY near future, I can't stop but help thinking about the life that my child will have while he's growing up. I see that some of the kids around me have grown up in such sterile environments that they wouldn't have touched raw chicken before because that might contain germs. 

I am also rather appalled at the lack of knowledge on most things connected to life. Kids nowadays don't see real chickens, they only see processed meat; and that simply causes them to develop an unfamiliar fear of chickens. This, coupled with some strange ideas that they will get off the junk that comes out of cartoon network serves to create an unhealthy world-view for the kids of today. 

Sooner or later, we will see a generation of children who do not even go out of their automated homes for fear of catching air-borne bacteria. What we see on tv is actually subliminally bringing us towards that kind of life. 

The last time I checked, the body needs to be exposed to germs in order to develop antibodies. And why are we preventing our children to 'cultivate' the said antibodies by keeping them in a sterile environment?

Seriously, what are we doing to our kids? Giving them a better life? Or keeping them safe so that more and more 'technologically' advanced products can protect them from ALL harm?

What do we see on tv these days is actually scaring the crap out of me. Bateria-free aircons, bac-free fridges, bac-free handwash, bac-free this, bac-free that. Sooner than you know, we'll be living in a bac-free house and before you know it, our bodies might forget how to produce antibodies.

So, would you still want to live in a bac-free, sterile environment?

New Office

Yeah, we're settling in the new office as of 2 weeks ago. Things are pretty much still new and disorganised, but that's the thrill of setting up a new thing. Everything is new, but yet, untried. 

As for life as a whole, we had our house warming last Monday and I have to say that it was minimalistic. Amidst the chaos, we still had quite a good time together. Thank God for the sudden help that we got from a few parties in terms of providing with the hardware. We had about 30 people crammed up in our living room, and these 30 people brought with them about 10 children. 

So yeah. Now the house can truly be called home. Heh. Although the water tank is still not fixed, and the cement rocks at the back are still there, I'd say we have settled in nicely. 

The baby is coming anytime soon now, and I am feeling edgier as I can't leave my wife alone at home. The proximity of my house to the hospital is rather far, and if I go anywhere leaving my wife at home, I'm risking a 20 minute car ride from whereever I am to get myself back home, and it'll take another 30 minutes or so to get to the hospital. My worry is that my baby might be born inside my car. Heh.

Well, there's work to be done. Cirio.

Opened...

Announcing the launching of the Vision School Tawau...

Yeah, works really gets tough now. I'm actually sorry for not being able to update the blog and of course, whenever I do update, I'll give you a low-down of life in Tawau for a guy who's been in the Big City for the past 10 years or so. 

And oh, I guess it's about time I address the anonymous comment from my previous post - what's your problem man?  Can't a guy even express himself in his own blog? Don't visit my blog if you can't take what I'm writing...  sheesh... It's not like I write for you and you alone man... 

Now back to blogging. 

The baby is imminent as we speak. He's already grown to a size 2 weeks faster than his actual projected size. According to the doctor, if he continuesto grow at this rate, he's gonna be a 9 pound baby when he comes out in about 4 weeks time. So, it's diet for mommy. 

As for me, I'm just happy that I can finally settle down. I've gotten my bank statement addresses changed. And most of the time, that means that I have actually settled down. 

So, yeah. I guess I'm going no-where from now onwards.

As for the house, we've gotten our air-con, tv, kitchen and most of the entire house is done up. The only niggly part is still the water tank behind the house. 

Baby's room is now all done up. Bought a bed for visitors. Gotten myself celcom broadband - which works best in town, not at home... 

That's all from me I guess.