On a non-typical Sunday afternoon, I met up with a number of my former students at my favorite hangout DOME, Island Plaza. I had just met up with Kat and Patrick yesterday and today I met up with Kat (who drove me there), Ruttigone(whom I had not seen since 1997), Nital and the best surprise of all was reuniting with Yee Lin whom I had not seen since 1990 (that works out to 19 years GOSH!!!).
Yee Lin, now a mother of two, was the second group of students I taught and she was the monitor when I was form tutor. An accountant by training, she is now on maternal 'sabbatical' devoting herself to nurturing her five year old daughter and nursing her three-month old son. Happily married to a lawyer, Yee Lin always displays such a witty sense of humor and I totally cracked up while comparing parenting experiences and aspirations. I wish her and her lovely family God's blessings as she gives nothing but her best to her loved ones, family and friends.
Ruttigone is currently in her final lap of her PhD studies at RMIT, Melbourne while working in University of Melbourne. Even when she was in Year 9, I had told her that she had a great future with her zest and energy for life, exuberance for making new discoveries and again, a wonderful sense of humor. To this day, I still have some of the projects she submitted for my Sociology classes. As it stands, I am dying to read her PhD thesis which is on such a wonderful topic most relevant to Malaysian students. God bless you and may you get your doctorate soon. I am certain that you will be making waves in the international scene or even in the field of research.
Kat who currently works in KL is my goddaughter (together with her cousin Maybelene who is pursuing her PhD studies in Economics at University of California, Davis). Throughout the years, Kat has showered me with so much love, gifts, time and understanding and my family love her very much too. With a heart full of love, Kat has always been very patient, loving, kind, generous and helpful. While studying in Melbourne, she would never fail to bring some chocolates for me each time she came back for her vacation as she knows how much I love them. I will miss her terribly when she returns to Melbourne in the near future. I do not know where she will be doing her postgraduate studies but I certainly pray that God will bless her, guide her and provide everything that she needs...
It is so uncanny that while in Year 9, Nital was so terrified of me that she did not attend school for a couple of days. I did not know until I called her home to find out what was wrong. Amazingly, we became good friends and she worked so hard in my Economics class and we kept in constant touch with each other from the time I left my post till today. She has always been very consistent in her relationships with all of us - honest, candid, warm, kind, helpful, loving, diligent and a most responsible and industrious engineer now in a MNC(Penang). I wish her God's blessings as she awaits the results of her applications for PhD studies.
I do miss teaching so very much. More importantly, I miss those former students of mine from the international school and college and I know that my life is so much richer because they are now my dear and beloved friends. Thank God for Facebook!!! We can now be connected to each other so easily!
So here's old me saying Hi and I miss you guys loads to all my former students who are reading this post...and the same for my friends, relatives and blog readers. To those of you who kept in touch with me through challenging times and encouraged me to buka kedai here again, thanks a million. I could never have done it without you all! God bless you!!!
I would like to dedicate the following song to all of you out there who had faith in me, prayed for me and stuck with me through good times and bad times. Click and listen to Michael W. Smith's "FRIENDS".
On Friday afternoon,together with my son and his best friend, I had a wonderful time feasting my eyes on the minute and unique details of architecture and lifestyle of the inner city area of Penang, particularly in the Armenian quarter. What I found unique to the area is the small streets and the way each wound its way around the place. The Armenian quarter is actually the area where the earliest of Penang settlers lived.
According to Streets of Georgetown, Penang, a map of the early 1800s showed that Armenian Street was formerly called Malay Lane, due to the Malay kampung settlement there. The name, Armenian Street, was given as a tribute to the Armenian merchants who played a key role in the development of Penang's economy. By mid-1800s, the neighbourhood was assumed by the Straits Chinese.
From my experience, the best way to savor this historic core of Georgetown is to survey it in a walkabout tour. Then only can we appreciate the old world enigma of the living heritage and old buildings such as old shops, pre-war houses and coffee-shops. If you merely drive by or sit in the comfort of a tour bus, you may miss the cultural diversity of the place and lose sight of the cultural and historical vibrancy of the area.
Take a look at the following photograph which is near to the junction of Armenian Street and Pitt Street. It is actually the home of a body tattoo artist. Click on the image to appreciate the creative and artistic skills of the owner who used the most nondescript material for his decor outside the home.
The next photograph is of yet another section of Armenian Street that is gaily lit by Chinese lanterns and streamers in preparation for the Chinese New Year celebrations on February 1st.
This photograph also exudes a mysterious air of mystery and history. I was drawn to the similarity in the style of this house known as Swatow Lodging House with the next photograph of a building in the Khoo Kongsi.
One of the major clan houses in Penang, the Khoo Kongsi was built in 1851. The Khoo's (my clan) arrived in Penang in the 17th century and built many houses, temples of which the Khoo Kongsi is the biggest, most important and also most majestic. Personally, I am always so fascinated whenever I visit Khoo Kongsi to take in the splendor of Chinese architecture in its element. To me, part of the appeal of the main building likes in the painstaking attention to details and even the splash of colors which seem to give the whole building an added dimension of its own. If one were to drink the beauty of the building, the spectacular and magnificent elements take on a character of its own that orbit around the building. 
One needs to examine some of the ornamental designs of the building and one can be astounded to realize that the artisans actually used fragments of broken porcelain spoons and bowls to create the ornate designs embedded in the main frame of the detailed artistic works.
If you get a chance to visit the temple, you will find the name tablets of clan members on the altars. The clan house houses an association building as featured above, a traditional theatre with a granite-paved square in front of it and 19th century row houses (as seen in the following photograph) for clan members. Click here for a more detailed write-up/gallery of photographs of the place.
According to historical records in the clan house, Khoo Kongsi was burnt down n 1894, supposedly struck by lightning. Then, the Chinese believed that it was because the structure of the temple resembled the Emperor's palace and provoked the displeasure of the gods. Following that, the Khoo's rebuilt a scaled-down version of the place in 1902 and final works were completed in 1906. If you have never been to the place, you MUST pay a visit to appreciate the intricate carvings and richly ornamented beams of the finest wood bearing the mark of famous craftsmen from China who were brought in for the restoration works.
The following photograph is of a back lane just behind the row of houses above. This back lane, unlike any other that I have seen, has many bird cages hanging from different heights. Standing by the collapsible grill, one can enjoy the musical and melodious chirping of the birds.
Just outside Khoo Kongsi is the Anak-Anak Kota office. In fact, I found it by chance when I bumped into Fidel whom I got to know in the German class I attended last year. There, I had the opportunity to meet Janet and to see the ongoing projects that they were running for children and teenagers.
Anak-Anak Kota is a unique heritage education project run by artists-educators from the local university. It targets children between the ages of 10-16 from diverse communities and schools within the inner city area of Penang to empower them to explore and to understand how their identity is rooted in their heritage.
Here is my son and his buddy Dex in the front section of the Anak-Anak Kota office.
From there, we made our way to Galeri Seni Mutiara, an art gallery, where we savored the artistic works of Tan Kai Sheuan in his exhibition called "Bewilder". We also met Mr. Koay Soo Kau, artist and director of the gallery. The highlights of this first solo exhibition were the portrait paintings that ranged from super realism to expressionism. As a 24-year old artist, Mr. Tan is able to capture his restlessness in different types of experimentations in his artistic works on canvas.
Next stop was 120, Armenian Street - Sun Yat Sen's base in Penang, which is now owned by Khoo Su-Yin. Unfortunately, it was closed but we did not mind as we had been there two years ago during the Penang State Level Chinese New Year Celebrations. For more photographs and information of the place, click here
Just beside the Sun Yat Sen base is the Syed Alatas Mansion. Again, it was closed but we had taken many pics of the interior during our last trip two years ago so we went on our way to the flea market.
Please click here for more information on Syed Alatas Mansion.
It was the first time the boys had been to any flea market and they were quite horrified that old things could be put on sale. Surprisingly, there was a large crowd that had gathered by the time we arrived.
If you think our trip ended here, you are wrong. We walked to Masjid Jamek and that is a tale for another day. If you have never been on the heritage trail in Penang, please do so. It is truly an unforgettable experience! Have a nice day!
*Pic taken opposite Yap Kongsi. I wish I had remembered to bring along my camera. All the pics here were taken with my K800i Cybershot (Sony Ericsson).
