This family counted their blessings!

Image via Wikipedia

I was fascinated as I read how this family made it through, or simply, pulling it through, the hard times in their life, even as the husband lost his job and had to stay home as what they call 'househusband' - a complete and opposite expectation from the local communities family structure, where the man works and the wife stays at home as the 'housewife.'

No, that isn't even the message that I wanted to point out here.

My point to make is that it doesn't matter anymore what others are saying, what your neighbours (especially if they can't help you) may think and say about the 'changes' that you apply in your family structure is irrelevant, so you can continue with your life - through the hard times.

Besides, there is nothing wrong with the adjustment you make.

Perhaps, it is time to 'open up' the mind, instead of the mouth.

I say, they are still a respectable family, in that the husband and wife will do even the 'unusual' to raise their family - and still keep being respectable.

Read on.....

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Adapting as a househusband

Letter from Zhang Lianguo

I REFER to "Count your blessings" (April 23) and would like to share my story as a househusband.

Similar to Budget Tai Tai's friend, Househusband (myself) was told by his boss that his services were no longer required by the company on an otherwise normal day in 2008.

All he received for his immediate release was two months' pay in lieu of notice.

After going through the "anger-denial-acceptance-frustration-calm-down" psychological process, Househusband decided to move on and start again despite being in his mid-40s.

Times are hard. It is tough for a middle-aged man to get back on the professional track.

Househusband cast his net wide to secure a job. However, he saw all his applications come to nothing.

As with many unsuccessful cases, he was categorised as either over-qualified or not experienced enough.

At a walk-in interview, he was told politely: "Sir, I am afraid this is a mis-match for the job which you are applying for."

Looking around the function hall teeming with young job-seekers with black hair prevailing over those with grey hair, Househusband left without questioning the rationale of the statement.

If not for a "Corporate Wife", Househusband would have probably been a taxi driver now. After weighing all factors, Househusband opted to be a househusband. (Actually there weren't many options left.)

Mine is a typical Singaporean family: Husband and wife were full time employees. The children attended school, while a foreign domestic helper (FDH) attended to the household chores.

With household reduced to a single income, the priority was to tighten daily expenses.

With a full time Househusband installed, the post of FDH seemed to be redundant. When the incumbent FDH left for home after her work permit expired, another was not hired.

My situation was a challenge to the family, as it totally "derailed" the traditions of the society we live in.

Well, as change becomes the norm in today's life, adapting is the way to go.

You might have noticed that even the taxman had rephrased the phrase "Dependent Wife" to "Dependent Spouse".

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Taken from TODAY, Voices - Tuesday, 27-April-2010
Adapting as a househusband
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In a bad situation? Count your blessings!

Image via Wikipedia

I am in a hard situation now. I was, many years ago. As what the author says, "count your blessings."

This can be true any stage of your life. I am in a hard situation, but there are those who cannot even call the sad plight they are in a 'situation.' And there are those who couldn't do anything despite their 'better situation'.

It is always our outlook in life that will change the situations, and turn our 'luck' around. I mean, with perseverance and patience, and determination (now this is very important), there will always be some ways and means to pull things through and make ends meet.

While this article was written primarily for Singaporeans, it certainly applies to any other of different nationality. In this essence, we are all the same.

I am in a hard situation. And this, too, will pass.

Read on...

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Count your blessings

Times are hard, but Singaporeans shouldn't grumble

by Tabitha Wang

A friend recently lost his job. He had been working with the same firm for 20-odd years and had anticipated retiring from that company in a few years' time.

Instead, the bosses called him into a room, told him his work was unsatisfactory and fired him on the spot. All he had to show for almost all his working life was two months' pay in lieu of notice.

As an American working for a British company in Singapore, he found he was not protected by any country's law. He tried to sue for compensation but all the lawyers he consulted, whether in his home country or host country, told him he had no case.

To make matters worse, he and his family had to leave Singapore almost immediately because his employment pass had been cancelled by his firm.

His kids, who had lived in Singapore all their lives, had to leave their school mid-term while he and his wife scrambled to look for somewhere suitable to live.

The whole thing was a mess.

When I met him in Hong Kong, he looked like he had aged 10 years in a couple of months.

He was bitter, angry with everything in general.

I could well understand this unfocused rage - because I have had lots of it myself.

As you know, my husband too lost his job in Hong Kong. Since then, he has been applying assiduously for one position after another.

It's been soul destroying to see all his applications come to nothing. He was over-qualified, said some, not experienced enough, said others.

Mindful of advice to "just accept anything", he tried for jobs as shop assistants, only to be passed over for someone with more experience. Even driving a taxi is out of the question.

Unlike in Singapore, licences in Hong Kong are controlled by individuals. It costs HK$4 million ($706,000) for a licence for a taxi and HK$6.5 million for one to drive a minibus.

As we are in a foreign country, we can't look to anyone for help. Yes, there are times when I feel like lashing out at someone - anyone.

But apart from my husband's unfeeling ex-employers, who can I blame?

Since my earlier column on hardship allowances, I've been accused of being anti-expat. How can I be, seeing as I'm one myself?

I may be anti-fat cat bonuses but I have a lot of sympathy for expats struggling to make a living on local terms.

Especially when you have no one to rely upon but yourself. There is no "gahmen" to blame or call upon to get you out of your mess.

Our Minister Mentor once called Singaporeans "champion grumblers".

Well, Hong Kongers are too.

Get into a Hong Kong taxi and the driver is full of opinions about what the government should do. My local friends are always railing against this policy or other.

I told a colleague about my American friend's dilemma and she immediately said: "The Government should do something about it." It is exactly the same when I read some Singapore blogs, which start with "the Government should ... " followed by "dampen rising house prices/create more jobs for Singaporeans/stop closing down wet markets ... "

Maybe the Government should. But maybe we should stop seeing the Government as our parents, expecting them to shelter us from all harm all the time.

Banks collapse, economies fail, property prices balloon ... these things happen.

We can wait for the Government to come up with policies to shield us from the fallout. Or we can just hunker down and try to work things out ourselves.

Can't find a job? It's painful, but shouldn't you be concentrating your efforts in looking for one rather than writing blogs against foreign workers?

Can't afford that penthouse unit in Bishan but have a point-block flat in Bedok?

You still have a roof over your head. At least you have an HDB flat rather than squatter homes or wire mesh cages - yes, they still exist in Hong Kong.

So, if you have a job, a roof over your head and a full tummy, what more could you ask for?

Unless it's for the Geylang Lorong 9 beef kway teow shop to start franchising. Now, that would be a cause worth fighting for.


Tabitha Wang wonders which Government department she should complain to if volcanoes spoil her holiday.

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Lifted from TODAY, Voices - Friday, 23-April-2010
Count your blessings
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Iowan ready for prom with gum wrapper dress

Image via Wikipedia

What would be next? I mean, I've seen fashion dresses made of condoms (not used, hah!), and some other indigenous materials.

The younger, the bolder?!

Read this short article, then...

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Iowan ready for prom with gum wrapper dress
Tuesday, 13-April-2010

GARNER, Iowa – An Iowa teen is all bubbly over her one-of-a-kind high school prom dress she made out of gum wrappers. Elizabeth Rasmuson made her dress — and matching vest for her date — out of blue and white wrappers from Wrigley's "5 gum."

The high school junior says she got the idea after hearing about someone making a dress out of duct tape.

She and her boyfriend began collecting gum wrappers last August. Rasmuson says she quit counting after 200.

Since the wrappers break easily, Rasmuson finished her dress with a vinyl top coat. — AP

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Taken from GMANews.tv; source article is below:
Iowan ready for prom with gum wrapper dress

European airlines test skies, press to end ban

Image via Wikipedia

I am a bit late in following this news, and this is the easiest one I can grab to post in here. Hopefully, things are already clearing up... please God !

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European airlines test skies, press to end ban
By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer

AMSTERDAM – Major airlines that sent test flights into European air space found no damage Sunday from the volcanic ash that has paralyzed aviation over the continent, raising pressure on governments to ease restrictions that have thrown global travel and commerce into chaos.

Is it safe to fly yet? Airline officials and some pilots say the passengerless test flights show that it is. Meteorologists warn that the skies over Europe remain unstable from an Icelandic volcano that continues to spew ash capable of knocking out jet engines.

European Union officials said air traffic could return to half its normal level on Monday if the dense cloud begins to dissipate. Germany allowed some flights to resume.

Eighty percent of European airspace remained closed for a devastating fourth day on Sunday, with only 4,000 of the normal 20,000-flight schedule in the air, said Brian Flynn, deputy head of operations for Eurocontrol, which supports the air traffic control network across the European Union's 27 states.

"Today it has been, I would say, the worst situation so far," Flynn said.

The test flights highlighted a lack of consensus on when to reopen the skies. The microscopic but potentially menacing volcanic grit began closing airports from Ireland to Bulgaria on Thursday, stranding countless passengers and leaving cargo rotting in warehouses.

"It is clear that this is not sustainable. We cannot just wait until this ash cloud dissipates," EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas told reporters at the European capital in Brussels.

KLM Royal Dutch airlines, the national German carrier Lufthansa, Air France and several regional airlines sent up test flights, probing altitudes where the cloud of ash has wafted over Europe since the volcano turned active on Wednesday. British Airways planned an evening flight over the Atlantic from Heathrow, one of Europe's busiest hubs.

None of the pilots reported problems, and the aircraft underwent detailed inspections for damage to the engines and frame.

"Not the slightest scratch was found" on any of the 10 empty long-haul planes Lufthansa flew Saturday to Frankfurt from Munich, spokesman Wolfgang Weber said. The planes flew at low altitude, between 3,000 and 8,000 meters (9800 and 26000 feet), under so-called visual flight rules, in which pilots don't have to rely on their instruments.

Steven Verhagen, vice president of the Dutch Airline Pilots Association, said he would not hesitate to fly an aircraft today carrying his own family.

"With the weather we are encountering now — clear blue skies and obviously no dense ash cloud to be seen, in our opinion there is absolutely no reason to worry about resuming flights," said Verhagen, a pilot of Boeing 737s for KLM. "We are asking the authorities to really have a good look at the situation, because 100 percent safety does not exist."

Civil aviation authorities in each country must decide whether to resume commercial traffic, but the 27-nation EU said if weather forecasts are correct it expected half its flights to operate normally on Monday. While it was still unclear how the dust would affect jet engines, the EU said it was encouraged by promising weather predictions, at least for the next 24 hours.

"Probably tomorrow one half of EU territory will be influenced. This means that half of the flights may be operating," said Diego Lopez Garrido, state secretary for EU affairs for Spain, which holds the rotating EU presidency. He did not provide details about which flights might resume.

France's transport minister, Dominique Bussereau, said there will be a meeting on Monday of European ministers affected by the crisis to coordinate efforts to reopen airspace.

Meteorologists warned that the situation above Europe was constantly changing because of varying winds and the continuing, irregular eruptions from the Icelandic volcano. That uncertainty is bumping up against Europe's need to resume flights.

"There is currently no consensus as to what consists an acceptable level of ash in the atmosphere," said Daniel Hoeltgen, a spokesman for the European Aviation Safety Agency. "This is what we are concerned about and this is what we want to bring about so that we can start operating aircraft again in Europe."

The ranks of stranded passengers, meanwhile, were growing, and many would be stuck for days even if restrictions were fully and immediately lifted.

Mike Parker, trying to return to London from Milan, had made it as far as Paris by Sunday. He stood in line for hours for a bus ticket, only to be told "there's nothing available, there's no trains, there's no planes, there's nothing."

"This is my third day and it looks like it might be another three days before I get back," Parker said.
Rognvaldur Olafsson, a spokesman with the Civil Protection Agency in Iceland, said Sunday the eruption is continuing and there are no signs that the ash cloud is thinning or dissipating.

"It's the same as before," he said. "We're watching it closely and monitoring it."

German air traffic control was the first on Sunday to loosen its ban on passenger flights, allowing some traffic from Frankfurt and airports in the north, but only for northern destinations. Eastward-bound flights were permitted from Berlin, Hannover, Erfurt and Leipzig. The Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation also began allowing some flights Saturday.

AccuWeather.com said the top of the ash plume had dropped to about 10,000 feet from 33,000 earlier in the week, putting it in the flight path of even low-flying aircraft. Shifts in the wind will increase the risk for the Netherlands and Germany on Tuesday and Wednesday, the forecaster said.

Ash and grit from volcanic eruptions can damage a plane in various ways. The abrasive ash can sandblast a jet's windshield, block fuel nozzles, contaminate the oil system and electronics and plug the tubes that sense air speed. The greatest danger is to the engines, where melted ash can then congeal on the blades and block the normal flow of air.

There are no recorded instances of fatal aircraft crashes involving volcanic ash, though several have suffered damage and some temporarily lost engine power.

Scientists say that because the volcano is situated below a glacial ice cap, magma is being cooled quickly, causing explosions and plumes of grit that can be catastrophic to plane engines.

"Normally, a volcano spews out ash to begin with and then it changes into lava, but here it continues to spew out ash, because of the glacier," said Reynir Bodvarsson, director of Swedish National Seismic Network.

Bodvarsson said the relative weakness of the eruption in Iceland also means the ash remains relatively close to the earth, while a stronger eruption would have catapulted the ash out of the atmosphere. -- AP

___
Associated Press writers Karl Ritter in Stockholm, Greg Katz in London, Angela Charlton in Paris, Toby Sterling and Mike Corder in Amsterdam, Slobodan Lekic in Brussels, George Jahn in Vienna and Malin Rising in Stockholm contributed to this report.

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From GMANews.tv; see the source article below:
European airlines test skies, press to end ban

 

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Breathless in Hong Kong

Budget Tai tai

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Maybe Singapore has a part to play to improve air quality in this city

Every time I receive an email from Singaporeans saying they're coming to Hong Kong, it always ends with their top-most concern: "How is the air over there?"

I was tempted to say the air in Hong Kong is like the girl with the curl right in the middle of her forehead: When it is good, it is very, very good but when it is bad, it's horrid.

Trouble is, it's never very, very good or horrid. Just an in-the-middle mushy all-round blah.

People see photos of Central with smog wreathing the landmark IFC, Bank of China and HSBC buildings, and wonder how I can still survive here.

Singaporeans smugly point out that a recent survey conducted by consultancy firm ECA International named the island state the best expat capital of the world for its infrastructure, health care, air quality and low crime rates. The authors said deplorable air quality was a major problem in several cities, including Hong Kong.

Guess they hadn't taken the readings during the haze - because honestly, the air here doesn't smell as bad as the haze that hits Singapore. I remember having difficulties breathing and smelling smoke on my clothes during the haze.

The difference is, with the haze, the end is in sight. It clears when the winds change and everyone breathes freely again. Whereas the pollution in Hong Kong is pervasive and unrelenting. And toxic. When the winds stop blowing the smoke from the factories in the Pearl River Delta to the region, roadside pollution takes over.

A few weeks ago, the Air Pollution Index hit an all time high of 500 (healthy air should be below 50) because of a sandstorm in drought-stricken China.

People panicked and started talking about pollution warnings. The irony was that the sandstorm was nowhere as dangerous to our health as the everyday pollutants we were breathing in.

The Hedley Environmental Index compares real-time air quality data supplied by the Environmental Protection Department with the World Health Organisation's recommended limits on pollutants. According to the index, Hong Kong is affected mainly by local sources of pollution on 193.5 out of 365 days a year.

It estimates that last year, Hongkongers made 6.15 million trips to the doctor and paid HK$1.88 billion ($340 million) for pollutant-related health care while about 800 had been hospitalised for asthma.

When I first came to Hong Kong, I used to suffer from itchy eyes and a sore throat all the time. But what really worried me was the shortness of breath and the chest pains.

The doctor told me it was a mild case of asthma. As a regular jogger and swimmer in Singapore, I'd never had breathing problems before so I asked him: "Are you sure?"

"Yes, it's a common ailment in Hong Kong," was his answer.

Will it get better? Well, there are plenty of angry people here in Hong Kong. They're angry enough to set up websites and petitions to needle anyone they can and make their point.

Even hedge fund managers, who usually seem more interested in money than the environment, worry that pollution is frightening off the most talented traders and analysts.

Maybe a few more years of losing out to Singapore as the best expat city because of poor air quality will do the trick. After all, Hong Kong seems to think best when pockets and profits start hurting.

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Tabitha Wang hates the way her husband uses pollution as an excuse not to go jogging - 365 days a year.
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From TODAY, Voices - Friday, 09-April-2010; source article is here: Breathless in Hong Kong

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It's All About Soul

Budget Tai-tai

An old street isn’t the same without its old residents

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Tabitha Wang
voices@mediacorp.com.sg

AMID the tall, gleaming buildings that make up one of Hong Kong’s priciest districts is a small backstreet, reeking of dust and decay.

On one side are 12 derelict tenement buildings, typical of the homes you see in many drama serials from the region. Tattered washing hang from rusty balconies that threaten to collapse on onlookers if they so much as sneeze.

There isn’t even a view to recommend it. At the back, a towering block perches on the steep mountainside while in the front, yet another building cuts out the sky.

It’s hardly what you’d expect of Hong Kong’s latest attraction.

But Wing Lee Street is drawing them by the hoards. On a busy Sunday, dozens of shutterbugs climb up the precipitous steps, from parents determined to get a photo of Junior against a crumbling wall to lovebirds hoping for a shot of posterity.

The rise in the fortunes of this quiet street can be traced to one film: Echoes Of The Rainbow. The film about a shoemaker’s family in the 1960s won the Crystal Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival last month.

Shot mostly on Wing Lee Street, it single-handedly propelled the street out of crumbling obscurity — and protected it from the wrecking ball.

All but three of the buildings had been slated for demolition since 1998. But until the film, there had been hardly any protest.

Then came the Berlin accolade and within days, railings along the street were covered with yellow ribbons protesting plans to tear down the buildings.

The government did a quick U-turn on the decision and announced it was going to preserve the entire street a fortnight later. It was an amazingly impetuous decision from a government not given to sentimentality.

Last week, actress Nancy Kwan, who had played the lead role in the iconic 1960 film The World of Suzie Wong, lamented to AFP: “Hong Kong was really very charming in those days. Every time I come back it’s like going to a new city. I loved the old colonial buildings in Hong Kong, but now they’ve torn them down. It’s terrible.”

The decision to preserve Wing Lee Street is now pending structural reports. But if it does happen, the best news of all is that it will be conserved for the community that had thrived in the area for generations.

That includes a 92-year-old granny who has been there all her life, and an 80-year-old who has worked in a printing shop there since he was an apprentice.

As heritage activist Katty Law once told me: “Preserving the buildings means nothing if you don’t preserve the lifestyle too.”

Many people who champion for conservation in Hong Kong point to Singapore as a model. They cite areas like Boat Quay, Clarke Quay and Chinatown as marvellous examples of restoration.

I disagree. Like Law, I think that preserving an old building is not enough. You are just maintaining the body but not the soul.

A building comes alive because of the people in it who turn it into their own.

Restoring empty shells will just turn the area into another Tang Dynasty Village — nice to look at but not somewhere you want to linger.

So yes, many of Singapore’s heritage areas have beautifully-restored shophouses but where are the folk who used to live and work in them? Slotting in an international clothes brand or a hip restaurant just doesn’t cut it.

Kampong Glam used to be a charming area but ever since the last blacksmith in Singapore moved out, it has never had the same homely feel.

The kind of homely feel you get when you visit the restored Blue House here in Wan Chai, where all the residents have been allowed to stay on.

That’s why I’d pick the dirty, higgledy-piggledy lanes of Malacca, with their old-time goldsmiths and coffin-makers, anytime over any of Singapore’s sanitised quays or Macau’s soulless Senado Square.

That’s why, even though Singapore has no shortage of Peranakan architecture, The Little Nonya was filmed mostly in bustling and realistic Malacca and Penang.

Singapore has done a fine job of saving buildings.

Now it has to save communities.

Maybe a film can do the trick. Maybe something like The World Of The Little Nonya Echoes The Rainbow.

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Tabitha Wang thinks nothing says passion more than giving up indoor plumbing so that an old way of life can be preserved.


From TODAY, Voices - Friday, 26-March-2010
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