Foreign Invasion

Even before WAR returned from Perth, she had informed me that Tim, an exchange-student from the USA will be visiting... Tim was to arrive on New Years Day, spend a few days in Singapore, then both of them would go to KL, Bangkok and Phuket, spending a few days at each destination ...and come back to Singapore before he fly back to Perth and then forward to New Zealand and back to the USA....because Tim don't get to travel after he goes back to the USA for his studies. So when she got back home before Christmas, besides buying presents, WAR had to book tickets for KL and Bangkok and Phuket as well as arrange for accomodations.. It was quite a hectic time for her..
So New Year's Day came and WAR went to the airport to greet Tim and for the next days she showed him the sights of Singapore and then they're both off to KL... Meanwhile I had an invitation to my cousin's daughter's wedding on Saturday 14th January...my neice and her 3 kids also flew in from Canada on that day... Now at the wedding dinner, (daughter CMW attended with me), we met up with a lot of my cousins that I haven't seen for ages... some of them, like my sister, are already grandparents.... So all these relatives of course asked about the well-being of my father... I replied he's okay but has all the medical problems associated with old age...He is 83 years old...
The next day, Sunday, nothing much happened except that my father wasn't eating or drinking... I wasn't concerned then because it wasn't the first time he slept the whole day... But the next day, my sister-in-law called to say that Ah Gong didn't eat his dinner the night before and now she couldn't wake him up to take his lunch... I told her to just leave it on the table... maybe he will eat later... That evening when I brought him his dinner, I was concerned that he wasn't even drinking water... so I called for the ambulence and got him to the hospital... I told the doctor that he was not responsive and that he wasn't eating or drinking... a persan can go without food but not without water... internal organs will shut down ... the doctors gave him a glucose drip and he sort of woke up but was not aware of his surroundings so the doctors decided to ward him for observation...
So the next day, 17th January, all of us - my brothers, sister, neices, nephews, the whole jeezbang were there at Alexandra Hospital to see Ah Gong because the doctors weren't sure if he could recover... scans showed that he had another stroke and the doctors were afraid that subsequent strokes will be fatal... But we are a strong family and even under such a stressful situation we still went for dinner at the coffeeshop/restaurant opposite AH... and it was also hubby's 55th birthday... he got his CPF!!
The next few days was spent at the hospital and there were a lot of visits from relatives who also expect the worst but then... a miracle happened.... Ah Gong woke up from his semi-coma and he not only could recognise all of us, including those who grew up in Canada...but he started conversing with my neice in Mandarin... I don't even know that my father could speak the language, but he even used terms that surprised my neice... certain phrases that are used by the intellect... So all's well with Ah Gong...
Second daughter WAR returned from Phuket with Tim on the 2oth and two days later Tim flew back (homeward bound)... and then it was preparation for Chinese New Year... With Ah Gong in hospital, there won't be much visitors to the house and also it seem wrong to have the reunion dinner at home... so we opted to have the dinner at the coffeeshop/restaurant opposite AH (again) and since it was quite a last minute booking , I got one on Thursday 26th January... my birthday...ulterior motive???... Nah... just happened to be...
So Chinese New Year came and went... people from the USA came and went... people from Canada came and went... Now the British invasion... My mother-in law and her husband came for a vist from jolly olde England on February 18th... They came to visit old friends and also to renew their wedding vows... 40 years together... WAR had delayed her return to Perth just so she could spend time with her grandparents but the week went by really quickly and soon she flew back to her studies... And the three weeks with my in-laws also went by quickly and things started to settle down... But during the time my in-laws were visiting, Ah Gong was discharged from the hospital with the specific requirement that someone be with him 24-7.... So I had to move into his house and had begun to bring things over from our house to his just to make it more comfortable for me....
So when all the "foreigners" have left, I began shuffling things about... into Ah Gong's house and now, every night I'm there, and I come back for about 2 to 3 hours to do the laundry here, and also to bring stuff over so that I can do things there... Lately, I acquired 2 washing machines... lucky me...they were free ... from a laundromat that closed-shop... and now I don't have to bring dirty laundry here and there... Life has been easier and that's why I can continue to blog ... and I had resumed crocheting the cardigan for my sister... it was on hold for 2 months... and am now planning to sew clothes for another wedding invite and will be attending a Muslim wedding on 8th July... Congratulations Melissa...