The Big Move

It's already the year of the dragon and it's already February! Gosh, time really flies without noticing. It's just less than 24 hours more till I leave this sunny island to pursue my studies in the land of Kangaroos. The past few weeks have been consumed by administration procedures, sorting things out to pack, getting down to packing itself, and of course to spend my remaining few days with the people dear to me. Honestly, it's been a really long journey from just getting interested in all things planty and now it's about time to say goodbye and start a new journey once again. A journey where I won't know what to expect, I won't know how rough the road will be, nor the people I will meet along that road, but what I DO know is that God's looking down from above and I simply take comfort in that alone. Yes, it seems intangible, but it's something that I continually believe in and hold on to dearly.  

Well, my whole life has literally been packed into one single luggage bag, all shrink-wrapped and ready to see the new life I'm about to experience. I definitely have mixed feelings about leaving everything behind for about a year. 
Excitement comes to mind because who wouldn't be excited and eager to go on a totally new journey. Yes, there will be a lot of new things to experience, and a lot of new cultures to adapt to. But that is all part of the experience right? 
Sadness is also part of the package because I will be leaving everything else behind in Singapore. After living 23 years in the same house, in the same neighbourhood, same country, same environment, same people around you. There are so many things which I won't be able to pack into my luggage bag, and these are the things which I will most definitely miss sorely. 

My family is something which I will really miss a lot because they have been there for me my whole life, and leaving all of them behind is really heart-wrenching. I will miss my mum especially because being the only child, she has nobody else to take care of but me (not that I'm complaining). I will miss all her nagging, and even though I sometimes get ticked off by it, I think I will miss the sound of her voice, and home-sickness will kick in sooner or later. Family really keeps somebody going, and I'm glad they support me all the way.

 

Friends are the next thing which I will miss the most! Without them, life would be really boring. They always bring a smile to my face whenever I see them and I will dearly miss each and everyone of them. Having brothers and sisters in Christ really help me because it creates a community for me to grow and develop in. Having a common set of values to improve ourselves in really builds and strengthens the bonds between us, and I will miss all their crazy antics. My army friends have also played an integral role in my life because if not for them, NS would have been a real bore. I'm glad I met each and everyone of them and I will always remember all the times and moments we spent together doing weird and crazy things. I will also miss the boys because they bring so much joy and laughter every Saturday, and I don't know what I would be doing every weekend if not for them. Seeing each and everyone of them grow up from young kids to teenagers really makes me proud, and I'm sure they will grow to be fine young men when I return. I will also miss my secondary school and polytechnic friends (those who are not studying in Australia) because they have knowingly or unknowingly influenced me when I was growing up and I really treasure each and every one of them.   

I will also miss my plants just outside my doorstep. Though they are not some super rare species of plants, but they're special to me because I have also seen them 'grow up' when I first obtained them. Most have flowered religiously for me over the past few years and I'm really grateful for them as well because they really brought cheer and colour to the dull corridor of mine. I hope my mum will be able to take care of them and I will be able to come home to a beautiful corridor once again.

Of course in Singapore, food is an integral part of my life as well. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, and most definitely Malay cuisine. I will miss each and every one of them because being delicious is one thing, affordable as well!? Who wouldn't miss it?! I know I would, and I'm sure cravings will slowly creep up on me when I think of home. But we will do our best to cook our own over there in Australia, and hopefully, it will satiate some cravings if possible.

Despite the recent transport breakdowns and let-downs, I will also miss the regular buses and trains. Singapore being an island city, the transportation infrastructure is top-notch in my opinion, and I will miss the constant rumble of buses going by me. I will miss the safety of just making my way home alone at 12midnight, with no worries of being mugged by some homeless person who is desperate enough to do such a thing.

No doubt I will miss all these homely comforts, but I signed up for this knowing all the things I will miss in Singapore, but I will also be missing out on greater things if I don't go. Yes, I will miss Singapore, but there are so many things out there which I have yet to explore, so yes, I want to grab this opportunity to go out into the world to see new things! Well, I guess this is farewell from me within the yellow-orange walls of my room. 

~moey out~

The Miracle Root

"I know what a ginseng root looks like, but how does it look like above the soil?" 

That was the question that was posed to me by one of my friends, and being the ever-adamant horticulturist, I was stumped. *Insert gasping emoji* Well, I figured that I might as well find out the answer, so I can enlighten him (and myself) of how the ginseng plant looks like as a whole organism. So researching I went, and came up with a lot more than just how the plant looks above the soil.

The whole plant of Panax notoginseng

Ok, so the term 'Ginseng' is a collective term used to describe plants whose roots have medicinal value/uses. It is made up of various genera of plants, but of which, 'Panax' is the more commonly used one. 'Panax' in latin means 'cure-all', and it comes from the Araliaceae family. So you could say it is a cousin of Osmoxylon and Schefflera. It is mainly grown and cultivated in Asia, notably China, Japan and Korea. The Chinese know it better as 田七 (Tiánqī), which means 'three-seven root' because the plant mainly has three branches with seven leaves each. However, I think this is just a generalization because not all all of them look the same. Anyway, it tastes sweet and slightly bitter. 

Morphologically speaking, it enjoys shade, so it will probably shrivel up and melt under the hot sun if exposed to it directly. It also has the signature palmate leaf arrangement like Schefflera. It has tiny white flowers, which will bear bright red berries later on. 

Bright red berries

So why is it lauded as a miracle root? Well, it acts mainly as a haemostatic, meaning that it stops bleeding. Being antihaemorrhagic, it contracts tissues to seal up injured blood vessels. I'm no biologist, so I didn't really delve deep into the chemical and biological reactions to how it works inside the body. All I know is that ginseng contains 'ginsenocide' which helps to calm nerves, and 'dencichine' which is an amino acid, that helps to stop bleeding and encourage platelet formation. So essentially, it is very good for the blood system because it encourages blood flow and repairs. Now who wouldn't want that? Of course, the more mature the plant, the more potent the 'ginsenocide' content will be. 

There are mainly 2 different forms of Ginseng: Red and White Ginseng. Red ginseng is steamed after harvesting and dried, without removing the epidermis (outer tissue layer). So this will render the root turning reddish, therefore the namesake. White ginseng is harvested, epidermis removed, and just dried under the sun. 


There are also 2 different main types of ginseng: Asian and American.

Asian Ginseng: Panax notoginseng/pseudoginseng (人參)

American Ginseng: Panax quinquefolius 西洋参 (west ocean ginseng). But if you go to a Traditional Chinese Medicine shop, it is better known as 花旗參(Star-spangled banner). (Thanks Qian Yi for the information) This is actually native to the USA, but currently extensively cultivated in China. Due to overharvesting, it is now rare in the USA.

Panax quinquefolius

However, like everything, too much of a good thing might not be that good. So an overdose of ginseng might have side effects:
Headaches
Sleeping irregularities
Allergic reactions
Menstrual abnormalities
Not recommended for pregnant or breast-feeding women


Well, I hope this has somehow been enlightening in one way or another. I for one will still not get ginseng because it just costs so much for a root. =/

~moey out~

It's that time again.

Marathon. To some people, it's a once in a lifetime event that they always strive to outdo their previous timing. To others, it's a pointless event where people pay an exorbitant amount of money just to torture themselves for 42km, and I'm one of them. Well, I have just been through it and in my opinion, I still think it is still a crazy event where, unless you're a serious runner, you will end up with a pretty bad case of pulverized knees and destroyed ankles.

With strained eyes and a wobbly gait, I was able to get out of bed just to wash up and freshen up at an ungodly hour just to make my way down to the train station, which has been active throughout the whole night just to ferry participants who will be taking part in the marathon. Constant stretching and movement was the name of the game upon arrival at the start point, and gradually, more and more runners appeared. The announcement was given for the animals to queue up and line up to go into their respective pens, literally. It sounded like we were farm animals being herded into their holding pens to be released soon after. Took a shot of power gel, which was my virgin power gel by the way, which tasted really sweet, just how I like it, with a punch at the back of the throat and a tinge of citrus flavour as well. With heavy-bassed music pounding in the background, the announcers counted down to the flag-off and then it commenced! With spirits high and heart-pounding(because of the sugar rush) I coaxed Bryan to give a war cry before we started off.

The journey was mixed with highs and a lot more lows. Like any physically demanding event, the energy always starts off high, and when the thought: 'Why in the world am I doing this!?' sets in, it really hits home, and the energy level, like a mana bar, just slowly drops bit by bit. A few moments of heavy-beat songs, like a timely mana potion, raises the energy for a while, and then it loses effect once the music is out of ear-shot. Then, like clockwork, the sun peeks out of the horizon and starts to shed it's light on anything and everything. I welcomed the light with open arms and ran with renewed vigour. Like Journey to the West, the characters are seen trodding through a boring and desolate desert all alone, it was a similar situation for me when I reached East Coast. It was a torturous stretch of park without an end in sight, and it didn't help when more and more people started to speed past both of us. Demoralising much. Not soon after, the Marina Bay area was in sight, and Apollo (who is the Sun-God if you didn't already know) decided to turn up the 'Heat' knob and it rained hot rays on the unsheltered route. Water points, power gels and muscle rubs were a welcome sight and helped to distract me from the pain for a brief period of time. This cycle of drinking,rubbing,eating and more drinking kept cycling over and over again, until it was the final kilometer.

It was an awesome feeling to know that the end point is near, and suddenly, all pain and fatigue just dissipated in an instant. With sunglasses down and feet raised for larger strides, I was really happy to be reaching the finish line. With one last final stride across the checkered line, it was finally over. A High-5 was given and a shout of joy erupted from the pit of my stomach. 7 and a half hours of torture was finally over(not counting the recovery period after that) and it was something which I'm glad I was able to experience once in my lifetime. Now, it's time for me to go lie down and nurse the still-aching legs and joints.

~moey out~

Thorns all around

Spiky cousins

I was just browsing through the hundreds of horticulturally related photos I have in my computer, and I chanced upon this photo. The thing is, I have absolutely no clue about cacti(plural for cactus for those of us who do not know). I mean, we learnt so much about shrubs, flowering plants, trees and all that good stuff, but we haven't really touched on cacti.
We see so many of them during the CNY period, those with the green stems( are they stems?) and red heads. From what I know, the red heads are actually grafted onto their green hosts. So apparently it works, and the cactus is able to survive, until some freak accident which will leave it 'headless', sort of.
We live in a tropical island, so it's perfectly natural for Singaporeans to not see cacti often. But office-folk like them to bits because they don't need as much sunlight, and watering them once a week is probably more than enough already.

So it's a hassle-free plant to grow, but is it? Hmmmmm, I have friends who grow cacti in their offices, and water them sporadically, but the cacti still start to rot due to excess moisture. So they turn black and soggy from the bottom up and eventually fall over due to the damaged/rotting/soft/nua base of the stem. It's probably due to the humidity and soil types being unsuitable for retaining too much water. But hey, I'm no expert when it comes to these spiky organisms, they just look pretty sitting there in their little pots. I might as well start reading up on them since I have slightly more time on my hands now. =/
Time to hit the books once again!

~moey out~

Canine love

Since I was a kid, I've wanted to own a puppy. I didn't know the various breeds of dogs at that time, neither did I know how much a dog costs.But I kept imagining that one was just wildly running around my house literally like a mad dog and it would probably poop at some weird part of the house. These furry balls of fur really get to me, and when I see people on the streets with dogs, it gets me all warm and fuzzy inside. When I was in lower primary, I used to just lie in bed and curl up like how a puppy does, because they look SO CUTE when they do that. So I actually pretended I was a puppy when I was about to fall asleep. Hahaha, how weird was I back then.
But NOW I know the cost of a dog, and they can cost SO MUCH! Just to buy them, get a license and the house-keeping costs look scary.
When I think about it, it would be good to have a dog around the house, but when nobody is at home, it's going to be really hard to take care of the dog, feed it and clean up after it, so this factor always prevented from getting a dog as a pet. Well, I can only dream about having one though, maybe when I have a family of my own then maybe we might get a dog for the family. Now that would be interesting.

~moey out~

Memories!

It's been exactly three years ago since I last took up the challenge by Adrian to be a leader for a bunch of 10 year-olds who were all jumpy,talkative and mischievous. Initially I was extremely nervous and uncomfortable because of the unknown environment and people. Everything was too new to me and I was far from comfortable. However as the days progressed and session after session passed, seeing the boys grow up, learning and having fun, it just felt right to be with them every Sunday. Of course like any other family, we had our ups and downs throughout the years, tantrums have been thrown, tears have been shed, sometimes even blood too. But through all those times, something wonderful always appears soon after, and I thank God for these times which really shaped the boys in one way or another. Thinking back, if I hadn't made this bold decision to serve in the childrens' ministry, I wouldn't be the crazy and childish me. The boys really taught me how to be a child again and what it means to have a child-like faith.

One more thing which I enjoyed every Sunday was the leaders and people around me. I'm really going to miss hanging out with all these wonderful people, and they really made my days as a leader an amazing experience! What with all the time we spent together in church camps, having birthday celebrations, preparing lessons together, I will definitely feel something is amiss. It has been great serving beside all these leaders and I have utmost respect for each and everyone of them!

However the journey has only begun for all of us, the 12 year-olds have only crossed the Primary school hurdle, with a whole more to overcome. There will definitely be trials to go through, but I know we have each other to rely on and that's something which I know I can believe in. =)

~moey out~

Doing the Twenty-One

The singular most descriptive adjective that comes to mind is: Painful.
But it's not so much about the lack of stamina, but more of the legs feeling strained and exhausted. Well, it was my first time running such a long distance, and even though it's not an amazing timing, I still feel accomplished simply because I would never have thought that I could have completed such a feat. I'm sure that I wasn't the only one feeling good about this event, so many different people with so many different training backgrounds also made it to the end. A few of my friends were disappointed because they couldn't make their target time, and I guess you can "never get too seasoned at running such events."

Apart from the running, the whole experience was rather enjoyable, because just running the new Marina Bay area was exhilarating enough, and on top of that, all the lights and environment made it more spectacular. Sadly there was still a lot of construction going on throughout the route, but that's the only thing that sort of dampened the running scenery.

I actually met a lot of old friends along the way, and it was great to see them all. It just adds to the purpose of the event, which was to bring people together. Hardcore marathon runners, to seasoned ones and to those who were also running for the very first time, everyone did their best and ran all the way!

The anti-pain aerosol spray apparently works wonders, because I see long queues of runners waiting to get their aching legs coated with the soothing liquid. Hahaha, it really works because you definitely won't feel the pain anymore, mainly because the spray gets into the face. Into your eyes and nostrils, so the pain immediately goes from the leg to the face, LOL. But hey, it's all in the spirit of running and to get the experience of such an event!

~moey out~