Candle in the wind

The battle has ended. Just as I was drown with exams and studies, this news hit me hard. It did occur to me once in a while, “What if… she lost?” If you were to time-travel and told me my 4th aunt would only live till the age of 50, I’d say that it’s a cruel statement to make to a lady who was dear to everyone.

I find it hard to believe the hug I gave her last month was the last. The slight recovery she made when I was back home gave me hope, that I could one day see her normal self performing her daily routine and that I could one day, give her one tighter hug. I kept wondering what I would have done differently if I had known of this fact earlier.

Perhaps God has all this while been arranging a brief but merry life for my aunt. For those of you who were lucky enough to meet her, you’d remember how easily she made you feel belonged and how caring she was, even if you were not a close family member. At the end of the day, we’ve all been granted our wish, just in a slightly different way. She is no longer suffering but is no longer with us either.

All is not lost. Throughout her hardship, humanity has shone through her beloved husband, sister, daughter and family members who have been by her side, doing whatever they could to help. I admire them, deeply. Let us hope that she has regained her health and is happy wherever she is. In this trying time, may she guide her children though their exams and be there spiritually for her family who would find it very challenging to carry on living without her parental guidance and love.

To my 4th aunt, you have been an inspiration and will be deeply missed. We love you.

My first radio interview

I've always wanted to hear my own voice in a radio ad, saying,

"My FM, ying yue wu sian, tie xin kong jien. tai ping, 100.2, wo shi yeam"
"988, you sheng you se. tai ping 98.8, wo shi yeam"

And while watching Skyfire last year, I scrolled through as many radio stations as I could to see if there was any Chinese radio station in Canberra. Unfortunately, zero.

Hence, when HL called me last week and said he wanted to do a recorded interview with me on behalf of a Chinese radio station, imagine how excited I was. Aside from the fact that I've never done a radio interview, this would actually be conducted in Mandarin when I could barely string a perfect sentence with it. The topic revolves around uni, cultural shocks, student organisations, plans after uni, Malaysia, and also a bit on relationship. Understandably, everyone is worried about my cannot-make-it mandarin so I was thinking of brushing it up but assignments and exam preparation took up most of my time.

So I was pretty nervous when approaching HL today and prayed hard that he didn't have to pause the recording too frequently as a result of my poor mandarin.

I was greeted by this front desk.

And a familiar face =) Nick actually runs his own programme though I can't remember whether it's a daily or weekly one.

It didn't take me long to realise (from the pictures on the wall) that most of the people operating this radio station were uni students. The main station is located in Melbourne but FM88 just recently branched out to Canberra last May.

While we can't receive signal of this 6-month old radio station in radios, we can still do so online.

The interview lasted for slightly more than an hour. Thankfully, HL didn't have to stop the recording due to my mandarin.

While he was busy editing the interview, I wandered around the station.

admiring the technologies

and capturing as many pictures as I could to remind my future-self of this historic mandarin interview.

I was really tempted to stay for Ellen's interview but it would just make her more nervous =p
Anyways, I'm sure she would do well given that her mandarin is way better. Thanks a lot to HL for the memorable hour! (and stay tune to FM88) =p