Sunday stills: Black and White

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This Sunday's assignment calls for Black and White with a twist. I am not sure exactly what I am supposed to do. I don't have many old B & W.  Here is one of a New Zealand fern tree.

The other two are coloured photos which I have used my computer to change to B & W.   This is a weather vane on top of a church.  Thank you for encouraging me to experiment. The trees look better in B & W.

Tongaririo Crossing

The mountains beckon me to go and conquer. I must train to climb up and down the slopes to make that nine hours trek. But the weather is cold and wet. Well, that's the excuse. I will let you know if I overcome the inertia and leave my footprints there.

The water engineer says, there are no trees, all alpine vegetation. Then there are no vegetation, just volcanic rocks.

Mothers' Day tribute to my mum

The year was 1973. This is a photo of my mum, Mary Wah Kiew Chan Nee Kong.
On this day, I remember her and how she was taken away from us twenty one years ago at the age of sixty. Gone but not forgotten in her children's heart.
The second World War came and altered her life. She lived as a teenager during the war, and became a war bride.
For fear of forcedly made into a Japanese Sex Worker, my grand parents  married her to an unknown man at fifteen.  Loved blossomed and together, they had nine children.
This photo of Mum was taken as a group photo of some of my siblings as we were at the airport to farewell Elizabeth, the day of her engagement to Kalang.
Mum was dressed in a Kebaya, the national dress of Malaysia. People asked if she was a Malaysian Airlines stewardess. She smiled and said she was too old. We teased that she should have told them she was the director of the stewardess. At this time, she was the DEO's wife.
I wish my children got to know her, except for D, the others have not seen their wonderful grandma.

scenic sunday: Red Autumn trees.

Autumn is here when some trees turn completely red. They make an awesome sight especially if they are grown in a row.
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Friday Shoot out: gardens

ESOL class

ESOL stands for English Speakers of other languages AKA as ESL, English as a Second Language.
New Zealand has three official languages, English, Maori and Sign language. The working language is English. In the ESOL classes in my church, we have students ranging from new immigrants to tourists. I teach one of the classes on Wednesday. In as much as they learn from me, I learn much from them too.
One day, I was shopping at an immigrant run shop, a young man in overalls came in all flustered. The shop assistant gave him a yellow pages but she couldn't help him. I wasn't exactly eaves dropping, but I could see he was really desperate. I asked them in their language if I could help.
It turned out he had lost his wallet, and he had been to the police to report his lost. He needed to call the Public library. Without any English, he couldn't find the telephone number and even after I found it for him, he couldn't ring, because he couldn't speak in English. I rang up for him and spoke for him.
He was so grateful that I had helped him. I told him, it was no trouble at all.
Later, I wish I had told him about the ESOL class I was teaching. There are probably lots of people who can't speak English and can be helped by going to language classes. Now, I keep some brochures in my bag. They could be handy, one never knows.
The photo shows Diane Russell, the co-ordinator of the ESOl classes, interviewing our student Marcelo from Brazil.
A picture speaks a thousand words, I showed the photos in my camera to my students in school.
An Ethiopian kid told me," He's from Brazil."
I asked," How did you know?"
"I just know." Then he said," I know the flag."

Water falls at the Franz Josef Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier

I went with the water engineer, and my daughter G who was twelve at that time to see the Glacier. It was cold and wet and we walked for more than an hour. 

The view was incredible. There were many water falls, and chunks of ice flowing down the streams. When we eventually reached the glacier, it was so so beautiful. In New Zealand, you don't have to travel very far to see such sights.