August

Thurs 10 Aug 2023

We went out in the afternoon. After dropping Beh Ling off at the Plaza 333 gym, Bikia, mummy and I went to the Balai Seni Lukis near to Taman Rimba (my usual jogging spot). Entrance fee is RM5 and free for mummy. It’s a small art gallery and worth a short visit. After that we headed over to the State Library, at the other end of Taman Rimba.

Sat 12 Aug 2023

We went to Imago in the morning for a short shopping trip before picking up aunty Su Lee from church for lunch at the Club. As usual, she was regaling us with her childhood tales. There are 2 sets of twins in her family so they were famous in Kudat. Aunty Su Lee herself is a twin but her twin sister died in the womb as no one knew her mother was carrying twins and thought her delivery was complete when aunty Su Lee was born. 

For the next pregnancy, her father told the nurse to check if there is a second baby and sure enough, there were 2 (boy & girl). 

Aunty Su Lee's father used to play football at Jesselton Club (now the Kinabalu Club). He was killed during the Japanese occupation in 1943.  

As a single mother with 5 children, her mother decided to move the family to Kuching where she knew the school principal. The school took in the children and they had school shoes for the first time in their life. They were only wearing wooden clogs before that. 

We also heard tales of hopeless Hope, her first tenant. She was a talented linguist and a trained nurse who worked in Hong Kong before becoming a missionary in Sabah. She was able to pick up the local Kadazan, Dusun dialects and translated the Bible into local languages. However, for tea time, she ate aunty Su Lee’s biscuits and never offered to buy any for her. Every Christmas, she ordered 20 calendars and gave one to aunty Su Lee. She knew what her gift would be without having to open the present, she said.