Such a short stay

One of the great things about weddings is that you get the chance to catch up with relatives & friends from interstate & overseas. Some of them came to Brisbane in early March & spent some time with my family & Uncle Paul’s family. As for the others, their stay in Brisbane was far too brief. For instance, the Chin contingent from Perth (mum’s youngest brother, his wife, & mum’s second-youngest sister) were here for only 3 nights. I wish their stay could have been a lot longer, as it’s been a while since I saw them & they are such a joyful, laughter-filled bunch. None of them were able to take much annual leave, hence the 3 night stay. Nevertheless, I thank God that they are all born-again believers of The Lord.

Another group that had a short stay is the Wang family (minus James who’s tied up with studies in Canada, & Paul’s wife in US who couldn’t come). It’s great to see them again; again, I thank the Lord that they are part of His family & for blessing us Tans with such great family friends. But their short stay meant that we hardly get to spend much time with them. The Wangs arrived in Brisbane just 13 hours before Val’s wedding (they waited for Paul to get from the US to KL before heading to Brisbane together), & they took off to northern Queensland the next day to see the Great Barrier Reef & spend some time in the Sunshine Coast. The Wangs returned to Brisbane on Friday nite, as the Wang “kids” (Paul, Luke & Eunice) had to depart Brisbane on Saturday evening. That meant we only get to spend one day (Saturday) with them.

Anyway, the Wangs popped by our place on Saturday morning with the Avis rental car. Some of them returned the rental car in Spring Hill, & I drove them back to our place in time for lunch. Thereafter, we (me, my brothers & the Wang “kids”) played a bit of soccer on Playstation 2 & poker. Ahh, poker!! It’s just so fun, that those amongst us who were unfamiliar with the game eventually got the hang of it & really got into it. Often, there would be laughs as the cards were flipped. Interestingly, I managed to receive “A” & “3” as my hole cards on about 5 occasions. Also, in the very last game, I was the first to be eliminated, but not before delaying my demise by betting all-in with one of my hole cards being a “6”; amazingly 3 of the community cards ended up being “6” which meant I won the pot by having 4 of a kind. However, I was killed off in the very next round of betting.

Thereafter, I sent Paul, Luke & Eunice to the airport; their brother Mark came along with me. They head back to KL, & Paul has to catch a flight from KL to LA via Taiwan tomorrow evening. He will stay a day at LA before heading back to Idaho – will arrive there on Monday.

From the airport, I then dropped off Mark at his rented unit in St Lucia. Mark would join me & BT at church the next day. After church, we would then lunch with my parents (& Ryan) & Mark’s parents in Darra (bumped into Nigel & Phuong at one of the shops). In the afternoon, we played poker again!! Then, my parents sent Mark & his parents off to the airport - Mark’s on uni break, so he’s headed to Sydney for a week with his parents before returning next Saturday, while Mr & Mrs Wang would go from Sydney to Melbourne & then return to KL. While I will miss the Wangs, at least they will be back middle of next year for Mark’s graduation (from UQ). And this time, James will accompany them. If I decide to holiday in Malaysia at the end of this year, then I won’t have to wait till next year to see the Wang family again!