Some Thoughts from Colin

Ya Ching was a very warm, kind, caring and generous person. She was always natural, she wasn’t one to do things for show. She was strong willed with strong opinions, which she worked out herself and stuck to. She was clever, had a cheeky and witty sense of humour.

She had a delightful sense of wonder and joy, for instance at beautiful places, at nature and in general, and a delightful smile.

She was a lover of simplicity and elegant form. She didn’t want unnecessary things, and was always careful not to waste the world’s resources. She was content with a few simple things of quality, made to last.

In so much of what she did, she was so precise and meticulous.

Ya Ching wasn’t interested in the complexity of life’s rules and procedures, and always wanted to do things the way she saw as natural and right.

She mastered the English language at school as a second language, and believed that it was important for everyone to learn English as the world language.

In Germany, she picked up the language to live her life here, and always took an active interest in the news of what was happening in the country.

Ya Ching had many talents. At work, she was highly competent in the complexity of her subject matter. At home, she mastered her handicrafts, which were all self-taught. She was always willing to learn new tricks.

She was happy and content in life, she lived for today and tomorrow. From childhood onwards she was always uncomplaining, even through her sickness. Ya Ching was very grateful for the life she had, and felt quite fulfilled.

  

Interests

Her friends were always most important to her. She kept in touch with them across the world, and was always generous and very thoughtful to them, always thinking of their needs. She adored and empathised with her friends’ children.

She had a typical Singaporean’s devotion to food. For instance, she would always plan in advance what to eat when she visited Singapore, but when she got there she always found the weather there was too hot there to eat all she had planned! At home, she did delicious Wok cooking for herself and Colin and for their guests. But as well as Asian food, she loved a lot of European food, especially paella, spaghetti, and German roast duck!

She was artistically talented, and mastered one craft after another, learning on her own such crafts as making gift boxes and doll-making, culminating in her perfect needle-felting of animals and birds. This she complemented by taking very artistic photos of her creations, and then selling some them on her ‘DeeplyFeltCreations’ on the internet, but keeping the best ones for herself!

While she was not inherently sporty, after her first illness with cancer she jogged or did skipping every day without fail, as she knew being fit would help ward off cancer.

While she had no interest in playing with technology or technical things for their own sake, she was keen to make use of it as soon as it was useful to her, for example with the internet and digital cameras, and to tell others of their benefits.

Ya Ching loved Munich as her adopted home with Colin, and appreciated avoiding the rat-race and hustle of Singapore and the States. She appreciated German efficiency and tidiness, as well as the climate here, avoiding the swelter of Singapore, apart from in the coldest winter, when she wanted to have her own insulated glass case when she went for a walk! She loved the opportunities here for doing things in her free time, with mountain and country walks and cycling. She enjoyed the city’s shops, especially the traditional and craft shops, and was always keen to show off Munich and her life here to visitors.

She also learned to appreciate Britain and its people and countryside via visits, friends and broadcasting.

Ya Ching and Colin

Ya Ching and Colin learnt to understand each other quite quickly: Her more or less first line to Colin was: ‘I was stung by a Bi’, which, when Colin had retuned his ear, he understood was that she had been stung by a bee. After that there were very few misunderstandings.

Ya Ching more or less civilised Colin, and looked after her Man wonderfully, especially with her Singapore cooking.

Some simple things Colin will miss:

• Her cooking and discovering food with her.
• Exploring landscapes and castles in Eastern Germany.
• Visiting Singapore and her friends there with her.
• Cycling through the Englischer Garten.
• Watching & discussing films and TV.
• Getting surprise e-mails at work with a photo of new felt creation.
• Her smile.

As Ya Ching told Colin, according to a Hokien Chinese proverb:
‘mu zhu kao jin yue dui ye nen ta pai zhi’
‘Even a sow standing close to the band learns to tap its feet in time with the music.’

Over their years together, Colin learnt to tap his feet in time with Ya Ching’s music.

Rory White, Brother-in-Law:

Ya Ching was extremely thoughtful and considerate to others. She seemed to be always thinking of what other people needed and how to help them. I was particularly impressed that she remained like that, still thinking very much of others, in the latter stages of her illness. When I saw her for the last time in hospital, as on many other times, I felt that I had received from her much more than I was able to give.

Nephew, Barnaby White age 9:

Nephew, Benjamin White age 6:

Niece, Peony White age 4:

Wilfried Ziems, Work Colleague:

I will always remember Ya Ching as a warm-hearted, friendly, and very high competent colleague.

Wolfgang Bartels, Arbeitskollege

Sie war eine starke Persönlichkeit, eine angenehme Kollegin und eine Frau mit feinem Humor.