i have been, and still am, in melbourne, but what began as a holiday has turned into a very distressing time for my mother's family. her brother, my uncle, who lives in melbourne and has been ill with late-stage cancer for the last two years, was admitted to hospital a few days before i arrived. minyin drove me to the hospital the day i got into melbourne and then, although i was very shocked at how he looked, he was still sound of mind, able to speak to me reasonably lucidly and chat about school, and he could, with assistance, get out of bed to have some black sesame soup that my aunt brought. we stayed for about an hour and a half with him. his condition seemed fairly stable though, so the next day minyin and i went to the dandenongs, and that evening we had dinner with my aunt who says my uncle is much the same as when we had seen him. the next morning, because we had planned to go on a day trip to phillip island and wouldn't be back before the end of visiting hours that night, we thought we'd stop by the hospital just to look in on him before leaving the city. he had worsened overnight and was under a drugged sleep and had great difficulty breathing and had to be hooked up to oxygen, and minyin thought he might have a slight touch of pneumonia and fluids in his lungs. we stayed at the hospital for about 45mins and then went back to minyin's apartment where i called my parents to let them know things were looking very bad for uncle and that people at home should be informed. we decided against the day trip so that we could stay closer to the city and to make accommodation arrangements for my parents. when we came back to the hospital that evening at 9, the room was full of strangers come to say their goodbyes. my aunt had sent for her children from hongkong, singapore and brisbane. one had arrived, the other two were on their way (but would be too late.) and the next morning, he had passed away. my parents arrived to help with the funeral arrangements. other relatives from singapore and indonesia have been arriving these past days (and still are arriving-the funeral is very delayed, we expected it to be two or three days after his death but it still hasn't happened. i don't know what the hold up is, or perhaps they're trying to wait till more of the family arrives.)