Love the water

Many of my friends and family have asked me if I was going to send my children for swimming lessons at an early age just like what my mum did to me when I was young. Well, in my heart, I do wish to just jump into the kiasu-syndrome bandwagon and be like any Singaporean parent to sign their kids up for many classes so that my kids can be good in many things at an early age.

However, I am mindful that this will kill their interest at an early age as well and grow up hating the things they do such that eventually, they won't be happy and will not be good at it.

Even though I started swimming at 3 years old and taking part in competitions at about 5-6 years old, in people's eyes, I was good. But not many knew that I hated it. I dragged my feet each time I went to the pool. I tried to feign illness and get away from all those miserable trainings at 530am and 4pm. I was very unhappy. Its true that all those made me a very mentally strong person now and has made me more disciplined but because of that, I wasn't able to do as well as most of my peers like Joscelin who seemed to enjoy what they do and these people started swimming at a later age.


Anyway, for now, I am fine letting my children play with the water and allow them to increase their confidence in it first before thinking of the next step.

still undergoing construction

Made a trip to Punggol Beach today as it has been quite a while since we last came here. I was curious to see the progress of the 'makeover'. Well, it still look bare and pathetic.



More parts of the beach were being cordoned off for the construction. So think its all for the better.



Really can't wait for this place to be ready. Just hope that the food along this beach wont be ridiculously priced and end up a dead place.

Trip to the fire station

Caleb loves anything to do with modes of transportation, or rather, things that can move and has wheels. So one of the vehicles he likes is the fire engine.

So today, CT suggested bringing the whole family out for a field trip to the fire station. The station is open to public every Saturday morning at 9am. So we found one near our house and decided to go let the kids have some fun there. There was more fun than expected as the kids got to go on board any vehicles they catch their eyes on.


It's how interesting to see Danielle taking control of the wheel instead of Caleb.


Even when we go out with the children, Danielle would want to sit with Daddy right in front, on his lap when we just entered the car so that she could play with the steering wheel. Danielle reminds me so much of myself when I was young.

There was a guided tour by the fireman himself to explain to us about the things in the fire engines and the processes they take when there is an emergency..etc.



There's Caleb clinging on to the ladder at the back of the fire engine.



I am sure at the very present moment, his aspiration is to be a fireman.



CT and I also had fun taking turns to play with the fire hose as we helped water the plants from afar and the building.Ha!

Initially Caleb didn't dare to use the hose to spray but eventually after seeing another kid do it, he decided that it was probably safe and fun to. So here's Caleb at it!


After that, we took the sky lift in the fire engine all the way up to many stories high.


Danielle and Vicky didn't come along as Vicky was scared to.

I was pleased with how Caleb wanted to go up the sky lift and how he didn't fuss at all when the fireman placed the helmet and safety harness on him.



Caleb looked really cute in the helmet as his head is so small as compared to the helmet.


From on top, it was a nice view and breeze and I saw Danielle with one of the firemen spraying the hose.


It was so much fun! After getting down from the sky lift, Caleb spotted an ambulance that just entered the station and immediately, he hopped into it.



Before we ended our tour in the station, they brought us to the control station to take a look.

It was a very enjoyable time and for the next few days, Caleb would surely be talking about it!

Best Teacher's Day gift so far..

I graduated from National Institute of Education (NIE) in 2003 and started teaching in 2004. Took one year no pay leave in 2005. So I have been teaching for almost 6 years. To me, I think I still have a long career ahead of me and so 6 years is still considered very short but I do feel that I have been teaching for a very long time already.

Anyway, as Teacher's Day is coming, I received an invitation from Singapore Poly to attend a Teacher's Day Celebration there as one of my ex-student, Wei Jun dedicated a poem to me. I was touched. I told myself, "I had to attend this no matter what it takes because I would like to appreciate him for the effort he has made to write a poem about me."

So anyway, went there and was warmly greeted by Wei Jun as he stood at the entrance waiting patiently for me. Met up with another of my ex-student, Steven as he happened to be in school and wanted to catch up with me.



It was nice catching up with my ex-students and knowing that they are doing well in their tertiary education. I never once believed that my time with them ends when they leave Secondary School as I would love for them to know that I will always be their teacher and mentor for life and can always turn to me if they face any problems. So I do hope they can continue to share their joys and sorrows with me.

Anyway, back to the celebration...

It was a simple but yet meaningful celebration with musical performances, video clips and reading of poems to individual teachers. I was touched when Wei Jun appeared in the video clip and expressing his gratitude to me for teaching him. I could definitely feel his sincerity. He even went up in front to read out his poem to me. I did cry in my heart as I was simply touched.

After the whole event, we talked more and he also introduced me to his present Mathematics teacher in SP as well as the Director of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering as Wei Jun is from that faculty. Everyone was so thankful of how pleasant Wei Jun is and I, too have witnessed how much Wei Jun has grown as a person, as a fine young gentleman if I would say.

Wei Jun, I am really very proud of you and do wish that you will continue to put your heart and soul in everything that you undertake so that you can inspire and touch the people around you. Thanks for inviting me over to Singapore Poly and making this Teacher's Day so memorable and meaningful for me.

My Beacon of Hope
A caring teacher, a loving mother
Full of grace, and filled with passion
A lady who taught me mathematics
And promised me many ticks

But I didn’t get that many ticks
Crosses were what I had got
Crosses which made me practise real hard
So that I wouldn’t get a GCE red card

Civics and Moral Education she taught too
Nevertheless enjoyable and impactful
Experiences she shared, stories she told
Blessings she unfolded, encouragement she gave

What I like most about
Was her constant saying: Perseverance
In God she believe
In God she preached

So I did like she said
And held on to my faith
I learned to count
And I got my A’s alright

But who shall this Beacon of Hope be?
She is my teacher, Mrs Dawn Goh

Seng Wei Jun
DARE/FT/2A/04

Birthday Celebration at Gim Tim

Tonight we celebrated my niece, Keelia's birthday. Her birthday actually falls on Teacher's Day (1st September). However, her celebration was brought forward as she would be going to HK during her birthday period.

We had the dinner celebration at Gim Tim. The food was quite nice and tasty. It's a similar concept to Chin Lee Teochew Restaurant at Bedok as its a restaurant at HDB flats.


The children were playing while waiting for the food.

Here's Danielle in Keelia's princess hairband.


And there's Caleb playing with the chopsticks as he pretends that it is a gun. Typical boy.



And here's our scrumptious dinner!

We had spinach bean curd (a common dish in most Chinese Restaurants now) which was very tasty and smooth.



Fried cod(snow) fish. Initially,I thought it would not do justice to a cod to fry it as its a very delicate and light fish which is tasty already. But I truly enjoyed this dish as it was still soft in the inside and very tasty! Loved it!



There was also braised duck with a lot of ingredients in it. Huge plate of that! However, duck was not as tender as I would like it to be.


And we also had longevity birthday noodles which was delicious!


I did enjoy almost every dish. Even the kids ate a lot!

After dinner, Keelia and Caleb was busy playing with a programme in iphone where you are supposed to take care of the cat by feeding it or stroking it etc.

A programme with good intentions to probably teach your kid to love animals ended up with Caleb becoming more violent as he used his fingers to hit the cat till it fainted and there were stars all over the cat's head and Caleb also kept feeding it milk till its stomach was bloated. Sigh...Caleb found humour doing that. Scary!



We also had orh nee for desert and a birthday cake made by Ally! So blessed to have so much food!


We all had a great time celebrating Keelia's birthday as we enjoyed the company and the food! Happy 3rd birthday Keelia!


Gim Tim @ AMK
157 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4
#01-546
S(560157)

Enjoyable times

When my helper,Vicky went back to Philippines to attend her father's funeral and to settle her passport, it was an anxious time for both me and Vicky as we communicated with each other quite often as she first told me that the waiting list for the renewal of passport was very long and the earliest she could get her passport was mid-September.

Then a few days later, she told me she could only get it in October. I was so helpless as my no pay leave only ends on 21 Aug and its not very nice to extend as I am teaching 3 graduating classes. I was even prepared to hire a new helper and to send back all Vicky's things at my place to her house in Philippines.

Anyway, with much prayers from my church friends and family, Vicky could finally get an air ticket back to Singapore without renewing her passport! It was a miracle because immediately after the day she came back, there was a newspaper article that wrote about how the Philippines is now very strict with their helpers leaving the country.

Anyway, to be frank, the children did learn more things when Vicky was not around. They have learnt to be independent as I taught Caleb to wear his own clothes, wash his own dishes all within the first week.


Putting them to sleep, which I first thought would be challenging, wasnt so. I really do believe strongly in the power of prayers and I truly enjoyed my time spent with them, despite feeling so drained physically.



Taking care of them felt so natural. When they were tired, they just knew how to fall asleep on their own. It's not the same when Vicky is around as she would spoil them and because of that, they would depend on her and stick to her when she is around. But thank God, the kids didnt miss her at all. In fact when I asked them if they miss Vicky, they just looked at me with a blank look.

Here were some interesting things that made me enjoy spending time with them.

When Danielle does silly and funny things like this!





We also made our own pizza with the kids. It was fun as we sat down getting Caleb to decorate his own pizza with the available ingredients in front of him.

Here's his masterpiece!


The floor was of course very messy. But that's all part of learning.

As we were waiting for the pizza to cook, Caleb was stealing pineapples! He kept popping them into his mouth non-stop!




We were all sitting on the floor, picnic-style as we waited for the finished product to attack! And once each pizza came out of the oven, we grab a slice and ate it straight from the plate- nice and hot!


We all had so much fun!

Here's one of our finished product! Would love to do this again with them! (shall wait for Danielle to grow up first so that they both can decorate together)

Caleb's 1st PE Lesson

Today, Caleb's school invited the parents over for us to take a look at their PE lesson to give them feedback on whether they should implement it or not for the children. So to give my support to both the school and Caleb, I went despite having a lunch appointment and was busy with making arrangements with my mum in law to place Danielle there as I rushed from place to place. Anyway, it was definitely an opportunity to see how Caleb interacts with his fellow peers.

Their PE lesson sure looked fun.
They were made to take a ball each, put it over their shoulders and throw it. Then they were told to bend down and touch the ball by stretching.



Whenever the coach get them to clear the balls, the kids were all so excited to help him. Its really sad thinking how enthusiasm declines with age for most of the children here in Singapore.



The coach will always give a scenario and let the kids imagine that the ball is something else. So the kids would be listening as he explains the story as he would make it really interesting.



So this PE lesson not only make them exercise but to allow them to use their imaginative skills.

Then lastly, the coach sets up an obstacle course where he would explain the story of animals crossing the river.



For each obstacle, they were supposed to do something with it. So as the coach tells the story, he would show them how it was to be done.


As I saw it, I thought it was too difficult for the children to understand and imitate. But I was surprised. They followed and knew exactly what to do and how to do. Very impressed!



It was really nice to see how much fun Caleb was having.



Hope he will continue to enjoy everything he does and be an active learner till he grows old.

Satisfaction

What are some things that make you satisfied? Some things that bring a smile unto your face and you just imagine a hand petting you on the back that says, " well done. I am so proud of you."

Well, I know mine comes from cooking for the family and seeing them enjoying the food and finishing it up. And the other is probably putting my 2 angels to sleep as they end up sleeping like a log and waking up smiling to you.

I experienced that now since Vicky has been away and I have to do the cooking and handle the kids.

Here's a simple dinner which I cooked during one of the nights.

Stewed chicken with Japanese seaweed, mushrooms and tau pok and stir fry cabbage with dried shrimps as well as a carrot, turnip soup.



And here's another meal where I tried cooking pork bulgogi. Bought the pre-marinated ones from Cold Storage. It tasted really good! Great meal to go with rice.


And here's what I mean my sheer bliss and satisfaction just watching this as I slowly open the room door to take a peak.



I guess in life, we just have to learn to find satisfaction in the things you do so as to keep you going and making your life more purposeful. I don't believe in the mindset where you think this is a waste of time or this is boring and you just stay in that state of mind-feeling down, hating what you are doing, accepting that life is meaningless and accept it.

We need to always look for a positive perspective to do the things we do as we handle life's obstacles that come our way.

6th Wedding Anniversary

Celebrated my 6th wedding anniversary at the hotel which we had our wedding dinner in. We stayed for a night together with the kids. How time flies..back to this hotel with 2 kids after 6 years.

We first had lunch at Golden Peony Restaurant (award-winning Cantonese Restaurant) in Conrad Centennial Hotel.


We felt really uncomfortable when we stepped into the restaurant as the ambience and decor seemed too high class to bring young kids. Its not any regular Chinese Restaurant like Crystal Jade but, I would say, its even more posh than Hua Ting Restaurant in Orchard Hotel.

The dim sum that they serve is so exquisite. Fine dining style. Most of the dishes came in individual portion.






Even the xiao long bao came in individual portion.

Now, dont think that this is the usual size steamer with 6 xiao long bao inside...


It's actually a miniature size bamboo steamer.


With only one xiao long bao in it for each person.



That's probably fine dining for you- small portions, highly priced and makes you still hungry. That's why after ordering about 6 dim sum dishes, we still went on to order fried rice, seafood hor fun as well as fried mee sua with tiger prawns just to fill our stomach.





The food tasted really good, but its too highly priced. A plate of fried rice for maybe 2 pax costs us $20 over dollars. An individual portion would costs about $10-$12. Its madness!

In the end, we spent about $40 over per person for lunch. Oh well..

After that, we checked into the hotel.

The first thing I usually do when I reach the hotel room each time is to jump on to the bed. And that was exactly what my kids did!



After settling down, we went for a swim at the hotel pool.


And of course, the kids also looked forward to the toilet bath tub where they can take a bubble bath and play in there!


We then went out for dinner at Modesto's at Orchard Parade Hotel. I wanted to have good Italian pizza and pasta.



We ordered a kids meal- carbonara with ham, wood-fire proscuitto pizza as well as squid ink pasta with seafood.






The crust of the pizza was nice and crispy while the pasta was excellent. So light and tasty!

The kid's meal came with apple juice and ice cream which the adults ended up eating and drinking! No complains.



After dinner, we walked around for a short while before heading back to the hotel. Didnt linger too long as Caleb was having a fever.

The next day, we went to Wendy's for breakfast


I wouldn't recommend coming her for breakfast. Didn't taste nice at all. But if your curiosity gets the better of you, try it but don't regret it!


After breakfast, we walked around before heading back to the hotel to pack and check out. Though the kids were with us, it was still enjoyable celebrating our wedding anniversary.