Little one on the way

For the past few weeks, my tummy has been giving me some problem. I felt it was very sensitive and I just did not feel too good for the past few weeks. I had shortness of breath and I thought I was down with some illness. So went to doctor 2 weeks ago but did not find anything. Doctor just concluded it might be some muscle contraction that I was feeling in my ribs that caused me to be breathless.

I thought it was my lack or no exercise that caused it.

Anyway, after that, I started feeling slightly nauseous..very slight. I told myself that I think it is just psychological and that it is not true. I didnt want to raise my hopes too high as every month, I always feel disappointed when my menstration came. So, this time round, I told myself that I should not expect anything.

After missing my menstration for a few days already, I told myself that it might be due to stress cos I have been given a lot more responsibilities by my new principal and so, I told myself, I cant be pregnant.

Who knows today when I finally plucked out courage to take out my pregnancy kit (the cheapest one I could find from the store yesterday) and test, it came out positive! I was shock as I have tried 2 pregnancy kits before many many months back or a year back, it has always been negative. So, it was strange to see 2 lines there this morning.


Being skeptical, CT asked me to go to the doctor to confirm. I agreed as I felt preg kits can be wrong, especially when I got the cheapest one from the shelf. Haha..

Yep, the doctor confirmed it after waiting for an hour place to see the doctor and doing the urine test. He said I was 6 weeks pregnant already and will roughly give birth around 27 Jul 2007. Hmm....I just hope the baby will be due on a date CT and I can remember easily. Hehe..

Who knows it might be due on our wedding anniversary-8 Aug? :p

Vivocity

CT and I have been to Vivocity twice so far. Our first time was probably in October when we went for a Charity Movie Premiere there, and watched "An Inconvenient Truth". It is a show starring Al Gore-the ex-vice president of USA.

Basically throughout the whole show, you just feel as if you are sitting in a lecture hall listening to Al Gore give his wonderful speech about global warming. I must say I did not expect the movie to turn out like this, but it does create an awareness in me about how the world is dying with all his statistical findings and evidences. I would recommend this movie to everyone if you do not mind sitting in a lecture hall, where Al Gore is the speaker. I did enjoy it very much.

Before the charity movie, we had free dinner buffet in the cinema as well as free flow of champagne, red, white wine. Minister of Environment was also there..There was lots of leg room space and the screen was much wider.

This is how Vivocity looks like for those who have yet to go there..

This is the entrance of Vivocity

I love the architecture..

On the other side of the building, you can actually see Sentosa and you can go out of the building on the 2nd/3rd floor to view a small pool there as well as enjoy the view and breeze

Our second trip to Vivocity was recently this month where we went to catch the Doulos ship where I used to volunteer in. I worked in the ship for about 3 weeks and I must say it was the longest and toughest 3 weeks, but yet the most enjoyable. I got to know so many friends from all over the world in this Guiness World Record ship. It is only 2 years younger than the Titanic as well as the largest floating book fair held in it. Loads of fun working there, but it wasnt all pure fun, it was hardwork.

We had to reach 7am at the ship every morning to spend time doing our devotionals together as a team and sometimes, we stay back as late as 9pm or 10pm to have prayer meetings. I was exhausted after working whole day in the ship but as I said, it was all worth it because of the fun we had at the same time.

I remember it was also during Christmas time when the ship came and I took a group of my Nigerian friends from the ship to Takashimaya and see the Christmas decorations and to the East for supper. They had curfew which was 11pm to go back to the ship and my local friends all sped back in our cars to send them back along ECP. So fun..Anyway, this is the picture of the ship..

Food glorious food

Most people would know that I love to cook. I always tell myself when I cook is that as long as it is edible, it is good. So, I do not really put too much pressure on myself. I believe that the food has its own taste, especially when the ingredients are fresh. So, you do not really need to put much seasoning into it. So, as long as I make sure it is edible and that people do not get a stomachache after eating, I have succeeded.

A couple of weeks back, I cooked nasi lemak and it is my first time cooking it. I have time now to cook since I do not spend whole day in school.

Here is how it turned out...

My very own nasi lemak with egg, cucumber, ikan bilis, ngor hiang and prawn paste fried chicken. Not forgetting sambal balachan. Nasi Lemak without sambal balachan is not nasi lemak.

There are times when I like my cooking to be elaborate and go through a lot of time to cook a meal. But there are also times when I enjoy just eating rice with soup or sometimes just rice and a beef/chicken stew.

Testimony

My dad, right from day one since the accident, has been focused on giving his testimony about how God has been good in his life despite what he went through-the peace and joy he receives.

So it is not surprising to learn that he has been invited to speak in churches to give his testimony.

A couple of months back, the family went to support him at Frankel Bethesda and the church actually did a video presentation and showed it before my dad went up to speak. So, I would love to share this with you.

Note: Pls turn on your speakers! Enjoy...

cute puffer

On Sunday, Marianne passed me lots of snails from her aquarium for my puffer to eat. I got a shock when I saw her snails cos it was so huge!! All my water snails that I have are so tiny..maybe only 0.2cm..but hers is like 2 cm long!

So gross...but I felt happy cos at least now, my puffer gets to eat something.

When I reached home, I quickly played one big snail and one small snail into the puffer tank and boy, it immediately went up to the snail and surveyed it..

I felt so scared for the snail..sigh...Feel so bad. The snail actually shitted quite a number of times..haha..it practically 'shitted in his pants'..poor snail.

I loved this picture I took cos the puffer looks so cute and innocent...with its two cute "precious moments" droppy eyes...

The puffer was trying to get its body but the shell seems too big..so the puffer even over turned itself just to get to the body...


I had fun snapping pictures of the puffer attacking the snail. I told CT that it was like National Geographic channel where I actually get to experience the killing.

But just for your info, up to date, the snail is still alive. It seems the puffer just gave up after a while and the shell seems to big. Ha..

Happenings lately

My daily routine is to go work, cook dinner, sometimes eat out when I stay back in school till late, or during weekends, visit parents, visit in laws, playing with my niece etc...and the list goes on and on.

No complains but its a fact that when we are in Singapore, the busyness of life catch up on us and at times, wears us down.

My niece, Janine has been growing up very well and cute! Here is a picture of her in her sunday dress to church.

I have also been busy eating good food. My dad's birthday just passed and he invited all my relatives, including my bro's in-laws and my in-laws for dinner. We went to "Imperial Treasure" at Great World City.

Few weeks ago, Sunday Times came up with the top 50 best restaurants in Singapore. Among the list were restaurants like Morton's Lawry Prime Rib, Lei Garden, Crystal Jade, and Imperial Treasure...

I feel that these restaurants are top not only for their food, but more importantly, their excellent, professional, warm service. Dad wants to go Imperial Treasure for birthday as it is in the list and so, loves to try the food there since we have eaten to some of the top restaurants already. Just few weeks back, we went to Lei Garden at Chijmes for dinner to celebrate Chloe's (my dad's god-daughter)birthday.

I must highly recommend Lei Garden if you love double boiled soup. I think this restaurant has one of the best soup! We ordered huge scallops( one piece per person), double boiled watercress, porkrib, fish soup, peking duck, etc ...and one unique thing I tried was the dessert. It came out in a bowl which had the taoist sign-one side black, and the other side white. It was actually black sesame and almond. Very skillful to split it up to look so nice.

At imperial treasure, we booked 2 tables since there were quite a number of us and dad paid for it. We ordered suckling pig each table and boy, it was huge! My aunt who works in Hyatt hotel bought a birthday cake from Mezza9. The best cake I have tasted so far. It was a green tea cake which had cream that tasted so fresh and not sweet. I loved every bit of it though I am not a cake lover.

We had a lot to eat..seems like a usual wedding dinner course. One meal like this easily costs about $600-1000 per table as I know one suckling pig already costs 100 bucks. Wow..sounds extravagant but when I think about it, I feel every cent is worth it. Why do I say so?

Firstly, for the quality of food and secondly, for the service.

I am the type who is satisfied with hawker food that is good and cheap. But when you come down to the art and skill of cooking, top restaurants does use fresh ingredients,spend hours boiling their soup with lots of ingredients and know the art of cooking, rather than just adding more oil and more lard and more MSG.

And also when I think of my dad who is now wheelchair bound, there isnt really much he can do but to eat, do exercise, read and watch TV. Hawker food is kind of out for him as the places are not really wheelchair friendly and there are always a lot of people. There are times we buy back food for him but I am sure he would love to go out.

So, restaurants like these would have less people, and wheelchair friendly as they have lifts or ramps..

Anyway, God has really blessed my family even more since the accident and my dad is still working, despite his condition. He never gives up and continues to persevere and fight the good fight! I love you dad! My dad has taught me so much when I was young, and even more so, now.

Thank you Lord for everything...including the accident. I mean it.

New look

I just changed the layout of my fish tank and bought a new sucker fish. Any fish that eats and vacuums my algae is called "sucker" in my dictionary.

Here is how my fish tank looks like now-adding slope effect to the substrate soil...

Here is my orange sucker fish..

Up to date, I have 17 fishes- 5 black tetras, 4 neon tetras, 6 harlequin rasboras, 1 golden/yellow puffer fish, and 1 sucker..

It is a joy to see them everytime I am at home. I would always greet them when I come home and bid them goodbye when I leave the house. Ha..

My puffer is really small. Its the tropical kind, not the marine, salt water type that blows like a balloon when in danger or frightened. Here is how it looks. I love to look at it cos it looks cute and pathetic.

Will keep you updated when there are more changes :)

I am back again

Latest updates on my fishes..well the dwarf gourami which you saw in the previous post has passed away. It survived about 4 weeks. I have no idea why it died. It was feeling so miserable and refused to eat. So, I put it in another tank so that it can eat, instead of the small fishes snatching his food. But he refused to eat and always staying at one position. So, we knew that it was a matter of time that it would die..sigh..

So, right now, I still have 7 neon tetras and 5 black neon tetras. I love them as they swim in a school...very nice to see them so united. Whenever one leaves the party, I will panic as I am so afraid it is sick or something like that... But so far so good. *cross my fingers!* hehe..

Last Saturday, CT's company organised a family day out free! We met at IMM as it is the place where parking is free..yup..THE place! The company hired 3 buses to take us around. We first went to a pottery jungle next to NTU where there were monkeys roaming around. That was more interesting then their huge collection of pottery and vases. Haha..

Of course if you like pottery stuff and chinaware, this is a nice place. Anyway, after that, we went to Qian Hu Fish Farm. Oooo..I was def looking forward to this one because of the fishes I would see! I saw many wierd looking creatures in the tank..Took some wierd ones only. For more, go visit the place! It is free to look!

Below is a blue lobster..really blue and purple in colour.

This is a fish which reminds me of my friend..hehe..*You know who you are*
This fish seems to have lipstick on..with a pouty lips look to it. So cute


I will update my pictures once this site works. I always have problem uploading more pictures..dunno whether they have set a size limit or not.

Silence...

Wow..looking back at my last post..I just realised it had been 4 months since I wrote my blog...it was since I went back into teaching. Yep, that is what the busyness of work can do to me...

Oh well..

Right now, I am quite used to teaching and getting more and more 'arrows' from work. I have learnt to turn complains to gratitude. I guess I just see those 'arrows' now as my boss' trust in me for giving me such responsiblity.

There was once my HOD got me to attend a HOD and Level head Math meeting because he wasnt free. And just last week, it was Math week and I had to oversee 3 areas of the programme. I was in charge of the Lower Sec Assembly Programme, organised a Sudoku Challenge for Sec 1 classes as well as went with the Sec 5s to Temasek Poly for a Math Seminar.

I do not mind getting all these duties..but sometimes, it can be last minute...which I dislike. Also have been busy with my Girl Guides..going for campfires on Saturday nights till 10pm..Staying every Tues in school till 7 pm as it is CCA day. Another campfire coming up this coming Saturday at Chai Chee Sec.

CT is also not around for the past 2 weeks already. He would only be back on our wedding anniversary day-8 Aug! I still stay in my house in Punggol alone with my fishes...

Oh talking about my fishes, here are they!




I started off with guppies and neon tetras till all the guppies died and left a few tetras. It was due to lack of Oxygen. Haha..

Anyway, above are the fishes which survive for a record time of about a month! Hurray! The first picture is a dwarf gourami, more specifically called a Blue Coral Dwarf Gourami. I have another Gourami but more active, so hard to get a shot on him..it is a Flame Dwarf Gourami. He kept attacking the Blue Coral one so I had to split them up and put the flame one in another tank.

The second pictures are my tetras. They are the neon tetras and black neon tetra. Very lovely schooling fishes.

Though CT has not been around and I miss him alot, I still cook at home all by myself. I cooked steak with salad, pan fried salmon with salad, porridge with steam egg and fish and 2 nights ago, had rice with egg and veggies...

Had problem putting up my pictures for the moment. So, will do so when it works..

Have been so busy with work that when I come home, I just relax. Diff people have diff ways of relieving stress. For me, it used to be sleeping..but I have not been doing so as I feel sleeping away my time is too wasted. So, I play games instead. I have been playing my playstation 2 which my wonderful friend, Esther got for me.Thanks Esther for the wonderful gift!

Sometimes, I would play Maplestory, a MMORPG game..which stands for massive multiplayer online role playing game. It is a game which my students play and so, I meet them online at times and talk to them.

I have realised it does help as my students score better and listen more attentively in class now that I have struck a rapport with them. Cool!

Narnia Kid's camp

One week more and I would be back to school...It is the school holidays now.

Today, went to Marianne's workplace to help out in a kid's camp, jointly organised with "Focus of the Family". I was there to help take pictures. There were about 70 kids who signed up and the camp started about 2pm. It was according to the "Chronicles of Narnia-the Lion, Witch and Wardrobe" Theme. The kids had loads of fun!

The camp commandant was Jerry-the finalist from Singapore Idol who professed he was a Christian in front of the media. He did a great job as he was full of enthusiasm.

Anyway, we also had tea time for the kids where they sit according to their groups on a mat and have butter cookies, sandwiches and drinks. We tried to make it similar to the show where Lucy had tea with Mr Tumnus, but of course, with some local flavour added to it by having sardines sandwiches and packet drinks! haha..

One of the last games involved the kids using Narnia money to buy things from the supermarket and decorate someone or something to make Narnia come alive. It was fun seeing the kids involved in different creative works.

Ended the camp about 6pm. CT met me at Marianne's workplace and we had dinner nearby before we took MRT back home from City hall. It is about 30 mins journey back home to punggol via MRT and LRT. Quite convenient.

Camera Phone

I was given a new camera phone by my dad. Actually, he owns it and when I saw it lying in the house, I traded my phone with his as he does not know how to use the complex functions.

The Nokia camera phone has proved very useful to me as I love taking pictures and it is difficult for me to bring my bulky manual digital camera all around wherever I go. So, sometimes when I see something interesting, I just simply snap.

One friday morning (a few weeks back) when I was supermarketing with my mum at Giant (one of my favourite past times), I saw this interesting fish called the hairtail fish. The tail of the fish is practically as long as a hair..very unique. So, I quickly used my camera and snapped a picture.

Last week, I have also been taking my Punggol LRT to the MRT station to have lunch and dinner appointments with my friends. Took pictures of Punggol as well before it becomes more developed.

I believe, in a few years time, the empty plots of land near the MRT station would be shopping malls...

That is what I enjoy- to see something develop and grow. Very interesting. But right now, I am very happy with my countryside lifestyle in the over-populated Singapore.

Took picture of my visit with my dad again this week to "Society Of Physically Disabled" for his physio session. He was made to remove the top cup and place it on the other side by turning his body. Took him a while to do that.

Just yesterday, I visited Marianne and my god-daughter as Marianne did not have to work. So, I went for a short while and was amused as Marianne bathed Phoebe. Amazed at the fact that she has so many toys to play with when bathing, and also that she understands so many more things now and how to speak up.

I was even given a bath as Phoebe splashed water on me and she kept laughing. Ha!

Janine's 1st month party

Yesterday, I cooked a hearty breakfast with Grapefruit juice. Check this out! As you can tell, it is Italian bread with fried eggs, and whole slices of luncheon meat with lettuce. I was inspired to cook this from a HK drama serial I watched where a couple went to an eatery to have this for breakfast and the gal was complaining that her mom uses whole slices of luncheon meat, rather than small bite sizes of meat. So, she was telling how much she would miss her mum's luncheon meat sandwich when we goes to US. Haha...So, that is why I pan fried whole big slices of luncheon meat.

It is definitely yummy..but I felt so so full after eating this. Tat was why I drank grapefruit juice to appetise my stomach.

Today, is my niece's first month party. The actual day is actually 2 days later, but being usual Singaporeans, we are all so busy that weekends are better for most people.

Went first to my parent's place to take the car together to Bukit Timah where my brother stays. But before that, we had to help carry my dad to the car.

We went earlier to play tennis. Played doubles with my cousin, and my god-sister, Chloe. My dad took Chloe as a god-daughter during his stay in SGH as she was his physiotherapist. She happens to be the same age as me, from HK and coincidentally, she is from the same church as me! Never knew..

That is Chloe helping my dad in the picture, with the helper and my mum, while CT is in the car pulling my dad.

We played for about an hour, as my dad was the umpire and scorer. My dad is a very good in tennis. Actually, my dad is an all-rounder who plays well in all kinds of sports. I am very sure he would very much love to play with us.

While we were resting, my uncle and auntie wanted to play. It was real fun watching them play as they were improperly dressed! Haha...

Above is my uncle playing in long sleeve shirt and pants.He used to be an accountant for many years but is now retired and happily taking care of his huge collection of orchids in his garden. When I went to his house one day, he passionately showed me his collection and told me a lot about orchids. I, myself love orchids but I am not sure whether I can take care of them..Simply amazed at how my uncle can take care of so many of orchids. Think it was about 100s of them.

This is my aunt. She is playing tennis without her high heels. She has been a teacher all her life and is still working in MOE in the CCA department, mainly looking into band. My parents all say my bro and I got her genes. Haha..

Anyway, we had a great time playing. My god-daughter, Phoebe came too! I was feeding her while CT was feeding me!

During the party, dad was holding Janine..

Brought Phoebe out to see the Koi fishes and playground as well..

Phoebe is only less than 2 years old and she already looks quite tall. Kids really grow up very fast!

Belated V-Day dinner

I have not started work yet and thus, have a lot of time with my family and run errands for them and for myself. Just this morning, I walked to Sengkang and did my supermarketing there as the NTUC there has more variety. compared to the one in Punggol. So, I did my grocery shopping there, bought a Toman Fillet Fish for dinner and got a big deep pot for myself.

I have always wanted to own a deep pot for soup. I always use a slow cooker for my soups but sometimes, I prefer soups that are thick, thus needing a pot of soup over a big fire. Once I bought the pot and walked back home, I immediately cooked soup with it!. I cooked papaya pork rib soup which I was very pleased with becasue of the natural sweetness and thickness in the soup. I boiled it over the big fire for an hour plus reducing the big pot of soup to 3 bowls of soup. I added peanuts, north and south almond seeds, honey dates, pork ribs and cut papaya. I have even planned my next soup to cook with this pot! Cant wait!

Last night, I finally celebrated V-Day with CT. Well, it wasnt actually a celebration cos it was just a usual dinner...but it was meant for that purpose. Anyway, we went "Outback Steakhouse" at Millenia Walk. I was hugely disappointed maybe because of my hugh expectations I have developed from eating in US so many times.

"Outback Steakhouse" in US serves larger portions at a cheaper price, with excellent service all the time! However, "Outback Steakhouse" in Singapore serves smaller portion at an expensive price, with very poor service! So of course, I was hugely disappointed with service in Singapore. I went into the restaurant earlier than CT as it took him a while to walk from City Hall MRT station. The waiter did not even bother about me-did not even ask me whether I wanted a drink or not while waiting. I was totally ignored. Nevermind about that. When we needed to order, we had to grab the waiter's attention by standing up and waving our hands frantically.

When the food was served, the waiter did not even notice that CT was without his cutlery. He just placed the food and left as if we were invisible. He should have asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?" People in the service industry need to learn to open their mouths and talk. I can understand that they might be shy but if they are shy and refuse to talk, they should be in another line.

I was disappointed with the portions because in US, when I order a main dish, it comes with free house salad or casesar salad. In Singapore, we have to pay for ordering a salad. So, when I ordered my main dish, all it came was one small piece of steak and my side dish, which was garlic mashed potatoes. Can you imagine paying S$30 for a small piece of steak and a spoon full of mashed potatoes? I was still hungry after eating though paying so much.

And again, to ask for the bill, we had to catch the waiter's attention..sigh..very tiring. When the bill came, it indicated that we ordered beer! Crazy! When we approached the waiter that we did not order, he seemed puzzled as if we were lying..Our tables only had ice water..where ever did the beer come from? Glad we had 20 Voucher from Maybank which helped reduce the price a little...If not, I will got nuts paying so much for a lousy meal and service. The food was tasty but disappointed by everything else.

I do wish Singapore will one day introduce the tipping service and hopefully, waiters and waitresses will thus serve better, despite their race as the foreigners sitting opposite our table seemed to be served much better as the waitresses were filling their cups for them and always going to their table.

Nobody came to our tables except during ordering and paying. Sigh..

played tennis

Today, ran errands by going to Maybank at Siglap to apply for a new card, then had lunch next door- Ampang Niang Tou Foo. Yum. I love "Yong Tau Foo"...

After that, went Parkway to change our US dollars leftover to Sing dollars and bank it in straight as we had so much leftovers. We were even so scared of getting robbed as we carried the stacks of cash from the money changer to the bank.Sigh of relief once we cash deposited it into the machine, thought still skeptical since machines may fail. Ha..

Went Korkor's condo at Bukit Timah after that to see the baby and played tennis. Actually booked the court from 3-4pm, but since I was there early and no one was playing, we played from 2-4pm. Boy, it is tough playing in such weather! I was perspiring so much and feel so faintish from the scorching heat...Made me miss USA and the wonderful weather!

I played against Korkor and CT and they also 'bullied' me by pairing up against me. Or rather, I should feel honored...as I won them both during individual games. It was all for fun and we had a great time.

Right after we played finished, someone took over the court but it rained and started pouring suddenly. Poor people-chose the wrong time to play.

Janine was sleeping so soundly and her hair seemed to have grown thicker. How adorable.

After bathing at Kor's house, we went for church service and then, had dinner at my mum-in-law's place. Loved home cooked food.

Time spent with family

Today is V-Day. CT and I had discussed that we would not like to go out for dinner on this day because of the crowd and the exorbitant prices! So, we decided to spend this day with my family and I suggested cooking for my family.

I went Siglap early. Had lunch there and when my dad and mum went for physio, I went out to Parkway and ran some errands. I bought an exercise mat for CT as his V-Day present as we wanted to get one. I also collected some photos which I sent for development a week ago. When my parents came home, I gave them the photos. It was actually all the pictures of the accident leading up to today...showing the progress of my dad's condition. I thought he would like that as it is a reminder of how God has been good and how much He has healed him.

I prepared bak ku teh for dinner..there was also Lo Hei, steam fish and I did tang yuen as well. I love the peanut ones. Made red bean soup with lotus seed to go with my tang yuen. I had the red bean paste since US trip but never had the chance to use it. So, I finally decided to use it up today since I was going to do tang yuen.

I wanted the dinner to be simple, but in the end, we were all so full! Haha..

I invited Esther for dinner as well and we had an enjoyable time stuffing ourselves.

Took Mary Beth around

This few days have been raining. I left my house at about 10 am, took the bus to my parent's place. My dad's friends were there visiting him when I arrived. I went there to collect the car and then drove to pick up my friend, Mary Beth.

Mary Beth is actually CT's immediate boss' wife. She is probably about high 20s, just got married. She is from Chicago, US and has moved with her husband here for about 3 years for his work since they are setting up a new chemical plant here in Singapore. I knew her when we were in Knoxville, Tennessee as our husbands went there for work. So, we, wives went out together during the day time.

I went up to her apartment opposite Tanglin Mall. It is a very new apartment with modern design and modern looking pool. Very nice... i went up to her house and saw her pet rabbit which she just got. She got this place unfurnished and had to buy all her furniture and kitchen ware here.

After touring a nice place, I took her to Parkway parade for lunch. I wanted to bring her there as she has not really been to the East side before and I was familiar with the East since I grew there all my life..

Had lunch at Crystal Jade Kitchen and ordered seafood hor fun, steam pork ribs, veggies with 3 diff types of eggs and this dish had century egg which I wanted her to try! Haha.. With my influence and guidance, she ate it and did not think it was that bad. I told her that a lot of things are all in your mind and if you tell your mind it is not that bad, it wont be.

After that, we went to the Pet Shop as she bought some stuff for her pet rabbit. Then, I took her to Giant and with an adventurous mood, I took her to this durian puff/tart shop and asked for a sample. She gave us and I told Mary Beth that a lot of people do not like this and it is very strong smelling. Then, I told her that I find it sweet and bitter, and the texture is like cream puff. So, with this idea in mind, she tried and she could take it! I felt so proud of her.

Then, to pass the test, I went to this durian seller in Giant and asked for a durian fruit to let her try and Mary Beth took a little and felt it was ok. After looking around in Parkway, I drove to my mum's house to pass her my lunch leftovers and introduce her to Mary Beth. So happen, my bro was around too. So, I showed her my family members. But too bad, my dad was not around as he went for rehab.

Anyway, after tat, I showed her my house in Punggol before going to Yew tee to visit a friend with her. Her name is Angeline, CT's colleague's wife. She gave birth to a daughter few months ago and I have not had the chance to see the baby.

So, took this opportunity to go with Mary Beth since they have met each other before.

I told Mary Beth that today, I brought her to many expressways. We travelled ECP, TPE, SLE, PKE, KJE just within 4-5 hours! I was quite amazed at myself as I have not done that before...

Angeline's daughter's name is Nathanielle. We talked and ate New Year goodies. Yum.. Here is a picture of Angeline, Mary Beth and baby...

At about 6pm, I dropped Mary Beth at Yew Tee Mrt station as she didnt want to trouble me to go all the way to town again and moreover, my mum needed the car by 7pm. So, I was rushing. On the way to my mum's place for dinner, I picked CT up from Tanah Merah MRT station.

Had dinner there and then, rushed to bible study at a house in Bedok which starts at 8pm. What a busy and long day!

Rest Day

Sunday is our rest day as our church is on Saturday. So usually on Sundays, we would rest at home, do marketing in the morning at Punggol Plaza where they have open/wet market only 7 mins walk from my place, and at times, we would visit our families.

But today, Marianne, Joshua and baby Phoebe would be coming over for lunch. I invited them over. Cooked Yong Tau Foo, veggies with fresh scallops, braised duck and a soup. I bought the duck down at my block at Prime Supermarket as they have a small shop in the supermarket selling roast pork/char siew/roast chicken/roast duck/braised duck. I loved that store cos if I do not know what to cook, I can always buy something like that to add dishes!

Phoebe was as usual curious and running around during lunch time. She was checking things out in my house and she especially love dogs. So, she spotted my soft toy dogs all over my house and got them into the living room. Haha.

After a while, we went down to my house park. It is a nice big park. Phoebe had a own small little basketball, while CT brought the big normal one down to play. It was hot and sunny...

We also gave Phoebe some shots at the hoop...but she would just aim the ball on the floor.

The adults were playing and shooting hoops and there was a time when Phoebe saw us playing and clapped for us... so cute.

After playing a while, we went back up to our apartment to cool off. They left shortly after while Esther came at about 330pm. I was resting in bed. Esther said she would drop by to visit me. So just sat down in the living room and talked. Also watched TV at the same time as I still have my Star Movies and HBO channel. Cool!

When Esther left at about 6, I started reheating dinner. We just had the leftovers from lunch.

Day of travelling

Today as usual, is our cleaning day. I am in charge of the toilets, mirrors and cleaning the dust off tables while CT is in charge of vacuuming the floor and mopping the floor-more strenous. After every washing, I will always emerge from the toilet, wet! haha..Because I get on my knees to scrub the toilet floors and clean the basin etc..so the water always splashed on my shorts and T-shirt.Anyway, I love getting wet.

After cleaning our house, we always get a sense of satisfaction. We left the house at about noontime. Took LRT and MRT to Little India station visa the North East Line. We wanted to go Sim Lim to get a hard disk for my laptop computer as the hard disk crashed when I was in US. We had lunch at Tekka Market- Hainanese Chicken Rice and Po Piah. Yum.

I love looking at the computer stuff and gadgets in Sim Lim but after a while, I do not really like it because it is crowded and messy. So, I will feel confused in that place. There are just too many shops selling the same things.

After buying the hard disk, we took a bus from Sim Lim to Bukit Timah to visit my bro, Pam and baby. They stay in "The Tessarina" along Bukit Timah Road. So, it was a straight bus down the road. Very easy. The baby was crying at spurs of moment suddenly but overall, quite quiet.We stayed there till our church service was about to start. Then, we took a bus back up to Adam Road.

What a day of travelling! Had dinner at Adam Road Food Centre, famous for its prawn mee and nasi lemak. CT and I had nasi lemak..yum yum. Unfortunately, I did not bring tissue paper. In US, I never had to really use tissue paper as the places we ate always had napkins/serviettes on the tables to take.I wish Singapore could do that..

Lunch with friends

Today, I met up with Marianne and Esther for lunch at Stamford House, City Hall. It is a small shop called "Curry Favour", serving Japanese curry. Yum. I quite like the food.

For me to get to City Hall, took me only about 25-30 mins. I took a LRT just outside my house to the MRT station. Then took a train from Punggol station to Dhoby Ghaut which is about 15 mins. Then, from Dhoby Ghaut to City Hall is very near cos it is the next stop. So, when people comment how "ulu" Punggol is, I actually feel it is not and I like where I am staying as it is away from the crowds but yet, convenient in some way.

After lunch, I went home by the same way. No bible study tonight because of Chinese New Year. But heard the group meeting at Boat Quay for dinner. CT and I wanted to rest and spend more time with each other, so we did not go.

Cooked hor fun today. My first time cooking that. Quite fun.

accompanied dad

Today, I drove to my parent's place to return the car, had lunch and accompanied my dad for his physio at "Society for the Physically Disabled" (SPD). My mum pays for the transport to bring him there and usually it is either my mum or the maid who goes with dad. So, this time round, I sat in the van with dad to SPD.

Mum drove her car to SPD and waited for us to arrive. My mum came along as after the physio session, I would be going out with mum to settle my vocational license and dad would follow the van home alone. My mum has ordered a van for my dad so that she can take him out in future. So, this vocational license would allow me to drive mini buses. Cool cos I love to drive...

When we arrived, the physiotherapist was not around yet...but we were kept busy as my mum introduced me to all the nurses there..

Of course, I did not leave my camera at home.. This place is like a gym..very neat.

The first exercise, my dad was made to stand up with the help of 4 people. His record so far was 7 mins standing and today, with all our support, he managed to stand for about 8 mins plus.

I must say it wasnt easy to get my dad up. The physiotherapist had to pull him up while the lady helpers, including my mum had to push his buttocks and knees...

After that, my dad tries to use his arms by pushing on the bar. At one point, the helpers and physiotherapist were not using much strength as compared to previous times..and we were all so happy. My dad said he felt that his arms were aching from using it. That is a very good sign as it shows that my dad has gained more strength to his arms.

You can see from the second picture below that my dad is not leaning unto the physiotherapist body already as compared to the first picture..

After standing for a few times, he did some shoulder exercise next by lifting a stick one by one onto a ladder like thingy. Since he has no feelings on his fingers, his hands had to be wrapped up with bandage to allow him to 'hold' the stick.

It took my dad a very long while to get unto the next level. It was not easy..but whenever I see my dad performing the task, I could see his determination in his eyes.

He also played 'basketball' during physio..

The last exercise he did was just exercising his arms by rotating forward. It is like cycling but done with his hands. This machine shows the strength and speed you put in..so my dad kept keeping his speed at 20% until when the physiotherapist said last minute to go..I could see my dad increasing strength and it went up to 50%... Seeing my dad giving his all, really thought me a lot...

I remembered when I was in the van with him to SPD, I asked him if he feels excited every time to go for physio and he said yes as it is another opportunity to strengthen his muscles. He seems to be enjoying whatever he does and I am just glad he continues to have this hope as he fixes his eyes on Jesus.