Mummy's Diary

Goodbye Year 3

2011-10-20T16:12:00.003+08:00

Time flies... time really flies!

Today - 20.10.2011 - is the last day of year end exam, hurray!

Don't get me wrong. I was not the one having examinations. It was my daughter.

Nowadays, which parents who do not participate in their child's examination... to certain extend, it was like we were the one going for the examinations. Sigh...

My daughter was in international schools since she was 5 because we stayed overseas then. When she was 9, we came back to Malaysia.

At the age of 9, she entered local Chinese school for the first time. I still recalled, that day - 3.1.2011 was a horrified day indeed.

Not knowing how she would fair herself, we went ahead to register her with a local Chinese school nearby. Many of my friends said it was a very harsh decision I had made.

Over the months, some good stuff, some bad stuff ... I see her smile, i see her grief, I see her laugh, I see her cry, I heard fascinating stories about her classmates, i heard complaints about how terrible a few of the boys in her class, clumsy acts, funny jokes, the boy she hated most said she's his girl friend ha! But most importantly, I see her grow.

I once asked her how she finds the schools she attended so far as compare to this current one? She told me that in her previous schools (yes... is "schoolsss"... this is her 5th school, by the way!), there were not much problems. Things were so easy then. Teacher and assistant teacher would sort everything for them. A few clicks on the computer, it's done.

For this school now, everything you need --- it's either "don't have", "missing", "bring your own", "broken", "finish already", "find it"... she told me that they had to run around the school to look for it and sometimes they had to ask around to find answers.

I said: "Wow, that must be terrible!"

But she said: "Not really, I learn to do a lot of things on my own. I know where to find the things I needed."

Wow, as the Chinese saying goes, 吃得苦中苦，方为人上人 (meaning: no cross, no crown), is indeed true!

An triple scoop ice cream and KFC for lunch is the treat she gets for being so well behave and made her way through.

Daddy and mummy are so proud of you and good luck to Year 4!

#VICTORY#

Republish the Malay Lessons

2011-10-20T14:58:00.005+08:00

Had been really busy lately with so many things... school exams, renovation, finding tenants, helping my sisters, doing translation blah blah blah... Wow, life is so great and versatile, though didn't help much with my balance in the bank :)! But, the best part is I am just so loving it!

Recently there were few inquiries from caring mothers out there asking about how I taught my daughter Bahasa Melayu, that drew me back to my blog that was "long forgotten" by me....

Thank you so much for your support. I sincerely hope that these lessons would benefit your angels too, just like mine!

I have republished the Malay lessons using another platform (www.scribd.com). Somehow had difficulties using the new Google Groups stuff... not sure why. I guess I still need sometime to digest and learn the system. But anyhow, hopefully this new one will be more "downloading" friendly.

Till then, Chao!

Little Girl Crushes

2011-07-01T09:56:00.001+08:00

My daughter came home yesterday telling me that she had a fight with her best friend. She said that her heart really pain when her friend said such a thing to her.

Initially, I didn't know what exactly was going on. I told her to forgive her friend because she is her best friend. I told her to open up her heart, open up her mind, forgive and accept her again. Perhaps she didn't do it on purpose I said. Perhaps she was very tired therefore she was in a bad mood.... The more I said it, the more she cried. I didn't what to do.

I let her have a quiet moment. We went strolling outside talked about everything under the sun except what had happened in school.

In the evening, we talked again. She told me that her friend teased her for liking her classmate. Oh I see. Now I understand. It is the crushes thingy!

Well, having crushes on boys is absolutely a normal but yet a secret thingy that is going on in school. It is normal because it is just a natural instinct for a normal human being should behave. It is secret because it will be really embarrassed if other people knows about it and the guy you happened to have crushes on didn't like you. So, it is important to keep it a secret.

For a child at this age, they somehow already have good understanding of the latter. Thanks to the TV shows and cartoons!

What could be the worst to happen then?

Your best friend teased you in front of the boy you like, that you have crushes on him!

Oh yes! Oh yes! You feel like your whole face is blushing red and in urgent need for a hole to hide your red face! It took me quite a while to comfort my girl. Finally this works.

I told her that well, it is a normal thing for a girl to like a boy. It is not something we should feel embarrassed about. It doesn't mean that they have cooties or what and they are different. In fact, we are just human being. God made us to like each other. Besides, everybody has crushes on somebody. True enough, my girl told me that her best friend also have crushes on another boy.

We can make friends with anyone, be it a boy or a girl as long as they are nice to be with. She likes to play with that boy because he happens to be nice to her. So, i tell her the next time you know your friend has crushes on someone, do you laugh at her?

She smiled and said I will tell her it is a normal thing. Don't worry, I will keep the secret for you.

This is what LOVE is all about!

2011-07-01T09:52:00.002+08:00

I have been having bad night cough for the last two nights. I refrained myself from taking cough medicine and cough relief tablets because the more I consumed, my cough seem to get worst. Not much choice but to rely just on drinking more water, eat more honey and fruits for vitamin C.

My girl was rather sad seeing mummy having sleepless nights. The night before, she offered to help apply Vicks VapoRub on my chest and my back before I slept. She even "relocated" her bed to my room just in case I needed more Vicks in the middle of the night :)... Well, frankly she likes to sleep with daddy and mummy still despite she is already 9! I suppose this would give her a very good excuse to do so though ha! :) :)

Yesterday night, seeing me coughing like a horse, she went into the internet and search for information on how to get rid of night tickling cough! She had written them in pieces of small papers, joined them together and had pasted it on the wall next to my bed. I am so touched by her gesture! I am so in love with her!!!

And by the way, this is my "prescription".

In case anyone out there faces similar sickness as I do, some of the effective one are:

hot tea with lemon and honey
cinnamon and lime (boil 1 or 2 pieces of cinnamon in a pot of lime juice)
take a warm bath - take deep breath in front of the shower as steam helps to hydrate our throat
put a cold wet cloth over your throat to relief coughing - this one seems to work well surprisingly!
apply Vicks Vaporub generously on the bottom of your feet, cover with socks - all these while, I had been applying Vicks on my chest and throat area instead. No wonder it is not working!

She told me that according to the internet, cinnamon is particularly effective but not popular. I will go to supermarket today to pick up some cinnamon and lime to try it out.

To our beloved daughter, bravo!

Mummy and Daddy love you so much and this is for you!!

Babymime (Thailand)

2011-06-29T10:27:00.005+08:00

Last weekend, our family went to watch a mime show at PJ Civic Hall. It was a charity performance to raise funds for the poor in the border of Myammar. The event was organized by 般若学舍 Persatuan Meditasi Prajna KL & Sel., co-organized by ASLI戏剧联盟 Drama Art Community Association KL & Sel.

The performers, known as Babymime are from Thailand. It was a FANTASTIC performance! Many thanks to my younger sister who sponsored us the tickets to the show.

The story line encompasses around things that happen around us. They see the world through the eyes of children, they behave like one most of the time :) yet bringing laughter to all the audiences. It is definitely a good show for the whole family, young and old. They are very spontaneous and sensitive to the audience.

A little "move" or "noise" from the audience would catch their attention and they would definitely do something about it! So, if don't want to get their attention, better sit tight and be quiet ha!

They have many series of shows and the shows would be tailored to the audience and local delights accordingly. For example, the one we watched encompassed around family core values and things we do with our kids such as visiting the zoo, photographing etc and the highlight of all, The Red Riding Hood to end the great evening.

After watching the show, I took the trouble to search for some information about the group on the internet. The group comprises of three members, and the crew members are Tongkleu Tongtae, Ratchai Rujiwipat and Nattapon Kummeta.

extracted from Babymime official website (in Thai Language)

The Babymime Group has gained success both domestically and internationally with their impressive mime performance for over ten years.

The core concept of the show is that words can lie but the body and movements never lie. They believe that if people are sincere to each other and do not lie, the society will become a better place.

If we are lucky, they may come back for another round of performance, be sure to give it a try!

ENJOY!!

Some videos to share:

- Slow Walk by Babymime

- Babymime Part 2 (Magic Show)
- Babymime in Bangkok Theater Festival

p/s. The show was so great that I forgot to take any picture during the performance but not too bad, at least got a chance to snap a photo with them upon exiting the theater.

My mom, me and my daugther with Babymime (photo taken on 25 June 2011)

A Very Educational Trip Indeed!

2011-06-16T17:00:00.001+08:00

During the last school holiday, we went to Cherating. Great experience, beyond expectations!

First of all because we had been to Kuantan and Cherating beach during our last trip. For us, this trip is merely to "relax". And because we just came back to Malaysia, we thought we should for once tour our own country instead of spending vacations overseas every year.

We signed up for a hotel+tour package with Impiana Cherating Resort. The tour package includes 2 nights stay at the resort, 1 firefly watching tour and 1 turtle watching tour. It was priced at MYR798 nett for 2 adults + 2 child. All expenses for the tour including entrance fee, shuttling, tour guide are inclusive in the package.

On the first night of our stay, we went for the firefly watching. It was a fascinating trip. Frankly, for city dwellers like us, even getting onto the motorboat itself or trying to balance on the motorboat were already quite challenging ha!

As soon as everybody embarked onto the motorboat, the journey began. The motorboat led us into the darkness of the mangrove. The surrounding was really dark we could hardly see our own fingers at times.

Only the tour guide was allowed to carry a torch light (to lure the firefly out of the trees in order for us to see them).

According to the tour guide, with more developments taking place, we needed to venture much deeper into the mangrove area in order to find them.

As we went closer, the sight of fireflies rushing out from the bushes was so magical. The fire flies even landed on our hands and sometimes it landed on our shoulders too!

It is definitely worth the trip because seeing and feeling the fireflies, surrounded by them in real life were so much different. Photographs.. just can't elaborate it! In fact, during the trip, we were asked not to snap photos with flash. How would we able to take good photos in such darkness and no flash? So, in the end, we decided to pack our camera away, sat tight and enjoyed the view. And the wind breeze too...

If you wish to save some money, instead of going through the hotel, you can contact Hafiz at 017-978 9256 or via email at kohafiz@gmail.com directly to make bookings. For as long as you stay in any hotels along the coastal road (Jln Kuantan-Kemaman), it will be easy to get to Hafiz. Just tell him where you stay and he will be more than happy to direct you to his place.

The next morning, we went for the river boat ride (through Hafiz too). It was the same boat ride we took the night before except, instead of watching fireflies, we scout for wild animals.

It was a clear and sunny day.

The moment we embarked onto the motorboat into the mangrove area, we hardly notice how hot the weather was. Cool weather, light breeze, it was indeed an enchanting ride. I felt like saying "Wow, Mother Earth's so beautiful!

A great lesson learned -- we must preserve our forest, our nature and our environment!

Hafiz was good and experienced. He has a great pair of eyes. At quick instances, he was able to identify where the wild animals were taking naps. We saw snakes dangling down from branches just above our heads, colourful crabs, squirrel leaping in between the branches etc, a fascinating experience not to be missed indeed!

Most of the animals were sleeping during the day. That was why we could get close to them. According to Hafiz, these animals went round searching for preys the night before. They slept during the day instead. My goose bump got "activated" a bit as I started to wonder how many pairs of eyes were watching at us when we were busy scouting for fireflies the night before!

The river was getting narrower as we entered deeper into the mangrove. The water was calm, the surrounding was really quiet and creepy. Our imaginations went rather wild... wondering if there were any crocodiles! Hafiz comforted us that because this part of the river was close to the sea, therefore the water was a little salty and crocodiles didn't really like it. Unlike if we traveled further into the mangrove, we might get to say Hi to them!!

The entire journey took about 2.5hours. Amazing ride, this was definitely better than going to the zoo! To the least of it, no stinking smell and no hot sun above our heads and no swelling feet too!!

We went back to the hotel after, had a rest, strolled along the white beach and had dinner getting ready for the next highlight - Turtle watching.

Turtle watching was indeed THE Highlight of the entire trip. I always thought that we needed to go to Rantau Abang in order to see real turtle laying eggs. For this trip, we thought what we could see was just some "shows" presented by the rangers from the turtle sanctuary or we probably had to watch from really far ha! To tell the truth, we even brought binoculars with us for this trip haha!!

That night, we were told to stand by at the hotel around 9pm. They would inform us if there were turtles coming to the shore to lay eggs. Around 9.20pm, the phone rang and informed us that the tour guide was on the way to pick us up.

Without wasting any more time, we made our way to the lobby and here we come, TURTLE!

The place was approximately 10 ~ 15 minutes from Impiana Cherating Resort. It was quite easy to get there in fact. After parking our car, we need to walk a fair bit to get to the turtle. If we did not engage this tour guide recommended by the hotel, we probably dare not even follow him into the woods as the path leading into where the turtle was located was rather creepy.....

The tour guide was great. They explained to us what was happening and what was to come, they warned us things we should avoid etc. Definitely no camera flashing!

When we were there, we saw a mother turtle digging a hole to prepare for eggs laying. After a few attempts, we could see she was really tired. We could hear her taking a long deep breath before she continued to dig again. Soon, the hole was deep enough and she settled into position to start laying eggs. It was difficult for her initially as we were told that this was her first pregnancy (there was no marking on her flaps as usually rangers did marking on the turtle every time they came on the shore). According to the tour guide, mother turtle would return for next laying 10 - 11 days later. As soon as she finished laying the eggs, she would cover up the hole. Slowly she would crawl her way back into the sea. That night, she laid a total of 116 eggs!

We were given a chance to have a close up look at the turtle eggs. The egg shelf was rather hard though from the sight of it, it seemed soft. We returned the eggs to the ranger and was told that these eggs would not hatch anymore because of the movements and turnings. We felt so bad! That's why the ranger only allowed 2 of the eggs to be removed from the hole for viewing despite there were over 40 of us there.

We even got a chance to play with the baby turtle before setting them free into the sea. There were so cute and lovely. The moment we set the little ones on the ground, they started crawling really fast. The ranger told us that it was important to release them back from the same place so they would remember where they came from. Twenty years later, they would return to the same land to lay eggs.

My girl was very touched and amused. This trip was really "up, close and personal". It was a very memorable experience and educational trip indeed!

Note: For the purpose of watching turtles, June to August is the best time. Do bring a torchlight along just in case.

Our Way Home 回家的路 - First Week of School

2011-06-14T09:16:00.001+08:00

You may want to start from the beginning...

My "fearest" moment had finally arrived.... the first day at local Chinese school! Of so many new schools my girl had gone to, this was the most "stressful" first day at school for both her and me! I could recall when she was in kindergarten, she cried and cried refused to let me go on the first three days of school. She was fine on the forth day onwards. When she was in Singapore International School, I was there for the first 2 days. When she moved to UNIS Hanoi and British International School, I was irrelevant after the first day of school.

But for this Chinese school she is attending now, it took her 1 week to settle in! Now that I recalled, it was a blessing we made our way through. I am truly proud of my girl for willing to and being brave in accepting the new challenge. Whenever I talked to friends about putting her back to local school, all of them looked at me with their eyes opened as if I had done something I should not have done. Some of them were surprised she could adapt in the first place.

First thing in the morning when we arrived, we were asked to see the deputy principal to get the class allocation. We waited outside the deputy principle office. There were quite a long queue waiting for the allocation surprisingly. Soon, it was time for us to see the deputy principal. The first question the deputy principal asked was: "Is she able to read Mandarin?". My girl said yes. Then the second question she asked was: "Is she able to understand Malay?". I said yes.
She shrugged as if she wasn't sure if we knew what we were talking about or whether we knew what was going to come. To be very frank, I was as worried and uncertain as her but we have to sound confident, look confident right?

After meeting the deputy principal, we were given some forms to fill up. We made our way to the canteen and started filling up the forms. It was a Monday and there was assembly going on. We saw rows and rows of children queuing and listening obediently to the principal. Thereafter, everybody stood and sang one song after another. If I was not wrong, at least 3 songs they sand. Unfortunately, the only one I could recognize was Negaraku :( ... While I was busy filling up the forms, I soon realized that everybody in school had stopped whatever in hands and stood up straight. We were the only few who did not do it. Sigh... After few years staying outside of Malaysia, we sort of forgot how to respect our own country! I felt rather embarrassed myself. On this note, I told myself that of all the challenges ahead of us and nostalgia we had over the luxurious life style when we were staying overseas, this justify our return and in fact this is our home our tanahair, we must come back.

After 10 minutes or so, all the children started marching back into the classrooms like troops.

I soon realized my girl was in panicky condition. It was indeed a total disastrous cultural shock for her. She started to cry wanting to go home. Refused to even look up when I called her. My heart sank miles down to the bottom of the dead blue sea. I felt like pulling her hands and said: "Lets go, we are not staying here!" But, I knew I needed to be strong, my role being there was to help and support her. I could not lose my footing...

The only thing I could do was to comfort her and encourage her to pull herself together.

After all the kids and teachers had gone into their classrooms respectively, we made our way to the designated class my girl was allocated to. When we arrived at the classroom, there wasn't any empty seats available. She was even more panicky!

We introduced ourselves to the homeroom teacher and I managed to explain to her my daughter's current state ie. cultural shock wanting to go home stage haha!!

The teacher was kind enough to give me her mobile number so I could contact her in case my girl faced any difficulties or I had any questions. I must say that my girl would not have made her way through if not because of this dedicated teacher. It is very rare to find dedicated teachers like her nowadays.

Immediately she assigned some kids in the class to go table hunting and after about 10 minutes, they came back with many sets of tables and chairs. I was delighted to see the kids are just so helpful. As soon as the teacher assigned them the task, they decided among themselves to split the team and start the hunt. Soon, each team came back with a set of table and chair. It was fun seeing such scenario which we do not get to experience in international school because everything is so organized in international schools and children do not need to worry about anything, not even stationaries as they are all readily available within their reach.

Also unlike international school where buddies would be assigned to new comers, ie. a way of helping new comers to make friends so to speak, in local school, you are on your own. My girl had a bit of a struggle initially. My husband and I had to visit her every day during break time just to make sure she managed to find some buddies. In the second week, the situation improved. Every other day I heard new names. She started making friends which was great. Once they have friends in class, everything would be fine.

It is entering 6 months now since the first day of school and she had been through 2 exams already. Things are getting tough but I always remind her to look at things positively, at times put ourselves in other people's shoes. Like some teachers like to scare the kids with cane. I told her to look at the number of kids in the class and looked at some very naughty kids in class, sometimes the teachers just could not help it.

Three months ago, a new teacher came on board and he happened to come from the elite school nearby. As expected, he was strict to the kids and very demanding. She always complaint to me about how boring, how strict, how serious the teacher was... Two weeks ago when she received her test papers, she got 93 points as compared to 80 points before. She progressed. Because of this "demanding" teacher, she managed to get over with 6,7 and 8 time tables. She had been struggling with this for months in international school and could not get over with it! And now she made it through.

These are just ups and downs they will experience in school. I guess instead of pushing her to score higher points, penalizing her for making silly mistakes in exams. The least and the best I could do for her is to encourage her, support her and to nurture her with the right mindset. Somehow, the kid will survive one way or the other.

Today, I look at her. She seem to be more matured now. Many things she does on her own now. She tidies her own school bag and gets her school shoes ready for the next day on her own. She cut her nails on her own. She even started to do revision at night on her own. Unlike before, nothing worried her. She didn't need to bother what she brought to school because there were no text books to bring for a start! There were no homework to do. As soon as they leave their classroom, they leave everything behind. Clear mind ready to play! And, absolutely no issue if she forgets to bring anything to school. Most of the time, she could not even recall what was being taught in school as soon as she reached home. All she could remember was what she played in school and who she played with. Not that she did not learn anything, just different approach, stress-free and more of learning at own pace. Perhaps the learning was so fun that it was hard to recollect exactly what was learned.

On the other hand, the shortcomings of the local system is of course the teaching method is rather "square" I must admit. Truly speaking, lesser homework would really help nurture a happy and more healthy growing kids, physically and mentally. I wish the government's intention to enrich the education system with livelier content and more activities orientated could materialize soon. This would really help to improve the local education system.

But as of now if you ask me now, I would say I have no regrets sending her back to Chinese school! Thanks to 侯彩风老师 (my girl's homeroom teacher) and Bravo to my girl too!!

Our Way Home 回家的路 - Back to School

2011-03-04T18:49:00.000+08:00

You may want to start from the beginning...

From the day we arrived Kuala Lumpur to the start of new school year, we had 5 working days left! Yes, 5 working days and we had not even have a place for her in any schools!!

We could not do it much earlier in fact. Education ministry said without school leaving certificate, we can't submit any application. The current school said that we will release the school leaving certificate towards the last few days of school when everything was returned. Chicken and egg, egg and chicken. Anyway, can't do much until we literally place our foot back home.

My husband and I decided to let our girl tried out the local school. It was a "harsh" decision considering she had been learning in international school environment. However, if you ask me now, I must say I have no regrets sending her to local school despite there were some negative comments about the system. Do read on...

We started our 1/5 workings day by visiting the school we intended to send her. It was school holiday. The PIC said he was not sure if there was any vacancy. He directed us to Section 19 Shah Alam. So, we went all the way to Section 19. Believe me, it was not easy to find. The building has no frontage to the main road nor any prominent landmarks nearby. There was only a very small signboard by the main road as you are approaching the junction. Anyway, we went there and were told that we had to submit at the education ministry first! And, we were directed to another place! Gosh...

After we went through it, the process was very simple actually. Somehow it was not spell out anywhere, nor in the ministry's website whatsoever (hope one day it will be!). It only took 3 days to get the approval from education ministry and on the 4th day we were at the new school already. I could not believe we could make it actually!

If we had taken the right path in the first place, it would not have been so hectic. Basically, it is like this.

1. Just make a call to the education ministry (http://www.moe.gov.my/ - tel. no. 603-8884 6000 / 603-7723 7070) to inquire for the nearest office your child should be registered with. Do not attempt to drop them any email, somehow nobody bothers to respond, I would not be surprised because I had dropped in several emails to some private schools near my place, I did not get any response either!!

2. Go straight to the ministry's office. Pick up the "returning from overseas form", fill them up. Do bring along at least 3 copies of the necessary documents namely:
- both parents (IC, passport - page with particulars + page bearing the immigration stamp stating the date you arrived home)
- school leaving certificate
- child's birth certificate/IC and passport (same as above)
- letter from employer to proof that you have been working overseas and now returning home

School results are not required for primary kids. You will be given 2 choices of schools. Be sure to find out which 2 schools you would like your child to enter prior to going there.

3. With the form duly completed and all details annexed accordingly, your application will be approved within an hour.

4. Next is to visit the allocation office which the officer will direct you where to go. This was the place I was directed by the school PIC in the first place which I am not suppose to visit until I get clearance from the education ministry. See, even the staff didn't know the correct procedure! Frankly, if these procedures are communicated well to the public, I strongly believe that the perception towards our government departments will be much favorable than now. Anyway, this is the place they will assign your child to the respective school. Submit the approved forms to the counter and come back on the 3rd working day.

5. You will receive the allocation letter on the 3rd working day. Be sure to start your day early to beat the queue!

Hurray, we got a seat! My heart is as heavy as a rock. I wasn't sure if this was the right decision, would it be the right path for her? Whether my girl is able to pull through because everybody says local school is a crazy place especially Chinese school and I am sending her to the crazy place!

Next - Our Way Home -First Week of School

Our Way Home 回家的路 - The Relocation Begins!

2011-03-04T17:52:00.000+08:00

Click here to start from the beginning....

I started organizing the packing, got some quotes from the relocation experts and finally got them to come in for final measurements. And hoooh.... time flies, came the day they came to pick up the goods from our house, time to say bye bye.

by the way, in case you are looking for not-so-expensive shipping agent, you can consider for MAS Cargo (http://www.maskargo.com). They do not provide the household cargo service to all cities in the world but at least major cities are (ie. In Vietnam, MAS Cargo covers Ho Chi Minh City but not Hanoi). So, if you happen to be in the cities where MAS Cargo is available and you are looking for budget shipping, feel free to contact them to find out more. For my shipment, the price difference as compared to the relocation agents was 50% at least.

Since it is cheap. it comes with a price of course.

The "complication" is you need to deal with three parties, separated but related. Let me put it this way, all the parties are related to MAS Cargo but they operate on its own. One party will come to your house to pick up the goods and have them check-in at the airport, the second party, which MAS Cargo itself, will ensure your goods are delivered via air freight to the destination country. Upon checking-out, you can commission another party to assist in custom clearance and transfer to your doorstep after. This could be an option in case the company you are servicing does not provide relocation coverage.

These three parties as I said, they are related but they operate independently. Unfortunately I can't comment much about the service because finally I did not use the service. The company my husband was working then had requested us to use their appointed relocation agent instead. Anyone out there, if you had experienced using MAS Cargo before, perhaps can share it with us then!

Back to where I was, hooooff... there goes our goods and the next day, in the morning of Christmas, we flew home.

With that, our new chapter of life begins.... with many great challenges and adventures awaiting us!!

Next ~ Our Way Home - Back to School

Our Way Home 回家的路 - Breaking the News

2011-03-04T15:24:00.000+08:00

It has been quite some time I did not write in my blog that I almost forgot my entry password!

I could still recall vividly 2 months ago when my husband told me that he has decided to resign finally and the whole family would be shifting back to Kuala Lumpur. I have prepared my mind for it all these while, well, that was what I thought I had but it turned out, it was a difficult reality for me. Finally, my "nightmare" became a reality.

Just the thought of the relocation process, the packing-unpacking, new schooling for my girl, new adjustment for everybody blah blah blah... made me.. very vulnerable i should say.

Wake up! It is the reality we have to face. Bite the bullet and just do it, I told myself!

First thing first, I need to break the news to my girl. When I broke the news to her, she had been pretty mature in accepting the news. She sort of understood that despite how nice her current school and classmates were, this is still other people's country (we were in Ho Chi Minh City, btw), we need to go home one day.

My heavy heart got lighten up quite a fair bit, because of all the "vulnerabilities", she is always my No. 1 concern. Looks like my worries about her not able to adjust and accept the change is redundant. In fact, she is grown-up now.

As it was approaching the start of winter break and in order to catch the commencement of new school year in Malaysia beginning of January, we had decided to "accelerate" our relocation plan. Therefore, I didn't manage to organize any farewell party for her. What I had done was just prepared some small gifts for her to bring to her friends on her last day of school.

In the morning of her last day going to school, she cried finally.... She said: "I know we have to go back one day but I didn't expect it comes so fast. I am very sad." My heart sunk to the bottom, I felt like holding her in my arms and cried together but I knew I couldn't. I have to be strong so she would be strong too. It was a very difficult moments for both of us.

Going home is not so easy afterall......

Next ~ Our Way Home 回家的路 - Relocation Begins

Malaysian Pride - Upin & Ipin

2010-07-27T11:13:00.000+08:00

Upin & Ipin is the pride of all Malaysians. Thanks to Les' Copaque Production!

We got to know about Upin & Ipin just recently. I think probably early this year when we moved back to Ho Chi Minh City. I still vividly remembered the very first episode we watched was on Disney Channel Asia.

The story was about how the twins (two 5 year-old boys named Upin & Ipin) celebrated their 1st Mother's day. Kak Ros, their eldest sister had brought them to meet their mom at the graveyard. Their mom passed away in their infancy. They were happily cleaning up and beautifying the place for their mom. It was a joyful moment for both of them.

In the end, they did not forget to also celebrate "Opah's day" (grandma's day) with their beloved grandma. It was a very lovely and touching story.

As I was watching it with my daughter, I was telling her that "hey, this story is so Malaysian!" It can't be produced by Malaysia, right? It is on Disney channel! That was what we thought. As the show ended, we were so surprised to see that ... Wow, it is made in Malaysia!!

From then on, my daughter has been "chasing after" almost every episode, from one season to the other. She doesn't stay in Malaysia nor study in Malaysian school. Upin & Ipin is a great exposure for her to understand Malaysia. Some of the things I had done before when I was young. The feeling was so nostalgia.

This round when we got back....

One day, when I was driving on Federal Highway, my girl was shouting from the back seat: "Mom, Upin & Ipin!! On magazine now!!!" A delivery van just drove passed us with Upin & Ipin's ads on it. That was how we got to know that Upin & Ipin's on magazines!!!

The next day, we dropped by Popular bookstore. We managed to pick up issue 6 (June release). It's RM4.90 each.

Most stories in there were continuation from previous issue. In addition to Upin & Ipin's stories, they also have the new one "Geng". Both comics were in locale Malay. It is a great opportunity for our children to learn the locale. This will be helpful in their communication skills.

Apart from comics, children also get to learn what's happening behind screen, who is the voice behind Upin & Ipin, how the animation was produced, facts about Malaysia, the states and capital cities.

The comics can be easily understood by children of 7 - 9 years old depends on their Malay language capability. for the others, parent's guidance may be required.

Missed the previous release? Not to worry, you can still get the previous releases. You can purchase the latest issue from Popular bookstore. There is a form you can fill up, mail it across attaching the money order / postal order of RM52.90 (for 12 issues). Write a little note to ask them to mail to you the previous issues. Thereafter, just continue the subscription of the remaining issues.

Alternatively, you can visit their office in Petaling Jaya for purchase of the previous issues as well as to subscribe for future releases. That was what I did because it's equally troublesome to go to the bank or post office to get a money order / postal order. Just bring enough cash will do.

Their office is located at:

Nyla Sdn Bhd

No. 47, SS14/28

(it is a bungalow unit behind Digital Mall, SS14)

Tel: 1700806952

Upin & Ipin's official website : www.upindanipin.com.my/

National Library Malaysia at Jalan Tun Razak

2010-07-20T12:11:00.000+08:00

Every summer holiday we came back to Kuala Lumpur, the few places my daughter won't miss were Popular bookstore, MPH, Kinokuniya and the National Library at Jalan Tun Razak.

Newly refurbished National Library Malaysia (Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia, PNM)

I started to enroll her as member since last year. It's convenient and free of charge. What you need to do is just to bring along your child's birth certificate during registration. For adults, the membership will be built into our identity card.

When we were there last year, to my surprise, they still had my record ie. like 23 years ago or something. I was once a member even before the library moved from Jalan Raja Laut to Jalan Tun Razak. Based on the records, I was still a member but not able to produce my member card, hence considered "lost card" case (how on earth a normal person would have kept a card made out of paper for 23 years for that matter?). Anyway, in order to renew my membership, I was fined for RM10 for losing it somehow.

My daughter was very happy visiting the library. Though I must say the books were really old and practically none of them ever been sold in any bookstores anymore. Pile and pile of books lying everywhere in the library. There is no way one can search for one particular book unless you literally flip through each and every book on the shelves, trolleys, racks etc.

But somehow, we still spent half a day every two weeks in the library. Bookworms were not choosy I supposed!

This year when we came back, as usual, we visited the national library. We are delighted to see they have improved tremendously. We saw a lot of new children books on the shelves. Some even have Popular's; Kinokuniya's price tags still on! There are still piles and piles of books on the trolley but at least we saw a few librarians were sorting them back to the shelves, at a slow pace unfortunately... well, still better than before.

I really appreciate what is being done to our National Library. This should be the way to be. The building was constructed in such unique and beautiful architecture. With the improvement of its content, more people will visit. I really hope they will continue to improve and bring it up-to-date. It will be beneficial to general public and our future generations.

National Library Malaysia / Perpustakaan Negara Malayisa (PNM) is located at No. 232, Jalan Tun Razak.

If you are coming from the south, southwest and southeast (Klang, Shah Alam, Subang, Petaling Jaya etc) of Kuala Lumpur, use Jalan Sungei Besi. Head towards downtown direction. You will pass by KLCC, Jln Bukit Bintang, Ampang. As soon as you are approaching Bulatan Pahang, you will see the library building on your right. Just make a U-turn at Bulatan Pahang to get to the library.

If you are coming from the north, then Jalan Kuching is the most convenient way to get to the National Library. Take the flyover to Putra World Trade Centre, you are on Jalan Tun Razak already. Pass Bulatan Pahang, look out for the library bulding on your left.

Carparking is still an issue. The perimeter parking is always full. You need to park along the "side road".

A multi-storey carpark is under construction. Hopefully with its completion, it will ease the parking problem.

The library is opened from Tuesday - Sunday from 10am to 7pm. It is closed on Mondays and public holidays.

Give it a try!

A Breath of Fresh Air

2010-07-13T10:12:00.000+08:00

It has been quite a while I didn't visit my blog. Quite substantially busy for me throughout the last three weeks because I was working on some jobs I got via online. To add on to the chaos, summer holiday has arrived and it is time to plan for return to home country for holiday.

In between working, I had to organize my luggage, make sure it won't be under or over-weight. Nowadays, the one thing I must always do before heading home is to scan around my house (in Vietnam) to see what needs to bring home (to Malaysia) first, and what needs to leave behind. As we are planning to relocate back home soon, this is the one thing I must do before every trip so that I won't end up with loads of stuff to bring back.

The next on my priority list is of course my shopping list. I make sure I stock up the necessary stuff for at least 6 months supply because it is either too expensive in Vietnam or they are not available.

It is a never ending process. I brought home something. I bring something back. I pile them all over my house in Vietnam. Come the next vacation, I pack something else and bring home again. And I go shopping, then I start piling them....

Sigh... I wonder if this is the way all expatriate wives run their household?

Well, back to where we were. I have been a home maker for almost three years now. I enjoyed every bit of it. Now, I managed to get some online jobs that made my life even more interesting. Busy yes, rush for sure, not enough time to do other things definitely, but it is very refreshing!

The thought of being able to make some money whilst still able to manage my household hand-on, I think this is a real dream come true. Like the song in The Sound of Music goes... "...somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good."

I have worked on this for two years. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel finally....

So for home makers out there, never give-up. Life will turnaround. There are lights at the end of the tunnel definitely.

Unit 11 Bahasa Melayu Lesson - Di Sekolah Saya

2010-06-09T11:14:00.000+08:00

This lesson may be a bit complicated as it contained quite a number of new vocabulary. Try to split the role play in 2 or 3 stages. One at a time. Take it slowly.

You will notice that I had introduced a few verbs with Imbuhan (prefix) "me" ie. "menunggu", "meminjam", "menyanyi" etc. I would like them to accept the word and its meaning as it is. In the next few lessons, I will introduce them more in depth into root words (kata dasar) and the rules of Imbuhan "me". But at this stage, the focus is merely to make them understand the meaning of the words and the sentences.

Click here to download this Unit.

To download the rest of the Units, go to "Quick Download".

Unit 10 Bahasa Melayu Lesson - Buah-buahan

2010-06-09T10:58:00.000+08:00

I have created the quick download link (on top right panel of my blog) for easy downloading of the Bahasa Melayu Lesson. I have uploaded so far Unit 1 - Unit 9. Today, I will be uploading Unit 10, about fruits (Buah-buahan).

Just a quick overview of this lesson. I tried to use simple sentences in the role play so we can focus on the learning of fruit names. Try to do the role play with your children several times throughout the week.

If need be, ask your children to draw the fruits next to the "bold" words. This helps them remember.

Up until this stage of learning, you will notice that I still have not touch any topic on grammar. The focos now is for children to understand the usage of keywords, build up their vocabularies and let them familiarize with the simple sentence formats. It will make more sense when we introduce grammar later.

Click here to download this unit.

Go to "Quick Download" page if you want to view or download the rest of the Units.

Amazing Onions and Bananas

2010-06-07T15:07:00.000+08:00

Some facts about the amazing onions and bananas.

1. cut onions are POISONOUS, particularly the uncooked ones.

2. onions can combat flu.

3. bananas quiet a cough.

I had tried them out, and the result is amazing!

Our family doesn't eat a lot of onions. Sometimes, I will use it to stir fry with eggs but one onion plus 2 - 3 eggs is just too much. So, I usually use half for stir fry and wrap the other half with fresh wrap, keep in refrigerator for the next meal.

When I need to use them, they usually turn really ugly that I had to throw them away.

But now I don't have to do that anymore. I slice out whatever amount of onion I need for cooking,. Then, I will place the remaining cut onion in a bowl and put it in the living room.

Onion is a strong magnet to bacteria. Hence, when placed in open air, it absorbs the bacteria away.

I have been doing this for six months now. We seldom down by flu. Even we had, it was very mild and would recover within the next day. Our body immune system seem to improve too. We don't get infected so easily despite our influenza jab has expired.

My girl used to catch cold and flu very easily. Now, it has reduced a lot.

Last Friday, she had fever. I fed her with a dose of paracetamol in the afternoon. At night, I put 2 pieces of cut onion on the table next to her bed. The next day, she recovered totally. I didn't need to follow-up with more paracetamol nor visiting doctor.

I Also didn't give her any cough syrup. Instead she took bananas . The fact is bananas is the better medicine to quiet a cough. She took a few pieces of bananas on Saturday and she was fine after that.

I usually change the cut onions 2 - 3 times a week depends on the condition (ie. the extent of bacteria absorbed). You will notice that on days when someone in your family have cough or running nose, some black powder-look spots (like fungus) may appear on the surface of the onion. Just replace them with new ones. It is as simple as that .

These are 3 days old cut onions. Notice the front two pieces with darker shades than the back two? The dark ones were in my daughter's room last Friday when she was not feeling well.

Simply amazing onions and bananas!

Easy, cheap and effective way to keep our family healthy.

So, start putting onions in your living room and bedroom today to see the result.

Natural healing is the best cure!

p/s. the above suggestion is good to combat flu however if symtoms persist, please visit your nearest clinic for more advice. It may not be just flu.

Moment of laughters... I mean a real laugh!

2010-06-07T09:26:00.000+08:00

I went to bookstore the other day. My eyes wandered around as usual looking for interesting covers. This particular novel caught my attention. Out of curiosity I pick up the book. Not any latest release, in fact it was major motion picture a few years ago. Haha!! Well, I must admit I am not those who are very up-to-date type!

The book is written by John Grisham. That is y i was curious! As far as I could recall, John Grisham writes stories related to criminals, accused and defendant and all the related blah blah blah. ... I am not particularly a fan of his. But somehow, this book "Skipping Christmas" ~~ as I interpreted from its cover, it is a comedy definitely.

I decided to buy the book anyway. To my surprise, this book is really hilarious.

The part I enjoyed most about this book was the laughter it had brought to me and my daughter. One night I retold the story to my Lv, we laughed and laughed until it was way beyond her sleeping time. My husband was giving warning signal... its 10 o'clock already... its 11 o'clock already... usually I am quite particularly having Lv sleep on time. But, for that particular night, we just had too much fun and laughter, that I thought to myself ..... "well... to hell with it! [ophs..] lets have fun!!"

I could see her face expression with eye widely opened, from surprise turn into oh my god! At one point she hid her head under the pillow knowing that something really bad gonna happened! We both laughed our heads off. Uh... it is one of those best moments of laughter.....

Also try out this DVD. Hilarious!

So, if you are in search of a real laugh, trust me, it is really fun when you retold the story to your little ones!

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

Piano ABRSM Exam - A Dilemma

2010-06-04T12:23:00.000+08:00

I was chatting with my sister about registering my girl for ABRSM exam next year. Considering her standard now, I believe she is ready for Grade 2 ABRSM next year if she works hard on it.

Well, I must admit that this is the mother-kiasu thing again (kiasu in Chinese dialect means scare of losing).... :(

Recently, I was chatting with a friend. Her daughter is 7 and she is going for Grade 1 ABRSM this month. She told me how nervous she had been these few weeks worrying for the exam. She regretted registering her daughter because it gave her so much stress. She worried about her sight reading, scales and out of sudden, she realised that her daughter's tutor had not been teaching her the aural skills blah blah blah...

So, I thought well... her girl is 7 and going for Grade 1. Mine is 8, so rightfully, she should go to Grade 2 next year... That was what I thought.

I tried her with some scales, sight reading... It was really upsetting for her and learning became so stressful and boring. She used to enjoy the song she played. If the song comes with lyrics, she will ask me to play and she sings along until she is able to play the song herself.

When she is ready, she will try to sing along as she plays.

But now, she hates piano time now!

It makes me "pull my hand break" and start to reconsider my decision.

Should I continue to push harder? because like those who made it to Diploma would say :

"I was so thankful to my mom for pushing me hard enough, otherwise I won't be here."

Or should I leave it to her free hand? Let's see how far she can go?I recalled a friend who was a piano tutor, once told me that don't push your child to take ABRSM too early because learning music is to enjoy it, not for the sake of exams. I tend to agree with her a lot. It doesn't really matter at what age the child starts taking the exams or at what grade he/she takes the first exam. The fundamental is the child enjoys it.

I totally agree with her comments as only certain grades in ABRSM are compulsory.

Then, I recalled a Korean friend of mine, she enjoyed playing piano. In Korea, they do not follow ABRSM. She didn't go through any formal ABRSM lessons or exams either. In fact, she was very shock when I told her that we need to go for exam every year to get certification from Grade 1 to Grade 8 and all the way to Diploma.

I remembered one day when she visited the Reunification Palace in HCMC, in the living room, there was an old grand piano. She was very excited. Without thinking further, she sat down on the piano and started playing despite there were many strangers around. She played very confidently and she was enjoying it so much.

Everybody applaused as she ended her song.

I was very very impressed.

I asked myself how many children from ABRSM passes really appreciate music and have such passion as her strong as her?

Really a dilemma...

I recalled when I was young, I never enjoyed playing piano because of the yearly exams. The scales, sight reading, aural thing and the exam pieces which I had to do over and over again for one whole year.

To add more trouble to it, I had a very good but strict piano tutor. She was not very patient with me. She liked to twist my ears when I could not play well or I could not understand what she asked me to do. I always ended up crying at the end of the lesson.

It was never a sweet memory for me. I wasn't sure why at that time, I never refrained myself from going for more lessons.

I guess I learnt because my daddy asked me to. He said that it can be a career when I grew up.

But now, I am in a dilemma... whether I should proceed to register my daughter for ABRSM exam next year...

I wish I have answers for that...

Dilemma of Moms

2010-06-01T10:09:00.000+08:00

My friend told me this morning that she quarrelled with his son. Exam is approaching. Therefore, this week is study week. His son chose to study at home but mummy was not agreeable. Mummy's argument was there were many distractions at home like computer games, PSP, TV blah blah blah, hence it would be a better idea to study in the school library.

Who was right and who was wrong? If you ask me, both were not.

The problem was getting the message across correctly. Mummy saw the advantages of studying in school therefore magnified the disadvantages of studying at home. From her son's point of view, he interpreted as mummy would never trust me! So, he started to act rebellion.

If she had expressed her intention as (frankly, I hope I would be as calm as this when my girl reaches that age...) but, like it or not, we need to learn to communicate in their "teenager" language.

"You know, this is one of the big exams that will determine your future prospects. It is a chance of a life time. Mummy feels that it would better to study in school library because of less distraction, you can concentrate better and in case you need any reference book, they are easily available. But if you think you are able to manage your time well by studying at home and not distracted by TV games, mummy is fine with it. Mummy can make you some good food to eat while you study. "

We informed our children of the facts, pros and cons, and most importantly we throw the decision back to them. If they did poorly in the exam, they would not put the blame over mummy for "forcing" them to study in the school library and the next time would be a wiser decision. If his results turn out to be good despite the "distractions", then they really deserved a pat on the back.

As for his son, perhaps he wants the flexibility like he can just grab anything to eat as he studies along. Unlike, studying in library, may be peaceful but he needs to pack up, go to the canteen and queue for his lunch. Perhaps he is strategizing for victory but not wanting his friends to know about it?

They must be reasons why he chose to study at home. If he is willing to study before the exam, it means the exam is important to him. He knows what he is doing. The moment we as parents challenge his decision (by not believing that they made the right choice), he would close all communication channel and rebellious behaviour takes over.

Mummy would never be able to find out why. More and more misunderstanding and the gap becomes greater and greater. We want our children to talk to us. But sometimes our behaviour / respond cause otherwise. We only realised it when the damage was done.

I always have this dilemma. It is like a mouse trap. We fall into it over and over again just like the mouse and yet we never learn from it.

Sigh... not easy to be parents indeed...

All you need to know about Universal Studio Singapore Part 1

2010-05-26T15:22:00.000+08:00

Last week, we went to the newly opened Universal Studio in Singapore. It was not as crowded as we expected. Perhaps it was not a weekend.

It is very easy to get there via MRT. Hop onto the nearest MRT station from your hotel and get to Harbour Front Station. There are several ways to get to Universal Studio from here. The most convenient is via the Sentosa Express.

Sentosa Express Station is located at 3rd floor of Vivo City Shopping Mall adjacent to the MRT station. The cost is SGD3 flat rate for child / adult. However, you still need to purchase the tickets individually despite it being the same rate. Return trip is free of charge.

It took us less than 10 minutes to get to Universal Studio from here. We reached Universal Studio at about 10.00am in the morning.

Tickets

Operating Hours : 10.00am to 7.00pm It was not very crowded at the ticketing counters because more than 10 ticketing booths were opened that day. However, it is advisable to book your tickets online if you are planning to go on the weekends. The park controls number of visitors per day. Usually, tickets would be sold out by late morning / noon on weekends.

Operating Hours
For now, with several attractions not ready (frankly, we were very disappointed with this ...), one day pass is enough. If you go the right strategy (please read "Tips to beat the Crowd" below), one day pass is mooore than enough.

Universal Express - unless you really hate queueing, it is not really necessary. The extras you are getting are waiting time not more than 5 minutes per ride and you get to enjoy the performances at VIP seats (best spots).

As most of rides are quite challenging, I personally think that it is not very suitable for children 5 or 6 years old and below as compared to Disneyland. So if you happen to bring young children along, be prepared to skip quite a number of rides / performances.

In the month of May 2010, each ticket purchased will be complemented by a SGD10 meal voucher in any restaurants in Universal Studio Singapore plus a SGD5 souvenir voucher.

Though the operating hours is until 7pm, Hollywood Boulevard (mainly retails shops and restaurants) extends their operating hours till 9pm on Friday and Saturdays. But, on the day of our visit, the shops and restaurants in Hollywood Boulevard remained open until about 8.00pm as there were still plenty of customers in the shops.

Tips to beat the Crowd

1. Watch where the big crowd are moving (especially those comes via tour agencies) . Avoid them!

2. Go against traffic.

3. Pick up the latest performance schedule, decide which time slot you intend to go before you start your journey. Clear them off your list as early as possible so you will not need to stop in the middle of rides and rush for another show. The park is really not that big, it is absolutely alright to walk back and forth from one area to the other.

4. Have early lunch - just before 12noon will be good.

5. Skip rides (I mean only rides, not performances) in The Lost World and Ancient Egypt during noon time. That is the time when crowd from both sides (ie. via New York / via Madagascar) meet. Come back after 4.30pm.

6. Skip the retail shops along Hollywood Boulevard and head straight to either Madagascar / New York depends on where the crowd are moving. Come back later for shopping.

7. If you have particular interest in certain characters within the park ie. Dinosaur, Madagascar etc., do find some time to visit the small retail shops within the area itself as some of the merchandise may not be available at the Hollywood Boulevard shops.

8. Wear comfortable shoes preferably flat and tied shoes as some rides may require you to suspend in the air.

To view the interactive map, go to http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/Attractions/UniversalStudiosSingapore/Tickets

Hollywood Boulevard and New York
As you entered the park, you will be welcomed by many lovely shops and restaurants offering attractive merchandises. That is the Hollywood Boulevard. As they will remain open until 8.00pm at night, it is a good idea to drop by later before heading home.

Next, you will come to a junction where to your left is Madagascar and to your right is the New York / Sci-Fi City. When we were there, we went to the right because we saw many people heading to the left. Remember to avoid big crowd.

Head straight to Pantages Hollywood Theater in Hollywood Boulevard if you can catch the first show at 10.30am. Otherwise, catch the next one that suit your time.

Next, diagonally opposite the Pantages Hollywood Theater is Lights, Camera, Action! in New York, hosted by Steven Spielberg. This is a MUST-NOT-MISSED!!

However, young children may not enjoy this. It creates loud bangs, strong winds, huge things swaying from one end to the other.... but really fantastic!

That's basically all you can get in New York because Stage 28 was not ready at the point of our visit.

There are also outdoor performances in front of the Palace (Street Dance) and the Pantages Hollywood Theater (Kowabunga) at 11.00am and 11.45am respectively. If you want to learn how to do street dancing, then don't miss the 11.00am performance.

Street Dance at 11am

Kowabunga at 11.45am

The performance was alright initially but it was a bit too length though.

Sci-Fi City

As everybody must have known by now, the Battlestar Galactica was not operational, therefore only one attraction left to enjoy in this area. The Accelerator. It is just like the teacup rides. It sways more and more as you turn your steering... Nothing new really. So, if you really have not enough time to take this ride, you can just give it a miss!

Ancient Egypt

When we arrived Ancient Egypt, it was almost noon. We could see the crowd were building up. Treasure Hunters were very very crowded.

This is one of the easy rides. Young children will definitely enjoy this. But, we skipped this and headed for lunch as the waiting time was 45 minutes!

Remember, get to the restaurant just before 12noon!.

We saved a lot of queueing and waiting time because the majority of the crowd were still enjoying their rides when we had our "peaceful" lunch.

The other attraction in Ancient Eygpt, Revenge of the Mummy was not that popular. My girl is 8 years old. She is qualified for the ride (need to be at least 122cm height). Unfortunately, she is kind of timid. Therefore, we skipped this one too. My friend told me that it was really fun and SCARY!!! So, if you are ready for the excitement, don't miss this one.

Click here to All you need to know about Universal Studio Singapore Part II

All you need to know about Universal Studio Singapore Part 2

2010-05-26T15:20:00.000+08:00

Click here if you wish to start from "All you need to know about Universal Studio Singapore Part 1"

After lunch, we went back to the Treasure Hunters in Ancient Egypt. As most people had gone for lunch, the waiting time has reduced from 45 minutes to 15 minutes only!

The Lost World
Next, it is time for the WaterWorld performance at 1.30pm. This again is a MUST-NOT-MISSED event. If you can't catch this one, be sure you catch the next one at 4.30pm. There are only two shows daily.

Be prepared to get really wet if you happen to seat within the PRIME Zone!! The wet zones are demarcated so choose your seats at your own risks!

You are about to experience the real live gun-fire fighting and awesome stunts and explosions as in the movie!

There were some moms with young children left the the theater in the middle of the show as it was kind of "unexpected" for young kids though there was no height / age limit.

See how the crowd enjoyed the water splashing prior to the show began.

By 2pm after we finished watching the WaterWorld and after lunch for some, most crowd gathered in The Lost World at this time of the day. The only attraction in The Lost World that was totally not crowded was the Amber Rock Climb because you need to pay a separate fee to enter for this one.

I would think that it would be better if Universal Studio can offer another package with entrance fee + Amber Rock Climb at the ticketing booth. It is just psychological thingy I felt because not many people noticed that extra fee applied until they got the map (after purchase the tickets) or until they reached the Amber Rock Climb itself. Many would not want to spend the extra dollars just because it was not included.

Canopy Flyer was great and the crowd were tremendous too. Unfortunately the waiting time was 50 minutes when we were there. So, we decided to skip this and come back later.

To take this ride, make sure you have tied shoes. However, if you happened to wear slippers, they would advise you to keep them at the designated place.

Dino -Soarin was nothing but just the Dumbo thing in Disneyland. Young children will enjoy this as well. Again, if you do not have much time left, it is alright to skip this one.

Another disappointment was the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure. It is a river raft ride within the dinosaur habitats. It was not ready at the point of our visit, unfortunately.

Far Far Away

Then, we moved on to the Far Far Away park. Shrek 4-D Adventure was fantastic. Though there is no height limit, younger children (5 years of age and below) may not enjoy this as it is quite thrilling. Your seat will move, water sprinkling from everywhere, you get a feel of spider crawling over your leg....

Next, the Enchanted Airways. This was really fun. It is not as scary as the normal roller coaster, so children will enjoy it.

Donkey LIVE - I personally don't really enjoy this because first of all in terms of humour, it is nothing comparable to the Stitch in Disneyland. Secondly, which is the sickening part (may be funny for some but...), was when they made fun of one of the audiences about her smelly armpit! It was just a joke of course but out of so many things to talk about, why this one? With such hot weather, it made people felt so uneasy. So, to avoid being grabbed, make sure you choose a seat away from the main aisle in front, at the back, left or right.....

Magic Potion Spin - this one was good only for really very young children. It is located in one of the retail shops - Fairy Godmother's Potion Shop.

Madagascar
It was 3.30pm when we reached the last park, The Madagascar.

Madagascar: A Crate Adventure
It is a river boat ride into the jungle with Madagascar. But, when we reached the check-point, we were told that they were facing some technical difficulties and trying to fix it. The staff had told us to come back later. So, we did. In fact, we went back there twice! But soon, we found out that the canal was extremely dry. We suspected that the ride was never working since god knows when.

Next is the Party-Go-Round. Basically it is a merry-go-round and that's is it. Your little children will enjoy this.

The Ogre House was a sad encounter as the interior was either not ready or it was not meant to allow visitors to enter? I wasn't sure.

By 4.00pm, we were almost done. We headed back to those rides that we have missed. No hassle at all because the crowd has reduced tremendously.

After going around for all the rides, it was about 6pm. We still have some spare time for shopping in the retail shops within each park. To be frank, it was not easy to spend the souvenir vouchers of SGD15 (SGD5 each for the three of us). They were either too pricy or not practical stuff.

With a fair bit of top up, we ended up buying 1 key chain, 2 pens and one bouncing ball from the retail shops in Hollywood Boulevard before heading home.

Last but not least, like Disneyland, you would come across movie characters as you walked around the park, be sure to get a snapshot with your favourite artists. Our children may not know all characters. You know like Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Betty Boop etc. Of course there are also the more recent ones like Madagascar gang, Shrek, Princess Fiona, Woody Woodpecker etc.

All in all, if the park is fully operational, I think the experience would have been much more. The free vouchers indeed compensated some of our disappointments.

Most of the rides are very "adventurous" for my girl though she is 8 and exceeds the minimum height limit. Anyway, I personally feel that bringing toddler there would not be a good idea though. 7 years old and above would be fun.

A few attractions worth-mentioning like the Lights, Camera, Action by Steven Spielberg, The Waterworld, Shrek 4-D and Pantages Hollywood Theater. There are really fantastic live performances that you probably won't get it elsewhere.

I hope Universal Studio Resort Sentosa Singapore can quickly do up the rest of the attractions in the park to make it a "wholesome" adventures for all, that is value for money.

p/s. the information above is good for the current date it was created. For more information, please log on to http://www.rwsentosa.com/

如何让孩子轻松的学华语

2010-05-14T13:24:00.000+08:00

最近，有位朋友建议让我们两家的小孩一同学华语。朋友告诉我说就试一试，让她们一起玩，一起学习，或许会有不错的效果。

我欣然地答应她了。

我整顿了一下以前给我女儿学华语使用的flashcard, 第一阶段有60个字。

如何教导小朋友，可以参考我的部落格用flashcard学华语。

因为这位小朋友已经七岁了，我就不用太大的字体，我把A4纸它分成6个格，输入这60个字/词，然后再用影印机把它们影印出来就可以了。150 - 160gram 厚的纸挺够了。

如想共作参考，可用email联系 (很抱歉，我的电脑本领不怎么样，不懂得把zip file 放上我的部落格，暂时只能以email方式联系了。请见谅。）。

My First Visit to the Dentist Chapter 6

2010-05-13T10:44:00.000+08:00

Click here to start from Chapter 1

“Hello Dr. Phuong.” My mummy greeted.

“Hello Mrs. Shee. How did you know about our clinic?” Dr. Phuong asked.

“Oh… a friend of mine came here before. She recommended me to try. ” My mummy answered.

“Oh really? That’s good.” Dr. Phuong replied. Dr. Phuong has a face of a grandfather, a kind-hearted and loving grandfather. He had a greyish white hair that matched really well with his white teeth. I guess it is a must to have nice teeth if you ever want to be a dentist.

"Em… it is her first dental visit so she is a bit nervous.” Mummy told Dr. Phuong as she pointed at me.

Oh.. what an embarrassing secret mummy…. Dr. Phuong smiled at me. His jaw didn’t really drop to the floor as I would have imagined. Well, it was not that embarrassing after all. But yeah, mum was right. He was handsome.

“Oh.. no problem sweetheart.” Dr. Phuong said.

As they were talking, the nurse in charge pushed me to the dentist chair. She was a Vietnamese and she didn’t speak good English. I couldn’t really understand what she said but I could understand from her body language that she wanted me to sit on the dentist chair. Mummy was still busy talking. I was nervous and I wanted to shout for “Help mummy!!!”

Before I realised it, I was already on the dental chair and hooopsh…. I heard a sound of like the air being let out from a big balloon and I was being “pushed” up. Wow, that was awesome! I felt like I was the pilot getting ready to take off. The nurse put a piece of paper towel on my chest. She clipped the paper towel on one side and role a green wire over my neck and clipped on the other side of the paper towel. That was a DIY do-it-yourself bib. Awesomely easy. Isn’t?

I was really nervous. At that very moment, I really wanted to escape. I recalled my mummy once told me she was nervous going to dentist too. She was even more nervous going for injection but somehow as we grow, we need to learn to control our nerves and they are controllable. So, I tried really hard to calm them down.

“Shirley, it is OK. I just need to put on my glove then I take a look at your teeth. I am not going to do anything but just to look at your teeth. OK?” Dr. Phuong said.

I could not find my voice. I just nodded. Tears came to my eyes but I controlled it from rolling down. I knew I could do it. Mummy said I just need to trust Dr. Phuong and everything would be fine.

“Oh, you have such a nice teeth there. You must have been brushing your teeth.” Dr. Phuong said.

I nodded with my mouth wide opened. I came to realise that it was not easy to nod with an open-mouth though.

“OK, close your mouth a little while.” Dr. Phuong said as he passed me a mirror.

“Can you see your teeth in the mirror?” Doctor asked. I nodded again.

“Come over her Mrs. Shee so you can have a good look at her teeth. Let me explain to you.” Dr. Phuong said.

“She has a few permanent teeth down here and up here as well. Because her gum is still a baby gum, therefore you will see that the teeth are quite “squeezy” down here. But, not to worry, wait for a few months for her gum to grow more.” Dr. Phuong said.

“OK.” Mummy answered.

"OK, Shirley. Close your mouth and say gee…You see her front teeth are not inline with the bottom teeth. This is because she has a habit of using her tongue to push her teeth.” Dr. Phuong continued.

“Babies like doing that but usually they will stop after two and a half years old.” Doctor added. Really?

“Shirley, you are seven years old already. I am sure you are not a baby anymore. Right?” Dr. Phuong said. I smiled a little.

“Now, I will teach you how to exercise your tongue so that you will stop pushing the front teeth using your tongue.” Dr. Phuong continued.

"Open your mouth a little and say ah…, then stick your tongue on the palace… yeah… higher a bit.. yeah… that is right. Then close up your teeth and say gee…. without moving your tongue. OK? Then, try to swallow.” Dr. Phuong said patiently as I did what he said.

“Sometimes it will be difficult to swallow; perhaps you can give her a glass of water. She can swallow the water instead.” Doctor said.

“OK, Shirley? Can you do again? Say Ah…. OK OK…. Stick your tongue… yes, very good. Then, say Gee…. OK, now swallow. Well done!” Dr. Phuong said as he nodded with a gentle smile.

Dr. Phuong said that I needed to do this exercise 10 minutes a day for the next two months. He would see me again in two months time.

“Shirley, do you like rabbits?” Doctor asked me as he showed me a rabbit face with two front teeth resting on his bottom lips. I smiled a little bit more. He looked really like a rabbit when he did that. A rather cute but elderly rabbit. Gee…

“wek.. I tenk we ma lik abit but… we don’t want to look like one. Do we?” Dr. Phuong teased. I figured out after that what Dr. Phuong was trying to say ~ “well… I think we may like rabbit but…” I laughed.

Yeah, mummy was right. Dr. Phuong was funny, handsome and really nice.

You know, I still didn’t quite understand. How something as soft as my tongue could possibly pushed my teeth out? They are called permanent teeth, aren’t there? Permanent means something that cannot be moved or erased. If you had used permanent markers to write on a whiteboard, the writing would be permanently there and would not be able to move it or erase it.

“It is because her gum is still a baby gum; therefore it is still not very strong.” Dr. Phuong told my mummy. Wow, Dr. Phuong was not only handsome, nice and funny, he was a mind-reader in fact.

“Shirley, when you come for the next visit, I will see how well you have done. If it is necessary, we will fix an appliance to help you hold your teeth to the right position. If you practice well, then we will not need any appliance. OK?” Dr. Phuong said again.

Dr. Phuong showed me and my mummy how an appliance looked like. Yuk! There were wires that looked like braces. It was ugly. Dr. Phuong said the appliance would help to pull my front teeth backward if I tried to push them forward with my tongue.

“You need not wear it at school. You can wear it at home after school.” Dr. Phuong continued.

I didn’t want that thing to be in my mouth. It looked like the fake teeth my grandpa was wearing except it had wires instead of white teeth on it.

“Some children can use their tongue to fix and take out the appliance, without using their hands. It becomes their little toy.” Dr. Phuong said.

Really? Well, it may not sound so bad if I really had to put it on. If it was for my own good, may be I could try. It was not painful after all.

As I heard Dr. Phuong was talking to my mummy, my mind wondered. I didn’t know since when I started to relax lying on the soft dentist chair. I still heard Dr. Phuong saying something to me or may be to my mummy as if we still didn’t understand. But I wasn’t paying much attention. I was admiring myself in the mirror that Dr. Phuong gave me just now. It was a special mirror. It was a two sided mirror. One side was a normal mirror. The other side was a magnifying mirror. Wow, that was another awesome!

“Dr. Phuong, Shirley has a few new teeth coming out but the old ones are still there. Is it necessary to pull them out to give way to the new ones?” I heard my mummy asked.

“No, no. It is still early. Not until it becomes like that, we can let these teeth drop naturally. Keep wiggling it, Shirley, it will be fine.” Doctor answered as he pointed to my other permanent tooth that just grew out of my gum. I had been expert in tooth wiggling. So far, I had wiggled 6 teeth and I had 5 teeth in my secret box. You know why? Let me tell you.

I lost one of my little teeth in school. It must have been a naughty tooth because it chose the wrong time to come off. I was having PE lesson on that day. As I was chasing after my opponent, I felt something rough in my tongue. Oh my god, something bad happened. I stopped running after my friend, instead I ran for the toilet. I took the tooth out from my mouth and washed it under the running water. I wanted to make sure that it was really clean so I could keep it in my secret box at home. When I was done washing it, I dropped the tooth onto a tissue and then only I realised that there was no tooth in between my fingers! The tooth was so little that I didn’t even know it slipped off my fingers. I didn’t know when it slipped off my fingers either!

So, back to my first dental visit today, well. it was really nothing after all. It was not as embarrassing as I had imagined. There was no pain. And Dr. Phuong was not a monster dentist either. The visit in fact turned out to be AWESOME!

• I learned how to make a DIY do-it-yourself bib. That’s awesome No. 1.

• I knew how a pilot would have felt at the point of taking-off. That’s awesome No. 2.

• Dr. Phuong’s detective mirror was as cool as my detective pencil case. That’s awesome No. 3.

The only trouble now is, I have to wait for another ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo months before I can own the appliance. I wished really badly for the TIME MACHINE …….

Don’t worry, the soon-to-be-my appliance will be mine soon. In the mean time, I will make myself busy with the detective pencil case.

Oh, I almost forgot, I suppose to tell you the story about my teacher who did not agree that I was a PERFECT (= polite + obedient + hardworking + helpful + talented + well-mannered + confident + brave) young lady. I will tell you next time.

~~~ THE END ~~~

My First Visit to the Dentist Chapter 5

2010-05-13T10:42:00.000+08:00

As I said before, I was a PERFECT young lady. I honoured what I said. I promised I won’t open the present and I kept my promise. Well, to tell you very frankly, I actually forgotten about the detective pencil case for a while. You know, it was not my present yet, it was just a soon-to-be-my present, so I didn’t really ask my brain to keep a record of it.

"Shirley, tomorrow is Saturday. We are going to see Dr. Phuong.” Mummy reminded me on Friday night.

“Don’t tell me mummy.” I said.

“Well, you wanted the brave girl present. Isn’t it?” Mummy said.

“Yeah, but just don’t tell me.” I said.

Mummy understood. What I meant was just bring me there. I didn’t want to think about it and I certainly didn’t want the monster dentist to come after me in my dream tonight. I just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

The next morning when I woked up, everything seem quite normal. Mummy prepared breakfast as usual. Daddy prepared to go to work. I had my breakfast as usual too, watching my favourite Tom & Jerry cartoon of course.

As soon as I finished my breakfast, Mummy said: “OK, let’s get going. Dr. Phuong didn’t like patients who are late.”

I opened daddy’s special cupboard wanted to take a good glimpse of the pencil case before I went to see Dr. Phuong. Daddy had a special cupboard in the living room. He didn’t like anybody to mess up his belongings so he would keep all his things (I meant things that he thought I was too young to handle) in the special cupboard. I knew he would keep the soon-to-be-my present in his special cupboard because that was the only “safe” place in the house, out of reach by a PERFECT young lady like me. But, I tell you a secret. I could reach it now because I have grown taller. Daddy didn’t notice actually. Gee….

“You can pack it in your bag and bring it with you.” Mummy said.

“I can?” I can’t believe what I heard.

“Yes, it is a brave girl present. Isn’t it? It will make you brave. As soon as you finish seeing Dr. Phuong, you can open your present.” Mummy continued.

Shortly after that, we arrived at the dental clinic. There were a few people waited at the reception area. I saw strangers with sour faces. The nurse at the registration counter was the only one who had smile on her face. Of course she was happy because she didn’t need to see dentist. She sees Dr. Phuong everyday.

Mummy filled up a form while I was busy trying to control my heartbeat. It just went “pip pop pip pop pip pop pippop pippop pippop”. Mummy said that heartbeat of a normal people would be 60 to 80 a minute. It would not be good if it shoots up to 100. I started to worry if I would get heart attack for that.

“OK, sweetheart. We are done. Let’s sit down there and wait.” Mummy said.

“Mummy, can I see my pencil case?” I asked.

“Go ahead.” Mummy answered without even thinking. I opened it and started to play with it. We were seating by the glass window. I saw two kids were playing jump rope at the pavement outside the glass window where we were sitting. They saw my detective pencil case. I could see how much they admired it. I was so proud that I made the right choice to come to the dentist at this very moment. As they were looking, I started to demonstrate how it worked. They eyes were wide opened, as wide as when I first saw this pencil case.

“Shirley Shee.” I heard my name was being called. Mummy quickly ushered me to keep my case and followed the nurse to Dr. Phuong at Level 3. My heart went “pip pop pip pop pip pop pippop pippop pippop” again…..

~~~ click here to continue ~~~

My First Visit to the Dentist Chapter 4

2010-05-13T10:39:00.000+08:00

“Shirley, dentist doesn’t give injection nowadays. There is a special kind of gel. Spread the gel on your gum, you won’t feel the pain when the dentist pulls the tooth out.” Daddy said.

Another fairy tale I thought to myself. Nancy Krulik (she is one of my favourite authors of the century) said dentist would give an injection first!

“I don’t want.” I said.

“What about daddy buys you a brave girl present? Let’s go and get it now.” Daddy said. This was some kind of surprise to me. Just like the playing computer games in the middle of the night kind of surprise. Daddy never bought me presents for free. I have to either earned it myself or I really behaved very very well at home or on special occasions like my birthday, Christmas or something.

Within fifteen minutes, we were in the departmental store. Daddy said that as soon as I finished seeing the dentist, I could own the present. We walked round the departmental store. My eyes were wide opened scanning each and every item on the shelf.

I saw what I wanted. My best friend in old school, Terry, had one of those. It was a nice pencil case. It was not an ordinary pencil case. It was a PERFECT pencil case for a PERFECT young lady like me, Shirley Shee. The pencil case has many gadgets. With press of buttons, my pencils, ruler, eraser would jump out of the case. I could check the dates and temperature with my pencil case too.

Daddy bought me the soon-to-be-my present. On the way home, I had the pencil case by my side, nicely wrapped in a see-through plastic bag. Daddy said that I could look at it and touch it for a while. After I seen the dentist, I could have it. As I was flipping the case, I saw something - a thin piece of plastic in between the case. Another hidden gadget I thought. When we arrived home, I decided to try my luck.

“Mummy, may I open the pencil case for a short little little while?” I asked mummy.

"You will get to open it after you see the dentist this coming Saturday.” Mummy replied.

“I just want to see the gadget. Just one peek, OK Mummy?” I pleaded.

“All right, just one peek. You promise to seal it back after just one peek, OK?” Mummy said. I knew Mummy was always nice to me. I knew I had to follow some ground rules but with mummy I could sometimes bend the rules a bit and straightened it back afterwards.

I opened the plastic bag carefully so that I won’t break it. I needed to wrap it back as best as possible as if it had not been opened before. I tried to press the thin piece of plastic. Nothing jumped out of the case. Strange.

“Look at the illustration inside the pencil case, Shirley.” Mummy said. Oh yeah, I must be too excited until I couldn’t even think straight.

I managed to work it out. The thin piece of plastic was swung out. Wow, it was a magnifying glass! Wow, what a detective pencil case!

I couldn’t wait until Saturday. Another three days, oh dear…I needed the TIME MACHINE badly…..

~~~ click here to continue ~~~

My First Visit to the Dentist Chapter 3

2010-05-13T10:35:00.000+08:00

“Shirley, you need to see dentist otherwise your teeth will not grow nicely. Brian went to see dentist whenever he has a loose tooth. It is really nothing.” Mummy kept nagging behind my ears.

“Mummy, I am not Brian. Brian is a boy and I am a girl.” I said.

“Sweetheart, Dr. Phuong is very good with kids. Sammy’s first dental visit with Dr. Phuong was very pleasant as well.”

Mummy added on. I didn’t want to pay attention to what mummy was saying.

“You want to end up like Sammy when you turned 15 years old?” Mummy raised her voice a little bit.

Sammy was my mummy’s best friend’s daughter. She was 15 years old. She didn’t like seeing dentist just like me. It was worst for her because she had to keep this embarrassing secret for 15 years (I only kept it until 7!). Now she wanted to go to dentist because she would be grown-up soon and she needed to look beautiful. She wanted to do colourful braces just like her best friend. Dr. Phuong said that she had 13 cavities to patch. Before she could do the braces, she needed to fix the cavities. In one month’s time, she had to visit Dr. Phuong four times just to patch all the cavities. Dr. Phuong said that she would need to do only one tooth every year if she had started seeing dentist when she was three. Yeah, I guess I would not want to end up like her. It wasn’t fun at all. it was just P.E.R.F.E.C.T.!

Painful x 13 times - 13 cavities to patch

Embarrassing x 15 times - she was 15 years old

Ridiculous - because Dr. Phuong’s jaw would drop to the floor!

Fantastic Imagination - I guess as we grew, our imagination grew too. There would have been scarier monster dentistsss for sure!

Entertaining x infinite times - a funny story passed on and on and on and … just like my mummy’s friend passed to my mummy, mummy passed to another mummy, another mummy passed to another mummy….. Soon, Sammy would be famous!

Cavity x 13 times - she had 13 cavities, didn’t she?

Total Disasters when all the above add up.

To receive the honour of "First visit to dentist at the age of 15", you will have 13 cavities to patch, becoming famous for nothing, Dr. Phuong’s jaw dropped to the floor….

I certainly did not want to be like Sammy. But I didn’t know how to be Brian either. I needed the TIME MACHINE badly…..

I tried so many ways to convince myself to see dentist because I did not want to end up like the PERFECT Sammy! Unfortunately I just couldn’t find any.

I flipped through all the records in my brain (my mummy said when we wanted to recall something but we couldn’t, it must be because our brain needed some time to flip through the thousands of pages of information in our brain. Sometimes it took us more than two days to find it or sometimes our brain just gave up looking for it!). I went to my little library (gee… my big book shelf actually) to do some research like my mummy. I read through all the dentist story books I had in my little library. I read them over and over again. I didn’t believe any of the fairy tales in them.

As you know, to pull a tooth, the dentist would give you an injection. After the injection, the dentist would take a pliers or something to pull your tooth out. Ouch, just like that! Oh my god! That was the worst thing that could ever happen. I hated injection. I hated pliers. I hated loose tooth. I hated.. oh no… I needed the TIME MACHINE badly….. really badly…..

~~~ click her to continue ~~~

My first visit to the Dentist Chapter 2

2010-05-13T10:31:00.000+08:00

The secret was ... emm... I should make it more difficult to guess...

Try to break the code to find out about my secret.

a=z, b=y, c=x, d=w, e=v, f=u, g=t, h=s,i=r, j=q, k=p..... see the pattern?

r zn hvevm bvzih low mld zmw r szev mlg yvvm gl hvv zmb wvmgrhg!

   See, I told you, it was a very embarrassing secret. I could not share it even with my best friend. Only my mummy and daddy knew about it. I knew it was not normal for my age but you see, I am a PERFECT young lady; I didn’t have any tooth problem at all.

   I did have a few loose teeth. I wiggled them myself, cleaned them nicely and I kept them in my secret little box.

   You see, when we were sick, we would see doctor. Doctor would give us medicine and we would recover after taking the medicine. Have you ever seen doctors if you were not sick? You get what I mean, that was why I thought it was really not necessary. Unfortunately, one day……

“Shirley, how is your new tooth coming along?” daddy said.

   Come to think of it, I was asking for trouble myself. I was standing in front of the mirror doing funny faces (something I enjoyed doing during my free time, and daddy walked pass me. He saw my teeth in the mirror and that was why he asked. So to avoid trouble in the future, I am telling myself that next time, don’t ever do funny faces in the mirror when your daddy walked pass!

   Daddy flipped my upper lip, and then my lower lip, then he said:” Honey, I think she needs to see dentist. She has two permanent teeth coming but the milk teeth are blocking the way.” My daddy shouted to my mummy in the kitchen.

   It was like the whole world came down to my face. NOOOOOOooooooooo!! That night, I couldn’t sleep. As soon as I closed my eyes, I saw images of monster dentist chasing after me. My mummy was beside me telling me bedtime stories, patting my back as she used to do when I was three months old. She put my head on her soft chest hoping that I would doze off like before. All these didn’t seem to work at all.

   “Come sweetheart, let’s play Diner Dash!” Mummy said. I was so surprise because it was already over 12 midnight. I was never allowed to play computer games after 9pm. Today, my mummy allowed me to play computer games at 12 midnight! I played and played until my right hand was so tired clicking the mouse button.

   “Mummy, may I close my eyes to rest a while?” I said with a tired voice. Well, not only my hands were tired, actually my eyes were very sore too.

   “Sure, go lie down on the bed for a while. “ Mummy said.

   Before I knew it, it was the next day. I woke up in the morning, I still had that monster dentist in my head. I was expecting my daddy or mummy would ask me to go to dentist again. But surprisingly, nobody mentioned anything. I thought to myself: “Yes…. I am safe”. See, like I said it is really not necessary to see dentist after all.

   Several days passed, the monster dentist disappeared and I forgot about the dental visit all together. My mummy forgot about it too, I thought, until one day……

   “Shirley, I found a good dentist! Dr. Phuong is very good with kids. All my friends’ children go to him. He is funny, nice and handsome. My friend’s daughter, she is …..” Mummy was talking non-stop. This was what I meant sometimes my mummy’s request could be quite “overboard”!

   Finally I knew why nobody was talking about visiting the dentist during the past few days. Mummy needed time to do research. It took her 3 days 7 hours and 30 minutes to work on her research paper (I figured them out in a piece of paper by calculating time from the day daddy checked my teeth until this very moment).

   The whole world practically splashed all over me from head to toes. How I wished I had a that could bring me to one day after the dentist visit!

~~~ click here to continue ~~~

My first Visit to the Dentist Chapter 1

2010-05-13T10:29:00.000+08:00

Hi, my name is Shirley Shee. I am 7 years old. My mummy always said that I am the best child among her other friends’ kids.

My mummy also said that many of her friends so envy of her having me as daughter. Especially those with boys, naughty boys I mean. Every time they saw me, they would have the urge of having another baby, of course a baby girl as sweet as Shirley Shee, and that is ME!

From young, my mummy said I have been very good girl, apart from when I was in her womb, I was kind of naughty as my mummy was saying. I liked to disturb her at 1.45 in the morning. She had to wake up in the middle of the night to sooth me to sleep again. Mum, I wasn’t naughty actually. As you knew, I was not able to speak at that age. I was just trying to tell her that I would be born at 1.45am. See, I was born at exactly 1.45am on the 12th of December.

But, after I came out from her womb, my mummy said I was never a problem. Well, only the initial three months after I was born, I had a habit of waking up in the middle of the night. My mummy had to carry me and patted me on my back so that I would go back to sleep. As soon as I dozed off, well kind of, she would set me in my bed.

As soon as I was in my bed, I started to cry again. Mummy had to pull me to her arms again and … over and over she had to do this until… She got so tired that she put me on her chest while she leaned on two pillows behind her back, then she would pat my back trying to catch some sleep at the same time.

Sometimes mummy dozed off before I did. Even at that age, I knew it because when she dozed off, she stopped patting me. But, that was OK mummy, I understood. I loved her soft chest, not really the patting though. I couldn’t speak at that time, so I couldn’t tell her that.

Mummy said that she needed to rest because she had to go to work the next day. She couldn’t be staying up all night to watch me. Well, mummy didn’t quite understand me. I didn’t do it on purpose actually.

As you know, I was not able to speak at that age, so it was kind of hard for me to explain to her how bad the baby cot cushion was. It was very hard that I could feel how many wooden planks below the cushion. It made me so hot until I could feel my sweat building up behind my back and around my neck. How would I be able to, at the age of three months, to sleep on such a bed?

So, I decided to express my thoughts through theeeesseee actionsssss. Anyway, my mummy said that was OK because she knew I missed her heartbeat and she was happy that I missed her even in my dream.

Well, back to where we were, as my mummy was saying, she had never had any problems with me since I was three months old. I had no problem at all in school. All of my teachers except one (I will tell you the story later), said that I have been a very polite, obedient, hardworking, helpful, talented, well-mannered, confident and brave young lady. She has been very proud of me all the time. I knew it of course, because from her smile and her sparkling eyes, I could see them.

I always tried my very best to do what mummy asked me to because I knew there were good stuff and there made me become a better person.

Well, you know, like the grown-up said, we are humans, we made mistakes too. So, sometimes I could not help it when my mummy’s request was a bit “overboard”. I threw tantrums sometimes. But, I am sure everybody does.

I saw my mummy threw tantrums to my daddy sometimes. My daddy did the same thing to her too, and sometimes to me as well. I forgave them. So, I would expect they would forgive me as well. Nevertheless, I promised myself I would try harder to make my mummy happy every time I upset her.

Having been such a PERFECT (= polite + obedient + hardworking + helpful + talented + well-mannered + confident + brave) young lady, I had (I think) one little bad stuff. I won’t really say it was a very bad one, but I think it was more like a secret. An embarrassing secret that nobody (especially my beloved teachers and best friend, 2nd best friend, normal friends should ever know). The secret was………….

~~~ click here to continue ~~~

Learn to Swim

2010-05-11T13:28:00.000+08:00

Let's celebrate.

Yesterday was a great day for me. It would definitely be the greatest day of all for my daughter. I received an email from her swimming teacher telling me how impressed she has been with her ability to swim now.

From young, my daughter has fear in water. She was comfortable only to play in the baby pool even at the age of 7! I must admit that I didn't do my job really well to make sure she picked up swimming at younger age.

The thing was I myself was not able to swim. I was fear of water too. I had let her tried when she was 5. After a few lessons, she gave up.

Ever since then, she was surviving well in school. There were swimming lesson, she managed to pick up some breathing and floating skill...Free style, breaststroke ... yes, she knows the style, but to swim...no way!

Time passed, two international schools she has moved on since she was 6, so far none of her teachers at school saw it a problem. Unfortunately, or should I said fortunately, the current school she is going to, view it as something totally unacceptable!

I recalled three week ago, a letter from her new school swimming teacher came. She was very concern over my girl's swimming. She emphasized that it is a life skill that everybody must learn.

She suggested that after the spring break, have her joined the after school activities of younger age group because her level was way below the expectation for her current grade. I signed her up straight away thinking that it would be a good chance to push her swimming.

Unfortunately, I overlooked one little issue. Pride.

My daughter refused to join the younger group swimming lesson because she said that they would tease her. I told her that they were so young, they won't realise that you were actually an older kid because it was just a after school activity and everybody could join and blah blah blah.... She was not convinced obviously.

Now that I recalled, I did hear for myself one of her classmates' younger sister made nasty comments like :"Hey, why can't you swim in the deep pool? You are in Grade 3 now!" Though she answered casually :"Yeah... yeah... I can't swim well." But, the real fact was, she took it to heart. I realised this after.

So, I had a chat with her. I offered her two alternatives.

1. we would not go anywhere this spring break. We will engage a swimming instructor and start lesson for the next two week. Swim everyday until you are good at it, I told her. If she is able to swim by then, mom will meet up with her school teacher so as to excuse her from the after school activities.

2. go to the after school activity when school reopens.

Obviously, I left her with not much choice. She finally agreed to try with an instructor. The initial few days was a struggle. Another few more days, I saw some light. she has more courage. Her instructor had done a great job I must say. She even tried to challenge herself by entering the deeper end of the pool. And finally she did it!

I was so so glad and proud of her.

Today, after 2 weeks of intensive learning, she is able to swim finally. She could do non-stop lap swimming for free style and breaststroke. She is fine-tuning her back stroke and starting to learn butterfly now.

Mummy and Daddy is so proud of you, girl!

Yes, let's celebrate.

Let's celebrate in Singapore this weekend.

You deserve a good break!

How to improve my child's Math

2010-05-07T11:17:00.000+08:00

"Mom, I don't like to do Math because I hate thinking!" that was what my girl has been telling me whenever I asked her to do Math homework.

She will always complaint. Between Literacy and Numeracy homework, she will go for Literacy. Knowing the difficulty she will face back in Malaysia school with poor Math like this, I started to get worried about it.

I tried to find many exercise books on Math and reading material for her to do at home after school. After trying for sometime, I find that she simply does not have enough time to do so many things in a day. Her days become so stressful because mummy said after you do this, you do that. After that one, do this...

Soon, those Math exercise books stayed forever on the shelf for days, then for weeks and before I knew it, it became obsolete. I had to give them away to younger kids.

One day, I met with her school teacher for the usual end of term parents teacher meeting. I expressed my concern over her Math work. I told her that my girl hates Math because Math needs a lot of thinking.

So (as a "kiasu"* mum I would definitely admit), I suggested to her teacher that if her class works were unfinished, please allow her to bring back the worksheet so I can let her finish up and have more practices at home. Math is about speed and practices I told her!

* "kiasu" means scare to lose out attitude in our chinese dialet

So, more "kiasu" than ever, I even asked to borrow the school reference book so I can reinforce her weaknesses.

I must say that her teacher was very very very reluctant when I asked for unfinished class work to be brought home. She stressed to me that the topics will be repeated in the next term. Not to worry if they are not good at it now.

But after a long chat, my persistence finally paid off. She lent me a reference book.

I thought to myself. Yes, I did it. I am going to make a copy of the book and let her do the exercises in advance. She won't be lost in class. Hurray!!

Before we ended our meeting, she repeated to me that at home, have your girl tell you the time. Relate her day in day out with Math. Ask her simple question like "what is the time now?" "what time will it be 20 minutes from now?"... or like when you have 300grams of red beans and you need 1/3 of it to make some dessert. Ask her to weigh for you the amount you need. Or when we go grocery shopping, ask her simple question like I have $50 and I need to buy a few things. Ask her to work out if I will have enough money to buy them etc.

Why so "anti-homework"? I recalled during one of the introductory meeting between teachers and parents, the head teacher even reminded all parents to restrict homework time to maximum of 30 minutes. In my heart, I was thinking "Wow? Are you sure it is enough?"

In my school of thoughts in the old days, to be good at Math, teacher said you need to do many exercises and worksheets. The more you do, the faster you would become and the more familiar with the question patterns. Then, you can score!

This really struck my mind. Yes, familiar with the question patterns, cover all angles and then can score high points. Precisely, that is our strategy!

But in international school, it is a different learning style. They emphasize on conceptual learning. Math is about logic. If the child understands the logic, irregardless of the question pattern, it can be solved.

So, when I got back home, I simply flip through the reference book I borrowed from her teacher and I returned it the next day.

I didn't even bother to make a copy of it. I didn't even make my girl a schedule for Math works at home. I stopped buying these exercise books for the time being.

I simply adopt her teacher's advice. Learning Math is so stress-free for her now.

It really helped a lot. I hope this little tip is beneficial.

What Religion is Not Important

2010-05-06T09:41:00.000+08:00

A friend emailed this to me. It is really the truth of life. There is no good or bad religion. Any religion that makes us a better person, that is a good religion for us. I always believe that everything starts from our heart. A good heart will nurture good action.

I recalled on the eve of last Chinese New Year, my daughter asked me why do we need to burn the paper clothes, paper shoes and all the shining papers to our great grand parents? Will they ever receive them? How do they receive them if it is all burnt like that?

I was really speechless. I do hope someone will answer me this question because I had been wanting to ask the same question myself but I know there will not be logical answer to this because I am an adult. She is just a child. She believes that everything we do must have a reason.

I told her that it is a way we show our respects and care to our ancestors. By doing this, we are telling them that we still remember you. You are still our great grand parents no matter where you are.

During Chinese New Year, we buy new clothes for ourselves. But, not to forget, our great grand parents needed new clothes for Chinese New Year too. Therefore, we gave to them on this special occasion.

If you ask me, is this a right or wrong religion? Honestly, I don't know. But, what I know for sure is she will grow up to be a good person because she understands the meaning of respect.

On this note, please enjoy this video.

p/s. in case when you click PLAY button on the YouTube and the message "The video you have requested is not available, simply copy and paste this bold text Your Religion is Not Important in the YouTube search bar at the top, it will lead you to the video. The first video on the list with Lamma on the screen, that is the one. Enjoy!

My Little Success Story - Please Come Back at 4.30

2010-05-06T09:19:00.000+08:00

Following my previous post "Knows When to Come Home...", time flies. It is going to be one year ever since I "trained" my girl to know when to come home.

It was not put to test for quite sometime because when we were staying in Hanoi, there were not many kids staying in the same apartment as us. Hence, less "distraction" as in -- "Hey, come to my house to play!" that kind.

But, ever since we moved to Ho Chi Minh City, the old habits came back. On the contrary, I must say this is a good chance for her to socialize and it is much convenient than before. Unlike in Hanoi, her play dates were organised by moms and dads. It would happen only once in a while or during term break or when one of the parents was free to ferry them to and fro whatever.

Now, everything becomes so reachable and manageable. As usual, the moment she stepped into the house, the first thing that she ever said was: "Mummy, can I go to my friend's house to play?" or "Mummy, I want to go swimming with my friend at 3.30 today."

I would never say no to her request. I reminded her of our house rules. Bring a watch, read the time and come back on time.

She has understood very well that for as long as she abides by the rules, permission will be granted. It is the real testing ground now.

Yesterday, she came home from her friend's house at exactly 4.30pm. I didn't have to call her to come home nowadays. At 4.30pm, the doorbell will ring.

She was happy to come home because one day after her play, she told me: "Mummy, my friend's nanny said that I am a good girl because I promise to come home at 4.30, and I did it myself."

She was so proud of herself and I am very proud of her too .... what is more, my mission is finally accomplished!

I am very glad that she finally knows when to come home.

All you need to know about The Hong Kong Disneyland Part I

2010-04-29T18:16:00.000+08:00

Our family visited Hong Kong Disneyland during last Christmas. Due to our recent shift-over from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, I didn't have the time to post this up much earlier.

Basically to sum up our trip experience to Hong Kong Disneyland, it was a visit worthwhile. Prior to the visit, I was a bit sceptical as I was told that the park is small and not as fanstastic as Disneyland in Japan.

It turned out fascinating I must say. Further, it was the Christmas month during our visit. Therefore, there were more to experience! Your kids will definitely leave Hong Kong Disneyland happily and wanting to come back again.

Hong Kong Disneyland hotels every now and then will offer "booking a hotel stay in Hong Kong Disneyland, you enjoy an extra day at Hong Kong Disneyland when you purchase a one-day ticket". Try to catch this!

This is definitely very very helpful because the crowd is just too great that you really need to spare 2 days to enjoy the park leisurely. One day is definitely not enough!!

If I am not mistaken, the promotion has been extended from 31 Mar 2010 to June 30 2010.

There are two hotels to choose from: Disney's Hollywood Hotel and Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel.

Disney's Hollywood Hotel is the cheaper option. For us, this hotel is good enough to stay. Besides, in order to enjoy the most out of the park, we didn't get to enjoy the hotel facilities much.

Check this out if you want to find out more about the hotels and any on-going promotions.

http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/en_US/special/listing?name=SpecialOffersOverviewPage

So, let me start from the day we arrived at the Hong Kong airport. As Hong Kong Disneyland is near proximity to the airport, we chose to start our journey to Hong Kong from Hong Kong Disneyland.

To travel from airport to Hong Kong Disneyland, there are a few options ie. coach, MTR or taxi.

If you have more than 2 travellers, don't waste time. Go straight for the taxi as this is the cheapest option. The rates are fixed. No tricks, no scams!

Just follow the direction sign, it will lead you to the basement level where the taxi stand is.

The taxi ticketing booth is right in front of you as you step out of the lift. Pick up a ticket and hop onto the taxi, and there you go!

For information, if you want to go to other places in Hong Kong from the airport, it is generally cheaper to travel by taxi as long as you have more than 2 travellers. Less time consuming too because the newly completed highway connecting the city and the airport has eased off the traffic a lot.

The Hotel

We stayed in Disney's Hollywood Hotel. I must say that Disneyland hotels are very very thougtful to children. They even have different sizes of slippers and bath robes to suit different age! You can bring home with you the slippers. Unfortunately, for the bath robe, you need to pay a small sum!

When we arrived about noon time, the crowd at the hotel lobby was tremendous. Fortunately, Hongkies are very efficient. It didn't take as long to check-in as we have anticipated.

At the point of checking-in, you can purchase the Hong Kong Disneyland tickets as well. Don't bother to sign up for breakfast package in Chef Mickey (restaurant in Disney's Hollywood Hotel) at the point of checking-in as you may not even get a seat and ended up strangled in the long queue. You can pay upon having your breakfast (if you are lucky to get a seat). Pre-booking is not allowed during peak days. Again due to huge crowd!

Not to worry, there is little fastfood shop just down the aisle.

You can try their famous Hong Kong's luncheon meat + egg noodle (餐蛋面） there.

It is delicious!

Once you have checked-in, they will direct you to leave your luggages at a designated area located on the left side of the entrance of the hotel as you entered (a temporary tent or something).

Pick up a tag, make sure the room number written on your luggages is correct. As soon as your room is cleaned, they will deliver the luggages to your room. No hassle!

Now, once this is done, you can proceed to Hong Kong Disneyland. Don't forget to grab a Hong Kong Disneyland Map at the hotel to start off with.

The park opens from 10 am to 8.00pm. Extended hours for the shops at The Main Street of U.S.A. upto 9 or 10pm depends whether it is a weekday or weekends or public holiday.

Going to the Park

They have free feeder bus very regularly connecting both hotels to Hong Kong Disneyland. The park is located about less than 10 minutes drive from the hotels. Walking there is not too advisable though.

Once alight from the bus, you need to walk approximately 5 minutes to reach the entrance of the park. If you choose to take a MTR from airport or any part of Hong Kong, pick up a ticket to Disneyland Resort Station.

Check out this MTR map for more details.
http://weekendhaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/mtr_routemap-1024x726.jpg

Entry to Park

At the entry point, all bags are checked. they do not encourage you to bring in too much food but as long as you travel with kids, they are not very particular.

Make sure you bring sufficient biscuits, milk, diapers, spare clothes etc if you have little young children as coming back and forth to hotel is not as convenient.

Drinking water is supplied free of charge near restrooms in the park. You just need to bring in empty drinking bottles.

Do you spot the Mickey? Spot them as you walk towards the entrance.

In the Park

Once you get into the park, head straight to the City Hall on your left, pick up the brochures and the performance schedule.

There are four park within the Hong Kong Disneyland - The Main Street of U.S.A., The Adventureland, The Fantasyland and The Tomorrowland. Once you get hold of the information needed, two important things to check :-

1. Performance schedule - use the information to plan the rest of your journey. Be at the spot at least 20 - 30 minutes before the show starts.

The shows you must not missed are :-

Disney on Parade @ The Main Street of U.S.A.

High School Musical Live @ The Main Street of U.S.A.

The Festival of the Lion King @ The Adventureland

The Golden Mickey @ The Fantasyland

Stitch Encounters @ The Tomorrowland

Disney in Stars Fireworks @ entrance to The Fantasyland

Click here for the Hong Kong Disneyland interative map http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/en_US/general/popup?name=ExplorerParkMapPage

Click on the link below for the show time. This may be a guide however it is advisable to obtain the latest information from City Hall at the time of your visit.

http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/en_US/tools/calendar/dailyCalendar?name=CalendarDetailPage&date=20100405

2. Fast Pass

With such tremendous crowd, fast pass is extremely useful. Try to catch some fast passes as you move around. You can pick up fast pass at the entrance of the ride / performance.

The rule is you can only own one fast pass at a time.

The fast pass will state the exact time you should come back for the ride. With the fast pass, you don't need to queue. You enter via the express lane.

Save a lot of time!!

The trouble is some of the fast passes run out fast, that is why they call it fast pass!!

Unfortunately, not all rides have fast pass. You need to look at your brochures which rides offer fast pass. And, go for the pass!

By the way, this is the amount of crowd you should expect even on weekdays.

To know more about the parks in Hong Kong Disneyland, please click here.

All you need to know about Hong Kong Disneyland Part II

2010-04-29T18:01:00.000+08:00

The Main Street of U.S.A.

To start-off, you can hop onto the Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad or the Main Street Vehicles to go around the park. However, the queue can be quite long. Besides, it is not difficult to walk about the park by foot.

You may have a chance to meet some Disney characters and get to experience snowing (only available during Christmas month) along the way.

We chose to walk about ourselves. You will first welcomed by the Main Street of U.S.A. Plenty of shops, cute and lovely things on their window showcase for sale.

The trick is DON'T GET IN THERE!

I mean don't get in there now.

Do it later as we need to beat the rest of the "traffic"!

You will have plenty of time to shop, before and after the Disney on Stars Fireworks.

Don't worry, won't go back empty handed!

Check the performance schedule for the next Disney on Parade. Schedule your time so that you can come back for the Parade.

Any spot along the main aisle of the Main Street of U.S.A. is a good spot. Try to get as close to the side of the aisle as possible to have interaction with the dancers.

Be there 15 - 20 minutes before the show starts. Don't miss this!

Street Entertainment is everywhere around the park. Not to worry too much as you will meet them somewhere.

The Adventureland

Next, make your way to the Adventureland. It can easily take up 1.5 hours here. The main attractions there are:

Festival of The Lion King - real live performance.

If there is fast pass available for this, go for it before you move on to the others. You will have sufficient time to explore the others while waiting for the show. Be at the waiting area at least 20 - 30 minutes before the show time (unless you have fast pass). As soon as the theater door opens, head towards the seats on either the right or the left side.

The Rafts and Tarzan Treehouse

Find your way to the raft. You need to take a raft ride to get to the Tarzan Treehouse. Experience the life being Tarzan.

The Jungle Cruise

This cruise will bring you into the rainforest. Fascinating experience awaits you. Make a choice between Mandarin, Cantonese or English speaking tour guide. Don't queue on the wrong lane.

Spot the Mickey? This man is the park cleaner. As he feel bored of cleaning, he will draw a Mickey on the floor using his broom.

Finally, you can give the Tiki Likis a total miss as it is really nothing to shout about. Let's go to The Fantasyland.

Click here to continue.

All you need to know about Hong Kong Disneyland Part III

2010-04-29T17:38:00.000+08:00

The Fantasyland

The Sleeping Beauty castle is the entrance to The Fantasyland. You can't really go inside the castle. This castle is the centre stage where the Disney on Stars Fireworks comes alive at 8pm every night.

This is how The Sleeping Beauty Castle looks like at night.

The Fantasyland is the park with most numbers of rides. If you really do not have enough time to complete all the rides, then make sure you don't miss the following:

- The 4D Mickey PhilharMagic - this is way much better than the 3D movies. Be there at least 20 minutes before the show time. Try to get the centre front seats.

- The Many Adventure of Winnie The Pooh - Enter the world of Winnie. Pooh bear is so so cute! For this ride, there is fast pass. So, make sure you grab one as soon as you arrive at The Fantasyland. Time is stipulated on your fast pass. Usually it is 1 - 2 hours before the ride. You can utilise this waiting time to enjoy other rides.

- The Golden Mickey - It is a real live stage performance by Disney's most famous characters. Try to get the seats in the centre of the theater by the aisle. No regrets!

- It's a Small World - Though the world is really small, it is fascinating!

- Mad Hatter's Tea Cups - Similar to those tea cups ride you can find in other theme park but this one is more fun!

- Cinderella's Carousel - beautiful and grand. Must try! Be Cinderella for once!

You can skip Snow White Grotto all together as it is a totally-normal wishing well.

The rest of the rides in Fantasyland are normal. It is all right if you can't make it.

We spent almost 4 hours in Fantasyland. It was time for dinner then. Plenty of restaurants / stalls to choose. Just hop into any of them. The food are not bad but it is pricy though! You need to spend easily a HKD30 - HKD50 per person if you dine in any restaurants.

After dinner, spend sometime in the retails shops around the Sleeping Beauty Castle. Around 7.00pm, the Disneyland staff will direct everybody to exit from the park. The only area that remains open is The Main Street of U.S.A. You can continue your shopping until the Disney On Stars Fireworks. It starts at 8.00pm but make sure you find a good spot and be there 30 minutes before the show.

The entire fireworks performance was almost half an hour. There is only one word to decribe this -- MAGICAL!

After the fireworks, the retail shops will remain open if the crowd is still there. You can continue to shop until you drop.

Head back to the hotel for a rest and start another day fresh.
The Tomorrowland

The park opens at 10am. You can be there earlier. They open around 9.45am. When we were there, we head towards The Tomorrowland.

What we enjoyed most in Tomorrowland was Stitch Encounter, the Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. We didn't get to try out the Autopia. I believe it is nice as the queue was extremely long that we decided to spend out time elsewhere.

Stitch Encounter - I won't tell you exactly what will happen but do get the front seat if you wish to have interaction with Stitch. Very very funny! It is multi-lingual. So, please check the schedule for the language you prefer.

Space Mountain - In door roller coaster. For those who are scared of roller coaster like me, this one seems very safe. Children above 102cm are allowed to take the ride. But if you ask me, any children below 7 or timid child, I would think that you may want to wait for them to grow older.

I was told by a friend that if you ride on a roller coaster with your eyes opened, the ride is not scared at all. I am not too sure how true this is, perhaps you can give it a try!

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

This one is fun especially for boys. It is like playing computer games but it is real life. There are plenty of fast pass to give away for this ride. So, you can play it over and over again. In fact, that was wat we did!

After you have experience all the parks, now is the time you can revisit some of the rides or performances you like best.

We still have time, so we headed back to Fantasyland for the Mickey's PhilharMagic, the Many Adventure of Winnie The Pooh and The Golden Mickey.

One last stop that you must not missed, The Art Academy. The queue was surprisingly short. Perhaps it is tucked at one corner, not many people realise it.

Once you are in, anybody can be a cartoonist! Here, they teach you how to draw a Disney character. We learned to draw Winnie The Pooh and believe me, I never knew I could draw!

It is almost time for us to say goodbye to Hong Kong Disneyland. I hope the information provided here is helpful enough to make your journey to Hong Kong Disneyland as leisure and as fruitful as possible.

Oh yes, one last thing I forgot to mention, spot the real live Disney characters and get a snap with them. They are everywhere around the park. The only thing is the queue is extremely long as well.

What soup to make for today?

2010-04-21T14:19:00.000+08:00

A meal without a soup is just incomplete in Chinese crusine. It will be much more pleasant for my girl when there is soup on the table. Therefore, I have the habit of having a pot of soup on our dinner table everyday. Be it a bowl of Marmite or Bowvil soup, it has to be something.

Whenever I shop for fresh food in the market, my priority is always the soup. I always have this question in my mind :"What soup to cook for today?"

I glance around for... nothing new as usual. Watercress soup, raddish soup, old cucumber soup, ABC soup, spinach, lotus root soup .... not again!

Recently a friend recommended me to try something new - artichoke.

Artichoke soup has a very soothing and exquisite taste.

I was told that artichoke has high nutritional value.

So to satisfy my curiousity, I did some checks on this.

Quick facts about Benefits of Artichoke:

Artichoke is a plant that contains protein. Unlike protein from animals, artichoke is cholesterol-free, saturated fat free and trans fat free too!

Artichoke aids our liver in regenerating tissue growth.

It has anti-inflammatory and anti-allergenic properties.

It helps in regulating our body temperature.

Apart from the above, artichoke also has the following benefits.

high Antioxidant to protect against cancer.
A substance called Rutin helps prevention of vascular disease.
Artichoke is Trans-fat free. Also cholesterol free despite it being a plant-based protein.
The presence of Vitamin C promote strong Immune system.
Artichoke contains Colour pigments to improve memory function.
Artichoke promotes Healthy aging.
Osteoporosis prevention as artichoke contains magnesium good for bones building.
The presence of multi-nutritiens in artichoke has helped in Keeping blood-sugar levels stable particularly beneficial to diabetic patients.
Artichoke also has super Excellent source of dietary fiber.

That makes ARTICHOKE!

How to Prepare the Artichoke

Separate the flower and the stem. Cut the stem into length of 3 or 4 inches.

For the stem, it looks like sugarcane. Use a small knife to trim away the exterior.

Next, we prepare the flower. Peel away the first 2 or 3 layer of petals (they are usually dried up or turned black.)

Use scissors to cut away the sharp edges. Again they are usually dried and turned a little black as well.

The finished product will look like this.

Cut the flower into half. This is how it looks like inside. Usually, I like to cut them into an eighth so it is easy for me to wash away any hidden particles in between the petals.

I have cut the artichoke flower into 8 pieces.

The florets in the centre of the flower (called "choke") are not edible. Use a knife to cut them away.

Slide in the knife just beneath the florets and tilt the knife upwards gently. The entire "bouquet" of florets should come off nicely and easily. Discard the florets.

By tilting the knife gently will not loosen the florets. See the florets are still in one piece. The cleaned artichoke flower should look something like this.

Wash the artichoke (don't forget the stem) under running water to make sure no hidden particles or left over florets in between. The artichoke will turn yellow or brown after a while if you don't cook it immediately. To prevent this, soak the artichoke in clear water with lemon juice or salt.

Next, heat up a pot of water. Bring to boil. Boil the artichoke for 3 hours under medium to low heat.

This is how artichoke water looks like after 3 hours.

There are two ways to consume this. One is drink it as Artichoke Tea. The other option is make it into Artichoke Soup.

1. Artichoke Tea

Remove the artichoke from the soup. Let it cool to warm temperature. Drink it as tea just like that. Or add some rock sugar to taste. I usually do this because my girl doesn't like the artichoke's natural "raw" taste.

It is a very soothing tea especially during hot weather.

2. Artichoke Soup

Alternatively, add in chicken or pork broth (see below for preparation of the borth).

This option goes very well with any Chinese crusine.

Preparation of chicken or pork broth

Ingredients:

1. one piece of chicken carcass or 300gram of pork rib bones

2. 6 - 8 pieces of red dates 红枣

3. ~20 pieces of Wolfberry 枸杞

4. salt to taste

Instruction:

1. Bring a pot of water to boil (approximately 2.5 to 3 liter).

2. Put in chicken carcass or pork rib bones, red dates and wolfberry.

3. Boil under high heat for 1/2 hour.

4. Turn to low-medium heat, continue to boil for another 2 hours. If the soup is drying up, reduce the heat and add water. Ensure water level sufficient to cover all ingredients at all times. Continue to simmer until 2 hours is up.

5. Add in artichoke water from above.

6. Bring to boil and add salt to taste.

You can also boil both the broth and artichoke together. I like to boil them separately so I can enjoy the best of both worlds at the same time.

WED 2010 World Environment Day

2010-04-02T12:02:00.000+08:00

Let's join thousands and millions of people around the world to celebrate 2010 WED on 5th of June.

Check out this website for more information on what you can do to save the enviroment and the earth.

http://www.unep.org/wed/2010/english/celebratewed.asp

Since last week, I noticed my girl has been doing something extraordinary. It has been quite a few days she is doing it now.

She turns off the TV by pressing the on/off button on the TV instead of using the remote control.

She switches on timer to check how much time she needs to finish her bath and make sure she takes no more than 10 minutes.

She switches off air cond and lights when after using them.

In school, she held on to her plastic cup even when she was playing tag because teacher said that they have to recycle the plastic cups!

I am very delighted and grateful that her school and teacher have really treat this environmental issue seriously. I must say they have been doing this really well in educating the children the importance of helping the environment, how to save the environment and what they can do to save the world.

Since young I have been telling or I should say nagging my daughter:

"Girl, switch off the lights in your room!"

"Why you take so long to bath?"

"You left your room without switching off the air cond again!"

It has been the same old song I have been singing in the house for god knows how long. It didn't improve. Once in a while, she would do it if she remembered. Other times, I was the one doing it for her as I was nagging her.

I forgot one most important thing. I didn't tell her why she needs to do that. I didn't tell her what would be the consequences if she didn't do it. Instead, her teacher has shared with her hundreds and thousands of incidents happening in the world now which will lead to distinction of wild life, global warming, damage to Earth... So, it all makes sense to her now why she needs to do it.

In fact, in conjunction with the WED 2010, we have made a list in the house what we can do at home to preserve the environment. Here are 20 things we can do to preserve the environment. Please try this at home.

1 - use both side of the paper before chucking it into the bin;

2 - switch off lights after use;

3 - switch off fan after use;

4 - switch off air cond after use;

5 - finish bath within 10 minutes;

6 - wash our clothes in washing machine only when it is full load;

7 - wash our dishes in dish washer only when it is full load;
8 - when heat water, heat just as much as we need;
9 - try to use recycle containers instead of disposables;
10 - reuse wrapping papers for other purpose;
11 - reuse old magazines for making cards and crafts;
12 - use towel to dry our face and hands instead of using tissues;

13 - don't let water running continuously when brushing teeth, washing face / hands;

14 - don't litter, throw rubbish in dustbin;

15 - don't waste food on the plate, finish them;

16 - don't waste water in the glass, finish them;

17 - recycle the bottles instead of throwing them;

18 - don't use party cups and plates at home unless really necessary;

19 - don't throw away unwanted clothes, donate or reuse for something else, bedazzle them if you like!

20 - don't wash oil down the sink.

I think if every parent does a bit, every kid does a bit, we will be able to achieve something.

Bear in mind that the best way to educate our children to love the environment is by doing it ourselves.

"A Greening Planet is a Grinning Planet.

Let's work together to make our earth greener."

For this purpose, I created a "What Have You Done Today?" measuring chart. I reward my girl one point for each and every good gesture she did at home.

The rules are simple. In fact there is only one rule. For as long as she does it on her own without anybody tipping her, she gets a point.

She will win herself free play time if she gets 50 points in a week. After this whole exercise, these good gestures will soon become habits. It will continue with her for the rest of her life.

To download the "What Have You Done Today?" measuring chart :- Click here

Earth Hour

2010-04-02T10:48:00.000+08:00

In 2009, millions of people all around the world turned off their lights in conjunction with Earth Hour. This year, once again we saw many people around the world have come together on 27 March 2010 (Saturday) 8.30pm to 9.30pm local time in support to take action on the climate change.

New Zealand’s Chatham Islands was the first territory to start Earth Hour and South Pacific island of Samoa was the last, taken place 24 ¾ hours later.

A small gesture by each individual around the world, we could bring our act together and be united as one. I believe this is the spirit of Earth Hour.

I always wonder what it would be like seeing this event taking place from the universe? It would definitely be a spectacular view overseeing the whole event taking place! I hope God is somewhere watching this and would appreciate our efforts and be kind enough to continue to protect us and the Earth.

On the night of Earth Hour, we had a torch light night. A kid asked me why do we need to switch off lights on Earth Hour? I said we want to protect our Earth.

The kid asked again: "Why do we do it only on Earth Hour and not everyday? If we do it everyday, I can play with torch light everyday and we can protect our Earth everyday too!"

What he said really struck me. Yeah, why we don't do this everyday? What would it have contributed to Earth if we only do it one hour in a year?

So, I have decided in continuing the spirit of Earth Hour, I will do this everyday instead of once a year :-

- switch off the lights when not using them;

- minimize the number of lights to be switched on if can't switch them off totally;

- remind , myself to do it and educate my children to do the same.

I hope everybody out there will do the same.

Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find.

Quoted in Time

Moving again... thank god it is finally over!

2010-03-17T11:34:00.000+08:00

It has been quite a while I didn't drop by. One day my husband's boss said opphs.. you gotta go back to HCMC! What, another move again in exactly 15 months!

We had moved from Kuala Lumpur to HCMC and had been staying there for 15 months when my husband's boss said, "OK time to move. Here you go to the next city, Hanoi!"

Hurray! We packed all our belongings, got the mover to shift our things, found a new school for my girl and there we went happily ever after to the next chapter of life!

15 months later, we have to move...again... and yes again back to HCMC! Excited? Tired? Grateful? Giving up?

Well, it is a mixed of all kinds of feelings.
Excited yes, because we got to go back to HCMC, the fascinating city.
Tired, yes for me, it was very tiring having to pack and move and unpack and blah blah blah...
Grateful because there is still job to do. There was still chance to continue with international school for my girl.
Giving-up yes, we had once thought about that because shifting from one place to another within such short period of time is indeed not healthy for my girl.

But, here we are in HCMC now. It is finally over. My husband is assigned to a new job function. Finally, my girl got into the most famous and longest waitlist ever international school - The British International School. It is indeed a very good school. Everybody has a great fresh start. For me, I have a new apartment to move into. I made a bunch of new friends and met some old ones. I explored new places for marketing. It is a fresh start for me too. A new chapter of life restarting in HCMC for all of us. Bravo!!

hmm... I think I should start thinking about writing a novel about my life! Gee... I wish everybody has happy day everyday!

Simple way to get rid of mosquito eggs

2010-03-17T11:14:00.000+08:00

Having problems with mosquitos laying eggs in your garden pond?

The usual way of preventing this from happenning is to have a few fish in the pond.

However, if you are a non-aquarium lover like me, perhaps having fish in the pond is equally troublesome as having mosquitos eggs in them.

They both need maintenance!

There is a very simple way of getting rid of mosquito eggs all together and yet you don't need to rear a bunch of fish in them.

Just drop a few copper coins in the still water and that's it!

The copper in the water will discharge some kind of chemical in which will hinder mosquito from laying eggs in there.

Even snails dislike the smell of the copper.

You will find that the water in your pond will become crystal clear after a while.

In fact, it can double up as a feng shui pond instead!

Learn to Cycle on 2-wheel within a DAY

2010-02-25T15:07:00.000+08:00

I remembered when I was young, learning to bike was not easy and it took a long time. I started with a 4-wheel bicycle. Then, my dad helped me to leave up one of the small wheels so that it looked like I was still on 4-wheels but in actual fact, I was riding on 3! After several weeks, my dad would remove one of the wheels. And few more weeks later, I was on 2-wheel! It sounded so lengthy and in actual fact the process was indeed lenthy!

My girl has just turned 8 and she was still on 4-wheel bicycle! Somemore it was still the little bicycle she used to cycle when she was 4.

It was very early morning of the forth day of Chinese New Year when all the CNY activities mellowed down a little bit. Out of the blues she told me she wanted to learn to bike. I brought her to the park opposite our house. It took her probably 2 hours and she was on the 2-wheel bicycle already!

It took me 36 years to realise that the old school of thought (4-wheel minus 1 wheel minus 1 wheel concept) was totally irelevant and uncessary.

This was how it worked!

First, she started by seating on the bike and used both legs to walk - imagine how "Flintstone" drive the car?
Initially a bit off balance and not able to even walk straight. After few rounds, you should see some improvements. When your child is able to walk properly seating on the bike cushion, he / she is ready to try Stage 2.

Stage 2 - Seated on the bike cushion while using both legs to glide - imagine playing skateboard, one leg on the board while the other leg glides. It is the same concept. Use both legs to glide in order to move the bike forward. Again, do this for few rounds until you think your child has gained sufficient balance. You can move on the Stage 3.

Stage 3 - Place the right foot on the pedal and left foot touching the ground. Now, press the right pedal down as if you want to start cycling. As soon as you press the right pedal, the bicycle will move forward. Leave up the left foot a little bit and let the bicycle glide on its own. Try to glide as far as possible without the left foot touching the ground. Initially, there will be literally no lifting of left foot. But after a few trial, you should see the left foot is able to leave up a little bit. The bicycle can glide a little bit. The gliding can go a bit further without the left foot touching the ground. After few practice, your child should be able to hold on balance with right foot on pedal while the left foot lifted up for a longer period of time. Now, your child is ready to go for the Graduating Stage.

Graduating Stage - Right foot on the pedal, press down to move forward. Instead of having the left foot lifted up from ground, have them leave up more to reach for the left pedal. After a few trial, your child will be able to catch the balance automatically.

Tips

encouragement is important. this builds confidence.

when your child encounters difficulties in any of the stage, go back the the previous stage and practice more.

always look at the front as they learn to cycle (especially starting Stage 3). Feel the pedals. Eyes on the steering wheel.

Good luck to learn cycling in a DAY!

did i forget she has grown up or did she forget she is still a kid?

2010-02-25T14:40:00.000+08:00

After a "tired" Chinese New Year, the ever best memories to compensate would be good food, get-together with old friends and relatives. It is time to get back to work!

The Chinese New Year particularly, I realised that my daughter "transformed".

She became easily annoyed. Initially, I thought perhaps it was due to the noise around the house that agitated her because of more people in the house..... I myself got agitated if the noise level was too high though.

Soon I found out the otherwise. She actually trying to impress her grandparents how much she has grown-up and how independent she has turned out to be. In my eyes, she is still my little girl but in her grandparents' eyes, she must not be.

Everytime when she was doing something, I tend to watch over her and as soon as she was not able to handle, I "jumped in for the rescue". Immediately she raised her voice and screamed loudly : "I know! I know!!". As soon as the scream was over, she turned around to other direction and tried to do it again. I was left looking into empty air. It was a great horror for me because she has never rejected my help all these while.

Then, I decided to have a chat with her. To my surprise, she actually felt embarrassed when I helped her! She wanted to be a grown-up least in front of her grandfathers and grandmothers. She wants them to believe that she is a capable girl.

Something that I didn't know she could do or she would do, she did it. She offered to wash dishes after our dinner which was really rare unless it was my birthday or something! She woke up early in the morning and be the first to finish brushing her teeth! She finished her meals very fast as well!!

We had a great chat and it was good. She toned down tremendously and as for me, I learned something.

I learned to ask : "Do you want mummy's help?" before I stretched my hands out to do for her. Sigh.... was it a MST (ie. Mom's Syndrome Thing) that we forget our child has grown-up? or our kid actually forgotten that they are still small little kid? I really don't know. For all you know, I might had done the same when I was young too.

p/s. You know what, eversince we came back to HCMC ie. 1,000km away from her grandparents, she didn't mind being the last to brush her teeth in the morning and I didn't even have a chance to ask :“Do you want mummy's help?" because literally everything was still done by dear MUMMY's DIARY and that's me!!

There are still ways for our child to keep up with the public school syllabus

2010-01-05T10:18:00.000+08:00

If you are a Malaysian like me, being an expatrite residing outside Malaysia and have worries of how your child will adapt to the public school syllabus when you need to head back to Malaysia one day, whether they are able to cope with the UPSR examination... the following are somes ways to keep your child up to date:

A. Smartbees Portal - This is an online educational portal suitable for primary school students from Standard 1 to Standard 6.

Learning Zones
1. e-Revision - comprises of SJKC syllabus guidelines for 5 main subjects: Bahasa Malaysia, English Language, Chinese Language, Science and Mathematics.

2. Q-Bank - as in Question Bank. All questions are categorised in according to the learning topics.

3. e-Radio - to enhance listening reading skill. 弟子规，唐诗, 绕口令，成语故事 etc..

4. Edutainment - enable the child to learn as they play.

5. e-Magazine - there are two magazines available. Round n' Round for Standard 1 - 3 kids and English Train for Standard 4 - 6 children. They are both in English.

6. UPSR - UPSR exercises to equip children with sufficient knowledge and skill

Cost (as at Dec 2009)
RM238 for 12 months for Standard 1 ~ 6. If you have more than one child, you need only one account for all. Unlike last year, RM120 for 12 months for one selected grade only. Prior to signing up, you can also ask for trial.

How to Apply
- fill up the form via the Internet (website can be found in my blog under "For Kids - Smartbees Self-Learning Tools -for Std 1 ~ 6").

- deposit payment to PUBLIC BANK Account No.: 3985 17 2529 (payable to CONNECTED LEARNING (M) SDN BHD).

- fax in the deposit slip together with your name, contact number and IC number to (603) 9056 4313.

- They will contact you within 1 or 2 working days to confirm receipt of your payment and thereafter will activate your account accordingly via email.

If you are overseas at the moment, you basically need someone in Malaysia to run this errant for you.

B. Digital Dictionary
There are several brands available today. Not only incorporating the conventional trilingual digital dictionary function, it comes with learning portal as well.

Apple Tree - http://www.appletree.com.my/
Edu-point - http://my.88db.com/Buy-Sell/Computers-Internet/ad-79720/
Besta - http://www.besta.my/cms/index.php

Apple Tree collaborated with Hup Lik Publishing (合力） whereas Edu-point collaborated with Pelangi Publishing. Besta is slightly different. It focuses on dictionary + encyclopedia instead.

For primary and secondary school kids, Apple Tree and Edu-point will be more suitable if you are looking for enhancement to the school syllabus. Besta will be of great help for higher level of learning.

I recently bought an Apple Tree for my daughter. Model AT200C. It costed me RM868. By the way, in case you have an old junk (I mean digital dictionary) at home, any brand in any condition, you can trade it off with Apple Tree for a RM150 discount.

This little machine is indeed impressive like a mini i-phone - flat, touch-screen, stylus... with trilingual dictionary, picture dictionary for younger kids, calculator, note pad, calendar, currency converter (but you need to key in the conversion rate yourself though) etc.

GOOD STUFF
- In general it is user-friendly.

- They have examination papers for major examinations in Malaysia ie. UPSR, PMR and SPM.

- New contents are downloaded from the Internet as and when it is being updated.

- Listening and Conversation function are useful tools for improving oral skill.

- The step by step vocabulary learning is efficient and user-friendly.

BAD STUFF
- spelling errors;

- translation function for this model AT200C was not good especially for translation from English to Mandarin;

- e-book stories in Bahasa Melayu has English accents and was not read by native speaker. As explained by Apple Tree, the e-book software supports only English and Mandarin medium. I wonder why they still insert Bahasa Melayu stories in there if it can't really support.

- Exercises and examination papers for Standard 1 ~ 6 are not complete yet pending further updating.

Apple Tree, Besta and Edu-point have booths in most major shopping centres in Malaysia. Normally you can find Besta in any Popular bookstores and the other brands will always have booths nearby them. Alternatively, you can find the nearest one to you via their website.

My Child's First Dentist Visit

2009-12-18T11:30:00.000+08:00

My daugher is seven years old now and she has lost 7 baby teeth so far. She has kept each and every baby tooth in a little tooth ferry box. It was as precise as our diamond rings, to her.

One day my husband noticed that two of her permanent teeth seem to be coming out but the baby teeth have yet to give way. oh dear... the alarm in my head rang so loud -- First Dentist Visit trauma!!

Yeah, I know, it is very late to have first dentist visit.... but somehow, it was never been our priority all these years because since she was a toddler, she has no problem at all with her teeth, no decay, no gum infections nor any other dental problems. I suggested to her in many occasions to "lets go to the dentist". She would refuse and change the subject almost immediately. There was basically no "excuse" to bring her to the dentist.

But now, we need to get her to the dentist. But how to?

I bought her some story books about visiting the dentist. I shared with her experiences of my friends' children during their first dentist visit which turned out to be quite pleasant. I showed her some photos downloaded from the Internet on bad teeth as a result of not seeing a dentist soon.

Unfortunately, none of these persuasions worked.

Then, I thought of a plan. It surprised me that it actually worked.

First, my husband and I agreed to buy her a "brave girl present". We would buy the present in advance and made the appointment with the dentist after.

Condition:

she would get to own the present immediately after seeing the dentist. In the mean time, she got to see, try, touch and admire the present occasionally.

Somehow, this approach has urged her to quickly done over with the dentist visit because she wanted to own the present.

On the day of her first dentist visit, she brought along her "brave girl present" to show to the dentist. As soon as the dentist visit was over, the present was hers. It was that simple!

Some Points to Guaranteed Success on First Dental Visit

1. In shortlisting the dentist, it is very crucial to look for child-friendly dentist in town - the best way to find out is through our readily available stay at home moms network! As long as the child got comfortable with the dentist during his / her first dentist visit, the subsequent visits will not post any more problems. The child will be very keen to listen to the dentist's advice what needs to be done next.

2. Prior to buying the "brave girl / boy present", get an agreement from your child that mom will make the call to the dentist after we paid at the check-out.

3. Let your child decide which calendar date to go to see the dentist. It can be the next day or even a week later. It doesn't really matter. The fundamental is you will hold on to the "brave girl / boy present" for as long as the first dentist visit is not over.

4. Try to make the dentist visit as casual as possible particularly when the appointment is approaching. Make it sounds like: "Yes, finally you can own the present after tomorrow!" instead saying "it is time to see your dentist tomorrow!"

5. As soon as your child is done with the dentist, PRAISE him / her for being brave. Ask your child the feelings.

6. Maintain follow-up visits after the first dentist visit every six months.

Having said that, for moms out there with younger child than mine, it is recommended to bring your child to his / her first dentist visit at the age of 2++.

Between pediatric dentist or general dentist, the only difference is pediatric dentist went through additional two years of training on children's behaviour. Therefore able to handle young children better. However, technically it is fine to go to either the pediatric or general dentist for as long as they are child-friendly.

In addition, when your child is approaching seven years old (started to have loose tooth), it is advisable to visit orthodontist. Orthodontist is able to detect possible overcrowding of teeth. Therefore, recommend necessary adjustments to improve the child's teeth position.

Overcrowding of teeth corrected with braces

However, at child as young as seven, they do not require braces. Even permanent teeth are correctable with a simple appliance that looks like this.

Wires are molded according to individual needs.

The appliance is molded from an impression taken from your child's top and bottom jaw. It is easy to wear and remove. Your child can do it on his / her own. Initial two days may be a bit uncomfortable because they are not used to it. Thereafter, they can even wear it at night and still have a sound sleep.

It is not as costly as braces. My daughter had one done recently in Vietnam. The cost was around USD220 including the monthly periodical treatments for six months (as compared to braces that can cost upto USD5,000 or beyond).

She wore the appliance everyday after school and over night. The appliance should be removed during meal time.

If you need more dental information, check this website out. http://32teethonline.com/pediatric-dentistry-teeth-dental%201.htm

http://32teethonline.com/braces-orthodontic-orthodontist-treatment-page1.htm

Was it a Funny or Sad Birthday Story?

2009-11-25T15:15:00.000+08:00

It was my husband's birthday. Time to source for a little cake.

There were not that many good cake house around town in Hanoi unless in five-star hotel cafes. But, I didn't plan to invest in any "high end no return" kind of birthday cake because our family just not cake fonders, so I decided to go for the best one that local Hanoian recommend.

The reason we bought a cake was merely to keep a record ...yeah... it's my 30th birthday! OK, we light up the candles, we sing the birthday song, blow the candles, cut the cake... snap! snap! snap! And finally a family photo Snap! Done!! We still enjoy every moment of it because we get to eat all the nice food and snacks around the cake.

The cake house was pretty nice with many variety to choose from. The shop was indeed packed with many locals. It was kind of difficult to get a really good peek on all the cakes on the shelves. It was very nicely done and rich chocolate flavouring with nice decor and patterns. Judging from the crowd they are getting, it has to be nice. So, I decided to choose one for my husband.

The sales person came to me, she was very polite and pleasant. The only unfortunate thing was she could not speak English. And the more unfortunate thing was I could not speak Vietnamese! With my level of Vietnamese which was probably sufficient to shop for vegetables and fish in the wet market, I had quite a hard time trying to communicate with her.

I asked her which one was nice in Vietnamese and she pointed to me one oval shape chocolate coating cake. It was not very big, no cream, chocolate flavour - BINGO! it fits my criteria. OK, I will take this. Then, she asked me something like what to write on the cake because I sort of like heard her said: "Viet" ie. means "Write" in Vietnamese. So I said "Happy Birthday".

Then she took out a "Happy Birthday" plastic tag and planted it on the cake. She started packing the cake into a box. I was a bit surprised because she didn't ask me the name I wanted to write on the cake? I guess it was not in their culture to write names i think. Anyway, I stopped her. Using my very best Vietnamese, I asked her: "Viet ten duoc khong?" ie. means "Write name can or not?" She removed the cake from the box, took out a cone stuff with white cream and started writing the name on the cake. Before I could stop her, she had already written "Viet" on my cake!! Oh my god....

It is absolutely understandable that my Vietnamese was overly terrible but even then I thought, to the minimum, she should at least asked me how to spell it (even if my husband's name happened to be "Viet Ten"). Isn't?

On the other hand, I thought about it, she would have understood what I said because otherwise she would not be removing the cake from the box and started to write name on it. She would have interpreted that I needed to write something on the cake. But, what I didn't understand was didn't it cross her mind how strange this lady wanted to write "write name" on the cake?

I really didn't know what to say. She tried to fix the writing overlapping with my husband's name until I could not really figure out what it had turned into. Sigh... can't say much, just pay and go!

So, was it a Funny or Sad Birthday story? Anyway....

Happy Birthday Honey!

My children hate carrots!!

2009-11-16T12:41:00.000+08:00

As we may have already know, carrots contain many vitamins and minerals. High in Vitamin A, high in carotene and aitioxidants (reduce risk of cancer). It helps to boost our immune system, protect our skin from sun damage, cleanse our liver, reduce the risk of high blood pressure, fighting aneamia and most importantly improve our eye sights.

Children today enjoy playing computers, PSP, DS and whatever and it is very damaging to their eyes. As a result, we see more children are wearing glasses today and it is alarming to see children as young as 4 years old have started started wearing thick glasses. My girl has developed a bit of myopia too. That was why I started to find ways to make her consume more carrots.

It was always tough to hide some carrots in her soup bowl and she would always complaint about it. Why today has more carrots than yesterday she would ask? She hated carrots to the extend that I had to cut them into very very small tiny size and she practically swallowed them in together with the soup rather than chewing them. And the maximum pieces of tiny carrots she consumed was hardly more than 5. That would amount to like 1.5 inch of carrot!

Recently, I found some good ways to make my girl take more carrots, much more carrots than before. She is in fact taking a carrot a day now.

Some vegetables or fruits are best taken raw, some worked better with light boiling. Chewing raw carrots has least benefits in terms of percentage our body can actually digest and absorb unless you juice them first (the absorption is only 5% based on studies!). Light boiling of blended carrots gives the maximum body absorption of 90% though. Unfortunately, my girl dislike cooked carrots totally. So I have opted for second best solution which is to JUICE them!

I found and tested some recipes that I am very sure your kids will enjoy. What you will need is a good juicer to start off with. Do go for more powerful juicer so as to cut down preparation time ie. need not cube them before juicing them which save a lot of time!

2 carrots - skin peeled, cut small *
1 red apple - seed removed, cut small *
1 orange - cut small * and squeeze them seperately if it is seeded orange

* how small depends on how powerful your juicer is.

This serving size gives you approximately one glass of juice.

Practically any fruits or vegetables can be juiced with carrots. And in general, carrots are the dominant ingredient. Carrots are sweet, so mixing them with something sour would give a balanced taste, eg.

- green apple + carrots in 1:2 proportion
- skinned pineapple + carrots in 1/4 : 4 proportion
- strawberry + carrots in 1 cup : 4 proportion
- seedless grapes + carrots in 1 cup : 4 proportion
- skinned cucumber + carrots in 1:4 proportion

Many people said celery is also good especially for those with high blood pressure. I tried out this juice with celery. It was not that bad too. Though you would experience a bit of celery after-taste but overall experience was not that bad. Once you get used to the after-taste kind of thing, in fact the juice was quite pleasant to consume!

3 carrots - skin peeled, cut small
1 red apple - skin peeled, cut small
1/2 stalk of celery - cut to 2 inch length

If you are more adventurous, the following are some interesting websites with many many more fruits ~ vegetable juice recipes that you can give it a try!

http://www.carrotjuice.com/grape-carrot-juice-recipe.html

http://www.soymilkquick.com/fruitjuicerecipes.php

http://www.healthrecipes.com/fruit_juice_recipes.htm

www.bestjuicerrecipes.com - once you register with them for free, you will get list of recipes and smoothies to start off with!

Enjoy Juicing!

stubborn price tag!

2009-11-05T12:34:00.000+08:00

This is nothing related to the theme of my blog but I just thought I want to share this little useful idea.

Ever experienced difficulties in removing price tag marks on utensils, books, kitchenware, plastics etc.? (oh yeah.. at least related to books, bit related to learning, therefore a bit bit related to the theme of my blog...) Anyway, it is seldom but still a few occasions we would encounter such iritation. Because many retailers nowadays are much more thoughtful than before. At least they have gone either to barcode system without price tagging or at least they would opt for better quality price tag that does not leave any marks on the products.

I recently bought a laddle from a small supermarket. They were somehow "smart" enough not to tag the price tag on the handle but on the part where we use to scoop soup. It is not a good idea to use turpentine or thinner to remove the tag I am sure.

I happened to come across with this little idea - something we definitely have at home ie. Multi-Purpose Flour.

First, peel away the price tag as much as you could leaving just the stubborn trails behind.

Spread a bit of the multi-purpose flour on the surface where the stubborn trails were.

Use your second finger to lightly move about on the surface in a circular direction.

The stubborn trails were practically gone in less than one minute!

Remove the excess flour together with the stubborn trails.

That's all. No more struggling to wash away the terrible turpentine smell!

little idea corner - simply yogurt snack!

2009-10-29T12:59:00.000+08:00

I want to start this new section called "Little Idea Corner" because I happened to, well I should say I accidentally found this little idea....which becoming quite a favourite to my girl now.

Every time she has one of them, she would like both to come together!

The story was like this. One afternoon, both me and my girl were feeling a bit hungry. It was snack time! So, my daugther was after her favourite cheese biscuits. But, I was having a bit of sore throat, I wasn't keen to take any biscuit. So, I opted for yogurt instead.

As my girl was happily opening up the cheese biscuits package, she saw more crumbs than biscuits in there. Oooouuhhh,.... how are we going to eat that? So, we had an idea. We sprinkled the crumbs into the yogurt and started to eat them.

Yu..yummy... The taste was fanstastic! The biscuit crumbs made the yogurt "crunchy" yet adding a bit of sweet taste to the yogurt. If you were not sure if your kids would love this, you could probably sprinkled a little bit first and let them have a try.

We tried also with cereal and butter biscuits, it worked as tasty as well. As long as these biscuits / crackers are creamfree and not too sweet, it goes very well with yogurt.

From now on, other than mixing milk or milo to cereal for breakfast, we add yogurt instead.

One of the superb combination was using the Pepperridge Farm Goldfish Colors cheddar cheese crackers plus any plain colour fruit yogurt. The salty taste of the crackers adds flavour to the yogurt. In addition, because of the colourful crackers, it looks so tempting like ice cream with rainbow sprinkles toppings. We call this "Simply Yogurt Snack"!

Try it!

哪个是部首、哪个是偏旁？

2009-10-29T11:13:00.000+08:00

小朋友在学华语时，部首与偏旁是必学与必知的东西。在小学校里学习，往往就是要“死背”、要 "死记"。很多时候孩子们都不懂学这个用意何在！

而且，部首有的时候在左边、有的时候在右边，上边也有、下边也有。。。怎么记得了呢？

我常常用这个 “寻部首”游戏给孩子学习与认识部首 -- 一边玩、一边学、一边记。

准备：

a. 汉语字典 - 先教孩子怎么从部首找几个简单的字（鱼、姐、妹、等等）

b.白字

c. 颜色笔（两种颜色一浅一深）

1。我会用浅色的颜色笔在白字上写下三个新认识的字。

2。让孩子自己猜猜看部首在那里，然后往字典里找。

3。找到了以后，用深色的颜色笔把部首填在我先前所写的字上。

我通常在挑选字时下点功夫，例如：两个“明显部首”的字如 “花”、“话” 和一个“不明显部首”的字如： “画”。因为，第一猜就找到能让孩子开心，也帮助建立自信心。楼次找不到，孩子会灰心、会放弃。

那个 “不明显部首” 的字是挑战字，孩子需要花多一点点时间。如果找得到，表示他们 “挑战成功”！

这么一来，可以锻炼孩子学习查字典，另外也帮助他们把学来的字记起来，更能够把部首给牢牢的记住了。

Unit 5 Bahasa Melayu Lesson -- Bercuti di Kampung

2009-10-29T10:26:00.000+08:00

I designed these worksheets because one of the comprehensions in her Grade 1 text book required her to read a paragraph and answer some questions.

The trouble she faced was most of the keywords in the comprehension were aliens. Hence, it was basically beyond impossible for her to even guess the answers.

So, I started off by breaking down the paragraphs into simple sentences and spread them out over like 8 - 10 worksheets. We probably spent like 2 lessons before we moved on to the comprehension in the text book.

It was a slow process but it was a guaranteed learning because when she went through the step by step worksheets, every piece of information was absorbed.

Unlike if I did it the conventional way ie. read through the comprehension and explained the meaning as we read, the child could also answer all the questions correctly no doubt but whatever taught to the child would be like passing traffic - once the lesson's over, everything's out of sight and out of mind!!

These are some of the worksheets I did:

This was the comprehension in the text book:

The purpose of this exercise is to reinforce what they have learned.

For children who do not have good basic of Malay to start off Grade 1 (like my girl...), it is very difficult for them to appreciate what is taught at school.

This step by step method is good to build up their confidence and narrow the gap between what they can understand and what the teacher expects.

Any comprehension in your children's text books, you can always use the same methodology - breakdown the key messages into sections / small sentences and build the understanding from there.

~~ Learning requires a bit of patience ~~

~~ Teaching requires a bit of creativity ~~

To download the entire Unit 5 Bercuti di Kampung in PDF format : Click Here

To download other UNITS in PDF format : go to Quick Downloads