We Love DisneyLAND

8-10 Oct 2009, Hong Kong

Our trip to Hong Kong was originally scheduled for early May 2009. Unfortunately, due to the H1N! outbreak, we decided to postpone it as we wanted to be socially responsible. The 5-year old was a little disappointed but accepted the decision very maturely.

Finally, the day for departure drew closer. The 5-year old was so excited that she couldn't go to bed the night before. We set off for the airport at 5am that morning for the 6.30am flight via Jetstar, the budget airline. It was a 3.5hours flight and I was a little bored since there was no inflight entertainment. Can't complain much if we are paying budget price. Seated in front of me, was a Swiss man, very tall... he had his seat declined throughout the entire journey and I felt like a squashed pumpkin. Fortunately, he was pretty good looking so my frustration eased a bit.

When I tried to get up from my seat, I had to do a little hop and felt my knee caps cracking.

Note: Do not fly budget if you have aches & pains or if you are a senior citizen...

Finally, we arrived in Hong Kong... The plane was parked outside the airport so we had to walk down a flight of stairs and then hopped onto a bus for transfer to the main immigration arrival hall. Weather was fine & cool. Thank god. Wasting no time, we got into a taxi and off we went to Disney Hollywood Hotel (located 5mins away from Disneyland via shuttle bus).

The taxi fare turned out to be cheaper than a MTR ride. We were surprised! And we didn't have to lug our luggages around the train station. The taxi took us right to Hotel doorstep and we enjoyed comfort.

Ah... we felt good (to be continued...)

Downunder

10 - 14 August 2009, Sydney

MOTH has been travelling frequently this year due to work and the family has spent lesser time together & taken lesser vacations as compared to previous years.

It took me by surprise when MOTH suggested that we travel to Sydney with him. Unfortunately, he had to be at work all week while in Sydney while the 5-year old and I took a R&R, mother-and-child bonding week. The week passed by quickly with me regretting not packing the right clothes for the weather. It was cold in Sydney with rain & wind so a normal jacket will not suffice.

I had to buy a thick jacket with fur hood for the 5-year old to keep her warm. The entire trip was dedicated to the 5-year old. We spent nearly the whole afternoon at the Aquarium, we took a day trip via ferry to the Taronga Zoo, spent more time at the Wildlife Park... I didn't rush her. Just allowed her to take her time to explore the sights, the animals, the marine life... On the other hand, she cooperated by carrying her little haversack and walked on her own despite the tiredness and dragging her feet uphill every evening as we head back to Hotel Intercon. I knew how happy she was as she wakes up every morning smiling, greeting us "good morning" and hugging us very tightly with kisses telling us she loves us.

It was a great feeling to be able to spend so much time together without any other interruptions. Though, I had very little time for myself that week, I felt it was all worth it.

Despite the temperature, the sunny days warm up my cold bones. It was nice to sit out there at the park, taking in the sun. It was very easy to get around Sydney by public transport and by foot. We took the train, the light rail, the ferries, taxis and walked a lot. People were very friendly and willing to show us the way. I love the visit to the ROCKS where we spotted old brick houses left by the early settlers and I love the way old architectures have been kept and now blended in nicely with modern buildings.

Nothin In P@rtiCul@r

Spotted our kitty, Raggie, making herself cozy and using my shoes as pillow. She was rolled up like a fur ball, rubbing herself and licking my shoes. This is a nice sight.

We had a wonderful time @ cousin d's home warming last Saturday evening (18 Jul). I had hell a good time playing with the children and I saw my childhood come alive through the eyes of these children. Boys teasing gals, gals fighting back, gals taking sides and standing up for each other. How I miss those days. Here the 5 year old and her cousin taking a lollipop break by the pool side. They are so adorable, taking care of each other & fending off "bullies".

Tune in for more updates on our next holiday plan: SYDNEY, DOWNUNDER AUSTRALIA. Can't wait!

Challenging Months

6 months of Year 2009 had passed by with so much challenges, and changes for me. As I made a decision to have a job change this year, I found myself having to work harder to prove myself, taking less holidays, enjoying less perks than before. I could have stayed on my previous position, remain cozy and rosy, with 24 days of annual leave, drifting on & losing my focus at work... but revisiting my decision, a change is a must for me. One must move on, adapt to changes and progress in life.

Facing regular "tough work in the office", I find myself often returning home to feel vexed by our new maid's performance. Imagine hiring a maid who cannot perform basic house chores such as hovering, mopping, ironing etc. I often imagine that I will make a better maid than the new filipinas recruits. Nevertheless, we never gave up, we continued motivating our new maid and guiding her in the basics. We can see that our effort is nearly paying off as she's reacting positively and has built friendship with our 5-year old.

The best news as I am writing this blog is that despite my crazy, hectic lifestyle, I found the time for my family, with the people I love, to continue painting and loving myself.

I am thrilled by the thought that we are all set to depart for a family holiday in Tioman this Friday morning. We can't wait to spend time with each other, being surrounded by beautiful nature, snorkelling with lots of fishes. We last visited Tioman in July 2006 when our child was only 2 years old. We stayed on the island for 5 days, enjoying the famous ABC dessert daily and doing nothing except relaxing by the beach. It will be wonderful to revisit this beautiful island again in the company of the family.

Hopefully, I get to travel more towards the end of this year.

Love for Baking

We had registered the 5-year old for a baking class sometime back and paid nearly S$50. As she

had high fever for a week and bronchitis, we nearly missed the baking class. Fortunately, I checked my email at the 11th hour and screamed.

The baking class was to commence in 1 hour's time. So we made a dash to change, and dashed to UE2 via taxi. It was pretty comical. But the 5-year old really enjoyed herself and immersed herself in the baking. She told me that she has to bake seriously so the whole family will get to eat. There she was, sifting the flour, mixing the butter, sugar, egg & then blending it... finally add the flour it, blend it and roll it to become a dough. She took the tasks seriously and used cookie cutters to make shapes of animals. She even knows that she has to flatten the dough so that the cookies will not require a longer time to bake.

When the cookies were freshly baked out from the oven, she took a moment to relax and started sampling them. Munch, yum! She was very happy with her "creation".

Overall, I feel it's worth the money as the little one has interest in baking, truly enjoyed herself and it's a different exposure baking in a professional kitchen with other little children. Of course, she will continue her little baking adventures at home with her daddy dearest.

Our beautiful family

Photos taken on 7 Feb 2009, Singapore Zoo, celebrating the 5-year old birthday. The photo of my niece & her reminds me of my relationship with my sister when we were little. We had similar pictures taken during our outing at the bird park, van cleef aquarium, etc. It was a wonderful sunny day, complete with lunch & a tom-and-jerry birthday cake.

Maid from Hell

There you go, to satisfy your curiosity, here's the maid from hell (in orange)!

Operation REPAT!

We had fights over the MAID from HELL. Moth thinks she's normal as he compares her to his ex-construction foreign workers. Come on, a FDW and a FCW have completely different job scopes. A FDW stays in our home, share our food, plays with our child. How can anyone think they are the same?

I don't give a heck. I want her out. I want her away from our home. I don't feel good leaving my child and my home under her care.

I spent the past 2 weeks sourcing for alternative. Finally, I made the decision to hire another maid and will repatriate the MAID from HELL back to her hellish lying agency tomorrow. This is what I call Operation REPAT!

I like to see if she can still SMILE tomorrow when I send her packing to her hell. \\{^ ^}//
Her favourite reaction is to SMILE when she gets a telling off or questions.

Maybe I will be BEAMING & SMILING back to her tomorrow instead. Maybe I should put on my Little Miss Smiley Tee too.

I'll be so glad to see the last of her!

Hello 2009

It has been such a long time since I blogged. So long that I've been forgotten my blogspot address. Hello 2009, it's nearly one quarter gone. After May left us for good, we departed for our year-end holiday in Vietnam and we welcomed the new year by giving ourselves a wonderful treat at the Changi Village Hotel enjoying the spread of seafood.

After weeks of waiting, well seems like decades, the new maid finally arrived 1 week before the lunar new year. I was so happy, I could dance... When we picked her up at the agency on a Saturday afternoon, she told me "Madam, I've worked in Singapore for 8 month before. And actually, I am married. Is it ok?" Thoughts raced through my mind. Ok, what's going on? She's supposed to be the "perfect" maid, we interviewed her over the telephone... she sounded mature & serious & had 4 years of work experience in Kuwait but why did she "purposely" omitted her work experience in Singapore and her marital status. Is it OK??? Of course, it's not OK!!! She's a liar. Had I wanted to hire a ex-SIN, I have tons of other candidates to select from. Then she arrived at our home, demanding to have rice all 3 meals for the day and she declared that she disliked cats & plants.

For close friends who have been to our home, you will know that we're into gardening and our cat. Our main priority for the maid is to care for our child, now 5 years old.

But na-na, the new maid (aka MAID FROM HELL) is uncommunicative to children, acts as if she's boss, speaks in the loudest pitch irritating voice, smiles only when I tell her off, can't even perform the single housechores properly. OMG, I felt so irritated & unsettled with her behaviour that when MOTH travels, I will lock my bedroom door when we are sleeping. There's a fear that she might ATTACK ME or US!

The final straw came when we had a bunch of kittens coming to our flat regularly. The MAID from HELL told my 5-year old that they could splash hot water on the kittens so the skin could come off. I was horrified to hear that! Thank goodness, the 5-year old knows what's the right thing to do! She told the MAID from HELL that it is not a good idea but the MAID from HELL said "if you don't tell, and I don't tell... nobody will know. we do this all the time in the Philippines".

How can anyone be so cruel? Even if you are starving, living in tough conditions, and a bunch of kittens come along, I doubt any of us would have the heart to splash hot water on the tiny, defenceless kittens. I mean these are kittens, they are lions or tigers or some wild beast who will rip your kitchen apart and steal your rice.

Au Revoir, May

Sun, 21 December 2008

Today's May last day in Singapore. We got up early in the morning to send her off at the airport. The 4-year old and May spent their last hour playing together and taking some photos together. When it was time for May to enter the boarding gate, the 4-year old broke into tears and hugged May tightly. I can't help but shed tears as well. She has afterall been a part of our family life for the past two years. We enjoyed a peaceful, a well-balanced family & work life as she has helped us a great deal with childcare. It's a shame we can't retain her.

Fortunately I'm on leave for the next two weeks to spend time with the 4-year old. It's quite a drastic change from a career woman to a full-time mother. How do I spend my days at home?

7.30am - Prepare & enjoy breakfast with the little one
8.30am - Help her change & get dressed for school
9.00am - Walk her to school
9.00am-12.30pm - Run errands
12.30pm - evening - Housechores, washing, ironing, packing, playing...

I never imagine that time flies so quickly when I am home. Unfortunately, part of this time does not include time for rest & nap. But I do not mind working extra for our family and taking care of my little one full-time during this period when she needs me most after biding May farewell.

We do not know when the new helper will arrive. But I think we are coping very well as a family as Moth also plays his part to help as well. This is a wonderful experience.

We are looking forward to our Christmas holiday in Hanoi and our cruise in Halong Bay. Can't wait to post our family pictures on this blog.

With the new year, we begin with a new helper, a new school for the little one, and a new career for me.

French Singing Competition

28 November 2008:

We took part in a FRENCH SINGING COMPETITION!

Singing 'Place Des Grands Hommes' by Patrick Bruel...

It was nerve racking but we survived and won nothing except experience and good fun.

We worked very hard to practise the song, imagine 3 pages long of french text... hmm, it's enough to cause a big, huge migraine. Yes, you are right. That's my 4-year old pulling my jeans. She is a very brave girl and made a dash to be on stage. She sang along during the chorus and it's wonderful!

To view the video clips, visit: http://www.apfs.sg/french_students%27_singing_contest_2008.htm

A little disney magic

Despite the gloomy economic outlook and daily bad news, we took our 4 year old to the Disney Live, 3 Classical Fairy Tales performance at the Kallang Indoor Stadium. Boy, we were wooed by the performance, beautiful stage, special effects, wonderful musicals, ... and of course, the all time favourites Snow White, Cinderella & Beauty & the Beast. The tickets were reasonably priced and we compared this performance with Barney. Barney show was a let down, dull & boring. Nothing special yet pricey.

To spice up the outing, I had surprised the 4 year old with a princess gown. She was so happy and excited to don and dress up as a princess.

No goodbyes???

My 4-year old will leave her school end of this year. She will begin Kindergarten 1 in a new school with new teachers and new friends.

She has been attending this school since she's around 2.5 years old. She likes to give her friends goodbye cards and likes to bake her friends cupcakes. But her school doesn't allow it! Her school management thinks that such farewell will affect other children and will stir emotions.

I don't agree with the management's views and I think it is inappropriate for my 4-year old to leave without saying goodbye.

I question the school and asked how the teacher will answer the children when my 4-year old does not return to school. Eventually the topic of "goodbye" will pop up and the teacher has to address this. I ask the management if the children will suddenly become mature to accept the goodbye (when Emelia is gone!).

It's normal to say goodbye to people. To view the exchanges between the school & me, visit:
http://preschool.sg/?p=404#comment-2289

What's wrong with these?

Can anyone tell me what's wrong with these cuff links?

I bought something like these for SOMEONE for our anniversary.
(Something similar, except it's round-shaped, in more vibrant colour).

I kept the receipt and told him that if he's displeased with the present he can bring it to the shop for an exchange (as he's normally unhappy with the presents I buy him and he will recall them even after 5 years), And our friend pretended that he's "delighted" with the present, absolutely love it...

Tonight, 2 months after our anniversary, he said he hates it! Coz the cuff links are too brightly coloured. My gosh, this guy is completely, absolutely screwed up. He can't make up his mind about his preference, he's completely insincere about his comments. Only God + his mother can figure what he really wants.

Fine, I will dispose of these in the recycling bin for metal products. It's a waste of my precious time & money to get him a present for any occasions. Our friend is earning 3 times more than me so he has extra income to dispose while poor me have to squeeze and squeeze my budget to get a decent gift.

For Christmas, he can pray & wish for Santa Claus to bring him a present or better still, call his mother to express his wish for his prefect present. BoF!

Someone's reading my blog

I took the opportunity to chat with an old pal of mine this morning because I wanted to tell her how stressful my interview went and how I felt as if I was going to evaporate.

Let me recall... I knew her when I was 17. We were both students then in the famous secretarial school (now disappeared from our island). I used to play traunt or skip class whenever I overslept and she would dutifully ring me non-stop to ensure that I drag my butt out from bed.

My pal told me that she's been reading my blog and it made her laugh.

I was very flattered. My blog actually made my pal laughed! : )
For 15 years of our friendship, I believe I gave her more troubles and headaches than laughters. But this is a real good start.

Friendships do not last 4ever

When I was a teenager, my mom said to me "No friendships will last forever. No one will stay best friends forever".

I replied saying "I don't believe you! This is not true".

In turn, my mom said "You will know what I mean when you grow older."

I recalled having a feeling that my mom is such a horrible person.

Reflecting back on this tiny conversation we had, I had to recognise that my mom said made sense. I now agree that no one can remain best friends or friends forever. During stages of my life, I made friends along the way. As I grew, mature, change my perspective about life in general, so did my friends. Sometimes we grew apart as we no longer share the same opinions or thoughts or interests. Some friends are good at being mean & putting each other down through mean words.

Therefore, we cannot maintain that friendship we used to share. Over time, the friendship stales.
I remember reading a self-inspiration book and the author mentioned that friendship is like a relationship. When the relationship has gone bad and staled, you need to divorce yourself from the friendship to move on with your life.

I must share my views with my mom over a coffee so we can both have a good laugh over the conversation we had when I was a teenager.

Neighbour from Hell 2

We thought our neighbour has shifted out. But we heard noises again in the morning and sometimes in the night. As we got home late tonight, we decided to spy on the neighbour.

Apparently, there was a group of weird people... can't make out their profession... but certainly unprofessional movers removing bits & pieces of furniture, old mattresses, etc. The part-time moving out activity ended at 10pm.

You see, this neighbour from hell, is strange. They cannot even coordinate the move to be done during normal hours. The move has to be done in bits and pieces and in the night.

So don't you think they deserve this title?

Neighbour from HELL

We have been putting up with our neighbour from hell for nearly 3 years.
Every night, we can't sleep well as the children are up and running till past midnight. The noise included the bouncing of balls (not 1 but 2 or 3 simultaneously), dragging of furniture, loud stamping, children running the Olympics marathon.

You may ask how bad can the noise be? It's so bad till it caused vibration on our ceiling in our bedroom & to our window frames. So get the picture now. The adults (oh-la-la)... instead of advising their children to keep it down, play ball outdoors, you can see in one of the pictures that the adult was holding a drinking bottle for the boy while he continues bouncing his ball. Headache.

We complained non-stop to the Police, the Town Council & the HDB. Guess what, no government authorities wish to take action or be responsible for noise nuisance. I really think that there should be a noise nuisance division set up in Singapore to deal with such grievances. Eg: have proper sound measuring gadgets to gauge if the noise level is intolerable to the residents involved, have the ability to issue stern warnings to inconsiderate neighbours, educate ill-informed residents that noise nuisance is a no-no in high-rise living.

For the past 3 nights, the neighbour was up and about packing from 12 AM till 3 AM!!!!!!!!!!! They were literally throwing things about in the kitchen, slamming drawers, utensils, etc. Directly below their kitchen, are our bedrooms and toilets. I congratulate the smart HDB architect who designed the maisonette without giving consideration to noise & soundproofing issues.

The HDB officer in charge of my case said that the NEW HDB flats are much better in soundproofing and that he has certification in noise nuisance and engineering. I was so mad. I told him that we are now stuck with an OLD HDB so we can't move to a NEW flat to escape from this noise problem. I added that since he's engineering trained, he should speak with my MOTH who is an Engineer about this matter. But he didn't even ring my husband. Ha!!!

We receive news that the neighbour is due to move. Yesterday evening, I noticed that the windows are drawn shut. In the night when we returned from cycling, the windows were still shut and all was DARK. Yipppppeeeeee. The bloody neighbour from HELL has MOVED!!!!!!!!!!

I slept so well last night. Ah... at least, we experienced peace & quietness.

I pray that the next neighbour who moved in will be a quiet family.
I can't understand how the children can have energy to stay up till past midnight and the adults don't even supervise their bedtime. My 4-year old will usually turn in before 900pm regular nights, a little later during the weekend.

The Geography of Bliss

One Grump's Search for the Happiest Place in the World... by Eric Weiner...

MOTH spotted this book while we were out for our rendezvous. He encouraged me to get a copy of it. I read the content's page & its review. Instantly, I was drawn to the book but I also felt guilty.

Did MOTH read my mind? Did he guess that I harbour constant thoughts to travel around the world for months to fill some empty gaps, feel some happiness and thrill of exploration?

Such thoughts are evil as it will make me completely bankrupt, utterly & bloody broke.

Photos - Macau