Treasure found
I was on my way home when I met him. He is the book vendor. He carries mainly "cheaper" versions of the foreign books. I was surprised to see him because he is usually not around at that time of the day but I am not complaining. With the summer vacation coming, always good to have books stored up at home. Yes! I was glad I went up to him to check out what he has…


What a windfall! The kids were most excited to see them and these were used books not the "cheaper" version. Art Attack S$4, Horrible History S$2…Asked if he wanted old books, he said yes…Hmmm, perhaps the next time, will do a book swap.

Peace…
Ever happen to you?  Once in a while, the kids are just silent for a moment.
Even if it is just for a moment…it is such an enjoyment. Silence is indeed golden.

Both of them buried in their own world

Hidden talent
Brought Ann for her ballet class last Saturday and finally got to chat with her teacher. She said that Ann has picked up the movements very fast.  She went on probing if Ann has any prior dance training (the same question Mr Michael Chan asked me after the school concert last year). Mr Chan told us that we should really look into sending her for dance training.

Yes, am glad that we finally found this bilingual dance school. It took us a long time to find this one. We found a few but all Chinese speaking and ‘tiger-mum’ style. Can really see that Ann thoroughly enjoys her ballet class, always looking forward to it.

Two heads are better than one

Still a great team…then and now.

So many yet so few
It has more than 1000 in attendance yet only four are available to help. In an affluent society, self-centeredness is getting so evident. Apathy has replaced altruism.

True love lost
岳母看女婿, a TV programme which I saw while channel-surfing. To translate it, it will read as “mother-in-law looking for son-in-law”. It is a Chinese reality show in which mothers are looking for potential partner for their daughters. There are ten mothers and the contestant is a male looking for a life-partner. He comes in and starts to introduce himself. He will be shown pictures of ten girls (the daughters) each is being represented by their mother. He will pick one out of the ten. Round one, after the introduction, mothers who are not pleased with him will back out by not pressing their buzzer. Round two, questions will be posed to the contestant. After the question and answer time, more mothers can back out if they want to. Round three, friends and colleagues of the contestant will sing praises of him. Mothers will then decide again, if they want to continue or back out. The last mother standing may not be the mother of the girl which the contestant has picked earlier. If she is not the right one, the contestant can “sell” himself to try to convince THE mother to bring him home to meet his favourite girl…..(yikes….)

In this programme, I can see that materialism is hitting its peak here. Questions asked by the mothers are…"how much do you earn per month?”, “do you own a house, a car?”, “does my daughter need to stay with your parents?" "I am sorry but your qualification is not enough”. It is pretty sad to see some guys who does not have very high qualifications but making a decent living being rejected by the mothers.

It makes me wonder…does it matter to these mothers if this man is rich and has multiple concubines? Where is true love?

“for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health”…. where have all these gone to?  It is now, materialism at its peak!

Scenes you will never see…
Captured some of the local sights which you will never get to see as a tourist.


Not laundry but handmade noodles put out to sun


Morning breakfast at China Mobile shop…nothing is impossible! Noodles with you-tiao


More breakfast, anyone? Yes, I have tried one of their breakfast. Not exactly clean but the foodie in me just couldn’t  resist it. Their Chinese pancake with lots of spring onion. Yum..mo


Their favourite morning exercise, dancing in the park. Ok, this one, I will never try. NEVER!