Exams fever
I am not your typical 'kiasu' (afraid to lose) mummy. But when the exams are here, I get so stressed out looking at my stress-less boy. Breathe in, breathe out….relax lah, mama.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
Soar like an eagle, don’t bum around like a turkey…
I started using this phrase when Kai was facing extreme difficulty in doing his Higher Chinese. You see, we are a English-speaking family. Since he was young we have exposed him to many books but we made the mistake of not introducing him to Chinese books at the same time. The love for English books was very strong but he was lacking behind in his mother tongue – the Chinese language. When he was in P1, he totally has no interest in Chinese and he was just doing the Normal Chinese. To add to his problem, he had an almost-to-retired Chinese teacher who was not very interesting and motivating. When we were relocated to Shanghai, the Shanghai Singapore International School only offers Higher Chinese. Kai has no choice but to do it and it was extremely difficult for him. Seeing him cry while doing his Chinese homework was really upsetting for me during those early days.
I reminded him that crying is not going to solve his problem. He has to overcome it. Kai, being a very visual boy, giving him illustrations will help him see things better. I used the eagle as an illustration…how eaglets learn to fly. The moment they overcame their difficulties, they would soar high up in the sky with their huge majestic wings. I also reminded him of how Grimble, pushed and shoved Soren and Glyfie to fly in the story, Guardians of Ga'hoole. I kept on pounding this fact into him and of course never under estimate children’s power to absorb information…little Ann sitting by the side, listened to every word I said. Today, Kai isn’t a top student for his Chinese but he has indeed come a long way and has improved tremendously. He can be left on his own to do his Chinese work. Occasionally, he may need some help. Credits must go to his P4 Chinese teacher who never gave up on him and his tutor who comes in once a week, by the way, this tutor had a Phd in Chinese Medicine...free consultation! He has graduated and left Shanghai and thank God, He never fails to provide. I found him another excellent tutor. I have seen her teaching Kai...very passionate lady.
Reminding him not to be slothful too. Look at turkeys, they bum around and what happen to them….end up as someone’s Christmas dinner. The kids always find this funny...cos' no one eat eagle!
When I saw a picture of a soaring eagle, I just had to paint it for the kids, to help them remember what I have taught them...
This was my second painting. The kids loved it
When I first brought it home, I asked the the kids what was it all about?
Kai said “soar like an eagle”
Ann completed it… “soar like an eagle, don’t bum around like a turkey”
I am very glad that they remember the lesson well. The painting is now hanging in the family room, everyone love it more than I do.
I started using this phrase when Kai was facing extreme difficulty in doing his Higher Chinese. You see, we are a English-speaking family. Since he was young we have exposed him to many books but we made the mistake of not introducing him to Chinese books at the same time. The love for English books was very strong but he was lacking behind in his mother tongue – the Chinese language. When he was in P1, he totally has no interest in Chinese and he was just doing the Normal Chinese. To add to his problem, he had an almost-to-retired Chinese teacher who was not very interesting and motivating. When we were relocated to Shanghai, the Shanghai Singapore International School only offers Higher Chinese. Kai has no choice but to do it and it was extremely difficult for him. Seeing him cry while doing his Chinese homework was really upsetting for me during those early days.
I reminded him that crying is not going to solve his problem. He has to overcome it. Kai, being a very visual boy, giving him illustrations will help him see things better. I used the eagle as an illustration…how eaglets learn to fly. The moment they overcame their difficulties, they would soar high up in the sky with their huge majestic wings. I also reminded him of how Grimble, pushed and shoved Soren and Glyfie to fly in the story, Guardians of Ga'hoole. I kept on pounding this fact into him and of course never under estimate children’s power to absorb information…little Ann sitting by the side, listened to every word I said. Today, Kai isn’t a top student for his Chinese but he has indeed come a long way and has improved tremendously. He can be left on his own to do his Chinese work. Occasionally, he may need some help. Credits must go to his P4 Chinese teacher who never gave up on him and his tutor who comes in once a week, by the way, this tutor had a Phd in Chinese Medicine...free consultation! He has graduated and left Shanghai and thank God, He never fails to provide. I found him another excellent tutor. I have seen her teaching Kai...very passionate lady.
Reminding him not to be slothful too. Look at turkeys, they bum around and what happen to them….end up as someone’s Christmas dinner. The kids always find this funny...cos' no one eat eagle!
When I saw a picture of a soaring eagle, I just had to paint it for the kids, to help them remember what I have taught them...
This was my second painting. The kids loved it
When I first brought it home, I asked the the kids what was it all about?
Kai said “soar like an eagle”
Ann completed it… “soar like an eagle, don’t bum around like a turkey”
I am very glad that they remember the lesson well. The painting is now hanging in the family room, everyone love it more than I do.
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