Dear All
Yesterday was Feli's last excursion for 2008. These excursions were part of S'pore's National Education (NE) programme. It was a long journey from the East (SACPS - her primary school) to the West (SDC). The journey was lengthened due to traffic jam as a trailer broke down on the highway and a EMAS truck was attending to it. Just imagine, a busload of impatient chatty noisy girls, playing hand games, singing, standing up (and being constantly told-off by the 2 teachers on board).
Anyway, I must say the trip is well-organised. There was a facilitator at SDC, name of Vincent, who explained what is racial harmony and the culture of the main 4 races in S'pore. He himself is a Philippino Chinese. As the group is big, 28 girls per class and there were 3 classes, each class and their facilitator had to flip-flop amongst the exhibits. So we didn't have time to cover the entire SDC. They played a team Q&A game on the exhibit, twice, wore traditional costumes and traditional props like the indian garland and songkot (these had to be swopped amongst the 3 groups - hence some delay there).
The highlight had to be Little George (LG). It was very funny when the girls said goodbye to him. When they yelled goodbye to LG, he replied goodbye. So some laggers yelled goodbye to him again, and the cycle was repeated until the facilitator from the next group "chased" them off so that the next class could have it's turn with LG.
It was a very tiring day as we also had tuition in the afternoon. It didn't help that the school bus trip home was extended due to returning to SACP to pick up a girl who missed the bus. The driver was pretty mad. But so were everyone else, including another parent volunteer.
Love Theresa
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
..afternoon after WITS
Sigh I am so tired that I do not want to do anything at the office right now..with all the waiting and all the stress of preparing and rehearsing for just one WITS presentation and now that all is over I felt so relieved and that I do not want do anything relating to work at the moment...I just want to chill out at my office here..and blog, blog. It is bright and sunny out there, and I still have put up with the aftermath of WITS presentation and thank God is now all over. Here is a photo taken after the event. Some commented that we all look like bridegrooms all over again and of course, we ask for "Ang Pow" in return....lah! Presenting to you: The WITS team called "FULL STEAM"
Last nite the cam corder broke down and I do not understand why...need to send in for repair this Friday...and it is made in Japan, so cannot blame on the country of origin. Lucky still under warranty...our house is pretty small as the girls are growing up fast...so I would have to be more innovative and creative in creating space out of the finite built in floor space that we have now....a miserable 990 s.f....so I have embark on ideas to create space..and I remember one of our pillars of quality journey or some strategic thrusts of sorts is this phrase.."Capacity Creation"...I love this phrase...I look at the ceiling, I look in all corners, I also begin to look at our beds...how can I create more space out from this 990 sf of space?
Here are my plans at this time:
1. I plan to buy and change our existing bed frame to those type where you can lift up the mattress and store things beneath it.
2. I plan to place order this evening 1 unit of this and dispose off our current rattan chair which is bulky and old and can't even store a piece of paper beneath it.
3. We have changed the children's bed to bunk bed and recover some space as a result.
4. In the meantime, we have dispose off junk (things which you do not look at it or even touch it in the last 6 months) and only to buy things which absolutely necessary and will be used immediately. (It is easier to keep money than to keep things)
5. I look up at the ceiling and see for myself how much space up there for me to reclaim. If only I can reclaim those space up there, in effect our house now doubles to 1980 s.f.
6. If the current TV breaks down, change to LCD and hanged it from the wall.
7.....any ideas? Please tell me, your ideas are most welcome!
Have a nice day! and Take care!
AlbertY
Here are my plans at this time:
1. I plan to buy and change our existing bed frame to those type where you can lift up the mattress and store things beneath it.
2. I plan to place order this evening 1 unit of this and dispose off our current rattan chair which is bulky and old and can't even store a piece of paper beneath it.
3. We have changed the children's bed to bunk bed and recover some space as a result.
4. In the meantime, we have dispose off junk (things which you do not look at it or even touch it in the last 6 months) and only to buy things which absolutely necessary and will be used immediately. (It is easier to keep money than to keep things)
5. I look up at the ceiling and see for myself how much space up there for me to reclaim. If only I can reclaim those space up there, in effect our house now doubles to 1980 s.f.
6. If the current TV breaks down, change to LCD and hanged it from the wall.
7.....any ideas? Please tell me, your ideas are most welcome!
Have a nice day! and Take care!
AlbertY
Felicia's Excursion to Jacob Ballas Children Garden (her 2nd excursion)
Dear All
As promised, I'm dropping a brief note on Feli's 2nd excursion. It was held today (29 Jul 08). She liked the tree house best as there were 2 types of slides. She went down both of them on her own, which is very brave of her.
There was also a maze. The children went in their class groups. Hers was blueberry (I think), consisting of about 6 girls each. She was a bit scared as she was afraid to be lost in the maze and the garden. She told me they cheated by peaking through gaps in the hedges to find their way out. (Sounds scary to me). I think she said she was taller than the hedges, but I guess at their age, if they can't find a way out, they feel that they are trapped and would easily panick. 5 parent volunteers per class (there were 3 classes) accompanied the girls.
Feli told me there was a 100 year old tree that was struck by lightning. It was actually from another site, but they chopped it up and relocated it in the garden.
I asked her how was the garden. Her reply was "OK. There's lots of flowers". I guess she's not a nature lover, specifically, not a plant lover, so this trip was so-so.
Tomorrow is her 3rd and last excursion this year to Singapore Discovery Centre (SDC). I'm the parent volunteer for this trip. It'll be a very loonng day for me. It's from 7:45am to 12:45pm (the longest duty time amongst the 3 excursions!!), afterwhich, I need to fetch the girls for Chinese tuition in the afternoon.
Will keep you posted on her latest adventures tomorrow!!
Love Theresa
As promised, I'm dropping a brief note on Feli's 2nd excursion. It was held today (29 Jul 08). She liked the tree house best as there were 2 types of slides. She went down both of them on her own, which is very brave of her.
There was also a maze. The children went in their class groups. Hers was blueberry (I think), consisting of about 6 girls each. She was a bit scared as she was afraid to be lost in the maze and the garden. She told me they cheated by peaking through gaps in the hedges to find their way out. (Sounds scary to me). I think she said she was taller than the hedges, but I guess at their age, if they can't find a way out, they feel that they are trapped and would easily panick. 5 parent volunteers per class (there were 3 classes) accompanied the girls.
Feli told me there was a 100 year old tree that was struck by lightning. It was actually from another site, but they chopped it up and relocated it in the garden.
I asked her how was the garden. Her reply was "OK. There's lots of flowers". I guess she's not a nature lover, specifically, not a plant lover, so this trip was so-so.
Tomorrow is her 3rd and last excursion this year to Singapore Discovery Centre (SDC). I'm the parent volunteer for this trip. It'll be a very loonng day for me. It's from 7:45am to 12:45pm (the longest duty time amongst the 3 excursions!!), afterwhich, I need to fetch the girls for Chinese tuition in the afternoon.
Will keep you posted on her latest adventures tomorrow!!
Love Theresa
Monday, July 28, 2008
Calling all at LC300
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooi...where are you all in this cyber space????If you have anything to share do please feel free to contribute to this blog...this is a way of keeping in touch with one another as we are all staying in various parts of Singapore and we don't see in each other so often as we do with our own churh parishoners....so your entries are most welcome.....only if you have the time....OK? Your family comes first!
God Bless!
AlbertY
God Bless!
AlbertY
If you have ony 1 wish to ask from God and will be granted....
Yesterday in one of the reading, it tells us about what Solomon ask of God….he did not ask for riches, long life, power and such…instead he ask of God only for wisdom to govern his people and that indeed pleases God and so our Lord gave him the wisdom that no one else before him and after him would have...what a nice perfect gift indeed!
Then a question was posed to us, if today, now at this moment, God would to give you just only 1 wish to ask of Him, what would you be asking Him to grant you? On reflection on this question in church after quite a while, I conclude that there is nothing really for me to ask from God except to thank HIM…and if there is one thing that I must ask from God then this would be the request: To take my mummy’s soul to heaven….this is definitely be the request that I will ask of God; I just want mummy to be in heaven and that itself will make me very happy..I hope that mummy will be in heaven right now…well one can never be sure so I continue to offer masses intention for the beloved soul of my dear mummy…
After mass, we drove down to the paint shop nearby to help my mum-in-law to buy 4 tins of 1 litre paint to paint up the 8 house doors…I felt very bad in me having to coz her to walk so much to the paint shop as we could not find a car park lot that is nearby to the paint shop…fortunately nothing happen to her legs (as her legs recently has been quite weak)….I should have drop them off at the paint shop and then continue on to find a car park lot…so silly of me!
After which I proceed to fetch mum-in-law back to home and we proceed to Century Square in Tampines to have lunch and for the 1st time in many many years we have the set lunchTeppan yaki, on promotion. $35 bucks for a set for 2. We order 2 sets, just nice for the 4 of us. Tiff was engrossed in watching the chef cooking away right in front of her…
Then a question was posed to us, if today, now at this moment, God would to give you just only 1 wish to ask of Him, what would you be asking Him to grant you? On reflection on this question in church after quite a while, I conclude that there is nothing really for me to ask from God except to thank HIM…and if there is one thing that I must ask from God then this would be the request: To take my mummy’s soul to heaven….this is definitely be the request that I will ask of God; I just want mummy to be in heaven and that itself will make me very happy..I hope that mummy will be in heaven right now…well one can never be sure so I continue to offer masses intention for the beloved soul of my dear mummy…
After mass, we drove down to the paint shop nearby to help my mum-in-law to buy 4 tins of 1 litre paint to paint up the 8 house doors…I felt very bad in me having to coz her to walk so much to the paint shop as we could not find a car park lot that is nearby to the paint shop…fortunately nothing happen to her legs (as her legs recently has been quite weak)….I should have drop them off at the paint shop and then continue on to find a car park lot…so silly of me!
After which I proceed to fetch mum-in-law back to home and we proceed to Century Square in Tampines to have lunch and for the 1st time in many many years we have the set lunchTeppan yaki, on promotion. $35 bucks for a set for 2. We order 2 sets, just nice for the 4 of us. Tiff was engrossed in watching the chef cooking away right in front of her…
It is the first for her as well….it comes with this Teppan chawan mushi
as well and 1 plate each of salmon and suchi and also 1 scoop each of ice cream for dessert…..
I think they are very happy with the lunch....as seen from their faces
Next, proceed to buy a pair of shoes for Fel and a white dress for her as her children’s church choir requires all to have this so-called uniform attire….wow! blow quite a sum of money on that! Next, we go home and sleep lah!....what else can we do after spending money? Right?
You have a nice day! Today is such is a nice day out there....How can I be at work?
AlbertY
I think they are very happy with the lunch....as seen from their faces
Next, proceed to buy a pair of shoes for Fel and a white dress for her as her children’s church choir requires all to have this so-called uniform attire….wow! blow quite a sum of money on that! Next, we go home and sleep lah!....what else can we do after spending money? Right?
You have a nice day! Today is such is a nice day out there....How can I be at work?
AlbertY
Friday, July 25, 2008
Felicia's 1st Excursion this year - Little India & Chinatown
Dear All
Felicia FINALLY has gone for a school excursion. Today, it's to Little India and Chinatown. She had to write a journal on it. This is what she wrote (minus spelling and grammatical errors):
MY TRIP TO CHINATOWN AND LITTLE INDIA
My trip to Chinatown and Little India was very fun. First, I'm going to talk about Chinatown.
Chinatown Opera House was very nice. I got to try one instrument. I don't know what it is called but I know it was very hard to play it. The people who played their instrument played a tune to let us hear. It only took five to ten minutes to reach Little India from Chinatown.
When we reached Little India, it was very hot but we quickly go to the Indian kind of restaurant. We ate some types of food. My favourite is the Indian sweet. I ate two types. One sweet tastes like milk powder and the other one tastes like sweet water.
** end of journal **
Felicia came home enthusing about her excursion. She spotted a "puttu" on her forehead and a purplish bangle. She looked so cute. There was a food (possibly naan) baking demo where the food was as huge as a balloon. Then a spoon is used to push it down. She brought back the 2 sweet samples and bought some papadams for us to try. Tiffany commented that indian sweets usually have spices and she doesn't quite like them. I find them yummy. But I had to restraint myself from gobbling all down.
Next, she told her the history of Chinese Opera. Ever since I was small, I was always afraid of Chinese Opera. Their loud music frightens me, and so do their fearsome makeup and gaudy costumes. In addition, I don't understand a word they are saying as it's all sung in dialect. (I don't have a good working knowledge of dialect).
Felicia told me that Chinese Opera started about 3000 years ago as a street story-telling session. At that time, everyone gives the emperor a birthday present on his birthday. A man wanted to give the emperor an outstanding gift, and hence engaged the street Opera to perform for the emperor. The emperor liked it so much, he wanted the street performers to stay. However, they came from another province and did not wish to stay.
Later on, the emperor's son (emperor number 2) also fell in love with Chinese Opera. He loved it so much he secretly performed in the Opera. At that time, the mask was held on by a string tied round the performer's head, and performers used alot of hand gestures to explain the emotions of the characters as audience at the back would not be able to see. As emperor number 2 was embarrassed if he was recognised as a performer, he also felt the mask was difficult for him to sing. Hence, he had his face painted. It proved to be less restrictive to the performers and thats why opera performers to this day have heavy makeup. According to Felicia, the troupe that was invited by the emperor was presented with 2 gifts. I can't remember the other, but one was an umbrella. She said, the original troupe that performed for the emperor is still around to this day. You can recognise them from the umbrella that they would place at the side of the stage.
I was amazed at how much info Felicia had absorbed and could recall. We should have more excursions where other academic materials are taught in a fun way yah? Then teachers, parents and children would be spared all the tears, threats and arm-twisting to get the kids to study and get the info into their heads!
Akan datang....she's going for 2 more excursions, one after another, next week. Talk about hitting the jackpot yah?!?
Love Theresa
Felicia FINALLY has gone for a school excursion. Today, it's to Little India and Chinatown. She had to write a journal on it. This is what she wrote (minus spelling and grammatical errors):
MY TRIP TO CHINATOWN AND LITTLE INDIA
My trip to Chinatown and Little India was very fun. First, I'm going to talk about Chinatown.
Chinatown Opera House was very nice. I got to try one instrument. I don't know what it is called but I know it was very hard to play it. The people who played their instrument played a tune to let us hear. It only took five to ten minutes to reach Little India from Chinatown.
When we reached Little India, it was very hot but we quickly go to the Indian kind of restaurant. We ate some types of food. My favourite is the Indian sweet. I ate two types. One sweet tastes like milk powder and the other one tastes like sweet water.
** end of journal **
Felicia came home enthusing about her excursion. She spotted a "puttu" on her forehead and a purplish bangle. She looked so cute. There was a food (possibly naan) baking demo where the food was as huge as a balloon. Then a spoon is used to push it down. She brought back the 2 sweet samples and bought some papadams for us to try. Tiffany commented that indian sweets usually have spices and she doesn't quite like them. I find them yummy. But I had to restraint myself from gobbling all down.
Next, she told her the history of Chinese Opera. Ever since I was small, I was always afraid of Chinese Opera. Their loud music frightens me, and so do their fearsome makeup and gaudy costumes. In addition, I don't understand a word they are saying as it's all sung in dialect. (I don't have a good working knowledge of dialect).
Felicia told me that Chinese Opera started about 3000 years ago as a street story-telling session. At that time, everyone gives the emperor a birthday present on his birthday. A man wanted to give the emperor an outstanding gift, and hence engaged the street Opera to perform for the emperor. The emperor liked it so much, he wanted the street performers to stay. However, they came from another province and did not wish to stay.
Later on, the emperor's son (emperor number 2) also fell in love with Chinese Opera. He loved it so much he secretly performed in the Opera. At that time, the mask was held on by a string tied round the performer's head, and performers used alot of hand gestures to explain the emotions of the characters as audience at the back would not be able to see. As emperor number 2 was embarrassed if he was recognised as a performer, he also felt the mask was difficult for him to sing. Hence, he had his face painted. It proved to be less restrictive to the performers and thats why opera performers to this day have heavy makeup. According to Felicia, the troupe that was invited by the emperor was presented with 2 gifts. I can't remember the other, but one was an umbrella. She said, the original troupe that performed for the emperor is still around to this day. You can recognise them from the umbrella that they would place at the side of the stage.
I was amazed at how much info Felicia had absorbed and could recall. We should have more excursions where other academic materials are taught in a fun way yah? Then teachers, parents and children would be spared all the tears, threats and arm-twisting to get the kids to study and get the info into their heads!
Akan datang....she's going for 2 more excursions, one after another, next week. Talk about hitting the jackpot yah?!?
Love Theresa
Monday, July 21, 2008
Felicia's little birthday treat
On Saturday we had a little birthday treat for little Felicia. We went to Fish & Co at Tampines and had our little nice dinner. Fortunately, for Felicia who is rather hungry her food arrived first and as she was rather hungry so she has 2 orders from the kid's menu and here is what she had for her little dinner treat:
Tiff and sweetie both had this (New York Fish N Chips):
Well, we enjoyed our little dinner as you can see from their faces:
This weekend also, I did something new...I tried out the GPS using my PDA and attached it on the car during driving. Quite an experience and very accurate and responsive. A word of caution I must say...if you are using one...must not keep looking at the display.
Have a nice day!
AlbertY
Tiff and sweetie both had this (New York Fish N Chips):
which I think was quite a big portion but nevertheless we managed to finished off all on the pan. We waited quite a while for our food to arrived after Felicia's 2 main orders arrived and so we were rather bored and hungry. When my order finally came, I was rather hungry so I forgotten to snap a photo of what I ate...my was actually black pepper stingray and enjoy it much but could have been better if it was sambal stingray instead of black pepper.
Well, we enjoyed our little dinner as you can see from their faces:
This weekend also, I did something new...I tried out the GPS using my PDA and attached it on the car during driving. Quite an experience and very accurate and responsive. A word of caution I must say...if you are using one...must not keep looking at the display.
Have a nice day!
AlbertY
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