Saturday, November 27, 2010

"Gan Chang"

My friend inspired me with regards to this post's title. LOL. Not because my girls are already trained to perform on the "getai", but simply because of the mall shows that we were trying to catch this fine Saturday.

I knew that I would make it to Dora and Hi-5 sometime during this school holiday season. Never did I expect it to be today! A simple message from Serene this morning and lo and behold! We were scheduled to watch 2 shows today. Intricate planning was required because we had to contend with (1) long queues at the malls for entry to watch the shows (2) navigating through traffic and looking for parking lots between 3 shopping malls (Dora @ Raffles City, Hi-5 @ Marina Square) (3) bringing the girls to their art lesson at Clay Cove in time.

So, this is where the Daddies come in handy. With PapaKim out of town, I really had to rely on the other 2 couples to help out. Boy, what teamwork! Thanks lots for standing in the queues and ferrying us between the malls! You know who you are!

With all this planning, our objective of course, was for the kids to be happy. Were they? Absolutely! I believe all 4 girls really had a ball of a time. Dora and Boots were pretty much entertaining by bringing them to the Carnival. Seo Yeon, she enjoyed herself the most at the Dora show! *big smile*

Hi-5 was definitely the bigger crowd magnet. We could easily have been the 20th in the queue, considering that Shannyce's Papa started queueing almost 2 hours before the show started! The group was on stage for about 20 minutes, a little short of the 30 minutes we were hoping for. But hey, we got passes to take photos with Hi-5! That was a very good consolation.

Shannyce was really happy to see her idol AGAIN! She practically flew into Stevie's arms! Wowee! En Bi shared the same idol but a tad bit shy. Luckily, she managed to make a u-turn after taking the photo and get a nice, big hug from Stevie dearest. Awwwww....

And we all got nice souvenirs from the show. A 6R picture and a double-sided keychain with pictures that we took with Hi-5 (one on stage and the other super-imposed). $25. Steep? You tell me.

Of course, we managed to bring the girls to Clay Cove in between the 2 shows. Phew! Hectic, hectic.

All in a day of a mommy bringing her girls to "gan chang".

Thursday, September 9, 2010

All Day Breakfast On His Birthday

Had breakfast with Aslene this morning at "Hatched" (cute site with inverted "3"s that takes time to load. Be patient.). Always wanted to go there for breakfast on the Mondays when I used to bring Seo Yeon for classes at Julia Gabriels @ Evans Road. Pity they were always closed on Mondays. I wanted to go there even more when Aslene told me about this restaurant "Hatched" that she wanted to go to too because she heard that the food there was yum. So what better place to meet her at for brunch? Why, at "Hatched", where they serve "egg-inspired all-day breakfast"!

Service there gets 6-stars (out of 10), maybe they just aren't "morning people"? Haha... Food? Well... All I can say that maybe Aslene and I weren't very good at choosing good stuff from the menu. The food that others ordered looked gastronomical. Ours just looked at tasted like.... normal breakfast? Despite the fancy name 'Hitch Me Up'.
Brunch at Hatched

Ok, now, to catch some celebration lunch (or breakfast?) with PapaKim at "Wild Honey". Another all-day breakfast concept restaurant, this time situated in bustling Orchard Road, was my breakfast-theme eatery of the day. This was recommended by Aslene, whose opinion I did trust a lot especially when it comes to food, because her husband is a chef. LOL.

Caliornian (Left) & Italian (Right)
I think "Californian" beats "Italian" hands down. A pity that it totally slipped my mind to order the dish that Aslene recommended....

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Back in Changwon

One of the must-see for this trip was the "House of Changwon", where I got married 5 years ago on a cold, rainy day. I had always wanted to go back to take a look and see whether the place "evolved" or not, and most importantly, eat at the restaurant where we served the wedding lunch. Yum!

It really felt like a much-needed excursion for my girls to be brought to see the place where Appa and Omma got married so that they would, hopefully, be able to relate to it when I showed them our wedding photos.
House of Changwon

Garden in House of Changwon

Here we are, the spread, and this is not all! We stuffed our guts full by just paying KRW10,000 per person! That's why I wanted to go back there so much. But the kids, gosh, they were a handful without the high chair to strap them in. (Basically, most eating places we liked to go to in Korea was quite difficult because the children tend to run around the place when they are not strapped in their high chair.)

Herb Garden in Changwon

We drove about another 20 minutes to Changwon "City 7", a lodging and shopping complex that is situated next to the Changwon Exhibition Convention Centre (CECO). While we were there, we wanted to check out SHREK 3D, unfortunately, seats for the next available showing were not very ideal. So, we had to take a rain check and took a break in "Angel In Us", a new coffee chain.


Friday, July 2, 2010

KTX

Tata Seoul! A last shot at the lobby while PapaKim was checking out.


We arrived at the Seoul Station very much in time despite the helter-skelter between checking out and arriving at the station! This allowed me to take a few shots of the girls before catching a quick meal to line the stomach.


PapaKim really wanted the girls to try riding on the high-speed train, so, he booked KTX tickets for our journey to Changwon. KTX is to Korea what Shinkansen is to Japan. We were to take the KTX from Seoul station to Miryang station at Gyeongsan-do. That would take us about 2.5 hours for the train ride. Can you find Miryang station in the route map below? (Hint: Orange words near the bottom)


A trip from Seoul to Busan used to take about 4h 10min on the old "Saemaeul". With the introduction of KTX in 2004, the duration of the journey is now almost halved. The table below shows the "then" and "now" time needed to travel  from Seoul to Busan and Mok-Po with the existence of KTX.

We sat in the train enjoying the scenery and the snacks that were sold on the snack trolley. PapaKim bought us braised quail eggs for our snack. The thought of having quail eggs as a snack seemed mind boggling initially, but it  was really tasty. Convenient as well because I didn't have to peel off the egg shells!

We arrived at GrandparentsKim home at 8ish in the evening. Luckily, UncleKim picked us up from the train station. The drive from the station to home took about an hour. Boy! Were GrandparentsKim happy to see the kids again!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Kids Cafe & Beer Time

Oh no, please don't misunderstand. LOL. I didn't bring my gals to the Kids Cafe for beer. My girlfriend met me at the department store and after a short while, we got tired lugging the girls around. She then exclaimed, "Hey, there's a kids cafe here!". I was baffled, "What's that?", even then, I already found myself heading towards this place because I really needed to take a breather.


Apparently, there are many kids cafes dotting the city. Most Korean stay-at-home mommies often take a breather from looking after the kids and housework by meeting up with other mommies or friends at kids cafe. It's a very simple concept, eat, drink, chat, while your children enjoy themselves at the playpad within sight. Why can't we have more of this in Singapore? Then I wouldn't need to limit myself to eating at places that have high chairs....

Dinner appointment with my ex-colleagues at our place. Junghwa bought braised pork knuckle, steamed kimchi dumplings and bottles of soju and rice wine! Reliving the days when we often drank the night away after work. Then, PapaKim came back from work and offered to bring us for beer. On lah! No way the girls wanted to sleep with all the commotion, and having a late afternoon nap didn't help, so we all made our way to the hof downstairs for a drink. This also marked the end of our stay in Seoul.

Day 2 in Seoul

A bit of "Dibo" fresh milk to line the tummy before we head off for breakfast... Remember? No cooking while I'm on holiday.. hiak hiak.

I didn't want to venture off too far with "1 Big and 1 Small", so I went to the restaurant opposite the residence. We visited this restaurant the last time we were in Seoul. Awesome shabu shabu beef noodles! So, don't get deceived by that plate of salad in the picture, that's just the appetiser. When the noodles came, it was slip slurp time, mouth overtook the hands that were supposed to take pictures.


Now, for the gals to exercise off the breakfast in the playroom.


And then off to the supermarket ^.^

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Day 1 in Seoul

Surviving the night flight without much fussing, we arrived in Seoul in the early morning. Greeted by the crisp air as soon as we stepped out of the airport, we were all really excited and feeling happy to be in Korea.

We hopped on the "Airport Limousine" to our residence in Seoul and arrived a "wee bit" early to check-in. At 7 a.m., we had 7 hours to kill before check-in time at 2 p.m. Ok, that was the "urgh" part. Alright, no whining. We left our bags with the reception, and took a walk in search for breakfast.

I was in familiar territory. This was very near where I used to work. Just as I was pointing out this famous Kalguksu (knife-sliced noodles) eating place to PapaKim, we noticed that it might be open. We made our way there and "Yay", breakfast seemed to be in the line for us. There you go, 칼국수!


Now, to walk out the breakfast. We happened to chance upon this pretty garden just beside the building that we went to "visit the toilet" at. Beautiful weather just makes simple things seem nicer.


Finally, we ended up at the shooting location of "Iris" (the Korean hit drama of 2010) - Gwanghwamun Square 광화문 광장. The girls had a ball taking photos with "Haechi" (the mascot of Seoul) and life-sized posters of Lee Byung-Hun (scream "AHHH!"), the lead actor in "Iris". That would be a place to visit if you happen to be in this part of Seoul, on your way to visit Gyeongbuk Palace.


That was all done before we checked-in.... after that, zzzzzz......

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Batmobile

Just wanted to post a picture of En Bi on the Batmobile ride... Haha...

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

My Day

PapaKim brought us girls out for dinner today to celebrate my birthday. In order to reminisce the days we had yummy BBQ clams by the sea, he decided to bring me to eat BBQ clams at a Korean restaurant that brought the clams in from Jeju Island.

But of course, how could a air-conditioned restaurant setting compare to the beautiful sight and sounds that are found by the sea? Nevertheless, I think I enjoyed the quality of the clams and most of all, the company!

The girls were having fun looking at the clams go "Pop!" when they were cooked, but they drew the line there. "Uh uh, no way, Mom, I'm not going to eat that strange looking piece of flesh in the shell." So, great! PapaKim and I had the clams all to ourselves! Not to forget, a cool, refreshing bottle of soju to complement these fresh clams. Oh, and there were 3 mini octopuses too..

Sunday, June 20, 2010

The Full Monty! on Father's Day

I never thought I would have the chance to see such a wide "variety" of men stripping for me. Think "fantasy". Haha... Cat granted me this couple of months back when the tickets were available for sale. She managed to get us lovely circle seats right smack in the centre!



I was very excited to see Adrian Pang (one of the local male actors that I really admire and favour) and Hossan Leong. Cat also mentioned that Bernice's teacher, Daniel Jenkins, was acting. The actors were all wonderful on stage, giving their all for this famous movie-made-musical set in Chicago. And Cat and I agreed that Andy Hockley was also good to watch with his effortless ways of bringing out the character he was playing.

I loved the fact that the director, Tracie Pang, tried to tell the story on "how far a man would go for his family". This heartwarming story struck a chord with me. Though I am not a man, I could easily relate to this story as it reminded me of the extent that I went to for my daughters when I decided to take a break from working.

I think Pangdemonium!'s inaugural production really worked for me! Like-minded friends, please do go watch!  

So, what happened to Father's Day? Well, we already had a celebration for the Fathers in the family the day before by dining out at a newly-opened Japanese restaurant (buffet) at the Heeren. So do not worry, we did not forget the Papas!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Art Boot Camp - Flowers! Flowers! Flowers!

Ta Da! Presenting En Bi's inaugural painting! I decided to enrol En Bi for a holiday art program at Art Boot Camp just simply because Cat passed me the brochure when we were at Turf  City. It  was simple for me, I was looking for a holiday program and wanted En Bi to try Art, and that was my answer!

En Bi was excited when she knew that she was going to paint. However, she got a little hesitant when we were at Art Boot Camp and she was holding on to my hand and telling me not to go. But as soon as her hands got hold of a paintbrush, voila! Mommy seemed to have become non-existent.

At the end of the 3-day "Flowers! Flowers! Flowers!" workshop, she was proud to present me with:
- 2 beautifully hand-decorated flowerpots;
- Handmade "Butterfly" and "Ant" made of foam;
- Photoframe painted and decoated with a Butterfly;
- A painting of Flowers and Trees!

I love those works of art that my daughter made. You might say it could also be replicated at home, but I guess, I excuse myself from doing it because I'm neither too creative nor artistic, plus, I really like her to be placed in a classroom environment even during the holidays to keep the momentum going.
 

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

My 1st Book Depository Purchase

Just had to blog about this. For the longest time I have been buying books from amazon.com. Heard about Book Depository and finally got down to buying some books from them. Finally received the delivery today. "Royal Mail", Woo hoo!
These are the titles I bought:
- "The Grouchy Ladybug" by Eric Carle
  (one of the books used during Seo Yeon's Zoophonics Holiday Program);
- "I Wonder Why - Caterpillars Eat So Much" (inspired by Sharon's new encyclopaedia);
- "The Magic School Bus - Inside the Human Body".

Now, to read them to my beautiful 2 littles Missies. Yay!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Cat!

We had a date with a "Cat" today, but that was just one of the animals among many others that were involved in "A Day of A Cat". It goes without saying that there's a Dog, and a Mouse. There was also a Rooster, Frog, Bird, and Fish from a pond.  

We made a date with Cayla, Estelle, Kimi and their mommies, to watch the show. Boy, we were all very glad that Corinne and Tona was there early to stand 1st in the line for us!

We gobbled down our fast food lunch after getting the ticket to watch the performance, and before we even knew it, the show was about to start!


The children thoroughly enjoyed the performance. My personal favourite, and I believe the girls' as well, was the "Dog". His acting was fantastic, very good "doggy impersonation".

We stayed behind  after the performance to listen to the story "Cat" being told and even had the chance to touch the puppets that were used in the performance.

Verdict: Good fun!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Wine Tasting, Cantonese Zi Char, & World Cup 2010

My good friend and her good friend (I like her good friend, and she's now also become my friend!) decided to celebrate my birthday for me a little earlier this year. So where were we heading for?

1. The Wine Gallery
Apparently, that's a place they like to frequent. To taste wine and then buy bottles of wine back to drink. Yes, they drink wine like water.... It was a first wine tasting session for PapaKim and I. We enjoyed ourselves lots! They ended up buying about 3 bottles each while PapaKim and I were happy munching on some crackers at the end of our wine tasting session. Oh, by the way, did I mention that the kids were at home, babysitting services complimentary of their lovely Grandparents. *Big Smile*

2. Cantonese Zi Char @ Keong Saik Road
Ok, not the coolest place to be seen, in fact, sleazy? Haha... But hey, the food was great! So, who's complaining? They even opened a bottle of wine to make the celebration a little more yummy!

3. World Cup Match: South Korea vs. Greece @ Mana Mana Beach Club
We had to swing back home to get the girls as the "complimentary service" only lasted us that long. The place was terribly crowded. I mean, seriously, like the TV was Beyonce or something. The number of people that surrounded the huge screen showing the soccer match was unbelieveable. I went nowhere near them and was pretty much content sitting at the table since I had to feed the 2 girls and try to make at least 1 of them fall asleep. The day ended on a beautiful note for PapaKim as South Korea won the match! 대한민국! 필승 코리아!

Thanks Xinyi & Lena!

Friday, June 11, 2010

At Zoophonics Too

En Bi also went for Zoophonics Holiday Workshop for a week. Hers was a drop-off in the late morning. Teacher D was sick for 2 days and so Seo Yeon's teacher, Teacher LJ, took the class on Wednesday & Thursday. En Bi enjoyed Teacher D's fun-loving teaching as she was always telling me what Teacher D taught her today.

On her first day after the workshop, she recited the colours of the rainbow to me. In fact, previously, she could already recite the colours of the rainbow, just missing out "indigo". This time, she could recite fully the all 7 colours of the rainbow. My mother was impressed! Haha. En Bi went on to tell me excitedly about the shadows that the her friends and her cast during the workshop. Sounded fun!

The second day, she presented me with 2  words, "chlorophyll" and "photosynthesis". Woohoo! Now, not only were the words impressive to me (coming from a 3YO), the articulation was also good! The only thing was, she was not able to explain what these words were clearly. All I heard was "long.....you know.... the grass...". Absolutely hilarious!

On the last day, she brought back a "skunk" folder containing the week's worth of craft and worksheets. I definitely think she enjoyed the workshop as she kept talking about going back to Zoophonics!



Verdict: Definitely going back!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Building, Playing

En Bi had 2 boxes of Playskool "Clipo" (1 box from "you know who you are" for last Christmas) and took it out today to play. I challenged her to build whatever was shown from the box and the results are seen below. 
Examples on left  
She gets an 8/10 for accuracy and a 10/10 for having fun and efforts!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Panda Bear & Binoculars

Day 2 at Zoophonics Holiday Workshop went on fabulous too! "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?" was the book of the day. Seo Yeon had great fun doing the craft work which consisted of making a pair of binoculars and decorating a picture of a Panda bear.
There was a cute Panda bear on the loose on the work tables just before snack time. The kids 'fed' the Panda bear with bamboo leaves while it 'walked' around with the assistance of batteries. Haha! The kids really enjoyed this part!
Teacher LJ then dished out some Panda biscuits (those with cream filling inside) just to reiterate the 'Panda' theme for the day. Cool idea!

Monday, May 31, 2010

Pancakes, Pancakes!


Day 1 of Zoophonics Holiday Program (titled "My World of Eric Carle") for  Seo Yeon and we started on "Pancakes, Pancakes!" by Eric Carle. Following is synopsis of this book, written in 1970.
Jack wants some pancakes, but first he must gather eggs from the chickens, wheat from the farmer, flour from the miller, milk from the cow, etc. His mother shows him how to cook and flip them, and hungry Jack knows what to do with them next.
Together with 4 other friends in the class, Seo Yeon carried out activities for the 1.5 hour session related to "Pancakes, Pancakes!". Teacher LJ read the children the story and taught them some words like "pancake", "toss", "fork", "spoon", just to name a few, from the storybook. She had each child repeat the word after her.

We did the actions for "toss", "cutting" wheat with a sickle, gathering "twigs" for the fire, sifting the "flour", and mixing the flour and water together. Finally, Teacher LJ went to cook the batter and came back with real pancakes for the toddlers to eat!

A good start to the 5-day workshop even though Seo Yeon wandered around the room a fair bit when there was not much "hands-on" activities. Looking forward to tomorrow already!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Princess Daphne's Birthday Party

Replied to Yvonne's SMS that I would be at Princess Daphne's 1st Birthday Party at 1pm (that's the party start time, according to the invitation). Fair enough, I was there before 1pm (Thailand time). Lol.

Mickey Mouse theme! Pretty (not to mention yummy!) Minnie Mouse representation 2-tiered cake for our birthday girl, Princess Daphne. Daphne was dressed in a sweet pink/brown tutu one-piece. Lovelicious!

It was also a mini-gathering for us mommies, and the kids (though I don't think they get together often enough to recognise each  other). Michelle + Hubby + 2 sons, Yvonne + Hubby + 2 daughters, Myself + 2 daughters, not forgetting the hosts.

En Bi was delighted with the balloons and trying to engage herself with the other kids while Seo Yeon was napping away in Danielle's bedroom. Not to mention that Seo Yeon woke up howling just as I was stuffing myself with a mini-bowl of laksa from caterer, Neo Garden.

We enjoyed the party and hope that lovely Princess Daphne had a wonderful, magical, and terrific day!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Zoo, NHG Family Day, OH NO!


Boy! Tona and Serene were sure smart to have told me that they weren't keen to go to the zoo this Saturday. They must have predicted the throngs that would be invading the zoo since it's the school holiday start + long weekend. Cat was sick, so I wasn't about to ask her. Cynthia, her son just got discharged from hospital, I guess not. Lana, in Australia... plus we just went together when you visited. I don't think my cousin would be buying her an air ticket just to go to the zoo with us. Lol. Sharon, her hubby out of town. I went through my list and decided to go just the 4 of us. By the way, Grandpa and Grandma not interested at all. In fact, the tickets were complimentary from my mother, aka Grandma. A 'get out of the house and let me rest' order.

Hmm... what's this long queue of cars along the road to the Zoo? We realised that these cars were parked, stationary, not waiting in queue. Finally, it dawned upon us, as we got nearer to the entrance of the Zoo, that the carpark was so full that the cars had to park along the road! The kids and I got dropped off first while PapaKim drove the car to Yishun Stadium. Yikes.

The 3 of us had already visited the White Tiger, Pygmy Hippo, the Kangaroos and Emus at 'The Outback', and were resting with the Baboons, and PapaKim was still not here. Never mind that, as soon as we found a bench in the shade to rest on, I immediately fished out the snacks that I had packed for the girls to eat in order to lighten the load I was carrying. Made them drink those yoghurt juice packs that I lugged along as well.

Finally, PapaKim was here.

We decided to finish the rest of the visit on with the help of the tram. Gosh... The weather wasn't helping one bit. The crowd was a challenge! Even the Orang Utan was quite amazed by the crowd and came to hang out near Ah Meng restaurant, quite a distance from their enclosure.
Remind me, never ever to go on a weekend during the school holidays, especially when it coincides with NHG's Family Day event.

But as always, what's most important is, they enjoyed themselves!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Brunch with Jael

Oh wow... what a belated brunch. This should have taken place much earlier. I can't find the right words to describe this meeting with my friend, Jael (a.k.a. the underground artist, lol). We haven't had a real conversation like what we had this morning for ages. I'm just so glad that we both found the time to catch up. 


Seo Yeon fell asleep just by listening to us chattering incessantly. There was just so much to say, share and listen to... What have we missed out all this while?
Jael, I'm glad that you're back in my life now, our friendship refreshed. Thanks for this shot of Seo Yeon.  

Monday, May 24, 2010

Term End at JG Bilingual Playclub

After initially going for Mandarin Playclub, then switching to a Sunday Playclub, we finally settled for a Monday Bilingual Playclub at JG this term. Seo Yeon enjoys it! Teacher Adrian did a wonderful job in welcoming Seo Yeon to the class! We didn't have to wait long to see her doing her usual helpful stints like putting the toys away, looking for the alphabet / colour / magic box.

Week 10 Term End Party happened with me forgetting to bring my share of food for the party. ("What's new?", many may ask.) So, I sheepishly confessed to the teachers but they weren't bothered about it, therefore, I obtained my 'passport' to eat the food guilt-free. Ha ha.

Her favourite song this term is 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' and 'Skidamarink'. Totally enjoyable to watch her repeat the songs and movements at home. Even Teacher 張 also commented on how Seo Yeon sings with so much enthusiasm for those 2 songs.

There's so much on her platter, but she's only enjoying the cookies and the nugget! By the way, party costume with compliments from Cat.


We look forward to another term of fun!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Garden


My friend, Jael, the underground artist, invited me to her exhibition at the Arts House. I went there without the 2 little girls (because the open performance at the cafe inside the Arts House would start at 8p.m. and would therefore be a tad too noisy for them) and thence started my night "off".

Took a cab down with Xinyi and it was like a nice little reunion when we saw Jael there. Except that we were not sitting down and doing the usual eating and drinking, but were instead, admiring art at an art exhibition. Ooohhh.... so class ah?

Above is my personal favourite piece from her "Garden" collection. She had a total of 9 such pieces, each depicting a different word that meant something special to her.

Great job Jael!!! Love your pieces of art!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

First Korean Theatre Performance - The Dandelion's Story

When I first received the email from iTheatre about 'ace festival 2010', I was so excited because En Bi was now at a performance-going age. We'll now have a wider choice of performances to select from and watch. Of course, Seo Yeon will have to miss out on most of the fun this year. But come same time next year, no doubt we'll be enjoying performances, altogether.


The show venue was at the National Museum Theatre. Another first. We've never been to the National Museum to watch a performance, yet. Pretty interesting venue. This year, the National Museum of Singapore collaborated with I Theatre's ACE Festival to 'double the fun under one roof'. As part of the Children's Season at NMS, there were some activities for children that En Bi and Estelle were able to take part in prior to the theatre performance.

"Mum, I'm done!" (Backdrop: Wall mural by Miel)

Now, to put the art piece on the wall.


En Bi holding removeable, velcro-strapped, stuffed pieces that can be placed anywhere.

Now, off to the performance!

About the Theatre Performance: The title in English sounds nice, "The Dandelion's Story". However, in Korean, it's "강아지똥", literally meaning "Puppy's Poo". I found the message "Nothing God made is useless" very meaningful and it was an immediate draw for me to want to watch this performance, despite the 'ugly' Korean name.


En Bi enjoyed the performance tons. I believe the same went for Estelle, Kimi, and Shanyce, In fact, I enjoyed the performance though I was a little worried about the language initially. Kudos to the actors from Modl Theater for their efforts put into this English performance. We understood them well enough to get very engrossed in the performance.  And hopefully, we all continue to remember that 'nothing God made is useless'.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Paper Cup Photo Holder



Just a another cool piece of artwork that En Bi brought back from home today. A photo 'frame' that was made of a simple paper cup with a slit down the bottom to insert the photo. The photo in this 'frame' was the family photo we were requested to let the children bring to school at the beginning of the school year. I guess, to make the children feel more at home, they put up the children's family photos on the wall of the classroom. Now that a term is coming to an end, this was quite a creative way to return the family photo home.

Goodbye... and I'm not full of 'praises'

It's goodbye to Praise Kids. Disappointing stint on the whole. I mean, the 2nd talk with the centre supervisor was not really helpful and reassuring. In fact, she told me that I had 'too many requests'. Gosh.

They even sent out a circular to parents to request parents NOT to bring milk/milk bottles to school as the meals provided in school are sufficient for the children. Hmm... Now, you tell me whether this is a cheek-in-tongue reply to my request to let my daughter drink formula when she needs to?

I left with a bad taste in the mouth.

Now, I'm a-wandering with Seo Yeon, looking for the 'perfect' place to go to...

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Back to Dance

Back to dancing, with a vengeance! En Bi went back to dance, but at a different branch because the Parkway Centre branch was simply not for us. Though the view in the dance studio was beautiful, the centre itself was cramped and the neighbours were not exactly very 'healthy'.

We stopped because PapaKim said that there was too much on En Bi's plate and we should just cut down on her activities. I reluctantly bid farewell to Dance as I quietly struck it off my list without En Bi knowing.

It was after countless times of, "Mummy,why didn't I go for my ballerina class?" that I finally decided, well, why not? If she's interested in dance and continuously asks me to bring her for class, I guess there's no reason for me to reject her at this point in time. Besides, I didn't request for a withdrawal from the school, so it was just a matter of locking her in for a class.

Luckily for us, we were able to get a slot and here we are today, at her 1st 'homecoming' lesson. She was very excited to see her former teacher, Jessica. But I dampened the excitement a little when I told her Teacher Jessica was sick, and that another teacher would be taking over. After the lesson, I think she still prefers Teacher Jessica because she kept asking me, "Mummy, why is Teacher Jessica sick?". Gosh! Questions questions.



A little segment of her lesson is possible to be shown here because it was 'Open Class' day. Overall verdict: Good move!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Jingle Bells


Jingle Bells, originally uploaded by juneleow.
Wowee! We start a wonderful Saturday again with music classes in the morning at Mandeville. The usual rush to class, usual mad traffic trying to turn into United Square, usual squeezing through the crowd that gathers on the 3rd level, and finally into Mandeville.

I sat in today and really liked the bells segment. The children played the tune of 'Jingle Bells' while Ms. Tang conducted. En Bi played 'C' in her group of 5 children and she really enjoyed it! Although, she would have much preferred to ring the 'pink bell'. Ms. Tang politely ignored her constant request, 'I want the pink one. I want the pink one.'

 Great! She got to tap her sticks today again. *En Bi is pleased*

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Long but Fun Day

Zoomed down to Thomson Plaza for a Mother's Day lunch with the extended family. Zipped back near town to La Salle College to catch 'Peter & Blue's Forest Adventures'. En Bi and I were watching this performance with Charlene, Estelle, and Shanice ( and of course, with their mommies). All the girls were pretty much inspired to dance like those performers on stage.


We had to slip into this cool cafe for '15 minutes' to refresh ourselves. The hot and humid weather was really a little too much to handle. But not something that a double fudge mocha can't help to soften and cool down.

Parents' Day


A lovely paper carnation brooch from En Bi! What a pleasant surprise when she took it out of her bag and gave it to us this morning! All smiles from PapaKim as well when he received it. Though he did say, 'Gosh, I'm old. I'm receiving a gift from my child.'


I really appreciated this carnation and pinned it on my blouse the whole day. I believe this is the first 'official' gift from my elder child.


Thank you, En Bi! Seo Yeon, next year I'll get one from you too?


By the way, we recycled this and PapaKim has brought this to Korea to present to GrandparentsKim. We believe they would love these too!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Showdown

Honestly, as Cat pointed out, I'm such an indecisive whiner when it comes to some situations. This post is about my struggle to withdraw Seo Yeon from Praise or not. 

Here's my justification list (in increasing order of seriousness) to withdraw:
- Didn't hand me basic information sheets after registration
  (basically to inform me of centre closing dates, curriculum, etc.).
- Forgot to tell me every Thursday was 'Water Play' day.
  Seo Yeon loves to play with water, you know....
- Not clear about Seo Yeon's Friday arrangement 
  (attends afternoon, not morning, session).
  Thus, didn't hand me her activity files to bring home on Thursday.
- Unfortunately let me spot Seo Yeon's classmate pushing her to the ground
  (after a 'scuttle' for a Pooh tricycle) without addressing the inappropriateness of 
   behaviour with the other little girl.
- Obviously not very skilled at cleaning babies' bottoms.
  3 times I had to clear the 'leftovers'. 3rd time was worst.
- Let Seo Yeon sleep on bare floor near window. No makeshift pillow / mattress. 
  Just a reply that went,
  "She just fell asleep.... Oh, I didn't know that she had a mattress..."
   I PAID FOR A MATTRESS YOU KNOW?!

I whined and whimpered and tried to get everyone's vote on getting Seo Yeon out of the school. I'd find a new thing to say everyday. I'd observe the goings-on in school and conclude that they're just not up to it. 

I slept it out last night. I told myself, I chose this school in the first place because I really liked the environment and they were able to suit my schedule on Fridays. I liked the non-air conditioned classrooms, the outdoor playground, the Christian connection, the teachers and principal seemed sincere, and so on.

So, the only right thing to do was to have a 'showdown' with the Principal and pour out my grievances. I guess it was the only thing to do, to be fair to the school and myself (and to those who listened to me for those few days, THANK YOU!). I should not be expecting them to be able to read my mind about my unhappiness. 

After half an hour in Teacher Vicky's room, I came out feeling much better and sincerely decided to give them another chance as Teacher Vicky did apologise profusely. Never mind that on this same day, I find Seo Yeon's bottom soiled for the 3rd time, I just gave them ONE MORE CHANCE.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Classes on Sundays? What a drag!

We're at Evans on a Sunday morning... Oh... what a drag. When it was time to leave home for Julia Gabriels, I was thinking to myself, 'What on earth did you get yourself into? What were you thinking when you asked for a Sunday morning class? Argh!'

So, I reminded myself throughout the drive to Evans Road that I will definitely ask Sabrina to please, please help me switch to a weekday class. Luckily, very luckily, there was still a slot for us for the Monday morning class. Yay!

That not being the only thing that made the day a little better, on the way to wash Seo Yeon's grubby little hands, I saw a familiar craftwork on the Mandarin Playclub board. Hey! It's Seo Yeon's work, her pumpkin face. So happy and proud, I quickly snapped a couple of pictures of her work.


Thoughts at the end of the day: Duty alone is drudgery; duty with love is delight. I have yet to reach that oooooommmm stage, if you know what I mean.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

313 with Aslene

Out for lunch today with Aslene at 313. Finally! I'm such a suaku these days. Usually I'd be at any new mall within the 1st week. Now, if I'm able to visit a new mall maybe a month later, I'd call myself lucky. Hur hur. 

So yes, after driving round and round up to level 6, I found a lot pretty easily (if not I'd really be irritated even further), we took the lift to level 5 to switch to another lift that will take us to the mall floors. We were greeted at level 5 with the all-too-familiar air-conditioned food court smell. I wished the lift here quickly and met Aslene on the 1st level. 

We simply sauntered into the nearest restaurant, a Thai one. I got to admit, I was already a little stuffed from brunch, so, I ordered mainly to feed Seo Yeon. At the end of the lunch, the beef noodle soup was barely touched, but the hot weather made the Thai Iced Tea deliciously yum yum!

So, a quick tour of 313 before I had to rush off to fetch En Bi at 3pm. Seo Yeon had time to try quite a few pairs of shades while Aslene was picking out a pair for her momma. After that, we had a look at Uniqlo and that was about it?!

Poor Aslene had to wait for us for half an hour and was left haunting the mall for the rest of the afternoon till her next appointment at 6pm!  Oops! I will be on time next round ok?

Monday, April 19, 2010

To School, To Praise, Here we come!

A string of events and we've come to Seo Yeon's 1st day at school! 



On this first day, we made logistics arrangements so that I would be spending my time at Praise Kids just to be on 'standby' mode while Seo Yeon gets her first day of being in a Playgroup.

Dressed up in her all-too-huge (even though it's a size 'S') white polo t-shirt and  lime green skort, she looked oh-so-adorable. I really couldn't bear to put my little cupcake in school. But hey, we gotta share the goodies eh? So, I decided I'd just let others see how cute a cupcake she is and let her teachers and newfound friends spend some time with her.

Her first day started off with teachers slathering on anti-mosquito repellant and then scooting her out with her friends to the outdoor playground. I stayed inside the classroom to observe her and boy was she lucky, there was her favourite outdoor playground toy, the HOUSE! And not 1, but 2 of them! She spent most of her time opening and closing the windows, walking in and out of the houses, and not forgetting to 'check on Mommy' every 2 minutes. 

Before the playground session ended, I decided to make my way out of the class and observe from outside. She only had 1 incident of howling, which was to demand to be let into the outdoor playground again. Well, at least it wasn't howling to see Mommy.

12.15pm came quickly, I even had time to squeeze in a coffee break with Cat, and then back to KPC Praise Kids again to pick SY up and whisk her away for lunch with PapaKim. 

Oh boy did she give me the biggest hug in the world! She squeezed me when I swept her up in my arms like there was no tomorrow. Dear, dear, that's how much you miss Mommy? She gave me her usual toothy, cheeky smile which made me think momentarily, "Should I just let her skip school?". But of course, that thought was brushed out of the way pretty quickly and I replaced them quickly with positive thoughts like how well she did for her 1st day at school.

Her favourite Jajangmyeon (Black bean sauce noodles) for lunch at a nearby Korean-Chinese restaurant. It all ended nicely with a nap in the car on the way back home.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

"Don't like..."

She said "싫어요!" today when Papakim asked her whether she wanted her eggs scrambled, not knowing that she actually loves her eggs hard-boiled. In any case, Papakim was surprised that En Bi was able to say that (we hardly get any response from her in Korean) and was secretly pleased, though the answer wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear. (That phrase actually means "I don't like!".) Of course, he had to show some displeasure and said, "Of all things to learn in school..."

Later on in the day, while I was filing up the weekly education plan, newsletter, and updates from the Korean Church Kindergarten, I glanced quickly at what they had taught for the past week and saw '싫어요/좋아요' (pronounced: 'shilohyo' / 'chohayo') under the row. AHA! Now we know where Miss En Bi learnt that from. Not from her little Korean friends, like what I was thinking, but rather from what was actually being taught in class. Cool....


Since we're at this, I thought that I would share what is being taught at the Korean kindy. Like I mentioned to many mommies, no English and Mandarin taught in school. All conversations in Korean. No Maths! Not even Korean alphabet?! Nevertheless, I'm pretty much happy about the things that are taught there. Look below for an example of the plan for April Week of 12 - 16 (click to view bigger image).

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Parents Have To Sit In

One of the reasons why I chose Mandeville Music School over Seimpi for En Bi was because it gave parents a choice to sit in or not with their children in class. Of course, if Seo Yeon could be cared by her father on every time En Bi went for this class, it would be a no-brainer to sit in with her. Then again, we know that this is not possible because PapaKim has business trips eating into the weekends ever so often. So, instead of confusing the child with me sometimes being present and sometimes not, I decided to let her attend the class alone to 'train' her to attend the class with my accompaniment. 

Last week, the school announced that students now have to be accompanied by their parents. (During the class, we found out the reason behind that sudden change in rule.) Without a doubt, there would be many counters from parents with regards to this change, especially those who had a situation similar to mine. The school had already prepared a form to officially relieve them from any responsibility if the student should, in whatever manner, be harmed before and after class timings. I am going to submit that form to the school, and just make sure that I will be there early to pick En Bi up from class.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching En Bi in class today.

Tapping Sticks


One of Enbi's favourite segment at her weekly music class. Tapping sticks. I'm glad she doesn't do it with chopsticks, yet, because I don't want the other diners to give me icy stares.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

T O Y S

A short walk after breakfast at United Square always damages the pocket. While Seo Yeon goes around admiring the 2D animals, I wander near ELC again. Hmm... Window display "3 for $55" was quite attractive because I liked one of the toys (originally priced $29). Ok, I walk in. Got to buy some toys to cheer myself up, you know.

Pink binoculars for En Bi's upcoming school picnic at the Botanic Gardens? Another handheld bubble gun so that the girls won't have to fight to hold that 1 bubble gun we have at home? In the end, I decided to buy this toy 'who knows whose nose'. This toy should help the girls, especially Seo Yeon, to get to know the animals even better and encourage sensory training at the same time.


Guess what? Ended up buying another toy because I 'save $9' if I buy another toy together with this one. I ignored  that toy in the first place because I thought that it didn't have much educational value to it but as usual, got swayed by the salesperson who actually made me think that it would be great fun. 

Verdict: The girls enjoyed the toys for an hour. Absolutely grrrrreat!