eggsnchicks

A new beginning...

2011-11-16T17:11:00.001+08:00

There is so much to say yet so little comes out. A huge part of the reticence comes from knowing too well it could all go to naught. Only one fine Saturday morning, rainbows speared through the heart, lighting up all that is not, leaving nothing that needs to be said.

Wealth

2011-10-17T17:50:00.001+08:00

If you woke up this morning
with more health than illness,
you are more blessed than the
million who won't survive the week.

If you have never experienced
the danger of battle,
the loneliness of imprisonment,
the agony of torture or
the pangs of starvation,
you are ahead of 20 million people
around the world.

If you have food in your refrigerator,
clothes on your back, a roof over
your head and a place to sleep,
you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank,
in your wallet, and spare change
in a dish someplace, you are among
the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If you can read this message,
you are more blessed than over
two billion people in the world
that cannot read anything at all.
You are so blessed in ways
you may never even know.

...Author Unknown

Instant noodles

2011-10-02T16:47:00.004+08:00

He woke me up to tell me he was hungry.
He asked if he could cook noodles by himself... I nodded and went back to sleep.
He asked if it should be half a bowl of water for half a pack of noodles.... I mumbled "en"... and dozed off.
He asked if he could add an egg.... "ok"... zzzzz
He asked if he could add powder directly to his noodles because it wasn't spicy..."orh"... zzz

When I finally crawled out of bed, he was done eating. He's managed to cook and feed himself! House wasn't burnt down... although there was seasoning powder on the kitchen floor, around the stove, on the coffee table, some noodles on the sofa and ... dirty dishes lying around.

Pringles

2011-09-19T15:09:00.001+08:00

He put 2 short cans of sour cream and onion Pringles into the cart.

I told him to put one back. He ignored me. I repeated... he went, "Har?"... repeated a second time. He went, "Har?"

Frustrated with his loss of hearing, I said, "Put both back!" He took one look at me, measured my resolve, and scooted off with the cart before his Vitagen gets threatened as well.

Came back grinning, with one can.

I looked at the can and then at him, and asked, "So the can grew up?"

He laughs....

I pay.

Nothing much ...

2011-08-26T18:42:00.001+08:00

... been alone for a month. Me having all the time to myself and me exhausting all my writing energy on flyers, brochures, emails and reports.

It's kind of nice though, to hear that the big one was asked by my son's teacher whether he (my son) has English tuition, because the boy's English is ok she says. I better not read in-between the lines else I'd go off on a spiel about the education system back home. The big one told her, "No. Mother teach."Also nice to know that his maths and Chinese are ok too.

The boy though, has decided that he prefers school here in Shanghai ( not a problem now but would be an issue when we move back to Singapore). Other than seaweed, chips (same store) and drinks from the vending machine, he's not attempted to buy anything else from the canteen. He's bought a Chinese chess set, a Singapore flag, some stickers for his cousins and not sure if he did buy it eventually, but definitely something he did consider buying - a mechanical multi-colored pencil, from the bookshop.

His Summer Holiday
- lots of meals with the family
- 3-day beach holiday in Mersing, Malaysia
- had a blast at a gathering with his kindergarten school friends
- went to Universal Studios ( pong-tang school one Friday) with his dad.
- survived 8 violin lessons with his 'old' violin teacher
- spent one evening at the new Pasir Ris public swimming pool
- went cycling at East Coast Beach a couple of times
- went to school for 6 weeks
- fell ill for a week
- had his jabs
- went to the dentist
- had a wonderful birthday party at downtown east explorer (organized and paid for by my dear girlfriends)
- didn't finish his summer holiday school work

He's flying back here tomorrow.
Another year begins

Our phone call

2011-08-08T18:23:00.004+08:00

Told him I bought a monopoly card game but have not tried it yet because I have nobody to play with.
> He tells me I should open it and start reading the instructions so that we can play it when he gets here.
Told him I also bought a 2X2 rubik cube and that I tried to very hard solve it but couldn't. Explained that these cubes normally come in 3X3... he knows what it is but couldn't understand what I meant by 2X2.

Told him we'd give him a budget to buy his own birthday present at the toy shop.
> What's a budget? He asks.
Well, it's an amount of money.
> Twenty dollars?
I think it's going to be a bit more than that... if it's not enough, you can use your savings to top up. Or if it's too much, you can save it for another day.
> Orh.

Then we talked about the Toys R 'Us in Shanghai vs. the one in Singapore. Told him to shop in Singapore because the price is cheaper.
> It's because one Singapore dollar is 5 Renminbi, that's why it's more expensive.
No, when you do the conversion, it is still cheaper.
> What is a conversion? He asks.
...I explained with a couple of examples...
> Orh. Then proceeds to tell me he wants a control car... the one that is being sold in Shanghai - the one that comes with the steering wheel.

He tells me when he is coming back to Shanghai and that I should buy some dumplings from the market the day before he arrives so that we can cook them when he gets here.

I told him I cleaned up our apartment.
> He made me promise to drive his 'drifting car' on the floor to test (the cleanliness)....saying I should be able to make the remote control car crash to the wall if the floor is smooth.

I told him about the green worm I found curled up on the handle of our electric kettle.
> He asked if the worm got electrified.
Told him no, electric kettle is for boiling water. Won't electrify the worm. Told him I threw the worm away
> Asks why I never take some newspaper, put the worm on it - a newspaper big enough so that it will not crawl on my fingers - and bring it downstairs to the bushes.
Told him I didn't think about it... because I'm a girl and I don't like worms.
> He laughs, tell me he is not afraid of creepy crawlies and asks what I would do if he had a creepy crawlie.
I told him he would have to live alone.
> He tells me he doesn't like spider webs but he is ok with spiders. He doesn't like them because of the insects on the web. Tells me that spiders live in between rocks and that the web is only for catching their breakfast, lunch and dinner.
(I didn't know that!)
> Tells me again I should have brought the worm downstairs...
What if I threw it out of the window?
> Then it will smash onto the ground!!!
Oh.

Typhoon

2011-08-05T17:18:00.000+08:00

City issues typhoon alert as menace of Muifa looms by -- THIS year's first typhoon alert was issued this morning as Muifa was moving closer to Shanghai, packing winds of up to 162 kilometers per hour and threatening havoc in the next two days, weathermen said.

>>> I should stock up some food and water?

August

2011-08-02T19:48:00.001+08:00

Flew back to Shanghai last week. Alone.
They come back here at the end of August.

Meanwhile, I hear the cicadas for the first time. From whence they come I don't know but they are making a huge din day in and day out, from morning to night. I imagine they are simply sizzling in the summer heat on wu-tong treetops and complaining as loudly as they can but no, apparently, it's a love song.

I have been reading and finished
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Wallpaper Magazine August Issue
I am fifteen and I do not want to die by Christine Arnothy
... and about to start on
A very short history of the world by Geoffrey Blainey

I've also watched a couple of movies, caught a cold and recovered sans medication, went for a session of yoga, visited Tanzifang at Taikang Lu and started clearing out 11 months of living excesses from the apartment.

Another 4 weeks.

3 words make a sentence

2011-07-22T21:35:00.001+08:00

Asked his P1 teacher. "How is he?"
Answer: He is coping. Period.

Day 5 in the Singapore school

2011-07-12T20:08:00.001+08:00

He's getting richer by the day!
I give him $2 daily.
He spent a total of 80cents the whole of last week.

2 years 1 months and 10 days

2011-07-12T20:02:00.001+08:00

Just realized I've completed almost 11 months of my 3-year assignment. I can almost 'see' what's going to happen this time next year. How far can one plan? How far should one plan? I haven't yet planned us coming back to Singapore for sure.

Day 3

2011-07-07T22:48:00.008+08:00

Day 2 ended with him saying that he is upset with everyone in his class. He said they would not listen to the teachers instructions and all that happened on day 2 was non-stop scolding by the teacher. He decided he had enough, hated it and that he did not want to continue going to school here in Singapore anymore. He continued to be upset the whole evening, protested when I told him to get into his uniform this morning and sulked along the journey to school.

Told him the story of the boy who went to school for 3 days and quit.
On the first day, the boy was taught how to write the Chinese character for the number One: 一
On the second day, he was taught how to write Two: 二
On the third day, he was taught Three: 三
And so the boy thought, that's simple isn't it and decided not to waste his time going to school anymore.
He never found out that the number Four is written like this: 四
Worse. Whenever he had to write 'One Hundred', he had to use a comb instead of a pen.

This made our boy laugh... but he still carried his bag reluctantly and deliberately dragged his feet through the school gates.

Day 3 ended with him showing us a thumb which was neither up nor down.

It was "ok", he said.

Rare Art

2011-06-24T13:14:00.001+08:00

The next 2 weeks

2011-06-10T19:31:00.002+08:00

One more week of school, then exams and then we are going home!
Except our home has been rented out...

He's finishing his first year in primary school in 2 weeks! WOW!!

He's not losing so much stationery nowadays, although occasionally he will do stupid things like sharpen his pencils both ends, break them in twos or saw them up with his ruler.

He had a few problems with his class bully earlier on in the year. Had food picked off the floor dumped into his soup, scratched his cheeks, hands, kicked, tripped etc. But last I hear, he says things are alright now, the bully doesn't bother him anymore.

So when yesterday he came back with a scratch on his cheek, I asked him how he got it. Refused to tell at first. I left it as that. But later, he did open up and told me he had a scuffle with his best friend's brother on the school bus. An older kid. Kid's brother took his 'shark' (he's into origami nowadays - it was a paper shark) so he grabbed that fellow's with his hands / fingernails but stressed that he didn't scratch him because there weren't any marks on the fellow's arm. Fellow retaliated by grabbing his face. Scuffle was broken up by bus auntie.

He's learnt how to add, subtract, count money, tell the time, recognize right angles and do 1-10 multiplications. Chinese speech and writing has improved dramatically and he's started reading chapter books by himself - Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

He's taller too. It became apparent after winter. His pants - the ones he had before the cold season, have all shrunk against those skinny legs of his.

He swims. Picked up front crawl, can swim 8 laps or so in that style without too much effort, and do a total of 16-20 laps during his hour-long lesson. He's also now learning backstroke.

Music education on the other hand, is a disaster. He punches the piano like he does the computer. Randomly and forever searching for the right keys. He also dropped out of the school choir and joined the paper-folding / origami class instead. Finally, he is still struggling to hold the violin properly and plays it like an executor with severe finger spasms.

He lost 2 baby tooth and has a couple more loose.

I see only fleeting glimpses of the baby nowadays and so when he ran back for a voluntary second hug and kiss before going to school this morning, something he never does nowadays, I was reminded. He's not yet seven but will be soon, all grown up.

Attention span of a chicken.

2011-06-07T14:27:00.001+08:00

I have no idea what a chicken's attention span is but I don't think there's a chicken in this world which would forget to swallow the corn that it has in its mouth. I do know however, of a boy who would write a chinese character halfway, start talking and forget that he has not yet finished writing it.

Children's Day

2011-06-01T17:21:00.008+08:00

It's Children's Day today in China.

His school held a Charity Bazaar ( flea market + food fair).

A couple of days ago, he asked me how much I would give him... I said RMB20. He asked for more. RMB35 was the number we eventually agreed on.

On Monday, he brought a note home from school. Each food coupon was RMB5 and could be pre-purchased. So I gave him RMB20 for 4 tickets.

This morning, we argued over how much money he could bring to school. I thought I'd give him RMB15 ( 35 - 20 = 15!) but he said it was not enough and wanted RMB100. "That's 50 Da Niang veggie buns!", I exclaimed. Finally, we agreed to settle for RMB50.

Putting RMB20 in his right pocket and RMB30 in his left pocket, I told him that he could spend the RMB30 and urged him to save the RMB 20. As an incentive, if he brought back the RMB20, I'd double it - money he could spend next time.

He asked me to go to his school. I did.

Oh what fun! I observe the boy examining a bow & arrow game set at his class booth. Then he put it down and went away. Came back later with a small Optimus Prime (RMB1) and Mitsubishi toy truck (RMB1), spiderman stickers and some origami paper. I left him to himself and got myself 3 food coupons and exchanged them for chocolate ice-cream, corn on the cob and prawn crackers. He found me and asked if he could buy the bow & arrow set which was priced at RMB40. ( I think he asked only because he knew we had a spend 30 save 20 deal ) I told him to go bargain the price down but he said, "No" and ran off. Came back with a box of Japanese rice maki, a really delicious looking cupcake covered with white icing and a pack of cookies ( 3 coupons gone). He asked again if he could buy the bow & arrow set. I relented. He happily rushed off and came back balancing the loot on his head. Told him to go spend his last food coupon before the fair ended. He flew off and came back with our 2nd pack of prawn crackers. *Yum.

(Addendum: he bought incredibles stickers, not spiderman stickers, a spiderman marker that has a roller stamp on the top end, a bottle of water, gummy sweets in the shape of a pizza, look-alike/taste-alike Yakult!?!)

We ate and I laughed so hard at the kids' conversations. One boy started jeering a girl who had applied glittery eyeshadow on herself - she had bought it and was delighted that it was 'real'!!! Another one regretted her purchase and placed it on her classmate's desk, who wasn't very impressed with the 'gift' and wanted to throw it away. One kid was given too much - he said he had RMB130 in one wallet and yet more money in his 2nd wallet. He had already filled 3 bags with stuff and became visibly very exasperated and exhausted with still having money left over after his nth trip.

My boy told me he had fun. I would think so.

Happy Children's Day!

He broke it.

2011-05-30T15:59:00.004+08:00

It was on the floor and he fell on it.
The neck broke.
He broke the violin.
He broke a Paganini violin.
He broke a violin from the 19th century.

I told him to remember that his mother did not kill him when he broke the violin.

Project

2011-05-24T16:31:00.004+08:00

No frills. I would have painted it, added details and made a mess of the house in the process. Him? He stuck to his plan. So long as the stuff stuck together, it was project completed. I even had to persuade him to add some feathers to the top of the robot's head. To him, anything outside of planned was out of scope. Had to bite my own fingers and lips to stop 'helping'.

We met on a boat named Pegasus...

2011-05-20T18:26:00.000+08:00

It's our 10th Wedding Anniversary today.

House of cards

2011-05-18T17:59:00.002+08:00

Some days I get the odd feeling that this is all a joke. That we all stand on a house made of cards. Only most days, we don't know that we are. Until a wind strong and sudden enough slams itself against it and you fall, along with everything else that you've gathered around you on this house of cards.

I brought the boy for a consultative session with a new violin teacher last night. I needed another opinion. As it turns out, he had aplenty. We spent more than an hour and a half with him, out of which he spent less than 5 minutes listening to the boy play a couple of pieces from his ABRSM Grade 2 book. When we walked down the stairs, all 5 flights of them because the studio was in an old apartment block (with a lift that only operates 4 hours a day between 3:30pm and 7:30pm) in the French concession area, cards flew from beneath my feet.

Violin

2011-05-16T14:27:00.008+08:00

Me confused.

His SG teacher was preparing him for a Grade 2 ABRSM exam. Had we had stayed in SG, he would have taken that exam in March this year.

Over here, his SH teacher was determined to correct his basics. This went on for a good 6 months. I was just about thinking it was going nowhere when she announced that he is now stable enough for them to start on the SH conservatory of music of graded syllables. But, we soon found out that those books were out of stock. Syllables were being changed and they will not be restocking them.

So between March and May, she taught him almost all the pieces in the ABRSM Grade 2 book instead and urged me to buy the Grade 3 books for him. Told me the pieces in Grade 2 were too easy and that we should progress him to Grade 3 instead. I finally bought those books on Saturday.

Chatted with his SG teacher on the phone. Told her the boy will be back in SG for 2 months and asked if he could take the Grade 2 exams in August. Was told it was too late to register. Registrations closed in March.

Felt a bit shaken... so did some research. Quickly found out registrations for ABRSM exams in SH begins June 13th. Relief.

On Sunday, armed with newly purchased Grade 3 ABRSM books - and oh! the SH book with new syllables was hot out of the oven too so I grabbed that too - we went for his lesson.

I showed her the books and told her that out of the 3 pieces of music that he needs to prepare, he has learnt 2 of them before. Those were in his Suzuki Book 1 and Book 2. My 'strategy' was for him to start learning the '3rd piece' first and then we can work backwards if we have time. Also explained to her that he needs to learn and memorize all the scales & arpeggios as those need to be played from memory. She took a look at the materials and then told me that he may not be ready for it.

........ ?!?.........

She had done some research. She had a student who had taken the ABRSM exam and failed. ( this student had taken lessons from somebody else outside and had gone for the exam without her knowledge) Same student had done very well in the SH conservatory of music exams. Then she asked it there was a 'sight-reading' section? I said yes and she told me what I knew, that the music score is given on the spot. Repeatedly told me it is not something that can be prepared. Arh, so that was what she was worried about. He still cannot read his scores. Ok, I agree he cannot read his scores but told her I can help him there. Also told her that there is an 'aural' section. Could tell she did not really understand me. >>> Tell me, what's the Chinese equivalent for the word "aural"???

Actually, I'm not too worried about the 'sight-reading'. I remember I could never get it right either in any of the piano exams I've taken. Plus I've received a merit even failing this section. Ok, never mind if she can't prepare him for the 'aural' section. I am not a trained music teacher... but I should be able to guide him here and give him plenty of practice.

So I asked, what about the SH exams now that we have the book? Which grade can he take? And then I found out from her that these exams also happen in October. It only happens once a year! Grade 2 may be too challenging for him to prepare in such a short time. Grade 1 should be ok.

By this time, the bored boy was already muttering... I want to take Grade 1, I don't want to take Grade 3. I want to take Grade 1, I don't want to take Grade 3, I want to take Grade 1, I don't want to take Grade 3. I want to take Grade 1.............

Then she looks at me.

Me confused.

She shrugs. (15 minutes of the 45 minute lesson have now gone by) Tells me she does not know the ABRSM syllables well enough, asks me to ask his teacher in SG about the music pieces and decided to teach him a scale of the Grade 3 book instead.

Lesson over.

Later, I told the big one. He suggests, "Do both?"

Me grumbles at his stupid suggestion. "He's here for the next 6 weeks, then he goes back to SG for 2 months, then he comes back to SH in September. 10 weeks (6 weeks + Sept) is not enough time for him to prepare for the SH exams. 2 months in SG is not enough time to prepare for ABRSM. SG teacher cannot prepare him for SH exams.

He says, "Ok, then you see how lar."

!!?!???!?

But now I do see light. Me not confused anymore. There's only one choice really.

Inflation

2011-05-11T16:41:00.002+08:00

When we first settled in at our new place in Shanghai, a rou bao (meat bun) from DaNiang round the corner costs RMB1.50. The price went up to RMB2 after Chinese New Year. Now, it costs RMB2.50. Price went up 67%.

Bus fare 8 months ago was RMB1. Now, it's RMB2. Double.

And I found out today, that the pork floss bun from BreadTalk went up by RMB1. Up 17%.

I'm not too concerned (yet) because I don't spend a huge chunk of my salary on food and am really fortunate to not have to think about the 'cost of meal' when deciding what and where I want to eat. Plus, it's still a better deal because I don't think we can find a 50cents bao in Singapore anymore right? The cheapest bao I recall is the vege bao, which was my fav snack, which costs 45cents at the science fac canteen in NUS...eh, about .... gosh... many donkey years ago. 40 cents won't get us anywhere on public transport... and at $1.40, that pork floss bun is still cheaper than the same one at home.

But it was a case it point when my mom urged me to save more because the value of the Chinese Yuan will double in 10 years. I told her about the buns and how much that money will actually be worth in 10 years time. It'll keep her off my account for a while...

Meanwhile... Pizza anybody?

Contented.

2011-05-03T18:19:00.001+08:00

It's nice.
Am 36.
No aches
No pain,
No discomfort,
No worries,
No troubles,
No cares.
Am 36.
Finally contented.

Leasted through.

2011-04-29T15:01:00.001+08:00

I got a brain-hand disconnect!
Yesterday, I wrote: This is through.
Today, I wrote: These 2 were leasted as .....

I meant
This is true.
These 2 were listed as....

I realise it's wrong only when I see it. It's all very strange....

Spring is here!

2011-04-13T18:51:00.001+08:00

人民广场 Ren Min Guang Chang ( People's Park)
The rides were closed for a period during Winter. This is one of the boy's favourite place. They have rides which he can and does go on by himself - the Dragon roller coaster, the pirate ship (viking) and the bumper car. Each ride costs between RMB5-10 (S$1-2). On Sunday, for RMB50/S$10, we got him 6 tickets. He was over the moon happy.

梧桐树 Wu Tong Shu ( Phoenix Tree / Chinese Parasol)
They line the streets where we live, where his school is and where I work. Their leaves look like maple tree leaves and can grow quite big. Around 20cm or more in length / 25cm in width. About a week ago, leave buds started to sprout and now tiny baby leaves are growing... and very quickly too they are filling up the not too long ago bare trees. I find it amazing to witness these changes. In about a week, they'll start to flower and release pollen into the air. My colleagues tell me our street will soon be covered with a layer of cotton-like fluff. We'd see.

Music@home

Am excited. Bought a digital piano. After months of dragging my feet and 2 failed attempts at buying a 2nd hand piano piano, we will finally have something to play with. Better still, it wouldn't cost me usd2K to crate and ship it back home when the time comes. The reason why we left our piano in Singapore.

April Fools' Day

2011-04-02T14:16:00.007+08:00

Played a trick on my colleagues yesterday....

(Official company email banner)

Dear Colleagues,

We are proud to unveil our new logo for MIPS. This new and contemporary logo more accurately reflects the dynamic and professional team at MIPS .

This logo will be launched officially on 1st May. Our entire line of collateral materials will be revised to include this logo. To make the shift effective, please make sure that this logo is included in all presentation and marketing materials from 1st May onwards and that the new logo is properly used in terms of color, placement and other graphic standards.

To view and download the logo guidelines and associated files, please click HERE

>>> And if they did click through, they get to see this:

My boss basically went, "What the hell! ............"
Another colleague asked if she is to send her materials through to my team for updating.... so I told her, "No, I am quitting. Please DIY."
A couple more asked why I am "so free" and "jia pah eng ah" .....

.... but yep. Haven't had quite that much fun in a while.

The boy was fooled in school too. He told me his teacher gave them a spelling test. After sheets of paper were distributed to the entire class, the teacher walked up to one of them and tore the paper up.... and that they too started tearing their own papers. He then told me he didn't get to fool anybody and I told him he had to wait till next year. Come to think about it, he will have to wait two years... next year's April Fools' Day falls on a Sunday.

I want to be ..... when I grow up.

2011-03-31T14:08:00.006+08:00

Asked him several times before.... and again last night.
The answer is the same.

"I want to be a fireman when I grow up!"

Told him it's going to be hot!
He says, "I have a suit."
Told him he'd have to carry people on his shoulders.
He says, "I am strong."

Don't know where he got his career ambition from. There is nobody in my family who's a firefighter. We've only ever brought him to a Fire Station open house, once. There might be one book he owns ( which I don't recall him obsessing over) about Firefighters.

In any case, quite interesting to note that a survey by Reader's Digest Singapore last year showed that firefighters topped the 'Most trusted jobs' list: Ref: http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20100226-201009.html

1 Firefighter
2 Doctor
3 Judge
4 Teacher
5 Surgeon
6 Pilot
7 Paramedic
8 Nurse
9 Pharmacist
10 Dentist

And suddenly inspired, I asked him.... There are 2 men in the house. One's blind and the other's crippled. Both were caught in a fire. How do they get out? He thought about it... then told me the blind man should carry the cripple and the cripple can tell the blind man the directions.
.............................. me wonders why a particular firefighter didn't turn up.

Chinese as a first language

2011-03-28T15:19:00.002+08:00

The boy kept his test paper again. Reason: 我还在做！(I'm still working on it!) I made him hand it to his teacher the next day, as-is. It came back with a "C".

His Chinese grades vary according to some unknown elements. Some days he gets it, some days, he just doesn't. Some days, he comes back with 83% for spelling and other days 95% ( I think the lowest you can get is 56%-60% since the teacher normally gives them 20 phrases / 40-44 characters and takes away 1% for each wrong character).

The thing is, these spelling tests doesn't happen on a fixed day, and there are no spelling lists. The only clue I get is when he writes 'Revise chapter 3-5' on his note book. Last Friday, his notes read: Revise chapter 11-15.

The boy was not at all concerned or emotional about it. I SO WAS! That's 5 chapters / ~ 50 phrases / at least 100 characters !!!! Here's a sample.....

以后，小巷，孩子，前脚，尾巴，几乎，江河，一枝，已经，闪闪发光，一团，做客，。。。

We worked on it Sunday evening... wonder who the bigger procrastinator? By 9:30pm, his eyes glazed over and I called it quits.

Sluorping

2011-03-16T18:10:00.002+08:00

Had a conference call which took me way over lunch time... 1 hour 22 minutes over to be exact. Lunch hour starts at noon and over here, there is no reason not to eat. At around 11:45am, the chatter from my colleagues begins, "Where to eat?" and by 11:59am, everyone leaves to go eat at their chosen place.

Anyway, I went to get lunch after that call at a nearby eatery. It was not crowded anymore. Lunch time is over. Was eating my food, when I became aware that somebody else was chomping away loudly. I turned to look... a lady, enjoying her food with relish.

I smiled. I did.

Must be something to do with living in China for what? Almost seven months now? I actually think this loud 'sluorping' of food is totally acceptable. Where before I would have frowned and think it is unacceptable, un-cultured and rude, like the culturally acceptable way of slurping up your noodles in Japan, 'sluorping' up a plate of rice is now ok!

I like the way people here tuck into their food. Food comes to the table, you eat it while it's hot, in any way you want. No pretense, no nonsense. Eat.

And I like it, because I think you are suppose to eat this way - get food into your mouth and enjoy it without worrying about drips, making no sound or not being able to spit out the wrong bits.

Nice!

Art appreciation

2011-03-08T10:54:00.001+08:00

I finished a sketch of the boy playing with his firecrackers and showed it to him.
He liked it so much, he used it to make a boat.

Last week

2011-02-22T18:15:00.001+08:00

DOOR

Broke the door to our home last week. The small one and his Grandmother were uncontactable for 3 hours. When I got home, all was dark and the door was latched from the inside. I shouted for them, banged the door, ... nothing. So I crashed through, and that caught the attention of the Grandma, who walked out of the bedroom in a daze. They were sleeping. She saw the door and exclaimed, "WHY DID YOU BREAK THE DOOR?!? HOW DID YOU BREAK IT?" I was too exhausted from all my excitement to give her a logical response. Was simply just happy she was fine, they were fine.

We slept through that night with a broken main door. Piled all the dining chairs we had behing that door and locked ourselves in the bedroom. Got the handyman to come look at it the next morning. He shook his head when he saw it, and recommended we get the property management guys to come take a look at it instead. I didn't want to deal with those guys (long story) ... so I tried DIY. Managed to 'repair' it by removing the broken hinge. Door can close now.
WHY DID I BREAK THE DOOR? HOW DID I BREAK IT?

VIOLIN

Upgraded the boy's violin. 3 were offered to him. He had to pick and insist on this one. It's now on loan to us for an obscene amount. I don't allow him to carry it himself (except when he's practising of course) and I don't even dare walk too fast when carrying it. We call it his "Lao Lao Ye Ye".

FIRECRACKERS

It's legal in China over Chinese New Year. The boy played with a bunch of them. It was fun watching him. Reminds me of those old chinese painting protraying kids playing with firecrackers. His posture is exactly the same. I'd try to sketch that this weekend and post it here.

BACK TO SCHOOL

A new set of books!
The chinese one is jaw-dropping!
Again I enjoyed looking through his art &craft textbook. Nice!
He also has a new foreign-English teacher. Maybe this one won't allow him to pass up blank papers.

Condensed

2011-02-12T18:59:00.000+08:00

That is the only word I can think of to describe how I feel.
I am now denser and thicker.
Wow.

Learnt

2011-01-27T20:01:00.000+08:00

3 new phrases today:

Hobson's choice: when there is only one choice or none.

Buridan's ass: example of one who makes no move because he is hungry as he is thirsty and is positioned exactly between food and drink.

Morton's fork: a choice between two equally unpleasant alternatives.

... all part of a day's work!

On the day snow blanketed Shanghai

2011-01-20T19:30:00.001+08:00

I wake up and looked out of the window.
Hey! It's snowing heavily and the ground's covered with a thick blanket of snow!
I wake the boy up and we both looked out of the window, mesmerized by the sheets of tiny frozen capsules, floating down from the skies above.

The boy went to school and came back with A, A and A+10 ... and a B (B for blank!?!)

Am happy he's doing well.

Shanghai Zoo - for grass you can walk on

2011-01-17T15:14:00.003+08:00

We decided to go to the zoo yesterday. Not sure what to expect. The 'arctic zoo' we visited in our recent trip to Harbin was depressing so I was semi-prepared to be similarly affected.

We bought the tickets and walked towards the entrance, passing an old man who jiggled his can when we neared him. A signal for loose change. The boy asked, "Why are there so many people asking for money?" I had no answer and did not respond.

But my mood was immediately lifted upon entering the zoo. What greeted me was a nice huge lawn and better yet, no signs warning us against putting our feet on the grass! There weren't many people too! I can almost call it deserted. A very rare thing here in crowded Shanghai.

It must have been crazy for most locals to consider going to the zoo that day. The temperature range was between -2 to 2degrees Celsius. But it turned out to be a not too crazy decision. It wasn't a miserably cold day to be out and about. The sun was shinning and there wasn't much wind.

On looking at this satellite map taken off Google (area where the zoo is circled), I realized why I was so happy. The zoo is one of the few pockets of green in Shanghai! I must have been like the animal released into the wild! No more concrete jungle! Grass you can walk on!

The first exhibit we saw was a man sweeping an empty cage. The boy asked, "What is this?" I replied, "This is a man," in the same tone as I would have said, "This is a monkey." He paused and then laughed. My dear boy.

And then we saw the giant panda ( there was just one) who did nothing but ate bamboo leaves, several 'lesser/red pandas' ( which seemed to be the happiest mammals we saw at the zoo), a gorilla who did nothing but ate, regurgitate, eat the regurgitated food, regurgitate, the whole 3-4 minutes we were there and bears who stood on their hind legs, clasped their paws and grunted for food.

Arh, visitors here bring their own entertainment kits - corn for the birds, peanuts for the primates and toss-able pieces of food for the bigger animals. There are signs prohibiting this but no one around to enforce it.

The environment/enclosures for the birds are really nice - they have nice ponds and waterways. I guess they are better off than the mammals (but the price they pay for that is clipped wings).

Alright. I'd stop. Putting compassion for the animals aside, it's a nice place to visit if you have been trapped in the city for a while.

How to get there: The easiest is to hop on the Metro Line 10 and get off at the Shanghai zoo （上海动物园). The station is right below the zoo's entrance. Tickets costs RMB40 and each adult can bring a child below 1.2m for free. Opening hours depends and is normally shorter during Winter. I think it would be safe to assume the zoo is open daily from 10am-4:30pm.

Exams over.

2011-01-13T11:12:00.000+08:00

He should be done with his last paper by now.

Chinese paper: He said he didn't know how to write 1 or 2 characters.
Maths paper: He says he will score 110 marks. ( The paper is 100% + 20% (optional section with more challenging questions) He said he didn't know how to solve this optional question: 20+x=5. What is x?
English (as a first language / taught by foreign teacher): His 1st paper/ written one = ZERO. We all know why. Subsequent MCQ paper (he filled up everything) + Aural exam should be ok.
English ( local syllables): If he's not careless, should be able do very well.

He doesn't need to go to school until the 20th, and even then, only for a couple of hours to collect his results. Then it's winter vacation! 21 Jan - 13 Feb

Better!

2011-01-10T16:22:00.001+08:00

Paper II: He came back annoucing that he had a MCQ (Multiple Choice) paper and filled up everything, including his name.

Horrors

2011-01-04T17:50:00.000+08:00

Am told that the boy handed in an EMPTY, UNFILLED, BLANK English exam paper this morning. Blank to the extent that he didn't even write his name on it .....

.....It can't get worse than this can it?

Weather report

2011-01-04T14:53:00.000+08:00

Was looking at my feet.... they haven't been this WHITE in a long time - but then so are most of me, and us. we've been wrapping ourselves since October. The weather has since turned even colder, with the highest daily temperature below 10 degree Celsius.

I send the boy to school with 3 tops (2 cotton ones sandwiching the woollen sweater- because he hates to have any skin contact with the woolly) + his school jacket, long johns and lined pants, thick socks and winter boots to school.

Layering remains key to attaining a balanced body temperature. This gives me a headache. I not only have to decide what I need to wear to work, but how to keep warm and still have these 2 groups of clothing match! This reminds me of what the boy said the other day in exasperation,

"I don't want to feel cold. I don't want to feel hot. I just want to feel normal!"

Recent

2010-12-29T21:04:00.001+08:00

Marriage
Who do you want to marry when you grow up?
> I don't know.
Auntie M asked A and A said she wants to marry you.
> OK OK!!! *nodding vigorously* I marry her!
*Hahhahaa*
Why not QQ?
> Too many.
What do you mean by "too many?"
> She has twins already!!!

Exhausted
Do you want to drink Milo?
> No.
What do you want to drink?
> Milo.
*I raise my eyebrows... the Big one started wheezing from trying to contain his explosive laughter.... the exhausted boy slowly realized what happened.... and laughed tears.

Entertainment
On the road, he plays the games we downloaded on the iPhone, Uno, blackjack and 4 different types of hand games.

Hand Game 1: Players stick out 1 finger on each hand. You start swiping your opponents fingers. 1st one to add up to 10 wins. Player with 2 on one hand and 8 on another can placed the 8 (shaped like a gun) on the 2 (shaped like a V and looks like a stand) to shoot your opponent down.

Hand Game 2: (2 players) Scissors paper stone - winner gets to swipe a finger on the loser's head... loser makes a guess which finger was used. If loser guessed right on the 1st try, loser gets to pull the other party's ear. If the guess is wrong, the other party gets to pull. ( 3 players)... Determine who is the loser by playing "black or white"... Odd one out is the loser. Remaining 2 player plays scissors paper stone... winner gets to play with the loser.

Hand Game 3: "Chee-koo-pak" (variation of scissors paper stone). Players show their chosen scissors, paper or stone sign(s) on both hands. On the players call, he/she gets to shout out the sign(s). The idea is to switch your signs such that it is not the one(s) being called out. Otherwise, the hand 'dies'.

Hand Game 4: Clapping sequence... determine and agree on a pattern from the start. Start from 1 and increase the cycle to 2, 3, 4X etc. For example, if the pattern is
Clap both hands, clap right hands, clap front & back.
Then 2X will be clap both hands twice, clap right hands twice, clap front & back twice... and so forth.

We were on a train for 18 hours at a stretch on one leg of our recent trip...these games, especially the hand games, helped us passed time joyfully.

Laundry
Been doing laundry non stop for 2 days now. We wore every single piece of clothing we brought along plus more that we bought along the way during out recent trip and wore them all for 5 days straight. The boy's record was wearing 8 layers on top, 5 pairs of pants, 3 pairs of socks, heat pads, hat under his multiple hoods, mask, scarf, 2 pairs of gloves and woolly boots.

Trip
We travelled from Shanghai - Harbin - 长白山(ChangBai Mountain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baekdu_Mountain) - Shenyang - and back to Shanghai.

Wouldn't recommend anyone make this crazy trip. It was sooo cold! The temperature at the mountain peak was minus 40 degrees Celsius...and the winds was so strong, I felt like I was being lifted every time I took one feet off the ground. The cold was so bad, my head hurt madly from skull-freeze. I think the boy could easily have been blown away had he not thankfully refused to wake up - he stayed in the car while we attempted to make the short climb to the lookout - to see the caldera. I didn't make it... Hah!

Unesco
The old imperial palace in Shenyang http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukden_Palace is the 4th Unesco World Heritage Site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_List the boy has visited - after Halong Bay (Vietnam), Angkor (Cambodia) & Kakadu National Park (Australia).

Bad
Too bad we were only given an hour at the site before being rushed to shop ( guide gets 5% commission - a very maddening culture!)

Good
The meal specification on the tour is 8 dishes and 1 soup- a great way to learn how to dish up a 9-course Chinese meal!

Finally
2010 is coming to an end. It's been quite a journey!

今天下雪了!

2010-12-15T17:27:00.007+08:00

He wasn't too keen on leaving his pre-school in August to come here to Shanghai with me. He wanted to stay in Singapore till December.

I told him that there is Autumn, and Winter, and 4 seasons here in Shanghai. He wanted to know if it'd snow in Shanghai. I said, "Yes." ( I didn't think then that it would not) So he said, 'Ok. I want to eat snow."

Found out after we got here that snow rarely makes its appearance in Shanghai. *Oh s**t!*

And so, you can imagine how happy and thrilled I was when I found out this morning on the news that it was going to snow... and it did! I shot this photo at 3pm:

Spoke to the boy on the phone.... the first thing he said was, "今天下雪了 ". I asked him if he'd tasted it... and he said, almost shyly, "Yes, it's very nice."

I am grateful.
I managed not to lie.
Thank you.

He did.

2010-12-13T15:25:00.006+08:00

They had an Arts competition in school. He could submit a drawing or play the piano... or any other instrument. His drawings are .... nicely terrible. He just started learning the piano and have not yet progressed beyond playing the C-major scale. So, I suggested he play a piece on his violin. He wanted to play '童话' and I was fine with whatever he prefers.

But his violin teacher wasn't and wanted him to play "春天来了" & "茉莉花" instead. I thought the competition proper was to happen later this month so we all thought there would be plenty of time for him to prep. But no. I received a notification on a Monday that he is to bring his violin to school that Wednesday for the competition.

Right, out the window went the 2 pieces he was to prepare. He practiced his '童话' about 20X that Tuesday evening and went to school with his violin the next day. I took some time off to go to his school to play the piano part.

While we were rehearsing, a teacher walked in... I did not know he was going to be the judge. So I was unprepared when he closed the door and said, "Let's start!".

Was quite disheartened. Since the Judge had already heard most of it. The whole thing was not quite what I had pictured in my mind.

The boy played his piece (again). But this time, the kids who were shut out of the room started jumping up and down outside, trying their darnest to peep in through the window...and he was very distracted by them, giggling at one point while playing his violin and eventually forgetting which line he was on midway through... Horrors!!! I continued the accompaniment solo while urging him to come back in at the next section. ... he gave up and put his violin down... the Judge encouraged him to continue. He did eventually.

This was not my idea of a reasonable/ fair/ ok performance and so I didn't think more of it.

Until this morning, when I was notified to send his teacher a photo of him because he had won a prize in the competition.

He won what?!?

阿姨一号

2010-12-13T14:49:00.000+08:00

I think I should write about 阿姨No.1
Day 1 She's not someone who has to work and told me so.
Day 2 She didn't want to work past 6:30pm ( which would be a big rush for me) - fine.
Day 3 She didn't know how to use the vacumn machine - taught her.
Day 4 She didn't know how to iron - wanted to teach her but she said she sends her own clothes to the laundry to be pressed.
No Day 5.

阿姨三号？

2010-12-13T12:03:00.003+08:00

阿姨二号第一句话是,"恐怕要给你失望了!"
> I'm afraid you will be disappointed.
She took an hour to get to our place... so she (rightly) decided that this job will not be viable.

*sigh*

啊姨

2010-12-10T17:57:00.000+08:00

Everytime I have a new helper... my heart skips a beat. 阿姨二号 (Helper No.2) will come by tomorrow.

Not playing fair.

2010-12-10T11:51:00.000+08:00

He hates to lose ... and tries to switch his cards recklessly - whether or not I'm looking - and thinks the only way to win is to snitch an arsenal of Draw 4's and +2's. I still win. Frustrated, he ropes in his friend, his Tigger so that 'they' can exchange cards. He plays both his and Tigger's sets of cards against me but won't let Tigger win. Even when Tigger is down to 2 cards, he gets Tigger to not say "Uno" so that he can catch him and give him a 2-card penalty. Hilarious!

UNO

2010-12-06T16:34:00.001+08:00

The boy received a set of Thomas "Station Celebration!" game deck for his birthday this year. We only recently got around to playing it. Pretty fun the first 30 times or so but like all good things forced in abundance, I had to find me something else to deal with... so I bought us a deck of UNO. We started playing that last night. By the time we are back for Chinese New Year, he'd be able to earn a seat at the Blackjack table.

Growing wings again...

2010-12-03T18:58:00.001+08:00

17-21 December - Macau, China
23-26 December - Harbin, China
24-28 January - Louisville, USA
29 - 13 February - Singapore!!!

就近 Education

2010-12-03T18:47:00.003+08:00

Recently occured to me to ask: "Is there a Primary School Leaving Examination in China?"

"No."

Ok, then which secondary schools do the kids go to?

"就近" ... which means the school near where you stay.

Everybody has 9 years of compulsory education. And then they have the first major exams, after which they go on to high school (50%) and then take the university entrance exams. The other 50% go on to technical institutions, polytechnics or join the labour market.

Hmm... so there's really no pressure until the kid turns 15.

I'm on 3 year contract... why am I asking these questions?

Committed

2010-11-26T10:36:00.001+08:00

Thank you for your interest in sponsoring a Shanghai Sunrise student! As you may have read from our website (www.shanghaisunrise.com), Shanghai Sunrise was started in 1995 to help remove families from the poverty cycle through educational sponsorships. We believe that it is every student's right to have an education, because it is education that will enable these students to create opportunities for themselves and become contributing members to society. Since its inception, Shanghai Sunrise has sponsored over 1600 students and currently supports over 500 students. All students are sponsored on a one-to-one basis and all sponsorship monies donated are used for education purposes.

You have indicated in your application form that you are interested in sponsoring a student. The sponsorship is RMB 3000 per student per year but as we are in the middle of the School Year, we will be collecting RMB 4500 to cover for the student's 2nd semester fee for School Year 10-11 and for the full School Year of 11-12. Once donation is received (please see attached for the donation instructions), we will assign a student to you and provide you with the student information within two weeks.

We have a twice a year pairing ceremony for new sponsors where you will get a chance to meet your student and the next one is set for February this year at the Hilton Hotel. We will inform you of the specifics when the date has been set. It is quite an experience to meet the student that you are sponsoring. Of course, if you would like to meet your student any other time, we can also arrange for that.

Finally, Shanghai Sunrise is a 100% volunteer-run expat operation so if you are interested in volunteering 8 or more hours a week, do let us know!

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Beggarship

2010-11-24T17:52:00.005+08:00

Over here, there is 1 at every corner.

Just where I stay, there is
- this old man with a plaster on his temple.
- this young lady with a baby girl who is never awake
- this old lady with a 4-5 year old girl with dirty hands and feet
- this man who sits on a floor with a 2-3 year old girl playing nearby

And along the way to work, there is
- this very lost looking man who tries to give me the newspapers he has recycled from the bins, in exchange for a coin..

In the area where the boy has his violin lessons,
- there is this skin and bones girl who crawls on the floor
- a boy without arms

And there's always old ladies who sell jasmine flowers that they've carefully strung ... actually they aren't really beggars ...

Occasionally, you'd see
- lady with a note placed on the floor seeking for money to pay for bus fare / meal
- blind man playing the flute with old lady leading the way
- 3 young people in a group, kneeling with heads bowed, with a bowl in front of them.

The worst or most determined beggar I've ever seen - is a man, covered with 'self-inflicted' wounds that are oozing blood, half-naked on an overhead bridge, ... and there was blood on his shorts, the steps, the floor, everywhere...

My mother gave some money to a man without a limb. 5 others approached her in quick succession.

I wanted to buy a piece of melon from a peddler on the road, an old lady approached me with outstretched hands and I ended up putting the money in her palm.

A colleague gave RMB100 to an old man in a wheelchair who had an old lady beside him - thinking they were a couple and ended up being chased 2 blocks by the lady who demanded to be given as much.

Everyday, amidst the bright lights of a modern day city, the hardship of living pulses along with it. Faceless people in my face, telling me how fortunate I am.

Every year, at this time, we choose a charity to support. Last year, it was NKF. This year, the Big One suggested Community Chest.

But I'm thinking maybe if I can pluck 1 kid off the street and put him/her in school and be committed to doing that for at least 10 years. How will the picture change for the world?

Nothing.

But the world will open up for this 1 kid.

Homework monster

2010-11-23T00:03:00.001+08:00

That's me.. the homework monster.

He's getting homework everyday now. Usually 2 pages of maths, 1 page of chinese writing, English worksheets ( about 2-3 times a week)... and ALL the work that he should have but had not finished in school. It takes him more than 2 hours each day to complete them. And in between, I try not to SCREAM at him to pay attention, sit properly, lift his chin off the table, put his left hand on the table..... sit properly, pay attention, focus, check...think, sit properly, don't look around, stop dreaming...... stop playing with his pencil, sit properly... I try not to PINCH him.... sit properly!!... I try not ot SLAM the table top... STOP WASTING TIME!!!

He has NO time to do anything else... Really!
I have NO time to do anything else.. Really!

He's tired.
I'm tired.

We need to work this out...

Bronze!

2010-11-10T15:50:00.000+08:00

Smoke gets in (your) eyes.....

2010-11-10T10:55:00.001+08:00

Wide-eyed was all excited yesterday. They had a fire drill and he told me cans (of coal or charcoal - not quite sure which) were planted outside their classroom and then were set alight, generating a lot of smoke. He had to cover his mouth with a piece of cloth (this was provided) and run out to the field. He said some of the smoke got into his eyes and then when they were in the field, the building really looked like it was on fire - "A lot a lot a lot of smoke!"

... I'm so jealous! His fire drill is like a civil defence exercise! So fun!!

Frontcrawl

2010-11-09T11:34:00.003+08:00

I was asked how is the boy's swimming.
He's been going for lessons every Sunday now for the last 5 weeks and has begun to learn the front crawl. He's quite alright now with the kicking and the pulling so during the last lesson, the coach taught him 换气/ the breathing technique. He looked hilariously cute during his practice. Visualize a little boy fish going belly up each time he comes up for a breath and you'd be not far away from the truth.

Boots

2010-11-02T15:55:00.002+08:00

I shipped 2 pairs of boots here...13-year old Bally, adopted from Germany and 4-year old Ecco, rescued off a discounted rack in Finland. How these two survived that many years, I don't know. Anyway, the young one fared very badly. When I flexed her sole, it broke into many pieces. The older one was more pliant, but still suffered fractures. I told the Big One that my boots have fallen apart . I was looking for some sympathy, and consolation in the form of "go buy yourself new ones...." but his response was unexpected at the point it was delivered. "Go and have it repaired", he said. ***TWANG***

Sulkily, I did...and was surprised that the cobbler did a darn good job! So good, I have no excuse not to wear them a couple more years. Someday, I should be able to put them up on eBay and it'll go something like this:

For sale: "VINTAGE BALLY BOOTS - with Hujian-branded sole!"

(".)

I WON!!!

2010-10-26T15:23:00.000+08:00

2 months later...

2010-10-25T14:21:00.002+08:00

It's 2 months today we moved to Shanghai and I think we've made very good progress. Everyone is sleeping better and more soundly in the new place - and we are eating more meals at home.

Eating at home. It's a simple thing but to do but to get to this point, it means, having the water filter installed and the output tested for potability, having pots and pans to cook with, having simple things like oil, soya sauce and salt, crockery to serve your food in, utensils to eat with and a place to sit and gather around for the meal.

So yes. 2 months later, we are finally eating at home.

Changes

2010-10-20T11:34:00.002+08:00

Things are quickly settling down ...but still, we have to deal with human craziness:

When crossing the road, even if it's a one-way street for cars, remember to look left and right and left... bikes are allowed to travel the other way.

Even if there are pedestrian markings, you wait until it is relatively clear of vehicals. There is really no point pitting flesh against 20-ton buses and they know!!!

If the road is very wide, i.e 8 lanes, remember to look for signals in the middle of the road! The green man at the other end of the road is meant for pedestrians starting from the middle!

Don't wait until the lights turns red to run... RUN before it happens. Once the lights are not in your favor, and if you are still on the road, say prayers immediately.

When taking the train during peak hours, it is possible to be so packed that there is no room to spread your feet wider than your shoulders and no way to reach any handrails / bars etc. Surprisingly, because it is so packed, there is no room to fall. So you just sway with the crowd and lean on each other for support. It's like packing your luggage - the more you pack in, the less likely the stuff inside will move around. Unlikely the carriage will burst open so relax and enjoy the ride!

Own notes

2010-10-14T12:21:00.000+08:00

Broadband:http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20040604_broadband_internet_providers_in_shanghai.htm

China Mobile - checking balance & topping up: http://www.1on1mandarin.com/blog/checking-minutes-on-china-mobile/

LOA - Leave of absense

2010-10-12T14:40:00.001+08:00

We applied for the small one's leave of absence from the school he has not yet stepped into today. What this means is that upon our return, he can be readmitted to the school directly. What this also means is that the school will send us their major examinations and test papers and keep us informed of the developments in the school and the local education scene.

Surprise surprise!!!

2010-10-12T10:48:00.002+08:00

He big one dropped his phone - pouch and all.
2 hours later, we got it back.
It all happens in China.

Shipment

2010-10-09T21:25:00.000+08:00

Our shipment arrived today. I still don't understand how so few things can be packed into 81 boxes but that's not quite the point. What's more significant is that the arrival of our stuff from Singapore has made this move official.

A colleague who had just completed a 5 year assignment in Shanghai, left us with her favourite mantra - a famous quote from the philosopher Henry David Thoreau - "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, live the life you imagine."

I've made many attempts to move out of Singapore... but chickened out on quite a few attempts.
- decided not to pursue my degree overseas.
- even though I was jobless, did not move to the Philippines with the Big One ( then boyfriend)
- did not move to Thailand with the Big One ( whom I had married by then)
- rejected a 2-year assignment to London 3 years ago and then quit that company instead.

This move to Shanghai will not have happened if I had not dreamed it some in the first place. So yes, I do want this and couldn't have done it without the clear support from the people around me.

I am very lucky.

THE BIGGEST UGLIEST BRUISE EVER!!!!

2010-10-08T23:36:00.002+08:00

""...WHAT HAPPENED???!? .....HOW DID YOU GET THAT???!!?? TELL ME!! ""

He explains... and I saw this in my head:

Home

2010-10-08T00:45:00.002+08:00

These are the reasons I'm really liking my new home:
The boy gets picked up by his school bus half an hour later than where we stayed previously.
My workplace is only 4 train stops away and the entire journey takes 20 minutes door-to-door.
There's a supermarket just 100 steps away that sells just about everything you see at Jasons. (was thinking Cold Storage but this beats that with their wide selection of cheese and cold cuts)
There's a huge park with a pond that has fishes and a couple of black swans swimming in it about 10-15 minutes away by foot.
....and hundreds of small eateries and big restaurants around to choose from within a 10 minute radius.

And oh, some other points to make:

I've seen more seats on the trains being given up for the eldery, pregnant and young than I've ever seen in Singapore.

Have you seen automatic/self-service/ token-less lockers before? You punch a button and the door to an empty locker swings open. You put your stuff in, retrieve a docket and close the door. When you go back, you put the docket against the infrared scanner and ta-dah! The correct door pops open automatically and you get back your stuff. Oohhh.. the 'villager' from Singapore couldn't resist punching the button for a second go at this marvellous machine. the small 'villager' wanted to try it AGAIN too but we were attracting too much unwanted attention. NEXT TIME OK?

Walkie Talkies carried by train workers here have COLORED LED displays!

Other than these discoveries

These 2 months have gone by very quickly. I've been busy enough to fly into Shanghai 4 times in these 2 months. If not for the long China National Day holidays which meant I didn't have to work all the time (still had to take some calls, meet a couple of deadlines, hold an event), wake up before 7am to wake the boy up, or rush to work or back from work, I would have simply collasped from exhaustion.

There's still a lot going on at work and this is usually the peak season for me. Am looking forward to the year-end, maybe a short break in between Christmas and New Year and then a much longer one over the Chinese New Year period - we've already booked our tickets back to Singapore! YAY!

Marker

2010-09-23T22:37:00.001+08:00

The boy found 2 markers in his pencil case and showed them to me. I told him he must have taken somebody else's marker. He denied taking anyone's marker.

Me: How many markers do you have?
Him: One
Me: So you must have taken somebody's marker!
Him: NO! I didn't take anyone's marker! I didn't go to anyone's place to take their marker!
Me: Ok ok... There are now two markers in your pencil case. One of it is not yours right?
Him: *Nod*
Me: Can you find out who is missing a marker and give it back?
Him: Ok.

..... The boy's in a stationery circus!!!

Eraser & Ruler & Scratches

2010-09-21T16:21:00.002+08:00

2 days ago (Sunday was official work/school day here in China) the boy told us that one of his classmate threw his eraser away. Right! In one breath, I told him I'd buy him a replacement, that I won't buy him one, that he should get his classmate to buy him one since his classmate was the one who threw away his eraser and therefore the culprit should be the one responsible for his loss, not me.

Yesterday, he told me his ruler disappeared from his desk. I asked if he knew who took it? He didn't. Thieves! Right ok... these kids are babies in Primary school. Fine! Told him that if he borrowed something and didn't return, that that would be labelled as 'stealing'. He nodded. Told him that if he saw his ruler, that he shouldn't assume that his classmate had stolen it. That it was not uncommon for people to own similar stuff... and that he should label his things henceforth with his name so that there's no two ways about it.

And a couple of minutes ago, his form teacher called... there has been a scuffle between him and another classmate. My boy is coming home with 2 scratches on his face. She had investigated the incident and found my son to be not at fault.

I wonder what I'd say later....***calm down***

Saving time...

2010-09-19T13:51:00.001+08:00

Got inspired about maximising travel time (by Mel) - and asked the boy if he wanted to go for piano classes after his violin lesson. Mistake. Shouldn't have asked. The boy held up two hands to the side, turned his head the other way, grimaced, and waved "NO NO NO!!!"

Told Grandma the story and she suggested that I extend the boy's violin lesson by 15 minutes and have him go for an hour instead of 45 minutes.

***Hehheheh!!!*** Such evil ladies we are!!

家张会 - Parent Teacher Meeting

2010-09-19T13:36:00.001+08:00

Was in the school for 2 hours for a parent-teacher meeting last Friday. Was a really good session. At least now I understand which text are for which lessons and what he needs to have in his pencil case. He was missing a ruler, a pencil sharperner, a 勾线笔 (which I later found out meant art markers) and a 'plate' that can be placed below the sheet he is writing on. They also helped me download an application in my laptop - the app is part of their 'method' to help the kid recognise 1,500 Chinese characters in 10 weeks. Kid learns 30 characters in school each day and is tested by having them type the 拼音 for these characters. Other than that, the meeting was pretty much a one-way street. Teacher speaks, Parent (me) listens.

On one occasion, I turned to the Mother sitting behind me and asked, "她讲什么?" (What did she say?) She responded ,“我不知道!”( I don't know!) in equal amounts of exasperation. Hahhaa!!! We became friends immediately. She's from Malaysia.

Right. Current diversity count is 2 Singaporeans ( including the boy), 1 Malaysian and 1 Taiwanese.

Haining Tidal Wave

2010-09-17T08:30:00.001+08:00

Next stop..... :

Class "H"

2010-09-16T14:47:00.002+08:00

He came back with a note for me. Apparently he's been put through an English aural test in school and placed in Class "H" - where he will join other students in a "challenging environment" where he would be taught English at First Language standards.

Took me a couple of seconds to realize that I had assumed that English would be taught at a "First Language" standard in his school.

Surprise surprise!!!

朱家角 Zhujiajiao

2010-09-14T10:03:00.003+08:00

It takes only a little over an hour to get to Zhu Jia Jiao by coach from Shanghai.
Day trip costs CNY85 (S$17) and includes 2-way coach fare, and admission to 8 attractions. Tickets are available from the 'travel hub' located at the Shanghai Stadium (上海体育场).
Pity the rain but having a bowl of handmade glutinous rice dumplings (汤圆) in this kind of weather doubled the enjoyment.

A view of one of the many stone bridges in this water town.

Weather!

Lots to see, eat and buy!

Taken from the back yard of the Tang Dynasty Post Office building

Glutinous Rice Balls with Red Bean

Apples - We enjoyed this art exhibit. There were at least 200 watercolor paintings in this gallery.

This was declared 'most fun!'

Violin remake II.1

2010-09-13T11:46:00.002+08:00

Another 45 minutes spent 'correcting' his posture and positioning of fingers on the violin and bow. An exasperating 45 minutes... before the boy exclaimed, "我不懂!我不懂你在说什么!" We both realized we overestimated his ability to understand. She was speaking too fast for him.

I'm frustrated! Each time the boy changes his teacher, he has to lay his fingers on the board a different way. The thing is, he never got it right the first time and so we keep having to go back to undo the habit. The expectation from this teacher is that he holds it precisely the way she tells him to.

Back to the drawing board.

Learning then and now...

2010-09-10T19:19:00.001+08:00

I leafed through the boy's books yesterday....

wished I had his books! He has a 美术 (art) book that is just so amazing to look at. It's has different themes in each chapter. One chapter examines how to use dots to compose pictures, giving various examples like 'a pot of flowering plants' and 'tadpoles looking for their mother' . Another uses different mediums to create 'rain'. Yet another 'fireworks', or some chapters teaches the use of collage & paper cutting to create different effects.

His math books looks interesting too! For example, the concept of more or less is tested by asking the child to identify which length of rope is longer or shorter, giving them a visual of a rope with similar number of coils around poles of different thickness.

His English books are not too far behind. It's a series of 6 books. I noticed some of the popular children stories are incorporated into the lessons as well, like the "Little Red Hen". Each chapter has a list of new words and questions to think about and activities to complete.

I shan't comment on his Chinese text books... can't read them!!!

Hours

2010-09-08T11:05:00.001+08:00

He gets picked up at 7am from our doorstep.
School starts 8am
Ends 3pm.
His after-school activities are from 3:30-4:30pm
He falls asleep during on the way home yesterday, slept through dinner ( tried 3 times to get him to wake up) and continues sleeping till 6am this morning.

Extracurricular Activities

2010-09-07T16:06:00.002+08:00

Monday: Lego (1260)
Tuesday: Swimming (550)
Thursday: Weiqi (450)
Friday: Piano (800)

Total cost of his optional after school extracurricular activities for the whole semester (half year) comes up a little over SG$600. I think piano lessons alone, if we were in Singapore, would have cost more than that.

The school also does 2 periods of extracurricular activities during school hours each week and there were loads to choose from - like ping pong, soccer, painting, erhu, guzheng, chinese flute, drama, choir, environmental science etc. The nutcase picked erhu! Tried to dissuade him but it didn't work.

Violin remake II

2010-09-06T09:38:00.008+08:00

Found him a teacher in GuBei area. There was fellow Singaporean Mother who had accompanied her child to school during the orientation. They've been here in Shanghai about 3 years and had moved from Beijing. I casually asked if her daughter was taking up music lessons and she told me about how happy she was with her daughter's current violin teacher. *Click*

During the 'trial' session (paid trial) the boy played "Kemp's Jig" and the teacher took over ... and I was horrified! She went on vibrato maximus on every note and it sounded more like "Kemp's funeral". Oh God!

She was saved by her next student, who was asked to perform a couple of the pieces that she was currently working on for us. Then I thought, ok, if this girl can read those notes and play that range on her instrument, then maybe it's time to get the boy aquainted with solfege and for us to give this teacher a go.

I had read in the forums that it is virtually impossible to find a Suzuki music teacher here in Shanghai. While they can teach what is in the books ( the pieces), the methodology they used is not Suzuki's. Pretty evident that this teacher is not going to write finger numberings on his scores!

His first lesson proper was about translating notes into solfege equivalents.... E to Mi, A to La, D to Re and G to Soh.... and some basic music terms into Chinese as well.

It's be at least a month a backtracking before we see any progression from where he left off. One consolation is that his fees here (SG$18/lesson) are a third of what it used to be in SG.

>>>I'm having evil thoughts of making him go for lessons twice weekly!

We've landed in Shanghai

2010-08-26T17:53:00.000+08:00

Arrive last evening to Shanghai.

The boy was in school this morning for an 'orientation camp'. Asked him later on, "Do you understand what is being said? 80%?" He replied, "No. Less than 50%." And for someone who only understands less than 50% of what is being said, he looks way too happy!

Am in office less than 3 hours... and have a room, a laptop and some stationery. Check this out... 我可以用中文打字!

Physically, I'm exhausted. Can't wait for the weekend to chill out some.

Shanghai

2010-08-13T19:24:00.003+08:00

Food

A little sick of the food already... all laden with MSG and OIL. Favourites so far are actually this Korean BBQ restaurant call 'Pankoo', the Taiwanese 'Din Tai Feng' and BreadTalk. Alright... spit at me for being a prig!

Weather

Weather has been terrible the last 2-3 days, hovering at 39 - 41 degree celsius. The boy absolutely melted into a monster at these temperatures. He stayed with the driver and refused to get out of the car.

School

We aimed to visit 5, got to 4 and decided to go for a local 'public' international school. It was the first school we visited and while the facilities are circa 1960's in Singapore, the English syllables / textbooks used are on par with what I've seen in Singapore. The Chinese syllables? Well... both the Big One and I exchanged looks that could be interpreted as "Good Luck Little One!"

The local private international art school was in the city - facilities there were more 'advanced' but we couldn't imagine a 1,000 kids being housed in that compound. Also, the students had to choose a specialization in either music ( 1 instrument) or art (not both) from year 1. Robotics classes are only offered from year 3 onwards and for hand-picked students.

As for Yew Chung International School, the place was like a walled garden. Very beautiful, with modern playgrounds ( i.e what you see in our HDB housing estates) , track and ball courts. They have a teaching philosophy which will be good for some kids, not others. I think our boy fell in the 'not others' group.

And then the Singapore Shanghai International School... is like in some godforsaken place. It's privately run and while they are using the Singapore school syllables, they are not actually affliated to MOE. The distance killed this option.

Housing

We visited 12 apartments in 11 different developments. Some were just horrid. Even 8 year old developments felt like they were 15-20 years old to me. I don't like dark corridors and don't want to walk through any to get to my front door. The most memorable unit was one facing an empty plot of land ( construction can start anytime) and the lady owner introduced every piece of furnishing in her house as "very good one" and hinted many times that she only wants tenants who can take care of her apartment... I couldn't resist and ended up showing her the bottom of my right foot which was all black and said, "I wouldn't consider this apartment being taken care of in the first place if this is what is already happening to my feet!" She wanted 13,000rmb/month for her very good one.

As for facilities, these developments outsource the management of the 'club' facilities to third parties and you have to buy their membership in order to use the facilities. The biggest pool we see are 25 X 13 metre pools. Fees cost something like 10,000rmb/year for 2 adults and 1 kid.

City for kids?

We visited the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium, it's like 5 times bigger than our Underwater World. Some interesting exhibits like the Wawa Yu - a humongous tadpole-like amphibian and great for kids... otherwise, it was like a giant tank of edible fishes to me. Well, they had all kinds of groupers, eels & sardines.

Most parents ask their kids to "jin gen ze" ( trail closely). Read in the Shanghai Daily today that 2,000 kidnapped children were resuced in a nationwide campaign against child trafficking last year.The article was about a 13 year old boy who had been reunited with his family. He was tricked into joining the circus at 9 years old after the organizers said he could learn kung fu with them. The boy ended up having only 1 meal a day and frequent beatings whenever he was unwilling to perform. Shared the article with the boy.

Movies are in Chinese and costs 45rmb/seat.

Haven't explored parks, museums and theatres and yet to find music schools & sports groups. These are to-do's when we get back again.

Groceries & daily necessities

Took a walk around Watsons. Prices for Made in China household brands are ok. Even 10%-15% lower but once you start looking at imported products, prices jump 20-40% higher. Chocolates are very expensive here. | Bring chocolates if you come visit me!|

Groceries again are very expensive if you are looking at imported products... but there are 'wet' markets where fresh vegetables and meats can be purchased. I haven't ventured into one... but these are where the locals go and should be way more affordable.

Language

Gosh! I have a lot to learn! Like how to say air-con, club, account, passport, ... in Chinese.

The kid is hilarious! On day 2, he asks, "Se mo si Newborn?" What is this? Only 2 days in Shanghai and he's asking me the meaning of English words in Chinese?

5

2010-08-07T02:30:00.000+08:00

Ok.. 5 more working days left... and a few more hours before we fly off to HUNT... for housing and school.

Not much time left...

2010-08-05T19:05:00.002+08:00

Yep.. 6 more working days... and about 9 days in Singapore left.

It's like wrapping up a big part of your life and they way you have been living... which reminds me of this recent dream.

I've always thought it is impossible to die in a dream. The ego is too strong to kill itself, even in a dream. But I dreamt I died... well very close to it. Everything was turning dreamily white...and I knew that was it! In fact, as morbid as it soundsI didn't even tried resisting dying... and was maybe a split moment away from it when I said, "Wait! My son! He's too young!"

and then I return to earth.

Count down...

2010-08-04T19:11:00.001+08:00

I have, minus today, 7 more working days left in Singapore. At this point, my gravity centre is in the middle kingdom and that is sucking me towards it, whether I like it or not.

iThinkday

2010-07-29T21:50:00.004+08:00

Have shortlisted 5 schools... 3 of them international schools.. 2 of them local schools with international streams.

Found this description of one of the schools on wiki: "...when they graduate at fifteen or sixteen, these students are excellent in that they are well developed in mindless working skills and the ability to obey their superiors without questions. They are ready to go to the army where they are sure to further exercise their obedience..."

It was probably edited by someone who has a grudge against the school. But it does hit the nail on the spot. This is exactly what you don't want school to do to your child - turn him into a mindless and unquestioning being.

Sheeze... why is it so difficult to make a decision on what kind of education you want your child to have? Everyone is telling me that I'd regret it if I don't put him in the Singapore International School... that he won't fit in when he comes back.

Ok, so we mould him into a nice piece of jigsaw? Train him to succeed THE Singapore way? I commented before. This is the easy choice. Because it's also THE mindless one.

iFooday

2010-07-29T19:55:00.001+08:00

Breakfast: 1 roll popiah, 1 cup milk tea
Lunch: Laska, 1 glass of ice coffee, 1 medium cup of yogurt from Redmango
Tea: Lo mai kai, 1 cup barley
Dinner: 6" Chicken & bacon sub
Drink: 1 lychee martini

>>> Is this normal?

A good specimen I am.

2010-07-26T19:30:00.002+08:00

Went to SGH for a health screening so that I can get the work permit. What did they do? They collected pee, drew blood, measured, weighed, tested the eyes for both vision and color blindness, poked the belly, tapped the knee, tickled the feet, x-rayed the lungs and did an electrocardiogram (ECG). Felt very brave today so looked while they put in the needle. Saw the nurse take a tube, then 2...and then the 3rd and then I had to burt out... "How many do you need?" She said, "4"... I asked, "Why?!?" and she said... "Yah, in SGH is like this. Everybody do their own thing. So each lab can only test for 1 thing."

*faint*

I think we call this "working in silos"

We are What We Choose - Remarks by Jeff Bezos, as delivered to the Class of 2010 Baccalaureate

2010-07-22T12:14:00.001+08:00

Princeton News: 2010 Baccalaureate remarks

Fast & Furious...

2010-07-16T15:37:00.001+08:00

When things happen, they usually happen all at once! Very strange phenomenon isn't it?

Things are happening at work... and constantly shifting, even more so exacerbated by me leaving for Shanghai and in the not too distant future too.

My boy is as he is, even with the knowledge that he is going to leave Singapore for Shanghai. The move is inconsequential to him.

For me, I worry if we'd get him into the 'right' school in Shanghai... meaning one that best prepares him for the future. I've also been told that there are NO properly qualified and experienced suzuki violin music teachers in Shanghai and they don't subscribe to the ABRSM standard. He's great with swimming, loves his blading lessons and those are areas I've not even looked into.

And then there are all these other personal challenges lining up to welcome me when I get there....

All these are as exciting as they are frightening but I'm starting to really see that change is really the only constant in this world and so I'm determined to 'participate in life' and weather through them all the best I can.

We are moving to Shanghai....

2010-07-12T13:35:00.001+08:00

Yes... we are.

Q&A:
For how long? 3 years
Are you selling you house? No.
Are you renting it out? Most probably.
Is he going to an International School? We haven't really decided yet. It would be easy peasy lemon squeezy to put him in 'Shanghai Singapore International Scool' but there are also other interesting options.
Can we visit you? Of course! We love visitors.
Why? Why not?
When do you leave? Before September.

Easy....

2010-07-12T13:24:00.000+08:00

I say, "Easy."
He says, "Don't just say 'Easy'. Say Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!"

To JB and back on a Sunday

2010-07-05T13:31:00.002+08:00

Took a train from Tanjong Pagar to Johore Bahru and back on Sunday.
KTM train schedule: http://www.ktmb.com.my/
Left Tanjong Pagar on the 1:30 train (sgd5) and back from JB on the 7:27 train. (myr3)
Shopped at City Square: http://www.city-square.com/
Was the first train ride for the boy and his Ah Gong too!

Making Roti Prata

2010-07-04T00:22:00.005+08:00

The big one was all excited today - btw, he's the dough boy who has made fresh noodles, pizza ( the dough), dumplings (the skin), bao/bun ...and yes, even not-quite-right roti prata before! He finally learnt how to make prata from a very successful Singaporean blogger http://www.ieatishootipost.sg/

All smiles and flippin happy!

.... he's probably going to try making a whole lot soon...
...but I don't know who's going to cook the curry!

Sprains

2010-06-28T16:09:00.003+08:00

He woke up with a limp this morning ... sprained his foot yesterday at "Peek-a-boo"!!

Swimming away

2010-06-28T00:08:00.003+08:00

Went for his last swim class on Saturday. The big one is taking over, although I'm more keen for his first ever swimming coach / a friend of ours / ex-water polo player / Uncle J / to coach him instead. Uncle J got him swimming in less than 6 sessions and they seem to like each other. Lessons stopped because Uncle J had other commitments. Anyway, we then tried hooking him up with Uncle G... but that turned out to be as hilarious as it was disasterous. In a 3-month period, they only managed to meet each other twice in the water. And if you're going to learn how to swim.... you kinda need to be in the water together. We were convinced that their 八字/ 8-characters was simply put, not compatible.

The big one decided quite a while back that he was going to stop the small one's lessons with this coach after his swim test. The coach is great for getting the students up to speed with the test requirements but not really attentive with their swimming technique which, to us, is really more important than passing tests. That said, he did get all his students to pass. Quite a feat I must say.

Anyway, until we find him a new coach, or Uncle J - hopefully?, he's going to be swimming with his father.

Swimming

2010-06-23T12:02:00.003+08:00

The small one is taking his swimming test today and right about now. The big one is with him and they will lunch together after. Nice!

[news update]
> How is it going?
< We r eating hor fun lunch now. His request.
> K. He passed?
< No one fail one lah, just how fast they can finish.

Violin #4

2010-06-21T11:13:00.001+08:00

Bought Violin #4 - 1/4 size - for double the price of the previous, which was double the price of the #2 and double the price of the #1. If this trend continues, his full size violin will cost $4-5k.

Anyway, less than a week with the new violin, he dropped it and the fingerboard came off! His teacher spent 15mins of the half an hour lesson ( which costs $35 / lesson) lecturing him on how to handle the violin properly. Reminded me of ...(http://eggsnchicks.blogspot.com/2007/09/lesson-1-break-it.html)

On progress, the teacher said he's ready to prepare for the ABRSM Grade 2 exam next Feb/March.

Dreamy days

2010-06-16T12:34:00.001+08:00

This morning, I felt like I swam with the car through the rain. Could hardly make out the silhouette of the Singapore Flyer from the Benjamin Sheares bridge. But I like rainy days. Because the world looks dreamier... softer... and definitely much more pleasant. To me at least.

The Karate Kid 2010

2010-06-15T11:51:00.004+08:00

We are not really a movie family... maybe 2-3 movies year. But count this as the movie to watch with the family if you only go to the theatre twice a year. It's totally unregrettable. http://www.karatekid-themovie.com/ We enjoyed it.

Give me back!

2010-06-11T15:16:00.002+08:00

"Give me back!", he said.

I started ranting, "How to give you back? Give you back? Give you back to who? Give you back to the rubbish bin?"

*pause*

"How about back to your stomach?"

"What? Sorry, no space... can only fit a 3kg baby and it takes 9 months to grow that big"

"Please? Then I can go back up there for a while and then come back again".

( go back? )

"Go back up there? Where? Where did you come from?"

... and then I couldn't stop laughing...

Free chicken for a year!

2010-06-07T17:35:00.000+08:00

Swim like no tomorrow

2010-05-31T14:44:00.004+08:00

We signed the boy up for a swimming event last Sunday - the 50 metres breast stroke for boys 5 years old but found out he had been placed in the same event for girls instead. So we made it known to the officials and were persuaded to either put him in the 50m kickboard event or the 50m breast stroke for boy 6 years old... and no, we can't sign him up for both events because the 'rules' specifies that they can participate in multiple events only if it is within the same "age group" (defined by age at time of competition). And no, there is no competition if he participates in his event alone. We knew he have a very good chance of getting a medal if he joined the kickboard event but that would have been 'no kick'.... (says the father).

He swam like no tomorrow and clocked 1:26.73 for the 50m breast stroke event.
We are so very proud of him!