Saturday, January 26, 2013

Humpty Dumpty Had A Great Fall

I was shopping somewhere near my place and usually, before the school bus arrives, the bus driver will give me a ring. But the place I was in was playing music and so I did not hear the phone ringing. By the time I heard my alarm ring, the bus had already given me 3 missed calls...

So I ran all the way home...

Then I saw the bus and slowed down into a walk.. but the bus driver did not see me and Ace did not start getting off the bus. So I started to run again and as I started to run, I tripped over something in my flip flops and dropped all fours on the floor!

As a result, I scrapped my left knee, right knee, right thumb, left pinkie, left wrist and the worst impact was on my left elbow. Even my handphone cover was not spared.. and thank god for it for if not I think I would have kenna worse...

When I was falling, I felt time sort of slow down and I thought, "SHIT MAN!" but in the real world, there was nothing I could do to stop my descend onto the floor.

Ace said that he, his classmate, the bus aunty and the bus driver all saw me fall... wahahaha.. so embarassing.. and immediately, my son started to become the "concerned parent"..

"Aiyoh, let me see.. let me see... and he took a good look at all my injuries.. Aiyoh, here is bleeding badly already..."

And then the moment we reached home, he took off his shoes and went to take a medication we have at home for itchy skin.. "Mummy, can we apply this on your wounds?" He asked me.. I told him that is not really suitable for my wound.. and then I told him I had headache about what to make him for lunch now since my hands and feet are in pain..

"It's ok, I will make my own lunch..." And he started shifting the pots and pans.. preparing to make mee hoon kway for lunch... I told him i can still cut and cook.. just cannot wash.. if he can help me with washing, I will make him some instant noodles..

So Ace helped me wash the veggies while I tried to cut and cook with one hand.

Well, at the very least, the heavens is kind.. I only one hand more serious.. the other hand still ok.. just cannot wash cos is open wound... and only one leg more serious.. the other little bit only still can bend and all that...

I posted the picture of FB and found out so many people care:) wahahahaha.. thank you all for your blessings and love.. then because my hubby no response, I sent to him via whatsapp lor:) And max called back to ask me how I was.. but he told me fall down no big deal so I dun have to act pityful to him... when I hung up the phone.. Ace kept asking if daddy was concerned about my injury and I repeated what his dad said.. and he was rather indignant that his dad "did not care".. so I explain his dad cared enough to call and probably said that because he knew I was ok and all right because he heard me joking and all that...

Ace told me that when I bath the next day, sure hurt like hell one... And I said to him.. "Yeah lah yeah lah, you expert lah.." "Yeah, I am expert because I always kenna..  you everytime say ask me to bear with it when i bath.. so you also bear with it when you bath.. OK?"

I told him it is quite different this time.. usually he only injures one part of his body.. wrap plastic bag or wat ok already.. today I injured so many parts it is virtually impossible to wrap plastic bag over so many parts...

First night was a nightmare cos the elbow hurt like hell and even felt as if my bones were aching...

Now is day 3 and I can wash things for 5 minutes without feeling any pain... any longer though water soaks through the scabs or wat I am not sure and the pain comes back.. my arm can bend and be straight and other than very quick actions, it is most of the time NOT in pain... knees are healing ok and back to normal liao.. just blue black a little... oh well, da ji li shi... New year coming so new good luck.. huat ah! Maybe I had the fall to avert some worse disaster.. I still believe I am a lucky girl!:)

Previous Post: Our LIttle Drummer Boy

Friday, January 25, 2013

Our LIttle Drummer Boy

Ace has been talking about learning african drums in school for a long long time...

And finally, he owns one drum and can play at home too:)





Pattern more than badminton right?

Well, the story goes like this lor.. we decided to go global village the other day with our friends and in the car, we talked about how Ace is going to take the roller coaster again with his dad.



Guess what we saw there!:)

China sector..

Right behind was the ferris wheel but there are no lights.. apparently, the whole amusement part segment was closed and I thought Ace might be a little disappointed.. (he revealed later that he was actually sort of relieved because his heart was going pik pok pik pok when we walked nearer towards the amusement park area... he is frightened but does not want his dad to know or laugh at him.. that is why he acted brave. anyway, we found out after we went home that the amusement park was closed because an Emarati parent who was waiting for his chilldren who had gone on a ride on the ferris wheel was killed when something dropped off from the ferris wheel and hit him. so sad and so suay lor...)

So Max tried to make Ace happy and say maybe we can take a look at the African drums and Ace said he wanted to buy one and that his budget was 20aed.






After we finished dinner, we went to explore the "AFRICA" segment... we tried the drums but they sounded different.. from far though we heard a very nice sound of drumming and walked towards it and this guy invited Ace to try the drum...

Seems like my son really knows what he was doing wor!:)

They did a little performance together...

The man asked Ace to choose his own drum and Ace chose one with a nice sound.. the man said, "Gee, this boy knows drums!" Hahahaha..

And finally this year, we see SINGAPORE! Can you tell what Singapore "gate" is being represented by? Look closely.. it is the MBS boat lor.. looks dam ugly.. and guess what they selling inside? They were combined with malaysia and selling food processors, mops, t shirts and fake LVs.. wahahahaha.. boring lah.. no singaporean stuff at all.. the only thing that was really from Singapore is a SINGAPOREAN MLM COMPANY SELLING HEALTH PRODUCTS! wahahahahahahahaha.. I can smell MLM from a mile away lor... 

We also visited the Tunisia area and saw some really beautiful bird cages..


One cake so big I think Ace can fit inside lor!

I think before I return to SGP, I will surely want to buy this from somewhere and bring home...




Then went to Saudi Booth and tried some dates chocolates...




My son happiest.. try this and try that and eat so much till I think we paiseh if we dun buy:)

Our Dubai GV gang.. Ace was missing cos he is taking picture.. Waileng represented by her back view:) wahahahaha.. she was having nice conversation with the man selling coffee:)


After that Ace went crazy with the camera and anyhow take pics of whatever he saw...




Then finally, we decided it is time to go..

Last but not least, here is a video of Ace playing the drum..




Previous Post: Is Daddy a Chee Ko Pek

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Is Daddy a Chee Ko Pek



While giving Ace Chinese Tuition, we came across a segment in the textbook that works like a game. It is those linking games where you link words together, and so, I was inspired to teach Ace a little ditty that I had learnt when I was a little kid... and it goes something like this..

老师给我一本书,
什么书,英文书,
什么英,老鹰,
什么老,老 Ah Pek
什么,  Pek
Chee Ko Pek..

And Ace asked me what is a Chee Ko Pek... I explained to him a chee ko pek is a man who likes to look at sexy and beautiful girls too much...

Fast forward to a few days later, Ace was fiddling around with his dad's ipod and found some pictures of bikini babes inside and then he brought it to me and showed it to me and asked, "Mummy, why all the women in the photos i daddy ipod only wear bikini? Is daddy a chee ko pek?"

I dunno how to answer him lor..

And then I explained to him that actualy all men are attracted to beautiful women and admire women who look good.... but leh, when they are overtly besotted with that, then they are considered chee ko pek.... so it is normal for daddy to like looking at beautiful women in bikini too.. because mummy also like to admire chio bu in bikini.. wahahaha

When Max came home, I told him about what happened and Ace overheard our conversation and so he ran up to his dad and asked him, "Daddy, do you love mummy?"

"Of course lah.." Max replied...

"If you love mummy why are you looking at women who are naked and only wear bikini... you can and should only look at mummy mah.."

Max dunno whether to luff or to cry.. wahahahaha:)

I gave Ace a high five:)

Afterward, I asked Max to please remove those photos lah.. dun make my head big to think about how to explain this sort of difficult question to Ace.. wahahahaha

Previous Post: Singaporeans Never Give Up

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Singaporeans Never Give Up


The other day, I had an interesting conversation with Ace. Out of nowhere, he asked me if I prefered Ms Roberts (his form teacher) or Ms XXX (who is his friend, Zack's form teacher). Zack is in a different class and apparently the other teacher handles her class very differently.

"I don't know the other teacher so I cannot compare but I like it that Miss Roberts is strict with you because I think strict teachers help you to grow and improve more." I told him.

And then Ace told me that Ms XXX is actually very different from Ms Roberts. "Ms XXX always tells a story when she has a few minutes before arabic lessons. We never have time to do that in Ms Roberts's class. In her class, we are always busy doing work and if she has time, we are always sitting on the carpet listening to her because she is telling us where we can do better and we are always learning something." And apparently because of this, his friend, Zack, says his form teacher is much better because she tells them alot of stories and Ace's teacher only tells stories at the end of the day.....

 This inspired me to share with Ace the story that I have just heard about "a few minutes". This one is from a children's soka magazine in India called Bodhi Tree that one of the soka members shared with me. Apparently, there was this scientist who is a nobel prize winner. When he was young, he was good in his studies but he never seem to be able to score an A in math.. he noticed his classmate always scored As and asked him for his secret. The classmate said he did not have any secret and did not do anything out of ordinary except study. Then he noticed that his friend always seemed to continue studying even when he has already switched off the lights to get ready for bed because his friend's lights will still be on. And so he made a promise to himself to always study a few minutes more every night and these few minutes more eventually made him the nobel prize winner he is today and gave him his A in math in the end.

So I explained to Ace that the few minutes before arabic is also very important. Even though it is fun to listen to stories and you will also learn from listening to stories, would you rather listen to stories or spend that few minutes on how to do better and learning more things?

"Of course on learning.." Ace replied.

As an after thought, he added that he thinks he is going to do better this year and get getter results. When I asked him why he thought so, he said, "Last year, I was lazy and anyhow do my work, this year I am hard working. So, I think I will do better this year because mummy, I am aiming for 1 for all my subjects."

Apparently, Ace's results are graded 1, 2, 3 or 4. 1 is like very good.. 2 is better than their requirement for this age, 3 is meets the requirement for their age and 4 is below requirement. Last year, Ace recieved 3s for most of the things. He got 4 for arabic and PE and got a 1 for art. I am very happy that he is aiming for a 1 for everything and I am quite sure he is going to make some improvement in his results. But I am not so sure he will be a 1 for everything...

And so as to manage his expectations, I told him that it is great that he set a goal for himself.
"So what if you dont achieve it? What will you do? Are you going to give up or keep trying till you get there?" I asked him..

"Of course I dun give up! We Singaporeans are afraid to lose and always want to be the best.. and we don't give up till we achieve it!" and he said it with such PASSION and CONVICTION!

I laugh until I peng lor.. glad he sees kaisu-ism in such positive light. I asked him later who told him that and he said it was Daddy who told him that.. but when I recounted the story to Max, Max LOL and said he never said tat to Ace lor:) wahahaha....

PS: I found out that Ace has a classmate T, whose parents are PRs or New Citizens in Singapore. T's dad lived in sgp for 13 years and they came over to dubai when T was about a year old.. as a result, T is not able to speak singlish but because he is good friends with Ace, he likes to find common ground and whenever they have similar reactions or preference for certain things, T will always say, "See, we are alike because we are both Singaporeans.." I never understood his rationale till I met T's parents at his birthday party.. and then I realized that Ace told T that "You cannot speak singlish, so you are not Singaporean..." Then I recalled that Ace came home everyday and will tell me little things like T's dad can speak singlish.. few days later, he comes home and tells me T has a red Singaporean passport..  Apparently, T has been trying VERY HARD to prove to Ace that he too is Singaporean... makes me think about this.. so what makes a Singaporean.. someone who stays in Singapore for long time? SOmeone who is born there? Someone who has the red passport? What do you think?


Previous Post: Ice Age

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Ice Age

Thanks to the Dubai Shopping Festival, there is a new show at the mall again...

It is an Ice Age musical but I must say it is one of the not so good ones I have seen..


It was sort of babyish.. even Ace felt so.. because it was like Dora The Explorer.. asking children to "SWIPE" or "KICK" along...





But it was interactive lah.. they played games that included the audience..






Then leh,. after tat, Ace went to Virgin and spent half an hour at the corner where there is this set of toys called laser pegs.. it is like LEGO.. but GLOWS... he keeps saying he wants me to buy this for him for his birthday. I ask him to add to his list.. cos he always say want this and want that and in the end also never write down so never get lor:)

He say must take picture with his "creation"...

After taht, we went to try out this new indon restaurant a friend intro us... food was so so lah.. but I think I prefer Betawi.. if only Betawi dun always run out of the food we want:) wahahaha

Somehow, the thought of going home made me miss sgp food more.. so I have been making more Singaporean food for meals these days.. this is my veg prawn noodles:) Tasted quite good:)

My rendang curry...

Butter tumeric rice...

And I think.. I have almost perfected my take on the bo cai san se dan:) hehehehe

Max says dun mix it up so I make into nice portions for him.. looks like UAE flag.. wahahah

The other day very boh liao so I go and anyhow steam some cakes from my anyhow do receipe.. not fluffy enough.. I think next time cannot add too much bi-carbonate of soda...

 Cant wait to be back in SINGAPORE!

Previous Post: It Is The Thought That Counts