Our latest craze

What have I gotten myself into??  I just wanted to see what this game Restaurant City was about, a game in Facebook that Tai Pi's friend wanted her to play.  I went in yesterday afternoon and before I knew it, I got hooked.  The girls are just as mesmerized and we spent much of yesterday staring at the computer screen cheering on my restaurant workers and visiting friends' restaurants.

I had wanted to let the girls play Restaurant City and other computer games, using it as a carrot to get them to do all their duties and bathe by 7pm and tidy up the place, so I wouldn't have to keep nagging them.  So Tai Pi and Pumpkin finally have their own Facebook accounts, but unfortunately they somehow have not able to access Restaurant City.  We'll keep trying.

In the meantime, I've reached Level 6 and have 4 workers, some nice wallpaper and floor tiles and a couple of awards.  I've named my restaurant "Ku Cafe" which would have been the name of the cafe that my friends and I almost opened in Siglap many years ago; so I do finally operate an eatery, even if it's only a virtual one.

My restaurant is the plain one on the left 

next door to a fancier one on the right

The pleasant cheerful interior of my restaurant

Here I am in jeans and a cool t-shirt and 

hair tied back into a ponytail.  Cute eh?

The sand, the sea, and a little green cup

The girls had their last paper of the mid-year exams this morning so in the afternoon we took off for the beach to celebrate the end of exams (certainly not to celebrate their exam results because as far as those are concerned, we should really be in mourning).

Here we are at our usual spot close to Marine Cove with our goodies from the nearby 7-Eleven store - Cheezels and Corntos and some drinks.  I like lugging our stuff to the beach using this plastic laundry basket (which actually does function as the girls' laundry basket when it isn't having a day off at the beach) as the sand washes off easily with just a bit of hosing down.

The girls and I LOVE the beach, even the non-idyllic ones we have in Singapore.  There's something about the sound of waves lapping against the shore and the gentle sea breeze that makes me feel like I'm on vacation.  I glance at my handphone and notice that the network has switched from Starhub to INDOSAT so now I could even imagine I'm on holiday on some Indonesian island!

The girls were having fun along the seashore as the tide came in and then tragedy struck!  An innocent little green cup, one of a set of cups of different colours that nest inside one another, got mercilessly dragged out to sea by the tide.  This set of cups has been with us for years; I believe it was one of Tai Pi's toys from her infanthood.

The green cup bobbed up and down, all the while crying out for help  - "Save me!  Save me!" (cup's voice courtesy of yours truly to add to the melodrama).  The girls could only watch helplessly as it drifted further and further away from shore.

The unsuspecting green cup in happier times 

(bottom right corner of above picture) 

The girls watching helplessly as the green cup floated away

To bring some closure, Tai Pi created an obituary on the sand - "Green Bucket R.I.P."

When I put Sai Pi to bed, she said to me that the best part of the day was building the sand faces (see below) and the not so good part was "the green cup got washed away by the sea.  I feel very sad because we will never ever see it again."  Well, you never know; maybe someday we just might come across a little green cup washed ashore on the beach, waiting to be reunited with its family and the three little girls who loved it so.

Sand face by Sai Pi.  

Happy childhood memories are made of these.

Black Belt at last!

May 3rd 2009 was a proud day for Tai Pi and Pumpkin.  On that day, they received their black belts in Taekwondo three and a half years after they started out.  There was a ceremony where Master Santos Rivas, the principal of J H Kim Taekwondo presented them with their black belts which have their names embroidered on one end and the name of the school in Korean on the other end.

I'm especially proud of Pumpkin for having persevered when there were times when it seemed she would never go beyond the higher grades.  She had wanted to quit soon after getting the black belt but now she has said that she wants to go for first dan.  Way to go Pumpkin!

More on the girls' journey to black belt here, here, here, here and here.

Tai Pi receives her black belt from Master Santos Rivas

Pumpkin receives her black belt from Master Santos Rivas

The girls and Shiggsel with Master Santos Rivas

The girls in their new black belt uniforms 

 

And God Created Appendix

"Why did God make appendix for?!  Want to kill us ah?!"  screamed Pumpkin.  I was telling her not to do cartwheels immediately after dinner or she might get appendicitis.  This leads her to ask me about god as she is apt to do now and then.

Pumpkin: "Is there a god or people made it up?"

Me: "Some people believe that there really is a god and they don't think they are making it up.  And then there are other people who do not believe that there is a god so they think that god is made up by man.  What do you think?  Do you think there is a god?"

Pumpkin: "No I think people made it up."

"God is real!"  Sai Pi protests.  "My teacher said if you don't believe in Jesus Christ you will go to the Devil."  I see that church kindergarten of hers has been planting ideas in her head.  

Ok back to Pumpkin.  

Me: "Why do you think people make up god for?"

Pumpkin: "To scare people."

Me: "And why would they want to scare people?"  

Pumpkin: "I don't know."

Tai Pi joins in with her two cents worth: "People made up god because long ago there was no science.  Now there is science and science explains everything."  Ah, spoken like a true atheist.

Mummy's little helper

I swear the best sales promoters in Singapore are found at Waterloo Street.  I'm talking about those promoters with microphones strapped on who tirelessly market anything from graters to miracle tonics.  I fell victim to these smooth operators and made a couple of purchases recently - a handheld sewing machine which I'm sure I will find handy some day, and a Shimono vacuum cleaner.

The latter is proving to be an excellent buy.  We have been using it everyday and sometimes even several times a day because it is so compact I keep it in a little box at one corner of the living room so it's really convenient to just whip it out whenever I feel the floor's getting too dusty.  And it comes with a strap so the vacuum cleaner can be carried about easily - genius! Now even Sai Pi can help with cleaning the floor.  Best $70 I spent!

The day Mas Selamat forgot his funky wig

The authorities were closing in on him.  They had narrowed it down to just two places - he was either in Singapore or outside Singapore.  And now 13 months after escaping from the Whitley Detention Centre, terrorist Mas Selamat has finally been captured.  

I showed Sai Pi the good news first thing in the morning yesterday.  Her reaction?  "Aw now I can't see him with his funky hair!" referring to one of the possible disguises Mas Selamat might have used.

Maybe Mas Selamat should have tried the funky afro hair disguise.  Certainly would have fooled me!

The Phua Chu Kang disguise is my favourite

CATS...now and forever!

"How's it going?" I SMS-ed my brother who was over at the AWARE EOGM as an associate member.  "I'm sure this is more entertaining than CATS!  This is worth the $40 I paid to be a member, " came the reply.

While the cat fight (apologies for using this sexist term) was going on at the AWARE EOGM at Suntec City this afternoon, KK and the girls and I were enjoying a catty entertainment of a different sort.  Finally, the girls get to watch CATS live after watching it on DVD a million times.  I had caught it the last time it was in Singapore almost 20 years ago and enjoyed it tremendously.

Because the girls were already big fans, we were buying CATS merchandise at the stand even before the show - a t-shirt for Tai Pi which she wore during the show, key chains for Pumpkin and Sai Pi, a CD featuring the original London cast, and the programme.

The girls watched the show with great anticipation as they were by now so familiar with all the songs and dance moves.  Tai Pi kept turning to me to point out the differences between the stage performance and the DVD version.  I must say that the DVD cast is certainly way better than the stage cast but understandably so as the DVD is a permanent record and the producers would have made sure that only the very best would be cast in each role and of course re-takes are possible in the filming.  But as I keep saying to the girls, watching a live performance has its own enjoyment and excitement that you don't get from watching a DVD.

I do hope that CATS goes on playing forever so that the girls might one day get to bring their own children to catch this most fantastical musical.

All ready for the show

Posing with Rum Tum Tugger

Rabid fans with their CATS merchandise

How to catch Singapore TV while overseas

We discovered a new use for Skype today.  We were Skyping in the evening when the girls ran off to watch Ninja Warrior (weekday TV is banned except for shows that Mummy and Daddy want to watch).  I decided to join them.  As we let out a collective cry whenever a contestant faltered, it really felt like I was home and sitting with KK and the girls in front the the TV. 

Will he make it?

Tok Tok Noodle Girl

It's the last place I would expect to find a bit of Singapore history but there he was, hawking his noodles just outside Kong Kong's house in Khon Kaen Thailand.  Sai Pi did the tok-toking while the Tok Tok Noodle Man busied himself whipping up our lunch.  He claims to have picked up his noodle skills in Singapore but his noodles tasted pretty Thai to me (and more importantly very yummy!).

Long Distance Nagging

"It doesn't look like you are visiting Kong Kong; it looks like you're on vacation without us!"  cried Pumpkin over Skype.

Can't it be both things?  Yes I came up to Thailand together with Sai Pi primarily to visit Kong Kong who had an operation recently but it was also a nice break from our school routine.  But one thing I didn't take a break from.... nagging!

"Did you do any reading today?  Chinese book also ah!  Don't forget to do all those things you are supposed to do.  Take this opportunity to show me that you can take care of yourself, that you don't need me there to tell you what to do [although that's exactly what I'm doing now].  Have you finished your Chinese work?  Make sure you study, your exams are coming.  Go ride your bicycle; you have not used your bicycle much since buying it.  Tai Pi you should skip 200 times to grow taller......"

As the Diana Ross song goes:

Ain’t no mountain high enough 

Ain’t no valley low enough 

Ain’t no river wild enough 

To keep me from NAGGING you

Long distance nagging courtesy of Skype

Our first short film!

The girls were watching iCarly on Nickelodeon and kept asking me if it was real i.e. is there really a web show called iCarly where you can submit your own videos to.  I explained to them that iCarly is really just a regular TV show (about some friends who have their own web show) but that they get their viewers involved by inviting them to submit videos which they feature at the end of the show.

The girls seemed interested in having their own show so I said we could actually do it if we could decide on the subject matter.  At the same time, I had seen a series of Heritage TV videos at yesterday.sg which is the National Heritage Board's website and thought it might be interesting to do something along those lines.

And then it all came together the Sunday before last, when we were at the National Museum for the Christian Lacroix exhibition.   While we were having lunch at a cafe there, I remembered that I had read somewhere that Singapore's first public drinking fountain could be found on the grounds of the museum.  I half suspected that the fountain was removed during the recent major renovation.  I asked a couple of museum staff but they had never heard of the Gemmill Fountain.  Even a friend of mine who was involved in the renovation of the museum was not aware of it.  Nevertheless we went around the museum on a futile search for the 145-year-old drinking fountain and I recorded it using the video function of my still camera.

I was intrigued by the idea of this forgotten fountain so I did some research at the library and showed the girls the old newspaper articles I found on the Gemmill Fountain, the earliest dating 1939.  We then did some more filming for our documentary.  The girls were very game and improvised on the lines I gave them.  Then Tai Pi wrote to the director of the museum to ask about the fountain and got a reply the next day although she didn't see the email till a couple of days later.

After we got the reply from the museum, we completed the remaining voice-overs and filming and viola, we have our first documentary!  It certainly isn't my first home-made video as I have edited many a holiday video and growing-up videos, that's one of my hobbies, but this one was different from my usual and we had fun putting it together.

And now to broadcast our show.  I uploaded it onto YouTube and created a blog to link the video to and also sent it to yesterday.sg which is featuring the video as today's entry.  The guys at yesterday.sg said they were impressed with the work that went into the video (actually it's probably not as much work as they thought!) and want to give us a present... ooh I wonder what it could be.

Designer Handbags

Sai Pi and I attended a workshop for young children yesterday at the National Museum called "I can be a fashion designer", held in conjunction with the Christian Lacroix exhibition.  Two guys from Toy Box Edu-tainment conducted the workshop and later brought us for a short tour of the exhibition.  They were really excellent; I have never seen better children entertainers (in an interactive "show") than these two guys.In the workshop, the children were exposed to "boring" designs and "exciting" designs and later given a chance to design their own handbag by drawing on and sticking scrap materials onto a cardboard "bag".  

When the children were done, they showed their creations to one of the guys from Toy Box Edu-tainment who proceeded to give each one a glowing critique.

The workshop was followed by a short tour of the Christian Lacroix exhibition after which we were to collect the handbags from outside the art lab.  Unfortunately forgetful me left with Sai Pi without the handbag.  Sigh.

So I promised Sai Pi that we would make our own designer handbags and here they are - made from paper plates with cords from paper bags for handles and decorated with scraps and stickers:

Earth Hour

"You have 5 minutes to pack your bags!"  It was 8:25pm and I was rushing the girls to pack their taekwondo bags before the start of Earth Hour.

At 8:30pm we turned off all lights and the fan.  The girls spent a few minutes in the car park outside reading their magazines by the light of the lamp posts before I decided we should walk over to the supermarket and get the free pack of Sunshine buns we could exchange for with three Sunshine White Bread wrappers.

So we ended up at the mall where the girls ran about at the atrium and we did some grocery shopping, all in lighted, air-con comfort.  

We got home with ten minutes to go before the end of Earth Hour.  Tai Pi and Sai Pi sat at the doorstep reading by the light outside while Pumpkin rode around the car park on a skate scooter.

Somehow I feel we cheated this time round, seeking refuge at the mall, but it's a good start anyhow.

Reading in the car park

At the mall.  What Earth Hour?

7:59 AM

The Straits Times has a weekly article called "7:59 AM" which features a photograph showing a scene in Singapore at precisely 7:59 AM. Here is our own 7:59 AM moment taken this morning. We had just reached the park and were putting on our rollerblading gear. It would have been earlier than 7:59 AM if I hadn't left behind a couple of pairs of skates causing us to have to go back home to get them. Fortunately we live near the park.

7:59 AM

After rollerblading, we had breakfast at Old Town White Coffee, an eatery done up in modern traditional coffee shop style. An elderly waitress served us and seeing the girls, asked, "Don't you have school?" I mumbled, "No school." She continued, "School holidays are over right? They don't have school?" "No. No school today," I insisted. Tai Pi said to me after the lady left, "Why didn't you tell her we were homeschooling?" "She probably doesn't know what homeschooling is," I explained and I wasn't in the mood to introduce the concept of homeschooling to anyone just then.

So did we not have school today? The girls would have loved to have a whole day of fun but yes we did have school (except for Sai Pi who skipped kindergarten this morning), just that we started in the late morning instead of the usual 9am. That's one of the best things about homeschooling; it allows us to schedule our time in a way that works best for us, so if early morning is the only time Daddy has to spare, then lessons can wait till later because family comes first.

Breakfast at Old Town White Coffee

Arty silhouette shot

Private Bowling Alley

We don't live in a condo so it's nice having family and friends who do, so we get to enjoy a swim or a tennis game when we visit.

Last Saturday, we visited a friend's new condo.  This one's really different because it came with its own bowling alley!  Shoes and balls were provided and there was someone stationed there during the game to work the system.  It was the smallest bowling alley I had ever seen - just 2 lanes but who's complaining.

Playground in a pool!

Bowling alley all to ourselves

What's the score?

Non-bowlers operating a hair salon