My 6-year plan

I've always wondered what the P1 registration fuss is all about.

To an untrained mind like mine, it could not be any simpler- just enrol the kid into the school nearest to home, like my parents did. The parents save transport money, the kids save sitting-in-bus-looking-out-window time in exchange for stoning-in-front-of-the-telly time and we're all set. Right?

WRONG.

Here I am 3 months away from the start of registration and my browser's most-visited site is the Ministry of Education website. Here's what I don't understand-

1) why are all the schools moving to single sessions?
2) why are all the oversubscribed school double session-ed?

I have a feeling its connected. I mean, seriously, who wants to deal with a 7 year old at an ungodly 6am. Mine won't even volunteer to shower at 8am, she says it will give her runny nose (and I agree). And heartland schools like Northland is oversubscribed by 200%, that's got to be a joke right..

My initial plan was exquisitely simple- we would enrol Arissa in a primary school where me and hubby are alumni. It is 3 minutes walk from Mum's house and has been around long enough (all my lifetime anyway) to be erm..fairly.. reputable. At least among the community living within the 1km radius of it. Hey, I'm not that ambitious and the last thing I want to do is stress my kid out just as she's heading down the long and winding path of lifelong learning. Two of her cousins are also there and they seem pretty well-rounded and what was that damn tagline they were feeding us... oh yeah "every school is a good school", I could.not.agree.more. Its all about the kid's attitude anyway, isn't it. Or so I thought.

Enter the illustrious Rosyth Primary school into the picture, about 7 mins walk from Mum's house and offering afternoon sessions- a very attractive package indeed for someone who lives 20mins from Mum's house and has been dreading the 6am wake-up call. Until 2013 that is, when they move back into their newly-renovated school compound in Serangoon North.

"Rosyth is a very good school tau Rin," says Mum and my MIL.

"Ya every school is a good school but primary school is the foundation aper! If you send them to a crap primary, they go to a crap secondary and then they get nowhere," comments a cousin.

All I'm picturing is Arissa turning out to be a cashier at NTUC Fairprice where the prices aren't all that fair and the remuneration benefits will see living in a cramped 74sqm house in Jurong Extension. Horrors!

I feel obliged as a good parent to start her out right. And stress is part of the Singaporean life so let's start her early so she gets used to it by the time she's 20. True?

So as my whole plan disassembles before my eyes, and my brains tries to come up with a brand new, spanking mad 6-year strategy involving temporarily changing my I/C address to Ang Mo Kio and buying a flat in Serangoon North by 2013.. I am taken aback by my kiasu-ness of this whole exercise. Its supposed to be that simple, why am I making it so damn hard on myself?

The husband used to laughed it off but he's slowly starting to get involved in my numerous mad-hatter plans- A, B, C through F. Lets see how it pans out in July. In the meantime, I could really use this holiday:

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P is for Potty Training

I'm so proud to report that the baby of the family is settled well into her childcare routine and absolutely loving the experience (unlike Big Sis who still clings and tears every Monday/Tuesday morning, but that's another story). She has always had the independent streak and 9 solid hours without Mummy...? Pah, not buggered.

Every morning, she rabbit hops into the centre cheekily. She kisses me with gusto at the door then runs off to chuck her bag and bottle into the cubby hole and join her buddies in the music room.

Her vocabulary is also growing, mostly in English/Singlish at this stage although Arissa and I do converse to her in Malay: Daddy, where are we going? / This is yours / No!! That is my one.. are the most common phrases. The rest are a mish-mash of gibberish and actual sentences which no one fully understands.

She has also learned to put on her shoes all by herself. I was bursting with pride when she pushed me away and sat down to figure out her Lacoste mary janes with its complicated loops. I'm not sure how long I waited, must've been a good 4 minutes but she did a great job of putting the shoes on the right foot and pushing the velcro end through the loop and fastening it properly.

Her A to Zs are coherent, 1 to 10s are perfect, even 一 to 十 is making sense to me!





And among all these milestones, the one that made me throw up my hands and clap in sheer delight is when she daintily perches on my toilet seat and lets the flow come through. At first, she looked mildly stunned then grinned hesitantly at the new experience. Wheeeee! Toilet training in the works soon enough!
ps: if I have the ..energy.. to toilet-time her. otherwise, let's wait til she's 3 please..

Tribute to Whitney

Warning: the next post is narcissism in full swing (pun intended).

Everytime I go to Omar at Tresses Couture, I hyperventilate at the cost of a haircut.


I come back, whine and whinge on Facebook and always get amazing responses..


Whether its a 'Whitney' or a 'Halle', 26 'likes' is good enough reason for me to keep going back. Now, if only I wake up to a head of voluminous hair every day!!

Catching Up

I got lazy filling out the last day of HK where we visited Ocean Park. It wasn't as exciting to me, perhaps the weariness from a full day expedition to Disneyland hadn't worn off before we had to drag ourselves to another amusement park.

Even the dolphins at Ocean Park shared my sentiment and refused to perform that day. In the end, everyone decided we've had enough of amusement parks and instead headed off in search of other (gastronomical) pleasures.

These 2 places were our salvation, finally I got to delight in some Hong Kong food proper.

ISLAMIC CENTRE CANTEEN serving dim sum + Cantonese cuisine
40 Oi Kwan Road
Wan Chai

MA's RESTAURANT serving Northern Chinese cuisine
::address tba::

For once, even the kids seemed to truly enjoy their meal asking for doubles and triples. Maybe I should starve them more often at home, so they learn to appreciate food!

The one thing we created on our HK trip is a theme-parkaholic. Big Sis just couldn't get enough of it. Sapna convinced Arissa to join in on her company's Family Day at USS right after we unpacked from our holiday..




but no... not in Paris. *i wish*

For someone decidedly timid, whose most-used phrase is "...but I'm scared", she surprise me with her display of courage the moment we get past the park gates. I get sick easily so theme parks and me, we never get along but she convinced Mousey Mummy to get on the 3D Transformer Ride and some crazy roller coaster where I was yelling my lungs out. I should've just hung out with Anish while she takes Godma along with her, my mettle is not made for any vomit-inducing thrills.

When Godma is on a roll, she gets nutty on big adventurous outings- next she promised the kiddies a zoo trip. It was Arissa's fifth trip to the zoo, Sofia's second, Anish's third (seriously they average 1 zoo trip per calendar year) but the first time actually buying the tickets for me, and I felt cheated that a whole day at our award-winning zoo costs less per child than an hour at Kids Explorer. And they learn more too!


**Last photo with the Helper before she goes home?! :(

And with January, comes the most important day of all- the husband's birthday. He turns 36. THIRTY SIX.. omg, neither of us could come to terms with it- we kept counting and recounting until finally he admitted that yes! he is an old fart. The conversation during dinner centered around our soon-to-be-set-up retirement fund.. *pah*


Then comes one exciting Anderson Secondary School Class of '93 reunion, in time for Lo Hei. We celebrate one school mate coming home from the States (for a holiday) and another leaving for Canada (for good). Someone decided it was funny to look at old photos of our prom night and I almost died laughing!



Since we enjoyed the gathering so much, Aisyah decided to organise another one in quick succession as a 'going-away' dinner for our dear friend, Siti Aminah, who is relocating to Perth. Perth!! Sigh..

one with the boys..

And so....with the start of a new year and the end of CNY, its crunchtime (read: building on that retirement fund). C'mon water dragon, take me on a thrilling ride this year (just make sure I take my motion-sickness pill beforehand).

Disneyland: Welcome to the Magic

By the time Day 3 rolled around, we were pretty much into all things Hong Kong including learning the different ways to speak and learning the meaning of certain mispronounced words. Our tour guide, Tim, was a funny guy and often referred to himself as Andy Lau.

The one that got everyone cracking on the bus was when he joked, "When Hang Kang powlis want to catch thief, he will run vely fast beco he go thlu 18 monks physica twaining.. he run vely fast in the opposik dilection!" Now, if you didn't get that don't bother going to Hang Kang. :)

So thankfully the day arrived when we will get a full day at Disneyland. The girls were so wound up at this stage too, having waited a full 2 days on top of the month long wait to get to Hong Kong. We were also to join up with my brother's family (they are booked into Hollywood Hotel in Disneyland and had a headstart).

Sofia's typical breakfast- haiz...

almost there!!

hip hip hooray!! we finally made it..

a rare smile for the camera.

And the moment, we entered the gates (and sneaked in our foodstuff), I was lost in wonderland. In all my worldly travels with my parents, we have never been to Disneyland. I was as excited as the kiddies, hence proving it a place "where adults become children".

I handed Arissa the map and time guide and told her today is her day- that we will do everything she wants to do. Her little face immediately lit up "everything ker Mummy?" so I had to bring her back down a little "well, most things ok?" I don't want her to think she can eat lollipops for lunch and stand on her head while riding the Cinderella Carousel.

So the map pretty much stayed with her the whole day as she tried her darnest to decipher words on it, a really good spelling exercise mind you!


While waiting for the rest of the clan to arrive, we hopped on the tram that took us on a parameters tour and got off back at the main entrance to be met by a long snaking queue that was Mickey & Minnie- Meet & Greet. This was about as close as we got, the hub and I never could be bothered with queues..


One photo for posterity and then we're off to explore Fantasyland (Flower Earring aka Angel from Lilo & Stitch included)..


The Cinderella Carousel is a perfect ride for me and Sofia- its safe, it doesn't give me vertigo and it plays beautiful music. We took this maybe half a dozen times, every time we pass by here Sofia insists to get on it. Again. See how happy I look- haha? :)



Even Hafidz couldn't resist the lure of all things golden and made of kiddy dreams..


The following rides in Fantasyland included Winnie the Pooh:




..Dumbo the Flying Elephant:



Toy Story Land, the latest park to open, is chock-full of kids and waiting time was 60minutes to get on any ride. This is the inherent problem with travelling during school term break, we just could not be arsed to wait as the rest of Disneyland beckons.


We broke for lunch at Adventureland with vegetarian Indian fare and the usual cup noodles for the kids, and some mucking around session. Dad bought tasty grilled sotong from a street vendor and we ended up eating so much of them because everything else had pork.


I'm not sure if spinning in a little teacup is ideal right after lunch but since no one puked, its not my day to say anything.


The weather had gotten a lot warmer too and everyone ditched their jackets- thank goodness for my kiddy stroller which became a coat rack of sorts. It was warm enough to warrant an ice-cream treat, which we discovered even the sparrows loved and begged for more..



And then it was another ride that Sofia truly enjoyed, I know this because she stood up straight throughout the 10min boat ride- wide eyed and curious. Mum had the same expression actually.. hehe. I don't remember the name of this ride but it kept playing Its a Small World After All music sang in various languages and the props were awesome!





By this time, we were all pretty tired and Sofia fell asleep soon after allowing Hafidz and I to get on with our agendas. Mum and Dad volunteered to look after her while Hafidz and Danial got on some crazy indoor roller coaster ride with shooting laser lights that left him partially paralysed for the next hour, and I got on a car ride with the rest of the kids that took 40 minutes in queue and 4 minutes in action- waste time only..!

With Sofia awake, we squeezed in Adventureland minutes before the fireworks were due to go off at 9pm. We went up the treehouse that belonged to Tarzan, got on a thrilling (but wet) boatride that took us through spouting geysers and fiery volcanoes, past dangerous crocs and water hippos to safe ground.




We had a ball of a time! I have not felt like a kid in ages and it was wonderful to forget everything and live life for the moment. By the time we got to Sleeping Beauty's castle for the fireworks show, the camera was sucked dry of batteries. Oh well, there are loads on youtube that you can watch so it doesn't really matter. What did matter was it was the most fun-filled magical day of my adult life! :)

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
~ Dalai Lama

DiscoverHongKong.com

From the moment of our arrival, Arissa had one sole mission: she only wanted to know when we are going to Disneyland. On Day 2, I happily woke them up at an ungodly 8am singing "We're going to Disneyland today!!" although it was a half lie..

We would go to Aberdeen Fishing Village first, then TSL diamond factory, then a cheap clothing store, then Avenue of Stars, then Lantau Island.. and THEN to the most magical place on the planet- haha.

From our hotel, Aberdeen is about 20minutes away. Along the long and winding road that took us on the busy Cross-Harbour Tunnel and 1.9km Aberdeen Tunnel that went right under The Peak, we also caught a glimpse of the crib that belonged to the richest man in HK- Mr Li Ka Shing. Known for living an austere life including wearing a Seiko watch in spite of his tycoon status, his abode mirrors this no-frills lifestyle.

At the fishing village, we got on a shampan, as the locals refer to it, to go around the water body and take in the sights and smells of the beautiful floating Jumbo seafood restaurant which is designed like a Buddhist temple.




The private condominiums along the waterway were typically HK-style: sky scraping, unbelievably razor thin and built high and mighty on mountain/hill tops. I would be so damn nervous living in one of those! Especially because they retail at about HKD$6m (S$1m) for a tiny unit (3/4 the size of my 5-room flat).

The morning was quite chilly, perhaps 20 deg and the girls obediently put on their jackets. It was not an easy task in days to come, Sofia especially found it cumbersome and preferred to do without it, clinging to me instead for warmth (read: back ache).



The next 2 stops were typically tourist deathtraps- the diamond factory and the cheap clothing store- total waste of time. I did learn how diamonds are set though!

On the way to Lantau Island, we stopped briefly at the Avenue of Stars, which is pretty near our hotel, parts of which were under construction, for a photo taking opportunity. I believe there is an 8pm daily lights show on the opposite side (Causeway Bay side) but we missed it during our stay. As you can see, the wind was intense but it thankfully not too cold!


Off we zoomed to the scenic Lantau Island, I really enjoyed that place. The main reason being we FINALLY found a halal restaurant, a Mediterranean/Indian chain called Ebeneezer's. I bumped into my bestie's ex-neighbour while she was living in KL, Zarina, and laughed about the coincidence of it all! Didn't I say this was a bandwagon?

Mum was worried we had over-ordered but we totally cleaned out our plates. The kiddies had cup noodles brought from Singapore. When we did run out on Day 4, it was hell trying to get more because all the cup noodles sold in 7-Elevens had pork in them, even seafood or mushroom flavours!!

To get to Ngong Ping 360, the high point on Lantau Island, we had to get on a very large cable car, once again bypassing long queues. Hafidz has acrophobia but the capsule was large and stable that he didn't look nervous although we kept on climbing higher and higher with steep gorges on either sides. The girls, needless to say, were happy to be 'flying'!





It was pretty much a touristy place and modeled like an old Chinese village with the Big Buddha at the top end. Hafidz looked right at home here, his Guangdong lineage blending perfectly with the rest of the Chinese. :)





There was even foam snow which was oh-sho-pwetty with none of the wet puddles we get from fake snow at home. I want!!

And then finally at 4pm, we were ready for half-day Disneyland. We were already pooped by then and the weather was not accommodating either so I had to be the bearer of bad news to the 5 year old who protested vehemently with "So not fair!!"

Instead, we got back to our tiny room, had some packed curry from Ebeneezer's (they provide delivery service too by the way) washed up and jumped on the hotel shuttle to the City area where we discovered many many Indian/Pakistani cafes along Nathan Road, but the one craving we were aiming for- a place called Surya Restaurant on Mody Road in Kowloon City- was nowhere to be found.

No matter, there is still 3 days of Hong Kong left in search of authentic Chinese dim sum!

And for Disneyland.. because as Buddha says "It is better to travel well than to arrive". Try explaining that concept to a 5 year old and the sulky reply would be "Not Fair!"

It is better to travel well than to arrive
~ Buddha