すごい。。！ {su-go-i = awesome}

was out of the house this morning from 9am to tutor a neighbour's daughter... left the 2 gals at home... set them each a paper to do...

while i was at neighbour's house... i was offered some grapes... and neighbour was nice enough to walk over to our house... to give the gals a bowl of grapes too...

after a little while more... there was a knock on the door... my gals were at the door... they had wanted to return the bowl... my neighbour then exclaimed... すごい!...

initially... i thought she was surprised that the gals had finished the bowl of grapes... but no... in the bowl was ham omelet..!

rachelle had used 3 eggs and a slice of ham... fried them in the pan... put them in the bowl... and returned the bowl..!

instantly... i swelled with pride... =)

this gal has been watching me... you see... neighbours and i have been sharing food with each other quite often... and each time we receive a plate of food from them... the plate will never be returned to the neighbour empty... i will prepare something... put it on their plate... then return them... even if it were jus strawberries... the plate is never returned empty...

the gals had asked me why... which i replied... that by returning an empty plate... seems to say that i wanted some more from them... and in any case... it was much nicer to return the plate with something else on it...

this made me see how important it is for us parents to be exemplary in what we do... how we conduct ourselves...

truly... our children are always watching us... they are really our mirrors..!

public pool

we are staying very close to the community centre... it has lots of facilities... like the library... gym... indoor and outdoor pools... children's hall...and many other services...

today... one of the gals' friend asked if the gals would like to go swimming... being the typical singaporean... i tagged along... jus cannot bring myself to let them go without an adult...

and so... i thought i'd be going with 4 gals... but it turned out that there were 2 boys and 3 gals... a total of 5 kids under my charge... felt like mother hen...

anyways... i really enjoy the pool..!

everything is so organised... so clean... so systematic... i mean... not state-of-the-art equipment... nor interiors... but jus super pleasant...

before we enter the premise... we had to remove our footwear...

as we enter... we bought tickets from the vending machines... then walked through a few ladies who greeted us happily as we made our way to the changing room...

there in the changing room... there were more lockers than shower facilities... lockers required a 10円 to work... the best thing about it is... you can lock and unlock as many times as you wish... not like the ones back at home... where you forget something... you'd have to put in more coins to lock it again...

then we walked towards the pool... there is this sensor that will automatically turn on 4 showers as you walk past... and it's warm water..! so no rude shocks..! I LIKE..!

the pool was crowded... not surprising cos of the heat... but what's surprising is that the water is super clean..!it was so clear... not cloudy at all...

after swimming for about 50min... there was an announcement for all to leave the pool to rest... for the next 10min... there were people cleaning the pool... 2 will be doing laps in the pool to look for anything items at the bottom of the pool... another 2walking along the perimeters of the pool with large nets... fishing out hair... and other floating particles... yet another 2 scooping water from the pool to flush the other dirt that are along the edge of the pool...

then after 10min... another announcement will be made... signalling that the pool is now ready for us to enjoy once again...

a wonderful experience... thing we are gonna do this more often in this summer..! =)

birthday party

rachelle asked if she could have a birthday party next month... she'd like to invite her international friends staying in the same block as us...

this will be our first birthday party...

joanna had her birthday 12 days after we moved here... so there was no party... have not made friends yet...

the only problem now is that our place is really too small to hold a party... so venue is a consideration now... might have to seek permission to use one of the function rooms at first floor...

as we'd be back from Hokkaido on the 14th... and the party's on the 15th... we decided that it'll be a tea party... from 3-5pm... so that there will not be any major cooking involved... maybe some nuggets and fries...

guess it'll be fun... =)

towels

have seen many pretty handkerchiefs here at the departmental stores... in fact... they are everywhere..!

never had i imagined myself spotted with one of those... i mean... we have tissue papers right..? so convenient... jus use and throw la...

since the 2 days spent at Disneysea and Disneyland... i have come to appreciate them..! and i would not leave the house without one in this summer heat...

having a towel with me is such a great thing now... tissue papers may tear when wet... or worse yet... you get bits of them stuck on your face and everyone sees it... but jus wont tell you that you have them on your face..!

the towel absorbs all the perspiration... put it over your head to shield from the sun... better yet... wet it before use... so refreshing..!

me-time

since the start of the summer vacation... hardly have much time for myself... to be on FB... and blog...

gals are at a friend's church for a 3-day summer day-camp... from 10am to 3pm..!
wooot..! =)

got this strange thing about me... when someone is at home... i dun like to do chores... not even sweeping the floor... so the house was not in her best state... =P

so today... immediately after the gals set off... i started cleaning... changing the bed sheets... vacuuming... wiping... washing...

happy to say... the house looks great now... and i still have time for myself to blog..!
yeah..! =)

summer vacation

so the summer vacation started... 6 full weeks of it...

we're into the 3rd day of it... and the heat is starting to get really unbearable... it hit 36 degrees yesterday...

looking forward to our holidays... and events coming up...

we kicked off the hols by going to Disneysea and Disneyland... making the gals miss 1 day of school... and a day of summer swimming program...

gals have a summer swimming program for the next 2 weeks... and they are already very tanned liao... have been slathering them with sun screen before they leave for their swim... but the sun is really unforgiving...

we're looking forward to a live baseball game happening 2 weeks later... our host family's really great... they bought the tickets and invited us for it... =)

then a week after the game... we will be again visiting our host family's home in yamanashi..! for 2 nights this time..! really looking forward to the stay...

immediately after the stay... we will be going Hokkaido for the following 4 days... self drive..! another trip that i am so looking forward to...

amidst all these... i am hoping that we find time for the gals to catch up on their singapore syllabus... actually planned for the gals to complete the year's work... =P

perspective

which is yours..?

you burn with so much passion...
that others see you burn...
and then catch the fire...

or

you burn with so much passion...
that you wanna spread the fire...
and burn others...

happy gal

rachelle had her cast removed yesterday... she had been looking forward to this day... and so have i...

she no longer needs my help during bath time... no longer do we have to 'tahan' the stench from her cast... jus one more follow-up trip to the docs... and that's it... i hope...

since walking out from the doc's room... she has been beaming from ear to ear... telling us how light her arm feels... humming... singing... basically jus very happy that the cast is finally off...

funny thing is... now that she is so used to using her left hand... she was seen feeding herself with her left hand... responding with her left hand when we hand something to her...

no play for one more week... jus want to be extra careful with the arm la...

holiday planning

we had a family conference yesterday... gals were so excited about it...

we all sat at the dining table and discussed about plans for the 2 1-week holidays... 1 this month... and another the next...

on top of hubby's schedule... we had to also take into consideration the gals' summer swimming lessons in school...

at the end of the 'conference'... booked a 2 nites stay at a hotel near Disneyland... as for the next month's hols... we will be visiting our host family in yamanashi again... 2 nites this time... and following that... a 3-4 days trip to Hokkaido...

now to plan the Hokkaido trip... should we book everything ourselves... or go through a travel company..?

so fun... =)

proud of me

when i returned from my shopping trip today... there was a memo in my mailbox... all written in japanese...

with my little japanese... i gathered it was a note to say that there was a delivery made while i was away... guessed it was a book that i've ordered through amazon...

there were numbers on the note... guessed they were telephone numbers... tried one... but it seemed that was not a telephone number...

deciphered the memo a little more... figured out the driver's mobile... and decided to call...

'hello... すみません。えいごをはなせますか。'
(excuse me... do you speak english..?)

'... ... ... ...'
(i dont speak english)

'すみません。だいじょうぶです。'
(sorry... it's ok then)

'... ... おなまえわ。'
(name?)

'~husband's name~'

'わかりました。'
(i understand)

'delivery... きょう... だいじょうぶですか。'
(delivery... today ok?)

'... ... ... ...'
(~guessed~ ok... from 4-6pm)


tada..!

i conversed with a non-english-speaking japanese... and arranged for a re-delivery of my book..! ha..! =)

s.a.l.e.s.

jus over the last 7 days...

1 zara denim shirt
1 baracuta t-shirt
1 gap tailored bermuda
2 t-shirts

dilemma...

stay home on weekends... boring...
go out on weekends... expensive... =P