End of term 2!

Usually, the last week of term 2 is a short week as there is early dismissal on Thursday and no school on Friday for PTMs. This time, it's shorter due to Vesak Day falling on Wednesday.

We had a bad start to Vesak Day - Kai was injured on the escalator up from Bishan MRT platform. I was behind Sito and didn't see it happen. Only heard a loud noise and peeked from behind Sito to see Kai fallen on Yu and Yu fallen on Sito! 

I realised I couldn't help Kai up unless the woman who fell on him got up so I pushed her up with the help of another passenger. The first thing she said was, "Where's my phone?" Wa, pissed off man..

When we got off the escalator, we stopped a bit ahead to examine Kai's leg. There was one streak of blood but it wasn't flowing. The woman came over to say sorry and that she lost her balance. She sounded like a foreign domestic worker. I didn't want to look at her at all. She left. On retrospect, we should have asked her to stay until we got things sorted out in case we needed to make a report.

An MRT staff came over very quickly and brought us to the first aid room. By then, Kai's abrasion was more visible - besides the streak, there was a patch of redness around it. The staff kindly cleaned up the area. I took the leftover to clean up Yu who had a slight abrasion but no blood. We rejected plasters as the area was too big for the plasters; the tape might hurt the abrasion instead.

Kai's abrasion

Poor Kai. But he was quite collected throughout the incident. Thankfully, he's big enough else that woman might have caused more damage.

Later, I learnt from Yang who was standing in front of Kai, that she also knocked into him. But he managed to steady himself and dodge her full weight. He couldn't remember but he probably was holding on to the handrail. 

So the first lesson, when we got down to a debrief, was that we must always hold on to the handrail on escalators. We may be standing well but other people may fall. We can minimise injury to ourselves if we hold on tight. Rather be the domino that breaks the fall than a fallen domino.

And the second lesson started with questioning why the woman fell. Yang guessed that she was probably looking at her phone and hence lost her balance coz she was looking for her phone after that. Yes, my dear boy! We must not stare at our phones when walking, much less on a moving escalator! Yang said very wisely that the best place to play phone games was at home :)

We made it to Ah Yee's place, thinking we were late. Turned out we were not the latest! But lunch was delayed. The boys played with Sito's phone while waiting. But after lunch, no more phone - they played hide-and-seek etc and were very noisy. Papa took up the job of managing them while I chatted with the extended family, oops...

Discovering the joy of speaking into a fan :)

All on Papa!!

Lunch was yummy! But the kids didn't like or eat much except for chicken cutlet and siew mai. I sneaked in some fried sweet potato coz the beehoon this time was spicy tom yum. 

Left with Mother's png kueh, lots of biscuits that Ah Yee bought for the praying session (I think she just wanted to give the kids :)) and some leftover tau sar piah. But we didn't go home straight away.

Strolling in Toa Payoh

Wa, Kai is so handsome!!!

Ok, distracted... Yang and Yu went to TPY for one of their social studies learning journeys in P2. Kai probably missed out due to his P2 being COVID outbreak year. So we asked the two to show us where they'd been. They remembered only bits and pieces. So we just anyhow walked.

Yu was hungry so bought him a char siew bun. After the stroll, we went to Macs for an early dinner. Settled down early as the next day was still a school day.

We managed to score PTM slots on Thursday so Friday could be freed up totally. Anyway, PTM has changed to PCTC - Parent-Child-Teacher Conference. The format is for the child to share his review of the year with us. 

But first, lunch at Subway

Yu couldn't finish his drink and gave it to Papa. Yang wanted it so Yu told him that he had slobbered all over it! Then he gave it to Papa?! Poor Papa!

Kai decided to start on his holiday homework. He continued to do his work while waiting for his turn in school. So conscientious - I like!

Waiting for Yang's turn outside his classroom

Yang was first. It was clear that the form teachers - science and maths - did not prepare the kids for the session. They were also not terribly good at prompting Yang. Yang also didn't answer questions very well - we have to work on this. We asked about his academics, and the teachers said we could ask the subject teachers any time during the year - which was fine but this session was not going anywhere. The teachers even said this was MOE directive. What rubbish.

But we learnt that Yang talks the same way at home and in school. That isn't the case for his brothers...

Yu was next. This time, it was clear that the teachers prepared the kids - Yu's first line was, "I like Founders' Day because it lets me learn more about ACS." He even spread out his arms as he finished this line, hilarious! But that was all. The rest of the time, he just answered his teachers' questions, and quite well. When a teacher paraphrased wrongly, he corrected her - so cute. 

But the cutest was how he spoke. So soft-spoken, so unlike at home! His teachers also said he was soft-spoken but he would participate in class. It was clear that his teacher know him well, even the one who takes him for only FTGP; the other takes him for English and maths as well.

Now Kai. He was very... 敷衍 about it. Everything was oh ya, yes yes yes. His teachers - Chinese and FTGP - were two chill guys who would prompt Kai. Quite different from Yu's but it was also clear that they know Kai well. Chinese teacher reassured us his Chinese was ok. The other knew him since P3 and that he doesn't like to read after all these years, and advised him to pick up reading! Both also shared they got their kids to write 300-500 Chinese words a day! *.*

Sito said if he were the HOD, he would also assign the weakest teachers to P3 and P4. Sighs. But it also depends on the individual teachers. Yang's P3 form teacher who also took Kai for P3, was very good and could share a lot about both of them at PTM.

Since we scored the PCTC sessions on Thursday, Friday was totally free, yeah! We went to the Science Centre. But this time, we were there less than four hours. Yang and Yu were hungry despite Macs breakfast, which was more than their usual toast. And my nose was dripping madly - not sure if it was the heat from Thursday or the rain on the way to Science Centre - so just as well that we left early.

A rare moment that Kai and Yu smiled at each other :)

Fascinated by dry ice, especially Yang

These two went for the laser maze; Yu didn't want to be alone in the dark

I had always thought it was like laser tag. But it was more like, avoid the laser beams. Each player gets two rounds for $5. Yang tried easy and expert while Kai chose expert twice. Seemed quite fun and a good replacement for the free escape room on level 2 which was "closed until further notice".

Our planned early dinner became a late lunch. We had our usual at Ikea. Sito left us once he was done to go to the bank for the second time that day. The bank refused to waive his credit card fee as he had spent on the card after the fee was issued - what nonsense?! 

Also ridiculous is that the bank couldn't waive or even cancel his card on his first trip. They called later to ask him to go to the bank again to do it. So Sito spent time waiting quite a bit that day but as he put it - waiting at the bank is less painful than having his leg kicked (by Kai), being sung to (Punjabi song by Kai) and having his ears pulled (by Yu) at the same time, as had happened at Macs that morning!!!

What about Yang? He couldn't decide what to have when he was still not full after his egg McMuffin. But that was fine and Sito couldn't nag him coz that was just like him, haha!

Anyway, we packed hotdog buns home for their light dinner. Sito caught up with us when we were going to Donki. Bought some snacks and stocked up on curry roux and mayonnaise. 

I went to sleep while Sito settled their dinner and packed soup noodles for me. The boys enjoyed their Friday TV and snacks before going to bed. And that's it - end of term 2.

Today, we started holiday schedule - school work after breakfast, reading, lunch, news on TV, Nintendo and phone games, dinner. Last four months for Kai and last five months for Yang before exams! Yu has to do work too - no escape, heh!

Kai's obsession - the good and the bad

It's an obsession indeed. For weeks now, he has been playing a song on YouTube, and has learnt how to sing it. This would have been great! I mean, I love listening to songs and singing too!

BUT!

1) He plays and/or sings the song waaay too much. And often, he came to terrorise us all the time, suddenly bursting into song at our ears. That quickly went from cute to irritating. 

2) It's a blangrah song. Yes, blangrah. So no one in this family understands a word. If anyone is interested, the song is "Mundian To Bach Ke", apparently quite a big hit. 

When I finally listened to the song myself, I also found that my son is no singer. Or at least, no singer of Punjabi lyrics. That did not stop him from singing the song in school though. 

Then he started playing the song - maybe just the chorus; I'm not familiar with the song - in Garage Band on the iPad, which eventually led to him playing the song on the piano in the school canteen!

I really give it to him. This boy has not learnt music outside of music class in school. But he 敢敢 played on a public piano anyway.

Apparently, some students joined him, and some told him to just stop. One Indian boy also told him he sang the lyrics wrongly.

But nothing deters him. No, not this boy. He continues to play and sing his current favourite song.

He can be so full of confidence sometimes. Whether it's real or misplaced can be subject :p But ok, go ahead, my boy, and have fun!

Just don't sing too much to Papa and Mama. And, can we have English or Mandarin songs next time, please? :)

Things they say

I think I haven't recorded the darn things that come out of the kids' mouths for a while... It gets better as they grow...! Here are some, mostly from a single, long convo one night:

1) The devil is in the details

Bedtime talk

Mama: What did you have for recess today?

Yang: Waffle, even though I was supposed to have chicken rice. The smart buddy system broke down so we could only order the set and I was afraid I didn't like the set.

Mama: But you use cash so should be fine?

Yu: Yes, can use cash.

Yang: What? I didn't know. They never told me the details.

2) Kids do not know the value of money - Part 1

This continues from the chicken rice talk.

Mama: Do many boys use the smart buddy watch?

Both: Yes, many! So easy, just beep.

Mama: We want you to use cash else you may not know the value of money... If you use the watch, you just beep without knowing how much money you have before and after, and..

Yu: But you can see the balance...

Mama: Ok but the point is, it's always topped up. But with cash, the money goes out of your hands, and you FEEL it!

Yu: If you forget to give us pocket money, we can use student card.

Mama: Yes, only then.

3) Kids do not know the value of money - Part 2

Continued from #2

Mama: How long do you have to work to earn $100?

Both: ??

Mama: Let's say you do a holiday job at McDonald's. You have to work maybe 10 hours for $10/h (I plucked numbers from the air)...

Both: O.O (yes, big eyes and ohhh...)

Mama: And you will not bring home $100 coz you have to take bus or train...

Yu: But we can walk there!

Mama: If this McDonald's isn't busy, the boss may ask you to go elsewhere like Clementi. And 10 hours - you must have lunch right?

Yu: But it's still a lot of money right?

If you say so

4) Yang is very contented

Mama: When Mama was a relief teacher, I earned about $1,000 a month.

Both: That's a lot of money!

Mama: After I graduated, I earned more than $2,000 a month.

Both: !!!!

Mama: If I had better grades, I could have earned $3,000 a month.

Both: !!!!!!

And we started talking about education and qualifications.

Yang: I don't need to earn too much.

Mama: Meaning?

Yang: I don't want to be poor but I don't need to earn a lot, just enough to support my family.

I need to take this up further with Yang as I'm worried that he thinks he's not getting good grades and so moderates his own expectations...

5) Yu see me no up

On the bus as I sent Yu to school when Yang was ill.

Yu: Oh ya, Papa is a science teacher...

Mama: Yes..

Yu: ... He's a real teacher. You're only relief.

Mama: ...

6) Yu see me very up

Mama: Guess how much I'll earn if I go back to work now.

Both: ??

Mama: $XXX a day

Both: What?!!!

Yu: Then you should go back to work.

Mama: But then I won't be with you...

Yu: But Papa is here...

Si gin nah

7) 金玉良言

One evening when I was having a tummy ache, Yu lay in bed with me to sayang me. I told him my tummy ache could be due to the spicy noodles I had earlier. 

Yu: Then don't eat spicy noodles.

Mama: But I like...

Yu: But health is better than yummy right?

Yes, you are absolutely right :)

*** *** ***

Kai did not say anything like his brothers. Coz he has been singing...

Mothers' Day surprises

Two Sundays ago on our way back from breakfast, Yu suddenly asked me when Mothers' Day was. He said he would “make a love letter” for me. Awww, so sweet...

That week, he instructed me not to remove the pack of rice on his desk until Sunday… Ok, baby, I won’t coz I ran out of pantry space :p I even purposely looked away whenever I was in his room to open the window for ventilation.

To my surprise, Kai gave me a card on Tuesday after tuition. He looked kind of embarrassed about it haha so cute! But he must draw my attention to the words he scratched out.

Mama: Ok, then I won't take care of you anymore!

Kai: Nonono!

:p

Last night, I was very pleased when he asked me to 陪陪 him - he hasn't asked me to for some weeks coz he was busy playing chess online. I delegated Yang's eczema cream to Sito and went to Kai happily :)

In Chinese coz the card was from Chinese tuition

Fast forward to Sunday. I woke to see the boys on the floor in Yu's room, playing the pop pirate barrel toy. As I went about my morning preparing things, Yu came to find me with a note and present. He must like my belly very much to mention it!!

The toy was in the red packet - I told him he could borrow it to play anytime

Then, he asked me when I would remove the rice pack from his desk. Eh, let me put there a while more...

When Yang saw what Yu did, he asked me when Mothers' Day was. The look on his face was "GASP" when I told him, haha! He quickly drew a picture and wrote a note for me.

Paypay = 陪陪 :)

But that wasn't all. Yesterday, he came back from art club to say he bought me a present! He took it out at dinner time after showering - it was a scented rose!

Rose from sweet boy

But I think he spent his lunch money on the rose; he had a slice of honeydew for lunch, sighs... This rose is now safely in my box of presents. Must keep forever...

Thank you, my lovely boys. I’ll 陪陪 you for as long as you want me to :)

Back to school!

Last Saturday, we went to NJ's Funtasia, a charity fun fair. I thought I would be super on and wear my old house T-shirt :p But it turned out to be a scorching hot day and the very thick tee was very hot!

Oops, didn't wear glasses when taking photos so missed out the R :p

We came from ACS BR open house and alighted across the road. Now the bridge has a lift and many teenagers were taking it. Hello, auntie needs it more :p

The side gate was not open so we walked down a bit to the big gate. It felt kind of surreal approaching the grandstand - how familiar!

It was very crowded as we walked up. There were families, students, more students, and student stallholders wearing placards - one guy looked at Yang and Yu and told them, "You two should go play gladiator!"

We went to find Sito's ex-colleague to buy tickets. And since the tickets were right outside the hall, we started with the hall.

Yes, they played gladiators! And they were very violent!

These two were less violent, just pushed and pushed and pounced!

They all won some and lost some. Everyone was happy. They'd better be; it was $6 per pax for a 3-min joust! Most games were at that range. Luckily we bought $100 worth of tickets. Let them play until enough.

Testing his reflex

This one a bit far from the sticks...

We came back to this for another round towards the end, and I played too

Yu just stood there looking a bit lost but rather happy :)

Kai tried to pick up from the floor and had to replay the game, when he plucked the money off the walls *.*

Yang was the most successful, keeping a hand stationary to grab whatever flew his way, and had time to smile at me!

Then we went to the alumni area, less crowded. Saw a teacher who was there when we were kids, Sito's ex-colleagues, and someone went, "Mr Sito!" Yup, his student, with a kid in tow.

Even though we didn't meet here :)

Boys, do you want to study here too? Better study hard, haha!

Must squat to eat popcorn

It was hot and crowded so we got tired quite quickly. Later, all three were squatting in the canteen. Some stalls were open to participate in the fun fair. We bought fishballs, popcorn chicken and drinks with tickets. I was tempted to ask the noodle stall auntie if she was here over 20 years ago coz she looked familiar! I loved those crispy noodles on Thursdays!

Back in JC days, we took many photos here

The peace of the library was broken by these two monkeys...

After taking the photo above, I saw that the first shelf on the right was Chinese fiction. Must be where I got all my Jin Yong novels from :p 

I used to frequent this wing of the library. I have sat at the far end, as well as the alcove on the left of the photo. But mostly, I sat at the corner to the left of this row of seats but I couldn't take a photo as there were people there. In any case, that corner looked different already, more a cosy corner than just study seats.

The games came with stickers, the number of which depended on how well you did in the games. The students were nice to accommodate my request to even out the number of stickers on our three cards. So very fair, no quarrels. We went to the prize booth to collect prizes.

As it turned out, our 30 stickers qualified us for the top tier of prizes! But they were all soft toys and I said no. Managed to get three lower-tier prizes instead, very fair! And last night, we had fun playing the pop pirate barrel game :)

What were they eyeing...?

The track!

Kai and Yang had their first NAPFA test recently - apparently, they did it all indoors! So now they were keen to run under the hot sun! 跑了才知道累！

Took this photo while waiting for them to finish their 400m

While we studied in the study areas and the library, we used to spend time relaxing at the grandstand. I couldn't remember what we did there though Na reminded me we played bridge there!

Carefree student life :) Hope the boys will eventually enjoy school like I did JC :)

Recent culinary adventures

Recently, I feel the need to cook something different... I have been looking at cooking reels and drooling madly. Also want to expose the kids to different stuff.

I love Dough Magic which is 92 years away from being a 百年老店 haha! It was stated so on their website. We first had it in Chinatown. Then we found an outlet in Clementi - so near so happy! But nowadays I would only buy the spring onion pancake as I know how to make the meat pancakes and better!

Easy but time consuming and back-breaking!

I stood to make everything. Cooking alone took an hour coz 3 min each side!

So yummy! But the kids did not like it :(

Wontons are a childhood favourite. Love the skin and the soup. The kids often had char siew noodles, i.e. no wontons so I decided they must have some wontons!

One pack of skin and 250g meat makes 50 wontons; remaining 250g for meatballs

Another back-breaking activity but the kids did not like it :(

Gyoza for lunch one day - open sides and using wonton skin

Not so back-breaking but - no surprise - the kids did not like it :(

I also made a lot of other things - spinach in chicken soup, wafu spaghetti with shimeji mushrooms, sticky buns and Japanese curry fried rice. But the kids did not like them all! :(

But Yang and Yu liked my prata sandwich on Monday. I wrap ham, cheese and a fried egg in prata for their lunch. I'm doing that today again, for Kai and Yu, hoping to wrap them better this time. Hope Kai likes it too!

More excitingly, I signed up for my first SkillsFuture course - Tantalising Tarts and Pastries run by SSA Culinary. Last Tuesday, we had theory in the morning and hands-on in the afternoon. As it's WSQ, there was a written and a practical assessment - sure pass.

Potato and onion pasties and Hokkaido cheese tarts

One tart had gone into my tummy :p I dropped half the dough of the pasties so I threw away my four in the end :( My class partner daringly ate everything! I tried the chef's version in class - yummy pastry but I didn't like the filling much. 

The tarts didn't look too good but they were yummy! I decided not to torch the top but had already added egg yolk to the top... And for half of them with salted egg yolk lava centre, we also piped leftover lava on the top...

The tarts were a bit too much cheese for me but not for Sito. Maybe coz I had four while he had two?? But the chocolate tarts from yesterday were great for me and less so for Sito who is more prone to "heatiness".

Also made smoked salmon quiche tarts and lemon meringue tarts 

We each brought home two of each type of tart. Now there are only one lemon meringue and one chocolate ganache (I declined the strawberries coz give me 100% chocolate!!!) left in the fridge...

Also, first time piping cream - so fun! I find the straight tip easier than the flower tip. Chef torched the cream for us. There was a lot of meringue cream left over so I brought some home - I have a tray of meringue cookies in the oven right now as I type. Share pictures later, if I remember...

Oh, and the kids were not interested in the tarts and pasties :(

Next time just cook for Sito and myself!!!

A random thought on GP and so on

Every Monday morning, I do laundry, make preparations for dinner and wash the bathrooms and toilets. Very little thinking is involved. 

Should I iron this top which doesn't look too crumpled? 

How many cloves of garlic for these dishes? 

Should I scrub the tiles today? 

Yes, you can imagine that my thoughts are usually elsewhere. Today, I somehow thought of my GP lessons. 

You know canon events? Not the camera (though I still have mine). I'm referring to those significant events in the Spiderman multi-verse that shape the character of each Spiderman. Or core memories? Ok, I watch too many movies.

I think one GP lesson was both. That lesson came to my mind every so often. I don't know why. Today, it came to me again when I was cutting meat.

Based on O levels, I was streamed into the best GP class, A01, in JC1. I quickly discovered that GP wasn't like English. We had practically no work, and I still remember an essay submitted but never returned! It was instead, mostly talk, e.g.:

What, exactly, is the point of life?

As I typed the above, my eyes rolled, just like they did back in 1997 - but less obvious last time la, more in the teenage mf way which probably means staring without understanding and keeping quiet while the few vocal ones argued among themselves.

I think that was the moment I decided, to hell with GP!

I wasn't not the type to skip classes but from then on, I read my own stuff in GP class unless we had the rare essay or compre. I might have read all of Jin Yong novels that year.

After getting a C5 at promos, I was streamed into A07 in JC2 - that's like the second last class or something :p In this class, however, there was work so I couldn't read as much. Maybe it was more work, less talk, I improved to B4 for prelims. Or maybe not, coz I got an A1 for A levels.

I ended my housework thinking, I'm proof you don't need to discuss the meaning of life to get A1!

Ok rubbish thoughts aside... More thoughts emerging as I type...

Sito and I discussed GP a couple of weeks before. Our school teachers, at least back then, might not mark the same way as Cambridge examiners. In JC, I always thought my compre answers were correct but I often didn't get the full marks. 

Maybe it was the type of questions set. I'm confident of marking the kids' compre in both languages without referring to the answer scheme, except when the questions were not terribly clear. 

Or maybe it's the marking scheme?

Last Tuesday, I was at a baking class (more on this later) and did the theory assessment. One question floored me. Or rather, the answer did. 

Q: Explain a quality of a good shortcrust pastry.

Or something like that. I wrote: Golden brown edges. I couldn't see how I could possibly "explain" this. My answer was returned with a question - which aspect? Sure, let me be clearer and added on so my answer looked like this:

Golden brown edges - the appearance of the pastry should have golden brown edges.

Please forgive my strange wording; I couldn't be bothered.

It was returned again, coz I need to put the aspect upfront. So this was accepted in the end:

Golden brown edges - the appearance of the pastry should have golden brown edges. Appearance - the pastry should have golden brown edges.

Wa I couldn't. Nvm, just do it and move on to practical!

Anyway, I went on to read Maths where my written sentences were mostly short and full of symbols and Greek letters. It was four years later that I really needed to write. Thankfully, my bosses were more Cambridge examiners than GP tutors!