Boot camp, anyone??

Ever since I changed to working part time, I had gained back some of my previous lost weight…sigh. Must be the intake of all the sumptuous lunches with Anthea..hee.

And in this coming December I will be attending Adrian’s course graduation ceremony. I had finally bought my Gown and I must really lose some weight to look better in the gown.

Adrian had started his gym routine since his return from the last oversea trip. As the gym membership fees is too expensive for me to maintain. I decided to do my usual jogging routine at the track / park nearby. Well, so far I don’t really seem to be losing what I hope to lose…so I started looking around for some solutions.

Slimming Centers? Nope, this will be my last resort because it will surely cost a bomb for any treatments.

So I start looking around for some affordable gym or workout session. Finally I found this – Fitness Boot camp SG. I read through the website information and found that they had a training session at Bishan on every Sunday. So I wasted no time and registered myself for the trial lesson.

Coincidentally, this is also the same group of people that conducted the Boot Camp session for the Health Promotion Board program – HPB's Lose to Win Challenge. It is telecast on Channel 5 on every Wednesday.

Last Sunday was my 1st time to the session and I had a fun-tastic time. The trainer name was Matt and he was really easy going and fun too. There were another 2 ladies with me at the same session. One of them was also a 1st timer and the other one was a regular. What surprised me most was – both of the ladies were slim & fit and they are doing the Standard Chartered 10KM run on this coming Sunday. This leave me to wonder why do they need to attend the boot camp since they are already so fit…hee.

But after the session, I realized something important – it was the motivational push. When I exercised alone, I felt restless and just do my routine. But when I am doing group exercises, I felt more energetic and also with a personal trainer pushing you along the way, the effect was just amazing. After the 1 hour’s workout, I went home, feeling totally refreshed and my physical felt the fulfillment.

A day and 2 after the session, my whole body was aching but I told Adrian “痛到很爽!!”嘻嘻。

This Sunday I will be going for my 2nd session and hopefully by the end of the whole sessions, I hope I can hit my personal target – losing weight!!

欢乐一周

This week school break had been a pretty fun and enjoyable one for Anthea and myself. As usually my mom was around to help me “babysit” Anthea for 2 days – Tuesday & Wednesday while I was at work.

As my eldest brother is also now taking a break from his work, he was available in the afternoon and we had arranged to meet for lunch after my work.

So on Wednesday, together with my parents and the children, I met them at commonwealth MRT and we headed to commonwealth crescent for lunch. Yes, after watching the TV reality show “抢摊大行动“, I had been telling myself that I must go and try the dessert stall- Bee Garden that celebrity chef Eric Teo had gave a “makeover”. Read more of the stall 遭遇from this famous food blog I Eat I shoot.

After a simple lunch, we had our dessert – we ordered the bubor cha cha and durian penyet. As we were already quite full, we didn’t try the mango pamelo and cheng tng, so this mean we will surely go back for more…haha.

Then my brother brought us to Labrador Park for a quick walk and the whole place looked new to me compared more than 10 years back when we were there for our fishing trip with my MJ Kakis. This walk brought back a lot of fond memories:)

On Thursday & Friday, I decided to take 2 days of no pay leave to be home with Anthea. In the morning, we would go to the library and spend about 2 hours for her SA revisions. We would then go for lunch at the nearby food court. She would take her usual afternoon naps after lunch and then in the evening, we would play badminton.

It was a good decision to be home to do the revisions with her, otherwise, I know she may overplay and when Monday comes, she will suffer from it.

Last evening, we went to Rider’s café at fairway place for our dinner. It was another wonderful discovery and again, recommended by my 大哥…haha. When it comes to food, he has many lobangs. We enjoyed a very sumptuous and relaxing dinner at the café and we would be back for more, as usual.

This week has passed by so swiftly and in another 1 more day, we will be back to our normal routine and it’s the final countdown to Anthea’s SA : )

"啊牛进城市"

After working for almost a month at my new temp job, I am getting quite used to the morning express train to Raffles Place.

The energy level is always so high in the morning and people are literally “marching” to work…hehe. This used to be my working place about 10 years ago. : P

Then my working place was changed to the woods and the pace became very laid back..hehe. I enjoyed the greenery and the pace at that time as I embarked on my Part Time working life.

Last year I had the chance to move back to a modern working environment and the workplace was at Novena Square. The pace was fairly ok and I don’t feel the “marching” sensation. I enjoyed Novena as it was about 10 minutes ride from AMK.

On Monday, Adrian was having his off in lieu and he took care of Anthea at home while I went to work. I took the opportunity to meet up with my long time sister – Andrea and had lunch with her. Her office is in Tanjong Pagar and we met there for lunch. Tanjong Pagar MRT station had changed so much and now it has an Exchange itself where they had so many eateries and shopping places. I was truly surprised to see the whole place to be so happening now and it’s really a far cry from the days we were there…hehe.

We had a good lunch and chatted about everything and anything. After lunch, I walked her back to her office and then took a slow walk on Robinson Road. As I walk passed my old office building – SIA Building – it brought back many fond memories. But I noticed the SIA Logo is gone from the building, so guess it’s no longer called SIA Building..hehe.

Along Robinson road, I saw some familiar shops and some newbie’s. The changes are so amazing and if I don’t take a walk this time, I think next time the whole place will be “ulu” to me.

Now that I am doing contract / temp jobs, I had the chance to work in different MNCs and learning the different culture values. I told Adrian that it’s quite good to have such experience to learn all the different cultures.

Hope that i will be able to get my Dream Job again...hee!

Stress or Motivation

Anthea SA2 will be happening in about 2 week’s time. I am preparing her revision papers for next week when school is out for a week due to PSLE markings.

A few weeks back during a family dinner, there was a discussion about Anthea SA2. Well, Adrian had promised Anthea that she gets to chose her holiday destination if she scores 90% & above for her 3 subjects. If any of the 3 subjects fall below 90%, mommy will chose the destination. (Hmm…regardless, she will still get a holiday. Not a bad deal for her…hehe.)

My youngest BIL posed a question to Adrian: “by giving her this 90% targets, are you stressing her or motivating her?”

So this opens the family discussion:

My FIL (an ex-school teacher) asked Adrian: “what were her scores for her SA1?” Adrian told him they were all above 90%. Then my FIL said that the targets are realistic. He cited that if she had been scoring 75% above and we set a 90% target, then it will be STRESSFUL for her to achieve. As it is now, it’s to motivate her to maintain her good results.

My 2^nd BIL – he’s also agreeable to the targets as he mentioned that children need to work hard towards certain achievement and when they achieved it, they will feel proud of themselves too.

Phew…so it was a clean bill of approvals…haha. (I was not presence at the discussions and heard these from Adrian.)

Well, to be honest, we or rather I had never stress Anthea too much on her studies. My requirement is the same as any parents – as long as she put in her best effort towards her studies, I am satisfied. Of course, which parents do not want the child to excel?? I know her area of weakness and I will constantly help her to improve. This is the reason why I chose to become a Part Time SAHM… : )

Besides studying, Anthea still enjoy badminton sessions and DS games with all her friends. So it’s very much balance between study – play for her. Periodically, I will also do a check with her if she’s coping fine with her school & tuition lessons and so far, her feedbacks are positive.

I remembered reading on the Straits Times Forum that said HDB dwellers parents do not give enough stress to their children in their studies. That's why they do not become Doctors and Lawyers as compared to those who stayed in private properties.

Let's hope our generation of HDB's children can make a "revolution change"...haha.

BBQ on 双十节

In celebration of 双十节, my brother decided to organize a BBQ session at my place.(Actually it's was impromtu and it happened to be on 10 -10, what a coincidence.)

Yes, at our block podium, there are 3 BBQ Pits for residential use. Having stayed in our home for 10 years plus, we had never once used the BBQ pit..hehe.

Last week, my eldest brother called me and mentioned his keen interest in organizing a BBQ session at our BBQ pit. So immediately I went to the Resident Committee office to check regarding the booking for the pits. I was informed that there is no reservation required and it’s first come first basis. Also the usage is Free of Charge...: )

I informed my eldest brother of my findings and we confirmed our Saturday BBQ appointment. He set off to buy all the food stuff and then gave me instruction of things to bring on the day.

As it was just our own family BBQ, we kept it to the minimum and simplest.

On Saturday around 5pm, we went downstairs to play a game badminton and as well to “chop” a pit. I heard from the RC person that there were few queries for the pits.

Around 6 pm, my eldest brother came with my parents and we started to set up our BBQ pit for the grill. My dad also prepared some bee hoon and potato salad.

We took about 30 – 45 minutes to start up the fire and when the charcoal was ready, it was BBQ TIME. We had chicken winglets, lamp chop, sausages, corn & sweet potatoes.

As we BBQ, we also chatted and shared our happenings as a family. I guess this is the fun part of BBQ. While the adults were busied with the BBQ-ing, Anthea & Anders were busied playing badminton with our neighbor 哥哥 & his friend. They were running all over the place and having great fun.

There was another group of people using the BBQ pit next to us. They were a BIG family group and they were celebrating a baby girl 1 year old birthday. The whole place was very lively and the atmosphere was good.

We ended our BBQ around 9 pm and cleared up the places. It had been a very good 1^st BBQ experienced for our family and I know we will be organizing more as Anthea kept saying that “she hopes we will have more BBQ!!” : P

口试

Last Saturday after her 天下lesson, Anthea told me “mommy, you need to buy oral books for me to revise my Chinese oral. Don’t buy those which need to do exercises, buy those just for oral, okay?”

“Okay, I will go and look for the oral book/s.” I told her.

So on Monday, I went to Popular bookstore to search for the book. Anthea seldom make such request and when she does, I treat it with TOP Priority…hehe.

I went through all the P1 assessment books and saw that they are all the comprehension exercise books with a few other subjects. I don’t think I want to stress her with more such exercises. So I look and look around all the P1 books. Finally at one particular shelf, I saw all the ORAL Preparation books. I was so happy and this was exactly what she wanted. I read through a few and shortlisted one that I thought was nearest to her current school teaching.

I bought a copy of the Chinese oral book. For English oral, her class teacher had all the notes and preparation information in the file, so I will just use that to revise with her.

Her English / Chinese oral tests were scheduled on this week Thursday & Friday. On Tuesday & Wednesday afternoon, I went through a few of the Chinese oral tests with her.

朗读短文- she can read the passage quite well and with little assistance.

看图说话- she can descript most of the things in the picture. But she was also a bit 罗嗦, so I reminded her to keep her sentences “short & sweet.”

听力测验- she score quite well for this section too. (Ahem ^^ credit goes a little to mommy who can read like her teacher..hehe.)

听力选图- this section was also fairly easy for her.

Overall based on our own tests - her Chinese oral was average. On Thursday, she came home and told me that she had her Chinese oral test on that day. I thought it was supposed to be on Friday : P

Then I asked her how the test was – she said it was ok and her tester said to her: “艾妤，很好。“I was happy to hear her teacher’s feedback but I hope she passed well with good marks.

Today she had her English oral and once again she said the tester commented she did very well too for the oral.

I told Adrian that I hoped what she said is for real and not just some “晚报“news which were at times – laughable.

Now that this week of oral is over, we will now put our focus to her SA2 preparation.

One of my GF was commenting on my FB comment and told me to RELAX …guess I can only really relax in about another 2 weeks time when her SA2 is over on 3 November “ )

Montage 2009 & an Officer Sneak Preview

Last Wednesday, Anthea came home with some presents from her teachers in celebration of the children day.

Then she showed me a book titled “Montage 2009” and turned to a particular page that showed her name and an article she wrote.

I was very surprised and happy to see that her written work has been accepted by her teacher and printed on a book and given to every child in the school.

Prior to this, she only mentioned to me her artwork was chosen by her form teacher for some display purposes, little did I expect that her written composition cum artwork was printed into the book.

I am really proud of her little achievement and told her that she should continue her good effort in writing her composition.

Yes, her form teacher had mentioned to me during the PTC that Anthea is creative in her composition. The area that I should monitor her is her grammar…hee. I am not good in English grammar too, so I shall make an effort to try to learn with her and improve with her in this area. : )

Adrian’s officer course graduation will be in December and he already had his suit tailored for the formal dinner. The other day at the course, his officer wanted all the men & women to bring in their suit for inspection. So he did a try on and I quickly took a sneak shoot of him wearing the suit.

怎么样？ 帅吗？嘻嘻 ：Ｐ

Now I must get myself something decent and formal for the dinner, heard from his buddy’s wife that it’s going to be a very “boring dinner”. Think I should bring along one of the children DS to kill the boredom…haha.

中秋园游会

Anthea School organized a mid autumn festival celebration for the resident living in the area and it took place on Friday, 02 October 2009.

After dinner with my parent in laws, we went over to the school around 7.20pm.Anthea was very excited as her classmates were there too.

There were many events happening at the venue:

- Lantern making competition
- Pomelo peeling competition
- On-the-spot colouring competition
- Lantern parade
- Jigsaw puzzle
- Traditional games and chess
- Lantern riddles
- Chinese tea appreciation
- Mooncake tasting
- Karaoke singing

So there was everything for everyone, from young to old. Once we reached the school, Anthea requested to play with her friends and off she went. I took the chance to explore all the different stalls and Anders was with me.

One of Anthea’s friend’s mommy took part in the Pomelo peeling competition and it was really fun to watch…hee : P then she shared her fruit of labor with us and it was really sweet.

The event ended around 9.30pm and Anthea said she had a fantastic time and said we shall come again next year. It was a very well organized event and I must say the teachers and staff of the school had really put in a lot of great effort for the event.

The actual 中秋节 happened yesterday – Saturday, 03 October 2009. In the evening before meeting my in laws for dinner, I saw the sky was full of dark clouds and told Anthea and Anders that we may not be able to go to the park if it rained.

It started to rain quite heavily while we were having our dinner, so after dinner we decided to go to my in law house instead. We had a good chance to chat and catch up with my in laws and enjoyed a good cup of Chinese tea with mooncake.

This is the 1st year we didn’t go to the park for our annual 提灯笼 ritual but I know the importance thing is we are a family together this year and it meant more than anything to me.

儿童节特写

Today is children day and school is out for Anthea. As for Anders, his childcare was still opened and had planned a Children Day cum mid-autumn festival celebration.

In the morning after breakfast, Anders changed into his new uniforms and we went together to his childcare centre. He was very happy to be in his new uniforms.

The celebration was scheduled from 9.30am to 11am. There was a mini sport day for the children. The event was supposed to be at the open court in front of the centre. However, as the event was about to start, there was a slight drizzle and the teachers decided to hold it in the childcare.

Though the space was a constraint but the event went on very well and the children had great fun.

K1 children did the Bean Bag balancers and Anders team won the event. He was very happy and accepted the prize on behalf of his team. I was really proud of his performance too.

Then the children were told to bring out their lantern and the teachers brought them for a walk around the blocks void deck. As it was still bright day light, most of the lanterns were not lighted up…haha. Still they had great fun showing off all the beautiful lanterns.

The event ended with the lantern walk and the children went back to the centre for their bath & lunch.

While Anders was having his lunch in the centre, I brought Anthea to AMK HUB for our lunch. As Adrian had some New York, New York vouchers, I decided to had our lunch there.

Before lunch we went by to popular bookstore to buy some books and a whiteboard for Anthea.

Then after lunch we went back to the childcare to fetch Anders home. Since it’s Children Day and also his Play day for his DS, so I thought I could bring him home early to enjoy the day.

It’s has been another simple & enjoyable day with the children – 儿童节的欢乐好满足！！