Did it with this apartment two years ago, as if it's my very own home. But we're moving out after two years.
Suddenly feel like going back Singapore. At least, I know whatever I'm doing, it's for my own home.
11 May 2010
Home
With this move to Shanghai, it's another round of house hunting, negotiation, bargaining, buying furniture, appliances, lights and repairs to take care of. Not to mention, packing, throwing, unpacking.
Did it with this apartment two years ago, as if it's my very own home. But we're moving out after two years.
Suddenly feel like going back Singapore. At least, I know whatever I'm doing, it's for my own home.
Did it with this apartment two years ago, as if it's my very own home. But we're moving out after two years.
Suddenly feel like going back Singapore. At least, I know whatever I'm doing, it's for my own home.
10 May 2010
International Day
8 May was International Day at the boys' school. It's the one event that brings all cultures and nationalities together.
This year, Singapore teamed with many other Asian countries and so we had a huge booth and probably the most variety in food. We call ourselves ISEAN (including India). There were fried yam cake, ou kuey, roti jala, ice kachang, indian desserts, filipino snacks, longan jelly, nasi lemak, go ngiang, and some food which names escaped me. And I sold all my zui kuey after much "lelong". We were all so busy trying to sell our food I forgot to take pictures of the food and the booth. Alamak.
The dance by the Asian booth, was as usual, one of the key highlights.
This year, Singapore teamed with many other Asian countries and so we had a huge booth and probably the most variety in food. We call ourselves ISEAN (including India). There were fried yam cake, ou kuey, roti jala, ice kachang, indian desserts, filipino snacks, longan jelly, nasi lemak, go ngiang, and some food which names escaped me. And I sold all my zui kuey after much "lelong". We were all so busy trying to sell our food I forgot to take pictures of the food and the booth. Alamak.
The dance by the Asian booth, was as usual, one of the key highlights.
29 April 2010
Time...
This has been a strange week. I suddenly find myself with lots of time. Teo is away on a business trip. My gym membership has ended. No school events/activities except for a meeting on International Day. I was expecting a lot of things to do. Then some things got cancelled or postponed.
Time seemed so tight before. Now, it's lying bare in front of me, and I don't know what to do with it. Which means I have lots more time on blogging.
But there's nothing much to blog about.
Time seemed so tight before. Now, it's lying bare in front of me, and I don't know what to do with it. Which means I have lots more time on blogging.
But there's nothing much to blog about.
26 April 2010
Shanghai Shanghai
To all my friends in Suzhou and family/friends back home, in case you don't already know, we'll be moving to Shanghai in two months' time. Teo is moving to another workplace (same company still, in case you're wondering).
We're now busy searching for the place to stay, and the boys will be joining SSIS Shanghai in the new school year. It's been at least one trip to Shanghai every week for the past 2-3 weeks.
Will update and keep in touch more often using this Chinese blogging website. I'm too lazy to access foreign websites. This sina blogger's really quite cool and fast too! Too bad there's no English interface. If you can, leave a comment using "评论" function. Good luck and hope to hear from you soon!
You can browse through the newly-uploaded and long-overdue pictures of Taiwan and Singapore trips. Or tune in and listen to a selection of songs by Jason Mraz. Keane introduced me to his "I'm Yours" and now I'm hooked too! This Mraz chap has great vocals. Here're the lyrics to his song "Life is Wonderful". Have a wonderful life. Ciao!
"Life Is Wonderful"
It takes a crane to build a crane
It takes two floors to make a storey
It takes an egg to make a hen
It takes a hen to make an egg
There is no end to what I'm saying
It takes a thought to make a word
And it takes some words to make an action
It takes some work to make it work
It takes some good to make it hurt
It takes some bad for satisfaction
La la la la la la la life is wonderful
Ah la la la la la la life goes full circle
Ah la la la la la la life is wonderful
Al la la la la
It takes a night to make it dawn
And it takes a day to make you yawn brother
And it takes some old to make you young
It takes some cold to know the sun
It takes the one to have the other
And it takes no time to fall in love
But it takes you years to know what love is
It takes some fears to make you trust
It takes those tears to make it rust
It takes the dust to have it polished
Ha la la la la la la life is wonderful
Ah la la la la la la life goes full circle
Ah la la la la la la life is so full of
Ah la la la la la la life is so rough
Ah la la la la la la life is wonderful
Ah la la la la la la life goes full circle
Ah la la la la la la life is our love
Ah la la la la la
It takes some silence to make sound
It takes a loss before you found it
And it takes a road to go nowhere
It takes a toll to make you care
It takes a hole to make a mountain
Ah la la la la la la life is wonderful
Ah la la la la la la life goes full circle
Ha la la la la la life is wonderful
Ha la la la la la life is meaningful
Ha la la la la la life is wonderful
Ha la la la la la life it is...so... wonderful
It is so meaningful
It is so wonderful
It is meaningful
It is wonderful
It is meaningful
It goes full circle
Wonderful
Meaningful
Full circle
Wonderful
We're now busy searching for the place to stay, and the boys will be joining SSIS Shanghai in the new school year. It's been at least one trip to Shanghai every week for the past 2-3 weeks.
Will update and keep in touch more often using this Chinese blogging website. I'm too lazy to access foreign websites. This sina blogger's really quite cool and fast too! Too bad there's no English interface. If you can, leave a comment using "评论" function. Good luck and hope to hear from you soon!
You can browse through the newly-uploaded and long-overdue pictures of Taiwan and Singapore trips. Or tune in and listen to a selection of songs by Jason Mraz. Keane introduced me to his "I'm Yours" and now I'm hooked too! This Mraz chap has great vocals. Here're the lyrics to his song "Life is Wonderful". Have a wonderful life. Ciao!
"Life Is Wonderful"
It takes a crane to build a crane
It takes two floors to make a storey
It takes an egg to make a hen
It takes a hen to make an egg
There is no end to what I'm saying
It takes a thought to make a word
And it takes some words to make an action
It takes some work to make it work
It takes some good to make it hurt
It takes some bad for satisfaction
La la la la la la la life is wonderful
Ah la la la la la la life goes full circle
Ah la la la la la la life is wonderful
Al la la la la
It takes a night to make it dawn
And it takes a day to make you yawn brother
And it takes some old to make you young
It takes some cold to know the sun
It takes the one to have the other
And it takes no time to fall in love
But it takes you years to know what love is
It takes some fears to make you trust
It takes those tears to make it rust
It takes the dust to have it polished
Ha la la la la la la life is wonderful
Ah la la la la la la life goes full circle
Ah la la la la la la life is so full of
Ah la la la la la la life is so rough
Ah la la la la la la life is wonderful
Ah la la la la la la life goes full circle
Ah la la la la la la life is our love
Ah la la la la la
It takes some silence to make sound
It takes a loss before you found it
And it takes a road to go nowhere
It takes a toll to make you care
It takes a hole to make a mountain
Ah la la la la la la life is wonderful
Ah la la la la la la life goes full circle
Ha la la la la la life is wonderful
Ha la la la la la life is meaningful
Ha la la la la la life is wonderful
Ha la la la la la life it is...so... wonderful
It is so meaningful
It is so wonderful
It is meaningful
It is wonderful
It is meaningful
It goes full circle
Wonderful
Meaningful
Full circle
Wonderful
22 April 2010
Leaving
It's finally here. That feeling..the feeling of leaving.
It feels strange, and yet so familiar.
Maybe it's because I've been moving house all my life.
Thought I would have gotten used to it by now but no, it's new everytime.
A bit of sadness, tinged with anticipation, a bit of sentimental nostalgia, mixed with high hopes.
Suddenly, you begin to see the things around you with new eyes.
Everything you may have taken for granted becomes something you wish you could have for longer.
Like the view from my living room, the view of Jin Ji Lake. I would look at it more, in the hope that I can imprint it in my mind. It's really, frankly, quite beautiful.
It feels strange, and yet so familiar.
Maybe it's because I've been moving house all my life.
Thought I would have gotten used to it by now but no, it's new everytime.
A bit of sadness, tinged with anticipation, a bit of sentimental nostalgia, mixed with high hopes.
Suddenly, you begin to see the things around you with new eyes.
Everything you may have taken for granted becomes something you wish you could have for longer.
Like the view from my living room, the view of Jin Ji Lake. I would look at it more, in the hope that I can imprint it in my mind. It's really, frankly, quite beautiful.
26 October 2009
Butter cake 奶油蛋糕
Just to set the record straight, I have been using my mixer bought from Taobao. And the humble butter cake is one of my favourites. It's so easy to make and the taste is accepted by almost everyone in the family, so it's whipped up more often than the others!
自制的奶油蛋糕...
自制的奶油蛋糕...
14 October 2009
12 October 2009
Les Mills Concert in Suzhou
08 October 2009
New Blog 新博客
(English blogging websites were blocked in China starting 2009. From this entry till I returned to Singapore in late 2011, I blogged using a Chinese interface: http://blog.sina.com.cn/lumyinpeng. I also started writing in Chinese for friends who could not read English. Those were precious memories and I decided to copy and paste them in one central location in the blog you're reading now.)
You can't beat them, join them! Welcome yet again to my new blog, my third in China
.
During the golden week, we went on a self-drive holiday to Lianyungang 连云港 with our Suzhou friends.
...
黄金周去了一趟连云港：海鲜，沙滩，好友。非常不错的组合！
You can't beat them, join them! Welcome yet again to my new blog, my third in China
. During the golden week, we went on a self-drive holiday to Lianyungang 连云港 with our Suzhou friends.
...黄金周去了一趟连云港：海鲜，沙滩，好友。非常不错的组合！
07 May 2009
Not fair!
Zern has been using this phrase "Not fair!" quite often recently.
He would utter "Not fair!" because some other year groups got a new playground at school, when the brother gets to do less homework, even when Girl Scouts Club started before the Boy Scouts Club.
You get the picture...life was just "not fair" to this boy.
Yesterday, I thought it was getting way too much when again he said "Not fair" over something very trivial. I couldn't remember what it was about but I just had to tell him off.
I had just visited a migrant school in the morning as part of the school community work. To give the brothers an idea how the other half of the world lives, I showed them photos taken during the visit.
I then went on to describe the stark differences between this school catering to children of migrant workers and their own international school, Dulwich:
- Over 50 students squeezed into a classroom versus 22 max in Dulwich
- Kids had to share benches, tables, maybe even textbooks, yet Keane & Zern had the chance to rotate rooms for Art, IT, PE etc etc
- Forget about heater/airconditioning of any sort at the migrant school...international school: the full works: water dispensers, warm water for handwashing
- PE at the migrant school: just stretch and move; at Dulwich: astroturf field, gym, swimming, a new sport every term
- Parents work long long hours at the farm/factory versus me as full-time mother taking care of them at home
To my question, "What is 'not fair'?", Zern just gave me this blank look, whilst Keane responded with a rather strange statement: "Oh, they look quite "normal" yeah?" Oh my gosh. Being poor doesn't mean not normal! Another lesson here.
Indeed, life is not fair. We are living such great lives that we forget to give thanks for what we have. Yet, the kids at the migrant school have such ready smiles for us. Perhaps we should practise self-deprivation to truly understand the value of things.
Indeed, life is not fair. We are living such great lives that we forget to give thanks for what we have. Yet, the kids at the migrant school have such ready smiles for us. Perhaps we should practise self-deprivation to truly understand the value of things.
This morning before school, Zern was again saying "Not fair!" but he stopped himself and said,"Nope, I shouldn't say that." I don't know how long this will last but I sincerely wish for my boys that they know and appreciate what they have. I wish that for myself too!
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