weekend post

darling and i planned a staycation for the in-laws. the in-laws helped us alot in renovating our new house. 

we chose grand mercure roxy because it is in the east, and is a place where the in-laws seldom go to. and the east is a food heaven, so we can treat them to have good meals 24/7. 

the first meal for them is kay lee roast meat at tanjong katong road. i am very familiar with tanjong katong road because my sec sch was at that area. :)

not very cheap. half a roast duck cost $25 and the char siew must buy at the minimum price of $10. the char siew is damn good. melts in the mouth. roast duck is good too. especially the duck skin. hahaha. father in-law totally love them and wanted to buy again the next day. 

after checking in we went to 112 katong to watch 'Mermaid', directed by stephen chow. the movie was a treat from darling's little sis. 

very nice movie with lots of humour and also inculcate an educational theme on the importance of conserving marine biodiversity. i think is nicer than aaron kwok's Journey To The West. sorry aaron kwok. #showluobetter #dengchaobetter

after the movie, darling's little sis have craving for ice cream and we went to cafe 9:30 (by awfully chocolate). she bought the dark chocolate ice cream. #caloriesintakeneedtomaintain 

we went back to the hotel room to wait for xuanxuan and her family. i booked two rooms and we are so glad to be given the connecting rooms. xuanxuan had lots of fun running from room to room. 

dinner was at roland restaurant! 

roland restaurant is known to be the founder for sg's chilli crab. the gravy is really good and matches very well with white rice. we also ordered the crab vermicelli, hor fun and a vege dish. 

the next morning we walked to marine parade hawker centre for a very sumptous breakfast. after that i sent darling and the in-laws to kay lee to da bao roast duck for their dinner, while i went to fort canning hotel for weiquan's wedding lunch. 

and that concludes my meaningful weekend! glad to see that the in-laws enjoyed the staycation. :)

Space. Time. Mind

this was taken last friday at UCC Dance Studio, during our 2nd vetting. 

this was my first time dancing in a vetting session, because i missed the 1st session as i just came back from malacca. 

this vetting session didnt turn out well for me. i forgot some of the movements (what's new anyway). 

i watched The Rites Of Spring (TROS) for the very first time, and it was quite spectacular. TROS is a collaboration between both the nuscd dancers and beijing dance academy dancers.

and we are featured on yesterday's straits times. 

http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/dancing-to-the-rhythm-of-quantum-physics

we are likened to quantum physics. #deep  

quickly buy tickets to support our show! it is on 11 Mar 2016 (Fri), 8 pm at NUS UCC Hall. 

House Renovation

the house renovation is almost done. 

last saturday we have the remaining furniture delivered to the house, for example the dining table & chairs, the queen size bed for the master bedroom and the sofa. 

the dining table & chairs we got them at a very cheap price of $659, and unfortunately when the table was delivered to us, there were scratches at the corner of the table. they also dun look aesthetically pleasing with the nice blue backdrop of the dining area. so we went down to the furniture shop to ask for a change, and with the help of my sister in-law and her husband's persuasion skills, the salesman allowed us to change the table & chairs. hence we got a more atas looking table + chairs, at a more expensive price. :p

let me share the pics of our living room and master bedroom! 

the owl cushions are given by andrea, who is darling's sec sch friend and also one of darling's 姐妹s during our wedding. sofa ($1099) and coffee table ($399) from castlery. 

curtains by CurtainsTalk. cost us $1149. 

master bedroom. bedframe ($785) and nightstands ($613) also from castlery. wall painted by my mother in-law. her painting skills very professional, as she has been painting her house, all by herself, for the past few years. 

this love nest is a combination of efforts from both of us and our parents. my dad gave inputs on how we should renovate our house based on his fengshui knowledge. my FIL then asked the carpenter to make the furniture based on the inputs. MIL helped to paint the house and even cleaned our house. darling and myself help out whatever we can based on her parents' instructions. 

we are hoping to move in by mid march. looking forward to the day of moving in! 

Total Defence Day

over my past 6 years as an educator, this year's commemoration of Total Defence Day is the most big scale i have ever seen. 

firstly, last week all students' parents receive a letter from the P, stating what are the events leading up to Total Defence Day and the programme for Total Defence Day. 

today, all staff and students receive a meal coupon. there was a food rationing exercise at the canteen. we have to exchange the meal coupon for rations that were consumed during the japanese occupation, for example sweet potatoes, porridge, tapioca, corn and plain white bread. 

photo taken at the canteen with my colleagues and my form class students. 

i exchanged my coupon for two sweet potatoes. and because the food were not sufficient for my students, they asked for my sweet potato and i gladly gave one to them while i ate the other one. some of them were totally not used to eating these food and i have to educate them on what our ancestors went through during the japanese occupation, and they had to eat these food everyday. 

and then there was an assembly programme consisting of all the UGs and english drama, whereby they put up a skit to showcase the importance of total defence. alot of effort is being done and kudos to the teachers and students for making all these possible. the assembly programme ended with a fancy drill by each UG and each UG recited their own UG pledge. 

speaking of total defence, this year will be my 10th ICT. and after that i will be placed in the Mindef Reserves, which means i no need to go for ICT anymore. can't for that day to come!

初一

celebrating our first CNY as Mr and Mrs Tan! 

this is darling's 叔叔's house at sengkang. after the 拜年 we went to the newly opened waterway point at punggol with the in-laws. we are all amazed at the crowd. 大年初一 still got so many people go shopping when most of the shops are closed and only the restaurants are opened. 

除夕

for this year's reunion dinner, the grandchildren are tasked to buy the steamboat ingredients. we get to choose what we want to buy, and i chose scallops and all the balls. 

this year was also the first time that darling joined us for the reunion dinner. :)

 

and this year was also my first time giving out ang baos as a married man. i gave out the ang baos today to my younger cousins and nephew and niece because tomorrow we are not going to their house to 拜年. 

15 more minutes to 大年初一! going to stay up after 12 midnight to 守岁 for my parents. 

saturday post

watched this today with darling and her parents. 

i had high hopes for this movie because the trailer really look fantastic, but after watching the whole movie, it was just... normal. 

compared to the previous monkey god by donnie yen, this installation has slightly more humour in the 对白. 

the next movie that i am looking forward to is Deadpool! 

friday post

today the workplace celebrated CNY by having a 1 hour CNY concert from 1130 am to 1230 pm. before 1130 is still normal lessons. 

watching the concert gives me alot of memories that i had from the previous concerts that i am involved in at the previous workplace. and this is also my first time watching the wushu team perform on stage. the wushu team still has room for improvement, but they have quite alot of members, and they have one student who is very good. if you ask me honestly, the wushu team here has more potential than the wushu team at the previous workplace. 

the pe dept agreed to wear red also for today! 

the lady in blue is my hod. she actually wore a red arsenal jersey but she changed out into this blue top because she had pe lessons in the morning. #peteacherwoes

and the P actually walked around the staffroom to wish every chinese teacher happy cny. was surprised by his personal touch. batman has never done that before. only wish the teachers through email. hahahahahaha. 

the school's mascot, Addy, wishing everyone a Happy CNY 2016! 

thursday post

today i went back to the previous workplace to play netball with the b div girls. they challenged the teachers to a friendly match to prepare themselves for the upcoming b div netball competition. 

felt a great sense of nostalgia when i drove into the school gate. said hello to the security guards. the security guards greeted me. "YY! long time no see! where did you go?"

and then i told them i change school already and we chatted for a short while. 

after that i walked to the parade square. the netball girls saw me and they all screamed "MR TANNNNN". i felt so much love and warmth from them. waved at them and smiled at them happily. and then i said hello to my colleagues. mrs rose chen (VP), mr elango (PE HOD) and mr joshua foo also came out of the staffroom and chatted with me briefly. the other students (eg my last year form class students and performing arts students) also came to me and greeted me. i am so happy to be back. really. 

it was a good netball game. a very good intensive workout for me. i have never exercise that intensively since 2016. coming back home with a cramp in the quadriceps signified the good workout. :p

really miss all of you!