Yuan Ze is 2

this year, we celebrate yuanze's birthday at seaview bungalow at aloha loyang. 

i have always like the seaview bungalow at aloha loyang. it has a kitchen (where all utensils and appliances are provided), living room, dining room, 4 bedrooms, and each bedroom has a toilet. 

so i proposed the idea to darling. can celebrate yuanze's birthday. can have a staycation. can have a bbq session. can have family bonding (my family and darling's family). so many plus points. and darling agreed. :)

aloha loyang is now known as civil service club @ loyang. i was pleasantly surprised when i stepped into the bungalow. they have renovated it. the last time i went was 3 years ago. they changed the flooring of the living room and dining room. they put an air con at the living room. last time there were only fans. they also changed the location of the bbq pit, which i think is better. and they inserted sliding doors at the dining room, so once we bbq the food, we can just open the sliding door and pass the food to the people at the dining table. i really like the changes! the management really pay attention to te fine details. 

our seaview bungalow for the 2D1N, unit 15. it has its own porch to park one car. let me lead a #crazyrichasian life for one day. hahahaha. 

yuanze very happy with his new superwings scooter. his 小姨 bought it for him as a birthday present.  

yuanze love bubbles! i also like this front courtyard area for the kids to play and jump around. yuanze, enxuan and chenxi (huanyang's son) had so much fun there.  

yuanze's birthday cake! very innovative cake. in the middle is rainbow chiffon cake from polar. yuanze loves eating it. on top of the cake are tsum tsum disney figurines bought from qoo10. surrounding the rainbow chiffon cake are mini tarts from elijah. they taste really good. huanyang ordered them from elijah. the flavours that we ordered are matcha, earl grey, blueberry and lemon. 

he looks a bit stunned, probably because this is the first time he is standing all by himself in front of the cake, and all by himself on the receiving end of the birthday wishes. for the past few birthday celebrations there will always be someone carrying him. 

dunno why his face like that. hahahahahahaha.  

and of course must take photo with his favourite enxuan 姐姐. they do quarrel with each other over toys or over the most random of things, but they still love each other alot. as what my sister in-law said, 他们俩比亲姐弟还要亲. 

that night was also yuanze's breakthrough in bedtime. we always tuck him into bed at about 9 pm. but on that night, we only cut the cake at 9 pm. and then clear up, say goodbye to my parents and sisters, 930 pm. bathe him, let him drink medicine (because he is still teething), 10 pm. he only fell asleep at about 11 pm. my god sia... 

i slept very well. yuanze slept well too. he only cried a bit at about 3 am plus for milk, fed him and he continued sleeping. i woke up at 6 am, and drove out to pasir ris to buy breakfast. drove to this kopitiam that is 5 min drive away, and da bao-ed coffee and tea, chwee kueh and buy bread and kaya from this old sch chinese provision shop. so blessed to be able to experience all this morning vibes in the eastern part of singapore. 

we made sandwiches for breakfast using the sandwich maker that my sister in-law bought. we used the remaining butter from yesterday's bbq, as well as the remaining meats, remaining kimchi and remaining veggies to make taiwan-style breakfast sandwiches. taste really good! :)

happy birthday yuanze! hope you enjoy your birthday celebration this year. we all love you! 

Teacher's Day 2018

this is the best surprise for all the teachers for this year's teacher's day. the students from art & environment club drew personalised cartoons of all the teachers. yes ALL the teachers. really super impressed with the effort. 

the pe dept with our personalised pictures! 

teacher's day is also in conjunction with aces day. this year the song that nuriah chose is Azukita by steve aoki. always an awesome sight to see 1000 plus students and staff dance together in the parade square!

the dance leaders who danced on the same platform as me. 

trademark pose! thank you to my angel, miss atiqah for taking this photo!

another aces day accomplishment! good job pe dept! do you like our new FAT (FIT ATHLETIC TEACHER) tees?  

instagrammable backdrop done at the back of the hall, by the parents from the Parent Support Group. the parent support group of this school is really very strong. they also perform for teachers' day concert this year, and were dressed in WOW costumes. A+ for effort. 

and for the first time ever, the teachers put up a kpop item. this is also my first time dancing a kpop item. really enjoyed myself. thank you to ms hazel peh for putting everything together. ms hazel peh was also the dance president of nus dance blast, and her husband, idil, is also my pe classmate in NIE. amazed at how sg is so small, and amazed at how fate brings everyone together. 

happy teacher's day to all my teacher friends!!

Teacher's Day Dinner 2018

this year's Teacher's Day Dinner is at tiffany cafe at furama city centre. 

went there together with my last year's FT partner, mr ray chua. when we reach there, we realise the teachers from punggol pri sch are also having their teacher's day dinner over there, but it is inside a ballroom. 

and the moment we step into the lobby, i find this place familiar. then i realise i came here before for prom nite when i was still teaching at the previous workplace. 

for the past 2 years, our teacher's day dinner have a theme, and we must dress up according to the theme, and our colleagues will double up as emcees, entertain us, and there will also be a lucky draw, and the lucky draw prizes are very good. last year's top lucky draw prize was a staycation at MBS. 

this year, the staff welfare committee let all staff do a survey, and majority of the staff prefered the themed dinners to be on alternate years. so this year is just a buffet dinner at tiffany cafe. 

if you ask me, honestly, i still prefer the previous workplace's arrangement. on the day of teacher's day celebration, have a good lunch in the school, and you are free to do your own stuff after that. last time, after the lunch, we will go sing ktv. now, i will rather go home sleep or play with yuanze. 

ok, here are the pics of the teacher's day dinner!

it was free seating. here are my table mates. from left to right: mr poon, teach maths, previously the hod mathematics at damai sec; mr ray chua, teach physics, my partner FT last year (we became Talk Cock Buddies because of our partnership last year hahahahaha); mr nigel chong, teach DnT, also the discipline master; mr steven neo, my fellow pe colleague; mr ang shi da, teach physics, the subject head for partnership. the colleagues label us as the kopitiam uncles' table, because we were very noisy and rowdy. that day was also the day for all of us to reveal our angels' identity to the mortals. so everytime when someone comes to our table, we will all just cheer very loudly (me being the loudest of course). hahahahahaha. 

introducing my angel, miss atiqah! she is the ICT associate in the workplace. although she is not a teacher, she is a great colleague and great friend to all of us. she bakes very well, always take good photos of us during events, and of course settle all the ICT stuff in the school. and she is also my neighbour (who sits next to me) miss ong huiping's angel. what are the odds? there was one time when she delivered presents to both of us, and at that time we of course do not know that she is our angel. it was really quite funny now that we come to think of it. and for this angel mortal game, our school principal's angel is none other than... ... ME!!! everybody was cheering when i went up to the P and told him that i am his angel. hahahahaha.  

last but not least, of course must take pic with the pe dept! thankful to be in this dept. best dept ever! 

Taiwan Trip 2018 - Accommodation

my first trip to taiwan was with my family. i was very young. sec 1 or sec 2, if i remember correctly. i remembered going to shilin night market. and i am also very sure that we did not go to ximending. 

second trip was with the army. i was a trainee at school of armour, and we went to taiwan to train for 3 weeks. that was really a highlight of my military life. the bunks were dirty and dusty. toilets were smelly. the toilet bowls have very small holes, so we cannot throw toilet paper into the toilet bowl. after wiping our asses we need to throw the soiled toilet paper into a small waste paper basket that is beside the toilet bowl. and god knows how often they empty that waste paper basket. damn disgusting. there were no showers. there is a big barrel of water, and we have to bathe using small pails to scoop the water out. there were good times also. we are very happy when we have nights off. there were quite a few old school eateries and convenience stores outside our camp. and of course the best part of this trip is the R&R, the final part of the trip, and we stayed at rainbow hotel for 2 nights. 
that was when i knew the existence of ximending. and SHE also held a 签唱会 at the open area just outside the hotel. 

in terms of location, rainbow hotel is really the best. it is very near to the mtr station. it is right in the middle of ximending. however there is only one lift. and the rooms are a bit old. 

third time to taiwan was with my jc friends. we also stayed at rainbow hotel. 

fourth time to taiwan was with darling in 2008. we tried this cheapo hostel for 2 nights, and stayed at rainbow hotel for the 3rd night. the hostel was quite an experience. the room was very cold, and the beds were very small. and their common toilet is at the roof top. and we were there during the winter season. so you can imagine after bathing, with the cold wind blowing at us, we have to quickly walk back indoor from the toilet. we were so glad to stay at rainbow for the 3rd night. hahahahahaha.

fifth time to taiwan was with my pe buddies, KC and zhenhong. we stayed at east dragon hotel. 

east dragon hotel was ok. further away from the mrt station. rooms were also a bit old. and the breakfast was mediocre. after trying the breakfast on the first morning, we decided to skip it. hahahahahaha. we had our breakfast at the dou jiang shop that was just opposite the hotel. 

sixth time to taiwan was with brotherhood, minus laval. we also stayed at east dragon. 

seventh time was in 2016, with darling, after we just became parents. really thankful to my family for taking care of yuanze while both of us go for this well needed holiday. we stayed at roader's hotel. i really like roader's hotel. the rooms are nice, and very new. it has a very big lobby, with many big sofas for you to sit there and eat breakfast or eat supper. you can also watch tv and play darts. they even have a photograph machine. the lobby also have coffee, tea, cup noodles, man tou, all for the guests to consume. the only downside is that it is a bit further away from ximending. 

and the eighth time, which is this time, with darling, yuanze and darling's family. we stayed at amba taipei ximending. 

location wise, amba is also very good. the building itself is also very happening. 诚品 is in the same building as the hotel, and so you can shop there, just that the prices are on the high end. there is also a starbucks on the first floor of the building. there is an arcade at the basement. xuanxuan and yuanze were very happy there. the rooms are very new. and their beds are big! they have a super king size bed, big enough for 3 persons to sleep on it. amazing place. if next time stay at ximending, i will definitely come here to stay. 

Taiwan Trip 2018 - 幸福山行

this taiwan trip is only 5 days 4 nights. i agree it is a bit short. especially when we are all discussing the itinerary, it seems a bit too packed, and darling's sister commented that we seem to be going there to eat, and not to tour. hahahahaha. the thing is we are travelling with two young kids, and we really do not know what to expect, and we are afraid that they may fall sick, so to play safe, i think 4 nights is just nice. 

of course at taiwan, my number 1 place to stay at is ximending. very convenient location, no worries in getting food, all the shopping can be done here. 

and then darling commented that the 2 young kids may be bored, because shopping doesnt entice them. why not stay at a min su where there are big vast areas for them to run around. i totally agree with her so i start researching for a good min su. 

i chance upon this dearbnb website, whereby it introduces all the different min su in the different areas of taiwan. and i must say that the min su that they introduce are all very nice, and of course very pricey. 

after doing much research, and weighing all the possibilities, i decided to go with this min su, 幸福山行 at 平溪. 平溪 is located at the outskirt of taipei city. from taoyuan airport to 平溪 is about one hour fifteen minutes ride. and then on the next day when we check out, the journey from 平溪 to ximending is about 45 minutes. and this 幸福山行 has a big green field for yuanze and xuanxuan to run about. it also keeps animals, such as a tortoise, a wild boar, a dog and even a blue bird. and the room is super nice. 

we book the 8 pax room, known as the 蓝鹊山房. sunday to thursday, each night cost NT10300. fri and saturday, eve of public holiday and public holiday, each night cost NT11800. cny period and special event period (eg 平溪天灯节) cost NT15800. NT10300 is equivalent to 464 sgd.

this 8 pax room consists of a living room, and 3 bedrooms. bedroom 1 is like a master bedroom, with a tv and a washroom. bedroom 2 also has a washroom. bedroom 3 is the smallest room, with 2 big mattresses that can sleep 4 people. and the living room itself also has a washroom. hence is not too bad for 8 pax to share 3 washrooms. i remember in 2014 when we went to stay at a hk airbnb, it was 5 pax having to share 1 washroom. a bit nightmare. hahahahaha. ok let the pictures do the talking!

the glasshouse that we are staying at. we staying at the first floor. second floor consist of other rooms. you can book the whole glasshouse. for the rates, please check their official website. i lazy to write here. 

this is the entrance to their reception/check-in counter.  

the living room. also got a tatami area for people to sit there and drink tea. darling said she can imagine her parents sitting there drinking tea, while watching yuanze and enxuan run around at the field outside. hahahaha. 

this is bedroom 1, the master bedroom. also have a tatami sitting area. 

their washrooms got a bath tub. even the toilet bowl is the japan version one. which means got the bidet to wash your backside after you shit, and also warm toilet seat so that your backside wont freeze. 

the washroom at the living room. 

the small bedroom for 4 pax. 

a playground in the eating area. how amazing is that. the down side to this is that enxuan and yuanze wants to play here before they have their meals. anyway i also want to add that all the carpentry here was done by the owner of the min su. not just this playground. the swing, the rocking horse, all the carpentry in the glass house, all done by him. so crazily talented. 

our dinner. very filling. each dinner set cost NT380. equivalent to 17.10 sgd. each dinner set consists of a main dish, a bowl of rice, a bowl of organic vegetables, a roasted pumpkin that is really very yummy and sweet, a small dish of salad that is made of some 瓜 and salted egg, and a bowl of soup. and also comes with a drink. for the main dish, you can choose from a saba (mackarel), deep fried chicken cutlet with their signature spicy sauce (my FIL loves this sauce alot and requested for extra sauce), bbq chicken cutlet, and cherry duck breast (i personally think the cherry duck breast is the best dish among the rest). the drink you choose coffee, milk tea or soyabean milk. and i ask the owner whether can prepare meesua for yuanze and enxuan, and he agreed. then when i ask him how much does the meesua cost, he said it is FOC. so nice of him. that is taiwan hospitality!

the next morning. i really like staying at one big house with everyone. enxuan likes it too. it was drizzling at that time. both of them were waiting for the drizzle to stop so they can go out and play. i wanted to have a morning jog too but the drizzle forbidded me from doing so. :(

even though got drizzle, both of them still very happy. :)

this is their hand drip coffee, served to us for breakfast, as well as for dinner. it is very nice!

their breakfast! very western. not the local taiwan breakfast that you are expecting. consist of a plate of fruits (pineapple, apple, lychee, water melon), a yogurt, and a panini sandwich that has egg, cheese, pork cutlet and peanut butter. really very filling. oh yah the pineapple and lychee was the best that i have ever eaten in my entire life. so nice until my FIL ask the owner where he got the pineapple from, and so nice until my MIL ate 9 lychees.  

ta daaa this is the owner of the min su. 吴先生. thank you so much for the great hospitality. 

oh yes he also got sell 天灯 that cost NT150. 

will i come back again to stay? of course i will. i love this place. 

Taiwan Trip 2018

and yes, it finally happened. 

we went to taiwan from 10 june to 14 june. a total of 7 adults and 2 kids. 

a few months before the trip, my MIL warned us not to say anything about the trip in front of the 2 kids, especially when we are going, because she has heard horror stories of parents getting very excited about overseas trips and keep mentioning it in front of their children, then sway sway on the day of the trip, the child falls ill and the trip was cancelled. 

so we were all very careful. as the day start counting down slowly to the trip, i keep praying and praying. pray that both enxuan and yuanze will be in good health. 

and thank goodness, 10 june came, and off we went to the changi airport terminal 3 to take our flight to taiwan! 

yuanze's first trip overseas. anyway the minnie mouse luggage doesnt belong to him. it belongs to enxuan. 

we took china airlines to taiwan. china airlines ironically is not from china, it is actually taiwan's national airline. i booked the tickets in december 2017, at 560 dollars per ticket. it was actually a bit more expensive as compared to the air ticket in 2016, which cost 545 dollars. i have actually been monitoring the price since november 2017, and it started off at 600+ dollars. then when it finally came down to 560, i decided to purchase it already, after permission given by darling and her family. 

and then when darling's sister bought her air tickets in march 2018, it was at 500 dollars. omg damn heart pain. but then from april onwards, the price soar up to 1000 dollars. ok that made me feel a bit happier. 

at china airlines, once you secured the air tickets, you can go to the website to select your seats. when i went to taiwan in 2016 with darling, i only discovered this 2 weeks before the trip. so by the time when i book my seats, we were only left with seats way at the back of the aircraft.

so this time round, i can choose the seats 6 months before the trip, and i chose very good seats that is in the middle of the aircraft, with alot of leg space, and even have room to put a baby bassinet, although yuanze is too tall for that bassinet. 

for this trip, i am very thankful for darling's family, because they all help to look after yuanze. i even have a few precious hours on my own to shop around ximending, and i am very thankful for that. hence for couples who want to go on holiday with your little one, bring your parents along too, not only you can bring them for holiday and make them happy, and they can also help to take care or entertain your child. :)

ok that's it for the first post of taiwan trip, more updates coming up!  

Wushu National School Games 2018

the wushu national school games started on 28 march (tue), and ended on 6 apr (fri). 

the whole competition was held over 8 days, the first 6 days was at chung cheng high main, my alma mater, and the final 2 days was at toa payoh sports hall. 

out of this 8 days, i bring students out for 6 days. although i do not need to teach, but still, it is mentally tiring and energy draining to bring students out for competition. 

the last time i brought students for wushu competition was in 2011, when i was still a wushu teacher in-charge. as you all know, from 2012 to 2017, i was in performing arts. 

after a 7 year hiatus from the wushu scene, i am finally back again. 

i am really happy to go back to my alma mater again after so long, eating the canteen food. 

i feel really happy to see my sec sch and jc wushu coaches. 

wushu has changed so much ever since i joined the cca as a student. during my time, we wear polo tees with wushu pants. or if we have more budget, we wear track suits. now, everybody wears wushu costumes. the schools with more budget wear costumes with outlandish designs. the schools with lesser budget wear normal plain costumes. 

as i was sitting on the spectator stand yesterday, watching my juniors competing in the group events, i was tearing, because all the memories came back. last time we train on concrete ground. under the hot sun. now times have changed. they train indoors, on proper wushu carpets. 

the singapore wushu scene is really evolving. for the better. 

this year is my first year as the wushu teacher in charge of my sch wushu team. i learnt alot of things. 

next year i will prepare my students even better for the wushu national school games. 

mark my words, i give myself 4 years to make admiralty secondary school wushu team a household name, if not in singapore, at least in the north. 

Happy Birthday Darling

happy birthday darling~ 

this year i bought a bouquet of flowers for her birthday present. bought it from an ex colleague, who have quit teaching to become a full time florist. she will go to her flower supplier on the day itself to select the freshest and most beautiful flowers to make it into a bouquet. and comes with free delivery. 
you can just tell her what you want or what you dun want and she will customise it for you. so i told her no tulips because last year i bought tulips for darling. 

darling, thank you for coming into my life. i cannot imagine how my life will be without you. love you always~

End of Term 1

10 weeks have passed! it is the end of term 1!

anyway last saturday was speech day, and i was in charge of the performance aspect (as always, what's new). one thing i like about this workplace is that performing arts is not the niche, and so the staff may not expect too much in terms of standard of the performance. but still as a performer myself, i do expect the best from my student performers, and honestly speaking, that day's performance from both the dance club and wushu was bad. really bad. bad until i refuse to speak to my wushu students after their performance. 

my last year's form class students came back to receive awards for getting good results for their o levels. on the extreme left is ziyuan, the top student, now in hwa chong jc. probably she is the only one in the history of the workplace who made it to hwa chong? the next person is ee qing, now in national jc. followed by kellie, now in anderson serangoon jc (due to the merger). next one is qing hui, the only one who chose poly. she is studying vetinary related course at temasek poly. and last but not least, the only male power, tra bibi, who is from cambodia, now studying in anglo chinese jc, and he also got Admiral Of The Year, because of his good results and also his outstanding leadership in the band. out of this 5, there are 3 foreign talents (ziyuan, ee qing and bibi) and 2 locals. congrats everyone!!

jia xing, my dance president from last year. we can relate well with each other and she always share her problems with me, be it friendship, dance cca problems, syf problems, etc etc. it is important for a teacher in charge to have chemistry with the cca president, and i am glad that over so many years as a cca teacher in charge, there are a few students that i have good chemistry with, for example rachel and chauli from show choir, shermin, audrey and estel from chinese dance. 

taaa daaaa, drum roll for ms cheris tan! the world is really very small. i know her husband when he was a camp instructor during my days at the previous workplace. i will meet him once every year, during May because we will hold level camps during the last week of term 2. later on he became a pe teacher, and then i went to the current workplace, and when i first spoke to ms cheris tan at the current workplace, she told me she already knew of my existence. hahahahaha. we got along very well with each other and i am really amazed how our paths cross with each other. 

next week is the march hols but i still have to go back on mon and tue for remedial, as well as go back on fri for a mock wushu competition that i am hosting. 

nevertheless i am glad to have a break on wednesday and thursday. 

next term will be a busy term because of the upcoming wushu competition, and i am also the overall in charge for the admirals' run, which will be on 13 april. 

looking forward to the june hols because i can go to taiwan with my family!!

CNY Eve 2018

this year's cny eve falls on 15 february, which is also the day where we commemorate Total Defence Day. so the cny concert for this year is combined with TDD elements, a 2-in-1 package. 

anyway this year is also my first year leading the wushu cca in preparing for the cny concert. after much scolding and much training, they did really well for the actual performance. i am very proud of them. 

specially travelled to tiong bahru to borrow this costume from xuehong. thank you xuehong for agreeing to lend it to me and thank you nzj for staying at home just to pass me the costume. :)

the face paint was done by me. heeheehee.  

applause applause. great job everyone!

of course must take pic with the pe dept. 

after school i went back home to do more spring cleaning. 

and then was reunion dinner round 1 at my inlaws house. my MIL prepared this really delicious 盆菜, consisting of ingredients like scallops, asparagus, prawns, fish maw, mushrooms, etc etc. so damn good. 

round 2 was back at tanah merah, which was steamboat. it was great to see my relatives again. i really see them once a year which is during reunion dinner so i really treasure this occasion. 

V Day 2018

this year's v day was a day before cny eve.

last year i remembered getting a balloon in a box as a v day present for darling. 

this year i did keep a look out for v day presents. and they were either overpriced, or not suitable. so i just tell darling that i was not able to get a v day present for her. she told me she also never get anything for me and we should save up the money and buy things for yuanze. yes i also agree! so thankful to have darling who is such an understanding wife. :)

and then a few hours later, darling sent me a post from sgag, which is a meme on how couples spend their v day, from the par tor era to the bf gf era to the married husband and wife era. hahahahahahaha.