Feisty Zaria

Happy New Year to everyone.

Ever since we gave Zaria the barista title, she makes coffee or tea for me daily.

Yesterday after breakfast, I asked her for my cup of coffee as usual. Zaria said later. And repeated her 'later' for the next 1hr and eventually did not bother to even reply when I asked about my coffee.

I lost my patience and went downstairs, to see her lying on the sofa reading.
Me : From 9 till 10:30 I asked for my coffee, and you kept saying later, and then didn't even answer me any more! Today is my 1st day of work, you are still on holidays, and you can't even make your mom a cup of coffee? Do you have anything to say?
Zara : Sorry ma, what do you want ma? Do you want me to make a cup of coffee or tea for you?
Zaria : ....
Me : Ok. For lunch, I'm not cooking for you, and Auntie (our helper) cannot cook for you too. You go and figure out what to eat. There's lots of cereals and milk.
So I made my own coffee, and thinking Zaria will come over to apologise; but instead, she went to our helper and asked, "Auntie, do we still have mee sedap?"
o.O"

At 12pm, she boiled a pot of water herself, cut opened a pack of mee sedap, and made herself lunch!!
o.O"

While I was eating roast chicken sandwich, and fried button mushroom with Zara at the same table with her, I asked "You can have some if you say something to me."
Slurping her noodle, she said, "Even if I say sorry, I don't really mean it, so what's the point of saying it."
o.O"

That's my 8 year old alright, feisty, independent, non-complying.

Happy Easter And Peace Offering

I'm a born Catholic, and wanted the girls to be baptised when they were born, but the hubs, an atheist, was against it. His reason, "They should decide (what religion) for themselves when they are older."

This year, I just enrolled them into Sunday school, with Zara attending RCIC (Rights of Christian Initiation For Children), the children version of RCIA, so that both girls can get baptised and Zara can recieved her first Holy Communion this year like friends her age.

So I think the past few weeks at Sunday school, the girls have been taught about Easter, and Zaria, who likes to make cards and write notes to me, gave me this (see the word "Royce"? My favourite brand of chocolate).



And this.


And this.


First time I'm getting an Easter card!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Writing letters and notes are quite common with my girls; usually they will write to me, to tell me they are sorry for something they have done, or to say they love me; the girls have also started writing notes to each other.

Zaria has lots of pride, and never likes sharing anything she has with Zara; Zara gets extremely annoyed because of the latter, especially when she shares everything with Zaria. After a round of squabble, Zara gave this note to Zaria as peace offering.



And then see what Zaria replied???
.
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.
.
.
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o.O"

Happy Easter every one!

Growing Up - But Not Too Grown Up

One day, they are not too grown up :
Zara : ma, can you read to me tonight like how you used to?
Me : ha..
(I'd stopped reading to her almost half a year now; the girl's English is getting so good she's teaching me new words and correcting my grammar and the books she's reading is getting thicker than mine)
Zara : You know, I'm not too old for things like this.

Another day, they are :
Zaria fell from the dining chair.
Zaria : Ma, can you check, I think there's something on my back.
Checked, and found her skin to be chafed.
Me : Poor baby, it must be very painful.
Zaria : I am not a baby! And it's just a little painful. Ouch.
Me : You think a kiss will help? *about to plant a kiss on her back*
Zaria : *wriggled away* No. Tea Tree oil will help.
I caught her and kissed her anyway, and she giggled.

Japan 2013

We just got back from our holidays to Japan.

We bought our tickets to fly to Kansai International Airport early this year when Air Asia was doing a promotion, thinking it was a great deal. A couple of months later, MAS had their promotion, and tickets were even cheaper. A few of my neighbours actually managed to grab the tickets and theirs cost less than ours! Bummer!

Due to the busy schedule this whole year, we only started to plan for the trip 2 months before our holidays. We decided to only focus on a couple of places around Osaka and Kyoto area even though we have 12 days there, preferring to take things slowly.

This is the map of where we'd been.


Did the girls enjoy Japan? They sure did! They asked us to extend our stay, they wanted to go there again; and we have to keep reminding them Japan is an expensive holiday destination. Accommodation, transport, entrance fee are all very expensive! It's not some where we can go every other year.

Here is Zara's thought about Japan written in her journal.




Note :
1) Travelling around Japan.
We traveled around Kyoto using the bus and train. The (bus and train) maps available are quite easy to read/understand.
In Osaka, we took mainly the subway, it looks complex, but lines are clearly coloured with station numbered, see this; i.e. Y15, S16, M20 for Namba 難波駅, なんば駅 (as it can be reaced by 3 subway lines)
We rented a car for 4 days and requested for an English GPS. To get to a place, we only needed to enter the phone number. Traffic updates however were announced in Japanese.

2) People are extremely friendly and courteous in Japan, even if they don't understand you, if you asked for help, they will patiently listen to you and try their very best to help you. We seek a lot of help from people at subway stations, bus stops, convenient stores. A couple of times, we asked for directions at shops, and they whipped a copy of maps, charted out the route, and gave us the map. Amazing people!

3) Chin Nee asked how do we read menu in Japanese. Usually, they have English menu. When they don't, they will have some pictures/photos of what they served. I read Chinese, so I look for key words as well in menu, e.g. 豚 (pork), 鶏 (chicken), 魚 (fish), 焼 (grill), 揚 (deep fried), 野菜 (vege) etc etc.

And posts will be added below as and when I'd finished writing them.
Part 1 : Day 1 – Nara 奈良
Part 2 : Day 2 - Takao 高雄
Part 3 : Day 3 - Arashiyama and Sagano 嵯峨嵐山
Part 4 : Day 4 - Nijo Castle 二条城 and Nishiki Market 錦市場
Part 5 : Day 5 – Eikando 永観堂, Kiyomizu-dera 清水寺, Higashiyama District
Part 6 : Day 6 – Fushimi Inari Shrine 伏見稲荷大社, Tofukuji 東福寺, Gion 祇園
Part 7 : Day 7 and 8 – Road Trip, Exploring Takayama 高山 and Epic Lunch at Turuturutei つるつる亭
Part 8 : Day 8 and 9 – Snow at Shirakawa-go 白川郷 And Gokayama 五箇山
Part 9 : Day 10 – Gero 下呂 Friends Making and Osaka 大阪 Takoyaki Making
Part 10 : Day 11 – Osaka Castle 大阪城 Dotonbori 道頓堀 Shinsaibashi 心斎橋
Part 11 : Day 12 – Osaka Doguyasuji 千日前道具屋筋商店街 and Shinsekai 新世界
Useful links :
Japan Guide - I refer to this a lot when planning the trip
Kyoto Tourist Guide Book - I printed this out to bring along as a quick guide.
Frommer's Japan Guide

Maps:
Official Kyoto bus map - here, and here This is a must have if you took the bus in Kyoto, hotels will be able to give you a copy too.

Fist Fighting - By The Girls

The girls although love each other and enjoy each other's company very much, they are also always bickering over the smallest issues. Lately, they have even started fist fighting!

One day, it was because Zara drew a picture of Zaria kissing someone. *POW* Zaria gave Zara a punch, and then Zara punched back, and then the punching began, until I intervened. So as a punishment, they had to write 20 lines "I shall not fight (with my sister) anymore." in Chinese.


As if they learnt.

Another day, Zara tickled Zaria when Zaria was doing a handstand on the sofa (which is forbidden); to retaliate, Zaria put her hand into Zara's pants and started tickling Zara's buttocks. Zara of course didn't like it, and started beating Zaria, and Zaria fought back; it was PUNCH PUNCH BEAT BEAT until I intervened. Again, they have to write 20 lines "I shall not fight (with my sister) anymore." in Chinese. Sigh.

Here are their comic strips capturing the 'moment'.




o.O" (And they said I'm mean for punishing them!）

Do your kids fist fight with each other too?

Replying and Responding Using Songs

The girls recently love using songs to reply to a question or respond to a situation. A couple I could remember.

We were talking about swimming, and how they were progressing. Zara told me that Zaria's BFF Ee Mang (who happens to have the same swim coach as Zara) could swim 6 laps without resting, but for her, she needed to rest in between.
I told her to push herself, and increase her stamina, when she things that she cannot go on anymore, just tell herself that she can do it, push herself a little more and don't give up.
She sang, "I won't give up on us, even if the skies get rough...."
(I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz) o.O"


On another occasion, we were talking about ambition, and we talked about what they wanted to be when they grow up.
Zaria said she wanted to be a florist still but worried she won't get much money because she thought only dead people get flowers.
I told her she can be anything she wanted to be, just as long as she set her heart to it.
She started singing, "You can be a King Kong, banging on your chest."
(Hall Of Fame by The Script) o.O"

When I brought the girls ice skating last week, I was contemplating if I should join the girl or I should just sit at the bench and watch them. They encouraged me to join them, and they told me they would teach me. Recalling how impatient I was with Zara the last time I brought them there because she was so afraid to walk with her skates, I asked Zara, "You won't raise your voice at me?"
She started singing, "What goes around, comes back around..... What goes around, comes back around.." followed by an evil laugh, and then told me, "I'll be patient ok, ma?"
(Best Thing I Never Had by Beyoncé) o.O"

My Mom Is Bossy - By The Girls

The girls don't have to go to school this week from Monday to Thursday because of UPSR, so I drew a schedule for them to follow. Basically for the whole day, I'd planned out that for 3.5hrs they need to do some worksheets and journal writing and for the rest of the time it is free and play time.



I had a clause that states if they played with Bubbles, our dog, during the time allocated for work, I'll minus points for each offence, and if a total of 10 points were accumulated, I won't bring them ice skating.

They were not happy when they first saw it.
Zara : 你的字那么的丑，我都不会读. (Your writing is so ugly, I can't even read.)
(I sat them down and made them read through, and understand the clause)
Zaria : You are so bossy you know.
Zara : (annoyed) 遵守什么? 什么都要遵守, 不然就扣分!? Haiyoh! (Follow the rules, everything also must follow the rules, or else minus points.)

So for the day's writing, they did a comic strip about me.

Zara's.


Zaria's.

Bubbles, Our New Dog

For the longest time, the girls have been asking us for a dog. Last weekend, we succumbed to their request.

Bubbles, a 2 year old West Highland Terrier, was adopted, and moved in with us on Sunday.




I'll let the girls tell you about him.

From Zaria.




From Zara.

Zara’s Writing – Day 3 Starter Camp At Radiant Retreat

Continues from here. (Typed out as per how Zara wrote it.)

Today, after a wonderful breakfast, we went to an animal farm. On the drive there, I started to feel dizzy and I'm telling you that ride was worse than a roller coaster. When we reached, I thanked God that ride was over.

We saw deers and rabbits at the farm. I wanted to pet a deer but I was afraid the deer might kick me, so I decided to pet a rabbit insted. I saw a cute rabbit and started chasing it around. When it stoped I pated it and fed it a leaf. Surprisingly the rabbit liked it so I gave it more.

When we got back, we had lunch and played more archary. I met a Malay boy there and he teached taught me how to aim even better. We played and chatted for one hour, then I went back to my room. I chatted with my friends and each of us had to tell a joke and a ghost story. Before I (k)new it the transport was here.

(no photos from the camp host Radiant Retreat as most photos taken were of the group playing paintball)

Zara’s Writing – Day 2 Starter Camp At Radiant Retreat

Continues from here. (Typed out as per how Zara wrote it.)

Today, after a delicious breakfast, we went for archary and I always hit the target. After the archary, we studied the fish that we caught. The teacher fliped it around and I started to have goose pimples.

We ate a gourmet lunch. Then we went to a men made forest. It looked more like a pinetree farm.

When we came back, we went fishing, we could dig up worms to fish, but the girls preferd to use bread. Some boys fell into the river and had to dismiss fishing.

For dinner, we BBQed the fish we caught and ate it. In the night we had a safety talk. Before we went to bed we told each other jokes, and they laughed so loudly and they stomped on the floor. And when I went down I heard the thumping of elephants. By the time I went to our room, all my roommates were asleep.

(Here are some photos taken by the camp organiser for Day 2 by Radiant Retreat)




















Continues here.

Zara's Writing - Day 1 Starter Camp At Radiant Retreat

Zara went to her very first camp during the holidays. I asked her to write about the trip in her journal so I know what she did during the whole 3 days there. I typed this out just like how she's written it (even the spelling).

On Tuesday, when we arrived at camp, I was so hungry I had to eat some curry puffs (wich I don't really like to eat.) Then they announced our rooms : the boys had to sleep in the lobby (poor things), and the girls slept in the bunggalo. I was like ok where's the bunggalo? Then I heard a girl say "The bunggalo's up stairs." Then I thought it's no big deal it's just a few steps up. But when we started to go up the stairs, I thought they were taking us to the top of Mount Everest. The moment we reached, I fell on the ground and looked up, there I saw a sofa and a DVD player. I saw a little kitchen with flask of boiling water and our own little fridge. Then I saw a staircase and I started climbing it. When I went to the top, I saw a door. I decided to open the door, and inside I saw a sofa, a huge king sized bed and five mattresses. I saw a glass sliding door and there was a(n) outdoor bath tub, but I didn't use it because I was afraid that a monkey might take a photo of me being naked.

The rest of the day was just lessons about nature. We ate lunch and I had heaps of it. We went river swimming. The moment I stepped into the water I couldn't feel my legs because the water was so cold. Leeches were about to feast on my blood but I just flicked them away like dust.

While we were swimming, the teachers caught a few fishes for studying. When we went back, dinner was on the table, and when I saw the dinner, I started to dribble, then I ate until my stomach was as big as a mountain. We had a karaoke, and when I started to sing, all the people turned to look at me.

Before we went to bed, we got to watch a movie. I watched until I fell asleep on the sofa, and before I (k)new it, it was day.

(Here are some photos taken by the camp organiser, Radiant Retreat)

The Boys' dorm isn't that bad.


Children being briefed and having lessons about nature.


The scrumptious lunch.


The children walking to the stream for a swim.




Cool dip in the stream.


Continues here.

Zaria Missing Her Sister

We sent Zara off to a holiday camp meant for 8yrs and above.
How fast they are growing up. Sigh.
I asked her if she was fine on our drive to the pick up point, and she told me she's a bit scared (scared not being near us) but at the same time excited with what she would be doing, and the people she would be meeting.

It was with mixed feelings I saw her carrying her overnight bag climbing into the car that would transport her to camp. Zaria's face turned gloom when she saw her jiejie closing the car door.

This is the very first occasion where Zara is away from home, without her parents (it's always either the hubs or me will be with the girls; only once we had to leave the girls at their aunt's house because both of us had to travel for work); this is also the first time Zaria won't get to sleep with Zara.

So how are the girls doing?

We called Zara at camp yesterday night.
Me : Are you ok?
Zara : Yes ma. We are having so much fun.
Me : Everything is alright then?
Zara : Yeah.. I'm having so much fun.
(sounding impatient, like she couldn't wait for the conversation to end to get back to whatever she was doing)
Me : Anyway, just wanted to tell you, Zaria missed you.
Zara : Oh... (2 seconds) But ma, I'm having so much fun. The river swim was so fun.. We got leeches all over our hands.
Me : Ewww... but aren't you afraid of leeches? (I had a leech clinging on to me once in Sri Lanka, and the girls were all screaming like they had seen ghost.)
Zara : No, I just flicked them off my hands.
Me : Oh wow. Alright. You have fun then..Bye. Love you.
Zara : Ok ma, love you. (put the phone down real fast).

I told Zaria about our conversation, and Zaria asked, "Huh? She doesn't miss me?"

And this morning, she woke up asking me "What bed did jiejie sleep on?" "What do you think she ate for breakfast?"

Per the usual holiday routine, Zaria did some homework from me, and then did her journal writing in the morning (and painted her nails in between doing these.)


And this was what she wrote and drew in her journal (she always like drawing first, then writing, as though planning out the scene).




My sweet sweet girl, missing her sister badly.

Penang Trip 2013 P1 - Kuala Sepetang, St Anne's Church

♥June 1st♥

We made our annual trip to Penang during the school holidays, as with every year, to visit St Anne's church and give our thanks for another blessed year.

This year, the hubs wanted a detour to Kuala Sepetang, formerly known as Port Weld, which is famous for mangrove swamp and charcoal factories. As it was not a planned stop, (the hubs just thought we still have time, and exited the highway at Changkat Jering before informing us where we're heading), we'd done no research and don't know what to expect. We just parked our car, and walked about. As we just had lunch (if he'd told us where we were going first, we could have saved our stomach for later), we didn't even have room for the famous mee udang (Malay: prawn noodle), where a few restaurants were serving.

At one of the houses next to the river, we bumped into another family who was trying to gather enough people to hire a boat for a river cruise, and we agreed to join. The river cruise cost about RM60 for 4 of us (adult RM20/head, children RM20/head) for a 30 minutes cruise.

Poooh-weee! We had to put on the stinky safety vests which probably never got washed/cleaned since the first day the boat started operating.

Even with the smell bothering us, it was still quite a pleasant ride. We cruised past the fishing village.


Saw fishing boats anchored at the back of the houses.


And also went pass mangrove forest, with monkeys playing at the banks.


When we were done with the cruise, and walked back to the car, we saw some salted fish being dried. So we bought some as well. It's very tasty by the way, should you visit this place, don't forget to buy some of these long salted fish home.


And then we drove just a KM or 2 to get to the charcoal factories. We were told Kuala Sepetang charcoal is considered one of the best in Asia and it's in high demand in the international market.



Just so happened we arrived at the famous Mr Chuah's charcoal factory, Mr Chuah was about to end a guided tour to a bus load of tourists, so we joined in as well (tour is free, and to avoid disappointment, best to give Mr Chuah a call before going).

In the factory, there are domes like this which are the kilns where the de-barked mangrove trunks will be 'baked' and dried.
Once dried, the 'door' to the kiln will be sealed off for the charcoal to cool down for a further 8 days.

There were pile high of mangrove branches/trunks awaiting to be turned into charcoal.




Who, but the foreign workers, would want to work in a smokey environment? They are the ones who toiled for us so we could have our good quality charcoals!




Charcoal are broken into smaller pieces and bagged up to be sold.
We bought a big charcoal log to be placed in the house as deodoriser, as well as a pack of charcoal. 2/3 of it has already been used up since we got home. Verdict : super fragrant barbecue! So don't forget to buy some home if you visited this place.

(Mr Chuah's charcoal factory, 34650 Taiping, Perak. Tel: 012-573 9563)

Then it was back to the NKVE and to Bukit Mertajam. The hubs have to drive a bit faster because St Anne's Church closes at about 7pm.

The ambiance in the old chapel is always very serene and quiet. That's where we'll always go to for our thanks giving.




9th year in a row... our yearly tradition of going to give our thanks, and also taking a shot at the front of the old chapel.


And we always wash ourselves at the St Anne's water, and fill up a bottle with the water to bring home.


We'd never seemed to be able to find a good eating place in Bukit Mertajam. One year, we were looking for this highly rated place Yoong Kee which is located near the Bukit Mertajam market for lunch, but it was closed. This year, we managed to find it after asking around at the market.

The restaurant has been operating for more than 60 years. It's at a shabby shop lot which you probably won't notice except for the crowd gathered there.




We ordered 1 fried fish for the girls, and 1 steam fish with plum for us, and a mix vege. The vege, fried with a pork sauce, was very homely. The fish were both very good, very fresh, and well prepared.


The hubs claimed this is the best steam fish with plum he's ever tasted.


It was a cheap and satisfying dinner (if you didn't mind the occasional rats zooming under the table).

(Resturant Yoong Kee, Jalan Pasar, Penang, Bukit Mertajam, 14000. Phone: 04-539 8764)

Continues here.