Trip to Yokohama - Chinatown

This will be the last post before we welcome Year 2009! Woo hoo! I have made a list of new year resolutions for the year, which include doing more activities with Jonathan and teaching Justin Chinese at home. And also more outdoor trips during the weekends to visit as many places as we can during our stay in Japan.

Last weekend we went to Yokohama Chinatown, the largest Chinatown in Japan. As ubiquitous in all Chinatowns, the streets were adorned with red lanterns. Streets lined with Chinese restaurants, grocery stores, Chinese souvenir stores and pastry shops selling dim sum, dumplings and buns. Every street we passed we saw hot steam coming out from the shops selling buns. And the buns are HUGE! At 500 yen each, one bun is enough for my lunch.

Chinatown in Yokohama

I managed to buy some bee hoon, Char Siew Sauce, kae chee, red dates. This trip will definitely not be the last. I have plans to buy a whole box of bee hoon the next time. It's quite difficult to find the exact thin, fine noodles in Tokyo. The one that I bought at Food Show was thick and hard even after soaking them in water. While I was doing grocery shopping, the kids were busy doing their own shopping as well.

Guess what Jus and Jon are looking at?

"Can you buy jelly for me, please?"

And finally, we get to take a family portrait together.


After grocery shopping, we went to Starbucks for afternoon tea before heading back home. An enjoyable day for everyone especially the kids who had mooncakes along the way.

A Typical Saturday

It's 0700 hours in the morning and I hear little voice calling out to me. "Mummy, mummy, shee shee, ....." Groggily I get up from my sleep to find Jonathan sitting on his bed calling out to me. He had wet his bed. "Geez, I didn't get up to change his diapers in the middle of the night", I thought to myself.

I got up, cleaned him and removed the bedsheet and quilt cover. By then he was fully awake and didn't show any signs of sleepiness. I gave him some milk, secretly hoping that he will go back to sleep again. "Jon, finish your milk and go sleep okay?". "No" he answered back, pointing at the window where he could see daybreak. Okay, time for mummy to get up.

I lasted until 8:30am when daddy woke up. I passed the baton to him as I was dead tired and needed more sleep. Justin was still sleeping soundly in bed.

At around 9:30 am, I hear noises from a distance. Am I in a dream? Then more noises and stamping of feet outside the corridor,

BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG .........

........ BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG


Yawn! That must be Jonathan. The floors at our new place is made of parquet and he has a tendency to run around stamping his feet.

Time for mummy to wake up.

A Letter to Santa

Written by Justin after coming back
from Christmas celebration in school

Tokyo Touchdown

After spending two wonderful weekends back in Singapore, we embarked on another new adventure to the Land of the Rising Sun. The trip to Japan was rather smooth. It's never easy to travel with kids on the plane. Their backpacks were stuffed with toys and snacks to keep them occupied during the 6 hour flight.

Jon enjoyng his starter while watching Gongfu Panda

It's been almost two weeks since we arrived in Tokyo. The weather is nice and cool, about 12 degrees celsius in the daytime. The first few days were spent unpacking stuff out of the boxes.

Jon exploring the laundry area

I can play with my toys now!

The kids started exploring every nook and cranny of the house. On the third day, Jonathan pressed the emergency button in the toilet. The alarm started sounding "Po, po, po - Toire ni kite-kudasai" repeatedly. I had just walked out of the bathroom for less than 5 seconds to get a towel for the kids and Jonathan conveniently pressed the call button. **Faint!**

Being new in the house, it took me about 5 minutes to figure out where the central alarm was. Another 10 minutes of frantically searching through and reading the manual to figure out how to turn off the alarm. Imagine doing this while the alarm keeps ringing with a voice speaking a foreign language which you don't understand. Arghh!!!!!!

I was worried that (1) the system was linked to the police and someone would come knocking at the door and (2) the noise was causing disturbance to my neighbours.

My problem wasn't exactly over when I found the manual in a thick A4 file containing explanatory notes of all equipments and security systems. Instructions were in English but the security system on the wall was written in katagana and kanji. Time to fill in the gaps. It's a good thing that I can understand Kanji (Chinese characters). Instruction manual stated "Press tone-silence button", I found the button for "警報音停止 " , the "press RESET button" and I pressed the button which had "some katagana symbols then 复旧". A peaceful silence filled the house. Phew!

The culprit with an innocent smile

I later realised that the toilet alarm system wasn't SECOM but an internal one and that "Toire-ni kite-kudasai" means "Come to the toilet". Not knowing Japanese is a handicap especially when Japanese here speak minimal English. I have been surviving on simple Japanese and sign languages for the past 2 weeks. Will have to start learning more as soon as possible.

Last Day of School in Taipei

This is the final posting on Taipei before we head back to Singapore for our holidays. We will definitely miss this place especially the friends that we have made during our stay here.

Although Justin has only been here for a short period of time, his ability to speak Mandarin has grown tremendously. His vocabulary has improved and has started to (automatically) converse in Mandarin with his grandma. Hopefully this will set a foundation for his future years in learning Chinese.

Farewell to teachers & friends at HESS International Kindergarten:

Teacher Caroline

Teacher Robin

Justin with his friends, Carlos & Mark

Farewell to teachers & friends at Shichida:

吴老师 and Jonathan

Ziling, Kexin & Jonathan

魏老师 and Justin

Justin with 魏老师, Tingyu & Kexin

HESS Reading Family Fun Fair

The funfair was held at the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall to promote Reading and Sharing. There were many activities such as a book exchange program, story-telling competition, food fair, games, arts and craft. A definite fun-filled day with family and friends.

Justin and his classmates performed a dance item for the opening of the fair.

Below are excerpts of the performance:



Justin is standing in the 2nd row, 1st from the left .






Teacher Caroline had asked me to remind Justin to be more focused and to look at the music leader for his cue. I think he did pretty well during the performance. He even looked more serious and focused than I expected him to be. So after the show I rewarded him with ice-cream at Big Tom.

Happy Halloween

It's Halloween today! A day that Justin has been eagerly waiting for. The kids in school were dressed in costumes ranging from little pumpkins, princesses, superman, spiderman, elephants to witches and wizards. They were also treated to a Halloween drama by their teachers in the morning.

After that, the kids went out in the streets asking for treats while singing this catchy tune.

"Treat or trick,
Smell my feet,
Give me something good to eat.

Give me candy,
Give me cake,
Give me something good to take."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Can you guess which character Justin is? Hint - A cartoon character who lives under the Pacific Ocean in the town of "Bikini Bottom" with his gang of friends.

He is none other than SpongeBob SquarePants.

He was pretty sporty about the whole thing - wearing the short red tie, white shirt, short pants and long socks. And he loved the SpongeBob balloon which I got for him. We made a mask together but the eyes were a little too wide apart so he didn't wear it.

What was the best part of Halloween to him? The Candies !!!!

Looking forward to Halloween next year .....

Justin's Art Class

I have been busy lately preparing for our move. As our new place is unfurnished, we spent a few weekends looking for furniture. The search is almost complete with the exception of a study table and chair (I think!). But that's only the tip of the iceberg. It's just 2 weeks away but my to-do list keeps getting longer everyday.

This afternoon's task was to clear the kids' cupboard. Lots of sorting and clearing. Came across a bag which contained Justin's pieces from his art class. Stopped for a while to admire the pieces he did. I thought some were really cute, so I took pictures for keep-sake.

I fell in love with Humpty Dumpty, the dragonfly and Porky Pig. (*smiles*)

Museum of Drinking Water

After classes in the morning, we went back home for lunch, before heading to the Museum of Drinking Water within the Taipei Water Park. At the entrance of the park, the kids played with the cool mist that sprayed out from the sides of the bridge. Justin also tried drawing water from an underground well, something not seen in Singapore these days.

Another section of the park was the Water Country Park where kids waded in a small pool. Justin began hopping across the pool on concrete slabs while Jonathan watched by the side. Next up, the Gongguan Water Purification Plant and an elegant building which housed an old pumping station with lots of black machinery. We also visited the pipe sculpture area where the boys started exploring pipes twice the height of Justin.

At 3:45pm we finished our tour and headed back home for Jon's afternoon nap. Justin didn't want to sleep so I brought him down to Ikari Cafe for tea. He finished up his hot dog in 15 minutes without any prompting (*Smiles*). He spent some time completing his diary, played with his trains, while I enjoyed my cup of coffee and read a book. A quiet and relaxing Saturday.

Wondered what Papa was doing at that moment in Tokyo?

The night passed by in a breeze. Dinner finished, kids played a little before their bedtime stories. By 10:15pm the 2 boys were tucked snugly in bed fast asleep. Mummy can finally find some time to herself. ;p

Fish Without the Chips

I decided to cook something different tonight instead of the traditional Chinese meal. With hubby away on business trip, it didn't make sense to cook so many dishes . Something simple and easy - lightly battered fish fillet, fresh tomatoes, boiled long beans, carrots and potatoes. And as the appetiser, Justin's favourite apple & raisin salad mixed in low fat mayonnaise and a tinge of lemon.

Justin was excited when I told him what was for dinner. He even offered to help make the apple and raisin salad. He came in several times to the kitchen just to make sure that I didn't start without him. It was great having extra hands in the kitchen. While Justin was tossing and turning the apple bits and raisins, Jonathan was happily enjoying his raisins.

During dinner, Justin gobbled his dinner in 30 minutes. He usually takes 45 to 60 minutes (with constant reminders to take his next bite, sit on his chair, chew his food, etc) but today he kept putting food in his mouth.

Amazing! Makes me wonder if I should change my dinner menu .... (*chuckle*)

Japan Trip

A seasoned traveller

Greetings from Tokyo!

I am so glad that my mother-in-law is in Taipei to take care of Jonathan while the three of us are in Tokyo for a 'look see' trip.

This is day 3. We have visited 7 schools so far, Justin went for an interview with the headmaster of one of our chosen schools today. He passed the interview, thank goodness. But as this is a popular school, we have to be put on waiting list until vacancies are available. Next Monday, he will have to go through another interview at another school.

Today was mainly apartment viewing. Decisions, decisions, decisions on how much to compromise between proximity to schools, work place, supermarkets, etc. Hopefully the next few day's viewing will give better results.

Park at Hiroo

Guess who's the photographer?

Justin beneath the Giant Spider at Roppongi Hills

Sharing a book together

A heartwarming moment. I was doing some packing in my room while the kids were in the living room playing. After a while, I heard an unusual silence. I walked out of the room and saw the both of them sitting on the sofa with a book across their laps. Justin was softly reading to Jonathan, while Jonathan was listening and looking at the pictures. (*Smiles*)

Happy Birthday, Justin! (080808)

Today is Justin's birthday, and a special day because it happens to be 8th August 2008 (080808). I would definitely have bought 4D if I was back in Singapore. But then again, maybe the number will be so popular that it is closed for bets.

Morning was chill out time for me. I went to watch Red Cliff with Huili. Great show! Especially for the die hard fans of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Though it has been said that the movie characters were inaccurately depicted, I enjoyed the heroism, funny in between lines, great battle scenes (yes, the unbelievable BaGua formation) and the cast. A good line-up of casts which include Tony Leung (portraying Zhou Yu), Takeshi Kaneshiro (Zhuge Liang), the flawlessly beautiful Lin Zhiling (Zhou Yu's wife) and tomboyish Vicki Zhao (Sun ShangXiang). I will definitely watch the next sequel on the battle of Chi Bi.

Trip to BabyBoss City

Papa brought Justin back from school after lunch and we headed to BabyBoss City (clickable) at the Living Mall. An edutainment centre where kids get to try out different occupations and earn BabyBoss bucks.

A Day as a Fireman

Dressed and ready to go

Ready, extinguish!

Heading back to the Fire Station

A Day at the Pizza Parlour

Adding the tomato paste

Next the cheese and corn

My own made pizza

Wooh! Cheesy!

A Day at the Shipping Dock

Moving goods from ship to dock

Releasing ropes from the crates

Giving instructions on moving the crates

A Day at the Dairy Farm

Mr Dairyman

A video of Justin milking the cow:

Changing into lab coats before
entering disinfection room

Learning the process of pasteurising milk

Last but not least, Justin ended the day blowing his birthday candles and eating his self-chosen mango mousse cake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thomas & Friends Live! Musical

We brought the kids to the "Thomas & Friends Live!" Musical Show the week before. They swayed to the tunes of "Good Morning!", "Really Useful Engine", "Surprises", clapped, waved their torches and "peeped" their horns.