家书抵万金

在电子邮箱时代里，传统的信箱已经成了账单和传单的专用箱。从前打开信箱时，看到蓝色信封的那种喜悦，恐怕现在的孩子已经无法体会了。所以，很早很早以前，我就想等媛媛会读、会写的时候，跟她来个“母女信箱”。 我们可以通过信箱交换一个简单的问候、可以感受写信与收信的喜悦、可以让孩子练习写字、可以表达一些情感、可以问一些尴尬的问题。


今天，终于给媛媛做了这个专属信箱。用包装盒子割开一个缝就可以了。


这是我给媛媛投递的第一封信。

Hello Kitty的夹子是我的“信箱”。

绿色的篮子是爸比的信箱。

媛媛通过信箱给我的第一封信。

同一天的第二封信。

我原本以为是“一天一信”就好了。但是媛媛非常非常的兴奋！她一直跟我拿纸写信，一直问我某些字怎么拼音。

“我的头快爆炸了！”她说。

“为什么？”

“因为我写信给把拔和马麻，你们很开心，我也很开心！我就一直写一直写，我满头大汗了！！”

“你喜欢写信吗？”

“喜欢！！可是我写了3封给你，你只写一封给我。”

于是，我又写了一张便条给她，投进小信箱里。

媛媛难掩脸上的喜悦，抱着信箱到床上去读信，又神神秘秘地趴在地上再给我回信。我竟然要劝她停笔，留着明天写。

我小心地把媛媛写给我的信收进文件夹里。

等我的小天使长大，我或许可以坐在摇椅上，慢慢细读品味，这值万金的家书。

媛媛给我们的一封信

媛媛在奶奶的指导下，写了这封信。除了最后一张图是媛媛自己画的，其余的是奶奶协助，媛媛上颜色。

收到这份信，我和媛爸满满满满满满的感动。

不论将来这样的承诺会不会兑现，都不重要。重要的，是孩子现在的心里自己种下了善的种子。

10km Jurong Lake Run 2011

Technically speaking, this wasn't the official Jurong Lake Run. This was a launch run of the Jurong Lake Running Club. We signed up because it was only $10 after passion card discount, and there's goodie bag, and there's a buffet dinner after the run. Heh heh heh! No lah, we were not that cheapskate. We just like to run with a group of people.

We were blessed with good weather this evening. There was no event t-shirt and all the runners came in their own running tee. Clement wore the one that printed "18km" for the Newton Run. Wow... quite a lot wore the same event tshirt as Clement but theirs were 30km! This guy wore a biathalon event tshirt. Those girls were McRitchie Runner members. And look at those ang mohs with super duper long and lean legs! Wooo.... this one wore a finisher tshirt for a marathon! Suddenly, I felt so small..... but I remembered what my friend Dawn shared with me just last night -- Running is about completion, not competition. Ahhh, yes!

And so we ran.

Running among a group of fast runners made me lose my pace. After 3km or so, I gave up trying so hard and ran at a comfortable speed. My legs were telling me to slow down too as I had already chalked 35km this week. Upon completing this run, I would have chalked up 45km for this week!! A personal achievement!

I completed the run in 1hr 5mins 38sec, about 3 mins slower than the guys.

This is probably my last running event in 2011. Looking forward to 2012 and more running events!

She Likes To Paint

Jaimie has always liked to draw and paint. It was I who stopped her from painting because I can get very upset if the furniture, wall or floor is dirtied with paint. To be totally honest, I disliked art because I had never been good at it. The first subject I failed when I was in secondary school was "Computing" (yes, we had an exam on computing in sec 2 and I had ZERO idea what was going on...) and it was followed by Art. Anyway, I wasn't good at any subject except Chinese lah.

Sorry, I digressed.

So this morning, I finally allowed Jaimie to do some art at home. She was very happy to draw with poster colour.

Oh well... seeing the happy smiles on her face, I think I should close two eyes on the dirtied floor...

30th Oct 2011 - 18km Newton Run at ECP

Completed in 2hr 9mins and 33sec according to official timing.

Thus run was surprisingly the most tiring run I have done so far. It was far more tiring than the 21km SAFRA run I did in Sept.

Pros of Newton Run:

(1) the goodie bag was really goodie! Early birds like us got a sports watch worth more than $100!

(2) the event T shirt is nice

(3) love the sponsered isotonic drink Pocari Sweat

(4) the cold, wet towel given out at the end of the event was very much welcomed

Cons of the Newton Run:

(1) ECP (route is too familar)

(2) PARKING issues

(3) started at 7am. It is too warm already. 6am would be ideal.

Conclusion: I would sign up for Newton Run again if it is not at ECP. The goodie bag is too good to say no to it. :D

School Graduation Performance 29th Oct 2011

We were all looking forward to 29th Oct 2011 because Jaimie would be performing at her school's annual graduation concert! Jaimie would be performing in 2 items plus a little solo time between 2 performances.

The concert venue was at ACJC. It looked like it was going to be a grand affair!


We were to send Jaimie to school by 1230pm for makeup and final preparation. Jaimie was so excited! She kept asking if it was time to go school yet as she was afraid that she would be late.

The teachers were very busy dolling up the little performers! This is Teacher Shirley, Jaimie's form teacher.

My little star!

My little star with her 2 friends, Shermaine and Seraphine. Seraphine had graduated from the same school last year.

The concert started at 3.15pm. I was almost in tears when I saw the little graduands going up on stage. Oh gosh, it would be Jaimie's turn next year! Will I cry buckets of tears???

The performances put up by the little children were highly entertaining! Each and every one of them was so charming on stage. The innocent faces, the happy dance steps which came from their heart... I really enjoyed myself very much!

Finally, it was Jaimie's turn to be on stage with her Waka Waka dance! We spotted her and quickly snapped pictures of her. Then, as the children moved around on the stage, both Clement and I lost sight of her as ALL THE GIRLS LOOKED ALIKE!

And we found her again during the ending....hahahaha!

This kung-fu performance impressed me most. Not only did the children danced in kung-fu moves, they wrote "Chinese Kung Fu" (中国功夫) with calligraphy pens on stage! As a Chinese teacher, I couldn't love this performance more.

Anyway, when we saw the lyrics of the song, Clement and I laughed until we teared. The lyrics were very meaningful, don't get me wrong. We laughed because we finally understood what Jaimie was trying to sing to us all these while. And we couldn't understand even one line when she was singing!

Jaimie and her classmates changed into another costume and performed the Beijing Opera Song 《唱脸谱》, another of my favourite performance of the concert! Cute dance steps, lyrics loaded with cultural knowledge and most importantly... Jaimie would be doing a solo 4-line after the dance! *BEAMING WITH PRIDE*

Jaimie's solo time!

Then, she recited a poetry 《咏鹅》with 3 other K2 students.

The concert ended at 5.30pm after the finale.

It must be a very emotional moment for the teachers and the graduands. This concert was a milestone and a testimonial of their growth. Congratulations, K2 students! One year later I would probably write a very emotional post about the graduating concert!

我到底在干嘛

学生曾经问我惭愧和内疚的分别。

我说，惭愧是觉得自己做得不好，觉得不好意思。内疚多有因为伤害了别人而觉得难过、过意不去。

此时，我带着惭愧和内疚的心情写这篇博文。

我，口口声声说我不需要我的孩子考第一名或100分。我，是一名曾经得过“爱心老师”奖的教育工作者。我，甚至是“模范华文老师”得奖人。但是，我在教自己的孩子读书的时候，我没有爱心，没有耐心，我更加不是模范，而是一个极端错误的示范。

教幼稚园一年级的媛媛读英文听写，才教15分钟我的火就开始来了。

“练习了10多次还记不住！！”、“你有没有用你的脑！！！”、“这么简单的拼音！记起来！记起来！记起来！！！”我开始吼叫，媛媛开始慌张。她越慌，越记不得，她越记不得，我越气，我越气，我变得更加暴怒。丢书、拍桌子、摔东西这些恶劣的行为便出现了。

丢给媛爸处理，我带着愤怒到厨房去做点事让自己冷却。冷静下来后，内疚得不得了。

我没有尊重自己的孩子的学习进度。我没有给予我的孩子一个教育工作者应该有的耐心和爱心。我丑陋恶劣的行为，甚至是伤害了孩子的心灵。看到朋友们爱心满满地督促自己的孩子学习，我真的自惭形秽。

我到底在干嘛？

我是在恼怒她“不成材”吗？我是在“望女成龙”吗？我是被工作耗完了我的耐心和爱心吗？我是在揠苗助长吗？还是，我在自责因为自己忙而没有时间陪她学习而趁机发泄情绪？

也许什么都有一点。

但这不是重点。重点是，我写这篇博文自省，诚实地面对自己的缺点，提醒自己要拿出更多的耐心和爱心来教导自己的孩子。况且，说真的，媛媛是一个相当伶俐的孩子。我到底要什么？我对她的要求是什么？我要搞清楚。这样，我才能做一个更好的妈妈。

Deepavali 2011

It all started with an innocent call for a gathering on the upcoming public holiday, which was Deepavali.

Then, it spun into an Indian themed party cum kids' mini concert. Being the usual crazy group of friends who take fun very seriously, we decided to potluck our favourite Indian food, serve teh tarik, put banana leaves on our plates and eat with our fingers for the gathering. We adults were supposed to come up with performance items too.

It was a gathering we very much looked forward to. We have not had a gathering for a long time and the mommies also had a hilarious discussion on the gathering. And my best friend HappyPig would be joining us for the gathering too! Unfortunately Viv and family were caught in the rain when they went cycling in ECP that very afternoon and Jac caught a cold. They couldn't make it to the gathering. What a shame...

We were serious about dressing up. Bindi, fake nose ring, bangles, traditional Indian costume, jasmine flower... somebody suggested putting coconut oil on our hair but the rest of us violently objected to the idea.


As usual, Jaimie thinks she looks super pretty.

We started with the kids' performance. Every child wanted to "go on stage" first. Some tears was shed due to the unhappiness caused by switching of order. I thought this only happened in getai...?

Rain, the very talented athletic, swung her hula hoop continuously for at least 5mins. Wow. We couldn't even manage 5 rounds.

Jaimie did her Waka waka and Chinese Opera with a Bollywood twist.

Cherrlyn the passionate dancer put up 2 lovely dances for us.

The adults were supposed to perform but look at the spread! We were all salivating and couldn't wait to start our feast. Forget about the performance. Let's dig in!!

As Joyce's birthday was last week and Wolf's coming up real soon, we had a little celebration for them. We put candles on the Indian rojak and sang them the birthday song.

The awesome mommies!

The children~ all girls!!

What is a celebration without playing with sparkles? We went to the garden and the kids had fun drawing in the air with their sparkles. Jaimie actually burnt 4 of her tiny fingers during the play but she did not notice the pain until the party was over.

I say this all the time but I must still say it in every post. We are so blessed to have this group of awesome friends! Each and every gathering is loaded with fun and laughter, and we brought home lots of fond memories (and left over food) at each gathering. Love you guys!!