Halloween 2007

I read briefly a few days ago that there seems to be a trend for locals to celebrate Halloween these days. The article also carried some observations made by some people that this is not a surprising trend since youths these days are very much exposed to the western culture. There were also some comments that it is sad and ironical that the younger generation would rather celebrate Halloween than to attend getais and other celebrations of the traditionally Chinese equivalent - the 7th Lunar Month.

Personally, I think this is an inevitable trend. I guess it will be very much like Valentine's Day. Gradually, it will become just another commercial-driven excuse to don some scary-looking gothy gear and throw parties. So long as nothing is over-stretched and nothing becomes too extreme, I think it is ok.

It will remain important to remember our own culture and traditions, of course, including the 7th Lunar Month.

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We received a note from the CH teachers a few days ago that the children will be having a mini-Halloween party on the morning of 31 October 2007. As usual, they requested contribution towards the potluck party, and asked that the children be allowed to attend school in their Halloween costumes (as if many of us own such costumes, hor?!) or home clothes that day.

So, to cut long story short, I spent my lunch hour yesterday scouring for suitable contribution. Eventually, for the potluck party, I got 24 mini-muffins for both WF's class and WY's BASC group. I hope the children like these - they taste so-so only lah, when I tried them. But they were of the 'correct' size, hence my choice.

For the Halloween gear and props, the party-supplies shop near my office was a natural choice haunt. Before lunch, I stole a few minutes to take a peek into their website (see, I do my homework 1st, no matter how 'rushed').

But that didn't help to prepare me for what I saw at the shop itself when I went there shortly afterwards. Woah! So many ang-mo's (real ang-mo ladies, hor!) selecting their masks and costumes and gloves etc etc!! It was quite impressive, leh! And they were buying the pumpkin buckets by the dozens, wow!

Then, to my surprise, there were also many non-ang-mo's who were paying for an assortment of Halloween props such as Count Dracula fangs, capes, witches' hats, spears etc etc!! Some were even enquiring about make-up face paint etc!!! Woah!

What a Brand New World, man!!! This Halloween business....

But I must admit, all the props and ornaments displayed were so novel to me and they all seemed so exciting! Some props were also so incredibly authentic-looking that I wondered if people would get them confused with the real thing! Some ornaments and displays also came with motion-detectors and would start making a scary 'wh..i...r...rr....l....ing' ghostly sound as we clap our hands or pat them.

It was fortunate that WF had told me earlier that he would want to put on his 'Spiderman' t-shirt for the Halloween party. So, to match this t-shirt, he would like to bring a spider to CH that morning. "Ok, I will try to look for a great spider and bring it home for you," I promised. "Thank you, Mama," WF said.

Yesterday morning, to both R's and my surprise, WF reminded me, "Mama, on your way home today, you must remember to get a spider for me, ok?" "Ok, I will catch a good one for you," I replied. "And you must put it in a box so it won't get out," WF added.

So as I stepped into the shop, I zoomed right into the range of spiders available. I was pleasantly surprised that many of the spiders were going at 50% discount. And so, I didn't need a lot of persuasion from the salesgirl as I selected 'the obvious choice' spider.

Although I had initially set out to get only a spider (which was what I told my colleague N), I finally ended up with several more items. For 'completeness' sake, mah. Heeee heee... this kind of 一不做，二不休 mentality.....

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Yesterday, we told Mother that we would have dinner at her place so that she need not bring up to our place the tingkat. We thought this would be a well-deserved respite for her since she has been painstakingly helping to pack our dinner into the tingkat and bringing it up every evening for some time already. (I will probably update onlysonsmatter later regarding that dinner.)

Soon after dinner and washing-up, I told WY and WF that we had to go home quite soon because we would need to 'feed' WF's spider. "Ha?! What spider?!" WY asked incredulously, with a curious frown on his face.

"Did you really get a spider for me, Mama?!" WF asked with wide, sparkling eyes. "Yes, I caught one giant one on my way home," I said as I tried hard not to laugh.

Turning to WY, WF said jubilantly, "Yeah! I will bring the spider to scare my friends!"

Then, there were a few seconds of silence. Suddenly, WF asked in a concerned tone, "Mama, did you remember to put it in a box? Can the spider escape? Where is it now? Is it in our room?"

Confused, WY looked at me, too. Then, as I burst into laughter....

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When we reached home, I quickly 'fed' the spider (it feeds on 3 AA-size). On seeing this, WY intuitively started to help me prise open its legs to let it stand on the floor. Then we took all the other gear and props out to the balcony.

After fiddling with these for a few minutes, the boys obligingly agreed to pose for some photos before we re-packed them properly for easier transportation the following morning.

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This morning, when we brought in WF's spider to CH school, it caused a stir amongst the children especially the girls, many of whom were dressed prettily as fairies and angels.

Then, as I got the school cleaner lady to help hang up the skeleton in WF's classroom, the children became so excited and started to chat so enthusiastically amongst themselves that the teachers had to come and 'shoo' them all back into the dining area for their breakfast. Hahhaha....

From the school's webcam, I saw some of the Halloween actions this morning. Nothing really very dramatic although the teachers took turns to put on different masks and costumes to 'parade' before the children.

But it was obvious that WF's props came in very handy. I guess most parents remembered/bothered to have their kids dress up in nice costumes but never thought of props that are not 'put on' their children. I am not surprised.

I hope WF has remembered to distribute to his friends the packs of raisins and candies (leftover from WY's birthday goodie bags but all still at least 6 months away from expiry) which we had placed in the pumpkin bucket last night. And I hope WF has a great time 'scaring' his friends with his mask, spider, skeleton and all!

Where And What Shall It Be?

Now that the exams are over, we will be trying to make plans for the year-end school holiday.

I am for making a trip out of Singapore. Maybe for a week or so. But I don't know where to go yet or what we'll do. R has no idea yet either.

But whatever the destination and programme, it has to be affordable and achievable, ie within our budget and can be achieved during whatever vacation leave we can take.








WY had earlier in the year asked to go visit China to scale the Great Wall and to view 秦始皇的兵马俑. I was all for it though now I am not so sure - safe or not?

Then later he said maybe it is a good idea to re-visit Hong Kong since WF and I haven't been there yet. Afterall, he's got fantastic experience on Cathay Pacific and on his previous HK trip with CP. R has also been there before.

More recently, WY suggested that maybe a trip to DownUnder is a also a good idea since we all have never been there yet.

And while there, perhaps we can get to know more about Bugs Bunny & the Looney Tune Friends at the Movie World?! What about the Sea World? Dream World? And the kangaroos and koalas??

Then some time last month, WY heard from a classmate that Genting Highlands is fun and exciting and a great holiday destination, too! And he loves the idea of soothing, cool breeze brushing against our faces constantly. And the idea of being 'within the clouds' that may come floating by. He has seen, of course, our old photos of the 'old' Genting Highlands.

As for WF, he asked last week, "Mama, when is Christmas?" I replied, "Christmas is on 25 December every year."

"Yeah! Then snow will come on 25 December, correct?" WF asked excitedly. "Umm, snow won't come to Singapore," I tried to explain. "Yah, it doesn't snow in Singapore," WY chipped in.

But WF persisted, "But snow will come on Christmas!"

Much to WF's indignance, WY chuckled, "Don't be silly, lah, WF. It has not snowed in Singapore before, and it will not snow on Christmas in Singapore."

Eventually, the unconvinced WF declared confidently, "Mama, snow will come on Christmas. I know it will snow. I like snow."



Turning to WY, he challenged with his signature cheekiness, "哥哥, I will make a snowman and many snowballs to fight you when it snows!"

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So, now the question remains - Where shall we go? What shall we do? Time to check out the ads and perhaps, visit some agencies soon.

** Both boys reminisce quite a fair bit of our Swiss 'expedition' undertaken 2 years ago, but as much as we would like to let WF make his snowman and have his snowball fight, we all know that a visit to Europe is today beyond budget and so unlikely to materialise anytime soon. How I wish this isn't the case.....

Tiling Completed!

The tiling works at the open area between B120 and B121 were finally completed last week! Yippee!! Now we can open our windows a little more once again.

This is how the place looks like from our unit. Much cleaner, brighter and quite refreshing!



Just a few observations:

I am very glad that they have decided to retain those circular stone stools which had served as the 'seats' for us since we moved into this neighbourhood more than 2 decades ago. I was afraid that they might decide to do away with these since they have now installed new benches. But they haven't. Phew!

Notice how the workers have had these circular stone stools lined up neatly in a row (of 6) and in an arc (of 4) just outside the RC? They look so cute, don't they?

The 'stage' is obviously a feature intended for use by the RC people. Although we are unlikely to benefit from it (see my earlier post about the RC's parties which we had attempted to be/feel part of but which we probably will never ever try to participate again), this is nevertheless an improvement. An overdue improvement. But it is better late than never, hor?!

I have seen some people trying out the pebble-studded foot reflexology path a few evenings ago. Surprisingly, they were not limited to the elderly. Some curious 30-40 year-old parents and their waddling toddlers were amongst those checking out this new feature. Hahaha.....

We are not likely to use this - imagine sharing this with a barefooted OL?! - but it is a commendable effort, I think.

Perhaps, I'll try to take some photos from the ground level some time soon.

Gift Horse

We don't Look Into the Mouth of a Gift Horse. We really don't and didn't.

For a start, I myself was very excited to see (finally) the parcel that had so many people waiting for for so long. So excited I was that the moment I remembered how the children would most likely have the parcel ripped apart later in the evening, I quickly took a photo of it on Saturday morning before we went out for Yamaha and CL classes.

Maybe the expectations had been different for the children - their uncle had mentioned 2 boxes of toys, mah. So how would they expect that the 'toys' turned out to be calendars instead? Hahaahahhaa...



Even we adults were also surpised to see the content of the parcel. We were quite amused to see the boys' reaction to it, hence YP's 'joke' about they returning to their XBox game etc.

But yes, the calendars will definitely be put to great use. No worries about that - ours (the one showing the Mountain trains) is already hung up albeit still protected by its clear plastic cover.

YP has also said that she will have the beautiful prints of picturesque Swiss scenery posted in her office when 2008 is over. I prefer to have ours kept intact (as a calendar) for easier storage. One of the slimmer calendars will be used at Mother's place and the other will be at CP's house.

WF has yet to explore his box of Pattern Creation. We'll have him do so after WY's exams are over - which is today! Yeah!

The other box has been handed to Mother for her onward transmission to its intended recipient. Mother said she will pass it to M's parents when she next meets up with them.

Perhaps, this message didn't come out so clearly on Saturday during the Skype. Maybe we even forgot to verbalise it. Bad habit, very bad habit of ours.

But we all want to say THANKS for the thoughtful and practical gift. From all of us:

Best Wishes

HA said he will be going through this surgical procedure for his varicose veins tomorrow. We all hope everything will go smoothly and wish him All The Best!

Almost There

After the gruelling revision retreat last week and 3 tough major battles this week, it's now finally time to take a breather before the finale next Monday.

In the meantime, we all got to persevere and hang on....

:)

R and I had planned this to be a surprise update - afterall, we weren't expecting this (anymore) when Mother suddenly showed me this 2 evenings ago.

But last night, Mother not knowing our 'plan', had let the Cat Out Of The Bag...

Anyhow, we will update again once item is collected.

Last Week

Last week was WY's week-long stay-at-home revision retreat aka intensive-revision-for examinations-week. The school had planned for a week's break from lessons because all their teachers had to be mobilised to mark PSLE scripts.

On the 1st day of our retreat, WY and I went through some CL revision. In the afternoon, CP took over for some Maths/Science revision. While she did that, I managed to sneak out for a couple of hours to get my long overdue haircut.

After my visit to the hairdresser's, I had felt so hungry that I decided to go for some fishball noodles at the hawker centre nearby. Then, I grabbed some grocery from the supermarket before hopping onto a taxi to go home again.

Dinner was prepared by Mother as usual. Since CP was home, too, Mother had cooked more dishes than usual, including a dish of mixed vegetables stir-fried with straw and shitake mushrooms.

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At about 6am the following morning, I awoke to find my stomach churning. Thinking that I must have over-eaten for dinner (which, frankly, has been quite often because Mother cooks so much for us all the time - yes, this is very bad, we all know), I went to the toilet, lor.

Little did I suspect that that visit to the toilet at 6am was to be only the 1st of a series of 12-15 dashes to the toilet that morning....

By 8am or so, I was so limp that all that I could do was slump on the sofa, wrenching in pain..... So, after sending WF to school, R returned to send me to the doctor's.

On our way home, I turned 'merlion' at the void deck - all those mixed vegs and mushrooms were spewed all over that little corner behind the pillars next to the bin chute.... Oh, man!

For the rest of the day, I was fleeting between states of semi-consciousness and quasi-consciousness. Poor WY had to do his revision all by himself the whole day, and in between completing the assessment books which I pointed out to him in a half-dead manner, he had to wake me up every 4-hourly to take my medicine which he fetched for me.

He's really such a sweet darling, as he kept asking after me in a soothing, concerned voice, "How are you feeling, Mama? Don't worry, you are getting better already," as he helped me to sit up and watched me downed those 4 awful tablets at each 'serving'.

I don't remember much of the day except that when the evening came, there was such a heavy downpour that the rain came splashing in and WY had to hurriedly close all the windows.

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My zombie-ness lasted till the following afternoon. Then, I suddenly felt a gush of energy. So, I started to go through with WY the outstanding chapters of the CL textbook, taking care not to sit too close to him at the table (in case whatever I was having was contagious).

The 'speedy recovery' seemed incredible, hor. And having been on an empty stomach for the past 48 hours, I felt my appetite returning. So when Mother brought dinner as usual, I ate it heartily.

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It became clear the next morning that that was a BIG mistake.

The churning of the tummy as well as the dashes to the toilet started all over again. Fortunately, there was no merlion. So, I fleeted into a drowsy state yet again for the rest of the day.

It was tough, because with the passing of each day of the week-long revision retreat, I felt the pressure to quickly complete the planned revision with WY. It was almost like, one part of me was struggling to keep alive and awake, but another part of me was determined that I should just rest and do nothing.

Eventually, I grit my teeth and somehow managed to 'catch up' with the revision plan. By the evening, WY and I had covered whatever 'main topics' which we had planned to revise.

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On Friday, WY and I completed our week-long revision.



Having been on a diet of plain bread plus 100-Plus only, I felt better and 'lighter'. All for the better, I think.

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CL classes for both WY and WF and music lesson for WF proceeded as usual on Saturday. It was fortunate that my diarrhoea had cleared up by then, so it was ok for me to shuttle WF from Yamaha to CL class all by myself (without fearing that I would need the toilet on the walk between these schools).

CP joined us for lunch at the small basement cafeteria at Katong Mall when the boys' CL classes ended. Then we went home by taxi after that.

Fortunately, CP took over the revision with WY on Saturday afternoon. So I just did some chores before we all went to Mother's place for dinner - dinner for me that day was a glass of plain water plus 2 tablespoons of plain white rice.

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On Sunday, 文化艺术团 lessons went on as usual. For lunch, we brought WY and WF to Subway at SingPost Centre. WY was thrilled but WF wasn't impressed. WF only enjoyed the choc chip and peanut butter cookies which came with the foot-long sandwich meal shared between R, WY and WF.

After a quick trip to the bookshop and supermarket, we proceeded home. The rest of Sunday was spent on revision (again?!) with WY. For dinner, I cooked some soupy noodles which turned out to be surprisingly tasty (I used ikan bilis soup for this one).

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Ha? Last week just slipped past like that, ah?!......

The Week Ahead

Made-In-China

Last Thursday, WY told me that he and his team of classmates had to present their project work in class the following day. In order to make an impactful presentation, they planned to have a pack of candies with them and have the candies 'tossed' at the audience at the conclusion of their presentation.

Wow, I thought that was quite a refreshing idea! Not bad, these kids - it is great that they can even plan such a thing to conclude their presentation.

So, when WY asked me over the phone if I could get him a pack of sweets on my way home from work, I readily agreed. The only thing, though, was that there was absolutely no time for me to make a trip to the NTUC or other supermarket to buy the candies suitable for this 'tossing' purpose.

Eventually, I decided that we would stop by the Bomb Shelter shop on our way home. I should be able to find something suitable there.

But alas, when we got there, I quickly realised that the selection of sweets the Bomb Shelter shop keeps is very limited. They had the usual sticks of Polo mints and boxes of Fisherman's Friends, Chlorets, TicTac etc. But they didn't have anything like individually-wrapped Mentos (which was what I had in mind) or something light-weight enough and suitable for 'tossing'!

After looking through the shelves for several minutes and checking with the lady boss manning the cashier's till, I finally saw a few packs of candies suitable for WY's use! The individually-wrapped sweets looked something like XL-size panadols (ha?!) but were firm and yellow. The wrappers showed the picture of a cow and said that they were candies made of milk.

After hesitating for a few moments (because this was a new product which I had never seen till then), I decided that it would be good enough for the presentation purpose. So, I paid the incredulously-low price of $1.95 for one packet and proceeded home, gleeful that I managed to get some suitable candies afterall, despite the super-short notice WY had given me.

WY brought the candies to school the next morning, all ready to 'toss' the candies to the classmates when he and his team concluded their presentation as planned.

That morning, at about 11:30am, I logged on to the STI. To my shock, I saw a 'Latest News' report on how 20+ Filipino children fell ill after eating some China-made milk candies! And I vaguely remembered that the milk candies which I had bought for WY were stated to be 'Products of PRC'!!

I was overcome by a sudden wave of panic, and I immediately picked up the phone to call the school. Luckily, WY's form teacher promptly answered the call at her extension (usually it is very difficult to get teachers on the phone).

When I asked if WY's team had made their presentation that morning, the teacher said, "Yes, they just did. WY and his team did a fantastic job!" 'Uh-oh," I thought.

So I explained to the teacher how I had come to read this news article about the food-poisoning caused to some Filipino children by China-made milk candies, and how I am concerned that those which I had got for WY were also milk candies made in China. Finally, the teacher agreed to help retrieve the candies from the class even though she herself had tasted these exact milk candies previously and found them to be ok. I also requested her to explain to the class that I would get some 'replacement' candies for the children.

Later that day, through various contacts and checking on some websites, it became clearer that the 'guilty' milk candies involved in the Filippino children's food poisoning case were indeed different from those which WY had brought to class. Phew,it was such a relief!

Nonetheless, I went to the NTUC during my lunch hour and spent a good quarter hour searching through its confectionery shelves. Fortunately, Hari Raya Puasa is just round the corner, so the array of sweets and chocolates available has increased tremendously.

I examined almost all the sweets and chocolates available on the shelves, and to my dismay, most of them were made in China. (How to trust China food products these days, ah?!)

Eventually, I chose 4 packs of Chupa Chup lollipops of assorted flavours (I never knew they had flavours like Yoghurt and Extra Creamy?!). That worked out to be a total of 40 pops for the class. This should be a good treat for the kids, I thought to myself, after they had had to 'give up' the candies which they had received from WY and his team.

Just in case you wonder if the lollipops were China-made..... no, they were made in Spain.

Anyway, WY brought these to class and when he gave them out, his classmates were thrilled to receive a lollipop each (in place of a sweet)! So WY said everyone was so happy, and some of the children even asked for the teacher's permission to eat the lollipops there and then in class!

Lesson of the day for me, therefore, is this: Never buy China-made food products for the children anymore.

In fact, the all-scary report on how our favourite 大白兔奶糖 have been recently found to be glazed with carcinogenic formaldehyde is making me think (more than) twice about getting it for the coming CNY as we normally do without fail.

New Footpath

Last Friday, I took the bus home. On my way back from the bus-stop, I crossed the PIE underpass and saw, at last, the New Footpath that Mother has had so many praises for.

I saw a young woman taking some photographs of the New Footpath with her camera phone. So, that gave me an idea! Why not post some photos here, just for update?!

So, I zipped out our camera which I happened to have with me that day. And as I walked along the New Foothpath, I took these photos.

Starting from the PIE underpass:



I walked alongside PIE towards B120:



Then I reached the part of B121 where the PCF kindergarten used to be located:



After that, I caught sight of a lone jogger using the New Footpath. He made a U-turn at the 1st circle then headed back towards B121 again:



Then I took photographs of the completed part of the tiled area as seen from various angles, starting from the point where HA and I used to wait for our school bus more than 2 decades ago. 从照片中看起来，这里仿佛是什么公园里的空地，不是吗？挺似模似样的，很美，真是挺不错的，哦？Perhaps I was overreacting, but we have been so deprived all these years, mah... so must understand my excitement:



And I thought, since I was already there, I might as well also take some photographs of the uncompleted portion:



Interestingly, I saw that there is going to be a special corner with some pebble-studded foot reflexology path. I think it will probably be popular with the aunties (and sometimes, uncles too) who regularly chit-chat at the stone benches there:



There is also going to be a mini-raised platform next to the RC. It reminds me of the spartan concrete 'stage' we used to have in BPS for assemblies (only that there are no giant Angsana trees here):



After I crossed the road to head home, I suddenly remembered that there is also a stretch of the New Footpath next to our block. So I proceeded to check this out:


It looks like the New Footpath will run along the perimeter of our precinct and end in a circle right in front of our block:



Maybe there's less excuse now, not to take a walk around the blocks after dinner on some evenings? Maybe WY can start his cycling lessons now?? Hhmm......