正月十四 ：United Square, Roland & The Village

HA, Michelle, J and S stayed over at our place on Saturday. As WF had lesson at LW School at United Square the following morning, we invited J to come along with us to United Square and after WF had finished his lesson, to go together to Roland Restaurant for our lunch gathering.

R and I brought WY, WF and J out with us after breakfast on Sunday. WF proceeded to class promptly after we arrived at US. Then, we proceeded to the bookshop for some materials which WY needed for a class 'experiment'. At the bookshop, J also chose for himself some luminous dinosaur cut-outs.

After that, R and WY went to Challenger whilst J and I proceeded to the toy shop called Early Learning Centre (ELC). There was a toddler girl playing on the mat which the shopkeepers had put in the shop for children to 'try out' their various toys. Something (I think it was a toy car) the girl was holding attracted J. Suddenly, J raised his arm at the girl!

The girl's alarmed mother called out to the children, and said, 'No," to J. I reprimanded J once I realised that he had been close to landing his hand on the girl. I quickly apologised to the girl's mother profusely, too, before J strode out of the shop by himself in a huff, wearing a glum look on his face.

Once outside, I quite angrily asked J why he had raised his arm. He said that the girl had refused to give him the toy when he asked for it. I explained to J very firmly that it was wrong to try to 'beat' the little girl (or in fact, anybody). We could have waited for our turn to play that toy, I told J. J looked away but nodded. Before long, J took my hand and pulled me into ToysRus which is 2 doors away from ELC.

By then, R and WY had joined us. So we all went into ToysRus.

After browsing around for a few minutes, we were drawn to the 'Transformers' shelf. Eventually, J chose a 'big' Optimus Prime Animated. At my suggestion, WY picked a Thomas & Friends engine which we don't have at home, for WF to add to his collection.

When we proceeded to the check-out counter, the cashier pointed out that there was an ongoing promotion on Transformers - if we buy an Optimus Prime-in-a-Tub, we could get the Optimus Prime Animated which J had selected, for 'free'! So, we went for that package, and J was so delighted that he said, "WF is going to get a Big Surprise after his class!"

Then, R and I brought WY and J to the basement for a rest and drink. J also went on the Thomas & Friends 'Carousel'.



After his class was dimissed, WF was, as expected, delighted at his 'Optimus Prime-in-a-Tub'! Then we all quickly proceeded to the car so that we could get to Roland's Restaurant as fast as we could. Lunch had been arranged at this restaurant because it is M's favourite. There was a total of 16 persons (including HA's parents-in-law) expected at that gigantic table!



On our way to the restaurant, J was sternly scolded by R in the car for slapping WY. J told us that WF had been the one to instigate him to slap WY. Eventually, we reprimanded both WF and J after getting out from the car.

Lunch was served soon after we arrived. Those who had arrived earlier had ordered many dishes, including US Roast Duck, Sotong-paste in Fritters, Venison, Yam Ring, Fried Mee Sua and Salted Egg Crabs! Some I cannot remember now. For dessert, we had Yam Paste with Gingko Nuts. (I didn't take many photos at lunch except one of the Crabs.)

After the fulfilling lunch, everyone went home. J asked to go home with us and arranged with HA to come to get him later in the evening. On the way home, we dropped by at the NTUC supermarket for some grocery shopping. We bought mainly dairy products like cheese and milk. J also chose some konnyaku jellies while WF got some honey-stars.



Once we reached home, WY had to complete his work and tuition with CP. WF also finished his homework before playing with J. I completed some chores (mainly ironing). R took a l-o-n-g nap.

By about 7:15pm, R and I had had our showers and changed into fresh clothes. We were going to a concert at the Esplanade. And so, M and CP took charge of the children at home.

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The show called 'The Village' was an excellent Taiwanese production.

It spoke of a story of how during the 1940's & 1950's, Dependents' Villages were set up in Taiwan when Chinese soldiers (fighting against the communists) were resettled in Taiwan following Chiang's retreat to Taiwan. It was such a very funny and yet very touching show that many in the audience (including R and I) had had to wipe our tears at many parts of the story. R and I enjoyed ourselves thoroughly learning about this sub-culture of the Taiwanese people.

The show ended at 11:30pm, and we were treated to a bun at the door, courtesy of the sponsor for the show. R and I munched on ours as we made our way to the car.

By the time we reached home, it was past midnight. CP and M had settled WY and WF into bed but both of them were wide awake as R and I stepped into the house.

It turned out that F had lost his bunch of keys, house keys included. So, M was especially worried about the house being broken into etc. Eventually, it was decided that M would use our spare padlock at her place for the time being. M and CP finally dozed off after some minutes of grumbling.

R and I took our showers and also went to sleep at about 1:00am.