Returning to Shanghai for a visit.

Dec 14 2009 : 219 !

The number of the day is : 219 ! It's 219 boxes of our properties going up the ship to Singapore !

Gosh...that's 4 storey worth of our rubbish! 2 years 7 months in Shanghai, and that's how much we've accumulated ! hahaha...

How did the move go? Well, to begin with, it was generally quite 'well-contained' - as in my temper ! Only 2 major outburst with Bruce, when he failed to 'think' before me :) Other than that, it was quite managable. Bruce & I slept at 4am on Sat & Sun (2 nites be4 the move), and we are happy that we went through all of our belongings and sorted them accordingly.

When the movers arrived yesterday morning (they arrived early, 8.30am, when the move supposed to start 9am), got them to deal with the 1st floor.

They carried on with 1st floor after lunch, and proceed to 2nd floor & 4th floor concurrently. 3rd floor was last.

As the clock ticked away, the movers were like deflated balloons....泄气..by the time all the stuffs are boxed up, abt 8pm, they were obviously very tired.

Bruce wanted to pack dinner in for them, but the supervisor refused, saying that it'll delay the whole process. Hence, poor workers, have to work so hard with an empty stomach :( Really made us feel very bad about it...at that point, I actually felt that I shouldn't have brought so many things home, even have the impulse to NOT bring the glass computer table home !

After the movers left, we had to quickly vacuum and clean up the bedroom, and got it ready for the kids to go to bed.

As I laid in bed, totally exhausted, was going through the events of the day, was thinking, things will not have gone so smoothly if not for the right 'strategy' we had - I'm in charge of the move, while Bruce's in charge of the kids !

I had to oversee the move as Bruce had to attend Evan's Class Party in School. He continued to handle the kids after school - I'll definitely not be very patient with my 2 little monsters, and I'll get very upset if they misbehave.

The good outcome from this strategy was : Bruce got to enjoy time with Evan alone (during the class party), and he brought kids out for snacks after school, played with them, and brought them out for dinner - all without me in a single day, that's making up for the lost time while he travelled so much in the last 2 years!

As for me, I was happy too - for being left 'undisturbed' to deal with the mess :)

Am really glad the BIG MOVE is over, next steps will be to enjoy the kids concerts in school, more farewells, more shopping, and the eventual packing stuffs into luggage to board the plane home! I have a secret wish though....PLEASE SNOW BEFORE I LEAVE !!!!! Haha...snow in Shanghai in December? Wishful thinking!

This is the month !

Dear friends.....

This is the month! The month of saying sayonara to Shanghai, and home sweet home Singapore !

Some of you may be wondering, why have I been so 'quiet'? Why havn't I complained like I did during the move to Shanghai?

Well, it's because.....I am too busy to feel anything ! hahaha (^o^)

What have I been up to? Let me see:

1. Doing housework - now no luxury of full time AYI, only help from 8am - 1pm. So, AYI Carol takes over from 1pm till next morning !

2. Cooking - since we'll be eating out very often before/after the move, better feed my kids with proper non-msg food now ! Hence, it's Carol's cooking day Mon-Thurs!

3. Shopping - Still have to do the usual grocery shoppings, also, have to shop for 'retail therapy' ? (need to destress!)

4. Onling Shopping - Recently, a friend introduced me to a Chinese Online Shopping Website(淘宝网), am totally addicted to it ! The variety of products is amazing. And the price is unbelievable! Imagine, I can get Dyllis's CNY cheongsum for RMB$26 (incl delivery)? So far, have bought outdoor fences, CNY clothes for D & E, a gown for Dyllis's piano performance, Just bought the fake UGG online for the school's charity bags too!

5. Facial/massage/hair cut - am trying very hard to finish up the $ in the 'stored value' cards with the massage palour & hair saloon!

6. Packing - Have started putting items into boxes...my house is in a mess now !

7. Gatherings with friends - not that I am popular, but in case my friends in Shanghai will miss me, whenever they call me out, I'll try not to say NO these days :)


Hm...see, so many things keeping me busy, how to have time to complain?

But if you ask me, guess as we get older, we just take things in our stride. Bruce is always out of town during the weekdays, but since I'm so used to him not being around, I'll not feel as terrible compared to the last time. Interestingly, I surprised myself for being so 'calm' till now ! (Actually, deep in me, feels really stressed!!!! 暴风雨前的风平浪静??) I just hope that there'll not be major 'volcano eruption' in the days leading to the move !! haha...

Sometimes, I just wished the movers are coming Tomorrow ! Then, I'll have no time to think & worry so much ;p

Ok, back to more packing, will update as soon as I can!

Confirmed destination = Singapore

Finally, the destination has been confirmed.

Some friends are still asking me : "Why not Hong Kong"?

Well....to put it across simply, HK is a great place for shopping and eating. But nothing beats HOME ! Also, at the point of our pre-move trip, the 'pre-requisite' for the move did not happen, i.e. the deal that Bruce was working on is still under negotiation. The deciding factor was of course....my emotions.

I kept asking myself why should I move to HK when :
1. Bruce is not 100% based in HK;
2. House rental is very expansive, and it's not even a partially furnished apartment - this means we have to fork out upfront cash to do the renovations or purchase furniture & fixtures for the rented apartment!
3. It'll mean changing of class 3 times for the kids within 365 days: upon arrival, after summer break, and return to SGP after one year of the expat term (Note: we are being offered ONE year in HK, also, Bruce is keen for Dyllis to return to SGP education system, latest by Primary 4)
4. Since it's 99% sure that it's gonna be a one year stint, it'll be such a chore to start all over, finding new friends, locating places for groceries, picking up driving in HK, etc.

With these considerations, I think I am making a fair decision.

Bruce can't win the debate on this with me, cos he couldn't commit to the number of days he'll be able to go home for dinner if we move to HK !

So, it's Final....come 20th December 2009, we'll bid farewell to Shanghai & hello Singapore !

Why I haven't been updating?

Well....once again....Blogger is blocked @ where I am :(

And it took me awhile to find a 'powerful enough' proxy to break through the GREAT FIREWALL !!

So, the good news is, now, I can view my blog.
But to update my blog via the proxy server...er...not sure if it's 'safe' !

Instead, just remembered that I can create posts in Blogger via email ! Only downside is, not sure if can upload pictures...and no corrections can be done to the post once my email is sent out !

Hm...so, dear friends, please bear with me for another 19more days before I can get back to some decent blogging @ SGP !! Er....that's if I can afford the time ! (Dun forget I'm the slave back home !)

My little hardworking princess

Tomorrow(29th April 2009) is a special day - we are flying back to Singapore for a short break ! However, this time, I'll be bring the kids on the flight all by myself...Bruce is already in Singapore !

In preparation for this trip, I had been talking with Dyllis, seeking her cooperation in finishing up her homeworks early.

As a result, Dyllis finished up 2days' worth of Chinese homework over the weekend (when actually, she could have left half of it to be done on Monday). And today, again, she did the same, she finished up 2days' worth of Chinese homework at a go! My goodness....that's a lot of writing !

I checked her work after she was done. I half expected it to be untidy as she could be so tired after writing so many words ! But I was wrong....today's homework was done with pride - neat & tidy !

On top of that, she completed the week's English spelling homework - to make sentences out of the spelling words - 10 of them.

I was impressed ! My little princess listened to me, and was cooperative in finishing up all her homework!

Thank you dear! Mama is happy that you are growing up to be a sensible girl :) Keep it up !

Yet another milestone for Evan!

First it was swimming....now, my little monkey can ride a bicycle w/o training wheels !

Last Sunday (26th April 2009), the kids were out @ the compound playing, Evan had a bad fall - thrown off his skate scooter. This happened while Daddy was pumping up the tyres for Dyllis's bicycle. As a result of the fall, they all returned home. But upon seeing Jie Jie's bicycle, Evan wanted to ride his too!

Daddy suggested taking the training wheels out for his bicycle. Evan had no objection. Daddy was the trainer. And he is really good! Within a short time, Evan was able to spin off on his own (though for a short distance)! Good job Evan, well done Daddy!

Am so happy for Evan. But since he is still very inexperience at it, the rule of thumb is : No riding on bicycle unless Daddy is home, because.... Mummy is lazy to run after him! haha...

Carol's cakes...finally !

Guess what I've been up to these 2 days? I did not go out with the 'Shanghai Tai Tai Pte Ltd'...I was disciplined to do ONE thing...that is...to bake cake!

And indeed, managed to bake 2 types of cakes...not exactly, 100% presentable, but at least it's edible !

Actually, I ventured into baking again since Monday (23rd Mar 2009), I tried the Pandan Chiffon Cake using the Prima premix. The outcome was horrible ! Once again, had failed. I've failed in previous attempts, hence that was no surprise.

Yesterday, decided to try Tiramisu instead. Non-bake version, had tried that before (thanks to Jean Yau-who came to our CCK flat to show me while doing for the first time), but Bruce always complained that it's either too cheesy or too soft or too overbearing, couldn't put one more piece into his mouth :(

Having all these past failures made me even more determined ! And instead of giving up, I treated it as an 'adventure' !

After going for my hair cut (yes, cut my hair, now it's shoulder length), I dashed to Starbucks to buy 5shots of Expresso..the staff was puzzled...so bitter...are you sure? I had to explain that it's not for drinking, it's for making tiramisu, and he was so nice to give me an extra shot of Expresso !

Rushed home to get started. After preparing the sponge fingers in Expresso + Kualua, decided to try making kid's friendly, non-alcoholic tiramisu by preparing the sponge fingers in Hot Chocolate !

After an hour of mixing, whisking, pouring, spreading....ended up with 2 regular rectangular aluminium boxes of adult's tiramisu, and 1 regular rectangular box + 2 smaller rectangular boxes of kid's tiramisu.

Put them all into the fridge, and off I went to fetch the kids from school.

And the verdict.....both my little monsters loved my Chocolate Tiramisu! And my friends (thank you : Jill & Sylvia!) who agreed to be my 'guinea piggies' think it's good too! Left a little for Bruce to taste after he touch down Shanghai, and...PASS !

Sooooo happy !

With the positive outcome last night, decided to try making the Pandan Chiffon Cake again this morning. This time, I whisked the cake mixture for a longer time, and put the cake at the lowest rack in the oven (nearer to the fire)....and after 50 minutes...an edible Pandan Cake !

Finally made a Pandan Cake that is cooked inside out, and not too bad in it's look !

These 2 are my "proudest" cakes in the longest time! The last time I baked a cake successfully was in Secondary School ! The closest I ever got was baking mini muffins for kids' school parties a few years back.

Am really delighted! So delighted that I have to blog about it! Heehee...

p.s. The pictures are not well taken, but it's really edible !

p.p.s. For my friends who'd missed out trying, no worries, the Tiramisu shall be my 'signature dish' for potlucks to come !

Tiny milestone to swimming - Evan

Yesterday (24th Mar 2009), Evan & Dyllis had their 2nd swimming lesson in our compound's indoor swimming pool.

Evan started the lesson first, after a short while, the teacher took off his floats and let him hang on to the swimming board.

He swam with the board, he put his head into the water gradually (with goggles on), and bit by bit, he was coaxed into letting go of the teacher and swam to mummy !

It was a short distance before mummy caught hold of him, about an arm's length. But wow! What a major milestone in little Evan's life !

Good job boy! Mama & Jiejie are very proud of you :)

p.s. will take picture of Evan swimming w/o float & post it, when daddy swims with us (he is in Vietnam now)!

Evan the humourous boy

Last Saturday (14th Mar 2009), as we leave the Miramar Building(美丽华商务大厦)after art class, Evan saw an Audi car parked right in front of the building.

Evan : Mummy look ! Olympic ! But they forgot one circle !
Mummy : Haha...honey, it's not Olympic, it's the logo for the Audi, it only has 4 circles :)

Hm..my little boy has a great sense of humour !

A Little Brother's Thoughts..

Last night (14th Feb 2009), before Evan goes to bed, he was making shadows (using the reflection of light & his fingers) on the wall. Then he asked me to look at what he'd made. Here's our conversations:

Evan : Mama look..

Mama : Oh, that's a dog, who taught you how to make that?

Evan : Jie jie.

Evan : I think this jie jie is very good.

Mama : Which jie jie?

Evan : This jie jie (pointing to Dyllis who was fast asleep next to him)

Mama : Why?

Evan : Jie jie teach me a lot of things.

Mama : Yeah, you have the best jie jie in the whole wide world !!!

Isn't it sweet of Evan to think of his big sister this way? It warms my heart. I went to bed with a smile :)

Being an Expatriate's Wife

Being an expatriate's wife is so different. Till date, I do not call Shanghai home, and yet, when we are back in Singapore, due to the fact that we do not have a house, there is no home either !! So, I feel extremely Lost.

A lot has happened in the last 365 days. There were happy & unhappy moments... My emotions has been on the longest roller coaster ride ever.

Although I enjoyed the change of seasons, the discovery of facinating places of interest in this part of the world, the sincerity & friendship of fellow sin/mal expats, etc...I hated being a loner in my marriage, a single parent most of the time, and far from my dad.

I know nothing can be perfect. I know my husband is working extremely hard for his stint here. I know I have to be a much more understanding wife. But I DUN LIKE IT. Does anybody care? Well, for one I know, my husband has NO time to care :(

So, I've grown...yes, literally grown at the age of xx. I've grown to be much more independent. I can handle my 2 little monsters all by myself, be it bringing them out for meals, to a mall, or for a swim ! Gone were the days when I needed my MIL to stay with me while Bruce is out of town. I can do it all by myself ! Thank goodness my kids are also growing up, and as they see less of their daddy, they realise that they have no other choices but to listen to mummy, and they better listen or the consequences will be 'unthinkable' :) haha...

And over the months, we've progressed quite a bit. Canes are out, I no longer need the use of the cane to discipline my kids. Ayi is out too, as in, no more stay in maid - just one who comes in the morning and leaves at night. We are getting into a routine. And life is getting a bit more 'structured'...

Since I have no choice, I have to just take it in my stride right? And trust me, am trying very hard to stay SANE !

p.s. many thanks to my new friends out there who'd 'been there, done that' in Shanghai, and always including me in your luncheons, marketing, massage sessions, & of course, appreciate your listening ear whenever I feel vaxed (^6^)

p.p.s. special thanks to my old friends in Singapore who'd lent a 'listening ear' via email or msn (^o^).

Dyllis is on two wheels!

It all started two Sundays ago (18th May 2008), when Dyllis heard that Evan's classmate just learnt how to ride a bicycle without the training wheels.

Dyllis told me that she would like to try doing so too. So, we had the training wheels removed last week, and Dyllis struggled with it, with me holding her from behind.

Today, we decided to give it a try again (the second time since the training wheels were removed). It was tiring, not for Dyllis, but for me ! She managed to balance better, but refused to let me let go of my hands. And the 'break' came, when we stopped by an uncle (a staff from Windsor Place) - he was delivering bottled water to houses, and I asked how should I teach my kid how to ride a bike.

The answer : Leave her alone, let her try it out, one leg at a time, step by step, she'll get it.....and the message was like an "emperor's cree"...after hearing what the uncle said, my girl went off without me holding her, determined to try it out on her own ! And within minutes, she succeeded ! Well done DD Girl!




One down...one more to go...little Evan agreed to try when he turns 4 in a few months' time :)

1st Anniversary of being an Expat in Shanghai

How time flies...May 25th 2007 was the day we packed our bags and boarded the plane destinated for Shanghai.

I left with an extremely heavy heart. We sold our house in Singapore, left behind families who are close to our hearts, bid farewell to many friends who'd grown up with us or our kids, giving up our comfort zone to step foot into a world of uncertainties.

But emotions aside, my family has evolved over the months, my children have grown taller, we have made many new friends along the way, it's time for celebration !!

And here's how we celebrated today:

We started our day by having breakfast at Renaissance Hotel, the hotel that we stayed for 10days prior to moving to Windsor Place !






Bread with Nutella...Yummy!! Said DD & EE !


Still an hour to go before D's golf lesson, decided to pop over to the park opposite the hotel:










As promised, can go swimming whenever Daddy's home !








Hungry after swimming, little 'picnic' by the pool, thanks to the leftover sweetcorns & sweet pototoes from last night's BBQ at Aunty Cindy's house :)



And what better way to end the day then to have dinner at Chinatown, a Singaporean owned restaurant serving our favorite 'hometown' dishes :) Whoops, no photo to share...lazy after a tiring day!

Heartless Earth

Ever since the eventful May12 2008, I've been thinking......what is happening in this world? Is it somebody up that thinks that the population of human beings are too many for the Earth to handle, and hence, so get rid of some through such unpreventable catastrophes?

Frankly speaking, if I am not in Shanghai, I do not think that I'll feel as much for those suffering in Sichuan. But the fact that I am in the country where IT happened, I hear reports on radio, read updates in newspapers, watch miserable pleas of human beings on TV, and surf endlessly on the internet for live information....one cannot help it, but feels like crying.

As a mother of two, my heart goes out especially to the dead children and to the orphans. They were defenseless when tragedy hits:(

Sigh...sigh...sigh....that's all I can do. (other than contributing to the donation drive)

At the end of the day, I really hope that the country will 'wake up', and ensure that proper standards are adhered to when constructing buildings that can withstand earthquake in future. And sincerely hope that the school that my little darlings are going to, was not spared the stringent quality control during it's construction!

Liberation...revoked??

Sigh....was just sharing with my friends in Shanghai that they can go online to check out my blog..FREELY, without having to go through a proxy server...

Well, I stand CORRECTED ! Just went online to check, cannot access this blog directly..yes...again !!! :( #($*$&%^@%^@! :(

Makes me feel like I'm living in an isolated island, far from civilization! hahaha...(苦笑)

Liberation on blogger in Shanghai???

Guess what, for the last 11months that I've been in Shanghai, updating my blog has never been easy. This is because, 'the great firewall of china' has somehow, blocked direct access to blogs (at least in Shanghai) ! Interestingly though, we can still log on to blogger.com to create & maintain our posts.....but to view what we've written? That's another story...we have to go through a proxy server to view our blog !

Can you imagine how troublesome that is?

Thanks to whoever out there....in giving back what's soooo familiar...in resuming the ease of blogging!

Whoops, that means no more excuses not to BLOG !!!

The week when my girl fell very ill

Last Monday (21st April 2008), Dyllis suddenly felt cold while practising piano at home in the evening.

That was the start of her week long 'ordeal' :(

I tugged Dyllis in bed after feeding her paracetomol. She was asleep from 6pm till 11plus. Since she did not have dinner. I gave her a cup of milk and fed her neurofen as her fever has shot up even higher. She went back to sleep by midnight. But shortly after, she started throwing up while lying down (in her sleep) !

The throwing up continued throughout the night. Poor girl, literally threw up every bit of liquid she had in her body. I was so worried. Kept checking on her, making sure she was still breathing ! It was a torturous night. Both Dyllis & I hardly slept. But that was not the end of the saga.

Tuesday (22nd April) :
I cooked rice water for Dyllis, and gave her pedialyte ice-pops. Both of these, her body rejects :(

To make things worst. I called up 3 hospitals, non of them have a slot for me to see the paedi! The earliest would be at 1.30pm in the afternoon. I was anxious, and worried about Dyllis's condition. Hence, made a trip to the A&E department of one of the hospital.

The verdict -> Gastric Flu. There were red spots at the back of her throat, but No to antibiotics. Just fever medication and electrolyte to replenish lost salt in body.

Dyllis started to be able to retain fluid in the evening. The throwing up stopped.

That night, Dyllis's fever shot up till 40.3deg !

Wednesday (23rd April):
Dyllis complained about pain in throat.

Brought her to the doc(Dr K) at one of the hospital opened by Healthway group. The doctor did a thorough examination. Dyllis's tonsils were swollen, and there are rashes breaking out in her body! What's the verdict? Unknown!

Could it be measles? possible. Could it be chicken pox? possible.

How am I suppose to react to this? Worried ! All I could do was to wait & see...see if the rashes develop into bubbles. And to surf on the web finding out how the rashes look like for both possibilities - the measles & chicken pox.

Dyllis went to sleep with itchiness over her ankles..

Thursday (24th April 2008):
The rashes seems to be better. But nonetheless, I brought Dyllis back to Dr K for follow up.
No clue as to what is happening...

In the night, prior to going to sleep, Dyllis's right face had rashes ! It was itchy, and the rashes over her body and leg seemed to got worst !

Called Doc K, was told not to be worried. Just drink lots of water. Should be fine so long as Dyllis doesn't have fever.

I couldn't go to sleep straight away. Went online to do more research. Found a site that talked about scarlet fever, and 5th disease. These 2 illnesses are applicable to young children. And Dyllis's symptoms resembled that described for them. I suspected Dyllis has strep throat too.
Sent an email to another doc (singaporean, Dr A) from Healthway group to confirm my suspicions.

Friday (25th April):
Dr K called me in the morning, asking me to seek help from a paedi. I managed to get an appointment for a popular paedi(Dr L) in Worldlink (Parkway group).

Verdict --> Strep throat induced scarlet fever. Possible complications to heart & kidney. Must do urine test 2 weeks later.

Changed antibiotics, stronger dose.

Dyllis is finally set on the road to recovery! Whew....wat a scare :(

Lesson learnt from this episode:
Must be persistent in finding out the cause of illness. If we simply use antibiotic to treat the symptom, w/o knowing the cause, we will not know of the possible complications.

In Dyllis's case, the complications may sink in only 2 to 3 weeks later ! But now that we are aware, we will do the necessary test to ensure that all is well !

Our 4th Birthday Celebration in Shanghai

On the 14th April 2008, we had the 4th birthday celebration in Shanghai. The birthday person is none other than...ME ! haha....yes, the 1st to get a year older in my family in the year 2008 !

It was a quiet, non-event. Bruce took time to have breakfast with me at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (their breakfast toast was great!), and had lunch at a southeast asian restaurant near his office. Ordered Niang Tou Fu, my favorite dish from home, but it turned out to be the worst Niang Tou Fu noodle I've ever eaten !

We did not plan ahead for a cake for me, but we know that it is a MUST, especially for the kids...hence, bought an Ice-cream cake for myself at Haagen Daz ! This, of course, made the day for the children !

We had the cake after kids came home from school, and after that, we all went swimming ! Havn't gone swimming in months! (esp when it's sooo cold in winter, and din have time when we went back home during the cny break.)

So that was it. My non-eventful birthday celebration, but that was GOOD Enough...am contented so long as my family celebrated with me :)

p.s. Thanks to all the well wishes that all of you friends out there sent to me, paiseh...so many of you remembered my hatchday !

p.p.s Will upload some photos when i "get hold" of them !

My DD Girl, the aspiring violinist?

On the 3rd of April 2008, YCIS (kids' school) had a violin concert for Y1 - Y3.

Because of this concert, Dyllis wanted me to buy her a violin. I had no objection cos all students in YCIS (from last term of K4 up till Y3) has to take violin lessons, it's a compulsory music lesson!

Brought her to Brillance mall to get from the music store, just RMB$270 ! It's relatively cheaper here compared to Singapore!

D was happy, eagerly preparing her violin for school the next day (by rubbing the violin bow against some rubbery thingy), and did not really 'perform' for us that night. So, till the day of the performance, we have never seen our girl play a violin piece at all!

The day finally came. We were there early. She had to assemble, and we had to queue up to get into the Shanghai Theatre.

It was a heartwarming performance. There are so many anxious 1st time parents (like me !) out there waiting to hear our child play the violin. It was not exactly perfect tune. But it was NOT horribly out of tune either ! It was OK & audible !

We snapped sooo many photos (& videos) of our little darling at the act. Am very impressed that the school is able to put up such an act within only 7months of training for amateur violinists ! Bravo DD Girl !