When we decided to send Erica to a all subjects taught in Mandarin Chinese school, many of our friends taught that we were mad. Frankly, I don’t blame them. It was indeed a crazy move as both Dave and I cannot read or write in Mandarin. Despite all the well-meant you better not to it advise, we went ahead with our plan. Yeah, we are extremely stubborn, haha! How did the learn Mandarin plan come about? Why did we decide on such a “difficult” path? Dave is convinced that China would be the next big economy after the US and Erica would have an added competitive advantage if she is proficient in Mandarin. When he told me his theory I remember laughing to myself, thinking, “He watched too much CNBC!”

What about her English? Despite our “soft spot” for Mandarin, English wins hands down. We considered many options like having her home schooled by me (dh was sceptical, haha!), hiring a home-tutor to coach her, sending her for weekend English classes etc. We were not comfortable with any of the options. We felt that nothing beats the “school environment”. Anyway having a good command in English is way too important to take such risks. Just as we were about to abandon our learn Mandarin plan, we stumbled upon Chung Kwok School (CKS). This school conducts two curriculum – Mandarin curriculum before lunch and an English curriculum in the afternoon. We loved the idea but I was worried about the long school hours. My dh convinced me to give it a go and told me that we could always pull her out if things don’t work out. That decision was made four years ago and it was a darn good one, well after a few months of tears for both Erica and I.

The first two months in CKS were a nightmare for Erica, only the morning curriculum though. The English curriculum was a breeze for her and she loved it! She would come back with minimal school work to be completed for the afternoon session, but tons for the morning session. I remember spending hours looking up online translations (from Mandarin to English) to help her through her homework. At times I even had to do her homework for her because she fell asleep doing them. Poor girl!

Many people (my mom and sis included) taught that we were SO cruel having her to handle two curriculum. They tried in their own manner to persuade us to do re-consider. We were VERY tempted to pull her out of CKS even though we never admitted to anyone then. Dave and I agreed not to jump the gun but instead allowed her some time to settle-in before we pull her out of CKS. Surprisingly she started to like the school “a little” after a month. She started to smile more and came back home with some happy stories from school.

In order to “speed up” her learning curve, her class teacher advised us to get her a Mandarin tutor. I never imagined that getting a tutor would be so challenging! Most of them were only keen to coach students with a strong foundation in Mandarin. They would come surprised, shocked and even a little upset that Erica had close to zero knowledge in the language. Crazy, huh? If the kid has a strong foundation in Mandarin, why in the world would she need a tutor? We were baffled by their attitude. All in all we hired and fired close to ten tutors (each lasting at the most 2 weeks) before finding these two amazingly dedicated teachers. They patiently tutored Erica from scratch and brought her proficiency in the Mandarin language to a level that is beyond our imagination. Both of them were so passionate in teaching her and were genuinely interested in her progress. We are still thanking our lucky stars for finding them.

After a year of coaching by them, Erica’s proficiency in the language improved so much that many of her school teachers and friends were shocked. From barely making the passing rate, she consistently achieved 75% in all her taught in Mandarin subjects. She could even have simple conversations in Mandarin with her friends. By the second year she was reading story books in Mandarin and continued to have even more success in school. No words could describe my gratitude towards these two ladies who had worked wonders with Erica. Many people asked me why she needed two tutors. I felt that she would be bored spending so many hours with just one tutor. With two, she would have diversity and it would make learning much more interesting. So I hired one to concentrate on her grammar and another on her writing skills. This arrangement worked well with Erica and the tutors.

Erica will be graduating from CKS and moving on to secondary/middle school after a major exam in two months time. We are so proud of her and so grateful to all the teachers at CKS who had worked with her, as well as these two incredibly passionate tutors.

]]> http://www.lifeloveandme.com/2010/07/30/learning-mandarin-chinese/feed/ 0 http://www.lifeloveandme.com/2010/07/26/it-was-memorable/ http://www.lifeloveandme.com/2010/07/26/it-was-memorable/#comments Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:00:01 +0000 celine http://www.lifeloveandme.com/?p=2500

My hubby was a little worried during my last birthday (in March). He assumed that I would be depressed as it meant saying farewell to days of being thirties. As “the day” was on a weekday and he was super busy at work, he made arrangements with the girls’ school for them to have the day off. Yeah, he actually wrote a letter informing the school that the girls needed to skip school to celebrate my fortieth birthday. Men!! *shakes head in disbelief*.

The girls brought me to the movies to watch Alice in Wonderland. They used their pocket money to pay for our tickets and popcorn. It was kinda of nice but weird at the same time. Just because they were paying for popcorn, all three of us had to share a tub – all the doing of my stingy younger daughter. She didn’t have any problems with expensive popcorn when her daddy and mommy were paying for them! Anyway Alice was nice and the popcorn tasted better than normal, haha!

After that they took me to ArtFriend, my favourite supplies shop to pick my own birthday present. Cool, huh! I got all excited at the shop, not because I get to choose a present for myself but more because my girls took the trouble of making me happy on my birthday. ArtFriend is indeed one of my all time favourite places. I spend hours there each time.

When we got home I baked my birthday cake. I don’t normally bake my own birthday cake but I was feeling so happy (and loved) that I decided to bake the family’s all time favourite opera cake to celebrate. When dh came back from work we went to our favourite cosy neighbourhood cafe for dinner plus some cake cutting. The day turned out to be VERY memorable ….. lots of bonding time with the girls and dh. Turing forty wasn’t so scary after all.

Where have I been for the past 2 months? Have I stopped blogging but never said good-bye? I received quite a number of emails on this for the past few weeks from many concerned friends. Some were even worried that something happened to me.

Thank you so much for your concern my dear friends. I am fine, don’t worry. Yes, I am still blogging …..  its just that I was so pre-occupied with my little BFF. We spent so many hours hanging out together daily that I do not have anymore energy to blog after that. Here she is. What do you think?

I have never been a doll person. Actually I don’t remember having a doll as a kid. Not sure why I never took a liking to them, most likely its due to their plastic body and fake facial expression. I just couldn’t bond with them. Everything changed when I discovered waldorf dolls two months back. I was transformed into a doll-freak! I spent many hours researching on them and “drooling” over the creations of reputable waldorf doll makers. I like how they are made entirely with cotton and wool, and how they have very life-like facial expression.

I still find it difficult to believe that I actually own a doll. My dh is amused over my Nikki related activities. He thinks I treat her like a human being. I would talk to her, carry her all over the house, bring her out on road-trips and even hug her to sleep at night (sheesh!). I am surprised with my own behaviour too, but I am sure having hell of a good time with Nikki, haha! Everyday I would rush through my mommy’s duties, so that I can spend more time with her. Over the weekend, the girls and I would have “play doll” sessions. They are sucked into the waldorf thing-y too. They are two dolls each!

Well, this is what I have been doing for the past two months. Things have normalise a little now, so I am back at blogging, baking my girls tea-time snacks and cooking proper meals. You will definitely be hearing more from me now.

Both my girls are pretty good swimmers but I feel that they need some pointers to further improve on their strokes, especially breast stroke. This is the perfectionist in me talking, I suppose. For me proper technique is important in order to fully enjoy an activity and to prevent injuries.

I have been on the lookout for suitable advanced swimming lessons for quite some time. Good swimming instructors are so difficult to find. I thought all my problems were solved when I found him, but it was a challenge trying to “squeeze” a slot into my girls’ already jam-packed weekend schedule. Eventually we gave up sleeping in on Sundays for it to happen. David has been so sweet to do it for quite a number Sundays while I sleep in. I finally did my Mummy Duty a few weeks back. I lugged my camera along and had a lot of fun snapping away.

I like how the club management has dedicated lanes for lessons so that the kids are not “disturbed”

Some little ones listening to their instructors

A rare shot of Erica (my elder girl). She tends to either run away or covers her face when I bring out the came. Tweens!!

My ever ready for the camera daughter.

“Arianna, stop sticking you bum up! You breathe with your mouth not your bum!”

Taking a mini-break

Erica and Arianna have been dying to have a go at this. It has not happened yet. Daddy and mummy have been working very hard, trying to arrive 10 mins before lessons but failed. After lessons? They would be starving by then and dying to go for brunch. Mental note to self – will leave the house 30mins earlier this Sunday, for them to make it for the spin.

When I saw Ashley’s Graffiti Shoes Tutorial, I couldn’t wait to make one for myself. I did, yesterday, while the kids were swimming with their friends.

I had a fantastic time playing with paints. I didn’t realise that I miss painting and creating a mess  so much. It was therapeutic turning a MYR5 plain-looking black canvas shoes, into cool graffiti art. Thanks, Ashley!

My girls were jealous when they got home. They made me promise that I will paint them each a pair while they are at school tomorrow. I was stunned when David told me subtly that he wouldn’t mind having a pair too! *shaking my head in disbelief*

I was wearing them all of today, everywhere I went. I felt so cool in them.

I wanted to add more words to the back of the shoes but my fabric pen ran out of ink. Will need to do an Art Friend run first thing tomorrow morning! It will look even more cool after that. *giggling in excitement*

My baby announced the minute she woke up, “I am nine years-old today. I don’t want to be called Bee (her pet name which is short for baby) anymore. Your can call me Rihana, if you like.”

I turned to Erica and we burst out laughing together. We were trying to imagine a out of tune Rihana croaking Umbrella.

Honestly it is quite a shock to me that my baby is 9 today. She seemed to grow up so quickly despite her tendency to fall sick often. She has two huge tonsils so it was high fever once every 3 weeks since she was 6 months old. It gradully became once every 6 weeks. Her relationship with her tonsils are improving…. only losing it when she is stressed-up. Looking at her now, we are so relieved that she is strong and healthy.

Cupcake cake for her to share with her friends at school tomorrow.

Mango cake that she had with her weight conscious mummy, daddy and close friends.

With two of her favourite bigger than her soft toys when she was 1 year-old.

With her favourite bucket at the park near home.

Enjoying herself as a fairy during Christmas when she was 2 years-old.

Hospitalised for a week when she was 3 years-old due to a rare skin disorder. She was happily reading her books and watching Madeline while we were worried sick over her.

It was everything Tink when she turned 4. Here she is in her favourite Tinkerbell dress that she would wear all the time, even to sleep if allowed to.

Just before she turned 5, we brought her to Disneyland – the kids’ wonder world where all dreams come true.

She had her 6th birthday with her best buds at McD.

Growing up a little too fast for my liking.

“Mummy! Look I can reach the light switch without my baby stool!”

Her just wanna chill out and do nothing birthday last year.

In her current favourite dress.

When it comes to cooking, I have accepted the fact that I am destined to be a noob forever. Noob not in the same category as this ironchef-in-disguise-noob, but noob in the true sense, know very little and have no will to learn. I no longer live in denial, buying cookbooks after cookbooks dreaming of being my Mister’s Domestic Goddess. After trying at the most two recipes from the salad/entree section, I would be demoralised. Mine would never ever look and taste anywhere near that described by the book, even though I put in twice the amount of time in the kitchen. Nothing wrong with those cookbooks, it’s just me … poor execution due to “no-interest” subject matter. If I could transfer some of my enthusiasm from baking and crafting to cooking, I am positive my family’s tummies would be much happier.

Things changed (a while back) for the better when I stumbled upon these amazing food bloggers They “hand-held” me all the way from buying the ingredients to plating (is there such a word?) the meal. Most of their recipes have very few ingredients, they do not involve any deep frying (my no.1 fear), they have very few simple cooking steps and most important of all their recipes are idiot-proof.

Please put your hands together for a round of applause to these amazing ladies. Here they are in no particular order;

Don’t think Ree aka PW needs any introduction, right? I have been a “stalker” of hers way before she bacame “royalty” of the food blogging world. Initially I followed her blog mainly for Black Heels to Tractor Wheels – her love story with Marlboro Man. Slowly I became attracted to her cooking posts (sub-consciously?) too. Me, cooking? Nah! Maybe its because she provides pictures and detailed explanation for each and every cooking step . Or could it be due to her wicked sense of humour? Possibly its her down-to-earth, hilarious constant self mockery …. Oh, I don’t know. I became her faithful fan, even more faithful than having dinner daily!

I had tried many of her recipes and had lots of success with them. I can never forget cooking my first pan-fried steak ala PW, can never forget having her Asian Noodle Salad for lunch and dinner two days straight, can never forget keeping the Mister happy with a never done before homecooked meat feast.

Seriously I am so grateful to PW for making cooking less scary for me, with her awesome tutorials and how-tos series. Soon, I hope cooking will no longer be a responsibility for me. Maybe, just maybe, I might, will actually enjoy (eeeks) doing it.

She is the Ironchef in disguise that I mentioned earlier. This is Wiffy’s claim of herself, “I’m a girl who likes to cook though I don’t think I’m very good at it”. Not good at cooking? Bluff! Hop over to her blog and you will be amazed with her simple yet delicious recipes. Go on do it now.

Was it her Chicken and Mushroom Baked Rice, or Baked Sardines and Potatoes? I can’t remember. Its one of these guys (both equally yummy) that started my “relationship” with Wiffy. Since then I have been relying on her to figure out dinner. She has a 15- minutes Shorts Series (cooking under 15 minutes) which I particularly like. It is a life saver during my 4pm weekday scramble, wondering what to put on the dinner table.

The Little Teochew is another of my favourite. Ju writes beautifully. She is very generous in teaching and sharing. She comes across as a very down-to-earth person, I like her! Coupled  with her fantastic shots, she  keeps me captivated. Daily visits to her a blog is a must for me.

Even though alot of her recipes a little difficult for me, I enjoy reading and learning from them. One day I hope to tackle them. For now, I have tried a number of the easier ones with lots of success. We especially love her Carrot and Tuna Salad, Salmon Cakes, Pineapple Fried Rice and Sesame Prawn Toast.

Babe is the first Malaysian blogger on my google reader and she is still there after a couple of “spring cleaning”. Not sure why, but her comments on my blog seemed to encourage and comfort me in an uncanny way. I can never forget her encouragements during the height of my health problems.  I have long considered her a good friend even though we have never met.

If you have not visited blog, which is unlikely, you should.  She does food review on all types of food in Malaysia from street food to super fine dining. I like it that her reviews are not the typical regurgitating the menu and providing the address and opening hours type. I find them to be insightful and objective. Maybe I am biased because she likes La Bodega and Nerovivo too.

The lady is an awesome cook too. Her recipes are simple, very forgiving (hehe) and super tasty – I know, I have tried a number of them. Our current favourites are – Steamed Chicken with Chinese Sausages (hubby’s), Homemade Yogurt (Mine) and Butter, Kaya and Peanut Butter Toast (my girls would love to have this everyday).

]]> http://www.lifeloveandme.com/2010/02/27/dinner-helpers/feed/ 4 http://www.lifeloveandme.com/2010/02/18/its-camp-edward/ http://www.lifeloveandme.com/2010/02/18/its-camp-edward/#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:23:18 +0000 celine http://www.lifeloveandme.com/?p=2050

To my elder girl, he is the BEST-LOOKING guy in this whole wide world. Her everything Pattinson craze has been going on for a while and I never understood why, until last December …….

I finally got curious when she was watching Twilight for the 10,000th time. I joined her. Initially I was bored but when the perfect in an eerie manner Pattinson appeared I transformed into an excited teenager and became more excited than my tween!

When the movie ended, I told my daughter, “Erica, let’s watch one more time!”.

She was beaming with the “I told you so” look.

We ended up watching three rounds of Twilight and two rounds of New Moon. I had a smashing time…….  it was good fun!

My daughter asked me after New Moon, “So is it Camp Edward or Camp Jacob?”

“Camp Edward 100%!”

She did a celebration dance to that!

The next day (was too tired after the movie marathon) I googled and researched on all matters relating to Pattinson. I was stucked by my Macbook for hours …….. only taking toilet breaks, no kidding!

Once I was done with all the googling, I started reading Twilight the book, hoping for details that the movie might have left out.

I didn’t stop at Twlight. I moved on to New Moon….then Eclipse …… then Breaking Dawn.

I can’t wait for Midnight Sun to be published. It’s partial draft left me begging for more ……….

I have never been one good with traditions, frankly I suck at them. Since young I never saw the significance of Chinese New Year. To me it was (and is still is) merely another flipping of the calendar day. I only enjoyed the extended days of holidays that came with it. Before marriage it would mean holidays overseas with friends, but after marriage everything changed. I needed to be a responsible daughter-in-law and mother ……. certain chinese new year must-dos needed to be done even though I do not believe in them.

During Chinese New Year it is customary to prepare “goodie bags” for family and friends. I enjoy putting together personalised gifts each year. I find store bought hampers expensive and boring! This year I made Valentine’s Topiary filled with traditional CNY cookies and nuts.

I spent a week cutting circles from 5 yards of velvet plus many, many hours assembling them. It was fun but my biceps were aching by the time I completed all nine of them. This was the most time consuming part. The rest was quite a breeze.

I painted and decorated metal pots from Ikea, planted the topiary with a thin layer of cement, filled it up with the cookies and nuts, then covered it with dried moss.

My girls had a lot of fun in the entire “planting” process. They would work through their homework (from school) in record breaking speed so that they could help out. We had some awesome time bonding ……

I included this tea set as part of the gift too. I fell in love with it the minute I saw it at the mall. It is SO PRETTY. I hope my friends feel the same too. *keeping my fingers crossed*.

]]> http://www.lifeloveandme.com/2010/02/15/valentines-topiary-for-chinese-new-year/feed/ 8 http://www.lifeloveandme.com/2009/12/31/happy-bootcamper/ http://www.lifeloveandme.com/2009/12/31/happy-bootcamper/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:05:38 +0000 celine http://www.lifeloveandme.com/?p=1935

I spent the first couple of days after cancelling our holidays puting up a brave-front in front of my girls. I was my usual chirpy and happy self keeping my elder girl company while she does her work, and helping my younger one with the daily crafts planned for her. When my girls went to bed I sulked and took out my frustration on my husband. The poor guy took it all in a stride …ever so sweet.

I was having so much trouble getting myself out of the in-no-mood for everything in my life. I needed something badly to get me back on track. When I found out about The Original Bootcamp (OBC) from another blogger I was convinced that it was just what I needed to get myself out of the rut – an hour of intensive outdoor exercise military style at 7am thrice weekly.

I signed-up for the OBC without much fact finding. I assumed that I would be able to handle it after having a personal trainer in the gym for awhile. From its name (military style bootcamp) I expected it to be tough, kick ass and intensive but ….. After 20 minutes into the session I was gasping for breath like a pathetic 50 years-old grandma. The intensity of the exercises was totally unexpected. I was in total shock. Me? Somehow who has been exercising regularly with a trainer, has to struggle so much? It was humiliating and mind boggling at the same time. It dawn onto me (much later) that I cannot do high intensity strength training and cardiovascular exercise at the same time. It’s either one or the other. I was just not trained to do both by my trainer (yeah, pushing all the blame to him).

The aches and pains that I had during the first week was horrible. I had so much difficulty walking up the staircase to my friend’s place (on the 2nd floor). I had to walk at an angle to lessen the pain. My friends were shocked, surprised, concerned and amused. I burst out laughing when my 8 year-old offered me her hand.

Things got better in the second week. It was still tough but I kinda got addicted to the after-session bazillion “happy hormones”. The so satisfied with myself feeling was awesome. By the end of the second week, I fired my personal trainer (while he was still on holiday) and signed up for my second month as a Happy Bootcamper, one who could work my muscles and run on the same day!