trivia
Showing posts with label trivia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trivia. Show all posts

Our Bangkok Shopping Trip

We hardly leave our kids behind so it was a bit hard to pull myself away this time. Especially when we are always back in Spore for only a short time. But this time, as hub had a meeting there, we thought we could sneak away for a short 3 days to recharge ourselves. No doubt it is tiring tugging along 2 kids all the time and 1 not being very easy.. guess who? :P


This was the place we stayed at : Amari Watergate... which is just opposite our favourite.......






Platinum Mall!


When we got there, we took a walk to Central Mall and unleashed our ravenous appetites. I am always so in love with the thai milk tea and hub had his pad thai.





I had dinner by myself at the foodcourt in Platinum Mall. This is so simple and satisfied my craving for beef ball noodle soup. I like especially the peppery taste of it.


On the second day, hub had a meeting and I walked around by myself. It is really quite therapeutic to spend time alone, shopping for the family when it comes to clothes, shoes etc. Totally heavenly not to have anything on your agenda except shopping.




Dinner was at Thai on 4 which was in Amari Hotel itself. Noodles with chicken curry. It tasted so good.


Met up with our Singaporean friend who used to work in Cape Town! Food at Coffee Bean By Dao at Central was awesome! His wife is a local thai and recommended this place. Another place to try out is called AfterYou which is also in Central Mall.



On the last day, we had phad thai again! And had our massage at this place called "Number One" near the hotel. Apparently, it is really popular. We forgot to take pics as it was too awesome. The place was brightly lit and does not feel like a dingy massage place which a lot of places there are.


On our way back!


I guessed I loved it as the shopping places are all within reach. I just needed to walk a lot, which I love! I guess I really miss walking... :) And it has all my favourite spicy food, cheap massage. A totally happy mummy when I got back!
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Organizing Our Learning!

It had been a pretty busy week for me! I was unpacking our stuff, sorting them, clearing away old stuff and planning our learning journey for the next 3 months. The Shichida way of planning our term calendar every quarterly year has rubbed off on me and I think it will stay for life. It might be tedious right in the beginning but things settled down and move on smoothly for the next 3 months. If you asked me, it is worth the effort. It helped me to get into gear quickly; when I feel lazy, I will refer to my schedule when I cannot think of anything new to do with the kids.

Kiasu mummy syndrome when it comes to teaching the kids? Maybe. But I know deep down I just want to help them enjoy learning as much as possible. I don't want to reach a stage when we feel stressed and have to cramp our learning. So now, I try to cater to their learning needs as much as possible. At least it is within my means now. Another reason is that I will try to abstain from tuition as much as possible as I want them to be independent learners. One way to become such is being able to think critically as well as to read. Reading is one of the most important tools to open our gateway to lifelong learning. How to do it in an interesting way? Well, I am still finding my way around. :) Last of all, I enjoy doing it! For children, life is about play and learn right? So why not schedule it so it will be more fulfiling?

Anyway, here is a general preview of what I do every 3 months:

1) I refer to old lesson plans and see what I did and what I had not done
2) I put those that I had not done last quarter into the new lesson plans so that I will try to do it again. I did not follow some activities due to lack of time or simply because they are not ready/not interested.
3) I looked at the new books I had brought along this time and make sure we read these books every week. This is to make sure every book is accounted for :) I read Oxford Tree Series, Berenstein Bears Series and I just bought some Dr Seuss books from Amazon recently.
4) I will also just repeat some activities for reinforcement as they do not know yet. For example, it is taking me sometime to let Ko learn phonic sounds because she is just not very interested.
5) I made sure I include character and faith learning.
6) The first month schedule will be done more briefly as I intend to research more on what to teach them this "semester" during this first month. I just needed a general plan to kickstart first.

White ones are for Ko while Blue ones are for Imm so that it is easy for me to differentiate.:) I do this so that I can personalise their learning as I know what they like to do or not so good at. I know some kids already know their phonic sounds and letters by 2 years old but I will just keep trying other activities with Ko for her to pick it up at her pace. Learning A and B has been in her learning schedule since 1 year old.. sometimes I try not to compare as I know Imm already knows his alphabets and numbers at 2 years old. Trying :)



I then packed the books and activities into these 4 boxes. Every start of the month, I would remove and add in the new books.


Then I also packed my cupboard and made sure that every activity has a "home" so that it saves me time rummaging in the cupboard. I don't want to 海底捞针.


That is my summary for this week. :)
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Packing Up - Let's Go!!

This is a post on little trivia. We are off to Singapore for a week... I don't know if I have time to blog because there will be lots of errands to run and friends to catch up with. I really miss my friends and own Mummy's time in a way. However, I still made sure I did these few things before we leave for hot sunny (hazy) Singapore.

1) Made Barley Drink twice this week
2) Making sure we eat more veg
3) Me and hub take Cod Liver Oil
4) Packing my Essential Oils

These are sample sizes... perfect for being on the flight.


5) Packing colouring activity for the plane trip ( it is always for the kids)

We also prepared gifts for Imm's previous class teachers as he has moved on to the yellow class. Only he and another friend moved on as the teacher said he could do slightly more advanced things than his classmates. It surprised me that they will move students periodically for their advancement. He really missed his teachers and classmates but is adapting well to it. We took the sand art that he had done previously and wrote notes behind. I wanted to convey that we should always show gratitude especially to the teachers (since I was one before, hehe! :P)


I prepared a smoothie jar/cup for each of the 3 teachers.


These days I have been doing more maths with Imm. We start to count in 2s and 5s together.


They are enjoying their puzzle together. Such a relief as Daddy came back late that day and I had no help.
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Mummy's Time #1 - Of Ciders and Coffees

Well, Mummies must enjoy themselves and give themselves a break for working hard right? I am.. especially in this place of nice coffees and ciders... I decided that every end of the month, I shall dedicate a post for Mummy's time (I shall try) and to reminisce about the nice things:)

These are my favorites this month...

1) Hunter's Gold Cider

There are two main brands of cider produced here, Hunters and Savanna Dry. Hunter's Gold was first introduced to South Africa in 1988 as an alternative to beer. Its low alcohol content and refreshing taste just makes the don't-want-to-be-that-alcoholic in me crave almost every other day. Moreover, it is rather cheap here, around R10 a bottle...


2) Freshly Brewed Coffee

My energy boosting drink. It used to be a girlfriend's kind of thing, which I really missed. Doing coffee means lots of catch up, gossip and it just taste so good with good company. When I was younger and had less financial commitments, I would willingly spend $6-$10 in Singapore for a mocha that is of average quality.. however, nowadays, I spend stringently (My hub will go "izzit?") and save the moment for good coffees instead. Moreover, I don't have coffees with friends now in Cape Town so no distraction if the coffee is bad. Coffees to me are not just coffees anymore, they are a type of maturity for the mummy slaving happily away for the family. Thus, this mummy drinks 3 in 1 Old Town coffee in the day (because there is no time while rushing the kids to school) and good quality coffee in the afternoon while the kids are at school. 

This coffee was bought from The Coffee Roasting Company at Lourensford.


This was what is written behind...

Skillfully brewed coffee :
1) Use only 100 % Arabia beans
2) Enjoy within 2 months
3) Re order weekly to ensure optimal flavour
4) Grind fresh. Brew fresh. Serve fresh. BE Passionate!!!

Don't:
1) Use stale beans - older than 2 months from roasting date.
2) Serve coffee that has been brewed more than 20 mins ago
3) Use dirty equipment - rancid coffee are acrid and bitter
4) Use less than 60 g of coffee per litre
5) Overheat milk over 70 degrees for cappucino
6) Heat coffee over 90 degrees

The freshly brewed and pressed coffee taste just so good... Gentle with a clean finish just like how it is described.
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