Close of one chapter, the beginning of new

Our Cambodian maid, Kea Net, who worked with us for exactly 33 months, left for her home on 29th March 2013 - which also happened to be hubby's birthday.  As we were in Penang for a few days early that week, we came home with tonnes of laundry and on top of that, I had to bring her to the hypermart a few times to buy a new luggage, souvenirs, clothes and stuff.  We changed all her savings to USD as per her request on the second and last day after reconciling all the costs. 

On her last day, I was in a big rush to settle the kids in the morning (thank God they had no school as it was during their term break) then going over to the money changer to buy USD.  Before I left the house, I saw that she took her own initiative to iron all Victoria's white school shirts (the best ever, compared to the other times when it didn't even looked ironed) and hubby's working shirt for Monday.  I was deeply touched.  The night before she even worked till late just to finish off her daily evening chore.  I didn't expect her to as most outgoing maids would gladly give a slip short, half hearted work performance knowing that they will never come back. 

During lunch time, Vic generously told Kakak to "choose whatever you want to eat" and Kea Net had her favourite curry noodles.   At the airport, we bid and hugged her farewell after checking her in and seeing her off passed security.  Kids did not cry, but Mummy did shed a few drops of tears.  It's just never easy to say goodbye. 

Kakak Kea Net in her new pink blouse, skinny jeans, wedges, new purple handbag, ear rings and her handcarry bag given by Gong Gong a year back.

The next day, on 30th March, we welcomed our new maid, Joanne who is from the Philippines.  She's in her early 30s, speaks fluent English and doesn't carry a heavy local accent.  In fact, I find myself consciously readjusting my level of English from basic-broken to prim-proper.  She was quiet and almost considered unpleasant the time when the agent handed her over, and when asked by the agent's secretary, she said that I didn't look like what she saw me in Skype.  Well, I guess I disappointed her in looks then, and that was not really a good start.  To top it off, she was picky on her vegetables when we had lunch that day.  After a little advice from us of not to waste food or choose food (so we can set good examples to the kids), she did apologize for not finishing her vege (but still not eating it, it shows she has a strong will).

Joanne learned fast in her first week.  I must say, she exceeded my expectations, and I thank God for that.  She is pleasant, jokes and knows her boundaries / status.  She asks permission when she needs to enter my room to bring out the rubbish, and talks politely to the children.  She doesn't much cooking, from what she admits and also from observing the way she slices a cucumber.  However, she is willing to learn, always coming to my side when I explain to her.  The second time she fried a fish, she perfected it.  I secretly think she's not thrown out all her Aces yet.

Joanne eats very, very little.  So little, that I worry she may fall sick.  She is also very clean.  Much cleaner than the Cambodian in all her 3 years here.  She wiped my kitchen tiles squeaky clean, and performs her work fast.  She knows how to find her own work too, even taking out my pots and pans and cleaning my sauce bottles.  On this, she reminds me of my Indon maid no.3 who did the same within her first week here.
 
Thank you God for answering my prayer.

I hope things go well with Joanne throughout her contract here.  She did shared that her aim was to work in Hong Kong, and Malaysia is only her stepping stone.  She is not married and have no current boyfriend, so she is also worried that she may not find a man at all if she works here long.  I appreciate her honesty, yet I cringe to think of our dilemma in the future. 

A Birthday Celebration

We had a lovely celebration last Saturday, 6th April at our home to celebrate the birthdays of Victoria, hubby and Gong Gong.  Coincidently, this day was Gong Gong's actual birthday.

Initially I wanted to have a simple steam boat party but Vic was not keen as she preferred Western.  As our guestlist exceeded ten, I figured it will indeed be a better idea to cater instead of being Martha in the kitchen myself.  So Western it was, and we finally settled for a caterer and chose food that the kids loved most - lasagne and spaghetti bolognese.  In addition to that, I also ordered a tray of Shepherd's Pie, mini chicken pies and chilled creamcheese with nestum base dessert.  From my own kitchen, I added watermelon, grapes and cherry tomatoes.

We added in decorations that morning itself as we had our cell gathering in our house the night before and so couldn't put up the balloons and "Happy Birthday" signs yet.  Daddy did most of the decoration work - pumping up the balloons, tying them up until his fingers felt numb, hanging up the HB sign.  The ladies did the last part of tying the balloons in pairs along the staircase railings.

Popo Gong Gong arrived in the morning with cousin Grace.  In the evening, Yi Yi / Yi Jiong with cousins Andrew and 11-month old Sharon (last seen when she was a newborn), Mama Yeh Yeh with cousin Theodore and Yee Sok arrived.  3rd Aunt and 3rd Uncle joined us too. 

Funny glasses for the birthday kids

The kids had a blast, running up and down the stairs from the living to the dining, with the younger boys chasing each other around the coffee table.  Toys were strewn on the floor, they build and tore down and they laughed and cried.  We didn't had to put on any music which was initially the plan, because the conversations and noise from the kids would have drowned it anyway.  This was, in my opinion, what a party should be and it was great that we could do all these in the comfort of our home and not having to worry about runaway kids or getting weird stares from strangers if we had held this in a restaurant.  :P 

Nearing 7pm, Daddy dedicated a Bible verse to Victoria from Psalm 37:4, which says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Mummm Mummm

"I'm almost 8 now.  But still a baby in Popo's eyes"

3 generation and a bunch of plastic cats

Despite warning telling William (who thinks that blowing out birthday candles is his official duty) NOT to blow his Jie Jie's birthday candles, he was the first to blow out ALL his sister's birthday candles....

But fortunately Daddy forgot to light the number "8" candle the first round, so the second round, Vic got to blow this off all by herself.  We had to do a little restraint on the brother, though... hehe

A few days later (12th April exactly) will be my parent's 40th wedding anniversary so to commemorate that, we opened a bottle of Carbenet Shiraz to go with the lovely egg-free, orange flavour birthday cake.

Having her cake and eating it too... yummz!

She couldn't resist NOT opening her presents, so she picked one to open first, which was from Yi Yi and Yi Jiong - a Hello Kitty watch in a sweet HK box!  She's elated beyond words!  On top of that, the day before she received another watch - digital with various buttons from a cell friend.  So, two new watches for her birthday (nasib baik Mummy didn't cave in to her wanting to buy a new watch a few weeks back)

The second present that she opened came from cousin Theodore, and it was a Hello Kitty stationery set - perfect for a girl crazy over stationery.  As for Daddy and Mummy's present to her, she asked to keep it till her actual day but later in the night, she asked me if she could just take a peep.  That peep resulted in her taking out the smaller of the two presents in the package...

Thank you Popo Gong Gong, Mama Yeh Yeh and 3rd Aunt for your ang pows.

Vic is truly blessed.  Now I tease her that there are so many "cats" in this house... she laughs at this because she knows Mummy is not a cat-person.

Happy birthday, sweet girl...

"My dearest Vic,

Take time to grow up, don't be in such a hurry.  Take time to discover and embark on your likes and passions, keep God's word close to your heart, and know that you will always have Mummy Daddy to confide in and support you.  I'm proud of you - all the time."

Who is Victoria?

My first born will turn 8 next Wednesday, but because her birthday falls on a weekday which is both a school and work day, we will celebrate this occasion on the Saturday before.  Which, also happens to be my dad's actual birthday... so, we will have a double celebration!  And since Daddy's birthday was just about a week back, we will do a triple celebration instead and have sing a song for Daddy too!

I've been meaning to write a post about my little girl, who's not so little now.  She stands very tall for her age, standing at close to 140cm now and looks more like a Standard 4 student instead. 

In many ways, she's just like me.  In other ways, she is like Daddy such as her love for outdoor activities.  Or, don't all kids anyway?  She likes cycling and her fall a couple of months back has not stopped her from wanting to continue, albeit this time with a helmet.  Daddy introduced badminton to her too, and on good evenings after school, the two of them find time to flick a shuttle cock up in the air or at my plants (better than William who aims the shuttle cock at poor Mummy reading her magazine in the living room).

Vic laughs her silly little laugh that sounds like a half cry, if I may say.  She can laugh even when the people around her don't find funny in whatever she is laughing at.  But she sulks like a typical lady, because when you ask her what's wrong, she keeps quiet until you pester her a few more rounds, and you get a standard answer, "Nothing." 

Sounds familiar? 

I don't have patience for that, but Daddy does.  Because although Daddy may be too strict at times, she's always Daddy's princess and he takes time to find out why and explain and literally talk till she assures him that she's ok. 

She's fairly independent, and definitely a lot more independent than William even when she was at her brother's age now.  The only problem is, she's never a morning person but always a night owl.  She can take ages to clean up if she has her way. 

I have so much fewer "incidents" with Vic now and the last was months back when we caught her cheating in her worksheet at home.  Mother's instinct, if you may say, or just my gift of snooping out cheats, haha... it happened when I found brilliantly answered BM questions, some that I was even surprised she could answer.  When I erased off her answers, tore away the answer sheet at the back of the book and asked her to redo, she couldn't.  Bingo! 

Other than that, she's always the helpful little girl that I know.  When the previous maid was on her mood swings and didn't want to cook, Vic immediately sprang into action, offering to help me cut the vegetables, etc.  She'd be a great helper in the kitchen, if only we give her free reign.  If she needn't go to school, I think she'd be happy to do the chores for me too especially mopping and vacuuming the floor.  Even at school, her class teacher commented that Vic is very helpful. 

Oh, and have I mentioned how Vic gets defensive and ticklish when her friend teases her about boys?  These girls talk like boys are their enemies eventhough "T" is probably Vic's secret BBFF (boy best friend forever). 

I'm also pleased to note Vic's progress in her music lessons.  Her music teacher and I both felt that Vic's sight reading has improved and Vic loves her theory.  She wouldn't be able to learn so much under the other syllabus that she was on in the same duration of time.  But as always, my girl is a shy girl at performing or public speaking.  Her self esteem needs to be bucked up a few notches! 

Her love for all things pink has dwindled because she doesn't want to be called "Pinky Pig" - coined in school.  So she goes for the next new pink - PURPLE!  But she has already many pink clothes, a pink school bag, many other pink bags, and a bunch of other pink stuff which is so hard to avoid because everything is almost pink for girls out there. 

Moving on from Barney to Ben 10 and then graduating to Smurf and now she's into Hello Kitty.  So guess what, we hunted around and found Hello Kitty figurines perfect for her birthday cake this weekend!  Even if we did not find HK decos, she says she's alright with a plain cake.  She's even alright if she didn't have a birthday cake (because of her allergies), but Mummy and Daddy will not have it that way.  That's how understanding, how giving, and how obedient she is, to some extent we tell her to fight for her rights, stand up for what she believe is true and never give up so easily.

Happy growing up, Victoria! 

William's Love Affair With the Indian Barber

This son of mine, has always had his hair cut since his infant days at the neighborhood Indian barber.  If I recall correctly, he only had his hair cut/shaven ONCE by this same Chinese lady after full moon, who also shaved his Jie Jie's head when she was a newborn too.

It's not like William is blessed with a head full of thick, lustrous hair since birth.  In fact, it's quite the contrary because his hair is quite scarce and thin.  On my part, I did not diligently massage his scalp with olive oil but over the past one year, I think his hair does look thicker.  

So there is no Owen Wilson look, but rather a David Beckham mohawk hairstyle for William.  : )  This was always our standard request to the barber when we bring William for his monthly visit.  Not only is using the local barber very kind to our pockets, but it is also very convenient for us and this supports our local neighbor's livelihood.  

William's hair cut is a monthly affair and has become part of our fixed costs. : )

Back here in Petaling Jaya, we used to pay RM5 for his toddler head to be trimmed and shaved, then he "upgraded" to adult rate of RM10.  Our regular barber moved away to a higher traffic neighborhood a couple of years back, but thankfully there are still a few other choices around.  My favourite would be this Indian barber shop at Kelana Jaya that has a very unassuming look from outside, but inside, it is complete with a decorated waiting area, about 6 individual barber chairs with an attending barber by its side, sinks, hairdryers and vanity sets.  These barbers come in uniforms too and most of the time, they wear a hygiene mask to cover their mouths.  

Standing at the waiting area before his haircut

See the "sterilizer" oven at the side? 

William is always ticklish when it comes to trimming off the little wild hairs with a blade.  We have to keep reminding him to hold still otherwise the barber might accidentally slice his ear

Recently we discovered that Penang island have not seen inflation for barber rates, and William got a nicely shaved head for a mere RM3!!!  Beat that, you can't even order a small bowl of noodles with RM3 anywhere in PJ!  

RM3 haircut.  Not bad... can't tell the difference with a RM10 haircut

The time has come

I'd like to write about my current maid today.  No, no, I'm not gonna rant, and this is likely to be my second last post on her.... well, because she's going home.  Her home.  For good.

I'd also like to say that at this moment, neither she nor us is celebrating.  She is leaving on a good note, eventhough it was due to those few rotten episodes a few months back that led to this decision.

Like a couple in relationship, when there is a huge row, one party suggests a breakup, and after a few more times of this, the other party finally relents.  So this was the case between us, as she mentioned a few times that she wants to back out of her extension contract (she asked for a heavy increment for her extension till May 2014 which we agreed without hesitation).  "If that is your heart's desire, than I will honor it,"  I said at that time.

Fast forward now, the time has finally come.  Although I was expecting my new maid since February who was delayed due to some documentation hiccup,  I am not emotionally prepared to let go of my current one.  Yea, she may have flaws, she may have made my blood boil and tempted me to sin, she may have given me some tough, challenging days or weeks, but she was and at this time, by far... the maid that I loved the most.  The one that I cared for the most.

I couldn't bring myself to break the news to her, so I let hubby do it.  Her first words was, she didn't want to go.  I don't know if she meant, she didn't want to go back prematurely (her current contract ends in a month's time) or she didn't want to go leave us.

Whatever it is, I'll be keeping busy the next one week with settling the maid's outgoing needs.  I wish her well and I wish she stay faithful to God and count on Him at all times.  I hope the skills and values she learned during her stint here will find her a good job in her country (although unlikely she will find one so well paying as her current one now) and maybe one day, settle down with a good Christian man.

Sharing a crazy moment with the kids

In a week's time, we will bid her adieu.  I'm grateful that she's given me my freedom to move around while she handled the house chores, prepared the meals and watched the kids.  Despite our differences.  I guess it's never easy putting two ladies together, what more, from different backgrounds and culture - living under the same roof for close to 3 years. 

Till we meet again... if ever.

Good bye and God bless, Kea Net. 

Of lions and dances...

During the recent CNY this year, we have been FRUITFUL... fruitful in finding lion dances!  Although we didn't hit a dozen, which would be quite crazy but we managed to get up close and personal with some lions, had the privilege to pose with them, watched a 24 festival drums performance (totally OUTSTANDING!!), caught the world champion Kun Seng Keng lion dance performance on top of the usual orange blessings from the lions! 

Here are pictures and videos taken.  The only lion dance performance which I didn't take any pictures of was the Gangnam Style lion dance which William went with Daddy at the Icon City, PJ.  The kids were totally ecstatic every time we got to see a lion dance performance.  I hope they won't outgrow this excitement too soon, as Mummy is still just as excited even at my age... hehe. 

First lion dance we saw this year, at Bangsar Shopping Centre pre-CNY

Second lion dance - at Holiday Inn Atrium, Singapore.  Every year, these lions will peel oranges and make a 4-digit pattern out of it.  Singaporeans love it, apparently! 

Victoria with the "choy sun" in Singapore

24-festival drum performance by Nilai College and Inti College students.  They may be young and still studying, but they are truly energetic, precise and talented!  The guy in the middle... I had a chat with him prior to their performance, to find out where they were from. : )

The full 10-15 minute performance was one-of-a-kind!

Ada gaya also!

Underneath the mask is an Indian boy.  There were two Indian guys under one lion, and at least an Indian drummer too.  Looks like the Chinese is now outsourcing.  And hey, this is not any lion dance performance, this was by the famous Kun Ken Seng association.

The lions went around the show gallery, sitting on sofas and bed, posing beside the jacuzzi and even checking out the bathrooms. It was sporting enough to pose for us.  We went around, with William leading us, following the lion to each room and corner.  So obviously, we got many personal photos with the lion. 

Third lion dance in Icon Residence Show Gallery, Mont Kiara by world champion Kun Seng Keng Association.

Does this choy sun look like the same guy as the one Vic took with in Singapore?  To me, he does, but he denied. 

Fourth lion dance by only Vic and I at her friend's house - two lions and many beautiful fireworks!

Our host starting the ball rolling by letting go his supply of fireworks, followed by a few neighbors.  The whole place went BANG BANG BANG, whilst food continued to be served.  Kids played in and out of the house, turning the whole house almost upside down. 

A picture of Ming Shuen, Valen, Zoe and Victoria.

My 9th Wedding Anniversary

My husband has grown more romantic over the years.

As early as two months before our anniversary, which happen to be in the same month as the date that we first "met" and also the same month of our first date (on Valentine's), hubby has started dropping hints of what he bought for me.

Which honestly made me quite guilty as I haven't thought of a gift for him, nor did I thought of anything more than just a dinner for the two of us.  With kids these days, that's pretty hard to come by, I mean the dinner for two.  So, if I had thought of just a dinner for the two of us, that'd be a BIG thing indeed.

7th February.

Back in 1998, his final year of university and my 2nd year, I took that trip from Sheffield to Liverpool Lime Street station.  I remembered him wearing a long trench coat, with that rugged blue jeans and checked shirt waiting at the platform just where my train stopped.

That was the "first" time I met him.

14th February.

A week later he came over to Sheffield for our first date together.  There weren't many affordable restaurants there where we needn't have to pay through our nose for taxi fare or walk our socks out.  So we book ourselves a table at a very crowded Indian Restaurant in Broomhill.    

28th February.

In 2004, a leap year, we tied the knot.  The joke was he had the thoughts of wedding me on 29th instead so we can celebrate every other 4 years and save on the anniversary.

So when 7th February came around this year, I had thought that a wish and a kiss would do.

But hubby presented me with this...

A bouquet of roses in my favourite colors with a sweet romantic note. 

A surprise waiting for me in our bedroom after I came home from Vic's music class.

And the next day we had a nice, slow lunch at Genji Restaurant, PJ Hilton , admist the working lunch crowd.  Traffic was exceptionally bad that day, with many MNCs calling it a half day for Chinese celebrating CNY that long weekend.

The lobster roll was not available, but the waitress recommended this tiger prawn roll, which is simply glorious!  The prawn was deep fried, and still warm and crunchy as we sank our teeth in it.

My set of something something.

Hubby picked ala carte dishes... this is one of it. 

I didn't get to fully enjoy my roses this round as we left for the long CNY holiday two days later.  By the time we got home, it was all brown and dried.   I kept it in the vase for another week plus before deciding to put it away.

The bigger celebration was to be our wedding anniversary, and hubby taunt me almost every other day with hints on my next gift.  As if an expensive Ipad2 (to replace the 1st generation that I receive for our anniversary in 2011) was not enough, he bought me...

My first ever smartphone (yes, you heard me, I'm one of those aunties who is still using a dinosaur phone.  Even my mom is on smartphone!)...

... and it's an iPhone 5 32G!

So now you can find me on Viber, Line, WeChat, Kakao Talk, etc hahahaha

But I've not converted yet.  The iPhone is still a tablet to me, and I'm happy with my pink dinosaur still.

For our anniversary, we went for another Japanese lunch at Tao Japanese Restaurant the day before the actual day because it was a busy week for hubby and Thursday the actual day was a packed day for both ourselves.

It was such a value-for-money luncheon, as we kept ordering food after food.  We had scallops, abalone, blue mussels, salmon, oysters, lamb, octopus, etc on top of the usual fanfare.

Here are just SOME pictures of what we ate.  We ordered so much, ate so much (because you get billed for wastage) until our waiter took the liberty to order the final dish for us, WITHOUT us asking for it.  Haha.  Somehow, he knows we can eat, I guess.

Needless to say, we were the last guests to leave, also because we arrived after 1pm.  

And that night, we had our celebration together with the kids - the products of our marriage.  Haha.  Hubby had Secret Recipe custom made a American walnut chocolate cake.

Goes very well with Vanilla ice cream.

And my gift to hubby - bought just two days before our anniversary... a very thoughtful gift indeed...

To celebrate the times together... you're the perfect partner to travel this life journey with!