育才三幼"老少同乐庆重阳"活动

昨天是一年一度的九九重阳节. Xuan的幼儿园举办"老少同乐庆重阳"活动,邀请爷爷奶奶们参加.通过活动,希望让孩子们学会尊敬老人,关心老人,并让爷爷奶奶们度过一个快乐的重阳节.

"四海情老年艺术团" 的演出

Xuan也有表演舞蹈

Singapore Trip from 24 Sep to 4 Oct

We had a short trip back in Singapore during the China golden week holiday. Since the trip was so short, we spent most of our time with our family members. We only met with 1 group of friends because we did not get to see them during the last Aug trip.

We went to the Botanic Gardens but did not explore much because the girls complained about the heat.

We went to Snow City. Thanks to my friend for giving me the 3 free tickets.
We took a picture at the Science Centre.
Gathering at a friend's house.
Swimming at my sister's condo.

Mid Autumn Celebration at Xuan's Kindergarten

Xuan's kindergarten has organised a mid-autumn celebration on 12 Sep. We, parents, joined in the celebration with the kids. First, we made mooncakes together. Then, we have fun guessing the riddles from the lanterns hanging along the corridor. Finally, we joined the kids to have a buffet lunch at the classroom. The dishes were the mooncakes we made together, and food prepared by the kindergarten's cook.

Does Xuan look like a cook with the hat?
The mooncakes made were brought to the kitchen for baking.

Amazing Pottery Workshop

Yesterday, we brought Hui and Xuan to a pottery workshop near the place we stayed. Hui wanted to make a vase while Xuan wanted to make a cup. They really have a fun time doing their own creations. It costs RMB $60 for the each creation (RMB $40 for the creating materials + RMB $20 for the firing). It will costs cheaper if we made a VIP card (RMB$260 for 10 times, RMB$360 for 20 times or RMB $450 for 30 times instead of RMB$40 per time). You will also get a discount for firing fee if you have a VIP card.

We need to wait for 1 week for the firing to be completed. We have to go again next week for the girls to complete their creations with colours. They really look forward to see their final creations.

What a short vase Hui has!

What a big cup Xuan has!
Xuan's creation with all the 5 Fuwas.
Hui's creation with slanting Fuwa bei bei.

Hui's Classroom at QSI

Finally, I got to update some of Hui's photos taken at QSI last week when we sent her to school in the morning. Here are some photos taken from her classroom.

Hui drew Xuan and herself with short hair.

She used to draw with tied hair last time.

Xuan New School Term at 育才三幼

Today, Xuan starts her new school term as 中二班 students, something like our Singapore K1. She has spoken to me weeks ahead that she wanted me to send her to school instead of ah yi. I told her no problem because Papa will send Hui to school while I send her... just nice! But ... yesterday night, Hui was a little bit moody because she knew I cannot send her to school today. This morning, me and Xuan make an effort to at least send Hui to the bus stop and she feels a little bit better. Papa told her she can be no.1 to reach school if he sent her and Hui somehow like the idea of no.1 too.

Hui First Day of School at QSI

Hui started her first day of school at QSI this morning. The school ended early at 11:30am. She told me she has a new friend named Annie but was not sure where she was from. Her classmates are from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines etc. She is the only Singaporean in class.

Singapore Trip from 28 Jul to 15 Aug

We had an enjoyable and busy trip in Singapore. We (myself and the girls) managed to catch up with quite a number of friends (my ex-colleagues, JC friends, primary school friends and the girls' playmates too). We also collected some Fuwa items from macdonalds. I missed Jing Jing but one of my ex-colleague has an extra. She will pass it to me when I see her next time. Thank you so much to her !! 8-)

Xuan was enjoying her cup noodles on the plane.

Hui was also enjoying her shared cup noodles on the plane.
Hui and Xuan long hair
Hui and Xuan after the hair cut at a "home" salon.
Fun ride at IMM
Picture taken at Henderson Waves
Picture with playmates
First class seat at the LRT
Picture with playmate
Fuwa items collected during this trip

Washable Colouring Book

We bought for Hui and Xuan a washable colouring book set each when we were at Jusco shopping last Saturday. Each set come with a 4 pages colouring book and 3 bath crayons. They have been enjoying colouring the 4 cute girls since then. Then, they will bring to the bath room to wash away the colours during bathing time. After that, they can start to colour the cute girls again. One minus point, the shop don't seem to sell additional colours bath crayons. Thus, the girls can only colour the pictures with pink, purple and yellow which seems a bit dull after sometime.

Chinese Enrichment Class

Hui and Xuan is now attending their Chinese Enrichment class at one of the teaching centre. Basically, this class will teach them to recognise Chinese characters so as to help in their Chinese reading capabilities. Every lesson, they will be taught to read 32 cards, which translates to 32 x 2 = 64 Chinese characters. The first step is to know the Chinese phrase with the help of the pictures. After many repetitions, they will slowly get to recognise the characters. The next step is to get them to say the phrase by only looking at the back of the cards (only words and no picture).

These lessons are conducted evey week. After every lesson, the student is supposed to read the cards at home daily (for 7 days before the next lesson with another 32 new cards). The first few days are mainly to concentrate on reading with the help of the picture and the last few days on reading with just the words. Surprisingly, Hui and Xuan really managed to read the words (without picture) after about 4-5 days of home reading.

Today is their last lesson for the beginner class (total of 16 lessons, every 3 new lessons will be followed by a revision lesson). They love to attend the class initially because the class size is small (only 5 for their class) and is like playing sessions for them. There was once Hui was not feeling well. She still wanted to attend the class. She asked me to prepare a plastic bag for her. She said she will come to me if she felt like vomiting. See how she likes the class! 8-) But after so many lessons, their interests seem to die down. During the last few lessons, they will always ask me if the lessons were going to end. Luckily, they are still willing to attend the lessons and still enjoy them. The teacher has spoken to me before to sign them up for the next 16 lessons of advanced class in September. I am still considering because my main objective is only to give them a kick start in reading Chinese but so much in depth. I don't intend to give them so much pressure because they will gradually learn to read more as time goes. ok .. bye for now.... I need to go and pick them now because their lessons are ending in 10 mins time. By the way, we are flying back to Singapore tonight by Tigerairways and will reach Singapore tomorrow midnight at 3 plus.

福娃Fuwa

Hui and Xuan like the Fuwa "Beibei" and "Nini" respectively. Ever since we bought for them the T-shirts printed with Fuwa from the Guangzhou trip, they always want to wear them when they have the chance. They will ask me every morning if they can wear the Fuwa T-shirt if they find them in their clothes cabinet. They have also collected many Fuwa related items like key chains, post cards and dolls. Their father helped to buy these items for them when he went on business trips. He is also a collector of these Olympic related items. Recently, he also bought collectable stamps which cost him 300 plus yuan.

Extracted the following from the post cards :

Fuwa are the official mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. They are the personifications of five little children named "Beibei", "Jingjing", "Huanhuan","Yingying" and "Nini". Their names together are a phonogram for "Beijing Huanying Ni", which means "Beijing Welcomes You". Their images embody the natural characteristics of the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow and the Olympic Flame. Their colours represent those of the Five Olympic Rings. They resonate the emblem and motto of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Passion, Happiness, Health, Wisdom, Luck and Prosperity will be spread by Fuwa to every part of the globe. Fuwa convey the theme of the Beijing Olympic Games-Peace, Friendship, Progress and Harmony-as well as the Olympic Spirit of Faster, Higher and Stronger to people all over the world. Fuwa cordially invite people of every country to get together in Beijing to take part in a great celebration of humanity.

You can read about details of these Fuwa from the following site.
http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/beijing2008/graphic/n214068254.shtml

Guangzhou Trip

My mother-in-law and cousin-in-law came to visit us on the 18th July. We went to Guangzhou together from 19th to 22nd. It was a tiring and enjoyable trip. Everyday was like shopping, shopping and shopping. We would leave the hotel room at about 10 am and only be back at 9 pm. The girls were so tired of walking that they kept asking when can we go back to the hotel room and rest. In order to make them happy, we would take small break there and then and give them small treats like KFC or Mac ice-cream cones.

Picture taken at the Shenzhen train station

See the crocodile meat sold at the wet market

This was the type of boat we took during the 珠江cruise. We had dinner at the boat too.

Ice-cream treat for the girls
Xuan eating the BBQ lamb

Kindergarten 20th Anniversary Concert

After so many rounds of practising and rehersals, Hui and Xuan got to perform on stage at yesterday's concert. Finally, they can take a break now and no more daily practising sessions in school!

They are now counting down to their summer holidays starting this Wednesday. Just 2 more days to go!