All eight Smurfs!

Completed the collection of McDonalds Happy Meal Smurfs today!

Looking at them makes me feel so smurfey! ^^



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Golden Oreo

Came across this new Oreo variant when we were grocery shopping in NTUC Fairprice yesterday and could not resist the temptation to buy a pack to try.



Oreo has been pretty innovative in recent years to come up with new flavours such as the double chocolate (chocolate base, chocolate cream) and the ice-cream (chocolate base, purple cream) versions, but I still prefer the good old original! :)

Oh, but I must say this new version is quite good! Vanilla base and vanilla cream combinations make it seem less sinful with a lighter taste.

Ah, looks like its going to be one of my lets-buy-it item when I go supermart shopping in future.

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Henna Paradise at KK Market

NRZ drove me and Mum to KK Market yesterday so that I can buy the Henna powder that I use to dye my hair.

According to my mum, it is worthwhile to make the trip there as the powder is sold at much cheaper prices there and buying in bulk can lower the prices by twenty cents or more per packet.

I didn't quite agree with her as I thought the savings were not that significant but the amount of time needed to travel back and forth there plus the stress that came with having to navigate the horrendous traffic there was much higher.

As expected, the Serangoon area that KK market was located in was very crowded and we took some time before we could maneuveur our way through the narrow streets full of vehicles and people, to our target building and to find a free lot in the multi-storey carpark within the market.

I complained alot on the way to the place to my mum as I really dislike going to crowded places, telling her I would rather spend a few more dollars to avoid such the stress that comes with trips to such places. I could easily buy the Henna powder at Daiso Plaza Singapura, for instance, and though the Henna would be slightly more costly, I would not mind the journey so much as it is nearer our house and besides, I love Daiso! I can spend HOURS browsing through the never-ending array of $2 goods displayed in the Japanese franchise shop! ;)

But back to my trip to the KK market. Well, I must say it wasn't too bad either. Opened my eyes to the huge variety of India-made beauty products available there, such as whitening lotion, papaya soap (in many different versions such as with milk, with avocado etc) and all kinds of India herbal powder which I must honestly admit, I have no idea what they were for.

And goodness, I never knew Henna powder can come in so many different styles! Mixed with different herbal powders, each unique concoction would supposedly produce a differenr dyeing effect. There were so many I can't remember them all, so I just took some pics of the various varieties and you can view them below.













Oh, and we bought 10 packets of Henna powder at $8.00 each. Mum said they should last me until next year. That's good news because it means we don't have to deal with the treacherous traffic there for many months to come.

On a sidenote, if I really had to go there again, I would not go there by car anymore. Instead, I would take the MRT. The marlet is just beside the Little India MRT station, how wonderful. Quite convenient. But then again, I have a fear of the crowd.

Sri Lavendar Multimart Pte Ltd
Blk 662 Buffalo Rd, Singapore 210662
Phone:6299 1747

 

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Home-made light bulb

NRZ showed us how to make a bulb light up using a battery, two wires and a light bulb.

Cool :)

We are going to buy some potatoes to try out next.



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Labels

Keeping this to make stickers

http://singapore.rs-online.com/web/p/labels-kits/4823706/

Congrats Baofeng!

Attended my former student, James Zhuo Baofeng's wedding at Pan Pacific last night.

Had a good time catching up with the rest of his classmates who were my former personal tutees way back in 2004.

Alot of them are now in the process of acquiring their degrees - e.g Moses, Bachelor in Business Management at SIM, graduate in Dec 2012. Norman, Computing degree at UOL, two more years to go. Benedict, policeman just signed up part-time Marketing degree at Unisim (paying about $12k after 55% government subsidy). Wei Chai, also SIM, Buffalo University etc.

And a few working ones. Azri - a company called Ad something, and currently helping with fundraising for WWWF and Jolene, who is very happy working at OBS Consultancy - doing Oracle P/SQL since her industrial attachment in 2006/2007.






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Stitching angry bird

This morning, we made a purposeful trip to Plaza Singapura just to taste the new breakfast menu at Burger King.

Nice! Though it ended up quite expensive, about $25 for four meals - 1 breakfast platter ($7 plus), 2 croissantwich meal ($13 plus) and 1 fillet fish meal ($5 plus).




The kids went home with NRZ after breakfast, while I took my own sweet time to shop at Daiso. My own sweet time indeed since I spent more than 2 hours there.

Bought $12 of things there, including alarm clock, pointer, clothes hanger, needles, embroidery thread and 40 in a pak plastic ziplock.

Really pleased with the purchase of the embroidery thread and needles as I am now able to sew on the felt cloth I bought a few months ago but could not use as I couldn't find a hardy needle or good thread at home that was suitable for hand sewing felt.

Today, with these new 'equipment', I finally succeeded! :)

Thats why they have this Chinese proverb “工欲善其事，必先利其器




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10 years ago

I am so glad I am such a photo aficionado.  Ever since I got my first digital camera sometime in the year 1998 or so, I have been fanatically taking photos almost on a daily basis to capture and retain the daily memories of everything around me, big and small.

Tonight is one of the nights I felt really reminiscent, so I started browsing through the collection of photos dating from 2000.

Found this photo taken on 16 Sep 2001, and it is exactly 10 years ago from today.

How things have changed since then.  Edison looks so different now.

Feel like eating Prata

I think I feel like eating prata for dinner tonight.

Smurfing memories

After watching the Smurfs movie on Wednesday, I have rekindled my attachment to these cute little blue creatures.

How nice that McDonalds is offering them as part of their Happy Meal collection now :)

Got two of them now - Papa smurf and Mr Vanity. Eyeing smurfette next ;)

Headache

头好痛 :(

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Chaos at Comex 2011 even before it has started!

The massive crowd who camped at Level 4 of Suntec to get their hands on a 16 GB HP Touchpad at $126.00.

Sadly, I was like the 500th one when I reached there, but there were only 200 sets available.

There wasn't a proper queuing system there, and things got chaotic when the HP staff started distributing red (16Gb) and yellow(32gb) coupons that entitled the holders to purchase the device when the show opens at 12 noon later.

Well since its futile to wait, I ended up enjoying a cup of kopi-o kosong at Coffee and Toast. :)

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We got a punctured tyre :(

In the middle of Dover Road now, with a punctured tyre (6.30 pm)





As NRZ is trying to fix it.


















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Happiness is when your son is better than you

After a sumptious breakfast at Wendys, Fleming and I spent the morning paper-folding.

I learnt how to fold a paperbox from him while we viewed a video from instructables to make a rose.

Fleming's rose turned out better than mine, and that was a happy feeling! He is better at craft than me! :)

Just a simple mother-son bonding session, and a wonderful way to spend the 46th birthday morning of Singapore :)







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Happiness is receiving great customer service and thanking the person for it!

My family went to New York New York Deli at Centrepoint for dinner last night and not only was the food great, the best part is that we really received excellent customer service from the staff there!

In fact, I am really appreciative of the good service rendered by them, especially that of the manager, so I dropped an email to thank her.

If you do drop by the Deli someday, look out for pretty Ms Lilian with her friendly smile and helpful disposition!

Ms Lilian, the helpful and friendly manager

The compliment email I sent to her company

Happiness is listening to good songs :)

Indescribable delight as I was listening to these songs, sigh.


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Five Tiger Generals 五虎将

Yesterday, Fleming came back from school with this set of ceramic figurines depicting the five "Tiger Generals" of the well-known Chinese novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".


Apparently, some students and teachers from China went to their school for an exchange programme and the Singapore students were invited to go up stage to wish them "good luck" at the end of the day.

Well, my zealous boy apparently joined his other enthusiastic schoolmates and rushed up to the stage to shake the hands of the overseas guests.

The children were not informed of this beforehand, but it turned out that those who went up to stage to wish them good luck would get a "prize".

Everyone reveived a different "prize", but I think the one received by Fleming is really nice! :)



For those who are not familiar with the five Tiger generals, here is a brief synopsis of them according to my husband:

1) Guan Yu: red-faced and long bearded. Has the most "beautiful beard" title.
2) Zhang Fei: very dark. Doesn't close his eyes when sleeping. Very reckless.
3) Zhao Yun: Younger and good looking. Saved Liu Bei's son.
4) Huang Zhong: An old man but a marksmen in archery.
5) Ma Chao: More barbaric in nature.

Are you a fan of the Five Tiger Generals? If you are, and can share more snippets of information about them, please drop me a comment! :)

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My students made me happy

Today, yesterday, the day before yesterday etc could have been any other workday in my life as a teacher.  Just a normal day passed by, going to classes, delivering my lessons etc.

But no, they were not.  Because I became the student instead.

Taking the sensible advice of my students, I started restructuring my lessons to "teach less, learn more" since school term resumed in early Jul 2011.

Instead of me standing in front, going through tons of PPT slides while the students struggled to keep awake, I tried a different approach - I got them to present instead.  What I did was to prepare some questions that required them to do case studies of the use of social media in various industries such as F&B, apparel etc.  They had to form groups of two or three and brainstorm + research in the group to come up with a set of presentation slides that they need to share with the class in the next lesson.

This has turned out to be a really effective and engaging way for them to learn.  In the process of preparing their slides, they learnt new things they never knew before, invoked their thought processes and formed insightful opinions that astounded me despite their young age. And like I said, I became the student instead, because I also gleaned new knowledge from the information they shared.  And some of the things they presented were so interesting, I wish I had more time to listen!

And they keep getting better!

I am so heartened by the efforts of my students in preparing really good quality presentations as you can see that I am also inspired to write this blog entry after such a long 'break' since my last entry in early June!

 Well done guys and gals, please keep up the good work! You make me so proud of you! :)

Some screenshots of the case studies PPTs, there were many many other good ones but no time to upload all! :)

Randy and Yixuan

Peifang, Sya and Huien

Camilla and Fifi

Calendar of activities for term 3

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5 interesting things I learnt about Hongkong

My family of four went to Hongkong last week and I had an enjoyable time picking up casual observances of the lifestyle of the residents there.

Here are 5 interesting things I learnt about Hongkong during my 5 day trip there:

1. The sitting areas in many Hongkong eateries are generally very cramped. I made this conclusion after visiting 3 different 茶餐厅 (Hongkong tea cafe) and a McDonalds and noticed the similar layout of the various eateries - adjacent tables were spaced just centimetres away from each other and the legspace at each table was barely enough for a 1.55m person like me, much less to say someone who is 1.7m or taller. I suspect this could be due to the expensive rental in the country - the shops had to maximize their space.













2. Environmental protection via law enforcement is much more pervasively practised in Hongkong than here. Under the environment levy imposed by the Hongkong government, we had to pay HKD5 twice for requesting for plastic bags from the 7-11 when we purchased some drinks. Another occasion we had to exchange five dollars for a plastic bag was when we purchased some groceries from the supermarket near our hotel. When we visited the supermarket for a second time, I made sure I brought my own recycled bag. So the lesson to learn is that one must bring at least two or three recycled bags if you visit Hongkong. On a more serious note, after this trip, I realise that it isn't really difficult to bring a recycle bag along with us sometimes and hmm, I have even decided that I would not ask for straws the next time I buy a drink and just drink straight from the bottle or can.

3. Something I really like about the hotel and shopping centre which I visited in Hongkong is that they have these sanitisers installed in the premises for visitors. For example, there is a sanitizer at the lift lobby of the Royal Plaza Hotel which we stayed at and a sanitizer outside the foodcourt at the Grand Century Palace shopping centre which we window-shopped and ate a couple of meals at. So far, I have never seen such installations in Singapore hotels or shopping centres.












4. Talking about the shopping centre makes me recall our first day at that place. We were exploring the shopping complex level by level, going up one escalator after another. The building was supposedly 7 storeys high, but we were really puzzled, how come after we explored Level 3 and proceeded to look for Level 4, we just could not find it. The escalator at Level 3 brought us to Level 5, not Level 4 as expected. At first I thought perhaps Level 4 should be accessed via another escalator or something, but after going through the entire Level 3 and not finding another escalator, my clever husband hit on the reason for this strage phenomenon. 4 is a forbidden number in this place! Mandarin speakers will straightaway know what I mean, but for those who are not, in case you encounter this peculiar occurrence as us in Hongkong and wonder why, it is because the number 4 rhymes with the word 'death' in Cantonese, and I guess, the guy who owns this building didn't think it was auspicious to have a fourth story there.


5. The final observation I would like to share is that I notice that they have really BIG dustbins in Hongkong. Most of the places I went, I saw really big and spacious rubbish bins. I think they should have big rubbish bins like these in Singapore. Most of the dustbins in Singapore are really too "slim" and often overflow after half a day.













Oh yeah, and one more thing to add, I love the BIG hotcakes at their Mac! twice the size of Singapore's hotcakes!













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First day of Hong Kong trip - Part 1

Last night, I set my iPhone alarm to 5.20 am to ensure we woke up in time to leave the house by 6.15 am, but turned out that I was so excited about the trip that I somehow "automatically" woke up much earlier at 4.45 am already.

Decided to slack a while more in bed, and I somehow fell asleep again despite my excitedness, so it was lucky my iPhone did duly ring at 5.20 am as planned. Well, the reason I said that is because we all know those infamous incidents where the iPhone alarm did not work as it should.

Talking about iPhone, I love my iPhone despite its little imperfections because on occasions like this, this little device just shows how tuned-in it is to the common needs of people. What occasion? For example, when we need to get a taxi to the airport in 5 mins time at wee hours of 6 am like today. iPhone makes this task seem so easy - just call up the Taxi Booking cab from ComfortDelgro, press the "Book" button and in less than 3 minutes, I received a SMS to inform me that a Toyota Crown taxi 1257 would be at my lift lobby waiting for me.

I guess we are really fortunate to be staying in Singapore, everything was so hassle-free, we managed to reach the airport via ECP in about 20 mins at a cost of $20 which included the $2.50 taxi booking fee.




I love my iPhone too because it allows me to blog on the fly like this. And I do mean literally "on the fly" - because I am now typing this post at an altitude of 9753 metres above ground onboard a cruising SIA 860 jet. Two hours away from my destination, this is a good way to spend this otherwise much wasted time. :)

And I relish recording the sights and sounds I can take in through the corner of my eyes even as I tap on the onscreen keyboard of my iPhone. A baby fussing, a cute little girl toddler chatting away, the footsteps of the crew as they push the trolleys storing the inflight meals across the plane, the flipping of the newspapers two rows away and most of all, the droning sound of the plane engines as the pilot navigates us towards our destination.























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The Last Lap

Just 10 days away from completing my last module in my Master's course in NUS.

加油! ^.^

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Planning for our one day trip to JB tomorrow!

Haha, going to JB again tomorrow.

The main objective of our trip this time is to experience a train ride before the Tanjong Pagar KTM station is demolished in July 2011.

We are planning to take a bus to JB Sentral first, shop around JB until afternoon, detour to Danga City Mall in the afternoon to take the train back to Singapore.

Some links that I googled for this plan ;)

This link good to get the train timings
WikiJB - train schedule here
Danga City Mall
We took train from tp
From Singapore to Johor Bahru

NEW BUS SERVICE - S1 SHOPPING SHUTTLE (KSL CITY <-> JB SENTRAL)
Express Rakyat
Long distance travel to Malaysia

Felder & Soloman: Learning Styles and Strategies

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm

Attended this workshop conducted by Dr Edna Chan this morning. Nice.

All about love

Plastic Bottle Heartbreak - Youtube

The facts about love [infographic] - Holy Kaw!

Splitting headache

Hai...How to survive a 2 hour plus lesson WITH NO BREAK with this nagging pain in my skull!



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