Popo's 60th Birthday

17th April is the day where my mum will turn 60. 60 years old is like a big deal right? Some people will hold a banquet to celebrate it... it is that big a deal. But I am not going to be beside my mum and will not be able to celebrate with her...

A few weeks before that, my sis and I were discussing what to get our mum for her birthday and it suddenly occurred to me that that my mum is turning 60 this year. I felt so sad that I couldnt be there to celebrate with her that I almost cried.

Then I went about my daily life and something happened at work and it made me really depressed. I was really sad and depressed for a long while and was feeling emo and on the verge of crying all the time. One day, while yakking with my sis.. I started to cry.. and it was when the emotions flowed out that I realize.. what bugged me was not really work (who cares anyway since I dun really NEED this job... hahahaa) but the fact that I missed home very much and that I really wished I could be there at my mum's birthday..

Ace though, had a different reaction to my mum's birthday. When I told him that it is going to be Popo's birthday soon, he immediately replied, "Can you ask Ah Yee not to do that cruel thing to me?!"

Hahaha.. my sister has always liked to take pictures of the birthday cakes they bought and she will whatsapp me to show Ace and Ace will get so upset that he will throw a tantrum after seeing the photos.

"Ok, then I ask her to whatsapp me but I dun show you.." I told him.. "BUT CANNOT! I want to see!"

Wah lau...like that how???

Hahaha.. in the end, Popo never buy cake lor.. they just had dinner at a jap restaurant...

BUT LEH, while skyping with Ah Yee and Popo, Ah Yee was talking about the food they ate in teh restaurant and she said, "Aiyah, dun say already lah, wait someone cannot eat and get upset..." And then that someone really got upset and went into the bedroom TO CRY! Hai.. why I got hum bao son.....

Anyway, 天下的婆婆都是一样的... the other day, my sis told me one of her colleagues is coming to Dubai for a meeting and so she can ask him to bring something to Dubai for us...  Me and Max opted for some chilli tapioca chips...

Ace leh said he wanted the round biscuit with colourful flowers on top and that yellow oval biscuit that gong gong and popo always buy for him...

I asked him to describe in more detail because I cannot figure out WHAT sort of biscuit he is talking about...

And then he kept repeating.. "It is yellow one and oval... " I tried to google for YELLOW and OVAL biscuits but to no avail... So I asked him to draw it out so that I can whatsapp Ah yee.. maybe my mum and dad will know what Ace is talking about....

Ace even added more description beside his picture.. so apparently this biscuit he is talking about is bumpy (as in rough surface), oval, yellow and a little salty...

I really cannot tell what biscuit it is but POPO hor at one glance says it is WANG WANG biscuit.. so before I can say dun buy cos Dubai also have.. she bought two big packets:) hahahahahaaha

Gong gong on the otherhand contributed the flower biscuit...

So eat in the mouth and sweet in the heart lor:)

Eating these biscuits though, Ace says, makes him miss Singapore even more.. we are counting down to our next holiday home.....

Previous Post: Earthquake!

Earthquake!

I experienced an earthquake in Dubai today!

I was seated at my laptop.. and my laptop was on my coffee table. I had my back resting on my sofa and suddenly, I felt a slight vibration on my back. But was I was so engrossed in what I was doing, it did not register with me that it was strange that my sofa was vibrating.

Then it stopped for a while and started again. This time, it was vibrating quite STRONGLY. And I paused what I was doing and looked up. "Why is the sofa vibrating?" It suddenly occured to me that this is not a natural occurance.

I looked in front of me and noticed that my TV was quivering on the tv console and the clothes that I was hanging up to dry were swinging around like there was a breeze blowing through. But the table did not shake so hard that anything would drop off

"Oh my god, what am I going to do now?" I thought to myself. I was alone at home and I remembered how the shows I watched showed how Japanese children hiding under the tables when there is an earthquake. Should I crawl under the coffee table and HIDE there? Should I stand up and go out of the house? Should I wait it out?

"This is Dubai right, there shouldnt be earthquakes, it should be stopping soon lah..." I thought to myself. And since I was right in front of my laptop, my first instinct was to update my status.

"EARTHQUAKE!" That was all I managed to type. My mind was running amok again "Dam, please dun let the building crumble on me... This is just a small tremor right?". I suddenly recalled that there was supposedly an earthquake in Iran about a week back and some people in Dubai felt some tremors. Probably linked. It suddenly dawned on me that if I can feel it until my TV is shaking, somewhere far away, some people are experiencing crumbling houses and getting hurt or maybe even dying.. so I started chanting for them in my heart.

Just as it suddenly started. The vibration suddenly stopped.

I sat there.. waiting to make sure that it really stopped. I suddenly feel dizzy and even though I was sure that the vibration has stopped I still felt dizzy and felt like I wanted to vomit... you know, like how you feel when you are seasick or car sick. I sat there and paused for two seconds and then I heard my neighbours opening their doors, I quickly opened my door and we were all so happy to see each other!

"Oh gosh, I was lying on bed and suddenly everything was moving.. I was thinking to myself, it cannot be that I am so old till things are starting to move and I cannot see them clearly right?" My neighbour was telling me...

And as I was chatting with her, I suddenly realized that my heart was racing and pik piak pik piak.... it was palpitating. THAT. WAS. SCARY.

Then the phone rang. It was Max, I picked up the phone and said, "I am still alive, I am still alive!"

I went to FB and realized that many of my other friends in Dubai felt the same earthquake as well. One was wondering why she couldnt walk properly.. another one thought his office which is in a cabin was the only one that was shaking.

It suddenly occurred to me that should that quake have been in Dubai, and if i died there and then.. crushed down by the crumbling building, it would mean I would leave this world without a chance to say goodbye to my loved ones... Not a pleasant thought at all... Hai.. I miss Singapore...

Anyway, at this point, my neighbour knocked on my door and said it might be better for us to evacuate the building. Since it was time to pick Ace up, I thought might as well lah.. then I wondered if I should bring my passport and Emirates ID card along.. and maybe my money.. or my ipad.. or my gohonzon.. and then I tot.. wat the heck, I just going to fetch Ace so I left the house with only my phone and my keys:) wahahahah

While gathering around.. I got to meet ALL my neighbours one shot for the first time in my life lor. One uncle walked out dreamily in his PJs.. so funny:) hahaha.. And I did not realize that there were so many arabic families inside our building at all. One neighbour jit tao drove his family in his car and dunno go where.. maybe they feel safer in the desert:) wahahahaha..

And then we stood around there for about 10 minutes while the watchman is on the phone. I think to check for latest instructions.. by the time they say can go back, Ace's school bus is back lor. I asked the school bus custodian if they felt anything inside the school bus but they did not feel anything at all.

Ace was totally excited at the prospect of feeling another earthquake again because he "missed" it since Max told me that there might be another one coming in another 10 min time when I called him to tell him that Ace is home safely.

So Ace says he wants to pack in the case of evacuation cos Max asked me to pack our passports into a bag... and what does our good friend pack? HE PACKS HIS TOY GUNS!

FAINTS!

I dunno where he got the idea that the Nerf guns are the most important things in the world...

"I can't wait for the earthquake to happen again!" said my son gleefully. I had to explain again to him that an earthquake is not something to be happy about. it is not an excursion or an adventure. Maybe for us who dun experience it often, it is sort of exciting but if we are in dubai and there is an earthquake that is so strong that we can feel it clearly, it means it is very very big quake and that many people will die or lose their family and even their homes..

Anyway, no more quakes after that. The next day, I was feeling much better as well.. phew...

Previous Post: Food, Glorious Food

Food, Glorious Food

As Ace was having two weeks of term break, I had alot of chance and time to do cooking:) Since I had to cook alot more meals in this case...

Max wanted to eat Roti John.. went to a website.. saw a online reciepe.. and try to anyhow do a vegeterian version lor:) Dunno how it taste like lah.. But tasted ok..:)

Ace wanted to eat Omu rice.. tried to do the fried egg like the youtube video tat I saw.. not bad wor..  managed to make a bigger rounder egg to wrap around the rice:)

Very sad.. this is our last batch of fried cai tow kway...

Ace requested for ahballing.. cos I din have the peanut aballing soup.. so just use... SOY MILK:)

Since I had lots of veggie, I decided to make bibimbap...

I told Ace have to mix mix mix then can eat.. he ask me if have to mix mix mix then can eat.. why hav to put so nice in the first place? Should have just mixed mixed mixed in the first place:)

Also, we had a can of pineapples sitting around and so I decided to make Pineapple upside down cake using the Happy Call Pan.. not bad leh.. tasted quite good!:)

The Korean supermart we went to gave us some snacks... Din know wat is it.. Ace says since I am the only person in the family who eats both veg and meat.. I have to try it first.. din taste very good.. next day grow mould liao.. so i threw it away..

Remember the unside down cake I made? Well, I gave a quarter of it to my neighbour... and in return, she made me POORI and Aloo masala.. I made some halwa to go with it and Ace and me had it for lunch:) Very yummy lor! Even though the aloo is quite spicy, Ace finished half of it lor!:)

Anyway, had a craving for lor mee the other day and just decided to make it based on what I had in the kitchen.. trial and error!:) I think it tasted good leh.. but Ace dun like it...  he says only give 1 out of 5 stars because it is too sour.. strange.. how his taste buds have changed.. cos he used to love it when he was 2,3 years old.. his favourite sauce mian!

 Hehehe... saw  JEJU Orange juice in the korean supermarket.. and then because I was watching Sungkungkwan scandal.. they said tat jeju mandarins are the BEST.. so i bought and tried lor...

The other day, we went to Virgin Megastore.. and they were demonstrating the ZOKU and how to make popsicles.. they came up with some new products to cut out letters and all that and it inspired me because I suddenly remembered I bought some animal cut outs for cutting out shapes on veggies and cheese and wat nots... and I noticed that they play cheat but just using juice or milk.. so since I had the JEJU mandarin juice, decided to use that to make my popsicle and design it using the animal cut outs on apply slices just like what they did in Virgin:)

Erm.. smells very good actually but hor a little sour cos the juice after freezing, you taste less of the sugar.. so since you taste less of the sweet you, you feel like it is slightly sour...

Since it was successful.. tired again using the aloe vera juice that I had at home as well and it turned out great.. because you can chew the aloe bits afterwards ;) yummy!:)

After cooking lunch everyday for two weeks.. lazy for this week.. eating salads everyday for lunch:) hahaha..

Since we are on the topic of food.. can you guess what the below is??

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.THe answer is...

FRESH ALMONDS:) I never knew they looked like this!

Previous Post: It's In Your Prayers, Mummy!

It's In Your Prayers, Mummy!

Ever since I came to dubai, the environment has sort of been more conducive more me to chant more and be more active in gakkai activities as compared to when I was in Singapore and always busy with 101 things:)

When I was very young, I was told the power of prayers and my mum often said that we should have our prayers in mind when we chant... so that they can come true:) Especially if we have strong ichinen...

And then of course when I started to learn about goal setting, I also learnt the importance of having a dream board...  and how powerful it is...

So a few months back, I started to make my prayers chart and I finally got it done and pasted on the wall next to my Bustudan.

To be very honest, when I do my prayers, I also dun really refer to them. I still do most often the happiness and good health for the family thingy...  cos it is am autopilot thingy I pray for when I do my gongyo... I really just made the list of prayers, pasted them on the wall and sort of forgot about them!

But interestingly, that seems to work! wahahaha...

As I looked through my prayers the other day, I realized that they are slowly coming true for me one by one...  I prayed for a good house near both our parents... that is coming true.. I prayed that I can find something that I will enjoy doing that will give me extra income.. that is coming true..  The others like the good health of our parents still holds true...  the rest are all in progress lah...

And today, I realized that while I may have forgotten my prayers, MY SON HAS NOT!

Apparently, whenever he chants, he has his own list of prayers to read off his daimoku chart when he sansho right? So he will read his own prayers BUT he also reads mine! wahahahahaha.. so he remembers them quite well!

Ace's Daimoku chart and prayers.. which includesMummy have baby, get 75 points for chinese test, finish homework by 5pm, buy PSP, mummy and daddy never quarrel again, have wisdom to draw nice picture to win a prize, eat more faster, find a good flat to live in....

Today, he had a fun day playing with a younger child and I praised him for being a good gor gor.. and so he was suddenly fixated on the idea of becoming big brother again.. so he came and touched my tummy and sayang my tummy.

"Oi, dun play with my fats leh.." I told him.

"No, I want to sayang my di di..."

"Please lah, there is NOTHING inside lor..."

"Oi! No giving up hor, that is in YOUR PRAYERS! And have to do it by December 2013! And it is in my prayers! No giving up hor!" he chided me with one arm on his waist and another one pointed at me like a teapot.

Max still ???????? and blur blur ask "What you are talking about.." But I immediately knew Ace was referring to my prayer of having another child. 

I laughed and laughed.. But since that was a common prayer we had (his was for mummy to have a baby), I was not that surprised that he remembered.. I was more surprised he remembered the deadline that I set because I was thinking if I cannot get pregnant by then.. then forget it lah. One is enough:)

Then after chatting about this and that, Ace told me, "Let's go for a walk later ok? Then you can achieve your prayers of losing weight... walking is good exercise..."

PENGZ... Need to remember my EVERY prayer SO CLEARLY or not?!?!?!?!

Previous Post: Easter Again

Easter Again

It is easter again.

Ace's very first introduction to Easter was actually a huge dino chocolate egg from my Aunty.. but I think other than the fact that it means he gets chocolate, easter did not register as something of a big deal to him..

Now that we are in Dubai where Ace goes to an intl school, Easter is like a big thing in school with teachers or parents giving out treats and all that. So last year, Ace bugged me and bugged me and forced me to buy him some easter eggs to hide.. so that he can search for them...

This year, he bugged me and bugged me but as his godma already gave him lots of chocolates during CNY, I told him no more chocolate...

In the end, he go and appeal to the goodness of F.. who decided to buy him a easter present.. and Max stepped in to pay for it instead.. so in the end, he still got a xmas bunny with a surprise somemore:)

As usual, he made me hide it lah.. hid it in the rice cooker.. but he found it quite quickly:) wahahahahaha...

And since there is some sort of Easter program going on at his favourite toy stall in his favourite mall, we decided to go lor..

Completed the Treasure Hunt within 3 minutes and got rewarded with some chocolates;)

Check out what I saw in malls.. a PSY DOLL tat dances:)

Prince William and his bride.. quite alike lah.. only I find he got too much hair:) wahahahah

Still considering which design I want to get for my god daughter:)

Ace looking yet again at his favourite TRASH PACKS..

Watched the rise of the guardians and they talked about how easter is about hope and new beginnings..  I think to Ace though, Easter is still about having chocolates to eat :) wahahahaha

Previous Post: "Gay" Is A Bad Word

"Gay" Is A Bad Word

Sometime back, my 7 year old came home and asked me why is "gay" a bad word.

I asked him why does he think it is a bad word.. he says it is because when they are in school and someone uses the word gay, other children will say, "Oh, you used a bad word, I am going to tell on you to the teacher..."

I can only assume these kids get this sort of info from their parents. Tsk tsk tsk.. what are parents teaching their kids these days... Want to provide at least provide accurate info mah...

So I explained to Ace, "Gay is not a bad word lah. Gay means HAPPY... and what is so bad about being HAPPY?"

A few days ago, Ace came to me and told me that someone in his class said "I am gay!" and someone else said they are going to tell on him to the teacher because he used a bad word.

"He is just saying that he is happy mah, why they must tell on him? I don't understand..."

WAHAHAHAHA! I decided it is time to explain it in MORE details.

I explained to Ace that the word "GAY" has a few meanings. One of them means HAPPY.

The other one means "man in a committed loving relationship not with a woman, but with a man instead."

Because this is not what most people do, it is not so readily accepted in the society yet and some people are embarrassed to talk about it and maybe that is why they label it as a "BAD" word.

I also tried to explain to him that homosexuality is so called illegal in certain countries. For example, in Singapore, "gays" are not allowed to get married and by law, they also cannot be together. (I don't think it is yet age appropriate to tell him they cannot have sex together.I feel it is one thing to explain how and where babies come from scientifically and yet another to explain how men have sex with each other to a 7 year old...)

So maybe because of that, some people also see it as "bad".

Since we are on this topic, I told him that two men who are in love with each other have appealed to the court to take away this law in Singapore.

"But why they make this law  in the first place?"

"I don't know. It was made many many years ago when it was not yet common for people to openly be with a man and so most people accepted it that being with a woman is normal and so they think being with a man is sort of not normal.. and therefore they think is incorrect at the time when they made the law..."

To which my 7 year old replied, "Mummy, why Singapore, this also cannot that also cannot one?"

Wahahaahahahahaahahahahahah!

After I finished laughing... I decided to continue to explain.

"There are also some people who are against taking away this law. For example, there are a group of christians who believe that people who do not follow the bible.. which is a very important book in the christian religion... are wrong. And the bible says that a man should be with a woman... so they think that this is wrong or taking this law again is wrong..."

"That does not mean gay people are bad people or that they are not "normal"... " I explained. Then I pointed out a few gays that Ace would have known and asked him, "Do they look like bad people or abnormal people to you?" And Ace agreed that they are great people.

Then Ace asked me another question that took me by a surprise. "Mummy, so if men will love men, are there women who love women?"

"Yes darling, there are."

"I have a friend who keeps saying 'i am gay i am gay!" in school..." Ace informed me. I told him that his friend was probably just fooling around and may not even understand truly what it means. "Just like you shouldnt make fun of other people's religions, it is not right also to make fun of other people's choice in the type of their partner they want. So I don't think it is very appropriate for children to go around and saying they are gay or that other people are gay."

I explained to him that in my conversations with my "gay" friends, some have shared that they are born this way. "It is not something like HAPPINESS where you can say "I will make a different choice and choose to be happy!" and you become happy. You don't love woman again just because you decide to make a different choice.. in their words, they can't help it. Sometimes you cant help who you love...

I guess I have covered most bases in what I would like to think is accurate info provided... I wonder what Ace will do now if people in school started saying that "Gay" is a bad word again...

PS: Max says I was wrong to give Ace the idea that the law states men cannot love men. "They can love what, just cannot get married.. also, not fair to Singapore also.. since many countries in the world also dun allow same sex marriages as well..."

Too chim and too big a topic lah. Add on next time we have chance to talk about this again...

Previous Post: Barracuda

Barracuda

Max has been telling me about this place where it is a alchoholic's paradise.. it is a wine and beer supermart where you can find ALL types and ALL BRANDs of wines and beers... According to my friend KA, it is a place which is her hubby, J's equivilent to her children's Toys R Us "because the look he has on his face when he goes there is like A's look when he goes to toys r us!" she says.

It is quite a long drive...  and the other day, our group of friends decided to go together as an excursion since some of us have not been there before.

During the long drive there, the "LUCKY" F and WL were treated to a Ace personal concert of his favourite car tunes like "I'm sexy and I know it, Skyfall, I'm At The Payphone, We Are Young... etc" Had to keep asking him to sing softly cos I was almost going crazy with his s̶i̶n̶g̶i̶n̶g̶ screaming

When we were driving past the desert, we saw some donkeys and so I happily took out my camera to take pics because this is a rare sight.. BUT ONLY AFTER I took the picture, I realized that there is something interesting happening here...

p

One of the donkeys seem to have 5 legs! I dun need to tell you what the 5th leg is... wahahahahahahah.. dam, do they have big dongs!

Sign outside the alchohol supermart.. can buy cannot drink there:) wahhahaahah...

The beach outside of the supermart... well, so so only.. nothing like Jumeriah Beach....

Not supposed to take photos.. so i illegally took some... when no one is looking...

Think my sis will go crazy for these amazing vodka bottles:)

These are cute.. they are small shots of alchohol and some other thing that gives them extra punch.. but Max dun dare to buy...

Ace was so bored while others were choosing their alchohol.. so I walked around with him and pointed out all the nice designs for the bottles lor.. at least got something to see...

WL who said dun wanna buy dun wanna buy ended up buying alot as well:) wahahaha..

Cannot be so 猖狂 .. so all must wrap wrap wrap... as we were also ferrying F and WL, they were afraid our boot not enough space.. but of cos.. there is enough space:)

Hahaha.. this is Max, F and WL's total damage:)

Saw an old airplane tat was just left on the sand pit as some sort of advertisement on our way back..

We even stopped by to buy some local produce.. Max bought some mangos:) Not bad.. quite sweet but is quite ex..

Finally reached DUbai again.. saw the bus with a sign that says "Articulated bus.." I asked Max if it meant the bus can talk.. he says though, it could be a spelling error.. googled about it and found out tat it just means those super long bendy buses...

PS: we realized the ginger beer we bought tastes super good! Dam, should have bought more!

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