Hallyu Star Wannabe Ace

In the recent month, there has been a Hallyu fever sweeping through Dubai.. ok, at least through Bur Dubai, in unit XXX of YYY building where I stay in anyway:)

Max, who has always prided himself on being too cool for Kdrama suddenly decided to watch k drama together with me:) It started innocently enough with a meal at a Korean restaurant.. they were showing this show called the Invincible Lee Pyung Kung and in the half hour I watched there, it was really quite hilarious! I laughed like mad and realized that I havent watched Kdrama for a long, long time...

So I went home and decided to search for the drama tat I watched in the restaurant... I was so relieved to find that was only 18 episodes long and decided to start to watch my first Kdrama in Dubai.

Since night time is usually quite boring for us, Max started to join in and he soon got hooked into the drama.. he was so hooked that he would want to watch till 2am everyday and everyday, he will be bugging me to search for NEW dramas to watch so that he can continue to watch after the series ends...

And since we are on the roll, when we finally finished the drama, I remembered my sis saying that there was this SUPER show I MUST watch called You're Beautiful and so I told him we will watch that for our next series..

However, Max couldn't stomach all the Korean asexual type of fashion sense and he couldn't understand why in the world Hwang Tae Kyung needed to have eyeliner even when he is at home... he couldnt take it that everyone is dressed almost femininely and says it feels like some sort of gay freak show to him.. so he asked me to continue with the show myself...

So after episode 1, Max gave up and I continued watching the show my myself in the day time.. sometimes together with Ace when he is home after school;)

And as the show went on, I fell totally in love with Hwang Tae Kyung/ Jang Guen Suk! He is so cute when he smiles lor:) wahahahaha...

Anyway, I really enjoyed the show and I sort of become totally besotted with them to the extend that I will wake and sleep with the OST ringing in my ear! I couldnt get rid of the songs in my head for many days and thought I might as well download them and listen to them when I am free....

So one of these days, I was playing ANJell's Promise (AnJell is the ficticious boy band in the show) and my son disappeared for 3 seconds and returned with my broom and started to rock to it as if the broom is a guitar!

And then we went on to have a full fledge concert with AnJell's Without Words and GMN's Happy Day... both of us just danced around the living room like mad.. hahahaha:) Heng Max was not at home.. if not he will sure to say we are crazy:)

Anyway, Ace did not really watch that many eps but nevertheless, he was sufficiently influenced by the show. I dunno how he got the idea tat boy bands must have style and then midway through his dancing, he asked me to wait for him... and he went to get his tie and his soft toy to spruce up his outfit (which is actually his school uniform) to make it more boy band like stylish:) wahahahahhaha...

After that, I had to start to make dinner but my boy wants to continue dancing and so I left the music on.. I was cutting my veg when the music ended... Noticing that I was not looking at him, my boy called out to me... "Mummy, come and look at my ending pose..."

I dunno how he learnt tat lor.. to do that I love you sort of pose tat Korean stars like to do for their fans! wahahahahaahhahahaha.. and where did he learn the phrase "ending pose"???

Ace must really like the songs as well as i found him humming a few of them while he was playing for the next few weeks.. every once in a while he will start to sing one of the songs:) My favourite in the OST was this slow number called What Should I Do and to my surprise, my son can sing the chorus lor! He was actually going, "otokajyo... otokajyo..." as he was playing with his lego set! wahahahahahah

When Max came home, I told him about what happened and showed him the photos.. and so he also wanted to act cute and pretend to be a lovable cute boy band... and so he asked me to take this picture for him.. CUTE OR NOT???:P

As the weeks went on, i became more and more besotted with JGS and decided I will watch all of JGS's shows online even though to be fair, his acting was not fantastic.. but it is watchable.. wahahaha (which is why we started watching Beethoven Virus) But I was very intrigued not just because he is very handsome... you know, I am lao aunty already and JGS is something like 10 years younger than me.. so it is not tat type of I go gah gah over him type of admiration..

I am so intrigued by him because I keep seeing similarities between him and my son and keep wondering if one day, Ace will be as handsome as JGS or if Ace will be like this famous idol like Hwang Tae Kyung since he is good looking, has good personality and seems to be good in remembering music and dancing...

I told Max about what I thought and showed him some of JGS's pics.. when I showed him the JGS pic in his yearbook in high school (the top left pic), Max said, "I think look more like me lor..." And I think he is right!

Hahaha.. but Max and Ace look alike mah.. so you see, I really do think they look somewhat alike. But Max says he feels that Ace is more handsome.. hahahaha

That is JGS as he is growing up...

Here are come comparison shots between Ace and JGS... I can so imagine my son looking handsome like this lor:) wahahahah..

I have been told Ace looks very much like me.. So maybe all these admiration and feelings of intrigue are nothing more than narcissism in its hidden form! haha!

But my boys are not the only ones who are hallyu stars look alike lor:) According to my hubby... I also somewhat look like Ha Ji Won from Secret Garden.. wahahahaha:P I think our expression look alike lah.. not so much the features.... But well, I have always been mistaken for being Japanese, Korean or PRC Chinese... and I always tend to look like someone's friend, sister or aunty.. cos I have what I call "international face" Hahahahaha:)

I have been quite impressed with Ha Ji Won, Hyun Bin and the Maestro Kang in Beethoven Virus... so i will probably continue the kdrama storm in my house with projects from these people as well.. Next on my list: Do re mi fa so la ti, Mary stays Out All Night, Be my pet, Damo, Sex is zero 2, Closer to Heaven, Beyond The White Tower, Hwang Jin Yi

Previous Post: Angel's Caricature

Angel's Caricature

I have had my caricature done a few times in my life... But I have yet to have one done tat looks like me.. Perhaps that is the whole point.. to have it NOT look like you:) Hahahahah.. Actually, i would like it to look BETTER than me.. and carry off what I stand for... But well, I guess it is really dependent on the artist's intepretation..

A few months back, during the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note in Dubai, they had artists drawing in shopping malls.... they were drawing portraits of people using the note and draw function inside the Galaxy Note... the artistes seem to be from Korea and Japan and they were really good.. alas, by the time I saw them, it was almost 11pm and too late for me to do a portrait.. so I din hang around to queue for my turn...

The other day, while we were out and about with Ace, we walked into the Samsung flagship store by chance and found that they were doing caricature drawing in a little corner.. and so I queued up for my chance to be drawn!:)

And because i was speaking singlish to Ace, the in charge asked me if I was Singaporean and we had a pleasant, short chat:)

What was not so pleasant is that while I was queuing, i realized that this artist since to makes whoever he draws much uglier! :S I prayed hard and sent him lots of love so tat I will get a better drawing....

And finally.. it was my turn..

Even though this already doesnt look like me.. i feel it looks cute.. so still quite a good start...

OMG! Is he trying to capture how I will look like 20 years later if i do not take good care of myself!??:P

Dam.. my face shape is not like tat at all leh.. and what happened to my nicely shaped brows??



Anyway, this is the end result...

I did some photoshop editing on it and I think.. this is much more like me leh:) But I am no photoshop expert and not much of an artist.. so tat is the best I can do..

Darn, should have done it when the japanese artists were here.. Haha.. I think go try again another day at another store with hopefully another better artist!

I think I definitely look better in real life! hahahaha...

Previous Post: Angry Bird Workshop

Angry Bird Workshop

About a week and a half ago, when we went to Hemley's, I saw this sign in the store and showed it to Ace.. and so Ace got very excited about the Angry Bird workshop and wanted to go. However, the following weekend, we were quite busy and so we did not go for the workshop...

Ace was rather understanding as well.. even though he kept asking if he could go and we told him we couldnt because we did not have time to do so, he was disappointed but did not throw a tantrum...

So the following weekend, when he asked again if he could go, I tot we could just go and spend some time there lah.. make him happy:)

When we arrived, there was a Red Bird at the storefront taking photos with kids and Ace got really excited:)

The workshop consisted of two segments.. first segment is art and craft.. you could either do colouring (paper and colour pencils provided) or you could do art and craft and make an angry bird...

Ace decided to make a red bird...

And then he went around and took some pictures here and there:)


Then there was another segment with like 4 games or so but each child only given 3 tokens to play three times.. Ace finished his tokens within like 3 minutes:) wahahahaa.. so he got really bored and he was quite disappointed that that was all there is in the angry bird workshop..



so leh, he went back to the art and craft segment and did some colouring...

Not satisifed, he decided to also make a Green Bird...


In the end, he also decided to make a white bird..

The birds are now sitting proudly on top of our speaker.. wahahaha;)

We met Max's ex colleague and their family and his wife told me that the workshops are usually just like tat.. face painting, some games and some art and craft... I guess even though Ace is disappointed, we shouldnt complain.. after all, the workshop is FREE!:)

But after this, Ace is no longer so insistent on going to certain events as I think he realizes that most events are just like tat and there is nothing more to them:)

Previous Post: Barnaby Bear Again

Barnaby Bear Again

Finally, the Barnaby bear book is back in our hands again:)

So I had the chance to take pics of what we did:)




I just love all the drawings that Ace did:) hehehe...

PS: I had this interesting conversation with Ace the other day..
Me: Ace, do you prefer to live in Singapore or Dubai...
Ace: Of course Singapore lah...
Me: You not happy in Dubai meh.. are you happy?
Ace: Happy.. but I don't want to live in Dubai all my life.. because Dubai is NOT my country
Me: Other than tat, why is Singapore better?
Ace: In Singapore I can meet up many different friends... not like here.. always the same friends only...

WAHAHAHAHAHA...

Previous Post: 2 In 1 Push Ups

2 In 1 Push Ups

Since Ace has been saying he wants to become a policeman or spy, his dad has been asking him to train up his body and somehow. According to Master Max's teachings, if your neh neh can move, it means you are very strong and you can protect the people you love...

So in order to make Ace's strong enough for his "neh neh to move", they have developed a training system where Ace is supposed to do 20 push ups a day...

With a stroke of genius, Max come up with the idea of asking Ace to do the pushups while standing on his back... cos leh, when Ace does that, he can exercise and give Max a massage at the same time:)
Idea boh?:P

From the very satisfied look on both their faces, I guess this win win strategy is a sure winner..

Unfortunately though, like most of Ace's 5 min excitement.. the push up massage programme stopped after a few days:) Guess there aint going to be any pulsating chest muscle performances from Ace anytime soon.. hahaha:)

Previous Post: Books Are More Interesting Than Toys!

Books Are More Interesting Than Toys!

I never thought I would ever hear Ace say this...

That books are more interesting than toys!:)

For the past 6 months, our life in Dubai on non schooling days are usually very toy-based.. it usually involves visiting a certain mall and one of its many big toy stores inside for Ace to "look" and play with some toys. Every week, the same shops, the same toys... After a while, I get really bored but Ace is ALWAYS excited to go.

When Max is overseas, just visiting Burjuman which doesnt even have a proper toy shop save for a Virgin Megastore and a Hallmark gift shop is considered a treat in Ace's eyes.

And it didn't seem to me that he was EVER going to get tired of that!:)

But a few weeks ago, after we went book-shopping with the 100 dirhams tat he won at the dance competition, Ace seems to have fallen in love with the book store and has been bugging us to bring him to bookstores:)

Yeah! Seems like all the effort I put in to bring him to the library since he was 1 month old and exposing him to books at a young age is paying off...




The two boys having a whale of a time in Kinokuniya...

So nowadays, visits to the malls mean going into Borders or Kino as well.. which is more interesting for me....

The other day, Ace announced that he wanted to go to a mall... Assuming that he was thinking about visiting a toy shop, I asked him if it was because there was a toy he wanted to see... and then he tsk tsk tsk me and told me, "Mummy, did you know that books are more interesting than toys? For a little boy my age, toys and more toys are very boring! So you have to read books! Books are not boring.. toys are boring!"

Anyway, Ace has so far finished the whole series of Dairy of The Wimpy Kid and has been besotted by Horrid Henry. He has also been borrowing books from some Dinosaur series and Captain Underpants as well as books about spies and spy work from his school library.

During a book sale, we bought him some Five Findouters books and we have been reading them together.. two chapters at a time every night during bedtime.

He is always excited to know what happens next and always badgers me to read just ONE more chapter... and then he will rub his hands with glee and repeat to himself.."This is so exciting, this is so exciting.."

I think it is about time I intro him to my good old friends, Secret Seven and Hardy Boys!:)

Previous Post: Poetry Symposium

Poetry Symposium

My close friends will all know that I am from the Singapore Soka Association.

Before I came over to Dubai, I tried to contact the Soka association here. I found their website and noticed that they seem to be holding quite a few events every now and then but when i sent an email to them, there was no reply at all....

So, I thought maybe they have shut down the association here for what..

Anyway, sometime back, while I was skyping with my mum, I suddenly felt the urge to try to connect with them again.. this time, somehow, I was guided and found a blog belonging to someone who works in UAE and she mentioned that she has connected with SGI Gulf.. so I emailed her and asked her to connect me..

I found out then tat here in Dubai, Soka is not a religious organization but a humanity and peace organization with an office in Knowledge Village. And because it is not religious, for people to be related, they cannot be newly "recruited" members but have to originally be members of the soka association anywhere else in the world... and so we have to go to our own association and get them to give us a letter to prove tat we are members of the association before someone will link up with us and contact us...

Anyway, with some help, I finally managed to link up with the director here, Mr Rakesh and the international group in charge, Momoyo...

As it is not a religious organization, we do not have daimokukais or zarankai.. but I was told we have meetings now and then and also organize events every now and then...

I was invited to attend my very first SGI Gulf event in Dubai and it is a poetry symposium where famous poets in the region are invited to read their poems. As it was a term break, I wondered if I should go as I dunno how Ace would react (as i for sure have to bring him as it was taking place on a weekday morning).. but I tot he might benefit from the exposure and I love arty farty things like tat.. I wun say that I am very poetic or very artisitc but I find that exposure to experiences like tat always seems to feed my soul and make me feel much better at soul level:) Even if I do not understand what they are reading or saying... just being exposed to the beauty and movement of art and poetry just stirrs my heart and makes me happy:)

The event is called The Poetic Heart... That is us when we arrived.

Max drove us there and when we drove past, I was unsure if tat was the convention hall as I saw all these indian people standing around... It was an interesting exprience for me because I found out that most of the soka members in SGI Gulf are actually from India:) And as usual when you go to Soka events, the people are usually happy and smiley and so embracing.. walking down the walkway to the event hall where the symposium was held with two lines of mostly indian SGI members saying good morning and smiling at me felt very good... Strangely, I almost felt "at home"... and that is the best phrase I can think of to describe this feeling:)


Ace is a little xian though as he is unsure wat to expect and how he can entertain himself... luckily he brought in his bag, snacks, games and even a story book to read when he is bored.


Ace was pretty much quiet for the first hour as he was reading. But after an hour, he started to fidget non stop in his seat. And then after another 30 min, he started to ask me again and again when can he eat something as he was feeling hungry...


Then Ace started to play by himself quietly with his lego set...

And finally, after two hours, the event ended:)

Thankfully, they actually and buffet outside and so instead of our original plan to go Mc D, we decided to eat at the buffet...

Ace was so excited when he saw the soft drinks and cakes tat he went for second and third rounds:)

After he finished, he got bored and started playing with water bottles and flowers...



Anyway, I had a dilemma because I wanted to go home by myself so as not to trouble others. But I only had a $10 note in my wallet. The other note I had is a 500 dirham note. I remembered tat Max said cannot use big note to take taxi.. cos they will eat your money one.. cos they say got no change...

As Knowledge village is not within walking distance to a metro station, my only option is hitch a ride or ride a cab...

In the end, I thicken my skin and asked if Momoyo and hubby can give me a ride to the metro station. Thankfully, they were very obliging:)

On the way home, Ace kept playing with these chrysanthemum flowers he got from the event. I told him he has to throw them away later and not bring them home... because these flowers signify funerals and death in the chinese culture.. so it is not good luck to bring them home...

He immediately said that he wanted to throw them away because he doesnt want me or daddy to die.. wahahaahah:)

By the time we got home, I was totally shagged out!


Anyway, in case you are interested in what happens in a poetry symposium, here are are two video clips.. one of my fav poem amongst all that I heard... and the other one is a nice song called My Angel performed by musician, Jason Carter:)


"Bakhbookh" is an arabic phrase similar to the "abracadabra" phrase we usually use for the english language when we want to conjure magic...

Dr. Shihab Ghanem, a multiple award winner for his research on poetry and his work in translating poetry, beautifully expounds the wonder of a child in this poem called "Bakhbookh" written about an incident that happened when this grandfather was playing with his 2 year old granddaughter..

With a flair for simple words and an acute observation of everyday life, Dr Shihab recounts the wonder and joy his granddaughter has for a disappearing coin trick he did to entertain her.

It's my favourite poem amongst all read in the symposium because it is sweet, lovely, funny and touching all at the same time:) Too bad Ace is not an auditory person.. if not I would think he would like this poem too:)


Jason Carter could not have summed it up better at The Poetic Heart poetry symposium organized by SGI Gulf. Children do have the capacity to be happy in all sorts of conditions;) And here is a lovely piece he composed and performed titled, “Good Morning My Angel”. I learnt from him that spanish music and culture has it roots in the arabian culture because spanish people were formerly from arabian lands!

Previous Post: 8th ROM Anniversary With Ace At Burj Al Arab