Friday, January 31, 2014

Ace The Toilet Cleaner

Our good friend ALWAYS forget to flush.. and then leh, after lots of reminders and threats of punishment, our good friend now forget to turn off the tap for washing the bum... cos the tap is faulty, if not turned off, it will leak water. I reminded and reminded and reminded but Ace just cannot seem to remember..

On top of that, he always make the toilet super dirty and never clean up after himself.

So in the end, I decided that I will set a rule. For every 3 times he forget to turn off the tap.. he will have to wash the toilet ONCE! I figured if he gets a chance to wash the toilet, he will understand how tough it is and not dirty the toilet unnecessarily after that!:)

And true enough, he forgot 4 times and so I asked him to please wash the toilet.. hahaha :)

Of course I had to show him how to do it lah. I read the other day that this guy who has 15 children has his kids clean toilets since they were 4.. so I figured it is not too difficult for an 8 year old lah...

He did quite a good job and I told him he has been assigned this as his household task for good:) wahahahaha....

I asked Ace how he felt after washing the toilet... and he said that his arms are aching now.. and now he knows it is not easy to wash toilet.. wahahaha ;)

I am happy to say that Ace doesnt dirty the toilets so much now:) wahahaha...

Previous Post: Chinese New Year In Dubai

Chinese New Year In Dubai

This year, because Ace's school holiday does not coincide with CNY, we got permission from our parents to go back to Singapore later. And so, we had to celebrate CNY in Dubai instead... it was sort of a different experience since unlike the usual hustle bustle, we could take our own sweet time.. on top of that, I think we had reunion dinners at least 3 times with our friends:) wahahaha...

First round was with our usual gang at my fav HK restaurant:) We had a great meal... but forgot to take group photo!

Second round was at E's place and Ace insisted that he wanted to wear his new shoes, new pants and bring his new camera to help take photos.. Mr haolian lah:) wahahaha


Then on the actual day of the New Years eve we decided to have dinner with our friend and chose to eat SINGAPOREAN/ASIAN FOOD:) wahahaha



I was all dressed up :)




Thai toufu salad..

Thai fried rice..

Green Curry!

Stir fried veggies with toufu.

Hor fun!!!:)

And even laksa!:)

Ace made a paper shrimp out of the chopstick cover and is pretending that he is eating shrimp.. wahaha:)

Max happy as long as there is beer:)

Finished off with fantastic dessert:)

And Ice Kachang with ice cream:)

Ace was fascinated with the traditional looking ice machine..


Mr professional take out his camera to take some pictures:)

Before posing for some for me:) wahahaha

We were very lucky.. that one of my friends invited us over for a pot luck party on the 1st day of CNY and that CNY fell on a weeked:)


Dress up nice nice in my new clothes go go visiting:) hehehe..

Foggy day.. Khalifa was mostly hidden hin the clouds.. but we very blur.. ok.. is not we.. is I very blur, in the car halfway there then realise tat I forget to bring kum! I specially bought lor! hahahaha

Max din know anyone there.. but was happy as long as got beer:) wahahaa.. Actually I din know too many pple there as well.. wahahahaah :)


Even got lou hei flown in from sgp! woohoo!

The potluck got lots of food lor:) wahahaha.. and the host made the best braised mushrooms ever! We even got to dabao home! I made salty duck rice but becos so much food, there was so much left over! I brought home and we ate for another two days then finish lor.. really is nian nian you yu! wahahahahaa

The very considerate host also prepared fishless vegeterian yu sheng:) cool!



Oops.. Max's tam jiak face caught on camera!:) wahahaha...

We sat with my cooking teacher J and M and her daughter... my friend's daughter was very intelligent young girl.. she is 18 and very smart..she is going to uni soon and still don exactly know where she is going in her life..  as I was chatting with her, she remarked, "It must be great to be your age.. you are at the age where you know where you are going and what you want to do.. and I am still searching..."

I told her that she will find what she wants in due course. But her words had a deep impact on me. While it is true tat at this age (woman's age is secret.. dun ask!) , I understand myself much much more than when I was 18. I know what i like, what i dont like... what i can do well, what i need to work harder or focus harder to do well..But do I really know where I am going.. Not really. I cant even answer a simple question like "How long are you going to be in Dubai?"

But chatting more with her about how she thought her family will only be here for two years and so she went back to Singapore to do her studies because after one term here, she found the secondary school here not engaging enough for her and she felt like she did not learn much as she was going through what she had already learnt... "Had I know my dad is going to be here for 6 years, I wouldnt have left.." She told me.

So I guess... the I-dunno-when-i-will-go-back dilemma is not exclusive to me:) haha. almost everyone living in dubai has this sort of dilemma :)

Anyway, Ace had his own kids table of friends too

Someone even brought those kong ming lantern to light up:)



Our lantern lighting process is another very interesting process for us..

I told Ace he can write his wish on the lantern.. and so he put down that he wants to get 100 million dollars! hahahha :)


Sadly, when we tried to let the lantern go, it keep not flying into the sky.. I suspect because the lantern got a hole somewhere...




Then Ace found another one with a broken piece of fuel BUT the fuel cannot be attached.. so no go..


Then we got the last last last lantern to try... and again, it couldnt fly and I found out that there is a hole in it...

"Just use a tape to tape it up... "Said our friend's 8 year old son.. "That is what I did to mine.." And so we taped it up.. and finally...

Our lantern carrying our wishes of happiness and good health to all our family and friends rose into the sky...

I was musing over the process and telling Max this is really similar to our current process. We keep getting a hope that we might be going back to Singapore.. and just as the thing seem like it is about to happen, it did not take off... Game changed and we are given another chance to go back to Singapore..and again, it did not take off... I couldnt help but wonder why others have it easy and have their lanterns lit up and sent up into the skies the first time....

"Well, most important is that our lantern went up in the end because a "gui ren" appeared mah.." said Max when I told him about my musings.. hahaha :)

Well, hopefully this gui ren appear soon in our life and help us "fix tat hole in that lantern:) "

All in all, it was a wonderful night.. Many thanks to Jo and Michael for playing host to the wonderful party. Little Ace got into a little toilet accident and even had to dabao a pair of pants and underwear home:) hahaha... Paiseh man..

Previous Post: International Day 2014

International Day 2014

It is time for International Day again:) Since we had fun the last year, we decided to go again this year!

This year though, the whole event was organized very differently. Instead of being all over the place, all the stalls were set up in the school field :)

We arrived a little early and go tot walk one round to check out what we might like to eat..

The USA stall... still setting up their flags..

Make a guess... what country! Wahahahaha... CLUE... look at the green clover! :) Sorry hor, no beer allowed;) Just some snacks....

Australia community is big in the school so they had two tents and lots of fun arts and craft activities on top of food...

They even provide picnic mats for you to picnic on :) complete with kangaroo body guard ;)

Indian stall kept asking me to try their foods.. but wat they dunno is that i eat indian food all the time!:) wahahahaha

I dunno why but Germany was focused on selling decorated biscuits.. is Auntie Annie's from Germany huh? But they very sporting and even dress up in traditional costume.. I wonder where and how they get it leh.. I also want to get one set.. i heard if you dress up like tat and go to Oktober Fest, you get free flow beer!:)


UK/England booth has the largest amounts of games.. and I think you can make a good guess where Ace frequently goes to spend his money ;) His dad gave him 50 dirhams to spend. Last year he saved up part of it. This year he just goes and spend it all!

Majority on the lucky draw type of games in the England booth!

The pakistani table were selling clothes.. they had a little boy who can talk very well helping to sell and he kept asking me to buy an outfit even though I already told him I have no little girls at home:) wahahaha  ;) If he try to sell me adult outfit my size, I might buy lor:) hahahahah

The arabic table also selling some arabic lamps and stuff..

I think saddest though is the Filipino table.. they just selling woven baskets... i think handmade in philippines but they got no flag and not dressed up in their national costume in spirit of the international fair and so they barely had business!

Check out these scottish men in their kilts!:)

South Africa looked promising as well.. seems like lots of nice food. I wish someone put up an explaination about the foods they are selling cos I see and look also dunno wat to buy leh...


Brazil even got nice poster lor ;) wahahahah

Was so disappointed when I walked to Italy booth and CANNOT FIND my tiramisu!


Japanese one was very interesting also :)


French one was even selling SNAILS!

While i was taking photos.. Ace was bz helping out at the water booth to sell water..




Jap booth even sell home made toys:)

My class mum... also one of the main organizers of the event:)

There is a dare to eat a snail challenge in the France Booth.. hahah :) (PS: I din try it that day but i did try when I was back in sgp and my sis gave me a treat.. tasted like.. erm... lala...)





Then the event started proper when someone blow bagpipes and had children from all over the world carry flags and walking round the field ;) very nice!



Every year, I wish I could gather my Singapore friends and take part.. but it is always so close to CNY and most pple are not here or preparing to go home.. so is very tough...

Ace spent some of his money on a ice lolly ;) He doesnt know how to chew off the end to eat it! hahahahaha...

Saw kids in this sort of costume.. I asked Max.. he said probably Russian...  I feel very hot to see them covered in so many layers.. and I wonder why they had to wear the wig with the curly hair thing.. ok, maybe is a hat...

Max spotted this and got very excited! But but but... they cannot be selling beer here right???:P

Indian mum giving the children from South Africa some henna :)

There were even stage performances... Bollywood dancing by some teens.. Wish they were dressed up nicely though...


The representative of all bollywood moves.. hahaha.. if you have been dancing with indians, you will know this is a MUST HAVE move in their dance routine!:)

Spotted... the "Beer" came from Germany booth... apparently, they call it HORIZON BEER... and it is just apple juice with soda water!

The kids from New Zealand did the hakka ;) so cute!

Some girls learning spanish dance also performed for us :) They were beginner learners I think but very cute lah :)

FINALLY!

Found the tiramisu and managed to get the LAST TWO PIECES LEFT!!!!!!!! Mental note to self: must make again at home... I made it once.. when I first got to know Max for his birthday.. wahahaha


The french kids are offering to help these two girls take a photo of them doing the snail challenge...

Okie.. ready... we are putting the snails on a bread now.. and you have to eat it...

Walked around to look for Ace and found him painting a lizard..


Saw some fantastic irsh dancing by this teacher.. her legs kick so high and she looks like she is bouncing!


Then two of her students also performed:) Not bad also...

Today is so foggy tat Burj Khalifa seemed to be hidden in the clouds:)

Then it is drum time wiht Mr M :)


Ace showing off the toy he won from the lucky draw.. he was quite taken with this spiderman because all the joints an be bent.. so we can make the spiderman do really silly positions! wahahaha

We decided to be adventurous and just order something we have never tried. This is a cake cut into half with cheese and strawberry jam inside... erm.. too sweet for my liking...

Ace won some My Little Pet Shop figures and said eh wants to give them to Tashi and Oracle cos he remembers that Tashi said she liked them when they went to toys r us together :)

Ace also won a sweet watch..


Cute little girl with a cute little shirt..

Even pose nice nice for me leh!:) wahahaha

Ace used the remains of his money to share and buy some sweets with his friends.. and then they went around selling the sweets... cos it is a business :)


Sales was not very good initially...

Then Ace came up with  the idea to make an announcement at the DJ table and soon.. children flocked there to buy their sweets:)

But we had to leave liao.. so Ace grabbed a bunch of sweets and left.. he said he wants to give these sweets to his friends when he meets them tomorrow at the JPD party..

Max acting boh liao on the way home.. hahah :)

Ace's spoils for the day....

I am glad he had fun and had the good sense to share away the sweets! hahahahahaaha.....

Previous Post: Smelling Like A 'Rich Person'