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Case Of The Missing Postcard

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Just before we left our hotel in Jakarta in June, I passed one postcard addressed to Eu to be mailed by the hotel’s stationery store.

The shop assistant simply took my cash and postcard and promised to mail the postcard.

Being given no receipt, I thought that’s the last I’ll see of the postcard. But when I received an online response form from the hotel a few weeks later – and no a sign of my postcard – I made it a point to complain about this and got an apologetic reply from them.

So you can imagine my surprise when that postcard finally arrived – nearly 2 months later!

Eu was delighted to get a postcard addressed to them and spent the whole drive to school deciphering my handwriting.

And I now must write back to the hotel to update them on this.

Online Tutoring

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Education system in many Asian countries usually focus more on their exams than a well-rounded curriculum as in other countries. Because of this, extra tuition classes are common and at certain stage of classes, expected.

Although there is a clear benefit to sending kids to such classes, there are times when it is more useful to occupy their time rather than to actually teach them. I remembered disliking my tuition classes as I worked better on my own. Perhaps for such students, especially those who need not be sent to tuition classes because there are supervising adults at home, they can consider online tutoring.

Those needing extra Math help for example would be well served by online Math Tutoring company such as the TutorVista which offers tutoring packages for students in K12, back to school and even college tutoring covering subjects like Algebra, Calculus, Geometry and others.

Their online Math help program is affordable from $99.99 and flexible with a one-on-one system where students and tutors interact using VoIP sharing an interactive white board.

Haze Be Gone

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When my brother visited us last week, the first thing that Eu and Qi were very eager to tell him was about Anduki.

The burnt field of Anduki, that is.

The area that we pass by every morning and noon when we send and pick Eu up from school – which Eu always says makes her feel sad. The first time I saw it, I thought it was spectacular – not exactly pretty but the contrast with the surrounding area untouched by the fire was too great to miss.

My brother on the other hand, snorted when I told him that some parts of this burnt Anduki looked like an autumn scene – minus the cold weather.

Of course, there are parts where the sign of devastation was really evident – but I prefer to see the parts where with a bit of imagination and strong cold air-conditioning system, can pass for a September in some temperate countries.

We have blue sky today after days of haze – and let’s hope it will stay this way.

Fashion Shopping

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A friend recommended a Malaysian shopping site last week. While it does offer slightly cheaper price (plus free shipping) for a particular item that we both used, the stock was limited.

So unlike many international shopping sites such as one that offers items from about 30,000 stores! Imagine the headache and adrenalin rush that a typical shopaholic will get with this seemingly limitless number of items to check and check-out!

But since we do have a severe shortage of girly goods in Brunei, perhaps there is no harm browsing their range of accessories. I definitely could use more earrings and bangles. Shoes are definitely a must-browse, and I’d like to get one of those trendy wedge shoes.

However, is this still in style? I’d better check this site’s excellent women fashion trend. We don’t want to be wearing something that look so trendy – but so last season to the trained eyes.

Eu is 3 Years Old

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Eu turned 3 years old on the 29th October.

She was super happy that day being wished by everyone at home. Hubby and I tried hard from scolding her on her special day, which was hard with her being always “on” for adventures. But she herself tried her best to, I quote her, “not make Mama angry” and “not waste Mama’s time”.

We had a simple family dinner with a delicious chocolate mousse cake from Marilyn Cake House. I didn’t order her a special cake this time as she wanted a Higgletown Heroes picture and I think that will be beyond the Seria’s bakers skills. Instead I got her cake off the shelf earlier in the day and got them to decorate it. The baker did a decent job and she loved it. I loved the cake too…anything with chocolate!

One of her birthday wish is “I wish I can play with snow” which I have no idea where it comes from…

It is hard to believe that this “Little Girl”, one of her pet name, is growing so big so fast. Now I really understand what it means when people say children grow in the blink of an eye.

Eu in a nutshell:

Role Playing

Her latest fascination these days are role playing. For the last 2 days, she is “Emily“, hubby is “Gordon” and I am “Henry” and that’s what she calls us and insist we call her. These are characters from one of her favorite show, “Thomas & His Friends“. So she’ll be going on like “Welcome home Gordon” when hubby just came back from work or “What did you say Henry?” when she didn’t catch what I say or “Say ‘Emily, please clean up your toys‘”.

She was most recently a “firefighter”, “tow truck driver”, “snow marshall” (I’m not even sure what this do) among others. This came from another good show, “Higglytown Heroes“. So far, she hasn’t shown any inclination to be a “Librarian” although that is one of the job featured in this show.

Story Telling

She also loves to hear stories. We make it a routine to read a few stories after her lunch and before she goes to bed at night and she usually like to have the same stories read over several days. Right now, she is hooked on this farm animal book and I have been ordered to read the “Dragon in the farm” stories many many times now.

Budding Singer

I have recently taught her the “Que Sera” song and she is picking it up. Yesterday, on our drive back from KB, she insisted that I let the “Close To You” by Carpenter to play continuously on the CD player. This is one of ther ultimate favourite song. Sometimes she will sing “terjatuh lagi” which comes from one of my Peterpan song and which is the only line she knew.

In short, Eu is growing up wonderfully well. She is really a joy to be with and we are truly blessed to have her in our lives.

Raya Visiting

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We went for our annual Raya visiting to hubby’s uncle’s place, also in Lumut. My mother in law, who is the elder sister of this uncle has many sisters and brothers and so we usually have gatherings for Chinese New Year or Raya with just this group of her siblings. That is the best thing about having a large family. Gatherings are merry and you don’t even need to invite anyone else friends to make the party livelier.

Eu as usual, impressed everyone by greeting them one by one. I tried to teach her to greet “Selamat Hari Raya” but I guess it was too twisty for her tongue so we stuck on the easier “Happy Raya”.

Qi was very happy to be distracted from having to sleep at her usual 6pm bedtime. I put her in her chair to let her sleep but the aunties and cousins kept coming to see her so she just didn’t want to sleep. One aunt couldn’t help watching her sitting by herself that she let her “escaped” a few times. You could just see the glee on Qi’s face as she was carried here and there and let to crawl around, way past her bedtime. She also refused to look at my mother in law in case she will out her back in her chair. But she was wonderful. Despite being active on the way home, she slept straightaway once we reached home.

Another Bargain Buy

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I am now a Milimewah fan.

Milimewah is this department stores that sells groceries, clothing and household stuffs. There are branches all over Brunei.

Today, at Milimewah KB, I found a new collection of really funky sweat suits and pants for kids, with hood made of very good material. Only for B$17.90! I think elsewhere, these kind of attire would costs at least B$20+.

So I got one for Eu. Don’t know when she’ll ever get to use it as it is thick and I quote her exclaiming :

And there were many kids clothings that are really nice and cheap too. There were even these Vietnamese traditional costumes with a “Made in Vietnam” label (authentic lah) which cost only B$9.90 and Korean ones for B$18.90.Very impressive.

Weekend Holidays

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My parents and second brother came over from KK last weekend to accompany my youngest bro on his way back to Curtin, Miri. Got them to stop over in Bandar Seri Begawan for a night where all of us stayed at the Traders Inn.

This was my first time inside although here was where my friends from KK stayed when they attended my wedding in 2000. Quite impressed with the place. Sheets are clean. Pillows are fluffy. We also got 4 pillows each room! Not bad for a budget hotel.

We indulged them in Japanese food at Excapade (where else?). A good excuse to go also being a Friday and a no-meat day (for my parents that is). My mother had her first taste of raw fish. I think she only ate one slice of the salmon sashimi. Tapun-tapun saja. Asal ada. I did not really enjoy the food as I’m over the Japanese phase. Actually kind of sick of it right now.

What more EuEu was a bit too hyper to see my family again. Even QiQi was awake the whole time we were in the restaurant despite me trying to turn her chair away so she faces to wall, to which she screamed. Luckily, she just watched us and did not complained much.

We drove around Bandar to see the night lights put on in conjunction with the Sultan’s birthday. Even I was impressed.

Later, hubby brought my brothers out for pool games at the pool centre in the next building. Luckily I brought one book so at least I was not too bored in the room with the kids asleep. Should have brought my laptop as the hotel was a wifi zone.

Some pictures here

Convention of Knowledge Exhibitions at ICC

The next day, we brought them to the ICC for the exhibitions that was ongoing, also in conjunction with the Sultan’s birthday. Not a good day to visit as there were busloads of school kids. The place was packed with kids.

One of the exhibitions on the Royal Family has a huge family photo which includes the latest additions, Prince Abdul Wakeel. They even offered some gifts for any visitors who also celebrated their 60th birthday this year.

There were a lot of interesting stuffs featured but the crowd was a bit annoying. We only managed to visit two exhibitions and had to miss the others as EuEu was tired. QiQi was thankfully, napping during the whole time.

I drove back to hotel with them as hubby brought my brothers for car-related activities; visiting showrooms and checking out another car that he plans to buy (!).

Some pictures here.

Miri

We left for Miri after lunch. Dropped by the house to visit my parents in law and my mother managed to get another plant from my mother in law. I think it is rare that she can go anywhere without getting a plant back.

In Miri, we stayed at the Park City Everly. We got the executive floor and my room was just besides the Presidential Suite. This floor has tighter security where you have to use your room keycard to access the lift. There is a lounge where they offer refreshments and internet.

That night, we had the Sea Ranch buffet dinner at the hotel. Supposed to have seafood, steamboat and roasts. Not too appetizing to me although as usual my brothers and hubby wolfed down food enough for 10. There was also not much choice for EuEu. This weekend she had a huge dose of desserts! Well, once in a while won’t hurt lah. Again, QiQi had a very late night. For someone who sleeps at 5-6pm, she behaved decently even at 9pm.

The next day, we went to the St. Joseph Carmelite Church which is a couple of minutes drive from home. It was also hubby first time at doing the morning routine with both girls and I have to stay, he did well. In fact so well as he managed to feed QiQi without her usual fuss.

Later went swimming. Too bad couldn’t stay too long as we had to go to the airport to meet someone. But then was told that his flight got cancelled. So went to town for lunch. Bintang Plaza was a traffic nightmare. We ended up in Imperial. Lunched at the Dave’s Deli and did a bit of shopping. Disappointed that the book shop there was closed already. In fact the only reason hubby and I go to Bintang when we are in Miri is for Popular Book Store and the magazine shop on the ground floor. Luckily Imperial has one magazine shop so got my monthly stocks there.

Drove back to Brunei after that. Sad to leave the family but what to do. Will see them again in September. QiQi was a bit cranky on the way back. Reached home and ready to just sleep. But after everything was done; luggages cleared, kids asleep, hubby and me were up till 10 pm also.

Good but tiring weekend holidays.