Singapore 2013

So on 29th March (Good Friday), the whole kampung from Kuching invaded Singapore to visit their Chuo counterparts! Good Friday is a public holiday here in East Malaysia and Singapore, and the kids skipped a couple of days of school as well the following week! :) No one's gonna remember missing a couple days of school, but everyone will surely remember that awesome holiday with all the cousins!

the kampung folk arrive at Changi airport!

The welcoming committee! The 17 cousins are complete, and the hullabaloo commences!

Then it was off to Big Sis' new, big, 3 storey house! We had to divide and conquer. The big kids went to stay at Sis No.4's place, smaller ones at Big Sis' place and Hubby and I and 2 kids went to stay at Marina Bay Sands hotel, as Hubby managed to get free rooms.

the little ones at Big Sis'

the big ones at Sis No.4's

Since it was Good Friday, the next item on the agenda was of course mass. The church is only a 2 min walk away and Dad was very pleased that he could walk to church every morning for the duration of his stay at Big Sis' house.

The next day, we celebrated 3 birthdays at Peek-a-boo! Adam, Garnet and Dominic were all born in the same year, within weeks of each other.

The kids went crazy and played non-stop for hours!! Even the big ones!

There were games, dancing (surprise performance of Gangnam Style by little Dominic!) and a magician even!

The three cutie pies who celebrated their collective second birthday! The gorgeous cake was bought by Garnet's mummy, Cousin Athena. The kids were born in the year of the rabbit and Easter was the next day, so very appropriate indeed!

The kids went for a quick swim at Sky on 57...

The big kids' activities included karaoke singing and watching a movie...

Sis No.2 feeding the tweens and teens at Mc D's!

Then it was off to church for Baby Garnet's baptism. Sis No.4 was her Godma.

There was a lot of hoo-ha, when some of us were slightly late and a dragon-lady warden would not let us in!! (into church!! and on Easter Sunday no less!!) Sis 2 and 3 and Dad were mighty pissed, but in the end everyone got in and it is funny on hindsight!!

Super expensive pasta at Mario Batali's pasta place at MBS Shoppes. The pasta was good, though nothing spectacular. The best dishes are the tapas/ antipasti. They're full of wonderful flavours. I bet the kids would've preferred Mc Donald's!! Lol!

Little Dominic striking his Gangnam pose!!

The most anticipated item on the itinerary was the visit to Adventure Cove on the second last day.

18 kids aged 2-14 at a waterpark! There had to be some system...

First, we marked our territory. This shallow "Seahorse Pool" was our rendezvous point and we "choped" a cabana with all our bags, much like a dog would with pee! lol!

Sis No.4 took the big kids to the big slides and even briefed them first and put a buddy system in place! Efficient leh...

I got the mid-range ones... and the littlest ones were attended to, one on one by their respective mums and kakaks! And so the fun began!

Even Kung Kung joined in the fun!

Lunch break...

Ice-cream break at our cabana... It was a terribly hot day!

Snorkeling at the artificial reef full of beautiful saltwater fish!

Best buds...

All tired and sunburnt, but happy nonetheless!

All too soon, it was time to head home. Hubby, Annie and Allyson left the night before, on a midnight flight, as Annie and Allyson had an inter-school sports meet to compete in.

So let's plan the next Chuo family invasion of Singapore eh?? ;)

Agony

I'm recovering from the worst food poisoning I've ever experienced! Thank goodness it was only one night of agony!

Yesterday afternoon I had a drink at the mamak shop next to my pharmacy, while keeping an eye on Solomon blowing soap bubbles in front of my shop.

A couple of hours later I felt horrible! It started with awful nausea, bad stomach cramps and diarrhoea... Then later at night I had low grade fever, joint pains, cold sweats and muscle aches!! The nausea was just like morning sickness! (Not one of the best feelings in the world, trust me.)

Towards morning I was going to the loo every half hour! I shall spare you the details...

Luckily I'm feeling much better now, though still a bit light headed and my stomach still feels funny. On the bright side, I might have lost some weight! ;) Though knowing my affinity for food, my appetite will most likely return with a vengeance tomorrow!

Well, this morning, Hubby found out that a friend of his experienced the same symptoms a couple of days ago, after he too had teh tarik there!

So, I'm still cursing the dirty fellows next door who most probably served me E.Coli laced teh tarik!! #%%^*

Annie the athlete

So Annie is growing up to be quite the athlete. It helps that she followed Hubby's side of the family, height-wise! Also her many years of ballet and taekwondo lessons must have contributed to her overall fitness and stamina.

She went for the inter-school meet for field events for 11 and 12 year olds. It was held at cousin Ally and Michelle's school, Chung Hua No.5. Around 10 of them represented Lodge School at the meet and most of them (Annie included) came in first in their respective events. Thus they were selected to go on to represent our district in the upcoming inter-district sports meet. (All this 'district, district' talk is reminding me of 'The Hunger Games'! lol!)

Anyway, Annie was chosen for the shot putt event and Cousin Allyson was also chosen for the 4 x 100m! They will both be competing in the inter-district sports meet next month!  

May the odds be ever in your favour! ;)

Annie & netball

Annie loves her netball. She started playing more than a year ago I think, when a new sports teacher joined the school and introduced the sport.

Last year, Annie and her friends tried out for the school netball team, but didn't make it, as they had only started playing. The team members were all chosen from the national school side, as they had already been playing for quite a while.

 

So this year, after more practice, a few of them made it onto the team and went on to play at the inter-school netball competition (Zone A) for the girls under 12 category.  It was held at SMK Tabuan Jaya.

They trained very hard, putting in a lot of time and effort. It also helped that quite a few of them, Annie included, are very tall for their age, thus giving them a very obvious physical advantage. Truth be told, at the basket, when the girls were passing the ball between team members and the opponents were jumping up and down trying to intercept, it was like watching them play 'monkey'! :)

So it was quite easy for the girls to get through the initial rounds. They won by big margins and were one of the favourites to win.

During the finals they met with another favourite, SJK Chung Hua No.1, and this time it was a little harder to get ahead. The first half was nerve wracking to watch, but they got their act  together by the second half and went on to become the champion!

Winning is always an amazing feeling and it was great to see the joy in all the girls' faces when their hard work paid off!

Annie and many of her team mates were selected to represent Zone A in the upcoming inter-zone netball competition. This one will be held in Lundu, a 2 hour drive away from Kuching.

Proud to be in the papers!

Sports Day 2013

 So today was the kids' school sports day. Everyone was up early. Purple house was very determined to retain their title as best house, for the third year running! They trained very hard for today, and their efforts paid off when they once again won that title!

This is Eva's first time competing and she was reserve for the 50m event. Unfortunately she did not get the chance to run, but had a good time nonetheless.

Cousin Amanda also participated in the shot putt event for her age group.

Annie grabbed the gold medal for the shot putt event and will be representing her school tomorrow at the inter-school meet.

She also won silver for the other three events she participated in; namely, the 4 x 100m, 4 x 200m and the high jump!

Everyone did a great job and contributed to their Purple House's overall win!

Full House!

I have 8 kids! Lol!

Sis no.2 and Hubby are in Taiwan on a holiday adventure; involving hiking, cycling and backpacker hostels! (Not my cuppa tea...)

So their kids are here with me, all except for Alaena who is bunking at Sis no.3's place.

The kids are having a blast and enjoying the company of their respective BFFs!

Square

So the other morning, this mummy just realized kid no.4 was having his first Chinese spelling test later at school!

With no time to learn, I figured getting one out of four correct would be good enough; better than a big fat zero! :)

So one of the words was "kou", meaning mouth. "Kou" is the simplest to write, as it is basically just a square.


So in the car on the way to school;

Mummy: When teacher say "kou" you just draw a square okay??

Solomon: Okay.

Mummy: Remember, "kou" is a square okay?

Solomon: Okay.

Mummy: If you don't know the rest, just leave it blank.

Solomon: Okay.


Then, after school;

Mummy: So how was the spelling test?

Solomon: Okay.

Mummy: Did you draw a square for "kou"?

Solomon: I don't know where is the square.

!!!

I think I should've just told him to draw four squares! Guaranteed one correct at least! Lol!

Another chapter closes

So it's official! I'll be closing my pharmacy shop in two months time!

It's kinda sad, because I've had this shop for ten years! The kids practically grew up there! It was like a second home then. (My car has taken over that title now!)

On the other hand, it is also liberating, to be finally free of such a huge responsibility.

The pharmacy is making money, not much, but not operating at a loss. I could make more if I worked for someone else, but then I would be tied down. With my pharmacy it is practically like I am not working, because I'm almost never at the shop!

It bugged me that I could not give the shop the attention it needed to flourish, because I believe if you want to do something, you'd better do it right, else don't do it at all!

I've been thinking of closing for a while now. When I chopped the shop into half, it was a compromise between closing and trudging on!

I thought since it didn't take up so much of my time, might as well let it run. I could provide work for my staff and order medicines for family and friends. I do love helping people with medical advice and having the chance to do some charity when the opportunity arises...

But one thing I especially detest is dealing with staff who have poor attitudes. I have had many good people working for me, and many of the kind who make you want to pull out your hair as well!

Also the whole pharmacy profession in this country is &$@*^% up. In Malaysia, unlike every other profession, pharmacists do not have an exclusive role. Thus we have to break the law every day by selling group B drugs without prescription just to survive. Just doing my job makes me feel like a criminal every day! That does not sit well with me. I'm not the law breaking kind of person! Yet what choice do I have?

Then we have the enforcement officers to contend with. Their surprise checks make us feel like drug pushers being put under scrutiny.

Also, drug prices are not regulated and small players are discriminated and bullied with higher cost prices for the same drug. I know all this unfairness is just part of the dog eat dog business world. I suppose I'm not cut out for it then. I prefer a world of rainbows and butterflies! Something like Care-A-Lot, where the Carebears live! Lol!

And to add insult to injury, now a big shot is interested in the retail pharmacy industry!! The economy in Malaysia, as we know, is monopolized by well connected big shots. This particular big shot is now using his Cosway business to invade the retail sector of the pharmacy industry. With their money and political clout, what chance do we small fish have?! Rules are being conveniently changed to their advantage and laws which only tighten the noose around our necks are being proposed.

Well anyway, all these frustrating issues aside, the main reason I chose to finally close the shop was to spend more quality, un-rushed time with the kids. That's all, in the end.

Chinese New Year 2013

The much delayed Chinese New Year pics!

CNY eve lunch at Kung Kung Titus'

 Watching the firecrackers go off before lunch begins...

After being creeped out by a "CNY pak lo duck filled with maggots story", we decided to cook all the dishes fresh ourselves! We had spring rolls, pork leg, pak lo duck, prawns... the works!

After lunch was of course the "ang pow line-up"!

Next was CNY eve dinner at kung kung Paul's, with more firecrackers to kick start the meal!

"Fireworks display" later that night!

This year's ammo...

I can't imagine Chinese New Year without the racket of firecrackers, the smell of the surely toxic smoke and the beautiful way the fireworks light up the sky! I remember going back to Sibu one Chinese New Year when I was very young and firecrackers had not yet been banned (not that the ban stops anyone in Kuching anyway...). The fireworks went on throughout the night on CNY eve, culminating to warfare proportions at midnight and dying off somewhere around 4 am! We woke up to smoke choked air, much like the worst haze we ever had...

The kids were treated to a magic show by "Magic Uncle"!

Blackjack; the compulsory CNY activity...

 On CNY morning, we always go to my Dad's house first. This year, Little Brother came back for the festivities.

That afternoon, it was off to Miri to visit cousin Hughie!

It was a 3-in-1 visit, for Chinese New Year, Hughie's birthday, and also house-warming!

 The next day, we drove across the border to have yummy sushi in Brunei!

 A traditional lion dance troupe came to perform during the house-warming cum birthday party!

 Look! They left lucky poop!! Lol!

Jamming session!

Kids enjoying the playground at the boat club...

.. especially the zip rope!

A family photo before heading home!

Managed to visit Sis no.2, before school started, for a gambling lesson from Uncle Polycarp!!

Also met up with some ex-classmates who were back for the holiday!

Shandy, keropok and acar. No Chinese New Year is complete without these three essential ingredients! :)