Merry Blessed X'mas

Wishing all Merry Christmas and a blessed year ahead.

Its been a hectic month...
24 Nov: Moved to our new home.
30 Nov: Flew back to Singapore.
2 Dec: Arrived in Singapore.
3 Dec: Started coughing
4 Dec: Started having runny nose
5 Dec: Fever .....and all these lasted a few days.

Seen GP, he said I am not used to the polluted air in S'pore! I was like "HUH"??
This is my home ground leh....how can that be?

I am only grateful that kiddo is not affected by my flu bug.
However, her eczema came back full blast after a week in S'pore.

Hubby will be back here next month, just 9 days before my EDD....
Hopefully bb2 cooperates and wait for Daddy to arrive before popping.

Merry merry Christmas once again!

Roof-ed!

After praying for 14months, God answered our prayer.

We bought a townhome in Coquitlam and moved in on 24 Nov 2007.
Its a 20 year old town home. I am happy, very happy....financially a little stretched going forward. But, at least we know we are settling down.

Things are moving forward.....slowly but surely.

Kiddo is very excited as we have a 2 car-garage, daddy promised her a bicycle and thats where she can park her little bike in the garage.

We are indeed very thankful....for HIS provision.

Can't sleep

Its 5.15am, I have been awake for the past 45mins or so...

It's my girl's first sleep over, she is with Sanmi's family now...
I spoke to her at 8pm, asking her if she is sure about the stay over, as it wasn't pre-planned. The plan was just to let her spend the day there.

Anyhow, we will see her in another 5 hours in church.....
Hope she doesn't wet Sanmi's bed....due to the new environment....
Don't know if she misses us or not har?

My girl is growing up, suddenly it just dawned upon me at this quiet cold 4 deg morning...

3D scan - week 30

I know they all look the same in the womb....
I thought so too.....

Did a 3D scan on 21 Nov 07 (week 30)
I think this girl has my big nose again *sigh*
This image captured her "smiling"
The entire 30mins scan was recorded onto DVD.
Its amazing to see her move her arms, scratch her eyes and twitch her mouth......

So looking forward to the end of Jan to meet this new friend of ours :)

Pumpkin Day

As its a Christian based pre-school, her school celebrated Pumpkin Day (instead of calling it Halloween Day), all kids are encouraged to put on a non-violet, non-scary/ghostly costumes.

She was pleased to be a bumble bee....

Pregnancy update

Did this scan on 11 Sep 07 (@ week 20).

Most likely a girl.

Responses I got usually is "Are you happy, is Ben happy, is kid happy?"

Erm...I guess if this is a boy, people's response will be:"You must be very happy"

Honestly, we are not so bothered about the gender, when we last visited the gynae, I was more concern about the blood test, and everything else and we are only so grateful to hear the the galloping sound of the heartbeat and to know that the test results all came back good.

Fishing trip

We love the public holidays here. It usually falls on a Monday, making it a long weekend.

Today, kiddo, daddy and kiddo's 2 best friends and their daddy (Uncle S) drove to Chilliwack (1.5hrs from Vancouver) to fish. Its the 1st time for the kid & daddy. Daddy has never been a fan for fishing (yes, whatelse but due to the weather in SG lah) They caught 2 salmon (due to license restriction). She is really an urban kid! So afraid of the jumping fish....sigh, really need to let her be more exposed to more of such nature activities.

Uncle S showing her how to fish

Knocking out the fish with a pebble
Cleaning up the fish
Kids examining the (throbbing) heart of the salmon

Showing off "their" catch

Taking a break on the railway track
Daddy said "Run! The train is approaching!"

Ikura Sushi, anyone?

Dinner for the nite:
Fried Salmon Skin, Steam Salmon, Baked Salmon

Happy Thanksgiving Day

On Sunday, Canada celebrated Thanksgiving Day. USA celebrate it in November.

I don't really know the real meaning behind this Thanksgiving Day celebration. But with good food from Aunty Cath, what else is there to complain but be thankful that the Lord has blessed us with wonderful people who remember us on occassion like these!

The feast is very similar to X'mas dishes....whatever the case, when there is food, we must always be thankful! So whether you celebrate or not, have you counted your blessing today and give thanks yet?

中秋节

祝大家有个美好的中秋节。。。。

听妈妈的话

这是周杰伦的一首旧歌，其实周杰伦的歌也旧不到哪里去啦。

或许是当了妈妈之后，听这首歌特别有感触吧？所以，就想和其他妈妈一起分享。

我没指望孩子一定要出人头地，只要过得好，过的健康，我想，我也满足与安慰了。

最进，看了香港的连续剧“爸爸闭嘴”， 里头有一句话，
“孩子在父母的心目中永远是主角， 而孩子长大后，父母亲往往只是配角“

听妈妈的话
小朋友 你是否有很多问号

为什麼 别人在那看漫画

我却在学画画 对著钢琴说话

别人在玩游戏

我却靠在墙壁背我的ABC

我说我要一架大大的飞机

我却得到一只旧旧螺旋机

为什麼要听妈妈的话

长大後你就会开始懂得这种话 哼

长大後我开始明白

为什麼我 跑的比别人快 飞的比别人高

将来大家看的都是我画的漫画

大家唱的都是 我写的歌

妈妈的辛苦 不让你看见

温柔的事 是否在她心里面

有空就多多握著她的手

把手牵著一起梦游

听妈妈的话 别让她受伤

想快快长大 才能保护她

美丽的白发 幸福中发芽

天使的魔法 温暖中慈祥

在你的未来 音乐是你的王牌

那王牌谈个恋爱 而我不想被你教坏

还是听妈妈的话吧 晚点在恋爱吧

我知道你未来的路 干嘛比我更清楚

你因为太多学习的同学在这块写东写西

但我在 妈妈我会用功读书

用功读书怎麼会从我嘴巴说出

不想你输所以要叫你用功读书吗

妈妈交给你的毛笔你要好好收著

因为不许告诉我 也告诉他我还留著

对了 我会遇到了周润发

所以你可以跟同学炫耀 赌神未来是你爸爸

我找不到你写的情书 你喜欢的要承认

因为我会了解你会在操场上牵她

你会开始喜欢唱流行歌

因为张学友开始准备唱吻别

听妈妈的话 别让她受伤

想快快长大 才能保护她

美丽的白发 幸福中发芽

天使的魔法 温暖中慈祥

听妈妈的话 别让她受伤

想快快长大 才能保护她

长大後我开始明白

为什麼我 跑的比别人快

飞的比别人高

将来大家看的都是我画的漫画

大家唱的都是 我写的歌

妈妈的辛苦 不让你看见

温柔的事 是否在她心里面

有空就多多握著她的手

把手牵著一起梦游

听妈妈的话 别让她受伤

想快快长大 才能保护她

美丽的白发 幸福中发芽

天使的魔法 温暖中慈祥

Sleeping posture

Daddy caught this picture of kiddo sleeping.

I remembered my mom told me that my brother and I used to sleep with our legs crossed this way too....

Show time

Sanmi and Yushi are kiddo's best friends in church.

Their parents invited us to their new home for BBQ. They decided to play "SHOW TIME" as what Sanmi calls it....We have no idea what that means, they didn't allow any adults to be in the room while they prepared themselves. So we just waited and we were hilarious to see them in these costumes!

They helped dressed kidoo in this japanese looking costume with ballet shoes?!
While Yushi decided to a ninja. Sanmi dressed herself as some lady in pink lah....i think.

1 year liao....

Summer is almost over.

Temperature has plunged from the the high 20's deg to about 10's deg now. While we enjoyed the long days, short nights, and hot days in summer. I am just glad that the cooler weather is coming back.

Her eczema did make a "cameo appearance" during the hotter days. I had to dig out the long lost steroid eczema cream to apply on the rashes, just for that 3 days. Thank God.

Fall is coming, leaves are turning red, and we have been here officially for 1 year in Canada liao.

Below are pictures of her harvesting the last batch of tomatoes.

Tis' summer (2007)

Its now summer. We had loads of FUN.
Some changes too.....

Hubby got confirmed as a perm staff in his current job, with some increment and full staff benefit. This is a great milestone for the entire family as it had been our prayer since we came last year that he gets a permanent job. Thank God for His provision. Things are moving slowly but certainly. And we are seriously grateful.

In His time, I am also at my 16 weeks pregnancy. That actually explains why I have been missing from cyber space lately. I had been puking, losing weight, totally tired for the past 16 weeks or so.....Had my 3rd check up y'day with the gynae, so glad to hear baby's heartbeat beating so strongly....Next monthly checkup, we will get to do ultrasound and determine the gender. The system is different, the ultrasound, blood test etc are done seperately at a lab. Not at the gynae's clinic.

Summer had been loads of fun....
We did the following:


July: we went camping in the woods. It was fun but too tiring for a preggie honestly. Camping in the woods was really a good experience for urban tortoise like us. There is totally no electricity, meaning not even lightings in the toilet. Being preggie, I had to go to the toilet so often, poor hubby, had to escort me with a torch light in pitch darkness at 3am....It was also cold as we were really in the woods! Kiddo enjoyed so much that she cried when we packed up on the last day. For me, it was a total relief to be home for once!



May: I thought why not try planting something. I have never done this kind of thing back in SG. I think cactus also won't survive in my hands! Anyhow, we tried and we got this small cherry tomato plant. After nearly 2.5mths, we got these yummy-licious, totally sweet, no-insecticide cherry tomatoes. It was a good chance for kid to tend to the plant during this period. She was totally ecstatic when the first fruits appeared!


August: On the long weekend in Aug, we drove to Okanangan, Kelowna (5 hours away from Vancouver). The region is famous for its winery and fruits.

Our meals at Kelowna

Sightseeing

Summerhill Winery - I couldn't resist the wine tasting, I took a sip of each type (5) of the wine

Love the ICE WINE !!!! If you are a Ice Wine lover, you may probably have heard of Inniskillin. Its also from this region, we didn't visit Inniskillin winery though. We definitely will the next time if we come to Okanagan again.

We visited several fruit orchards here. We bought peaches, nectarines, apricots and blueberries. The fruits were freshly plucked. Totally sweet & juicy, needless to say. Pictures above showing peaches, cherry (tree), pear (tree), blueberries (kiddo's hand) and we saw this peculiar looking gourds at some local stall...

She was eating Goat Milk's Ice Cream. Apparently, it tasted just like the regular ice cream.

TAG-8 random facts about me

I have been tagged by Alternative-Mom in June.
Its now the last day of July.....I am disgustingly late, lazy and a good procrastinator hor?
So sorry, here is my long-overdue tag

Rules on this tag: No rules lah
I will not have rules, and will not tag anyone. If you wish to do it, please feel free so that we may get to know you better!

One: Hate
For those who may already know, I hate garlic, I also dislike spring onion, chives, onions, ginger.

Two: Music
I used to play the electronic organ and Alto Saxophone.

Organ: My dad submitted the wrong form to Yamaha Music School. The piano course form had a lighter orange form, whereas the Organ course was a darker orange form. Whose dumb idea was that to print forms on such similar color??

Saxophone: When I joined my secondary school band that year, Saxophone was not popular yet. Being in a all-girls' school, everybody wanted the clarinet or flute coz its more lady-like mah. The saxophonist had to wear a strap around the neck to hold the Saxophone, so it was deemed as UGLY.....lack of new recruit in the Sax section and I didn't mind that ugliness, so I took up the instrument. The following year, thanks to Kenny G. My section had overwhelming response, the rest was history, our section was the coolest section then!


Three: My many ECAs
I had 5 ECAs at one point in my primary school. My mum nagged and quarrelled with dad over this. Mum felt that my school work was getting nowhere, dad felt that it was a good chance for me to explore what I liked. Finally, I was left with one ECA - music ensemble, due to PSLE lah....
- Music Ensemble - played the pianica
- Choir (I hated it though, joined becuz Yamaha needed singing as part of the grades exam)
- Badminton (love the game, till today)
- Gymnastic (after 6mths, nearly cracked my neck, I gave up)
- Red Cross (for stupidity reason, joined becuz I thot the uniform very smart looking back then)

Four: My many jobs
After Uni, in 10 years of career, I had worked in 7 firms.

1) Local quasi-govt coy- Resigned after 2.5years, coz I hate programming
2) UK MNC - Retrenched after working 10mths due to re-org
3) US MNC - Retrenched after working 2years due to down-sizing
4) European Bank - Resigned after 3mths, coz was totally bored with job and people there.
5) HUGE FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods company) - Resigned after 2 years, health affected, supporting 10,000 users in 14 Asia Pac countries, always on 24x7 call, even when pregnant. One typical incident, a call at 3am to tell me that 400 ice-cream trucks in Australia can't dispatch the ice-cream due to servers' crash. I had to resolve it within 1-2 hours, can't imagine the impact on sales affected if its longer than that. I bet every household in the world has some products that is by this company! From soap, detergent to food....

Was admitted to hospital during last month before EDD due to pre-eclampsia (possibly caused by work stress, Gynae advised). Had to stop work completely and rest at home to wait for baby's delivery.

6) Local firm - Irregular hours which was not informed to me. Had to work odd hours at 12am-3am from the office at times. Was apprehensive as I was breastfeeding and had a 6months old baby at home.
7) US Bank - My happiest job by far.....very stressful as decision needs to be made on the fly, but I had supportive boss and fun colleagues. Resigned becuz I need to come to Canada lor.....

So, I am not exactly a job hopper....just that circumstances forced me too... :P

Five: Skirts/Dress
I hardly put on dress or skirts. I am quite tom-boyish by nature. I am a jeans and t-shirt person. I didn't have a single maternity dress, come to think about it!

Six: Control Freak
I used to be quite a control freak. I like to plan. Everything from A-Z. I am not exactly meticulous. But everything needs to have a plan. In secondary school, before any trip out, like a movie day out, I insisted that we all sit down and plan where to go, what to eat before setting off.
But as I grow/age and 'mature'. I realised sometimes, many things are better when nature take its course. And by nature, I of course means God. He is the ultimate controller I have learnt.

Seven: Travelling
We had the chance to travel Europe in "style" after graduating from Uni. We backpacked Turkey and Greece. Hopped on a bus in Greece to cross over to Turkey. On the bus, there were 30 passengers, 28 of them were smoking. Only the 2 of us were desperately grasping for fresh air on bus. On returning, we decided to give up the return bus ticket and took a flight from Turkey back to Greece instead.

Then we joined an organized camping tour to Europe in 28 days. In "style", i mean we pitched tent across Europe campsite. On the 2nd week, I was down with chicken pox at Venice, but the "ang mos"in the tour weren't afraid and told me to stay on and complete the remaining leg of the tour.....so I did. And I ate chicken...coz the "ang mo" cook didn't believe in our chinese custom! heheh. FYI, I had no scars from eating chicken.

I had so far travelled to about 25 countries. We hope to backpack or travel to India, Vietnam, Russia and the more exotic places when the kids are grown up.

Eight: Flowers and Diamond
I don't like flowers nor diamond. I prefer to admire flowers that are planted by the road or in the park versus a bouquet of flowers given to me. So far I have only received flowers in 4 occassion in my life.

1st: a junior in my sec-sch, I AM not lesbian lah, but I was tom-boyish. I like boys for sure. I threw away the flower when I reached the bus stop outside school. I simply didn't know what to do with it.

2nd: Flower for wedding day. It was prepared by the wedding boutique for me to hold. bo pian, as a bride, I can't be holding a pot of pandan leaves right?

3rd: As a wedding planner for my good friend (JS), her HB gave every bridesmaid a stalk.....

4th: This year's mother's day, I received a stalk from my girl (it was prepared by the church)

Diamond: I have told hubby, I prefer a good treat to makan than a diamond or any jewellery. I only own one very small diamond ring given to me by my aunt as wedding gift, its somewhere in a safebox in S'pore I think.

Strawberry Picking

June-August is the berry picking season.

Its her first time. The strawberries were a little sour, unlike those we picked in UK and Japan, totally SWEET. I think we went to a less popular farm, we later drove by a bigger and more crowded farm that says "OUR STRAWBERRIES ARE RIPE AND SWEET!" Agggghhh!!!

I pick

I choose

I taste

I eat (enjoying my fruit of labour)

8th Anniversary

Celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on 12 Jun.
As usual, Japanese food lah.
She loves Sashimi and the sushi roe..... (expensive taste huh!)

End of Term

The school year ended in mid-June. Its now summer break.
The new school year will begin in Sept 07.

The pre-school had a mini-performance, was such a joy to watch them sing!

After the performance, there was dinner served, a mummy came by to let me know that her son's favourite friend is my daughter. The boy even named one of his doll/toy after her! But when asked to say hello to my kid, the boy simply shy away.....

We were feeling complemented as well as a little "freaky" ! :P

SAHM vs FTWM

Read from some other mommie's blogs that there is a TAG going on about SAHM vs FTWM.
How timely, even though nobody tagged me, but I am in a great dilema....

My former employer (in S'pore) has a possible upcoming headcount and is asking me if I am interested. Its a contract job, the project will kick off in early 2008, and will last for 3 yrs.

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tempted. It means alot for me to join back the workforce. It also means alot of adjustment and sacrifice from the family.

Kid will have to be seperated from Daddy while he continues to live and work in Canada. They have never been seperated for more than a day as my hubby need not travel for his job all these years. We go holiday, supermarket, shopping, makan, cinema....everywhere with the kid.

I will probably have to put her at a full-day childcare / school once again when I am back in S'pore. I have rented my entire flat to my relative, I have to look for alternative place to stay, property market is rocket high now in S'pore. I need to get a car to get around.

I will be almost like a single-parent handling the kid alone in S'pore.

We have been talking about it......no conclusion.

Its at the expense of my family, in order to fulfill my personal selfish ambition (yuks!) as a FTWM.

Do I enjoy being a SAHM for the past 9mths? Yes, I sincerely do. I can see the "reward".
Did I enjoy the life of a FTWM? Yes, I did too.

Which one do I prefer more?
I don't know................I really don't know.

Mom vs Nanny

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18942392/site/newsweek/page/0/
This article got me thinking .... once again.....

What do I want in life?
for myself?
for my kids?
for my family?
for whoelse?

What is my role as a wife? mother? sister?
Proverbs 31:9-31

I met a Filipino immigrant in church. She used to work as domestic maid in Singapore for a few years. She got her break and immigrated to Canada about 15 years ago as Nanny. As a qualified and experienced nanny herself, she doesn't entrust her kids to outsiders, her husband and herself work out their schedule in such a way that either one will always be home caring for the 2 young kids (4yo and 2 yo). That again, sets me thinking.........

Then, I came across this article : www.myspace.com/helpkaleb

**********************************************************************************
Attended our church's all ladies breakfast meeting few weeks ago. I am the youngest. Most of the ladies are in their 40s-50s. Nice people, but I did have difficult time upkeeping the frequency.

New life, new acquaintance, new environment, new friends, new church
Its not true that new things are always the best....
Have not met many people of my age group.

Most immigrants I met came like 10-20 years ago, in their 40s-60s, reaping their rewards now.
Their kids (about my age), are 'Canadianized'. I am not being closed minded, I try to make friends, but cultural difference is something I am still struggling with.

reading corner

We try to go to the library every 2 weeks. She will sit on her mini-sofa, then 跷 her 脚.....and read on for about 1 hour.

Each library card allow us to borrow up to 50 books. Don't think I will be hardworking enough to borrow that many books!

Seafood feast?

Went to Red Lobster in Seattle to makan last weekend.

I ordered the seafood combo consisting of :
snow crab legs
fired grilled lobster tail
garlic shrimps (they don't call it prawns...)

It was Ok .... ang mo style cooking lah. I still prefer and miss S'pore chilli crab and M'sia Marmite crab!!!

Fly kite

On mother's day, after church, I chosed to eat at A&W to avoid the crowd. We had Papa and Grandpa burgers....mmm, I should have ordered MaMa burger hor?

Then, we went to Garry Point Park (at Richmond) as it was "FLY YOUR KITE DAY" organized by the BCKA (British Columbia Kite Association). Don't play play lor, fly kite also got association one. It was good fun for daddy, kid and bro, they were the one who flew the kite.... as for me? I just laze on the picnic mat and soak up the sun...... I did nothing, really..........except that I entangled the strings when I was trying to be helpful to keep the kite...bro nagged at me for my "helpfulness", 他说我 越帮越忙 ....

Our colourful kite
This kite can dance, hop, walk. The person was teasing the 3 kids. When the kids go nearer, he will let the kite take off. When the kids stopped, the kite would "walk" towards them, freaking them out! Had a good laugh!

Kiddo flying kite........

Big kites, small kites....all kinds of kites

Knock knock....Who is here?

Eversince changing to this new blog address, I am not sure if anyone reads my blog. mmm....scully not many people read also lah, hehehe

I am too lazy to figure out how to put up a list of whose blogs I read, but most of the mummies blogs I read are links from Blurblur and Irene.

I lost my favourite links after I left Singapore. I forgot to save them, sigh! So if you are reading mine and you are linked from Blurblur or Irene or anywhere else. I always welcome comments, critisicm, greetings, anything lah, I am a friendly mum, I look fierce but seriously I don't bite lah (ask Irene and Phoebe, I met them before).

Tomorrow is Victoria Day, public holiday here.

Progress update (3yr 5mo)

Haven't blogged about the little one's progress for quite a while.
(thanks joyce, for reminding!)

She is attending pre-school (similar to Nursery) here. The school term starts in Sept for all grades, so she will be promoted to the next level of pre-school this Sept. The kindergarten here only last a year, so she will be starting grade one (equivalent to Primary 1) 3 months before she turn 6.

She goes to school only twice a week for now, so for the other 2 days, I will do a 1 hour "home lesson" with her. Basically, we start off with spelling, she loves spelling. I normally give her words that are about 4-5 letters (eg. PIANO, ROOF). Each lesson, 3 new words. At times, she can spell words that suprised me too, like Monday, Tuesday etc. She is able to spell about 150 words.

After that, we will proceed with learning and recognizing chinese characters. She is now only able to recognise about 40 chinese characters. She will get all excited if she spot a character she can read in the mall.

Then we will end with simple Maths. She is able to do simple addition that adds up to sum of 20. Some of it, she can do it mentally (like 4+2=6). Will keep subtraction for later stage.

There is no "art & craft" element in our lesson coz she gets to do lots of that in school. And I am not a craft nor art person.....I always scored 'D' in school.

She is now able to read most books I get from the library. Her level of reading is approximately of K2-P1. She knows and understand the concept and sequence of days and months. She also remember daddy, mummy, jiu jiu (my brother) and her birthdates, and gets excited. She keeps track of the day/date pretty well.

Just in case anyone thinks I am driving her too hard, she will ask me why did I skip lessons (on days when I feel lazy!)

Below is a MSN conversation between us.... dad only helped her spell 'idea'. The rest, on her own. The conversation didn't get very far though!

MOBTV

MOBTV goes global!

I have signed up as a MOBTV International Trial user!
Will decide if we should subscribe to it after these 2 weeks trial.

Tulip Festival 2007 - missed

The Tulip Festival was from 1st-30April 2007, we missed it totally coz I was having slight fever on last weekend. When we crossed the border today, there were no large fields with tulips anymore. Just a small garden with the left over tulips for people like us who missed the festival. We will try visiting again next year.

Heard so much about this buffet at Tulalip Casino. It's really value for money. For USD10, the buffet is good, and comes with drinks. Kiddo's share was free. At such price, I was skeptical and didn't expect much of the buffet. But this one, the quality wasn't compromised, you can count on it to fill your stomach before heading to the outlets 1min drive away to shop your day away.

Any S'poreans coming, I recommend this dose of therapy that I had today: smell the flowers, buffet/makan and shopping at outlets.

Smell the rose?

kid smelling tulip (but tulip has no smell one lah)

Just read from a vancouver's newspaper that Singapore has topped in a recent survey:
Some Cities in the Global Rank of Pedestrians' Walking Speeds
I have the news link from another source on the net though for those who are interested.

Do Singaporeans really have no time to stop and smell the roses in life? Where are they rushing to? What is the rush in their lives? What will slow them down to take a breather and enjoy what they have in this sunny little island?

When we lived in Singapore, we were just as guilty.... what rose? I'd be grateful if the heat, the pressure doesn't weigh me down. Seriously, I often did wonder why the rush, what's the rush.....rush till lost in my own rush at times.

Looking back, I know its rare that we get chances to stop and smell the rose indeed....And when we do, most S'poreans will escape for a holiday elsewhere to smell the rose in foreign land.....thats why the rose always smells nicer elsewhere, and the grass always look greener elsewhere, because got more "fertilizer" aka sh*t elsewhere also mah!

Singapore is a great place afterall........I do miss Singapore, seriously.

What is it like?

What is it like to live in an "ang mo" country?

When we 1st visited Vancouver in 1995 for vacation, it wasn't that saturated with Asians. Yes, we do see lots of Asian then, but this time round, no joke.

The province (equivalent to states in USA) we live in is British Columbia. And it comprises of many smaller cities. Vancouver is a city by itself. The airport is known as YVR-Vancouver but its in Richmond City.... confusing eh?

And Asians don't just live in Vancouver (VE/VW), they can be found almost in the surrounding cities like Burnaby (BU), Richmond (RI), North Vancouver (NV), West Vancouver (WV), Coquitlam (CQ), Surrey, Port Moody(PM)..... (see map below)

Just how easy is it to live as an asian immigrant? If I need anything that is "chinese/asian", I no longer have to drive all the way to Chinatown. I just drive like 5-10mins and there are so many chinese stores available. I need a cup of "鸳鸯" or 泡泡茶? Easily, can find 茶餐厅. Due to the fact that Vancouver is a melting pot, there is even wider variety of stuff I can get from the major chinese supermarket, its very different from living as an Asian in Australia or even England.

Just the other day, I tried cooking beef rendang, I needed stuff like "galangal", lemon grass, lime leaves, and yup, I found them all in the supermarket easily!

Probably, some of you may have heard of this place as "HongCouver", its quite true, people assume you speak cantonese when you step into the Asian malls. In this particular mall (Aberdeen Centre), they have Daiso, Osim, the 1st Giordano in the entire North America, food court. Sometime, I thought I am in IMM when I go to Aberdeen Centre......

Also, we get a very good mix of other cultures. I can get real authentic Italy cuisine at decent price. I had the chance to meet an Italian 2nd generation lady, she showed me some Italian desserts, Italian desserts doesn't comprise of just tiramisu lor, they have lots of varieties of pastries, but they are really too rich and sweet for my liking though. I live 2 streets away from the "Little Italy" only :-)

Indian food, ah, how can we forget them? No prob, there is a "Little India" here too!

Of course Vietnamese food is very very available. As far as I remember, its quite expensive to eat Viet noodle back in SG....

With the great influx of immigrant from mainland China, its common that people assume we are from either HK or China (anyway, same rite?) A lady from Shenzhen, overheard me talking to kiddo in English and Mandarin, so she came over and asked me...

“你是乡下哪里人?英文和国语都会说？"

For a moment, I felt "insulted", I looked like 乡下人 meh???

Then I realised its their way of asking which province of China....

And another lady from 哈尔滨 asked me “我的爱人在哪儿上班？"

爱人????? Machiam I have affair leh!!!?? Hehehe!

Have a good day, folks.

Talk of the town

I know the talk of the town in S'pore lately was the ministers' pay hike. Its no wonder, coz it also became our dinner topic for a few nites despite the distance....

This news caught our attention:
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/070425/3/4823s.html

Another article that caught our eye:
http://www.opinionasia.org/ManagingpoliticaldissentinSingapore
and this particular sentence from the article stands out "For their loyalty will not be to Singapore, but to the good life that Singapore has given them."
I agree to the part where Singaporeans generally do have good life that Singapore has given to us/them or rather we/they have slogged for it.....

Ah, I am not being political here..... just sharing some news I read online lah.
Wait go back, custom ask me to "lim kopi", how?

My dear country fellows

The more I chat with my some of my fellow Singaporeans who are living in Singapore. The more "gek sim" I am. Its not one or two, but quite a few of them. Ha, you may wonder what kind of friends I have right? From our immigration, we know we have all KINDS lor!

Some have the notion that being a housewife is so boring, everyday do the same thing, so free at home, no freedom, mentally draining, mentally challenging, emotionally this and that... the list went on. Simply look down on housewife.... say that the brain will degenerate.....

Most of these are friends who have young toddlers/kids like me, who leave their kids with maids, in-laws etc. My dear friends, I DO NOT HAVE SUCH LUXURY (of in-laws/own parents) be it in S'pore or Canada lor! And even so, when financially capable, my personal preference is not to leave kids with the maid, every family has different way of handling family arrangements, that I fully understandand & respect too, not everyone is suited to be a housewife. For me, I'd rather spend more time with my kid/s in these formative years. I also understand the pressure and the need to have dual income in S'pore just to SURVIVE. I was part of the rat race too.....but seriously, folks, don't have to keep debasing me just becuz I have given up a very good paying job in one of the largest bank in the world lor. My self-worth is not in my career path, not in the money I bring back. Everybody find self worth in different area, don't apply yours to mine. Yes, we have to start from scratch in Canada, thats because we are willing to give our generations to come a chance to have more choices in life. Is it a good gamble, we don't know for sure, but we tried. At the end, we may still go back to our sunny little island.

My dearest SINGAPOREAN friends, if you are really interested in immigrating to Canada, I say, THINK HARD, only if you are willing to eat the humble pie for the initial years. Nobody promise you a land of goldmine. Singapore is way too comfortable for most of us, so unless you have compelling reason to leave, don't try to be hero. Of course, if you have CAD$800,000, come in as investor immigrant, whole story, different liao lah. (we don't have CAD$800,000, so we are eating our humble pie)

In conclusion, one of my rare species S'porean fren who lives in Singapore who had been supportive all these time, MSN me "Singaporeans are obnoxious, obssessed with the wrong things in life". Nobody gets offended I hope, I am not referring to ALL SINGAPOREANS, just some obnoxious ones. You know you are not if you are not lor.
*maybe its the mee siam i had tonite, too spiced up...causing the blog to be so colorful....*

Makan time

http://www.bananaleaf-vancouver.com/

This is one of the more authentic M'sian/S'porean restaurants that we have tried. And service is good. We ordered Sayur Lemak, Beef Rendang, Mee Goreng, Coconut rice, 6 sticks of Satays.

C$45. Decent pricing (comparable to eating at Sanur/House of Sundanese)

Food AGAIN!

Was at Daiso on Friday night, my brother saw this flag, so he bought it for "therapeutic" purpose as he claims. (not sure about the patriotic part though)
And the durian was good! (5pc cost C$3.99 = S$5.60)


What to expect from a housewife's blog? More food........

Sweet and sour pork is readily and easily available here, but its usually "Sweet and sour 70% flour and 30% pork"
So hubby requested I DIY the dish.....

I love kway chap....this is one dish you can't get at any S'porean or M'sian restaurants here.
So using my own imagination, I cooked up the dish.....
Used kway tiao to subsitute the kway.......
In case you can't figure whats in the dish: 卤大肠, tau pok, 卤蛋

Chicken Pox injection

Kiddo was supposed to get her chicken pox jab back home when she turned 2. But she hardly get the chance as she was always coughing or not feeling well every other month. I suppose it was due to the childcare centre and her sensitive lungs. She was even neubilising one day before we left Singapore. Her peadiatrician did say that her health will improve once she reaches Canada. And true enough, the cough that she had been nursing for about 3 weeks disappeared within our 1st week of arrival. I did not have to feed her any cough mixture since then! And I allow her to indulge in ice-cream every now and then (ice-cream was totally forbidden back in SG for her!)

Anyway, giving her a jab at this age proves to be more challenging than when she was a baby.
She wailed at the clinic, I had to pacify her with Pocky sticks.....and she refused to remove the plaster for 4 days! She insisted that "got blood"..............if we removed it.

Yummy-licious

I have been blessed with people around me... Read on and you will know why :)

My landlord's wife is a Thai. So I asked her to teach me some authentic Thai cooking, and it was VERY VERY solid lor. So solid till I forgot to take a picture of the Tom-Yam soup! I was simply spiced out!

Met up with my Singaporean friend and her aunt (who married and lived here for past 25 yrs).
She cooked all these, yummy lor, I tell you....Its a pity I can't take spicy food (yes, I am a weird S'porean, I eat my Ba Chor Mee and Wanton Mee with KETUP !)

Nonya kueh, Rojak, BBQ Sambal Stingray, Pineapple Rice