Report Card Day

There is actually a report card day in John’s school. Parents are invited to collect their kids report card from their class teachers directly. The school has allocated half a school day just for this function. Suzanne can’t make it. So I went on my own wondering how I was going to communicate with John’s class teacher. Do national schools have report card day? My memory sucks but I don’t remember such.

Anyway I was amazed to see the number of parents queuing outside the classrooms. This must be a big deal in chinese education. John’s class teacher had to attend a course. So she wasn’t around. I collected John and went home.

John scored an average of 89.4% in his second semester exams. He had all A’s except for B for 2 subjects. To my surprise, his position was only 26 out of 40 students in his class. His position in the entire form was 400+ out of 600+ students. Wow. Talk about high standards.  I am guessing the top students must be scoring 100% across all the subjects. Now I know why chinese education is valued so highly. So parents who are not from chinese educated background, kindly prepare yourselves for this culture shock.

SJKC Yuk Chai Standard 1 Orientation

We bought John to his Standard 1 orientation at Yuk Chai today. John was sleepy as usual. The school hall was hot and humid. It was expected since the hall is not air-conditioned. So remember to bring some water if you need to accompany your kid the next time.

A teacher started the orientation by explaining the rules and the layout of the school compound. Then the school principal took over. I believe 2009 is Yuk Chai’s 70 years anniversary and they are planning to build a new school hall to replace the existing hall which is becoming too small.

A gentleman from the PIBG was the final speaker for the morning. He actually translated his speech which I am sure was helpful to some parents. The first two speakers spoke entirely in Mandarin.

Finally, the parents were allowed to go to their children classrooms. John is in Std 1K. There are 44 other students in his class. John has two of his kindy friends in the same class. So it should be easier for him to fit in. We were given more forms to fill and submit them on Monday. We also paid the school fees of RM 150.00. Later, we went to the canteen. We got John to start practising buying his own food and drink. A bowl of noodle is RM 2 plus a cup of drink is RM 0.60. So the minimum allowance for Std 1 is at least RM 3 nowadays. You can also cater food for your kids with the canteen operator.

This marks the end of John’s orientation today. And I can’t believe I am a dad to a Std 1 year old kid. The challenging journey would commence on Monday.

Family Holiday

The school holiday will be over soon. This year, the family went to Port Dickson and Langkawi Island for our annual getaway. Yes, the theme pretty much centred around the beach. Port Dickson is a quiet town. We visited an ostrich farm an an army museum. We even tried to visit a poultry farm but it is not open to visitors. The army museum was the most interesting throughout this journey.

We stayed at The Regency. The other highlight was the speed boat ride. It rained during the boat ride. As a result, the boat ride was cold and wet especially for the kids. Overall, this trip was simple fun and not too tiring.

We visited Pulau Langkawi a few weeks after the Port Dickson trip. We stayed at the same Holiday Villa Langkawi and rented the same Myvi car from Kasina. We started our holiday with the usual trip to the Underwater World Langkawi upon arrival. This time around, we managed to see the penguin feeding sessions. There was more foreigners in Langkawi compared to last year. Probably, they flocked to Langkawi due to the political instability that occurred in Thailand recently.

On the next day, we wanted to visit the crocodile farm but I missed the turning. That’s the problem with Malaysia tourism. Our signboards and signage pretty much suck big time. Anyway, the good thing came out of this was the visit to the Kilim Geoforest Park which required 2 hours by boat. The entire boat journey set us back by RM 200. Langkawi is definitely not a cheap tourist attraction for Malaysians.

We visited the bat cave, a crocodile cave (just a name sake), saw the eagle feeding session, a fish farm and a speed boat ride out to the sea. I actually received a Digi sms from Thailand. This was definitely the highlight of our holiday in Langkawi this year. If you are going to Langkawi, you have to visit this Kilim Geoforest Park.

The other “must” thing to do in Langkawi is the Langkawi Cable Car ride to Gunung Mat Chincang. We managed to walk to the other end of bridge this year. It started to rain when we walked half way last year. As usual, the weather was cooling. Even the kids managed to walk to the other end as well.

Basically, that is the end of our holidays this year. Besides Port Dickson and Langkawi Island, we have also visited Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary, Sg Klah Hot Springs, Sunway Lagoon, National Science Centre and Petrosains in KLCC. Wow, it has been a hectic year.

Well, 2008 is coming to an end. I will take this opportunity to wish you a Happy New 2009 Year!

Medical Leave

What a bummer. It appears that everyone in the family is suffering from a food poisoning virus at the moment. Everyone is taking turns to vomit and purge. I have just started to vomit today and now I am suffering from flu. What a weird virus. John and Matthew are still experiencing purging at the moment. It seems only Rose is not affected while Suzanne and Dan are recovering. Being sick sucks.

SJK (C) Yuk Chai

John’s application to admit into Yuk Chai Chinese school has been approved.  I have the entire month of August to confirm John’s registration. The letter from the school arrived today. It has the word “L321″ written on the top left hand corner of the envelope. I wonder what it meant. Anyway, we have taken our first step to the journey of unknown. Sounds challenging but scary at the same time.

Play N Learn

I have thrown a birthday party for John on his sixth birthday. The party was held at Play N Learn, One Utama New Wing. He wanted to have his party at Play N Learn instead of Kidsportz, his favourite indoor playground.

I thought it was going to be easy in organizing this party. Boy, was I wrong? Not all the parents rsvp on time despite sending a reminder. Some cancelled last minute which was still tolerable. In any case, don’t expect everything to be smooth sailing when you organize your kids birthday parties.

The children played 2 games, musical balloon and treasure hunt. There was also a room prepared for the kids to have some snacks and cut the birthday cake. In the end, the boys were more keen to play the computer games while the girls preferred to draw. I hoped John had fun on his birthday party. My only disappointment was not being able to snap a group picture.

Here are two more photos of the 3 musketeers. It is very rare that I can manage to get all 3 of them to smile in front of camera at the same time. So enjoy.

7th Year Wedding Anniversary

Gosh, Suzanne and I are married for 7 years now. We celebrated our 7th year wedding anniversary with a dinner at Victoria Station Damansara Heights last night. The family came along of course. Can’t leave the house without the kids nowadays. Had a nice and simple dinner which was partially sponsored by my ex company. My ex company gave some Victoria Station food vouchers to me.

Sad to say this but the food ain’t that great at Victoria Station anymore. I suppose there are more competition nowadays such as San Francisco Steak House.

Suzanne, it was a great 7 years. Who would have thought we became parents to 3 sons? Yes, we have to constantly find ways to maintain our sanity nowadays as our kids grow up. Here’s to another 7 years and many more to come.

The Internet Generation

John and Dan are hogging the house computer and office notebook to the extent their daddy is deprived of surfing the Internet at home. They like to play games on www.cartoonnetwork.com. The poor daddy has to watch Astro in the living room while the kids thrash the keyboards. It is a different world nowadays. I don’t remember having a computer at home when I was 6 years old. I was only playing marbles (not mine of course) and jumping rope outside my house. How times have changed! Anyway, the poor daddy is desperate now. So the daddy is going to hunt for another computer for the house soon.

Chinese New Year 2008

Chinese New Year 2008 came and went. This year, the traffic was much smoother compared to 2007 and I am really thankful for that. The air con in the room was not so cold. Better service it before 2009 Chinese New Year. Didn’t go to the beach in Penang as planned. Went to Queensbay Mall instead. There is an arcade inside Jusco Queensbay Mall. The children had a ball in this arcade. We will definitely visit this arcade again next year.

There is also a new Village Mall in Sungai Petani which houses a Starbucks and The Chicken Rice Shop. Old Town White Coffee is also located near Village Mall. I never thought I would see a Starbucks in SP. Hopefully, Starbucks can survive in this town.

I also turned 35 on the first day of CNY. I have already reached half way in my life by Malaysian men standards. According to the government, men in Malaysia life span is only 71.9 years. So I should be suffering from a mid life crisis now. Fortunately, I don’t have time for that. I don’t seem to have enough time since I moved to the new house. Surely I am not losing time due to the extra flight of stairs that I need to climb daily. I am definitely not spending more time cleaning the house either.

It could be due to work. Work is very tiring nowadays. I go home feeling drained every day. It is not easy servicing this client of mine. Demands my full attention and concentration throughout the day. No wonder I am exhausted by dinner time. John going to Mandarin kindy doesn’t help either. He has homework every week day and this is just kindy class. I can’t imagine the amount of homework in Standard 1.

Enough lamenting. Time to step back into the real world. By the way, Happy Chinese New Year to you!

Bangun Pagi Gosok Gigi

Bangun Pagi Gosok Gigi

Cuci Muka Terus Mandi

Pakai Baju Minum Susu

Salam Ayah Dan Ibu

I wish brushing my children teeth was as easy as singing this poem. It feels like squeezing blood out of a rock every single morning. The kids would cough and vomit even before I slide the toothbrush into their mouth. Man, there has to be a better way to wash their faces in the morning.