Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year will be celebrated in 2 weeks' time by most chinese communities around the world! This will be my first CNY as a married woman. Tradition dictates that married couples bless singles/elderly with red packets filled with money, together with a pair of mandarin oranges. The act supposedly symbolise blessings and abundance for the new year. According to tradition, married woman will have their reunion dinner with their spouse's family. I hope my parents will still enjoy CNY with my extended family members, without my presence. When I was a kid, I enjoyed donning new clothes and spending countless hours playing with my cousins. As an only child, things get pretty bored at home, thus, time spent with my cousins were priceless! I look forward to experience a different CNY this year, and to spend more time getting to know T's extended family members.

Experimenting with Indian Cusisine

My husband has been experimenting in the kitchen again! This time, he took 2 weekends to make naan (oven baked flat bread) and thosai (aka dosa). Thosai is usually served with 3 different condiments - sumbhar, fresh coconut chutney & dhal curry. T made a healthier version by adding flax seed meal to the thosai batter, and serving it with yoghurt curry. The thosai was made with a crepe pan that we bought from Indonesia. Hopefully we will be able to make wheatmeal crepes the next time round.

Role Models

Some of us probably grew up with favourite celebrities, bands or role models whom we want to be like... Beatles? Spice Girls? Mother Teresa? Bruce Wayne? Nelson Mandela? Have you ever dressed or acted like your childhood role models? I certainly have! My husband constantly picks up a can of Orangina because he saw footballer, Quah Kim Song drinking it. Even in my twenties, I have role models whom I look up to.

In the last few weeks of December, I received an unexpected note from a teacher who had taught me during my Diploma studies. She was (and still is) my inspiration and role model. My teacher was confident, diligent and poised. She achieved very much in her life - was a high ranking army officer, completed her Masters and is currently pursuing a PhD and single-handly brought up 3 children and sent them all throuh university. She was a single mom. Despite all that, and with God's grace, she went against the odds and live a responsible and inspiring life.

Now that I am married and am taking up more responsibilities in the family, I'm constantly thinking about  how I should live and manage the milestones & challenges in my life. It is also a time that I think about what adulthood really means and how to live life to the fullest. Looking at my teacher, I see the person whom I want to be - a woman who is courageous and strong, one who is not afraid to face up to life's challenges and enjoy the milestones in life. She is my role model.

Do you have a role model too?

Patong Beach

After our volunteering stint in Baan Namkem, we headed to Patong Beach for a short getaway and to spend some time together before the new year begins. Both of us had not been to Patong prior to this trip. Most travel guides descrive Patong as a place where revellers party day and night. True enough, there was little that we like about the place except the beaches at nearby islands. It would have been a better choice should we return to Khao Lak, where we had our honeymoon.

Bangla road

Overcrowed Patong beach

Pristine beaches

Street food

Happy New Year

I woke up on 1 Jan 2013 with some apprehension. It will be a year filled with exciting new challenges! Which includes 2 practicums, probably getting the keys to our new house & doing renovations, the possibility of taking honours, another christmas at CDC and the list goes on...

God has been very faithful in providing for my needs. This year, my work schedule is more flexible. I'll be taking 2 mornings every week to do my practicum and my work hours are back to 9am to 6pm. What a relief! It was a big struggle for me last year because I had to work 8am to 7pm just to make up for the Fridays dedicated to school commitments.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed and praying that God will give me strength to enjoy and experience the challenges ahead.

A meaningful Christmas

Chritmas is a time of celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ - a season to give thanks for our messiah. With rampant advertising campaigns, Christmas has become a commercialized season of 'giving' and shopping and feasting. It is easy to take on that mentality when you're surrounded by publications  and advertisments of sales, delectable feasts, etc.

This Christmas is the first one that I spend overseas. For a special cause. T and I decided to volunteer with New Light Foundation based in Baan Nam Kem, Thailand. It was a fruitful experience as we learnt how the organization sustains itself and provide meals and education to the local community.

Day 1 - Took a 2 hours drive from Phuket International Airport to Baan Namkem. Spent the evening learning Christmas carols in Thai 

Day 2 - The team went carolling at a police station, the mayor's office, town council and an electrical shop in the morning. We visited about 100 families to carol at their houses and pray a prayer of blessing with each family.

Town Council

Police Station

Volunteers preparing to carol

Day 3 and Day 4 - Teach English lessons at Takuapa Bang Sai village (predominantly burmese) and prepare for the Christmas carnival

The Burmese children waiting for the lesson to begin

Preparation for Christmas carnival

Tuk-tuk that ferries the children to and fro school and home

Day 5 - Christmas carnival was in full blast! With the help of volunteers, we made hundreds of ballon sculptures and prepared food in the late evening for the villagers. The Christmas message was shared with the adults and children in 2 separate parties :)

All hands were busy sculpting balloons

Balloon Arch made by T

Outdoor Thai-style "Char Kway Teow"

Piles of presents at the entrance

BBQ meat skewers

Christmas concert

Day 6 - We went to catch clams for dinner! It was my first attempt catching my own food! We also visited a small fish farm which helps sustains operations at CDC. We spent the evening at Khao Lak and went back to Baan Namkem to count down to Christmas by the beach.

We caught approximately 10 kg of clams!!!!

A Rapunzel moment

Playing with fireworks for the first time!

Turtles

There are 2 red eared slider turtles in my house. My Mil bought it when her grandchildren came to visit us a few months back. Since then, they live in various types of 'accommodation'. The very first one we had was a plastic tank that measures approximately 20x10cm. Then we placed them a 2 litres plastic container after they started fighting. (After reading in a blog that animals kept in small areas have a greater tendency to be stressed and aggressive.) Thereafter, we purchased an Ikea storage box for them, and they had ample space to move around. However, without a proper filter system, we have to change the water on a daily basis.

Last weekend, T and I visited an aquarium and decided to purchase a complete tank system. For $83, we got a glass tank, an electric filter system as well as a lamp - which will be useful for the turtles to "sunbath". Now, our turtles enjoy a cleaner home and have more space to swim and rest. Hopefully, they wouldn't grow in size too soon. Else, we'll have to source for suitable accommodation again.

Manado

Manado is the capital city of North Sulawesi, Indonesia which is famed for it gorgeous marine life, emerald mountains, flora and fauna, delectable cuisines, etc. I was thrilled when I was posted to Manado for my latest work trip!

Conceirge at Formosa Hotel

Upon arrival, we took a hour's ride from the airport to Formosa Hotel, which overlooks Manado Tua Island. Hotel Formosa generally has mediocre ratings and reviews, but I absolutely love it's centralized and convenient location. The hotel is surrounded by eating places and a supermarket where you can replentish travel supplies easily. The first dish that I tried in Manado was Pisang Goreng - Fried Bananas. It is a 'staple' for the locals and it is cooked in various styles, often accompanied by spicy condiments. Throughout my stay, each Pisang Goreng that I tried had different tastes and textures.

View from Hotel Formosa

Pisang Goreng

Every nook and corner of Manado was pictureques and beautiful. We spent the 2nd day visiting Lake Tondano and Lake Linow. Afternoon tea was served at Lake Linow - choice of coffee/tea accompanied by 2 coconut biscuits. The locals had their tea/coffee with Pisang Goreng :)
In the evening, we headed to Citra land to see one of the largest Jesus statue in the world. For dinner, we headed to one of the local restaurants for barbeque fish. It was absolutely delicious! We spend an average of SGD5-10 on meals everyday. We were told that Manado locals are like Chinese. They consume almost anything. In the local markets, you could easily purchase exotic game and meat.

The subsequent days were spent in Bahowo village, situated in Bunaken Marine Park.

Lake Tondano

Cafe at Lake Linow

Lake Linow

Afternoon tea at Linow

Jesus statue at Citra Land

Ikan Bakar (BBQ Fish served with kecap manis)

Piglet at Bahowo village

Bahowo village

Halloween at the museum

My lovely husband surprised me with another museum visit last weekend! He brought me to Asian Civilization Museum (ACM) for the Halloween Fright night. There were a myraid of special activities organized by ACM. There were modern bomoh dances, story telling, face painting, scare trails, etc. Many museum goers were decked in their Halloween costumes for the occasion! Since this was a surprise date, I did not dress up as any special characters for the occasion. We had a great time just watching the kids got scared by various characters such as the werewolf, ghost rider, pontianak, etc.

Ghost Rider

Captain and Spidey

Werewolf

We headed for a walk along coller quay and clarke quay later that evening. Most restaurants and bars were decorated for the occasion with spider webs, fake blood stains, insects, dummy heads, etc. We did not revel with party-goers for the Halloween celebration, but headed home earlier and it was a blissful time spent together. I love Halloween! It also reminded me of the party that I organized for T a couple of years ago at Mike and Elena's place. All guests came dressed as a special character and some of our friends rented costumes for the occasion! I love dress up parties. Hopefully we'll have another one soon.

What is your love language?

Last Saturday, T planned a special date for us to visit Singapore National Museum (SNM) to view wedding dress exhibits from Albert Victoria museum. On display were gowns from 1800s and a few celebrity wedding gowns. To our disappointment, it was a pretty small collection and we finished viewing the exhbits within 30 mins. I love visiting museums! To appreciate artefacts/art pieces that are rich in culture and history. On the other hand, T would rather spend his time outdoors or cathing zombie movies. I feel blessed that he went the extra mile to plan the outing and accompany me to visit SNM though he has little interest in museums.

On Sunday, we both spent an afternoon with our own pals. He played soccer with his mates while I found time to catch up with an old friend. It rained throughout the afternoon and he waited for me to finish to give me a lift home. Last night, I casually mentioned that I love triple decker sandwiches and this morning, he woke up much earlier than I usually do (at 6am!) to prepare a triple decker for my breakfast!T's language of love is clearly 'acts of service'. Something which I am not accustomed to...yet. I express my love through words of affirmation.

Author Gary Chapman wrote a series of books about Love Languages. Personally, I can identify with the things which he wrote. Different people express their love and feel loved in different love languages. It is important to know the love language of our loved ones to be able to appreciate them and love them in a manner which they can understand. Perhaps it's time I plan and DO something special just for T.

C'est La Folie

I grew up watching Disney cartoons and my all-time favourite is Beauty and the Beast. It's amazing how cartoons can influence one's mind. That cartoon made me fall in love with France, even before I step foot in the country.

It has been my dream to visit France since I was a kid, but I never had the opportunity until 2 years ago when my boyfriend asked if I would like to join him to France to visit his family. I was completely blown away by the whole trip - taking in every morsel of the sights and sound when we were there. We visited Paris, Bretagne and Château de Chambord at the Loir-et-Cher region. When I came back, I even registered myself at Alliance Francaise for classes!

Recently, I was delighted when I chance upon Michael Wright's 'Cest La Folie' series, which is an honest biography of his life in a small French town, Jolibois in the Haute-Vienne region. Michael was from Surrey, UK before he decided to start a new life in Jolibois. I wish I could do what he did someday - to find my own ramshackle house and start a life of adventure! Here in SG, most people go through the pragmatic path of finishing our basic education, secure a job, probably start a family go on with life. There is an inner longing in me to strive for something more than a routine, a labour that I can be truly satisfied with. I'm praying that God can help me discover that and help me start my own c'est la folie story.

Insurance 101

Thought I should blog about insurance since I recently changed mine and I wish to remember this. Two years ago, I engaged a random  agent from GE to purchase a policy. It included the ususal protection coverage, accident and critical illness coverage as well as investment links. Though it seem pretty diversified, I came to realise (over time) that the coverage that I have (though diverse) was rather measly.

I am no expert in this field, but I learnt that the first "rule of thumb" for a student/young employee is to have a basic life protection insurance coverage first, before investing in other areas. Reason being, it is important to protect ourselves and our families in case of emergency or unforseen circumstances, given that it is quite likely that we have little savings as a student or when we just started out working. And how much should we fork out monthly? An approximately  guide will be 10% of our monthly income. It is also good to start a plan at a young age because the insurance premiums will be much cheaper.

I wish my parents could advise me better on financial matters at times, but I guess they would prefer otherwise. However, I am thankful that God always lead and guide me in the decisions that I make. Be it for my career, school, marriage or daily life. Even for something as trivial as insurance :)

"For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end." ~ Psalm 48:14

Birthdays

There is a growing trend of celebrating birthdays lavishly, with special programs, souvenirs and activities for guests to enjoy. I had never celebrated my birthday with such fan-fare, sans my 21st birthday, when one of my best friends organized a 'Lo-Hei' at vivo city for me. Thus, I am still very intrigued by the elaborate celebrations that people organize for their birthdays year after year.

I spent mid-autumn at a friend's kid's 1st birthday party. T did balloon twisting and I did face & hand painting for the children. It was our first 'gig' together as a couple. The party was a big family affair and we both had fun interacting with the guests. I realized that I've grown rather fond of face & hand painting, apart from painting on canvases. Perhaps we should consider converting one of our rooms into an art studio/worshop where we can practice our skills with minimum disturbance.

$600, 2-tier chocolate hazlenut cake