Science - knowing or KNOWing

As I was waiting for the slight traffic jam to clear, I was stuck next to some ixora bushes. I was staring at the flowers when my random thoughts fired up.
*so many flowers blooming* *singapore is so fortunate to have all these plants surrounding the city* *how did the skinny bud pop into the petals*



then my papa's education on ixora came up. I remembered how without knowing the actual name of the flower in the bushes, I learnt many things from papa on this red flowers.
1) it's Non- poisonous flower
2) you can take the nector from sucking it from the root
3) you can make a chain of flowers from by sticking them into the holes between the petals

but it's risk from my papa cos he was plucking the ixora from streets. But it's was thrilling and fun for us. To first taste ixora's nector and second have a little custom made accessory from my papa.
We were 6 and 4.. When science at P3/P4 gave description on Frangi Pani and Ixora.. I've already some good knowledge of EXACTLY what the teacher was saying. At that time, of cos, I was too timid to share my experiences with the REAL thing.

my thoughts wandered through on how Science is being taught today. Everything via textbooks and assessment. That being said, I am guity too.
Hubby teaches science with a twist. Google, experimenting..
my guess is that he would probably added to my 3 items.
- Ixora comes in other colors besides red - they are orange and yellow.
- purpose of it (ixora)

When we moved to our (rented) landed place, we grew (edible) various fruit bearing plants and (my beloved) herbs.

My laksa leaves bloom like they were grelims in the pool. *POOF*
my spicy basil died.
I hardly harvest my sweet basil which is a waste.
My aloe vera is still puny.
My rosemary and chilli just dried up.. didn't die though
Our favourite pandan leaves flourished.

My helper harvested a few rounds of bittergourd.
Had tons of potato leaves (the more you harvest, the more they grow)
Mr papaya finally came up but we will need to say goodbye to it.
our passion fruit.. budding well and sweet.

And we adopted a big size dog.
there are (more) various types of lizards, roaches, bugs. Rats..

With all these around us, it's hard to ignore nature and gain some science insights.

.. I've said so much.. cos I miss how my papa taught us science when we were younger.

China - Hainan Island holiday

This year, it was really tough to make a choice on where to go for our couple trip. I wanted to make it special since the hubby also turn 40 this year.

Last year, we did a Shenzhen/Hong Kong and we had a fight whilst we were in HK.. That is another story but that episode made me think harder on choosing the destination and activities to do together.

We deliberated from Bali, Korea, Japan.. but since we will do a extensive NZ trip end year, we decided to take the cheaper(est) option.

4D3N - May 30 to June 3.

Effective "summer" in an island which shares exactly the same climate as Singapore/Malaysia. And it's OFF peak season - not the most interesting place for mainland chinese to visit another sunny island during summer. End year is super peak since they will seek places to wear off the harsh cold climate.

I left the research to the hubby on places of interest but he complained endless that he had a really tough time. I had the easy job on booking the hotel and air ticket *phew*.

On transport:

Air tickets on promo can get really cheap. We took Jetstar to Haikou airport which cost less than S$500 for a couple. Inclusive of all the taxes and baggage fees. And it reaches the destination around noon. There's no time difference between Singapore and Hainan island.

After clearing the real seamless custom, the exit will lead you to Meilan railway station.



You will need to take a 5mins walk in the super clean underpass to the ticketing booth. Foreigners will need to purchase the tickets from the counter - which potentially can take up a good 10-15mins. Depending on the crowd. When we were there, the queue had about 10-12 pax in front of us but there is only one counter. It took us about 15mins to finally speak to the customer service officer who answers everything we queried curtly. Because of the 15 mins wait, we were unable to take the earliest train to Yalong bay station but had to take a later one to Sanya railway station..



the Queue

note:
1. you will need to provide passport to make the train purchase.

2. altough they serve local meals and beverages on trains, I would recommend that you  buy some bread, cake, pie, cup noodle, biscuits etc before going on board. At the waiting lobby for your train, they provide piping hot water for your cup noodles, beverages.

3. keep your tickets well, you will need to exit with it at your final destination.
4. it is worthwhile to pay for class 1 tickets - designated seats and comfortable cushion seats.

5. it takes 2.5hrs to travel from Meilan railway station to Sanya railway station.



really nice experience on train

The sights along the railway tracks were pleasant, very neat plantations - rice, bananas, acres of coconut trees...

When you reach Sanya railway station, you would need to take a public cab to either the town or yalong bay - where the beautiful beach is.

Metered fees to town from Sanya station will be 50yuen. Whereas to the area of yalong bay hotels will be about 60yuen. that is, if you don't get rogue driver who drives you around the place on metered fees.

On Hotels:

We stayed at a villa at Pullman Sanya yalong bay resort and spa. Do print the chinese version of the hotels' address or name. the local cab driver don't know English at all.

The villa is alright, nothing like Bali W's resort.. but clean enough and facilities reasonable.



private pool





Jet Tub big enough to fit both of us!

on EAT!

We went to the overpriced market to have our tunch.

第一市场 Di(4)yi(1)shi(4)chang(3) :

- Enter market to get the seafood of you choice. Sea urchin, fresh fish, lobster, clams..

- choices of about 15-20 eateries to cook your seafood. they call this 加工.

- the eatery will provide anything you want, however you want. Juice, beer, vegetables..
- it's quite warm so.. so be prepared.

We actually did the reverse by picking the eatery first as the person from the shop assisted us on advising what to choose and play part on bargaining.

the market



clams - alot more varieties!

mud crabs





abalone



fresh sea water fish







Sea urchins - steam with beaten egg



lobster - fresh and steamed



beer - to cool off the heat and goes well with seafood



how the shop looks from sitting from the inside..

This tunch cost us around S$100 for 2 of us. Really expensive considering the place. We hear that it would likely cost us half the price if we've weren't that hungry and would try somewhere more "local".

other things we ate:

- KFC - cheap and good breakfast

- 渔人码头 (new) - the locals may ask you the new or the old one as there are quite a fair bit of development so road names changes, new building sprouts.

This building has at least 5 restaurants worth trying. We had hot pot, delish soup in big bones and sides.



the yummy hotpot



the seeds

cat eyes with veg



sea cucumber in abalone sauce



don't order this.. taste like cold beehoon

coconut juice - comes in milky form

 -We also patron twice at a HK dessert shop, the mango wrap is soo yummy as it's in season. They gave us free egg custard..

- One of the best thing we had when we were there was a bowl of very chilli hot soup noodles. cost us S$2.
 

 

 
- Hotel restaurants - various hotels have offers depending on the time. We were suppose to go for a BBQ at globe hotel but decided to go out for food instead.
 

During the cab rides, I noticed that there are huge restaurants along the way and I do suppose it's catered for drive ins and tour groups. Next time perhaps.

- Fruits.. huge variety of tropical fruits... but not sweet. We tried the lychee which is sour. The peach is totally disappointing. The mango should be good but it's larger than the usual ones so it's kinda suspicious.

Oh and they are tough to bargain. U take it or leave it.

- before we left home.. we had to try a plate of hainan chicken rice. The rice has very very slight chicken stock fragrance... chicken fresh but tough, reminds me of the lean chicken I had when i was young. nothing to shout abot, definitely old school. S$10 bucks for this set.

DO!

What do we do when we are near the sea? And this island is termed to be Eastern Hawaii? Sea sports of course!

So we tried to SCUBA dive. with no expectations but with a little fear since we don't know what to expect in terms of quality. at that time, I just pray that I come out alive and well. You see, doing the dive there doesn't require you to be properly trained. Lots of first timers there and the divers there does massive crowds day in day out.

The recycled equipments, suits, gears..  are in good condition. It's compulsory to purchase your own mouth piece. Don't ask me if they are recycled as I didn't even have the chance to try away the mouth piece myself, it was left with the company.

At 30m down the sea waters, I saw some sea urchins, quite a number of starfish, unattractive corals, specs of fishes and jelly fish.... Redang offered much better view even just snorkelling..

The whole experience cost S$100 per pax exclude meals. Total of 3-4 hours with taking a cab and boat rides, looonnggg wait and the whole diving ordeal is only about 15-20 mins..



the chartered boat that brought us to the island



We realised thereafter that there are 2 other better ways to experience this:

1) charter a boat that comes with fishing, diving, meals etc. (pre-book with any of the tour tug) though risky.

2) hotel beaches offers all sorts of water sports. including scuba dive. Comparitively cheaper since you don't really need to spend on taking cabs and boat rides. AND the hassle shuffling through the places and the wait with the BULK of tourist. It'd make more sense to try that out at the comfort of the hotel dedicated sea sport centre.

- other stuffs we did at the beach:

swim (duh?!) but it was not enjoyable since I got bitten by the jelly fish. What do you when you are stung is to wash with plain water, ask the bodyguard for a lotion to put off the swell.

What will you then do if you can't really swim in the b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l waters with the clear blue sky? read and sleep with the sound of waves..  until you are disturbed by some shrilly, sultry voice of women trying to get pictures.

then try to rock on the hammock... and occasionally you will get a see a french hunk or babe.

otherwise? stare into nothing. haha.

but the beach is really nice, soft white sand, clear sea water.. with good facilities.

                   

Night walks are romantic and nice. I wanted to see the sunset but was a little sabo-ed by the cab driver but saw the moon instead. It happened to be full moon so it made it especially awesome.

- 温泉, about S$40 per pax, you get to dip into 20over spring pools that has various flavours. Milk, ginseng, lavender, red/white/yellow wine and alot of other types of medicine and flowers.. good for blood circulation, smoothing of skin, healing etc.

they also have a pool where you can do fish spa.

that all?

For now I suppose, we didn't have any transport on our own thus time were spent on waiting and resting. We also treated ourselves a bit by hibernating at the villa.. pool, game centre.

to add some spice to the trip.. we spoke a fair bit with locals, cab drivers, tour sales person and even had a good conversation with a couple who shared the cab with us from XiAn.

We could be going there again - hopefully the next time, we will find the real stuffs of the island.

L.O.V.E.

This is our Crystal Marriage age. Things have become crystal clear that this man I married is THE ONE.

When I posted on my teenage "love" blunder, I actually didn't remember my anniversary. Not that I am no good at remembering such a day but over years, I've learnt the only way to "mellow" down is to convenient forget and don't expect.

It wasn't so during those infant/toddler years of our marriage.  Our passionate character brought us tons of adventure together but it was also disastrous when we disagree! So much energy wasted on those fights. We made it through, we *try to* understand each other's peeves and not provoke it. The fights become less intense, plus the fact that I tend to rely and expect of him much much lesser than before. And he tries to tolerate my nonsense.
Then, there were also times where I think that the marriage is getting functional - for the kids, for sex, for sharing of house, religion ... WHERE is the LOVE? Well, the good thing is - those are passing moments/years.

When we discussed our love language, I'd say I need them all - touch, gift, service, words, time.. greedy? Maybe it's because I think it's possible to execute all of the above if you truly love the person, didn't that happen during courtship?

I have to agree that I am super senstive, demanding and not all considerate. I certainly did not deliver all the love language to him though I ask for all of it. But isn't that our priviledge? for today, a woman has to work outside for the money and take care of the household.

Now - that is me but I am not a meanie. My hubby still loves me till today is on the credit that I do my duty as a wife as best as I can.

So this year, I am pleasantly (not overwhelmed though) surprise that he made the effort to plan, prepare and cook for our dinner.

Tadah! 300gm of Grade 7 Wagyu Sirloin Steak with salad.


He also went to my (our) favourite Darcius to get the lemon tarts and macaroons. Sweetie pie. He didn't perfect it with some flowers or music or candles. But it is his maximum effort and for that, I love him to bits.

He finally got it after so many years! for the upteen times, I said I just want to be in his thought during these special occasion. Not those expensive bouquets, fancy dinners. He finally GOT it! woot! I am happy girl.

My daughter during dinner asks - what did you guys do last anniversary? We were both stumped. I think we were either at GDOP or Wesley Methodist's Aldersgate. haha! IF that happened for the past few years, can you tell that it don't really bother me anymore on this special day.

So cheers to us and more blissful and blessed marriage years to come.

what is LOVE? momo's contribution.
feeling to want to reach out to touch him, look at his every features and memorise them. urge to hold him so close that the breathe momentum becomes one.

what is LOVE? Wikipedia contribution.

Love may be understood as part of the survival instinct, a function to keep human beings together against menaces and to facilitate the continuation of the species

When discussed in the abstract, love usually refers to interpersonal love, an experience felt by a person for another person. Love often involves caring for or identifying with a person or thing (cf. vulnerability and care theory of love), including oneself (cf. narcissism).

A core concept to Confucianism is Ren ("benevolent love", 仁), which focuses on duty, action and attitude in a relationship rather than love itself.

a dark secret

ready?

I saw this "joke" and reminded me of what I did which ruin some friendship and relationship. I do have some confused character back then!



In Poly year 1. I was showered with endless attention from the engineering folks. ME, EE, ELE. I was not very confident of my assets - I didn't think I was pretty or beautiful at all. But then again, there were so little girls in those departments! But I was definitely basking in those attention.

I was working full time at the Co-op and before long, I got to know three male buddies : KA, J and LH.
I was particularly attracted to LH who had a gf. J and KA was interested in me with all kinds of hints but I acted blur. I was trying to buy time to enjoy the attention and the group dates.
Subsequently, I was tricked into single dates with J and KA. KA was older, could drive and sometimes drives his family car. At that age, you get impress with boys who drives. And then, before I knew it, in some stupor condition, I actually accepted KA's "steady" proposal. J keep saying that I was cheating his feelings. Of which, I didn't think going on single dates means I was commital. Plus, J thought good looking was really not my type.

However, I was still looking out as I didn't think that I will last with KA. I was not mature to be in a relationship but don't really know how to get out of the nasty situation... and I was also having crushes on a few other boys everywhere. i.e. church, workplace etc..

THEN, one day, the three of them decided to pay a prank on me. They called me using an external phone.  I've always spoken mandarin with them and never held any conversation in English. So LH started conversing with me in English that he was particularly attracted to me, got access to my number and hope to be my friend. I was pretty flattered and of cos was gushing and flirting on the line. I had no freaking idea it was LH! KA was naturally super upset with me. His "gf" of less than 1 month flirting with another guy.
I caught their reaction when I reached the place where they made the "con-call" and their expression was pretty classic. Diverted eyes from LH and J.. KA made an excuse that he had a class to go to. then for the next couple of weeks, I saw nothing of KA, very little of J and LH. All I knew was that it was a silent breakup and J told me that KA was getting drunk almost everyday. I cared for KA though I didn't like him that way. I called him to apologise and all so that was an episode to learn how to handle "heart-ship". Crystal clear till today cos it was such a huge mistake!

after a hiatus

I did say that I was gonna continue writing - whether there is an audience or not. Strangely, I was reminded of this blog cos I googled "DSA guzeng" trying to figure out the DSA for Tasha... and YES! time flies and now I'm in my second and final P6 exam!

Facebook does take away all the postings and such cos it's quicker to load status and pcitures. take a glimpse of what goes on in 2010.

We had Tasmania trip. Shape run. wonderful family outing at universal studio, parks, autumn festival. Adopted Floppy from Jin. Penang, Zhuhai trips.. Nikki passing on. Nathan underwent one (final) op on his arm. Woah, what memories!.

Lesser updates in 2011 though more eventful...

So I had a great mother's day. cook some really great dishes. Went to Vegas for the first time. did amazing race with church. hosted Tassie classmates. had some real quality time with family.

snapshots into a yr's updates/memories. not bad :)

on blog, funny how I read the (only) 2010's entry, I could still feel the "rage" during that conversation with my brother and mother which seems a little silly now.
Things between us have naturally "mended". The "mother" test across Desiree and my brother clearly didn't stand a victory. I suppose they (D and bro) are still really great friends but just not couple in front of us anymore.

It was also during the time when my mother was diagnose stage 3/4 breast cancer Oct/Nov 2011, all their family trials elevated. She attributed her cancer to various things - including the glucosamine pills I gifted her sometime ago. But this mischievous cells, you never really quite know. My mum did not breastfeed any of us, I know because she urge me to take the pill to cut my milk so that my breast won't sag and cos she did so (I refuse and that is a total other story). There were frustrasted moments and one of which were when she refuse to do chemo initially. Mostly out of fear and self-fishness. Fear that she will die and "wasting" money. Selfish cos she wants all the attention and money from the daughters. She is not a good fighter mentally - she is doing great physically.
That episode was pretty much over and over the months, she managed to get her church friends to send her to hospital, accompany her to hospital, . She will be on her last dosage of chemo this friday.Afterwhich, she will go for an operation to take the lump out in a matter of weeks. My only hope is that after these ordeal, my mother will grow to be more appreciative of people around her, less vicious in the choice of words she uses. I have more or less given up on relationship with her - for she has already decided that the girls she have belongs to another family. she will only stand by her own son - no objections to that. Not just because we have gotten used to it, it's not worth fighting anymore.

last couple of weeks was CA1 and boy, there is so many updates on FB on everyone working hard with their kids. It's getting so stressful even for P2s.. my heart goes out for all the parents.

I had no idea Tasha was having exam as the notice came when I was in states. Her daddy had no clue that he is suppose to at least make some preparation for her. But oh well, Thank God for the tuition she started earlier this year. With her tiny steps towards changing her attitude on handing in homeworks and taking ownership, the wind is finally changing direction. I praise God for all the prayers heard.
It was much better than P5's CA1 where she got 50s and 60s. It's in the regions of 70s and 80s.

So this is my dilemma - I was very confident of Nathan's academic strengths at high 80s and 90 region. To apply for his DSA for NJC, HCI, DHS was a breeze - through academic. He passed the interviews and GAT with flying colours. His results then could appeal him into RI but we finally decided against it - mainly because HCI has CO and RI protrayed a stronger emphasis on sports.

Natasha has potential but her attitude slacking every now and then. I say that because she (nathan alike) never had external tuition except P6. she had 94 for Math in P4 CA2! (And she was rewarded aptly for that). But she spiral down to 65 in P5 mid year. my darling girl is really hard to guage.
She is like a miracle sometimes, she give me surprises especially when whilst teaching her, she demostrates no inclination of understanding.
So, as much as I hope for a miracle.. it's so tough to do any DSA for her!

only DHS which accepts Guzeng. Cedars, St Nicks, NYGS, SCGS - so many great girl's school but very tough to apply for her :(

I'd just leave it to God and her good hands. She has very different talents... as long as she puts her heart into doing it, she excels. The difference is, she don't persevere as well as Nathan.

On Nathan, he is driven in his own way in terms of academy. He however broke my heart and soul on mother's day when he told me that he is struggling his belief with God and wants to stop attending church.
I couldn't stop tearing. I could hear my heart cracked into pieces and then my soul was grieving so bad that I felt weary.

The greatest gift I can ever give to these two fellas are really the relationship with God. Nathan has depended alot on his own strength and he felt that his prayers didn't work. I didn't probe any further cos it doesn't make sense to drill. Let love be. I just have to continue to pray, love and trust God that all will be well.

I have to give it to him that he is decisive and non hypocrite. I did let some shady thoughts depress me - for instance on being an ill example when it's comes to bad temper - flaring lesser than before but there is no 365 of peace loving Mona. Or some months of non-reading of bible. Or Sin..
I've let that go and God teaches me every step, His guidance so loving. Definitely missing the 4some going to church but one day it will be better than that! Amen!

matters of the heart

Which parents on earth would not give anything to have their children safe, healthy and free from troubles.
My heart crack into million pieces when my son (finally) blurted out last night when his emotions kicked in real bad - on how he hates being zero on gross motor skills thus he needs to be hero on his studies.
Man, it's hard to hear it from him that he hates all these operations, how he strives to do (very) well in his studies to comfort himself from the hurting (albeit probably unintentional) words that he is lousy at sports. And now, the operation on his right hand forbidded him to write.
How he loves watching and reading 'sister's keeper' as he could relate himself to Kate. My poor son.

yet, i can do nothing. my heart squeezed and my tears might as well be the blood that's pumping out from the arteries.

Thank God we have Him. In times like this, what can we do? how do we heal? how do we find encouragement and strength?

when I first started writing dairies, it was filled with unhappiness, fears, wishful thinkings, sad moments, depressing thoughts ... lesser of the happier moments.



I tried to keep blogs to track happy occasions, rounding up of what had happened..lesser of darker side.



Last week was practically a real testing one. On Monday, the hubby was not feeling well and I got all the frustrastion banged on me and I was really crushed to know that he sees me alot lesser than what I thought I was to him.

Then, my brother and his mother had some argument over the girl staying over --> paying of utilities etc. his mother actually said that monthly expediture is S$1k!

Meanwhile, the girl stated a fb comment that set me all fury. Me being quick and hot, had a huge bickering session with my brother and his mother. It was all seemingly well at the end of the day but it spelt the end my cordial relationship with his mother.

It may just as well be good riddence. But I do have feelings and does feel awful about it all, not because of retribution or whatever. It's more the guilt towards my father, I felt so bad about not doing enough for him when he was alive. And also my Christian living, by upholding all other virtures, this forgiveness to render can take away my entire earthly happiness - and I ain't joking at all. It might as well drain my soul, my strength, my breathe.. and love which only Christ can give.

Then, on thursday, work this time got into me. I could not bear the unsupportive boss's comments and give him a nasty shot of answer, I could almost see smoke fizzing out of his head. Something I would never have done in the past. But I am really at my wits end on the tons of issue and work on my plate that I could not mince my words before it's out.





---- after all the above said, I was totally humbled by James 1:19; quick to listen, slow to speak (hurting words) and slow to anger.