Survived Another Business Trip Part 2

I am super thankful that the office is a stone throw from the hotel. This means that I had more time in the morning. Gym time. 

On the way to the office, I brought bfast and snacks for myself and the colleagues. Day 2 in Jakarta was uneventful. Dinner was in-room dining while I caught up with work. Happiness. Coke with ice after a long day is superb!

I visited the site on Day 3 and felt a little like Puah Chu Kang.

These are safety shoes but I didn't feel very safe in them bcos they were too big and super loose. Half the time, I was worried that I would trip over in them but I survived. 

Nana asked for pictures of the hotel room. I forgot to them on day 1 and waited for the room to be made up for these. 

The room is spacious and the bed! So big with 4 fluffy pillows. 

My flight home was on Friday, which was Day 4. It was a 7pm flight and the colleagues kindly reminded me that I should depart early for the airport bcos Friday's traffic is always unpredictable. I left at 3.30pm and the traffic wasn't too bad. Immigration was smooth too and I found myself with a lot of time. Never mind, I am an expert in nuahing. 

This was pre-dinner snack. 

I asked for a glass of ice to go with the coke then changed my mind. I don't think I should take such risk pre-boarding. 

It was a busy/ full flight. People started queuing before the gate was opened. 

I waited bcos I only have a backpack that can go under the seat and didn't have to fight for the cabin luggage space. But the Singapoean in me got more and more jittery as the Q extended. Singaporea must Q. Ya, I gave in the joined the crowd too.

While boarding, I saw this interesting luggage. Reminded me of the trunki that we had, which basically cannot put anything much. Lol. Our kids would have love this if they are 10 years younger. 

I had in-flight dinner bcos the pre-dinner snack had digested long ago. It was hot beef with potato. Nice! I was half thinking if the family would come pick me bcos Nana went on her own to send the Chan Family off wor. 

Did they? No lah. Hoho. Daddy Lim even reminded me to tiptoe when I am home to not disturb his beauty sleep. Zzzzz.

I think most of the people on flight were transiting bcos I am sure I didn't take that long at immigration or choosing Daddy Lim's whisky but this was what greeted me at the belt. 

So lonely. Lol. 

I made it home safe and sound. I tried tiptoeing but was obviously very loud. Lol. In fact, I started dropping stuff the moment I enter the room. Hohoho. I am home!

Yay, I survived another business trip. Nana survived a day braiding her own hair without me. 

She said that it was so messy and so many of her friends commented on her hair. It was only to take a paper and she immediately unbriaded her hair after she stepped out of school. She unfortunately has no papers to take for the rest of the week and thus no school and no need to braid her hair. 

Mummy Lim

Survived Another Business Trip Part 1

Zaky asked why do I need to travel for business again when I claimed that Teams calls work fantastically well. Good question. 

I have conquered my 3rd business trip since the air space re-opened for travel. Yay! It is a 4 workday trip to Jakarta. While it was a solo trip this time, it was more enjoyable than the Mumbai trip. The colleagues are nice and warm but they didn't invite me for dinners and to their place. I didn't at all mind. Hohoho. 

The air tickets are still freaking expensive. I am quite sure it is the rich Indonesians jacking up the price. I got to fly SQ this time and opted for the 6am flight for cheaper price. I was up at 3.30am and at times like these, wonder why our house is so far from the airport. Nana suffered with me bcos her staycation at the Fs' place was cancelled at the last minute when F1 was down with covid and she woke up at 3.50am to let me braid her hair before she hit back to bed. Lol.

Christmas is coming.

At 4ish am, only the DFS was opened. Time to stock up on my cosmetic and skin care. 

I was so bored that I even shopped Guardian and found this super cute oilment sample bottle. Cute 到....

The flight was smooth and was only 1ish hour. I skipped bfast on flight. It was super rush, the plane was still climbing and the air stewardesses were rushing to serve. Not long later, the announcement said that we were descending and the air stewardesses rushed passengers to finish their meals so that they could clear. I also feel gan cheong for the stewardesses.

The ride to the airport was fairly smooth as well and it took me less than 1 hour to reach. I had a call to take and opted to do so in the hotel restaurant and at the same time enjoyed the buffet bfast. Daddy Lim and the kids would envy me. Hoho. That was my only hotel bfast though bcos silly me didn't book the room with bfast and didn't want to pay SGD25 for bfast every morning when I don't eat much. 

I headed to the office after bfast. I opted to stay at the nearest hotel (to office) and remembered that it was like 5 to 7 mins walk when I googled while in Singapore. I asked the hotel staff, who told me that it is near, walkable and pointed me to some random black building visible at a short distant. Strangely, Google map said that it is 20+ mins by foot. I chose to believe the staff and Google map and started my adventure. 

The walk was very adventurous. At one point, I was walking on the road and telling myself that I must find a better way to get to office and back to hotel for the remaining days. My heart cannot take this kind of adventure, at least not in office wear. At one point, I doubted Google map, found the address given by my colleague and googled again. Same leh.

After I don't know how long and the weather was at least mercifully not too hot, Google map said that I have arrived... but I didn't see the building. T.T I asked and the security guard told me that the building is 2km away. Huh? What?????!!!! I wasnt exactly too surprised actually but kind of desperate. Despite the merciful weather, I was already starting to perspire. I decided to flag for a taxi. The taxi went the same way that I came from, went past the hotel and soon after arrived at my destination. Zzzzzzzzz. It is really very near to the hotel.

I later found out that it was a fake point on Google map. At least I got to the office. The rest of the day passed uneventfully. I left the office and walked back to the hotel and past the notorious Jakarta evening traffic. 

That is why one must stay near to the office. 

I found the hotel easier this time and realised that I had to cut through another office building but made it nevertheless. The security guard was much more helpful this time and pointed me to the right way.

Dinner was simple tabao sandwich from Starbucks as I wasn't too hungry and was happy with a hot sandwich in the hotel room. Hoho. 

Hello big bed. 4 big fluffy pillows somemore. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

Retro Party

One fine day, it popped up on my FB feed that there is a retro party at the Singapore National Museum. No, no, not the Mambo kind of retro party. Lol. I thought it looks quite interesting and brought Zaky to go look at "boomer stuff". We asked if Nana is interested and she mumbled something that sounded like "no" while still half-asleep. 

It wasn't a big exhibition but free entry and good to entertain us for a good 2 hours. We redeemed a free piece of old school cake too.

Some of the stuff caught my eyes, like this super old school label printing gadget. I had one of those when I was a kid too. 

There was also this stall selling the rice engravement. I used to have one of those pendants! Hmmm.. I wonder what happened to it. I got a little too excited and unnecessary showed my age. Lol. 

Some of the stuff were before my time. 

I also like to play with one of those telephones when I was a kid. 

This one brought back alot of memories. 

When I was a kid and got too bored, I used to dial the toll free 1711 number to hear the time, even when I already knew the time. Lol. 

Zaky and I got an old school photo too. I thought this one looked a little scary. 

When exiting the exhibition, Zaky saw free balloons and asked for one. I gave in but asked for the smallest possible balloon. 

Really very small. 

We went on to explore the rest of the museum. 

I don't know why but realised that museums tired the legs out like anything. My legs were screaming before we even completed the level. This called for a coffee break. I almost dozed off in Starbucks and decided that it was time to head home for a 2nd nap to catch up on what was lost the previous night from Nana's Halloween Night. 

Mummy Lim

 

Nana Goes to USS Halloween Night

Nana had been telling us that she wanted to go for USS Halloween night. I am too scardy cat to watch horror movie, let alone USS Halloween night. Then the event was shelved for 2 years bcos of covid. It is finally back and Nana managed to convince the other 3 girls to go with her. 

It was initially just Boo and her. She asked if Uncle C or Daddy Lim could accompany them. She was worried that she would faint and Boo wouldn't have the strength to drag her out. Lol. None of the adults wanted to pay money to scare themselves lor. Luckily, they ended up with 4; I am quite sure the 3 of them would be able to drag the fainted one out. Lol.

The event starts at 7.30pm and the girls met up for dinner at Vivo. The 4 of them shared 1 bowl of ramen and 3 chawamushi. I think they were too anxious to be hungry and were worried that they would end up puking from fear. 

From evening to the end of the event, I rarely hear from Nana. She only sent us a video clip of the event opening. Obviously, they had fun. 

The biggest logistics issue was how to bring the girls home. The event ended at 12.30am and the train had stopped operations by then. While the mummies were worrying, discussing and contemplating the whole day, the girls were not at all concerned. Nana simply assumed that some arrangements would be made to bring her home. Let me summon the flying carpet. 

Daddy Lim had gone to lala land as he needed to work on Saturday. In the end, yours truly went to the rescue. It had been a while since I drove, let alone in the night. The only saving grace was the quieter roads. 

I didn't quite mind picking Nana, except for the late hours. I am a morning person and had already dozed off before time to drive out. Auntie H had offered to send Nana home but C needed a ride too and we lived in the other extreme end of Sg from C. 

The drive home wasn't too bad too. Nana was relating the adventures at USS. There were obviously so much screaming. She was so exhausted and hoarse from screaming and a lot of running. They ran so much bcos that was the only way to not be scared by the crew in the scare zone. She was still so jumpy on the way home and jumped whenever the GPS spoke. So funny. 

We were home at about 1.30am and I went to bed almost at 2am. I was up at 5.10am for the usual Saturday ride. I was so sleepy throughout the ride. 

At least I managed to wake up. Nana was still asleep when Zaky and I left the house at 11ish. She slept all the way to 3pm. Wah, new record man. Hahahaha. This USS Halloween night is so 伤身. Lol. 

Mummy Lim

End of PSLE

Oh yes, we are so done. Hoho. 

We had a normal weekend doing usual weekend stuff. I didn't feel as anxious as pre-PSLE since the weekend. I thought maybe I have gotten used to the heat or maybe I just don't care anymore. 

Zaky has his CL papers on Monday. We didn't do much revision, relying on Teacher S and her Sunday morning 恶补. We did try to look through some P6 词语 on Sunday and decided that we are done. Hoho.

Has Zaky improved in his CL? I think he did. I am impressed with the Chinese Oral stuff that he had memorised, like 父母是我们的启蒙老师. Who is 启蒙? While I still roll eyes at his composition, he has now managed to use some very chim 词语 and 成语, like 数落, 倒抽一口凉气 and 送人玫瑰，手留香. Chim right? Just the other day, he told me "Mummy, I am 佩服". Wah, I never expect this kind of Chinese vocabs to come out of his daily spoken Chinese lor. We saw these Chinese words on a van's rear window and am glad that he can read them, while Daddy Lim cannot. Hahahaha. 

Does it mean that he would do well for Chinese? I don't know. He has unfortunately not mastered how to transfer the hard work that he has put in for Chinese into tangible results. But we have tried our best. 

Yday he had his last Science paper. It is his favourite subject but he is even more excited at the prospect of completing PSLE. He bounced out of bed and was all smiles. He said that P1 was tough and tricky but P2 very manageable. He doesn't care anymore. PSLE is so done. 

Zaky had his plans rolled out for after PSLE. He is talking about lunch with classmates after school on Thursday, playdate with the boys during the marking week, USS with his friends, prawning... he got to sleep in this morning as it is the HCL paper but woke up at 8am to play game with his friend. 

The exam baton has been passed on to Nana, who started her EOY exam yday. Today, she is taking History and Art and got a ride to school bcos Daddy Lim didn't have to send Zaky. 赚到. Looking at her art pieces, I don't have much hope actually. Hahaha.

Now is the time to start thinking. SST or not? Aiyo!

Mummy Lim

PSLE - 2 More Papers

Yay! English and Maths completed! I am so looking forward to the end of PSLE. 

I already got very excited on Thursday after Zaky's 1st paper and started thinking which incomplete assessment books and what textbooks to pass down to who. Zaky's "study table", which is actually more like my wfh work table, is piled with books and papers. I cannot wait to dump all of those into the recycle bins. 

Zaky has "completed" the last of his tuitions except for a last Chinese session on Sunday morning. Almost there, just a little more. Fighting!

How were the papers so far? Zaky has been adopting this "I forget everything after the paper" attitude since Prelims. His answer will always "OK lah" and if I probed a little bit more, he will tell me "I don't know". As if he hit on the "delete all" button the moment he stepped out of the exam hall. 一问三不知. 

I think he did try hard. At least for Maths, which is one of his favorite subjects, he was about to tell me that he knows how to do all the questions, and bcos he checked his work, he was ale to catch himself and saved himself from losing 13 marks. Wah, how blind is he to begin with? 

2 years ago, on the Saturday in the middle of PSLE, we took a break and had MacD bfast. That was right in the smack of covid height. This time round, while the PSLE kids are encouraged to stay at home, we decided to head to the Kallang skatepark for a little break. We had MacD bfast too but forgot to take pictures. Hoho. 

Nana came along this time. We toyed with the idea of her picking up aggro skates when the rink closes for renovation, which is I duno when. I didn't want to buy her a new pair of skates though bcos our house has enough pairs to open shop already. Then Zaky outgrown his pair and has his old pair to pass down. Yah, I can no longer boast that the 3 of us have the same shoe size and can share shoes. Zaky's school shoes are so tight and I am asking him to tahan just a little bit more, until the end of the school year. 

All fully decked out in protection. When warming up, she was exclaiming about how different it is. The skates are definitely much stiffer and less maneuverable. 

I went about my hamster rounds at Kallang while the boys enthusiastically teach Nana the basics of ramps and stalls. Her 8 years of ice skating definitely helped. 

My turn to join the family? Thanks but no thanks, my bones are too precious. 

Oh yes, there is so much mess. The amount of logistics to skate as a family filled up the entire car boot. 

Luckily the kids are all big enough to carry their own bag/ skates/ guards. 

2 more days! 2 more papers! This morning, we sent Zaky to the very last of his tuition. 没有了!

Mummy Lim

PSLE D-Day -2

Seriously, I can't remember much about Nana's PSLE journey. I do remember signing her up for Science tuition after SA1 bcos she had asked for help, as well as her pushing back when I ask her to do practice papers. Checking back my blog posts, she did do papers for me and didn't push back as much as I remembered, except for Maths. Back then, she had a very on the ball Maths teacher, who already helped to grill her very hard. 

Zaky had 3 days of study week before his 1st PSLE paper tomorrow. Looking back, I realised that Nana had that too. The difference is that Zaky attended none of the school zoom sessions. He insisted that those are for students who have questions for the teachers and he had none. He generously offered the time to others who needed help. Zzzzz. Now that I saw Nana attending the zoom classes, I think I kena smoked by Zaky.

I had intentionally WFH on Monday so that I  could watch over him. Without any control, I wouldn't be surprised if his "sturdy week" is spent on studying computer games and YouTubes. 

Monday was so difficult bcos I am so right. While he obliged to work on some papers, he kept sneaking breaks in between bcos I was busy at work. Once he started on his games and videos, he got lethargic and only wanted to "finish" the assigned papers ASAP, which usually means rubbish work. He even forgot to attend the zoom class that his Chinese tutor offered. Of course I got upset. I had to ban him from his phone and laptop in the afternoon. It wasn't a good start. 

Yday, the Chinese tutor asked for last minute f2f Chinese tuition from 8.30am to 11.30am. Go, pls go. I don't think I can control my blood pressure if I face him another day at home. I took the chance to go to the office too and sent him to his tutor's house enroute. 

This was him finishing the homework on the train. 

Fortunately, it was only a few pages remaining. 

Tomorrow is D day. Is Zaky prepared? Well, he has worked hard but not as hard bcos there is the SST CO dangling in the air. Even I pushed him less hard. I had told him that he still needed good grades to get into SST even if we accepted the CO. He found out from his peers, that he only needed an AL20 and below PSLE grade, which he knows he is totally (and probably easily) capacable of. I have switched my pitch to self-challenge but that is a difficult angle to sell. 

Obviously he isn't the only one working hard (well, he said he did). The other 3 tigers are also working hard (and so are their mummy). The school's parents chat group is also buzzing with Maths questions, asking for help. I didn't bother but occasionally asked Zaky if he could attempt one or 2 of the questions. 

Let's hope that we have an easy day today. Zaky is already up and the 1st thing is to ask to play game until bfast at 9am. He agreed that he will abstain from the phone and laptop until lunch at 12pm. I wonder why the Singapore education system puts us through all these stress. Haiya!

Fighting!

Mummy Lim

Cat Adoption Plan Re-starting

Early this year, I was ready for the kids to adopt a cat. We visited SPCA 2x and was about to adopt one when we decided to get Zaky test for cat allergy. The plan was shelved bcos he indeed is moderately allergic to cats and we cannot afford for his allergies to stand in the way for PSLE. 

We promised the kids that we would adopt after Zaky's PSLE. He can sneeze all he needs and tries to slowly overcome his allergy then. Time flew by and PSLE is literally around the corner. The kids didn't forget about the adoption plan and had been talking about it so frequently. 

Plans are underway. I have reconnected with the cat netting vendor and am trying to get the cat netting done in the balcony before our holidays. Every now and then, we would be browsing SPCA website, checking out the cats available for adoption. 

Yday, I saw a free spot for visitation at SPCA. It is very difficult to get a slot during the weekend and I grabbed it. Everybody is excited about the visit and worked their schedule around for the visit, even Nana, who is usually super busy during the weekend. 

We are familiar with the drill. The cat, whom we wanted to adopt months back is no longer in SPCA. We hope that she has gone to a great home. 

We spent the next hour looking, touching, playing with the kids. 

There were a couple of special breed cats but we were told that these cats usually didn't like to be disturbed. I like actually. Hahahaha. We have to stay away from the longer fur cats. Not only do we need to comb their fur every day, Zaky's nose probably wouldn't withstand the shedding. I don't want a cat that look just like those strays downstairs. I told Daddy Lim that we probably wouldn't be able to recognise and find it if it goes missing bcos it will look like any of the strays downstairs. Haha. 

We saw an affectionate cat with tiger-strips lookalike and rubs against our legs. So sweet. There is another ginger cat who is so tamed and just lets us carry him. We were told that he is easy for nail cutting and bathing too. Sounds good. 

Zaky wanted a kitten bcos kittens are active and playful. I am not keen on kittens bcos once the novelty wears off, the taking care only goes to yours truly. Let's just get a lazy cat. Hohoho. 

We left in less than an hour. Zaky was complaining of starving and his eyes and nose have started acting up. Apparently, his allergy didn't go away. 

There are plenty to be done before the adoption. We have to mesh up the window too, on top of the balcony. I totally forgot about that and am thinking of DIY-ing that with 3M tape and cable tie. Then, the cat will need to be confined in the initial weeks. How ah? We also need to buy the basic necessities for the cat and an air purifier for Zaky's room. That sneezing and teary eyes are no joke, really. 

The cat will come after our Melbourne holidays. By then, most of the cats that we have seen today would probably gone to a good home. We will see who touches our heart then.

Mummy Lim

Chomp Chomp Chomp

We had an eating Saturday! Hohoho. 

Daddy Lim was off and brought Zaky to ECP skatepark in the morning. I went for my regular WWF ride and had arranged to meet up with some of the aunties at Suntec in the afternoon. 

Nana was nice to tag along before her youth. As a result, we fed her nice food. Hoho. 

Then it was mall crawling before we met up with Auntie S and the kids. I can't remember the last time we did that. 

We seriously have teenager kids now. 

How and when did they suddenly grew so tall? Fyi, I am still taller than Nana. Hahaha.

Daddy Lim left when we met up with Auntie S. The boys were sent shortly to Superpark to burn some calories. Nana stayed awhile before heading back for youth. We exchanged the kids for 2 more aunties and then there was more drinks and eating. Aiya, forgot to take pictures.

I didn't stay for dinner bcos I had been craving for juicy bbq beef steak, to the extent that I bought this. 

I was very excited when I bought it from Lazada only to receive the real thing and realised that it is much smaller than I had imagined it to be. No, I didn't pay attention to the demonstration video or the dimensions. Hahahaha. 

The plan was to have a BBQ grill dinner. The ladies were very "encouraging". They didn't think that my hungry family would wait long enough for the mini grill to slowly cook the meat. One of them even asked me to "enjoy". So nice of them. Lol. 

While we have the grill, we have no meat and headed to the West Coast Cold Storage to grab some. We got bulgogi pork, bulgogi pork belly, spicy bulgogi chicken, marinated beef steak and bacon. Why so many bulgogi? Bcos there is all they sold. 

I know that I have hungry family and bought the honey glazed chicken to hold off the hungry people. We set up the grill, putting aluminium foil for easy cleaning, only to realise that it was cooking too slowly. 

Did it work? It did! Especially after the foil was removed and I was reminded to "enjoy" the cleaning. Lol. The grill comes with a bottom layer of 4 mini pan. They are so mini that they looked like toys. Lol.

The mini grill was actually just the right size for our family. 

I didn't really enjoy the BBQ meat though bcos there was too much bulgogi everything. After a while, they all tasted the same. Lol. Then, there was meat overdosed. We didn't even start on the chicken or the beef. However, it was a nice experience overall, grilling meat at the balcony. 

It had been so long since we had a meal at the balcony. The dining table was covered in a layer of dust. The balcony wasn't any less dusty, which called for a good scrub and wash after dinner. Nana helped and earned for herself $5. It is the middle of the month and she has started to tell me how broke she is, thus her enthusiasm to help and earn some extra pocket money. Lol. 

Yay! Success! Looking forward to the next BBQ session. 

Mummy Lim