Xmas Eve Gathering

Recent Xmas gathering at Uncle David’s place, there were some things that stood out to me:

• How our uncles & aunts were all visibly older. Ee-ma though the oldest present was still quite fit for her age. Mobile & still very lucid. Auntie Violet, her sworn sister though, has not been doing too well since a year ago. Though on the surface she looks physically ok but…her mind is not fully there. And her legs can’t support her. Each step brings me worry whether her knees will buckle. Each shuffle brings me worry whether she’ll take a misstep. Even with her mind & body this way, she insisted on neither me nor Ee-ma being in the bathroom with her when she had to use it. As a 晚辈 I don’t have much say but ‘ve asked my Mum before to get a discussion going with her siblings how to handle Auntie Violet’s issues in the very near future. I can’t say much about Auntie Angie’s side of the family, just that they still look pretty alright, except for white hair for the older relatives…and also maybe cos they’re all still younger than my Mum’s siblings…

• This was the 1^st occasion in my entire life that I spoke enough (broken) Cantonese in a single night to exceed whatever Cantonese I spoke in the entire year. And this from a person who can’t speak enough Cantonese to save her life. Largely cos I was conversing with Ee-ma & Auntie Violet. Ee-ma somehow may have forgotten that I usually speak to her in Mandarin lol..and started a few convos with me in Cantonese.

• Glad I had some 1-on-1 time with Suli to catch up a little. We used to be close and had meals together once in awhile…Age, life, work, kids, Covid & I guess or own struggles that we were dealing with meant over the last 10-years plus we grew apart...not intentionally but just naturally. Now that I know she’s back in Tampines, I’ll try to arrange a meal with her sometime next year...

• I used to be the youngest generation at such family gatherings. I was the one who’d be running around with Suli. Now, our kids are the ones who are running around together. And our kids used to be the youngest running around. Now our younger cousins’ kids are the youngest ones running around, and there’s one who just started crawling. Time flows by…

  
  

走 C 路了

This was a year of C-dramas....

Blossom

Prisoner of Beauty

Dream Within a Dream

Legend of the Female General

All period dramas cos...I like them much more than those set in modern times. The costumes & sets are all so nice to look at!

Caught a fair bit of summarised stuff & snippets of other dramas as well

The Sword & The Brocade

Best Partner

Flight to You

Destined

Fateful Love

Paris & London

Family Trip! 4 Dec - 15 Dec 2025

This is my 4th time in Paris...2008, 2010, 2011 and 2025. 

80% of the stuff we did or the places we went to, I'd already experienced haha. It was more for the girls, especially Nadya, who's had more "exposure" to French stuff cos she uses some French words in her ballet learning journey. Alyssa found Paris mostly boring, Nadya could appreciate the history & culture more. 

• Going up the Eiffel Tower was a blast for the girls. They were so tickled by the strong winds. Alyssa got slightly blown off balance too haha. 
• Notre Dame Cathedral was boring for Alyssa but sort of interesting for Nadya who could better appreciate the architecture and history behind some things. 
• The trip up to see the Basilique du Sacre Coeur and have a great view of the city was a little challenging as it was raining (and hence cold & damp) but the girls had fun struggling with their umbrellas and the strong winds lol. Nadya's brolly flipped over so many times haha. We chose not to go in to the cathedral. 
• It was a brief walk at Champs Elysees, then a quick look at Arc du Triomphe. It was my first time walking beneath the Arc though. I'd never known that there were underground linkways there. We had a quick visit to Galaries Lafayette as well, my first time there, and yet another short visit to the Trocadero, specifically the Eiffel Tower Viewing Point. Seeing the tower at night from such a nice viewing point was a first for me and much enjoyable. Alyssa was grouchy throughout most of this night though lol...she was cold, and bored and could not appreciate these sights. 
• We went on a Bateaux Moches river cruise on the Seine as well. I found this boring though...Alyssa too haha. Nadya was counting the number of bridges we passed by so I guess she quite liked the cruise. 
• Fav meal in Paris = our lunch at an Italian restaurant near the Lourve. It's called Enza Famiglia. Pasta was superb. My gnocchi was so delicious!

This is my 2nd time in London. 2010 and 2025. 

Alyssa found this place more fun, possible also because we did more activities that she could understand or that she found interesting. 

• Christmas at Kew Gardens was a light installation event at Kew Gardens, fairly far from where we stayed at King's Cross. The trail took so long to walk through. I think it was definitely more than 1h30mins. It also rained a little at the start so it was quite cold. We were struggling to open and shut our umbrellas at some point as it drizzled heavily, then stopped, then started again zzz. The girls & I were knackered. My face was probably as grouchy as theirs lol. 
• The trip to Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio was a highlight for me. I'm not a huge fan of the series but it was interesting for me. While the girls were interested, they weren't extremely excited as well lol. But I guess it was still nice enough for them. We got them wands from the gift shop (sibei ex). 
• We did a tour of the Paradox Museum too. This was fun too and the girls really liked this place. Something like the Trick Eye Museum Singapore has. 
• We had a brief walk through the 1st floor of Harrods, also shopped briefly at Soho district.
• Visited the Light Room near King's Cross for an immersive experience about dinosaurs. I like this one but it lasted just an hour or so....so I felt the tickets were not too value for money. 
• The Natural History Museum was so-so...Alyssa felt bored again lol though some of the fossil exhibits were interesting. 
• I initially planned to see the Changing of the Guards outside Buckingham Palace but switched to bringing the girls to the Changing of the Guards at the Horse Guards instead, just down the road from 10 Downing Street. Lesser crowds, easier for them to view and no need to go an hour earlier just to get good viewing spots. 
• Fav meal in London = there's a couple actually! Haha...one was dinner at Rex Cross, near King's Cross station. My grilled chicken was amazing. Even K agreed it was one of the best he's had. The pastas the rest ordered were excellent too! We had nice fish & chips at The Mayfair Chippy, opposite Harrods at Knightsbridge. Alyssa loved this place. And....we had very nice udon at Kineya Mugimaru at St Pancras International Station on our last day in London. The warm udon hit the right spot cos it was a cold day. We liked it so much we had breakfast, and then went back there for lunch on the same day lol.

Thankful for the family time... :)

Not so thankful for the day at Eiffel Tower when my Whatsapp was buzzing alot due to something that happened in office which affected my team lol...Still, am thankful my team could handle it pretty much without me.  

Flight

So fast. It's been 2 weeks since we got back from our Paris & London trip. 

We've not taken a plane since our Osaka trip back in Sept 2018.  

The trip this round was for N's post-PSLE trip. 

I was hesitant. I'd not flown for 7 years. I couldn't even take the bus or train on my own a few years back. While I've more or less trained myself to overcome those over the years....a plane was a different story. Once in, there's no backing out. 

I was nervous on the day we were supposed to fly out. Though I was less nervous than I thought I would be. Perhaps it was because K was there, and the girls too. They have my back. 

It was a 14-hr flight into Paris. Save for the initial 30mins from boarding to take-off and a little while more when I felt nervous and was praying, I think I did very well. I could even look after the 2 girls and bring them to the washroom several times, etc. 

The flight back was pretty similar. I was seated alone on the flight back and I was wondering if I'd be more nervous but it was quite ok. 

Think if I share this with Dr Mok she'd squeal and say she's happy for me haha...

I'm happy too. I overcame this...and the presence of K & the 2 girls were my grounding. 

AHS

Jiejie got herself into Anglican High! 

It was quite a rush settling her textbooks (thanks to K for ordering them online the moment we got the confirmed school posting results lol), her new school shoes, and more importantly, her new uniforms. 

I hope her secondary school journey will be as fun as mine. I hope she finds herself a good bunch of friends like I did (thankfully). I hope she starts to 开窍 abit more and grows more disciplined in her studies. I hope it'll be a great, smooth 4 years ahead for her!! 

Wonder what they call AHS kids? Anglicanian? Anglicanite? AHS-ian?

==================

On Xmas Eve, we showed her how to take the bus & then walk to school.  It's a long walk to school 12/13minutes without her school bag. If she's having a school bag, my guess is it will take longer. Not too bad if it's just a gentle slope or flat ground....thing is, there's a gentle slop for most of the way and then the last 200-300m is a steep slope to the school's main gate. 

I was struggling that day and silently cursing in my head when traversing up the steep slope....I think after a month of walking to school each day, she'll be super fit. Jiayou Nadya!! lol...

Peanut Power

Little girl has done well over the past year. 

She finally worked her way into being a prefect, a goal she set herself since P2. At the end of P3, her form teacher put her name up and voila, she became one in P4 this year. 

She's done well in BICEP, her chinese special programme in school. 

She's now working on becoming a leader in her Brownies. Hopefully she gets the chance to be nominated. 

She did well enough in class to be allocated to one of the better classes in P5. She'll be in a mixed class with GEP kids. Hope her P6 class will provide her a good environment to be in. Her P4 class & some of her good friend in her P4 class were indeed positive influences on her. 

Onwards & upwards!

Deep breaths.

Back to the grind. 

Not liking it so far. 

Handling co-workers who test your patience many times. 

And at the same time handling other distractions/demands. Some walk around on 2 feet and occupy the room next to ours. 

Also not sleeping well. A little jetlagged still perhaps.