James cooks lunch everyday for the base. Thought I'll get a picture of a normal lunch on the base. We had pizza bread last week.

One satisfied customer!

I've been having trouble sleeping. Apparently it's baby No 2 resting on a nerve of mine. There's a sharp pain from my lower back to my left butt when I sleep. Anyways. Midwife suggested getting a wheat sac to heat up and rest on it.

So I'm going to try to sleep with my new hottie tonight. Praying that it'll soothe the pain a little and I can get some sleep for the next two weeks before baby comes!

P/s ok I also got it coz it just looks so pretty.

Left: Nelson and the flag

Right: Curry chicken, oyster omelette, stewed pork, stir fry beef, bittergourd with egg

Happy National Day one and all!

In true Singaporean style, we cooked up a storm for our new Singaporean friends Nelson and Gina. They brought the flag and the patriotic songs. Gina was a preschool teacher and she seriously had a compilation of THE SONGS.

Sophie has two favorite soft toys that sleep with her – Windy, a teddy bear which we got from Auckland on the way back to Singapore the first time and Kitty Kitten, a really soft kitten that I got for her when we came back from Vanuatu the second time. I thought she did so well in Vanuatu that she deserved a present. They have been significant companions for her marking different milestones in her life.

But on our last trip home, we lost Kitty in Bintan! ARGH! She (Sophie, not Kitty ) fell asleep on the bus and we hurried down the bus, didn't realise that we left it on the bus until much later! She grieved for a night and was totally fine after that. She never really asked for another but James and I were distraught because it was such a nice stuff toy and we knew it meant so much to her.

My mum and dad wanted to buy her one but we were quite determined to get the same one back here in NZ.

When we returned, James looked EVERYWHERE. We got it from Warehouse the last time and we looked in every Warehouse around the area – Cambridge, Hamilton, Matamata etc… but couldn't find.

Until last Sat………………… James found it in a bin of stuff toys in another Warehouse at Hamilton! He dug and dug, almost gave up and then found a similar one (the colour is slightly different but everything else is the same)! Sophie was SO HAPPY!!!!!!!

To me, it just showed the love of the father…. how far he would go….. to find what his child loves.

The bible says in Luke 11:10-13

"For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Ooo the love of the Father….

Sophie loves dancing so I signed her up for a weekly dance class in town.

It's held in the same venue as our church and her teacher is our pastor's wife, Stac! Her sister, Tammy, runs the dance school. It's a serious dance school for jazz and hip hop for the older kids and adults but they started a preschool class (mostly 4 yr olds) this term. The aim is for children to gain performance confidence and learn to listen and follow instructions. They learn things like expressing themselves (Sophie likes this coz she gets to make funny faces), movement and tempo. Very cool.

It's only for 1/2 an hr but it's so good for the kiddos coz they need to be fast, follow and learn to be independent. Parents can watch from a window that can only look in.

I'm really thankful for this outlet for our little entertainer.

I’ve been really encouraged with Sophie’s recent interest in Mandarin that I thought I will share what we’ve been doing in this area.

For a long time I really struggled with having to prepare Sophie for school, in case we decide to return to Singapore to put Sophie in Primary 1. Esp in the area of CHINESE! Eeeeks! I had Chinese tuition from Primary 3 all the way till JC2 and it didn’t help at all! I still hardly read or write.

I’m really thankful that James’ family speaks Mandarin at home. My mum in law is actually a Chinese teacher at a kindy! In fact, my own conversational Mandarin improved heaps when we got married and lived with them. I can even joke in Chinese now, don’t play play. Cantonese is another ball game altogether though. I still feel like I’m in another country when I’m with his family sometimes.

On our recent trip back, Sophie picked up quite a bit of conversational Mandarin because of the exposure even though most of the time my in laws spoke to her in English. Which just reminded me that language can only be really picked up if someone keeps speaking it, even if it was in drips and drapes! But it was good enough to get us going! She started answering in Mandarin if we spoke to her in Mandarin. Previously, she had refused! And guess what were her first words? NO!

Our conversations went something like this (in Mandarin, I’m not going to put my hanyu pinyin to the test so just imagine the conversation):-
Me: Sophie, would you like some bread for breakfast?
Sophie: NO!
Faint… I guess in any language, kids learn to say “NO!” first!
Argh…. Ok, better than nothing.

I was really encouraged and decided to continue doing that here.

We picked up a couple of Chinese audio CDs, videos and books from Maha Yuyi (They are located at Bras Basah Shopping Complex and they also have an online store.) and Popular Bookstore (They also have an online store). This was in addition to the storybooks we already bought in China last year. Btw, China has a great selection of storybooks for kids at really good prices e.g. S$3 per book.

Here’s how I selected them, bearing in mind that my own reading and writing ability for Chinese is also at preschool level:

For Story Books:
1. It must have Hanyu Pinyin! If it is accompanied by an audio CD, all the better!
2. Preferably only 1-2 sentences PER page. Beyond that, I can’t read fast enough and it’ll bore Sophie while I try to figure out the hanyu pinyin.
2. Stick to the plan. I figured out my aim for this year is for CONVERSATION and EXPOSURE. I’m not trying to get Sophie to be brilliant in reading and writing. So it has to be FUN and of interest to her! I simply chose story books that were of interest to her e.g. planting, cooking, dancing etc.

These are some of the books that we chose: -

Left: The Winnie the Pooh book, Two Little Cats, I can Read (the one with rabbits) and Wizard of Oz books were from Maha Yuyi. All of them come with audio CD except I can Read. Sophie loves the I Can Read book because it's stories of two little rabbits and their family. Very easy to read. The two pink books are from Popular and there are lots to choose from. Sophie and I really like these coz they are so relevant and so easy to understand and read. The fairy tale book comes in a set of stories and I think my in laws got them in China but I've seen them at Popular.

Right: This book is a treasure! I found it at Maha Yuyi. It shows how the Chinese characters were formed over the ages. Very visually interesting. Love it. It's more for me to stimulate my own interest, ha!

For Workbooks:
1. I prefer workbooks with topical sections with lots of opportunities for discussion and conversation rather than those that focused on writing and word recognition.
2. Instructions for each section needs to come with an example, in case I can’t read the instructions. HAHAHA!

This is the book that we’re using and I love it. It's from Popular. It really suits the level we’re at or I’m at (ha!). Sophie loves it too. She can go on for 10 pages at a time, which I think is pretty good! I’ve only been homeschooling her for a month or so and we’ve finished almost half the book! She can also recognize almost 10 Chinese words!

Why I like about this book
1. Word recognition through learning how the characters have been formed over the years, very visual (SO GOOD!). They even have creative ways to help the kids remember how the characters look.
2. No writing required. She just needs to draw links and do ticks or crosses.
3. Lots of opportunities for conversation and discussion. I notice that most of these local workbooks have incorporated civic and moral education e.g it is right to throw the rubbish in the bin and not on the floor (so Singaporean ah…). Very interesting and been quite good for me to teach them to Sophie.

For others e.g Media:

I just bought and tried whatever I could find. I wouldn’t say that they are the best around or that Sophie really enjoys them but seriously, for the price range that we can afford, the selection is quite limited.

These are some that we are using:-

Left: Very old school and cheena but quite good. Got that from John Little

Right: Good song selection with flash cards of Chinese characters. From Maha Yuyi.

P/s: – I also found out that it pays to be really humble at a Chinese bookshop and just tell the salesgirl that I’m really pathetic in Chinese and want find some stuff for my little girl. HELP! Oh yes, and now Sophie can say things like “Ma ma, wo yao che xiang jiao.” (Mum, I would like to eat a banana.) That’s pretty cool ya?

After completing the 5km walk on Friday, our butts were a bit itchy and we wanted to get going again. We figured that I don't have long to go before I can't drive long distances. So on Saturday, we decided to spend the day as a family before DiDi (little brother) arrives to go shopping, walk around and just stop wherever we wanted.

We drove 30 mins to Cambridge to check out the farmer's market. Nothing much there but we always enjoy walking around Cambridge coz it's so pretty and the weather was great.

After that, we drove another 20 mins to Hamilton city for lunch and shopping. We managed to get quite a lot done! Got some stuff for Sophie (Pumpkin patch was having sale!), ourselves and baby. We even drove out of the city to Te Rapa Road where there is a huge shopping area with factory outlets and all. Reminded us of Harbourtown in Brissy. HUGE shops.

Finally, last stop at New Save Asian Supermarket to stock up our pantry and the base's pantry. That's where we found out that all the Asians come out at night! Normally when we are there in the day, there are not much people at the asian supermarket but the carpark was almost full that evening.

We finally got home about 7pm. It gets dark at 6pm here so I actually drove home from Hamilton in the dark for the first time. A bit daunting at first but it was alright. I was pretty exhausted by the time I got back and James was wonderful, he cooked dinner and cleaned up. All in all, we had a really great time.

We joined the new DTS on their first school outing last Friday to the Waihou River Walk.

The Waihou River walk is only about 30-40 mins drive from our base. It is generally well-known for its clear blue-greenish colour of the water and you can even see trouts swimming. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! The later part of the walk passes some farmland and we got to see some cows really close up too.

It takes about 1 and a half hour to walk one way or you can also walk halfway and turn back. It's an easy trek, even for us city people. I didn't know I could walk 5 km being pregnant and all but it was really quite a nice walk! Even Sophie walked some of the way and was in the stroller the rest of the way. Best of all, the weather was great!

Our church organised a PINK pampering session for the ladies a couple of weeks ago. About 50 ladies turned up from all over Matamata! It was held in a really pretty family ran restaurant down the road from town.

They invited a professional make up artist, manicurist, hairdresser and masseuse and we could pay a minimum fee to sign up and enjoy the services! It was great!

I was actually really exhausted by evening time and wasn't up to going but so glad I did! I enjoyed the food, drinks and company. Although I didn't sign up for anything, I was blessed with a manicure!

Happy happy

The new school (DTS) just started this week! All the families are here. They come from all over the world – Denmark, New Zealand, Holland, Singapore (YES! another couple from Singapore!) and Switzerland.

But, we're not staffing in the classrooms this term. Instead James is the main lunch cook and I'm staying home with Sophie until baby comes. He has to go in early in the morning to the kitchen at 8/9am to cook for 60 ppl everyday. He also does one dinner per week. I do odd jobs around like rearranging the library (which I LOVE!) and other random stuff.

During the break, James was on a roll and experimenting with different recipes. He made Nasi Lemak and made an amazing sambal sotong (squid) to go with it. Shiok!!!

He's been doing a great job for lunches the past few days and looks like he's gonna introduce more asian food and ingredients into the kitchen. He's been sneaking lotsa garlic into the soups too. YUMS, plus it keeps the colds away!

We’re finally doing something!

We’ve set up the cot in our bedroom and washed all of baby’s clothes.

I tried to pack the maternity bag for the hospital but realized that I still need most of the stuff now e.g. sweater, slippers, clothes so I think we’ll just dump that in later. We’re not far from the hospital anyway. It’s only a 10 mins drive from the base into town so if we forget anything we can always get someone on the base to bring it for us.

Almost there! Exactly one more month since Baby No. 2 is due on 25 August!! I really can't believe how time has passed. Our lives are going to change in a couple of weeks. I still cannot imagine having another baby! Sophie's such an amazing kid being who she is and I cannot imagine having another one!

I'm keeping well, thank God for that. A few sleepless nights, bit of backache, a bit more sleepy during the day but all part and parcel of the last stretch…

Happy Anniversary to us!

We’ve been married 6 years. It doesn’t seem that long but we’ve done SO MUCH the past 6 years! We’ve lived with James’ parents, got our own place, moved out, started two of our own businesses, had Sophie, traveled lots, shut down one business and sold another, came to NZ to do a school, stayed on as staff, became full time missionaries, rented out our home, stayed on to staff two more schools, and now we’re having baby No. 2.

It’s been exciting. James really pushes me to the edge sometimes but without him, I wouldn’t have moved! ? I’m really thankful to have him in my life. We’re SO different but yet because we love each other and like (SO IMPT!) each other so much that it actually works! Of course, there are times when we drive each other crazy (erm, not in a good way) but over 6 years, we’ve really learnt to appreciate each other’s idiosyncrasies and thank God that we’re not the same.

God has been good to us as a family and we’ve been tremendously blessed in SO MANY ways. We give thanks for 6 good years and are looking forward to many more ahead.

So what did we do on our anniversary?

Over the weekend, we traveled around the area. On Saturday, we drove 40 mins to Cambridge, a little quaint town nearby to check out the shops and have tea. On Sunday, we drove 30 mins to Tirau, a small little touristy town with little cafes and tourist shops to have brunch and visited the op shops and Sunday market. Yes, a little retail and café therapy for the city people. ? Turned out that Sophie LOVED the antique shops! Just like us. Was a bit terrifying trying to keep her hands off stuff but she learnt eventually to ask before touching…

P/s: Our hard disk just kaput on us. Actually a lot of our equipment have been kaputing on us. Seems like most things are only meant to last 1 year. These days it's so hard to get things that last forever! Everything is use and throw. Sigh. Anyways so my photos are hopefully still in there somewhere so no blogging with pictures for a while till James managed to get it back. So sad ah….