Gong Xi Fa Cai!

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Today is the start of the children's school holidays. They go back to school on the 5th day of Chinese New Year. We will be back from  hometown on the 4th day. It will be a long and tiring journey as everyone rushes back. I prefer if the holidays starts later and ends later. For some, like my neighbour, they have gone back to their hometowns earlier.

The other day, on the last day of school, the kids had a Chinese New Year party in school. They were given angpows, mandarin oranges. Prizes were given for the best caligraphy. All the teachers were dressed in beautiful Cheongsams in bright orange and red. The men were dressed in red too. It was grand. There was even a lion dance in the hall and the kids were chasing the lion around excitedly just to touch it.

I was happy to witness the scene. When I sent my child to Chinese school, the only reason I did it was because I thought it was the lesser of two bad choices. However, despite the long hours and heavy workload, I am glad to see the kids playing and the teachers relaxing on this day and I am glad to see this celebration of culture at the school.

Gong Xi Fa Cai. Xin Nian Kua Le. Kong Hei Fatt Choi,

Kiong Hee Huat Chai, Happy New Year!

Enjoy yourself now because when the kids get back to school, the pressure builds as the first term tests is just around the corner! I won't be back till then. 

School pressures

"You must get 20/20 for your essay, or else you have to copy the whole passage again."

My girl said her English teacher said this. Her partner, the girl who sits beside her got 19 1/2. She had to copy the entire passage again leading to extra homework to their already heavy work schedule.

"When you get back from Chinese New Year, I expect all of you to get 100% for your Chinese Spelling (ting seah) or I will chase you out the class. No excuses since you have so many days holidays for Chinese New Year."

My girl said her class teacher who also teaches them Chinese said this. Pity the kids. They can't even go for a Chinese New Year break without having to worry about school work. Chinese New Year break is only a week. Most of the children will be away, balik kampung somewhere. Where can they find the time to squeeze in some learning?

Right after that the first term exam is just around the corner. The pressure will get worse.

"Mummy, wuah... so much work. If absent one or two days finish lah. How to do? I cannot be sick."

"Mummy, don't know why teacher give work as though we are studying for test like that?"

Yes, don't know why.... but one thing I know. It is my job as a parent to make sure that they still get to play, rest and exercise despite their school pressures and heavy workload. That is one tough job!!!!

Chinese New Year Craft - Angpow Rabbits

Here is a Chinese New Year craft that little ones will love. It is easy and the results are beautiful and fun too. Since it is the year of the rabbit, we decided to decorate our house with origami rabbits.

Here are our origami rabbits made from colourful origami paper

Here are our angpow rabbits made from angpow paper. (All we had to do was open up the angpows and cut them into squares before folding the origami rabbits).

Here is a close-up of the inflatable origami angpow rabbit. The kids love to blow and puff up the rabbit!

Finally, here is our loot of homemade angpow lanterns, angpow rabbits and red angpows clipped together in threes to hang on our plants. We also got red ribbons to tie around the pots to make it look more merry.

Last but most importantly, here is an instruction video on how to fold origami rabbits. The steps are very simple. If you follow the video step by step as we did, you will surely get it right the first time. It is really fun to inflate the bunnies.

We are now all ready to usher in the Year of the Rabbit with our homemade Origami Rabbits made from angpow paper.

Updated: 2012 is Year of the Dragon. Bye Bye Rabbit, Hello to all things Dragon including Decorations.

Mummy, I need to buy.....

This past two weeks, I've heard the following....

• Mummy I need to buy an English Dictionary
• Mummy, I need to buy a Chinese Dictionary
• Mummy, I need to buy art block
• Mummy, I need to pay RM5 for Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah
• Mummy, I need to buy Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah Uniform
• Mummy, I need to buy bandages for Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah activity
• Mummy, I need to buy Karangan Essay book
• Mummy, I bought the wrong file for Karangan so I have to buy again
• Mummy, I need to buy Chinese Workbook
• Mummy, I lost the money for Chinese Workbook...

I wonder what she needs to buy next. I find that at Std 3, she needs to buy more and more things as compared to the boy who is in Std 1.

Crazy Afternoon Routines

On the days my children have to stay back in school in the afternoon, they have to dash about like mad.

First, right after school dismiss, the kids have 25 minutes for lunch before heading on to whatever activity or extra lessons they have. It takes about 5 minutes for my girl to come down from her classroom to the canteen. She may take another 5 minutes to queue for the toilet, another 5 minutes to drag her heavy bag to the next classroom. She may need another 5 minutes to change into another uniform or t-shirt for sports or a uniform body activity. That leaves 5 minutes to gobble down lunch. No time for slow eaters here.

Sometimes she has two activities requiring two different sets of uniforms, one hour for each activity and she may need to dash from one activity to another in different parts of the school, dragging her heavy schoolbag with her.

By the time she gets home it is 4.30pm. Time for a rest? No. She has to be rushed to have a bath then it is time to do the homework for the day. All the time, I would be nearby to remind the kids to hurry otherwise they will never be able to finish their work on time to have an early night before the next day's rush begins. And so it is like this from 4.30pm till 7.00pm.

Then its rush to eat dinner, rush to get ready for bed and rush to sleep. That is our crazy afternoon routine these days. We do this 3 days in a week. The other 2, we rush too, so that the kids can have half hour or one hour of physical activity like skipping, playing the badminton etc to sweat it out.