Enjoying KFC breakfast

First day of the school holiday, we went to KFC for breakfast. The children loved the a.m. Cheezy Egg Bun Combo with hot Milo. Good to occupy their time at the indoor playground and for the parents some free time to read newspaper :)

Mmm.. can't wait to eat you Cheezy Egg Bun

This hairstyle is gone by afternoon

Slurp... I hope she will be more ladylike but ...

Mmm..

The Cheezy Egg Bun is just right for children

Midyear exam review 2012

姐姐's mid-year exam is done. She got all the papers back and thus I'm doing some analysis for her performance.

- Mandarin: Was careless and wrote half-finished words like missing strokes for simple words like 园. And missing her full stops again.
- Need improvement in writing or completing sentences involving pictures. She did not choose the correct keywords when required to refer to pictures. Example picture show jogging （跑步), she wrote strolling (散步）. Picture show father, mother and child, she only wrote child.
- Maths: Didn't carry over the sum for addition. Wrote wrong words for number given (example given 999 but she wrote 199 in words). Didn't complete the 3 part addition in 应用题。
- Science: Does not know the Mandarin words for dolphin, ostrich (I also dunno :P). Need improvement in identifying animals diet and 胎生/卵生.
- Pendidikan Moral: Need to learn what situation calls for words like 道别，道歉，道谢。
- English: Left and right is confusing especially need to identify the person in picture's left and right.
- BM: see the wrong tool in picture (she wrote gunting but teacher say it's pisau), missing word "sedang" when she copy from ayat tunggal to ayat majmuk, making the ayat majmuk incomplete.

Overall we are still satisfied as we can see she did put in a lot of effort. But she really need to work on improvement for her careless mistakes and Maths.

After the school exam, she had LINUS (Literacy dan Numeracy Screening) the following week. The school gave us a memo and requested the children to study their textbook and activity books. Good thing the school teachers for BM and Maths did revision with them in class. Then after that, they had a school internal ejaan competition that all the children are required to participate and asked them to study their textbook and activity book again! By now, even I as parent got fed-up with the many exams/tests to prepare. 姐姐 is still patient about the many tests, formal or informal, and tell me not to worry, she will study. She said "读罢了嘛, 不用紧的".

弟弟 was recovering from fever last week right before exam. He only started studying each subject the day before its exam this week. Sigh. We will only know his result by Parent-Teacher's Day after the school holidays.

Colouring Contest - Road to London 2012 and 30th Anniversary Celebration with Ronald McDonald

The children joined a colouring contest and event at McDonalds Green Lane recommended by 弟弟's kindy. He was excited to go as most of his good friends will be there. At first, 弟弟 didn't want 姐姐 to join but Teacher Queenie wanted 姐姐 to have fun there too. Finally he agreed for her to join us.

We were on time but lots of kids and parents are already there, until carpark is full! We had to park by the roadside. Registration is done quickly as the place was already quite full by then. Thought everyone could sit anywhere but right before the contest starts, the staff had our children moved to another corner to be with the 5 - 8 years old children's group. There is another group for 9 - 12 years old children (which is not so many kids joining actually).

While waiting for event to start, they chatted and joked. And during the colouring contest.

Since there is no place to sit, parents were standing around for ~1.5 hours including waiting time for the event to start. Ohhh.... my feet! Even in flats, my feet hurt. There is no place to sit downstairs as McDonalds is really crowded in the morning, I guess it's because most of the kids finished their mid-year exams. We met Xin Yi and Xin Ming's mom but lost sight of her soon after as it's so crowded.

姐姐 finished well before the end time. Thought her work is quite well ya. And even though he was looking here and there, 弟弟 also finished his work on time. He produced better result than his usual style. He was eyeing for the goodie pack as Teacher Queenie must have told the children only those who do nice work will be given goodie pack :) After all, as long as he "wins" himself, that is most important right? In fact, the picture is rather complicated for 5-6 years old.

Their finished work. 姐姐 gave 弟弟 some tips after she finished. She tell him to quickly finish up the parts he didn't complete.

There was a meal voucher for Happy Meal and that was their lunch. Finally we get to sit down, for the parents I mean :) They played with their friends at the playground before going for the Ronald show. We didn't realize the show is started until Ronald McDonald came up, thus they were squashed at the back.

We were pleasantly surprised that 姐姐 won a prize for her colouring during prize presentation. She is really lucky! Other children from the kindy won prizes too. 弟弟 was a little disappointed as 姐姐 got a prize and he didn't. But we consoled him that he already did his best and 姐姐 generously shared her prize with him. There are the Bobble Head Collectibles and other knick-knacks like pencil case, cutlery set, cap, toy ball and toy sundae.

Prize presentation, oops didn't get a good picture.

Her prize in the bag, trophy and the goodie pack

Dessert at 鲜芋仙 Meet Fresh, Gurney Plaza

It's public holiday! As we missed our outing for quite some time since 爸爸 is always travelling, he brings us out for lunch. Just discovered this new dessert shop at Gurney Plaza called 鲜芋仙 Meet Fresh. They sell Taiwanese style dessert, considered reasonably priced for Gurney Plaza. RM6.50 for most of the hot/cold desserts, up to RM5.90 for most of the drinks, of course there are drinks like shaved ice which are more premium range. Loads of people there during the weekend we were there. See the queue, never stops the whole time we were there. The bowl of dessert is big, right?

Slurp, slurp, drink

Eat, eat, munch, munch

Only 姐姐 will volunteer to give up the jelly for 弟弟

School trip to Perak - Taiping, Kuala Kangsar, Kuala Sepetang

姐姐 and I join her one-day school trip to Perak's Taiping, Kuala Kangsar and Kuala Sepetang. She was so excited from beginning of the year when she heard the Year 1, 2 and 3 students get to go on school trip. Last year, only Year 2 and 3 get to go Penang Hill.

When she bring back the memo, it's all in Mandarin, so I'm not even sure where some of the places are. Itinerary is: Take ferry to Butterworth, from there take train to Taiping. Then go to Taiping Museum and Taiping Zoo. After that visit Kuala Kangsar. Then 太平瓜拉十八丁 - we don't even know where is that place? Then off to Bukit Tambun for seafood dinner and back. Anyway it will be a good educational trip for children.

We have to gather at the school canteen at 5:45AM. What luck, it rained! Boarded bus around 6:15am. When we reach the Penang ferry terminal, it's still quite dark. The children get to take the ferry for free (this is what our tour guide told us later)!

姐姐 and her friends on the ferry

When we reach Butterworth, it was still raining. We had to use an umbrella as there are uncovered sections walking to the train station. The most difficult part is avoiding puddles - big and small, the uneven sections of the walk to train terminal turn into puddles with the rain. It's about 2.5 hours train ride to Taiping. Yesterday, 姐姐 was telling us the train is air-conditioned (as 爸爸 scared her that he rode on train cabin without air-condition).

On the train

 At Taiping, the first stop is Perak Museum. There's a display of antique fighter jet, railway carriage, vehicles, cannons etc outside. Inside they have display of Malay, Chinese and Indian cultural things like food, wedding ceremony things on ground floor. Mostly the display are Malay traditional games like congkak, wau, gasing, Malay traditional music instruments, traditional tenunan and anyaman, Orang Asli traditional tools, tembikar, labu etc.

Sliding across the smooth plank floor. They were scolded by teacher for playing the fool haha

After that, it's a visit to the Taiping Zoo. It must be good day for school field trip, as we're not the only school group there. Our group queued quite long to board the tram, which brings us around the zoo grounds. We saw orang utans, chimpanzees, camels, otters, owls, bats, crocodiles, sun bears, tigers, lions, black panther, giraffes, zebras, ostrich, swans, flamingos, flying foxes, wild boars, deers, seladang, rhinos, hippo, elephants etc. As it's near noon, it's very hot there. But do visit in the morning or near noon, as Taiping is prone to rain showers in the afternoon and evening. After all it is known also as 雨城 (rain town). Lots of kids went to buy ice-cream during the 30 minutes free time we have there. 姐姐 and I went around looking for the porcupine she missed seeing on the tram (but couldn't find them). It's too hot to be walking around and we're getting tired, so we just went back to the waiting area before departing with the group.

Next is lunch around 1pm! Everyone is super hungry by now as we were up since about 5am. We had lunch at a restaurant called BBQ something near Taiping Lake. We had fried chicken in orange sauce, something that looked like fried tofu skin with ham, tofu with 蛋花 sauce, 芙蓉蛋, sweet and sour pork with tomatoes, cucumber, onions, and longan dessert. Kids love the longan dessert best :) After that, the adults and kids went shopping for local products a few shops away. Everyone must have bought a lorry-load of local products and earned the tour guides good commissions as the tour guide even distributed peanut sweets to all the children later.

After Taiping, we visited Kuala Kangsar. First we go to see the oldest rubber tree planted which is from Brazil (南美). Just see-see look-look from the bus. The area near the istana is very clean, spick-and-span as it's Royal Residence of Sultan Perak. The Istana Kenangan is closed for visiting by public (indefinitely until maintenance is completed) and we only took one photo outside. Istana Kenangan is the previous royal residence which is build without a single nail. We passed by Masjid Ubudiah and Istana Iskandariah (also see-see look-look, this is the usual way of touring by bus) before visiting Sultan Azlan Shah Gallery. The grounds at Sultan Azlan Shah Gallery is very picturesque, and the building is colonial style. It housed display of many "cenderamata" from various countries and organizations, the Sultan's barrister-at-law and chancellor robes, His Royal Highness' keris and many other collections. Children were going "ooohh.... aaaahhhh" over the jewels, crystals and precious stones on the momentos. There is a public toilet outside which collects 30 sen for each use and we rushed there upon reaching as many children need to go to toilet. The teachers really go beyond their call of duty and responsibility as they rushed the children there and even helped to pay for them. Oh I love this school's teachers, they are so kind.

Unfortunately some of the photos taken outside Perak Museum, at Taiping Zoo (only one), Istana Kenangan (also known as Perak Royal Museum) and Sultan Azlan Shah Gallery were lost. Our photos were somehow lost after the camera dial was shifted during power on. Beats me why it is the cause. So sad.. :(  as the Sultan Azlan Shah Gallery is really pretty with the fountains outside, even though we cannot take any photo inside. Hope to plan a visit to Kuala Kangsar again on our own as I can't bear that photos are lost :(

Late afternoon, it's off to Kuala Sepetang (previously known as Port Weld). Seems like the first railway track is build at Taiping linking Port Weld according to this website. This is where we will see the Kuala Sepetang Mangrove Park 红树林保护区。The children are shown the oldest bakau tree in the area, which is 65 years old as of 2012~ grandfather of a tree. There are wooden walkways along the way, so it's bearable. However we were warned not to touch the rope as there are insects and 毛毛虫 hiding there, haha. That kept the children's hands off!

The 65 year-old bakau tree

After the nature trail, it's off to nearby charcoal factory. What a sunset industry, and a uncomfortable working condition for me who spent 12 years of sitting in air-conditioned factory/office :) 姐姐 asked to go out ASAP, as it's mighty hot and stuffy inside with some of the furnaces working. The guide shared with us it took ~40 days for the wood to be turned to good quality charcoal.

It was so hot near furnace, I asked her to quickly move and that's why the photo turned out blurry

It's already late evening by then, and we turn back to Taiping for the ones who ordered mee koo. Not sure what's special about Taiping mee koo, since everyone ordered I also ordered one of each flavour :) We were taken to a stall at a market complex. It costs RM3 for each mee koo. There are so many people huddling around from our group that I immediately slink back to the tour bus after getting mine.

This caused our dinner to be late, and lots of growling tummies to Bukit Tambun for seafood dinner. Dinner consists of fried egg, tofu, mayonnaise prawn, sweet and sour fish, steamed and spicy lala, spicy veggie, fried squid. Other than fried egg, tofu and mayonnaise prawn, most children didn't take the rest. Oh too bad I didn't have enough time to eat my dinner peacefully as I was busy helping the children at my table, and also bringing some of the girls to the toilet. Some brave kids actually came on their own with friends only and their parents didn't accompany them.

Our bus reached the school only around 10:15pm, and many parents were already outside waiting for their kids. Traffic jam outside the school when the bus reached. Anyway it's not our fault that we're late, if they could just speed up or skip the buying mee koo and buying local products part, then we will have dinner on time. So tired! But 姐姐 still want to go for school trip and wants me there too, as she said she feel safer. Ok la..... after all the manja'ing, I probably will go with her or 弟弟 again even though it's very tiring.
One final photo of the mee koo from Taiping :) 姐姐 and 弟弟 say it's quite delicious.

Fragrant pandan smell, and with red bean or kaya filling. Taste like mee koo, and like swiss roll inside.

弟弟's Sports Day 2012

This year 姐姐 and I didn't join 弟弟's Sports Day as we went for school trip. Photos taken with 爸爸's phone. Not bad ya.... I think he takes very good photos. Of course this being my own 吹水区, I have to say my boy looks cute :)

Getting his green Thinking Cap from teacher

With his friend Chun Yang

Children gathering at the Northsports Center. 爸爸 actually taking all the photos here from this netting.

Queue up with his class for singing

Waiting for his game

Snack before game as his game is last. Younger children get their turn first.

Finally his game starts. It's called "Chillex Boys and Girls are PK to win", whatever it means :) The waiting time is longer this year as the new branch also join for Sports Day. Nice green lawn ya, but remember it's fake grass? LOL!

Looks big boy here, compared to his first and second Sports Day

He's very happy to get his participation trophy and goodie bag.

Probably concert also going to have both branches together. Another long wait! Luckily it's his last year at kindy already. It's nice to see him growing up and learning so many things.

School exam week ahead

We'll be busy with preparations for school exams, one after another for both children. 姐姐's school will have written exam (BM and BC Penulisan) for 2 days this week, and computer class exam for school. Then break for one week. They will continue to have the rest of the comprehension (BM and BC Pemahaman) and other subjects 2nd week of May.

弟弟's kindy exam in 3rd week of May for BM, BC, English and Maths.

Have anyone heard of what is KSSR Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah (校本评估)? This is the first time I heard it too from my girl. She said they had done some tests in class. The teacher will explain what to do and they work on it at school. They are not allowed to bring these "workbooks" home. It sounds so familiar to me, and I just remembered hey, we paid for those "workbooks" earlier :)

The little memo she brought back