Kung Hei Fatt Choy!! Fatt Ah!!!

We were at a shop selling Chinese New Year decorative items when these Chinese gold ingots caught the boy's eyes and he brought three home at RM2 per piece. He didn't want the plastic made ones and insisted on the real gold (made of metal and painted gold la).  LOL...

Little facts about Chinese Gold Ingots

Chinese Gold Ingots are regarded as a very auspicious symbols of wealth and fortune, and as a feng shui wealth cure are placed in the wealth area of your home They were originally used in ancient China as a currency, and we can say that in their roots they were somehow analogous to our nowadays gold bars.

In less than 4 hours, we will bid farewell to the Year of Rabbit and usher in the Year of Dragon. 

Here wishing everyone who comes by my blog:

KUNG

HEI

FATT

CHOY!!!

FATT.. FATT... FATT AH!!!

Room Rentals

When we first got married more than 10 years ago, we had a single storey house in USJ, Subang Jaya.  The 3 bedrooms except the master room could hardly fit in a double bed, imagine how small those rooms were.  Our house constantly received relatives who came visiting from outstation, some came to register their kids into colleges or universities while some, sightseeing and shopping.  They would usually put up at my place for a week or so.  Though I was happy to have had them in my house but it was rather embarassing when they came in a big group and some of them ended up putting up in my living hall!  I could not turned them down as my beloved mom approved their stay at my house on my behalf.  Asking them to stay in a hotel was cruel as most of them were not well off.   I was fortunate (and still am) to have a husband who was (and still is!) very giving and treated my family and relatives like his own.  As bus service was not so reliable and regular at the area, he even took the trouble to chauffeur them around when time permit. Oh, well..

No more headaches for me ever since I discovered a room rental website portal,  ibilik, Malaysia's largest Room for Rent/Homestay/Short Term Rental website with over 100,000 listings posted online all across  Malaysia.  I always recommend this website to my relatives and friends in need of a place to stay and they are now spoilt for choice on types of rooms and locations that fit into their budget and needs, what's more they don't have to put up in my living hall anymore!  LOL...

A Story Behind A Mandarin Orange

I must jot this down for record before it slips my mind.  Our boy's class teacher gave each of them in the class a mandarin orange two days before the school closed for CNY.  Our boy got his with a cute tiny leaf still intact on the fruit which his pals oohed and aahed that it was indeed 'special', you know that kind of mine is better than yours among kiddos. Hahaha...  

He put the orange on his desk and went kepoh-ing.  When he walked back to his seat, he suddenly noticed that 'precious' leaf on his orange's gone!  He then sensed someone staring at him with his hand firmly pressed protectively on his school bag as though it would fly away.  Our boy quickly walked to that boy and demanded his precious orange back.  That boy refused but my boy insisted,  'Kuai dian huan gei wo'  (return to me quick) and after a while, he finally got his precious orange back. :) 

Our boy has always been a good-natured boy and will give in to other's request most of the time. I had been worried about him being bullied by his peers but I am relieved that my worries were virtually unfounded. I am so proud of him and gave him lots of praises over this incident for standing up for his own right!

A little fact about Mandarin Oranges:

Our boy's Mandarin orange looked something like the above picture,

only that the leaf was like.. errr.. 3x smaller. Hahaha..

Why are Mandarin oranges one of the must-haves during CNY:

In Cantonese, the word for Mandarin orange and gold are phonetically similar. Both are pronounced as "kam". Hence, Mandarin oranges represent wealth. When visiting relatives or friends at open house, it is also the norm to bring "kam" along as gifts. However, when giving away oranges, the number of oranges must not be odd, and usually an auspicious amount is given. 

Aikido 7th Kyu Grading Test

Grading test about to start.. Can you spot the boy from the pic?

Last round of practice before the test

Our boy had his 2nd Aikido test - 7th Kyu grading on the last day of 2011 which he passed with yellow belt.  He started Aikido classes a year ago.  We initially signed him up for unlimited classes but changed to once a week classes after 3 months.  He would have advanced faster if he had attended classes more often but we simply don't have the luxury of time.  Now with us moving further away from the dojo, he can only afford to attend classes once a week.   Not that there isn't any Aikido dojo around where we live but for now, we'll stick to the present one as the boy prefers it this way.

Other than attending Aikido and art classes, the boy is joining his 1st dhamma class in our neighbourhood tomorrow morning.  That's enough to keep his weekends occupied and for now, we have no intention to send him for tuition classes, not yet as the mommy thinks the load is still  manageable for her but of course  a SOS distress signal will be sent out when things start to get out of hand and that is the time when she has to let the outsourced tutor takes over.  She hopes this day will never come as she still prefers to coach her son personally. *fingers crossed*

2nd Day Of School

Sorry for the lack of posts.  We have been under the weather since coming back from Genting last Monday.  Blame it on the weather, so freaking hot!  I am also busy spring cleaning the house and as though that isn't enough to keep me busy, the air-cond in our master bedroom decided to opt for early retirement!  Grrrrrr....

I have been waiting for the air-cond guy to come and install our new air-cond since this afternoon but he called two hours ago telling me that he just realised he has got the wrong unit from the store and was making a detour back to change it at their Batu Caves store! What la!  Thought I could clean up the bedroom before fetching the son from school.  Looks like I'll have to work overtime tonight. Haiz.. 

The boy, though nursing a flu is happy to be back to school again.  I bought him a pair of spare shoes and 2 sets of uniform as he has outgrown the previous ones.   He is happy to have a class teacher this year who is 'capable' of smiling. Hahaha..  His class teacher was so thoughtful that she even prepared some little gifts with a note for everyone in the class.  His class teacher last year was the opposite, she barely smiled and my boy told me she would only 'smirk' and never once did he see her smile. :(  I talked to the teacher before and she did smile to me or maybe her smiles are only reserved for parents. *bleh* 

He brought back homework on the first day of school yesterday.  It was a short essay about the students' daily lives and the topic was "My first day in school".  It's a weekly short essay and they are expected to write at least half a page.  He still needs me around to input and help him out on this and I hope with lots of practice, he can gradually get the hang of it and write his own essay.  

I have to work out his new timetable together with him over the weekend and a daily routine must be in place by next week!  As he is in the afternoon session and nursing a flu, I still let him sleep in a bit in the morning but we have to get back to the routine by next week!  Flu bugs.. please please please go away.