No Benji today..

My dear Benji was sick today!! He is NEVER ever sick...but he called in sick today! He said he was feeling unwell yesterday...i guess he was really unwell! He is one kid that has the strongest immune system! Must be all the veggies and fruits he consumes...the room was different without him today...nobody to stimulate my brain cells! Get well soon Benji!

A chance discovery...tantalising the tastebuds once more..

Indonesian Fair...we were driving past Sydney Uni with some friends (Huey and Jin) when we came across lots of white tents and many Asians lurking about...thinking that it looked promising...we decided to take a look. And sure enough...there were lots of yummy food! Its a fair that is held by the Indonesians every 2nd week of August to celebrate their National day...

Kueh dadar...Eugene's fav! He had to try it...verdict...not too bad, but again just doesn't add up to the ones at home! But better than nothing!

Goreng Pisang! Not like the ones at home...pisang not that sweet but yum anyway! One for $1.50...

Kueh Lopis!! Yup...finally get to eat some kueh kueh...eating them reminded me so much of the malay stall in Scotts picnic food court...yum..succulent! There will be a Malaysian fair on the last weekend of August...as they are celebrating their National day...must go down and get more kueh kueh!!

Came and gone...

My good friend and ex-colleague...Luvena. She left a month ago for another child care centre that is nearer her home...boo hoo...but am happy for her...she's getting married in 2 weeks time! Excited to see her in a gown!

Magda and me...she left last Friday...was so so sad...we really got along very well...she's from Peru and there were times where she gets pretty homesick too, so we were able to share and understand each other pretty well! She has moved to a preschool in the North shore...wish her well but she will be dearly missed!

These were collegues that have helped me adjust to the working life here...God knew what and whom i needed!

Our mini national day remembrance gathering...

Yup..the day was bright and beautiful and it was truely a good time of gathering and having yummy food! Oops...forgot to explain how this happened...eugene and i were toying with the idea of having a gathering of all our singaporean friends....just so that our different groups of singaporean friends can get to know each other...kind of be a support to one another. Then we thought...why not extend it to other singporeans that might be interested to come. So that's what we did...it was a good turn up of about 20 odd singaporeans...all reminising about home! It was a good day!

Our kro pok! Had quite a few while it was being cooked! crunch crunch...



The final dish...chicken curry!

The spread of wonderful food and company...we had chap chye, stewed pig's trotters, red bean paste, roti prata, fried kway teow among many other yummy stuff!

The five stars arising...

Feeling patriotic today...9th August...National Day has been so ingrained in me...what with the School celebrations...watching the parade with my family..the patriotic songs, thus it is not surprising that i'm missing home extra hard today! The following things remind me of Singapore...still home to me...

Thanks to Cindy and Jos...a little reminder of Singapore...these were National day shirts 2004..

TCS drama serials...a means of spreading political propaganda! Haven't had my legal dose of brain washing patriotism for some time...miss it too...

8 days...so Singapore! Believe it or not...i kind of miss reading it! Will try to catch the parade on the web tonight.

The funny thing about Benji...

Yup...another hilarious incident with Benji and John...Our centre has a few bikes for the kids when they play outside, not many bikes to go around so when a kid actually gets to ride on one..he/she tries not to leave them or another kid would take it! Another thing about the bikes are that there seem to be a preference for some bikes over others..apparantly, some of the bikes have lower seats (which makes it easier for the kids to reach the pedals as compared to others)
Well...one morning while we were outside and both Benji and John were riding around on their bikes, Benji rode up to me and said.." Meme i do poo, i do poo", he frequently comes to me to inform me of his bowel movements so that i can clean him up and change his nappy. But we had a problem...which i can fully empathize with...he didn't want to leave his bike and go to the nappy change room...so we came up with a solution and decided to instruct John to wait outside the room and look after his bike while i change Benji in the room. Benji was kind of skeptical about it...but after John assured him that he will take care of his bike (by putting his leg over Benji's bike while sitting on his own bike)...Benji agreed to change his nappy.
After i changed Benji's nappy i had to change another kid's nappy so i couldn't let Benji out of the room just yet...while i was changing the other kid's nappy i kept hearing Benji yell..."John stop it...No John" (pause).."NO NO NO JOHN...NO stop it...noooooo" Wondering what Benji was yelling about i went out to have a look...it seems that John had sneakily swopped his bike with Benji's bike which he was supposed to look after. Benji couldn't physically stop him cos he was still in the room and couldn't open the door on his own! So he was standing at the door and yelling for John to stop...apparantly falling on deaf ears!
I opened the door to let Benji out...who at this point was jumping up and down with rage...and sure enough John was sitting sheepishly on his newly acquired bike. I tried to convince John to give Benji his bike back but he wasn't willing...so i said, "John...you are a big boy and Benji is small boy...so you take the BIG bike cos you are a BIG boy and Benjitake the small bike cos he is small..." John said..." Benji small? Me big? OK..." All was well again as the two boys rode off into the sun set...

The girl with the bead necklace

Beautiful necklace isn't it! Thanks to the creative talents of my dear sister...i must admit that i thought it was store bought when i received it in the mail! Really like the colour and the beads...these necklaces are so in the rage now...but its nice to be able to custom make these...maybe i should learn how to do it too! No..i think i prefer to learn how to make bags! Hey mandy...make me one more leh...maybe you can sell these on ebay! Or i'll put them on sale at the paddington/Bondi or Glebe markets?

Quick Brown Fox

My favourite clothing, bag and shoe store! The shoes and bags are really nice and pretty reasonable...the clothes are really pretty but a bit pricer than i would like...but overall a very nice place to browse and look at girly stuff!

New look

Like my new look blog...wished i had the skills to further personalise it but...oh well...this will do for the moment. My current fav colour...green!
Studies have resumed with a vengence...this semester is really going to hit me hard! I think the thing that i struggle most is the change in field (thus not being very familiar with technical terms) and not being familiar with educational policies here in Australia, NSW...sigh...oh well 2 more semesters then i'm done...by God's grace!
Work has been interesting...lots of cuddles and smooches from the kids! However, 2 of my colleagues (whom i'm closest too) have left...found better paying jobs...sigh. I guess life is like that...full of change, but we promised to still keep in contact with each other.