Photos from Nanjing - Mum's Edutrip

Mum's back from her trip to Nanjing. It has been two days and she is still talking about it. Looking at the program for the 7 days, the organisers have packed in a lot of activities and opportunities for learning and interacting. I cannot provide captions for the photos, because I didn't have the good fortune to go! haha







This is Mr Huang Mingde. Appears quite often as a guest on Radio 1003 (yes, I am on the uncle station).


According to mum, this was her work, albeit with lots of assistance from the instructor.

Housewarming & Junglun's Birthday

Aunt Jac moved into her new place and graciously held a housewarming lunch today. It was also the occasion of her son, my cousin, Jinglun's 19th birthday! As Jinglun is 'reading' law, I got him a John Grisham novel and a key chain with the words "Good lawyers never lose their appeal". A little cheesy on the pun, but it will have to do -- difficult to find appropriate for sensitive 19 year olds!

Some photos on the new place which is sited on a knoll, the balcony looks out onto the south of Singapore. Looking down, one can see the swimming pool and some mature trees which provide a welcome sight of greenery.
The pool, a good half-olympic size length, looks colorful and welcoming from the top. I heard from cousin Jialun the depth is only 1.3m which I think is a good idea for safety reasons.

That's the club house. The tennis court is on the second level, beneath it is a well-equipped gym, the management office and two functions room.

Sinclair and his soon-to-be wife. They are colleagues at their work place.

Jinglun's birthday cake complimentary of Sinclair and 'wife'. Wonderfully sinful -- lots of chocolate!
woohh...branded cake!
The birthday boy looking 19 years old! compliment...
My nephew Seth striking a pose for his uncle.

长拳

Dana has food allergy

Dana is fed a diet of Azmira dry food mixed with slow-cooked pork. Little did I know this will, after so many months of this diet, lead to her developing a food allergy.

Dana developed a spot of dryness on the skin which I thought was a 'hotspot' (canine talk) which is caused by bacteria. The vet said that the spot is actually eczema caused by food allergy. So sorry Dana, your can only have dry food from now onwards, and by the way, doctor says you are FAT!

Mum off to Nanjing

Although mum has taken care of us for so many years, today at Changi Airport, when I see her venturing off with her new-found friends cum classmates, telling us we can go home (when we were there to see her off), I am not without a sense of role-reversal, that my mum is finally independent and she will be going alone overseas.

Our present world of technology and English could be very prohibitive to my mum's generation, so as we grew older and learn the tools of our world, but as the world changed increasingly faster, to my mum's generation, this world becomes more and more difficult to comprehend and they therefore stayed out of it and many never learnt to use a PC, surf the internet or use a mouse.

The YAH (Young at Heart) course is therefore a sort of conversion to the modern world so that the older generation can embrace and appreciate what technology, the world of internet, emails has to offer. The first step normally is the hardest and that's what this course aims to do, to encourage many to take this courageous step.

易筋經

八段锦 - 强身健体，浅而易懂

共勉

虽然我不是华初子弟，但一直向往着华初的情怀。在当兵的时候，还特别向兵营里华初的校友学习梁文福先生当学生理事时写的一首《只为那爱我愿》。歌词其中有两句特别让我感动的：

没有瀑布与岩石的阻挡，溪水就没有悦耳的歌唱。
不愿途中无波浪无挑战，愈经挫折生命愈灿烂！

共勉之。。。

Snowy

Snowy the dog went under the knife for her spaying operation. Spaying is widely encouraged as it prevents unwanted puppies and supposedly results in a lowered risk of cancer and other ailments for the dog. Of couse, the dog probably thinks differently and is weakended considerably after the operation.

Here she is pictured enjoying her session of get-well-massage courtesy of my wife.

For the record, she is 99% back to her normal feisty, bossy self.

Wedding coming up in Sep 08

Best wishes to Sinclair and his fiance who are getting married on 14 Sep 08. I am honoured to be helping out with the transport on that day ie driving my car. Looking forward to the happy occasion!