Our updates

So we left KK on Saturday the 19th  December 2009, that was my dad's birthday. To think of it, life is funny and full of surprises. Exactly 5 years ago on the same date, we were in Shanghai for a short holiday, celebrating my dad's and my niece b'day in Shanghai ( my niece Abby's b'day is on the 20th of December) . And we just moved to Guangzhou on October that year , but we visited Shanghai for a short trip with my dad and my eldest sis and her family,
And yet , here we are again 5 years later , we are going back to the same city on the same date.

The trip was smooth sailing. There was an hour delay from KK to KL . But overall all were good. The departure from KK is heart breaking , specially to see Indiana's friends started to cry. This is the first time that actually people are crying for us. It made us feel weird, and guilty and bad all together. Indy told me on the way to the airport, after she shed a bit of tears that she feel sorry that she made her friends sad. And when I asked her : are you sad? She said a bit but she is more worry that she will forget them . I told her, no she won't forget them because we will still be in touch and think about them. And that made calmed her down.

As for Maya it is sad to watched her cried to say good bye to her kakak, our maid. Our maid cried and cried and it was a heart breaking thing to see.

We stayed one night in Concorde KLIA. Thank goodness makcik Taty picked us with her beloved husband and my anak angkat , :). We chatted and talked and laughed. And of course cursing each other as usual. I am glad she stayed with me in the hotel, and early next day, her dh picked us again and send us to the airport. No tears here, all were good. Planned are made,.. we will see each other in Shanghai. :). And hopefully" the beq and the tet "will conquer the Great wall of china together!!

Back to us,at first I was more worry for Indy , but it looks like she is doing very fine. She adjusting like a pro ( she is a pro after all, this is her 3 moves ) But for Maya it is hard for her to understand as this is her first move , for her KK is her home, KK is her town, and she is still thinking that we are on holiday and we gonna move back to KK soon.  :( I told her we are not going back, she is insist : I want to go to KK! I said we will but not that soon

Every thing is big and fast in Shanghai. As for me, I don't need any adjustment ( except for the weather wise, when we arrived it was minus 3 ) I lived here before, love the city and still loving it, but  every thing has it pro and con, so right now I m trying to focus on the pro rather than the con. But I miss my Astro and E! channel badly though.

And to my own surprise my mandarin level is not as bad as I thought either! Hah! that is something really good at least. I can manage daily  conversation and needs.

The unfortunate thing is when we arrived my dh was sick for 3 days, with high fever , I almost never see him this sick before. And I m worry we might get it as well. Finger cross....every one looks ok until today.
Due to his sickness we must delay our medical check up for the Residence permit to the next week.

I managed to see some apartments, and by now I just signed the leasing contract. We found a good place for us, will post the pick when we move in soon. But we need to wait more than one month to get our container, so no unpacking will need to be done soon.
Speaking of unpacking.. today I got a maid, she looks ok, and the kids like her too. And that is important.
I interview a few by phone and even met some of them. No one sounds or appear "suitable". And most of them asking for about rmb 2500 so that is about RM 1250 to 1500. That is a high salary, but that is the market price. Our maid now just arrive from her hometown , but she worked in Shanghai before, there fore her pay is slightly lower that the normal market price.

Oh and everything is much much cheaper here. And guess what, I bought a sweater in ROXY warisan square, on 50% disc. I thought I scored a good deal ( rm 100) yeah right! When I went to Carrefour herehere, I saw the identical sweater for  half price! GRRRR.... and of course without the brand and all but it is the same thing. Welcome to China!

The girls spent their Christmas here . We still stay in our friend's house. So Santa is not visiting this year. But they got 2 presents from us. For Indy she got her long waited Telescope. She wants to learn more about stars and moon and planet. And I bought her the virtual dog game too .
As for Maya she got one remote control shovel machine ( she likes to see when people building the houses and building in KK) and she got a 3 wheels scooter to replace her old scooter that we left in KK .
And I got my suede with inner fleece boots that I've been eyeing for months. It is super comfy , super warm and the sole has a great grip . Love it.

Oh the girls have no problem with the cold, Maya often walk bare footed inside the house's freezing floor. I keep yelling at her to put her home shoes. They still taking bath twice a day. But when we go out, I make sure they are well dressed. 3 top and for bottom they must put a long socks and long pants.
So far so good. The lowest temperature is -5 so far, and when the wind blows it feels like someone slapping your cheek.

Overall we are doing good here. By next week we will move to our new house. Not yet a home until we will get our belongings from the cargo. And no Wifi yet in the new house, so I must use modem ( banging my head for not packing the router in my luggage)

I will not post the photo here. I m running out of time, But you can see some photos on my FB's badge on the right side :)

Merry Christmas everyone and have a Great Year a head!!!

No Boundaries

So the times has come. We will leave the country soon. This is the last post from Malaysia using my PC at home :) . Next post hopefully will be soon  ( mobile blogging ). After we arrive in Shanghai, it will be depends on how fast I can get my new China Mobile numbers and if I can use the GPRS or 3G service soon.

The makciks being so kind to arrange pot luck lunch for me. I think it suppose to be some kind of surprise, but , I kind of know it. :P So sorry if I was not that surprise ... got six sense mah. :) But I didn't expect any gift at all. So I really appreciate for all the effort and time ( I know it is hard to make it happen as you all are busy moms )

So all are packed by now. Our dogs will be adopted with a same person, so they will stay together. That is a relieve for us, and the new owner , a friend , will also update us with their pics. That is what my girls want to know.

The heartbreaking part for them ( specially  Maya) is to say good bye to our maid. For her , she is like a closed grandma figure , old and kind. And I know, my maid will cry a lot too. sigh.....

But again, love , family and friendship has no boundaries !

Thank you to you all and to this city ,who and which is already being a part of my children's childhood memories, being our friends,and being a place that my children will remember the most.

Until we meet again..... sure will visit back ! ^_^

Ta daa......

You can go higher

You can go deeper

There are no boundaries 

Above and beneath you

Break every rules , coz there are nothing between you and your dreams

Jumped every bridge, I've run every line

I risk being safe, I always knew why

So here I am still holding on

This is not the ending but just the beginning

As you read at my previous post, I must let my " baby" go. But I don't think it as a good bye, but more like to send a kid away to a college and see it grow. :)

Due to relocating again, I think this is the best of my online store, to stay here with it's loyal customers .

I hope you will still enjoy Mia Bambina and love it more!

Hugs

Sandra Rocco

SURPRISE!Mia Bambina is welcoming the new owner

As you all might noticed, Mia Bambina is being stagnant lately. And we are sorry for any inconvenience caused.But here come the good news : Mia Bambina will have a new owner!

Due to changes in my husband's job , I am not longer be able to run MB ( geographic reason) ^_^ , but I am more than happy to welcome the new owner, she is a great friend, a wonderful mom of 2, and the most important that is a passionate supporter of breastfeeding, cloth diapering, and baby wearing. A "Green Mama" in the whole package ! Which why she will make  a great next person to run  Mia Bambina Online. Without  further delay, let me introduce you to the new owner : ( drum roll please...) Farrah Rahim .

We will make this transition progress as smooth as possible. And I will still assist her behind the scene but I don't think Farrah will need much of my assistance as much as she thought she would be :) . And I firmly believe she will bring Mia Bambina to even better level that it ever been before. One note to Kota  Kinabalu's customers, Mia Bambina won't be based in KK anymore but it will be base in the Peninsula from now on.

I want to use this chance to say a BIG thanks to all of you who has been a great customers and for your supports. I also want to apologize if I said something that I didn't mean to  or do something that is not very pleasant to any of you. To be able to run this biz have been one of the memorable time of my life,  and I learn a great big deal out of if, to be a better biz woman and to be a better person and the most important to be a
better friend.

You can contact Farrah at farrah@miabambina.com or sales@miabambina.com for further information.

And once again, please welcome Farrah as the new owner of Mia Bambina!

Sandra

Our lunch!salami!!!cheese n more!muaahahahah

Sent from my Nokia device

Couple Retreat

I've been waiting for this movie since a few months back. Keep seeing the behind the scene on E! I thought it won't show in Malaysia. But finally it is here! I love the actors and actress. And definitely love romantic comedy.

It is great to watch this with our husband too. It is an entertaining movie but it's also remind us to respect , value and the most important is to have fun with our spouse.

In our daily life, we talk a lot with our spouse, but mostly it is out of " necessities" like: what bills to pay, the children tuition fees, where and what to eat for dinner, etc etc"
Many couples do not connect to each other like they used to before married or before children. And it is not rare , in some cases, some couple fell " weird" around each other when no one is around them ( no children, no parents, no friends, no in laws)  They  feel "lost" and " can't enjoy each other company" if there are just 2 of them.

In Asia , it is common practice to bring parents, in laws for vacations, dinner, sleep over. The more the merrier. And it is a great value to teach to our kids. For holiday season like Christmas, Chinese New Year, Hari Raya,etc. Or it is also common to go holiday with bunch of other families and relatives.

While the western tradition, while it is a tradition to spend time with family too during holiday season ( Easter, Christmas,Thanks Giving, etc) , they are also sometimes more on the "selfish" side compare to the Asian.
In the meaning of : it is rare that grandparents will take a full care of the grand children, because the elderly there will enjoy the most of their golden years ( taking cruise, go to holiday all around the world), and once the kids' reach 18 or 20  they will move out from the house and try to earn some money while studying by working part time . Mean while in Asia, it is normal to have the grandparents to take care of the grandchildren full time, and it is common to live together with in laws even after the children got married, surprisingly some people are still getting financial support from their own parents. 

Nothing good or bad, right or wrong , it is all depends on what we want in life. I want my parents to enjoy more in their golden years. Though it will be great to have sometimes our parents to take care of our children but to take care of them full time is a hard job, and I don't want to give them any more financial burden . They 've done their job to take care of us and spend money for us, it is time to give something back in return.

Back to the couple thing , I think when a couple can't enjoy each other company anymore without the " buffering" person, I might say there are some "glitch" in the relationship. When a couple can't have fun anymore there is a " glitch" too. When the couple don't enjoy each other touch or like to cuddle anymore or even worst decreasing of the sex life, there are some " glitch".

All married have glitch here and there. There are no perfect marriage. But when marriage turns to "work" then we must find the way back to make it " enjoyable".

Fix that glitch now ! Why don't it start with going to cinema with your spouse? The Couple Retreat is a great movie for couple. :)

Happy weekend!

New Moonmania

Finally ....we saw it! And we will see it again.. and again.... and I will read the book again.... :0) .

Twilight pandemonium has taken the world. Young, old, middle old, a bit older, teenager , moms, aunts  ^_^.

And yes.. as you can see ( and tell) I am one of them. It is nuts, and crazy , sometimes doesn't even make sense. But I think it is cool to still be able to "love" something and "passionate" about something.

My nieces and nephew said: you are the only " aunt" that love twilight in my school. My sis said : Geez....my teenage daughters are not so into Twilight like you" ;")

But we need to be entertain ( and NOT just buy compulsive shopping). But by books ,movies and music too.

So here are the photos taken on the early NM in Kota Kinabalu. We thought we will be the noisiest but NO! hahaha . When the famous "Jacob the six packs" and" Edward's daylight appearance  in Volterra" was shown... the whole cinema go : AAAAAH............OOOOOH.......and... WEEEEEEE.......And for the last sentence by E.C in the last part of the movie....almost everyone clapped their hands! And that is the power of Twilight Saga.

Another show anyone? I am going to see it again tonight :p...

Next obsession : you guess it....of course ! ECLIPSE!

He is not a babysitter!

I am a mom of 2 young girls ( and the time yet to come until they become teenager). Are all the TV program suitable for kids? NO!

Adam was performed in the AMERICAN Music Award and it was almost 11 pm , he was not performing for Nickelodeon, Teen awards or kids choice award. So leave him alone.

Was his performance is family appropriate? NO!
But so do the Desperate housewives, Friends , Sex an the City, and even Keeping Up with the Kardashian ! These shows all content vulgar language, talk about sex and a lot of kissing.

Have you heard one of Eminem song? Even Katy Perry lyrics said "Bitch" is it suitable for a underage kid? NO! Have you seen the kissing between Madonna and Britney at the MTV awards?

For your Entertainment Official Video

Great video! Great music, a great guy.
Controversy is still hot post AMA ! :)

Whataya Want From Me?

One Sweet Day!

The next day after her school concert we attended the " Advance Cupcake decorating class" held by Deana Cakes. As you all know, I am a fan of her cakes . 2 weeks ago we attended the first cupcakes decorating class. This time we are playing with fondant. Finally I know how to make it :)

Making the fondant from the scratch ( not pre made ,ok?)

Knead knead knead..... and mixing the color.

Yay! one ready to me mould pretty in purple fondant!

Cut and embossed , it is ready to cover one cupcake!

The "pro" tools

Yay! One is done !

The little artist . Getting busy with fondants, colors, designs. She never run of ideas!

Then... came the intruder!!!  Cikgu Deana is so patient to teach Indy. We gave Maya " black" fondant ( as per request) and spatula, so she can get busy too ( and not disturbing) . Maya is having the time of her life, since when playing with play dough can be so yummy too!!!

Funny notes: when we reached home, she still got the fondant in her hand ( mixed of black and yellow and REALLY looks like play dough) , She ate it in front of our maid, and our maid screamed in horror.LOL. Maya with her cool style said : ini boleh makan ,bah! ini bukan mainan , kak! ini gula gula buat kuih!

LMOF!!!

The playful Maya with so serious Indy ( trying to make a "pink turtle")

Cut Cut Cut.... and Sculpt , Sculpt....

And TA DAAAAA our creation :

Indy made most of this , specially the 3D deco. I helped her to mix some colors, and covered the cupcakes.I did some embossing and cutting too  ( Hey!! I also want to learn mah!!! hhahaha)But she had a great fun embossing, cutting, making cars, bottles, mushrooms, turtles, cubes, cutting numbers.

Too bad we must leave about 30 mins early. But we did bring home 2 boxes of cupcakes, learn new skills, and had a fun time! Thanks to Deana who is willing shared and spent her time ( despite of her morning sickness ^_^)

Indy is very happy and told me : She ( Deana) is so nice ya ma? She really sound n look like teacher oh when she teach me ! ( LOL) I am so happy that Aunty Deana wants to teach me.

The cupcakes might last a few hours, or a few days, but the experience and skills and memories will stay for a long time. It is worth it!

Her feeling and her achievement

It's been an emotional roller coaster for our eldest daughter for the last 2 weeks. It is normal to feel sad, to say good bye to her friends. We do not deny it, and we do not think that her feeling is unimportant too. We do what parents need to do, to comfort her, to understand her feeling, but we also need to tell her that this is life, sometimes we don't like it, but we do not have a choice, and it is ok for her to feel sad. But it is important for her to know that she still can keep in touch with her friends, and she will make new friends, and that is is lucky to be able to make a lot more friends whenever we live.

I noticed the change in her. She lost her appetite 2 weeks ago, and she even wet her bed twice in a week ( when  she can read my blog, she will kill me to tell this in my blog !:D ) . I knew that , that was the sign of " children stress". Poor girl. But I do not want to deny that facts or just brush the issue aside. We can't do that to our children. Sometimes, we think : oh that is not important, or oh she will get over it, or naah..she will be ok , or no we dont need to tell her the truth.  The thing is, our children need to know the truth. Specially if that involving their life.

I do not tell them that we will come back to KK soon. I told my youngest that this time , we are moving and will not come back to this house again. This is not holiday. I don't want to lie to her and said ok we go ok?later we come back. For Indy, it is different, she knows what moving mean. And she knows that she will say good bye to her friends  , to her school and to her teachers. I told her, that I know she feel sad, and that is ok. She can talk to me anytime about her feeling. But , I told her, don't worry, you will make more friends there, and you will still be friends with your friends here . Just look at mamma, I have friends in Jakarta, Singapore, etc and I m still in touch with them . I also told her, that she is lucky to have all of this technology now, and she can chat with her friends with webcam, and when she can read and write better, I will let her to have her own facebook ( under my supervision of course) to keep in touch with her friends and our family.

Children will adapt well and faster in normal case. And I think both of them will be excited to live in a big city too. ( finger crossed) .

Indy also had her "school concert" last Friday. And on Thursday, her teacher announced to the class that Indiana will leave them and move to Shanghai. Every girls in the class hug her and said good luck and good bye to her, the boys shake her hands. I knew that must be hard for her to hold back her tears. Some of her friends gave her small gifts too. Her teacher told me that every students in the class love her and like her very much. She is a friendly and helpful girl. And Indy told me that she is the class clown :).

The teacher told me this a few months before when Indy came back from holiday, every one greeted her enthusiastically, so this time her teacher told me that her friends will sure miss her very much. I feel bad also for her best friends, some even told their moms that they are so sad that Indy will move . :(

Sadness aside, last Friday also a good day for her. On the " Awards Night" she got 3 awards! She got  " attendance award" , "reading readiness  award" ( for those who accomplish good progress in reading) and " Bible Scriptures memory award"( for those who can memorized the bible verses in a year).

Her school doesn't put the rank system. Instead they give awards. And this is great. And of course we are so proud of her no matter what. Less than a year ago, or when she was in the Kindy, she was consider the "blur" one. Not by the Kindergarten teachers though. They are quite supportive and said she is doing fine . ( I m not a fan of school who wants to push and force  the students). As we know, most people use the " reading skills" as the measurement to someone intelligent level. Some one that can read early will be consider as smart, and someone who read later on will be consider " slow". While I believe that is not true. And that is important to all parents to have faith in our children no matter what.

Indy shown a good progress and efforts to read. I didn't even force her at home, but I did intrigue her to certain books and stories. And this is what the school did for her. She got free time at school to borrow some books to read. So it was more to "dig out" her interest in reading rather than" forcing" her to read.

So to get the "reading readiness " award is a great milestone . She DID it! And for someone who has struggled to read to be able to memorized the bible scriptures is not easy at all. The principal even said, to memorized that many verses is not even easy for adult. So imagine what effort she did with her limited reading ability to be able to memorized that verses. ( shown on the photo's background)

In one sentence : We are very proud of you ,Indy! :) with our without award!

This is her painting being shown in the student exhibition. I think she did a great job!

"Spoon feeding" method??(edited)

Taken from Learning Beyond Schooling page , this morning I found this article:
Which related to my previous post "the cookie cutter"kids

UPSR shows only 5.7 pc of year sixers think critically


PUTRAJAYA, Nov 19 — The education ministry’s first Aptitude Test for Year Six students during their UPSR exams has shown that only 5.7 per cent (29,084 students) out of 509,885 pupils are skilled at problem solving and decision making, and only 34.34 per cent (175,101) in skilled thinking.


Education Director-General Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom This said today that this indicated that the children needed more training on problem-solving and decision-making.


Speaking at a press conference here today, he explained that the Aptitude Test was divided into two dimensions, namely Skilled Thinking and Problem Solving and Decision-Making .


Alimuddin said a student’s aptitude level was then categorised from Band One (lowest skilled) to Band Four (highest skilled).


The test results have found that when it comes to problem solving and decision making, the majority of Year Six students which is 47.71 per cent (243,258 students) remained in Band Two, followed by 28.24 per cent (143,971 students) in Band Three and 18.35 per cent (93,572 students) in Band One.


On the other hand, the majority of Skilled Thinking students lies in Band Three at 41.04 per cent (209,244 students), followed by 20.71 per cent (105,580 students) in Band Two and 3.91 per cent (19,960) in Band One.


The test also categorised a student’s interest into Academic, Technical and Vocational, Arts, Sports and Culture and Society, ranking them from One (primary interest) to Five (least interest).


There is a 39.31 per cent high tendency of candidates towards the academic, followed by technical and vocational (29.25 per cent), arts (19.26 per cent), culture and social (9.72 per cent) and sport (2.57 per cent). — Bernama




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Problem solving and decisions making skill is crucial for the children education. If they can do very well in math and english, but , in real life , they can't make  a simple decision on what to draw or what to extra class to choose from, those good grades won't help much.  Speaking of which, that is why I always try to ask my girls on the "most stupid" or most simple things like what do you want to drink? what do you want to do later?
what do you want to read? That doesn't mean I will or must give whatever they asked for. But it will make them use to " choices" and "option" in life. And how important is it to make a good option in real life as adult. So they don't often choose the wrong way. ( and trust me in decision making , forcing them with cane wont help but will make it worse! Try to use cane for teenager, what they will do behind the parents back are even more scary!)


Recently, when I browsed for apartments in Shanghai, I always involve the girls. I showed them the photos, make them excited , to " see" their new " house" . And I asked " which one do you like?" that doesn't mean we will choose what they like. But it is more into the involving part, to show them that their opinions ( as silly or small is it) count! And just to keep the conversation and make them speak up their opinion. Indy said she like those with the white sofa, and big windows and jacuzzi ( it is far beyond our budget!!!) but it is nice to "dig" her interest, and listen to her opinion. Maya just said : nice! nice! I like that, and that, that, and that. Got playground ah? :P


Same thing when I prepared their birthday party, I always asked and let them look at the picture of cakes,and asked : which one do you like? what kind of cake do you want to have? Cupcake or Cake? But they didn't always get what they want. We discussed , sometimes if  the cake is big and if we do not have enough guests then I suggest them to change to smaller version or other type. Normally they are ok with it. And this is also teach them to be able to discuss and compromise with others, to be able to accept other different opinion too. To learn that sometimes they can't just get thing they way they want.


Spoon feeding method is just like forcing a kid to eat and swallow whatever the teacher prepare without the right to know or ask what is in the spoon. And like if parents don't give the children a freedom to talk, and to share their opinion.  They are not trained to ask questions, or think outside the box , and be creative. Will this do any good for our children in the future? But we as parents still can do something with the way we educate our children at home. Allow them a bit of freedom to talk, to ask, to give opinion, make decision, to teach them that they have the options in life, teach them about  the responsibility and the consequences  of their acts.

Adam Lambert album preview!!!

http://www.myspace.com/adamlambert

Go to Adam's myspace to hear the preview. Album will be available on i tunes and amazon next week ( pre order also available) . Too bad I can't make the pre order as I don't know where is our new address ! Bummer..








The link of the album preview ( only for a week)

But to ease the pain, I can go to the MySpace! And he will performs at the American Music Award this Sunday 22nd November , For your entertainment!

I love it all ! But my top songs for now is : For your entertainment, Whataya want from me, Master plan, Time for miracle ( have you see  the movie 2012? I did!)

And then as I am not enough busy, New Moon is premiering in the States and soon in Malaysia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are bunch of special in the E! woo hooo... check in online here

Huh .............Packing? What packing?????

The" cookie cutter" kid??

As we are busy packing ( kinda) and browsing the potential areas in Shanghai to live , contacting freight forwarder companies for more quotation to send all of our belongings to Shanghai. I am also busy searching for more information in the "homeschooling" part.

The cost of International school in China is unbelievable high ( talk about around USD 26k./year)  for primary/grade school. Not that we must enroll our girl to International School, her Mandarin is not that good to follow the local school, and the semi international or bi lingual are not cheap too!

And since we are moving in the middle of the school year in China, so we think, it is better to homeschool-ed Indy first. And yes, I am fortunate, that my dh is ( again) agree with this. He was clueless about  homeschool before. But I made him have a better view on this. And we even ordered the books and browsing the curriculum together. And he even want to know more about the progress chart or the daily study schedule for Indy , so just in case I am sick or not available , he can "teach" Indy too! ahaha.. good one!

As Cel recommend me and enlightened me with lots of homeschool stuffs, I am more sure that, we made a good decision to do this. More than that, in a forum I joined, I read many parents are concern about the general school quality . And not every family can afford to pay USD 26k per kid/year. ( and that doesn't mean your kid will get the "best" learning experience).

One sentence that struck me :
The typical Asian students are  the"sweet cookie cutter": They are good  in Math and Science, but lack in communicating and critical thinking . They are smart and hard working (thanks to tons of homeworks) but not particulatry creative or bold. 

This reminds me of my recent trip back to Jakarta. I saw so many " molded people ( adults)" . They are just bland, similar to one another, closed minded , the "stereo type " kind of people.

Actually, I am not in doubt  too,  Can I  really do homeschooling with my girl? am I going to be a great" teacher"?, do I have enough patience to do it ? how can I find the time? What about my social life? Will I be stuck with my children 24/7? How if I get tired? Will I be discipline enough? Will my kids listen to me?  And the list is keep going on and on...

Our short term goal is just to home school for temporary. If we think we can't do it, we will enroll her into a regular school next September. But if we are comfortable of doing it , then , finger crossed, we will keep it that way.

Another good point I read from the forum:
Who will read your primary/grades school report when you are applying job? really ,who cares about that?


Point taken. I must agree. I know primary is the based , the foundation . But which school are you going, how much you pay for it, wont affect much of your C.V when you will apply for your first job.

If we can home school for the primary years, then go into a good school for high school and college or university, I think that will work too!

And , those books in sonlight are just so tempting. I would love to read and learn about it again! Some of the books/subjects in history for 7-9 years old will include:

• Mesopotamia and the first city-states
• Egypt, Crete, the Jewish people and Canaan
• The Greeks, Mycenaeans, Trojans, and Spartans
• Rome and Assyria
• The rise of Islam

 I think the subjects are much more interesting than what the normal ( chinese in my case) school would have offer. They even got some classic story to read, while in government schools ( I am now talking about Indonesian, Malaysian , and Chinese schools)  I don't think to read some great classic books is on the curriculum list!

So , keep my finger crossed, and wish me luck. I think moving to Shanghai is the "kick" I need to finally home schooled our  7 years old!

How about the "isolated" and not being able to socialize concern over home schooling kids?

"....conventional schools offer "socialization" through peer pressure, the stress of choosing between popularity and academic performance, and excessive attention to appearance."

Rachel Gathercole (The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling)


That gave me a encouragement too. Beside, there will be a wonderful support groups for homeschooling in Shanghai and there are tons of activities to join.  


I know the road we are going to take is not gonna be easy one. We might fail , we might succeed, there will be a lot if hiccups, we will face a lot of down hills, we must be ready for bumpy ride and stormy weather. But hey.. at least I have the guts to try... and the passion to support it.  What's about that for now? And the rest will follow ( hopefully ) ^_^


have a great weekend peeps!

It is official... we are moving( back) to Shanghai!

Yes, it is official. We will relocated to Shanghai, China. We've been there from the 2001 ( 2 years after we got married) until 2004( by the time Indy was 2 years old). Indy was also born in Shanghai.

It is a plus that we've been there before, so we know the city, and I got some friends there, and at least this time, I won't be struggle too much in the language department ( oh trust me I will still have a few problems, but at least I can tell which one is the black vinegar and which one is the soya sauce)

Being here in Sabah for almost 4 years, and we are used to the lifestyle here, it will need a quite amount of adjustment to be able to settle back in Shanghai. We will be living in the middle of concretes jungles, massive development of the city, a heavy traffics, million of bicycles , and just in among of 20 million people.

Just to share a few facts of Shanghai

Shanghai (Chinese: 上海) is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people.^[5] Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level status

This is the famous "Shanghai Bund" on the West Side /PUXI,where the history began, the building are all historicals and now it's hosting many of world's big company and the high end restaurants and hotels.

Shanghai literally means : Shang ( up) Hai ( Sea). Shanghai is mainly divided into 2 parts by The Huang Pu River. The west side knows as PU XI ( literally means west of the Huang Pu river) is the "old" Shanghai. Where it was all begin. And there is the PU DONG ( the East side of the river) , the "new" Shanghai. Where 2 of the world's tallest building stand tall.

And this is the "new" Shanghai on the East side of the river. This one is the old pic I think, since the World Financial Tower is no where in sight

The last time we were there, we lived in the PUXI, but this time, due to my dh job location , we will live in the PUDONG. Where they are building like mad, to anticipate the World Expo 2010. In fact my dh's new job will be in the Expo's site.

The "Pudong CBD also knows as Lu Jia Zui , which is the host to the Jinmao Tower and The World Financial Tower is on the back ground of this photo.

There a few things I don't like there , the major is that the government has blocked the access to facebook, youtube, and blogspot ( that is the main reason I got my own domain) . There are "a few way" to get the access and I will figure it out once I am there. Also the censorship for the TV, movies, magazines and stuffs are so annoying.

Thinking of it , we had a great 4 years time in Sabah, like a good "break" from the hectic life and busy city to a laid back city, relatively no traffic , and with a good nature. Now, time to go back to "rumble" in the big city:) . The "break" for us is the living wise , not for working wise for my husband ,as I believe, he can consider here to be the most frustrating place for him to work so far.

We've been browsing a few apartments to consider ( my favorite part of moving is the house hunting ^_^) : the area, and of course must be within the budget. Don't be surpirse if we will be end up living on the 30th floor of a 50th floors building. And if the compound consist like 5-8 blocks of the 50th floors building! :p But we also found a lowrise duplex apartment which also have a backyard. But we need to find something nearer to both of my dh working place and for me to do groceries too. We will see how it goes later on. Now we are just ( well I am )..just having a good time looking at the photos of the different units, and man....some of it are great! Some has the great kitchen ( double doors huge fridge!!), some has the wonderful bathroom ( with LCD tv inside !!) and Jacuzzi too. Drooling.....:)) hahhah...

Back to the reality... now we need to do the legal documentation first. And sorting stuffs ,pack , sort, pack, and sort and pack.....

Status update

After we broke the news that we are moving , I've received many mixed responds from my friends all over the world .

My mobile has been receiving many sms too.

I am not yet packing. I am just sorting stuffs, and put it aside. The packing will be done by the packing company, but still I need to sort things out. And , trust me, it is a big job :). Packing is easier if I just need to pack everythings, But sorting is much harder.

There are questions, doubts, joys, some are sad that we are leaving, some are happy for us to move on to the next step.

Though I also got questioned about how do I feel about all of this? Am I happy to move to Shanghai? It is good for my dh's job , but how about me? Am I happy about this?

Me and my husband have the most opposite personality in away. We have different opinions, different views in life. But in working wise, we ( almost) work as one head. We know what we want , what we need and what is best for our family. When we are talking about job offer , and decision regarding job, we always refers ourself us "we" . Because whatever, where ever , job he takes, it will involve us. I can say that I am involve in the negotiation parts ( behind the scene of course, and I will "come out" when the situation need me too).

So, am I happy to move ? As the wife , of course. Is it the part of the marriage vows? to be together? in good time and in hard time. Even though that I can't really put this moving part as the "hard" time at all. It 's life, it's evolving, it must goes on. Marriage is the time for us not to be selfish. So if we must move? so what? Do I forced my husband to stay, to make me happy ( for example) but without a job?

We got priority, and for me family and job is the priority ( no one can survive in this world without a job right? unless you are the heir of somebody bloody wealthy but even so, just waiting for the "money" without working is not healthy).So if that's mean we will need to move, then be it.

But is it ideal? To move so much? No.

But nothing is "ideal" according to each individual perspective. "Ideal" is varies from person to person . And I saw many other families that are moving quite often too. And their family is just find.They will have certain disadvantages of course , but also advantages.

Some asked :so what will you do over there? work? doing online store again? or what?

I can't answer that just yet. My priority is just to settle our family first. And there are a lot of stuffs to be sorted out. And I allow myself to have a" slow" time. I can't just plan for my self and being selfish. I am a mother and wife first. And I got no one there to help me , I REPEAT : NO ONE. I need to find a reliable maid/nanny , and then I can plan what I will do, once I have the confidence to leave my kids with my maid/nanny. I am planning to homeschool both or at least one of my girls. So there are a lot of my activities need to be adjusted, a lot of things need to think about, activities to choose, and many other simple stuffs that I can't think of right now.

So I give my self about a couple of months being the real meaning of the " full time mother"with no help. Allow my self to make mistake in choosing : maid ( I will not be surprise it will take a few maid before we can find the good one), house ( maybe we choose wrong locations, or wrong floor ect), school ( maybe) , allow my self to be lost in the city, go to the wrong building, saying the wrong words, buying the wrong things, etc. If I do not allow myself to make mistake, I will be so stress out and who is the victim? My family , my kids to be exact.

The different for us ( compare to other who is moving out from their home town) is also that I am not leaving KK for temporary and will be back here in anytime , or I can come back once a week, or twice a month, or just drop my children to my parent's house.. No, we do not have that privilege. We are " moving" in the real meaning. I m not sure when I can see my "house" again, we are not just lock it and emptied in and be back next year. And we can't just leave a few items here at the moment, we do not have the place for that. We need to bring it with us or leave it here.

So if you are in the mids of "change" please allow yourself to make mistakes ( not too often) and learn from it! And don't forget to laugh at yourself! And that is the best medicine!

Cupcakes class

Finally, me and Indy can attend cupcakes class, of course taught by Denna of coluscake. I am not "completely" blind with baking cakes,I did bake some, and failed , and succeed but in the decorating department , I am clueless. I know to "spread" or put "swirls" around the cake, but that's about it. :)

So, this time was my first experience to "learn" from someone who is very expert in it. And seeing her decorate the cupcakes "lives" in front of me was like woooow........and of course I was amazed by her "cake headquarter", the tools and equipments . Denna is very generous with tips, tricks of the trade, and some"secrets" that we can't find from books. Those tips that must be learned by making mistakes and many experiences.

Making the vanilla cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakesFreshly made chocolate frosting.

With other ladies , who are also very eager to learn, we are all having so much fun. Asking A LOTS of questions too. And Denna even served us with breakfast! So yummy. So while we were waiting for the cupcakes to be baked , we ate. :)

And then the lesson of decorating began......

This is Indy with her decorating tools and ready to be decorated cupcakes

The cikgu shows us some of her creations

Step one : mixing food coloring with the buttercream

Putting it inside the decorating bag

Spread the cupcakes with white buttercream as the base

Concentrating to making tiny dots around the marshmallow

My first attempt ( which i think it is quite ok for beginner like me hahaha)

Our result. I helped Indy ( a lot) but she gave me the ideas)

Indy and her cupcakes, proudly presented to her dad and superly overly joy Maya, who screamed : CACAKES!!!! WHOBODY BIRTHDAY???
ya... she always use WHOBODY if asking for WHO? ehehehhehe

If moms asking what is the benefit of cupcakes class if we don't plan to be a pro cupcakes maker?
It 's actually can be a bonding time between moms and daughters, making new friends, meeting new people, build confidence in kids, teach them to pursue their dream no matter how small or big is it, and teaching them that it is ok to try out new stuffs and not be afraid to fail , because fail is just the beginning of a success! And we are looking forward for our next class!

So....( borrowing Maya's trademark word) :

WHOBODY wants to join us next time????

For your Entertainment!

Enjoy Adam's newest single for your entertainment. Album out Nov 23rd ( USA)!!!!

Time to move on... Literary !!!

Some of you have heard it, some have guessed it, some of you sms-ed and email-ed me, right after my post about another garage sales in August.

Are you moving?

Will you move house?

Are you moving out from KK or Malaysia?

What's going on with the garage sale , Sandra?

The answer is : yes. We are. But at that time, nothing is certain, so I can't give any more details answers. I most probably said : yes, there is a possibility of moving out, but where, and when... I can't answer that.

There was the agony of feelings every time we move. A bittersweet moments for me , specially.

When you know people, you love the place, you are familiar with all of your surrounding and then you need to move. I know we won't be here forever, but still , when the time come, the feeling kicks in. I still remember exactly how did I feel every single time we knew we need to moved to other place. And I think , it is a good mental exercise for me. What I do first is : To press my feeling for a while, let the facts sink into my mind. Of course there will be sadness ( I was not made of metal , you know! ) I feel specially sentimental for the house. Every time we moved, I feel hard to left the house, it is not our houses ( except for the one in Guang Zhou) but I feel so attached to each house we lived. Specially this one, as we stay in this house the longest and our second baby , Maya, was born and grow up here. And second I feel so attached to my maids. I always feed bad and sad to leave them, and I always try to find them a proper job, with a decent pay and good environment. I feel more sad because now Maya is so attached to my current maid. I feel that, if she will work for someone I know, I can send the girls photos and, sometimes maybe can see each other from webcam. And this time, my sadness is also for our dogs. I really really want to bring them , but the cost, the work, and the place where we are going to must be dog friendly too. So , it is not so easy after all. And if you know a dog lover, I will love to let them adopt one of my dog ( each)

And of course, I feel sad to leave my friends too. But again in this era, we can always keep in touch easily. We can send photos over emails, social networking, blogs. But with maids, they can't afford to have all that kind of access, and so with my dogs!!

So back to the main topic. Where we will move to this time? For that one you will need to stay tune for more details .^_^ . Hints: this is one of the biggest city in Asia, one of the most dynamic, and fast paced. A city of 20 millions people and a city we've been lived before .

What make me excited for this move is that I could share the process with my blog readers. That will be the first time!

To choose this Big City as our next destination was not an easy thing. Me and my husband loves in here in Sabah. The nature, the air, the beaches, the mountains, the life style. It is a good place to raise a family.

Just to share, when we first broke the news to our families and friends about 4 years ago that we are moving to Sabah. Most of the responds are negatives. They just can't get it, why... in the world, we want to move to a smaller scale, much much more quiet, not so famous ( excuse me, not to offend any Sabahan, but every time I said Kota Kinabalu Sabah, they gonna asked me until today, where? near KL? where? hah Borneo? oooh Sarawak that side ah? Near Kuching?) >_<. And trust me, I acted like an angry , offended real Sabahan. And I will start with the KK/Sabah's facts.

My dad, specially, told me that in much smaller cities, there will be much less opportunity for my husband to work. And we knew that. But for the sake of our young children we moved here anyway.

The first time we moved here I was worry that I will be bored , nothing to do, too quiet. But that 's what made me started my online biz. So there is the silver lining in every cloud right? :)

And because of that online biz I get to know many of great ladies. Who share many interest in commons too! Everything is linked and meant to be happen that way.

To be move around so much, also has taught me a good way to see anything from positve and negative side. Every place has it's own good and bad things and so does each person I know!

So despite the good thing about Sabah that we loved , it also has it's downsides . The city is lack of energy, dynamic, and textures. Don't get me wrong, the city has a lot of great potentials but there are not enough effort to make it much much better. The pace is too slow ( and this was the MAIN thing that drove me nuts for the first year we were here) . I felt sluggish, lazy, slow, not enough dynamic for me ( and trust me , I am not the " active type"). That is why, I always try to make effort to gather some friends, to share laugh, to enjoy our selves, to feel closer. I feel like people are living in scattered small groups all around the places. But maybe because I am an outsider here. And actually being the outsider makes me want more to know more people. I dont lock my self in my own "comfort zone".

To our surprise , Kota Kinabalu, is not so small after all. But yet, it is! I am still not use to it when people seems to KNOW everybody here ! In the real meaning! I was like wow! That is not easy! Gossips and rumors will spread like a bush fire here. Every one seems to know each other " history" . Spooky.... :-)

And for me , Moving is another chance to experience live! A chance to learn more. A chance to be humble and less ignorant about others.

Life is like writing a book, Your very own book! There are pages, chapter, and there are the main character(s) .There are the protogonist and antagonist

If you cant change the starting at least we can always change the ending.

This is the story of my life, my journey. Life is never dull , life is never smooth, life is never empty.

Like book, there are some pages you wish to forget and burn, there are some you want to keep forever, there are some pages you want to skip , and there are some pages that is still unwritten....

The change is unevitable, the "fall" will always wait there for us and so are the "up".

Life is rotating like a wheel.... you could be on top today and be on the bottom tomorrow. But the most important thing is our ability to hold on to happiness and to have keep faith!

If a person's inner heart is free from worries,indecision and fear, they will naturally have fewer complaints about the world around them, and their ability to hold on to happiness will also increase. Increasing our ability to hold on to happiness is the greatest thing we can learn" Yu Dan- Confucius from the heart

And for now... I am excited and sad about the move! It is indeed a Bittersweet moment! ^_^