Ayi comes, Ayi goes

A new Ayi arrive-d 2 weeks ago and 2 days ago that Ayi left. Please! Don't jump into conclusion, its definitely not becoz of Mr, Mrs and Miss!..................... Hmm...... OF COURSE LAH! THEY SO NICE PEOPLE! HOW CAN BECOZ OF THEM??!! Or maybe the other way round, simply due to the fact that they are SOOOOOOOOOO NICE, they deserve someone BETTER!? Hmm, that sounds more like the truth and nothing but the truth!

The Ayi is diebetic and after 1 week of 'on-ness', came back asking for a permanent break... Anyway, if not for her 自知之明, the most kind-hearted Mrs would have come consulting Mr to find a way to send this 'less than hardworking' lady a 'leaving certificate'. The Mrs' hen comrades had also been adding 'gunpowder' to fire, rubbing 'acid' to wounds these 2 weeks, echoing the 3rd episodes of the 'The Exiting of the trio's Ayi' series...

This morning, a newest Ayi reports for work and in the trio's, or at least the duo's hearts, they hope she will be the 'oldest' (I mean longest serving lah) one too. As a matter of fact, they long for a final episode. Well, in this part of the world that holds 1/4 of the world's population, the trio can't possibly can't find one that is deserving right?? (By the way, do I hear 'boo-ing sound or smell somebody's puke somewhere?? Funny, thought blogging is online posts... can't possibly hear, neither smell...)

May the force be with them, MR, MRS and MISS!

That Early Morning Ensemble

One evening, Mr suggested to Mrs that maybe they should change their habit and try to turn in earlier every night, so that Miss will have a healthier routine. So last Saturday evening, they went to bed at 10pm which is of course no big deal for many families with kids as theirs probably sound a sleep by 9pm already... The result - Mr, Mrs and Miss were wide awake at 6am the following day, which was none other than a SUNday! The warmly sun was kind enough to receive them with full gear, which Mr assumed it was to acknowledge their remarkable joint effort that morning!

Like what Mrs acclaimed, it was probably her first ever 'voluntary 6am wake up venture' in her entire life! Amazingly, the added magic was that the trio formed this 'ensemble@6am' without prior cheorography... Breakfast@7.30am at Steaks and Eggs, followed by a stroll in the Ritan Park... By 10am, Miss was dozing off under the watchful sun, in the full company of Mr and Mrs.

'Happiness' was the word to describe the family that morning as time tickled under a relaxed atmosphere, topped with family unity and fullfilled, contented hearts..... There was time to slowly and cautiously feel.... everything....

当这三人携手步行在星期天早8上点的晨光中时，感受到的是一种满足，因为疲累、匆忙那一刻不再占据他们享受幸福的权利，不再削弱他们相视而笑的魅力。一家人真正享受到了过家庭日的温馨……

The first time Miss went without Mrs

Since Miss joined the trio, Mrs was always with her every night without fail but guess this record lasted for 2 yrs and was broken last weekend.

It was all becoz of the hens' gathering @ the shopping paradise - Hong Kong. Yes, but I guess sometimes records are meant to be broken so that pple remember them better...? And it was a nice break that Mrs long deserves. Anyway, a good get-together and bonding oppty for Mr and Miss too, as described by Mrs...

We prepared Miss everyday prior to the weekend. And I presumed it was well done. We could see that she was mentally prepared for Mrs 'disappearance' when she got up on that Friday morning. Although she woke up later in the afternoon nap, crying for her mom, she was very quickly pacified... But honestly, if Mrs saw Miss's teary eyes, repeating '不要妈咪去香港', she might booked the earliest flight back to Beijing.

Overall, the weekend was a very special 3D2N for Mr and Miss (I wish to assume Miss also feel likewise)...

The Day to Celebrate our Patriotism

Yes, its National Day, no, its not the Chinese one but Spore's, and no, no 'marikita', no pledge and yes, there is the National flag and cake and crowd and celebration, but no again, there is no fireworks, no community singing, but friends get-together, fun, and laughter, flashes....

The National Day celebration/reception was held @ the Chinaworld hotel ballroom and the ladies are all out to doll up themselves for this occasion (never seen them being so excited over our country’s b-day, is it a display of patriotism? I wonder…) Anyway, they were not a let-down, undoubtedly harvest the attention of all eyes (as seen from the pics) whom might mistakenly thought that they are there to witness some form of beauty pageant contest. I must say, Mrs looked gorgeous… (my ears started hearing the song ‘Wonderful tonight’ as her image appears in my mind.)

Ha… but none of the ladies’ conscientious, calibrated dolling could beat the all time favorite, our dearest MISS… She was the centre of attraction, as usual. But last evening, I believe she truly enjoyed herself with all the companionship of the many elder brothers and sisters… not forgetting the sizable number of adults who desire to ‘lay their hands on her’…. Haha!

Our digital cam went dead after 'flashing' too much. There were many moments to catch and in the end we had to seek help from our buddies, to make sure the preservation effort could continue. Food was not bad, friends are splendid! I personally favor the Chicken rice. I wanted to have the Laksa but it went missing after I placed it on a table top while speaking to a guest. It took less than a min to be exact… Guess it must be real good, if not it won’t be picked so quickly. If not for this, the food tasting experience would have been perfect!

很高兴陆俭明老师和马真老师能出席这次的招待会。他俩老可是我在北大求学期间最崇仰的其中两位老师。他们的学者风范，和蔼平易的作风，严谨治学的态度都让我留下了深刻的印象，也给我以很大的启迪。知识分子若人人像他们那样，这社会的进步与素养的提高就指日可待了。

很意外的，在招待会上还碰到了一位人?姐，吴雪晶。她也刚从上海被调到北京。已经十多年没联系了，想不到能在北京我这第二故乡碰上，真是难得！哈！以后在北京又多了一位朋友了！新加坡这人口确实太少了，能到或愿意到中国发展的更是凤毛麟角，对一向以施行双语教育政策为豪的新加坡来说，真有些讽刺，估计以后再遇上些老朋友的机会还不小……

Ayi left!

Last morning, Mrs called me at the office, "Bad News, guess what??". "Hmm..... I can't think of any, what is it?" "Ayi can't work for us liao! coz she...." Our Ayi joined us in April after the first 'lao Ayi' left after working for us for 4 mths. The 2nd Ayi was a very good cook, 3 of us liked her food and even our dear friends Robina and Sherry loved it too! She had signalled earlier that she may not work for long (which we speculated since the day she came for interview, as she doesn't look like an Ayi at all) as her son is coming back from Guangzhou in Sept, but we were not prepared for her to leave that suddenly and that early. She claimed that her uncle is seriously ill and she needs to rush to his place and take care of him together with her mom... Of course we agree to let her go, whether or not that is the genuine reason....

So here are we scouting for our 2nd replacement of Ayi for the yr... Mrs said we have no luck in this, Ayi worked for 4 mths at most... I think we just have not found the right one, that's all, or the other way round the right Ayi has not found us. Things happen for a reason, I believe. And also, 塞翁失马，焉知非福? It is the BEAUTY of life, to always reward us with surprises here and then to enrich our lives...

But before we forget, we must pay tribute our 1st Ayi as well. Although age is catching up on her, she is still very neat and meticulous. It is good that she found another job as we also would not bear to see her tiring herself out with the long on the road everyday ... Thanks to this 2nd Ayi for making sure our stomach are always filled with delicious, appetising delicacy.
All the best to both of you and your families... ;)

The First weekend Blog

Its the 3rd time I'm writing this as the laptop kept 'hanging up' on me before I finish... Ha, but as I said, this is not going to dampen my excitement as finally we figured out how to best view the blog site, thanks to Alvin and Robina who enlightened us that blogspot is actually being blocked in China... Anyway, friends in China, if you are already reading this, you already know how to go around this... Pleasant reading... =)

The last weekend was the first in record. It was fulfilling, with Sat. being the sports/recreational day and Sun. being the relax/rejuvenating one. I went bowling in the Sat. morning (which is becoming more regular). To think that I used to play so regularly (15 yrs ago), I played terribly... but hopefully with more practices, I can find back the 'touch'... ;)
Tay and Wei Kiat are good. Kiew is my 'pacer'. For a lady, Sharon is good too. And Gillian is occasionally showing her true standards... Especially last Sat. She was once leading in a game, beating all the guys! Don't 'play prey' leh....
In the afternoon, we went playing tennis with Pat and Winnie at their Parkview apartment. This was the second session my Mrs had in her life... Can see from her uncontainable pleasing eyes that she really enjoyed the workout. Come to think of it, we have been wanting to start some sports game together but has always been halting on the planning process. Hmm, hope this signals a good start for some partnership workout...

Very happy to see that my Mrs was happy.

Sun. lunch was a little warm moment for the 3 of us. We had nice Cantonese cuisine at 皇厨. Mrs has always enjoyed dim sum and Miss's favourite was none other than Char-siew pao, of course. Mrs was for a while distracted and amused by a waiter who had his eyes glued to the projector screen while serving his customers... We resorted to giving him the benefit of doubt that he may not have a TV for his entire life. Who knows, there are still people who suffer in that kind of poverty now in China...

We had this regular foot reflexology session @ Tai-pan and yesterday we overslept and was almost 1 hr late for our appt... Tai-pan is a massage parlour that also serves some simple cuisine to their customers when they come for the massage. Mrs originally was hesitant abt having somebody managing her feet as she 'was' very ticklish, but after one comfortable session with this No 811 masseuer, she is addicted to it since March. I also have a regular masseuer No 802, surname孙.

Talk abt Miss, she is undeniably a STAR @Taipan. She attracted overwhelming attention whenever she's there and yesterday the manager even called her the 大班招牌！But Miss will always patiently and understandingly wait for us to complete our enjoyment without fail. Recently, she is addicted to this 'Monster Inc' animated movie, in which there is a little girl named 'Boo' who resembles her (or the other way round?). She will watch the whole movie over and over again and in Tai-pan too. She is so sweet and adorable that most often it is 'pain-staking' to turn down her request. whatever it may be... and she knows it.

It all begins from here

Yes, it begins here but story started much much earlier...
I can still remember how the 2 of us came together and when the 3rd make the 2 complete. But somehow, many happenings along the way flash and go before my memory can archive them. I'm sure I'm the worse among the 3 and thus before I lose more of these treasured moments, I decided to take this initiative to save them somewhere...
I'm sure Mrs won't mind and probably would find this sweet. Miss won't mind either coz anyway she shall for the moment stay only as one of the main casts.
I'm excited, although now seemingly calm and composed (if anyone sees me now)...

有些事是需要记忆的，因为它记载的是份心情。曾经若没有了记忆有没有也就无所谓了 ... ...