School Mums

Since Lily and her 'entourage' moved into our house, our daily routines have changed a bit.

We try to accomodate and help out whenever we can in order to ease her workload, which means that I often voluntarily fetch the ''kiddo's" who are under her care from school (between 12.30 and 1pm).
I reach the school gates at around 1pm, just before the bell goes off and it always amazes me that there is really such a being as 'school mum'. Sure enough, I've heard about 'soccer mums', 'tennis mums', 'music class mums'......but these are mums who accompany their kids to their leisure activities. But 'school mums'? Heck.

Well, the routine of these 'mums' is generally the following :

1. fetch their kids to school in the morning and before class starts, coach them with their spelling, homework in the canteen




2. afterwards perform chores like buying fresh food at the market or performing home duties




3. cook lunch and package it in a lunch box and basket




4. go back to school and set up the 'lunch' table at the canteen together with likeminded 'school' mums




5. diligently wait for the bell to ring and announce it is lunch time




6. give their kids their lunch, and if need be, feed the rascalls themselves




7. pack things up and go back home and perform daily chores (there are even mums who just stay at school after lunch, and bite their time with gossiping till school finishes......geezes, aunties!!)




8. go back to school to pick their kids up when school finishes




9. *and I'm pretty sure that most of them have tuition few times a week, so ofcourse 'dear mummy' will drive them from here to there and vice versa*

I'm pretty sure you can find this 'scene' all over the world, mums tending to their kid's needs, especially ladies who either have given up a career to take care of the 'household' or even ladies who don't know any better and have been 'house wives' all life long.

Many of these mums I've seen are only in their twenties, majority in their thirties and even a few late bloomers. Now from a twenty-year old mum I would expect that she would know that there is a life besides 'household'.....like having a 'career', duh, 'cos she would have been born in the 70's or even 80's, and those are not the years of back dated, old fashionisnm, are they?

Do these children realize what their respective mums are going through day in, day out? Would they appreciate this kind of perpetual attention from their mum at home and also at school, which means in effect they are only 'free' from their mum during class. Moreover, are these kids being spoiled for better or worse with all this 'pampering' and will it have an effect on their social attitude when they grow up?

Hey, I don't want to sound negative towards these kinda 'mums' because they should deserve some kudos for giving up on a 'career' and devoting themselves to their offspring. 'Career mums' should take note of these 'school mums' .

It's a compromise, ladies.....juggle with daily chores, love thy dearest and enjoy your own life.

Construction yard

A bit of background history first :

We moved into our new house, April 2007, which was just completed in a newly developed residential community. Which meant that back then, we were one of the first inhabitants of our street with barely any neighbours (almost like a deserted city). Ofcourse slowly but surely the other occupants moved in. But it's a trend here that before moving in, nearly each and every owner has his or her own idea of his/her ideal house, which means that parts of the 'new' house have to be demolished and reconstructed (we also did it by extending our kitchen a few feet further back towards the back alley, just some minor works). Still can follow? (One might wonder why go through all this hassle, buying a mint, properly-built house with hard-earned money and reconstructing it with more hard-earned bucks, the logic of this is a bit mind puzzling, 'cos with the money that some dudes have spent on reconstructing their property, they could have purchased themselves a bungalow).

Currently : Up until a month ago, we didn't have neighbours, but ofcourse this was sure not to last. One of the houses next to us finally found a buyer and the dude looks friendly enough and as expected he intended to do some 'works'. Fine by us.
Doh, 'works' he said?! They've been at it for 2 weeks already, and it is slowly turning into a massive face-lift if you ask me. Which also means all kinds of imaginable, loud noises associated with a construction yard. No wonder that my blood pressure has gone up, enduring frequent bouts of headache and as a result of all that a temper on a short fuse, don't know 'bout the rest of the 'family' here but it certainly isn't health promoting.

And coincidentally a few weeks ago we received a flyer from the management prohibiting peeps from performing renovation works on Sundays and Public holidays and also prohibiting 'workers' from sleeping at the 'premises'. But this is Malaysia, where rules are meant to be broken.......and ofcourse the guys next-doors do work on Sundays and public holidays and they do stay overnight. Should I report this case to the 'authorities' or should I act as if my nose bleeds? This dude is going to be my long-term neighbour after all, I better swallow some panadol and keep my mouth shut.

Phew, luckily we're off for holidays in a few weeks time, and hopefully by the time we come back, the 'noise' will have abated by then. Just let aunty Lily and the maids bear the brunt of the noise, poor them.

Give peace a chance

Sent my kiddo to her music class at Desa Park City today and whilst I was about to read the newspaper, a 'mum' stormed into the premises with her two girls trailing behind her.

What the heck, she enquired......no scratch that.....she demanded in not overtly subtle tone to provide her 'darlings' replacement classes 'cos they had been absent for a specific period of time.

Mind you, if I am the shop-assistant or shop owner, I would do my best by double checking the attendance roster and trying to come up with a suitable agreement for both parties involved, 'cos after all customers are paying for a 'service', be it already rendered or not.

But fuming like a pre-meno pause infected, fireballs spitting fury on heat with her arms wielding as windmills gone berserk won't do anyone any good. Suffice to say that in no time, all the attention was centred upon this discussion. And by God, I didn't want to have part in this tirade of hers, but sadly earplugs were not a ready option. Even her daughters took the wise option and went out of the shop. I sure bet they were too embarrassed themselves with their mum's behaviour.

I'm wondering why sometimes people have to behave so rudely and violently, thinking they can get away with this and make things happen.....whereas just a little bit of politeness and respect for eachother can get things done much more smoothly (I am not referring to civil bureaucrats, 'cos these peeps know how to stretch the red tape and get our blood from under our fingernails, albeit there are some exceptions).

My daughther's class lasts for 30 minutes and by the time she had finished, the discussion at the reception desk wasn't finished yet. I'm pretty sure there won't be blood flowing from this ugly scene.....but heck m'am, give peace a chance.

Holiday 2008 part 2

Woopie.....as I've confided to you in an earlier post "Holiday 2008 part 1"....there would be an extension to our holiday itinerary.

And I can proudly announce to you all that after our Hong Kong trip we will be flying off to Belgium, my 'motherland'....

Oops...with 'we' I mean 'Laetitia & me' only....Jessica isn't going along on this trip as someone has to earn the bucks. Too bad as it's been a while already that she went to Belgium. But we'll try to make up for that in the hopefully not-to-distant future (with a trip to her beloved Scotland countryside, fingers crossed).

3 weeks Hong Kong, 3 weeks Belgium and back in time to celebrate Christmas and New Year with Christmas. You sure won't see me complaining. Now, what should I buy Jess for X-mas? Definitely something one can't find here in Asia....quite a challenge, but I'll do my best, rest assured.

Belgium....in a nutshell, just a small country. So small that it has no native language of its own, because it had been invaded by its neighbouring countries so often that the locals have adopted those lingo's as their own, namely Dutch (or Flemish), French and German. If one would ask somebody to sum up what Belgium has to offer......most probably the answer would be 'Chocolates!!'.

Come on, it's not only chocs that makes this country famous.......highly cut diamonds trading (if you wanna know whether they are 'blood diamonds', I can neither confirm nor deny it), headquarters of NATO and European Community, Antwerp's port which is only second to Rotterdam in Western Europe regarding container traffic, ....... renaissance painters Rubens & Van Eyck, the sexy saxophone instrument is invented by a Belgian, Adolphe Sax.......battle of Waterloo, battle of the Bulge,.....and almost forgot.....BEER!!

'Beer?!?' you are asking.....yups, BEER.....home to countless, small and historical breweries distilling a wide variety of tastes........ and since not so long ago also home to the largest brewing company of this planet, INBEV. Yupperdeyups, a small country selling beer to each and everyone in every corner of the world. Take that from a small country!! Haha, who's laughing now.

As for our itinerary, shop around, indulge ourselves with Belgian food, sightseeing and most importantly......spending time with my mum, Laetitia's grandma........Past 12 months were kinda hard on her, and hopefully we are able to cheer her up a bit with our visit.

Organizational hopscotch

Did you realize that managing a football team takes up quite some effort and time?

I didn't know it....until now.

Let me run you through the checklist that I need to do for these weekend's fixtures

• book the field : check


• book the referees : check


• send out sms to our players, informing them bout the game and asking them to confirm their participance : check


• and if they do not reply ; RESEND : check


• arrange the starting line-up (taking into account each player's abilities, but foremost their limitations, lol) : check


• make sure the balls have the right air pressure (if not, pump, pump, ...manually ofcourse) : check


• prepare the first aid-kit (and if need be re-stock it)....and believe me we do need this kit : check


• for the guys who don't possess our team outfit, take along the training jerseys (luckily they are of a matching colour) : check


• bring along the digital camera to record the event : check

The above are the tasks before the game, and if you thought that this is the end of it, you can forget about it. Below are the tasks for after the game

• match-report with final score line and names of goalscorers


• jot down the names of the dudes who played (attendance record)


• check the countless pictures and appropriately delete and save them


• put all the aforementioned on the website

Did I forget something? I kinda have a feeling that I've forgotten something...anyone else game for this stuff? Somebody's gotta do it. And the one who is writing all this down is either a 'control freak' or an 'insanely football-loving dude'. Your pick!!

Mix of teams, mix of languages

Ugh, I've been unofficially promoted to football manager for the 2 matches that are scheduled for this upcoming weekend (as our captain is too busy doing his personal stuff)

Does it come with any perks? Suffice to say in my dreams only...... I do wonder why people do this stuff on a voluntarily basis, spending precious time and effort to try to run this 'machine'. Ow, that means I'm talking about myself too.....geeez.

Well, it's an opportunity to do some exercise, and doing something that I'd like (kicking a ball) with a bunch of other people is definitely much better than doing it alone (I can't juggle the ball all day long by myself, can I?). Secondly, a benefit of doing this stuff is that I do get to know my 'neighbours' from Sunway SPK, and on top of that by organizing all these friendlies with outside teams......I have a chance to get in touch with these 'outsiders' too. And a chance to get to know inhabitants of this country.

Is our team and also those other teams a good representation of 'Malaysia'? Afraid not, we do have some Malays and one 'orang asli' (indigenuous) in our team, but the rest are of Chinese origin, save for the Korean dude ofcourse (but heck, he looks Chinese too). There is one team we have played against (MOB), and they all consist of Malays themselves, same can be said for Lazy Leg, another opponent, who are made up of Chinese only. One might wonder why this is such the case.....and for now the only answer I can provide to this issue is that people tend to stick with their own race ...... Ofcourse we all mingle, but it's a fact that when Chinese play together, they tend to talk in Chinese.......whereas when Malays play together, the language will be Malay. But mix them up, add some Indians into the mix too and the language used will be 'English'....strange, quite strange. Bahasa Malaysia (Malay language) is the 1st lingo in Malaysia, and English is officially the second one. Now, why do people use English instead of BM then? Beats me....I'm still trying to figure this one out. I do have my honest opinion about this issue but will tell you when I'm dead-sure.

Race mixing and local politics

Where I come from, Belgium, there are quite a number of mixed relationships and if you look at its neighbouring countries like France, Holland, England....the percentage of mixed marriages is even bigger. I don't have a clue about the US of A, but come on....it is not a rare sight to see those mixed couples (especially in urban area's, whereas in red-neck counties they might be a rarity for obvious reasons).

Well, you might ask yourself now why I'm talking about this subject, but since I've been living in this part of the tiny world....supposedly in a country which promotes itself as one where racial harmony exists and there is freedom of practicing religion and etcetera......you'll notice the harsh stares of the local peeps whenever they see a 'mixed' couple. Are people here prejudiced towards racial mixing?!

True enough, Malaysia consists of 3 major ethnic groups and a dozen or more indigenuous tribes........they have co-habited 'peacefully' for the past few centuries. I said 'centuries'....by now, one would think that everyone has already accepted eachother for who and what they are, but somehow no such luck. I'm basically an 'outsider' but with the looks of a 'local' by now. I'm not a dude who will fight against windmills either trying to better this society, but from what I hear from my friends here, it used to be a 'better' place back in the 'golden' days....and I'm not talking about decades ago.

I'm wondering what people here really want. Basically it should be stability, .... that is stability in economics ('cos that's everyone's purse), and above all also politics (but this issue is kinda 'hot' nowadays)........

I don't really understand the local political scene.....each ethnic group represented by their own parties, thus people voting for their own people.......whereas in the Western world, people vote for the parties which represent a political affluence (socialists, conservatives, democrats, greens, ....etc.)......Ofcourse, it's not all black and white....the grey area is still immensely big.

Meaning that, the near future will tell how this all will evolve, but fact remains......I am your neighbour, you are my neighbour....deal with it.

Green Fingers Part 3

Hahaha.....knew it.....kiddo's had no heart to continue their digging effort on the patch outside our gate. Last week a landscaper looking for business saw the bare patch and offered his 'services' to us. Some plants, grass....and all that for a whopping RM270 (60 euro's).....what the heck, but the ladies of the house already agreed to let him do it. So far this dude has demanded and received an advance of RM50 (11 euro's) for the purchase of the BABY PLANTS and ofcourse it still ain't finished yet. I bet that he cashed in and ran away.

People are really so dishonest nowadays? I sure hope not....(cos that means in this case that I have to finish this dude's job, ugh)

Weak Eye

Ai, Jessica had been suspecting for half a year that Laetitia might have an eye-problem. I, on the other hand, always assumed that she had 'eagle' eyes ', 'cause for as long as I remember she could see quite well from a far distance. We have had some discussion 'bout it, but we never really took the effort to get to the bottom of this issue.

Anyway, after Jewel's birthday party we took off to the nearby shopping mall, The Curve, taking the kids to the bookstore, having a drink at Uncle Lim's Kopitiam, and finally passing by an optician. Ofcourse, strategically located at the entrance of the shop was a machine to check the strength of the eye (okok, I forgot what this machine is called). The shop assistant was friendly to help us out with checking the ' dragon's ' eye ...... and gosh, according to him and the accompanying result, our girl has one weak eye. We better seek out professional advice from an oculist first before we resign ourselves in buying a pair of specs for her.


Last year in Hong Kong she got a pair of glasses (without correction lenses, meaning it's just a fake) whilst I was shopping for a new pair for myself......and today she put them on, believing that her sight impairment has been corrected!!! ......she just doesn't want to believe us that the specs are just for 'show' only........ Arghhhh......

Aunty Lily's home business

Aunty Lily moved into our house about a month ago...(long story) and ofcourse she brought along her 'home business' along the way too. Should say 'businesses' as it involves full-time nanny services (inclusive picking/dropping up kids from home and school) and catering (inclusive home-delivery).

Have to admit that it's a wholesome change from the 'tranquil' environment into a 'lively' living quarter down here. Not that we mind it, on the contrary.....toddlers running around the house are an enjoyable sight to behold, a baby and another baby on the horizon are a joy (no matter whether it is our very own or someone else's). And on top of all that, we don't need to cook ourselves (although I must say that I quite like cooking myself, but barely have ample time to dish out a gourmet meal).......meaning everyday 'fresh' food on the table (which also results in a bigger waistline, duh).

Some people might find it an intrusion on their 'private' space....a whole gaggle of people moving in, but have to readily admit that we don't see it this way. After all, my wife has been brought up by this very Aunty Lily when she was born (Aunty Lily was a teenager back then in the oldies).....and our very own little girl was also brought up by Aunty Lily herself. Meaning that we are quite 'close' to her. Lol, it's like a continuous cycle of life.

The only gripes that we might have, is the fact that all the money Lily generates is pitiful compared to what the 'outside market' demands. Ofcourse she doesn't lose money over it, that would be very stupid if she did lose money over it, but somehow when we add all the numbers up, we get a feeling that she is not rewarded the full '100%'.

Costs of living have risen up, here, there and everywhere and yes, it's not a given to have a smooth-running, successful home-run enterprise during these 'harsher' times, but it does not also mean that one has to run a business at cut-throat prices. People who are knowledgable of the current market prices are more than happy to give Aunty Lily some potential business (no wonder at the prices that she commands). But if this affects her 'personal well-being'....then there is definitely something not right.

In the meantime we all congregate together here as one 'big, happy family'. We sure do hope that she sees the 'light' one day and realizes that for all what it's worth.....one has to look after themselves.....nothing comes for 'free' in this world, sadly but true.

Classmate's Birthday Party

Few days ago Laetitia brought home a birthday party invitation card from Jewel Ng, her classmate of Malaysian-Korean origin. And since it was conveniently going to be held at a McDonalds just around our corner, and ofcourse "who are we to prohibit her from attending the 'function' " , 'cos parents also eat for free :p (yummy, Ronald McDonalds has not forgotten to take care of the adults' stomachs too!!). So off we went....

Our girl was initially not all too pleased that she had to cough up money from her own piggy bank to buy a gift for her classmate. We explained to her that since that it is her classmate's birthday/party she had to give/buy Jewel something. Finally, she succumbed to our reasoning and settled on a whiteboard marker and a notebook costing less than RM5........lol, u should have seen her facial expression when she had to part with her own money (like someone stole something precious of her).

Nearly half of her class showed up, girls outnumbering boys 2-1, Ronald McDonald didn't make an appearance......booohooo........but amazing thing was that nearly all the parents just dropped their kids of and they went 'shopping' themselves...lol...free babysitting service :)

All in all, it was quite a fun birthday party (Jess and me finally got to meet some of the 'school mums'.....). We found out from those 'mums' that our girl has quite an independent streak of her own, buying her own lunch (especially nasi lemak, a local delicacy consisting of rice, half hardboiled egg, dried fish, nuts, a slice of cucumber and ofcourse sambal) from the canteen, making sure that her food gets finished first (as opposed to the other kids who just play and forget to take their food during recess time) before she ventures out to play ......that's our girl

Holiday 2008 part 1

Oops, almost forgot.....time surely flies. Less than a month from now we'll be going on our annual 'pilgrimage' to Hong Kong again. This time the occassion will be to attend a wedding of Jess's cousin sister.

Ofcourse we would be lying if we just went there for that event only :0

Just time to re-stock our voracious appetite for Cantonese cuisine, ranging from dim sum fare, hawker stalls and the lot. And also time to replenish our batteries after a year of hard work.

3 weeks......ermmm.....is it too much? Well, knowing our pattern, it will be just good enough....sleeping out, going out for lunch after 2.30pm (when it is cheaper) and having our dinner after 9.30pm (also at discounted rates, lol). And in between that, we'll be mostly doing window shopping around Tai Po.

Tai Po, located in the New Territories, is the city where we have a flat, bit small for Malaysian standards (and definitely a pigeon hole compared to our house), but big enough as a holiday retreat for the three of us. Most of the people only know Hong Kong island or the Kowloon area, but those places are way overcrowded, heavily polluted and tourist infested (that's my humble opinion).

Tai Po Central to be more exact, has all the amenities of a big city, and kudos to their town planning....all the residential tower units (I believe a total of 15 blocks with 26 floors each) sit atop a mix of different shopping and recreational areas which are conveniently joined by underpasses, overhead bridges and etc....below is a link, providing you with a bit more background info.

http://www.taipomegamall.shkp.com.hk/e_taipo/

It is actually closer to the bordercrossing to China.....barely a 20-mins with the train, and almost 40 minutes if you want to go to downtown Kowloon (MongKok).

Well, it's still a month away....time enough to pack and re-pack our bags and re-re-pack it again !!! :p Too bad it's autumn, nearly winter down there......Jessica won't find anything to her liking regarding clothing. But end of year in Hong Kong is quite nice, temperatures are more bearable, too bad we are going to miss out on the 'magic' of Xmas in Hong Kong this year as we will be back home early December.....but talking bout 'magic',....... ofcourse we will not forget to pass on your best regards to Mickey Mouse and Friends at HK Disneyland :)

I started of with the title "Holiday 2008 part 1"....yupperdeyups, there is a second part...things are not finalized yet, but I will tell you more about it in a future post :p (life is sweet, very sweet indeed)

Wonder of nature

Have to share this with you.....Malaysia is having it's annual rain season now. What you can expect on a daily basis? Every day sunshine, but also by the end of the afternoon, a serious dosage of rain, thunder storm. All this culminating in a serious traffic jam when peeps finish their work at 5 or 6pm. But on a plus side.....I managed to capture this rainbow, and have to say that these pictures doesn't do it justice. 'Cause in reality, the colours of the rainbow were of such a vibrant quality, that nearly every single driver and passenger craned their necks out to take a good look at this wonder of nature. At school they taught us that a rainbow displays 7 colours, but heck, I stopped counting at 3 :p

Looking like a chimney

Sunday and as the weekend before....and now that I think of it...all those previous weekends past half year....it's football time!!

Jess okay'ed me the green light after making sure I had no visible trauma from last week's bad fall on my head (Sun. Oct.5, Hard learned lesson). And off I went.

As our field will only be ready earliest December 1....we've resorted to playing 'indoor' on astro turf. Ball sizes are smaller in comparison with regular footballs, a bit heavier too...and they sure pack a whallop when they hit you. Mind you, I'm the goalkeeper in question. Never had the real technical skills to really outwit my opponents, and since that everybody wants to run and kick, I've voluntarily taken up the post of goalie. Somebody's got to do it :p and besides, I ain't no youngster anymore. Let 'them' do the running.

Have to admit that today was quite a good game, we managed to gather up 14 players in total, a mix of SSPK (that's our team) and a few outsiders. Guarded my goal like a man possessed and dove left, right, down, sideways....and in no time my exposed parts (legs and forearms) were totally black. I don't know what the management has put there beneath the astro turf...it looks like black pellets and they seep in everywhere (shoes, shorts....) I'll take a pic next week and show you. And not before long my keeper gloves were black as soot too.

Naturally, an accident had to happen to me again (comme habitude)....long range effort, more a canon shot if you ask me, was deflected by my left hand and the ball deviated flat, bang, schmuck on my left eye. Ofcourse first thing I did was hold my hands to my face........and yeah.....those gloves were black remember.....when I removed the gloves from my face, all the players looked at me in bewilderment and also with a good laugh (but they were polite enough not to laugh too loud).......according to them I looked like an African. Ach, took me a few minutes to find my composure again and we played the 2 full hours.....to great satisfaction of everybody.

Off I went back home......by then I've noticed that I looked 'black'...shorts, legs, arms....but I had no idea what my face would be like, till I stepped through the front door....and all the peeps at home (we had a family gathering)....looked at me in astonishment and gaped at me with their mouth open, LOL. So first thing I had to do was to check my image on the nearest mirror.....LOL.....I looked like a dude who had just cleaned the chimney!!!.......Stante pede to the nearest shower and scrub like hell!!!

In the end everybody had had a good laugh, I don't feel particularly 'exhausted', don't have any 'pain' here or there which is strange, 'cos normally I would be 'broken' for a couple of days after every game. I definetely have to take some pics of the venue next week in order to show you what I have been rambling about.

Another fine day, another weekend gone....tomorrow, Monday, work again, crunch time!!

Dragon girl

Hi, I am Laetitia Yuen Zhi Yan . I am seven years old . My hobbies are playing piano , swimming , cooking and reading . I want to be a kindergarten teacher when I grow up . My best friends are Jiang Kun ,Vivi , Choi Yin ,Sean Lee , Mei Xuan , Sheren and Sonia . Acept one is my classmate , who is John Marcus Liew Jin . My boyfriend is Sean Lee .

Thank You .

"Which country is the best?"

Born, brought up and worked in Belgium, worked for a few years in Hong Kong, and now residing in Malaysia and on top of that having had the luxury to travel around with my folks when I was a kid, visiting many extraordinary places.....I'm often asked the question "Which place do you like the most? Which place is the best to live in?"

If you've asked me a few years ago, I would have not hesitated to blurt out... "Belgium". After all, it's the place where I've spend my childhood, partied my way through adolescence, and also worked. I'm not a full-blooded Belgian (in case you haven't noticed :p), but these formative years have had a major influence on my train of thoughts, behavioural pattern...

I've realized that I can't possibly compare one place, country with another....it is simply pas juste, not fair. Every place is unique in its own sense, has its attractions but also its 'disadvantages'. As a mere tourist, we only see the 'polished' part of a particular town, city, country itself....and I do believe it's a human reaction just to remember only the 'good' things of places we've been to, 'people' we've interacted with.

Malaysia is still in a sense a 'developing' country, but it is developing at a breakneck speed like so many other countries here in the Pacific region. One can see modern buildings, exellent infrastructure next to 'slums', combine this with inefficient governance and a horrendous driving attitude by Malaysians.................and when you go to the country side, it is like you've stepped a few decades back in time. The only way is forward for Malaysia, and hopefully I will see the day when it is on par with the 'Western' world regarding quality of life.

Whereas good ol' Belgium is just that. I just get a sense of deja-vu whenever I have the chance to stop by in Belgium, like nothing has changed, like time has stood still. Have to admit though that this has its charms.....old towns remain old towns. And about HK...needless to say that this capitalist driven city has shed all its 'heritage' in the name of progress. It's a great place to shop at, ultra efficient transportation system, damn greatest skyline of the world, but somehow it lacks, dare I say it....a touch of 'humanity'. I'm not surprised of this lack of 'social' engagement......people work Japanese-like hours, live in awfully, expensive small flats with barely 'space' for themselves. No wonder 'they' are all on edge.

The fact is, I reside in Malaysia now and despite my gripes about certain issues, I've come to accept this place for what it is. Ofcourse it helps a lot that my dear wife is a Malaysian, tutoring me basic Malay language which enables me to interact with the locals (and English being a second lingo here is definitely helpful too in case I stumble with my limited Malay vocab :p). And finally....the local food here....what a delight for my taste buds. The spices used are totally out of this world for this Belgian steak with french fries dude. A mix of Indian, Malay, Chinese cuisine at very affordable prices. There is a Flemish saying that says that 'love goes through the stomach' and I can only acknowledge this phrase of 'wisdom'.

But heck, Hong Kong cuisine with its fresh seafood and dim sum is unbeatable, Belgian mussels together with authentic Belgian French Fries and mayonaise is a must have too.......

Lol, see.....I haven't made up my mind which country is the best place to be.....but feel free to visit any of these aforementioned countries. You definitely won't regret it, I vouch for that.

Introduction to our business

Most of you are already aware that we are in the tuition business, but I also gather that most of you have never seen our humble tuition centre.......well here above find a few pictures to give you an idea of where we earn our money.

It's October now, and end-of-year exams are fully underway........meaning kids are more hyperactive than usual, parents are worried and tutors are stressed too deliver good results.....Well, we all live in a target-driven world nowadays and teachers are not exempt from this trend. Kids get good results? We are praised ....... kids score badly?!? Off to the nearest competitor they go........simple as that.

In this ever-changing era, we are holding our options open for the near future....change of location? expansion? ...... change of times, everyone has to adapt to new realities and so do we.........will keep you informed!!!

Hard learned lesson

Weekends is synonymous with football nowadays....so yesterday after work, my teamm8's and me went of to find a proper field.........but it was raining cats and dogs. So we just opted to play futsal/indoor.....which is better than nothing. Astroturf on a concrete floor....and my, oh my....somehow I managed to let the ball slip beneath my foot and before I knew it....BANG...fell hard on the back of my head.

Any peeps who tell you that their lives flash by in slow-motion....forget about that bullocks.......it just doesn't happen........it went so fast that before I knew it, I was totally blacked out for a time, only hearing voices from my teamm8's. I somehow dared to open my eyes, fearing for the worst, but phew...luckily my fears were ungrounded.

The silly me, dazed and walking rather than running still played for the remainder of the session.......

My caring wife asked me to seek professional help immediately, but nah, I don't bleed meaning there is no visible skull fracture.....don't want to trouble her with my own stupidity. So for once I hit the sack very early last night.

Unable to sleep properly, neck muscles feeling sore, I do reckon that I have incurred a slight concussion.....nothing that a healthy dose of painkillers couldn't cure it. Should let the young guns run like hell and keep myself more to the sidelines.

The dudes even asked me to arrange to play today, Sunday, but I'm gonna wisely sit this one out......

Maid's getting on our nerves

Before I start, let me confide to you first that we have 2 maids....
Don't get me wrong....one is ours and the other one works for aunty Lily. Thing is, with those Indonesian maids....they always seem to know how to upset the 'masters'...no matter what we do, they do find something to annoy us.
This morning 'they' informed us that their toilet was stuck.....ofcourse we guessed that they must have surely throwing something into it, and since we couldn't clear this problem ourselves we had to call up our plumber to fix it.
Lo and behold.......guy couldnt clear it with convential means, had to open the manhole, dive into it (all the pipes from the 5 bathrooms go down there, so u can imagine it was not a pleasant job to do)...and look what he had found......the bloody maids tried to flush 2 garments through their toilet....how more stupid can one be?
Total damage....RM250....aaarggghhhhh......we are going to put it on 'their' tab....that's for sure. Let it be a lesson for them...!$#$(!*&#)_!^@#

Voor de Belgen onder jullie

Beste....,

Hoe lang is het al geleden? Zeer lang...en veel te lang ook...dat ik nog eens iets van me heb laten horen. Mijn ekskuuses.....

Jullie weten ondertussen wel dat ik tegenwoordig in Maleisie vertoef, samen met mijn vrouw, Jessica en ons dochterke, Laetitia.

't Gaat goed met ons, we geven beiden les (bijles)...we worden er niet schatrijk van, doch we hoeven ook niet te klagen.

Ik heb deze blog gecreeerd om jan en alleman een beetje op de hoogte te houden van het reilen en zeilen van onze familie. Wees gerust, 'k zal m'n best doen om het interessant en up-to-date te houden voor al de lezers.

Goh, 't doet wel enigszins raar om in het 'moedertaal' te typen......begot, ik heb hier nog geen enkele Vlaming, laat staan een Antwerpenaar ontmoet.....en de mensen van de ambassade zijn allemaal Walen of Franskiljons.

Gelukkig is er nog het internet, de sites van Het Laatste Nieuws en de Gazet van Antwerpen worden bijna dagelijks geraadpleegd, zodus ik ben op de hoogte van 't reilen en zeilen van de kommer en kwemmel in Belgie....en 't dient gezegd te worden....'t nieuws dat ik lees is niet al te rooskleurig (communautaire twisten, Fortis en Dexia nu, en sociale onrust). En op de koop toe, binenkort geen Radio Donna meer? argh.......die mannen van de Reyerslaan hebben serieus hun vijzen verloren. Of ik Belgie mis? 't Dient gezegd te worden dat ik Belgische kost wel wat mis.....en als het even mag....TV-programma's van de VRT/Ned, en ach...VTM ook :p

Zodus, ik ben hier in onze woonwijk de enige Belg die er rondloopt....er is nog wel een Duitser, een Engelsman en een Koreaan. Den Duitser is bijna met pensioen, den Engelsman zie ik amper en de Koreaan zit bij mij in de voetbalploeg. Jajaa, je hebt het niet verkeerd gelezen....ik zit in een voetbalploeg. Klik op de link aan de rechterkant van deze blog (Sunway SPK Football team).....onze vastgoedpromotor heeft ons een klein voetbalveld ter beschikking gesteld en de voetbalfanaten onder ons hebben een clubke gesticht. Amper een paar maanden bezig, maar toch al bijna 60 leden. Leeftijd varieert van 6 tot 60jaar.....het is allemaal voor de fun en voor een beetje lichamelijke oefening. (godverdekke, ben ik echt zo al zo oud??....de jonge gasten vliegen me voorbij en als ik 1 beweging uitvoer, dan voeren ze er 2 of zelfs 3 uit)

Daar al die gasten hier 'de English Premier League wekelijks steevast volgen, zijn ze hier allemaal supporter voor oftewel MU, Chelsea, Liverpool of Arsenal...en den deze hier met zijn Antwaarp of GBA moet het allemaal maar horen op de plein. 'k Kreeg nogal van mijn oren tijdens het voorbije EK toen Belgie er niet bij was, maar gelukkig heeft onze Olympische voetbalploeg de eer kunnen redden....hahaha.....wie laatst lacht, lacht best. Bedankt Belgie!!!

Okok.....mijn blog zal 99% in het Engels zijn, sorry gasten....doch ik vermoed niet dat dat voor jullie een probleem zal zijn.

Zodus, bedankt voor het lezen van m'n blog....en als je bij het lezen van onze blog iets voelt kriebelen....dwz dat je een berichtje moet achterlaten.

yo de mannen (en vrouwen)

PS : zorg dat mijn moeder's knie terug beter wordt, jaag haar op die hometrainer van haar want binnenkort komen haar kleindochter en zoon naar Belgie, dan moet ze wel uit de startblokken komen om samen mee op stap te gaan!!!!

Mind Power : Blindfold reading

About half a year ago upon recommendation from Jessie Ng, we've sent our girl to a special weekend course (costing a whopping RM600 - Euro 100). Little did we know what it was really about, and to be frank...at that time I thought it was a real waste of money, but Jessica was intrigued by it. Her reasoning was that if somebody charges this amount of money for kids....then it surely must be worthwhile....so she was adamant that Laetitia join this special course. So off our daughher went.

We were quite surprised when Laetitia came back and gave us a demonstration of what she had learnt that first day. Reading whilst blindfolded......yups, you've read it correctly. Is it a trick, is it magic, does she possess hidden talents that we are not aware of? We still do not understand it. But it seems that the lecturers say that our brain power is so immense, we are barely using its full potential.....and since that kids are still 'pure'.....or 'not corrupted'....they easily absorb the 'knowledge' and the power that comes with it. This blind-fold reading technique is said to enhance their concentration and memory. I for one won't disagree with it.

We are quite sure we haven't seen the last of this yet as she is still being called up for follow-up classes.

Check out this link for more information, http://www.blindfold-reading.com/

Attached here is a demo of her blindfold reading practice session at home.....every day, spend a good 10 minutes....that's all it takes to nail down this skill.

Green fingers Part 2

Et voila, as promised, see the result of the ladies green shopping spree. Have to admit that it certainly looks more appealing to the eye than yesterday's evening 'eye-sore'.

And from what I've heard,...this is just a start....I'd better retrieve the powertool and and be ready to install some hooks and flowerpots. "Bob the Builder, here I come!!!"

Green fingers part 1

My wife and aunty Lily (her aunt who currently lives with us) had a splendid idea today. They both decided that our carporch area doesn't look green enough and off they went to a 'green nursery' somewhere around Sungai Buloh.

Ofcourse they came back with a wide variety of pots and plants to be planted outside. And sure enough, the kids (Laetitia and cousin Hong) were drafted in to help out....kids, earth (mud), garden tools (makes me think of my own younger days) = recipe for a lot of fun, but I'm actually holding my breath now....how it will look like.

Never mind, I should give them the benefit of the doubt...it will eventually turn out alright...either a cultivated garden or a mini-jungle...take your pick.

Pictures were taken at 8 o'clock this evening, so what u see doesn't do my wife and aunty and the kids justice. I'll check tomorrow how it goes and will let you know :)

Laetitia in action

This is dated from last year September, Mid-Autumn celebration to be exact.....I was filming our little lady in action and see for yourself what happens.....

I sure do hope that her fiancee-to-be in the very, very far future doesn't see this clip :p

Primera

First for everything, our own personal blog on the worldwide web. Yuen's Lair

Instead of sending pics the 'conventional' way (email) or even print them out, we've decided to make this our 'permanent' home on the net. Sharing with all those who we cherish our family pics, short stories and aneqdotes. :)

It's still virgin territory for us, this bloggy thing, but rest assured, we will do our utmost effort to keep this blog updated and 'interesting' on a regular basis.

A little introduction (as if you need any), Family Yuen comprises of my lovely, devoted, beautiful wife, Jessica Lai-Yuen and ofcourse our little, feisty dragon lady, Laetitia Yuen.....and me, S. Yuen MY (converted to a merry, happily married life after an agonizing life-time of soulsearching).

We earn our bucks in the education business, providing tuition to children, teenagers and even adults. Admittedly it's a full-time occupation, but nonetheless a very rewarding enterprise...especially when they do achieve good results and learn something permanently which makes 'us' proud. We currently reside at Sunway SPK Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.....a new township on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur or KL. Just a mere 20 minutes driving (if you don't hit the daily traffic snarl that is) from the ubiquitous Twin Towers.

Yes, I know that at this moment I'm the one who is jotting all the ' abc's ' down, but I'll try to coax my beloved Jessica and even the little lady to post on this blog of ours. What you see here on the attached pics is our little but cosy, country love nest. We've moved in last year April, and believe us, it took a whole lot of DIY and patience to create our 'fantasy' home....and have to admit begrudgingly that it hasn't finished yet.......but heck, we are not intending to move anywhere else for the foreseeable future, meaning we've still got many furnishing/painting projects coming up.....so I'll definitely keep you up-to-date with the beautification of our little, cherished house.

Today is September 30th, Hari Raya or the end of Ramadan.....the end of fasting for Muslims...and since that Malaysia consists of predominantly Malays who are Muslims....PUBLIC HOLIDAY for 2 full days!!! But alas, tuition never ends and we continue to give tuition to our students, 'cos the end of year tests will start in earnest the next few weeks.

That's it for a first entry, .... it ain't that much, but heck, it's a start :)