Out Of Action....

Lessons started from today. Will be quite out of action this entire month. Busy mugging Russian language. Tough! Hope I will survive :P

Home Alone....

Adrian is off to Vladivostok, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladivostok which is situated just above North Korea, and I will be home alone till Sunday. It's a 9hr flight from Moscow and the time difference is 8 hours (I think). Feel kind of strange that he is actually still within Russia. For many who are bazaared with the sheer size of Russia, well, it is a country with 11-12 (not qute certain) time zones. Coming from the little red dot, sometimes, it is difficult to comprehend the size of this enormous country. There is a part of Russia that is so near to Europe and there is the other part that is so near Asia.

It has been a while since Adrian is off for business trip. Used to having Pebble around with me while he was away. Is times like this that make you miss her more. Am quite grateful that there are still a bunch of friends who will keep me occupied when he is away. Just that when everything is over, you still come back to an empty bed, missing her snuggles (Pebble loved to sleep close to my back).

7th Month

Pebble, 7 months today. Where are you? Will mummy see you again? Miss you.

Who Deserve Happiness?

Was watching news just now. Came across the one about Iraq's win in the semi-finals of the Asian football game (something like that) against South Korea. There were lots of celebrations on the streets of Iraq for the win. The Iraqis being interviewed expressed that they had not seen such happiness from their folks for a long time. Suddenly they felt united, they felt patriotic, they temporary forgot about what they were going through. Unfortunately, not long after that, bombs went off, killing some people, again. Some lamented how short-lived their happiness were. Who deserve happiness? Don't they do too? I guess we are the more fortunate ones as Happiness seems to be kinder to us.

We Are A Miracle!

I was watching tv a couple of days ago. I came across this little snippet about how our existence is a miracle. It went something like this.......

"For us to exist, the Sun needs to be of the correct size. Too big, we will be burnt to death, too small, we freeze. Earth has to be of the correct distance away from the Sun. Too near to it, like Mercury and Venus, you get nothing. Too far from it, you don't find any either. For Life to exist, you need water. Earth is of just the correct distance from the Sun to harbour this essence of Life.

For us to exist, we need the occurence of the dinosaurs. We need the asteriods to hit the Earth to get rid of the dinosaurs. We need fishes to start having legs to walk instead of to swim. We need apes to evolve to what we are today.

For us to exist, we need 2 people among the 6 billion people to meet. We need that 2 people who met to procreate. Against all these odds, shouldn't our existence be a miracle?"

My Clay Works :P

Finally got my hands dirty on the Korean clay that Ngiam introduced me to. Wow, once again, I concluded that I do not have any artistic genes. Here's why.......see the non-similarity?

BB Da Ren :)

Liang emailed yesterday updating me about BB Darren and BB Sophie. She said that Darren is doing very well at childcare particularly at meal times as he is not a fussy eater. He eats everything. Liang attributed this to his first encounter with tasty foods that contained seasonings.

It is a joy to see how these young ones have grown. I was looking through some of my photos the other day and found a series of Darren's photos that I took when he was taking his bath :P. SO CUTE but due to them being R-rated, I will not show them here....or maybe....just a little teaser :)

Little Angels? Devils?

I was watching a TV programme last night called,"little angels". It was about how to manage children with behavioural problems. The episode last night featured a boy aged 5 who displayed rebellious behaviour since age 3 and 3 brothers who never seem to get along.

The show focused on how this clinical psychologist helped the parents of the above children adopt positive parenting skills. It was very interesting to see how the parents used skills such as time out, praises, positive behaviour charts, behaviour boundaries, once friendly twice firm etc, to change their children's behavioural problems.

The psychologist analysed that the common error parents get into when their children throw tantrums is to fuss over them. She demonstrated that when the kids are in a tantrum, is best to leave them alone, not talk to them such that they realise when they display this behaviour, they will not get any attention from the parents. It is also important to consciously and continuously verbalise praises for good behaviour to encourage the children to display more of such mannerism. Interesting programme. Quite thought provoking too cos the children featured in the show can really make you pull your hair.

It's 6 Years!

Yesterday was my 6th wedding anniversary. Thinking back, it didn't feel that long that we were married. I always wonder what my life will be if I am still single and this is always my conclusion. I think it is a blessed decision that I have made for I have someone whom I know will take care of me and love me for the rest of our lives together. Happy Anniversary 老公!

Ok, got to stop here. Not too comfortable with being mushy :P

An Abandoned Friend Reappears!

For some who are wondering where the Abandoned Friend is, well....I was in Singapore for a month. Yes, the third visit since I moved to Moscow in April last year. One will never have enough of their own country. Simply because the people you love are there.

Things seem to change every time I go back. New buildings, new landmarks etc. Am I imagining things or what? I seem to feel that things are getting more and more expensive in Singapore. Nonetheless, the prices are still low compared to what you will pay in Moscow.

One of my objectives of going back this time was to complete the paperwork for the sale of my Floravale house. Yes, we got it sold. Had mixed feelings when we decided to sell the house. Felt sad because it was our first house, a house with our own memories and memories of our beloved Pebble. Also happy as we got it sold with minimised loss. Looking forward to the new house.

I also got a chance to bring my godson to the beach this time. It was an impromptu arrangement but we had a good time. Shan't write too much cos his mother has a blog on it too. Here's the link: http://ilove-ralph.blogspot.com/2007/07/evening-out-to-east-coast-park-with.html .

When I left in Mar this year, I had yet to see the tummies of the 2 pregnant mothers. Finally managed to feel the 2 piglets. It is exciting to think that the next time I go back, it will be my first meeting with them. Really looking forward to it. 加油妈妈们:)


Managed also to squeeze in a trip to Bintan too :) Poor Adrian. We dragged him to Bintan on the day he landed in Singapore. He didn't even have a chance to catch a breather. We pampered ourselves with a spa (even though the place we did it looked sleazy), nice dinners, ATV rides, swim etc. The only thing we didn't quite enjoy was playing Monopoly with Jenny. For those who know who we are, remember, NEVER attempt to play this game with Jenny. She simply has too much luck in the game. We couldn't even beat her when we combined efforts.

Rest of the time was spent shopping, eating, catching up with friends, signing papers for the sale of the house, etc. Looking forward to my next trip back. See ya soon my friends :)