Time Slows Down In Middle Earth (Part 3): Pastoral Living

Our homestead!

We spent 4 days holed up in a little cottage in a pastoral, secluded area of New Zealand. And experienced the most beautiful days of our trip there. The days were luxuriously long and languid, and the weather was capriciously flirtatious - with brilliant sunshine giving way to brooding thunderstorms in 5 minutes. There were plenty of wildlife all around us, as well as highly domesticated sheep, dogs, goats, alpacas and lorikeets! We learned to tune our senses and intuition to the rhythms of nature, and felt truly at one with the world.

Some of the highlights of this short-lived sojourn include:

1) Being ensconced in incredibly enchanting surroundings. Our cottage was just beside an alluring waterfall, whose cascades vary in strength according to the weather patterns, which made us more aware of the repercussions of different natural phenomenon. These cascades were gushing with vigour when we arrived in tempestuous weather, which were reduced to gentle trickles when we left the cottage under brilliant sunshine.

Alfresco dining beside the waterfall

These cascades led to a bubbling brook just outside our cottage, framed by majestic poplar trees which made magical music with their rustling leaves. Together with the waterfall cascades and the brook, we were treated to perpetual symphonic music all day and night!

A beautiful outdoor bath!

2) Sharing life experiences with Devon, our amazing host on the farm. She lives alone on the farm, and used to have a corporate job in London. It was fascinating to listen to tales of how she started getting her hands, feet and legs dirtied (in both the figurative and literal sense!), all alone on the farm!

We befriended all of Devon's pets - Demi the super-friendly labrador, Mri the super-tame lorikeet who loves playing with the girls, and our absolute favourite, Aga the South African sheep who had been raised by Demi, so she is completely friendly like a dog! She loved our company and would always looked for us in the cottage, refusing to go home sometimes!

The Bees with Aga, the sheep-dog!

Once, she even led the entire flock of sheep into our backyard, and then joined us to play and frolic around - almost as if to show off to her flock that she has this bunch of human friends! If sheep could roll their eyes, I am sure the entire flock - which was completely nonchalant to our presence - would do that!

3) Eradicating all technology and social media from our lives for a few days. There were no wifi nor TV, so we played card games, read loads, chatted and bonded with one another incessantly. The magnificent scenes of nature unfolding all around us were our entertainment.

We observed the flirtatious courtship dance of the 2 huge mandarin ducks beside the waterfall, listened to the wild, machine-gun calls of sturdy magpies and watched how aggressive they can be. We had the immense privilege of hobnobbing with the flock of sheep that Aga brought into our backyard, and spent an entire evening chatting and milling with them, sometimes playing catch with some of them! Sheep are certainly delightful creatures.

Simple fun in the absence of modern technology - the girls throwing pebbles into the waterfall pond

Gumboots are the order of the day for us to trek through sludgy mud and thick grasses!

4) Our cottage is akin to a studio apartment, with the kitchen adjoining the bedroom. So, it was always a pleasant surprise to wake up to the smell of eggs and the clanging sounds of kitchen utensils - with hubby (and Big Bee once!) cooking up a breakfast! Most of our meals in the cottage were cooked by him, from eggs and baked beans for breakfast to hearty soups and pastas in the evenings.

He decided to make use of the outdoor firewood pizza oven one evening, and we had an elaborate alfresco dinner which comprised of lots of billowing smoke from the oven and delicious wood-fired pizzas! He started a fire from small logs, twigs and pieces of newspapers and we all cheered when a hearty fire was created.

The girls making the pizzas!

All done! Yummy...

5) Taking long, luxurious walks around the farm and its wild lands. We had picnics for lunch, perching on a hill top with stupendous views of the rolling countryside around us, with not a single human soul, except for lots of sheep and horses! Such inexplicable beauty indeed. We walked for hours, laughed, rolled in the grass, and just immersed ourselves in meandering meadows and fluffy white clouds.

Finding a perfect spot for a picnic lunch

The scenery that greeted us from all around...

6) We drove daily to a little village where we could do our grocery shopping and cafe hopping. It was just a 15-minute drive away from our cottage, and that was where we bought all our Christmas gifts for Devon and our animal friends. We felt like locals, blending into the diverse Kiwi culture and stocking up on fresh, healthy food.

Little Bee had a chance encounter with Santa in a supermarket!

7) The greatest part about living in a rural area is that there is absolute no light after darkness descends. Not a prick of light! Complete, opaque darkness that is so dense that it can get unnerving for city dwellers like us. Yet, when we looked up in the sky at night, magic unfolded. Magic in the form of thousands of twinkling stars and shining planets. Magic in the form of faraway galaxies and shooting stars. An entire blanket of luminescent fairy lights that re-defined beauty for me. Being typical Singaporeans, we had not quite seen stars like that, and the nightly spectacle was indelible in my memories.

Most importantly, that few days on the farm - with no distractions - allowed us to laugh a little louder, love a little more and immerse a little longer in the cleanest of air and most bewitching of natural beauty. What a stay! 

Why I Avoid Parent-Teacher Talks

Since the Bees entered primary school, I had only attended 2 parent-teacher talks (at the start of each of their primary 1 journey). I then deemed these talks highly invaluable, and stopped attending. I do not need to learn of my children’s personalities from teachers because I know them well. I do not need to listen to how inattentive or engaged they are in class because I believe all teachers should make their lessons interesting in order to capture the attention of their students. I do not need to know if they had or had not completed their homework, because truly, it is the onus of my children to do their own homework, and I believe that teachers should reinforce this message in school. I do not need to know how my child fared vis a vis her classmates, so long as I am personally happy with her performance. Finally, I do not believe in parent teacher talks probably because I grew up in an era when my own parents were too busy trying to earn a living for us and we also learned to take charge of our own destinies independently. And that is how I want my children to grow up.

Alas, I was “summoned” by Little Bee’s teacher for the parent-teacher meeting this year. Other than braving the long wait, I also have to jostle with irresponsible parents who were late or who took up extra time in their consultations irresponsibly. I also saw parents with teary eyes, red noses and anxious, depressed faces. And I lamented about the sad state of our primary education here in Singapore. My children are already in a holistic school where school co-curricular activities and huge fun events are regarded as important as academics. And even then, I saw such anxious faces amongst parents. It’s sad indeed.

To put everything into context, Little Bee is a year-end baby who is still very idealistic, naïve and filled with wide-eyed wonder and effervescence at everything around her. I love this personality trait about her – her bubbly optimism, her indefatigable enthusiasm and her zest in enjoying life to the fullest. Sure, I have to grapple with academic carelessness and untidiness (because she just wants to hurry and complete her work so she can play with her little ponies or read the next Harry Potter book). However, I had seen her grown this year – she is much more responsible in completing her own homework without me needing to ask her, and I think she had made an immense effort in making her writing and presentation of written work tidier. And I am a happy mum in this aspect.

Which was why I was so disappointed and baffled when Little Bee’s teacher started criticising how active and chatty she is in class (I know about her gregarious trait since she started to walk and talk!), how untidy she is in her work (I told the teacher that this year I already saw a marked improvement in her written work) and finally, to my shock, how childish she still is. Goodness, this little girl just turned 8 four months ago! So, in all politeness, I asked for examples of childishness, and she could not provide any, beyond the simple and thoughtless statement of “Hmmm, just very childish in her thinking, compared to many other classmates who were much more mature.” I was somewhat enraged because this is a little girl’s childhood that you are talking about. Why do you want children to grow up so quickly in this harsh world?

Truth be told, Little Bee was unwittingly streamed into what was known as a high-ability class in school, and from the beginning of this year, she already tried her best to keep up with her very capable and driven classmates. I really miss the good old years in primary 1 and 2, with totally loving and nurturing teachers and classmates who embrace holistic enjoyment in life. 

I bet I sound like a totally defensive parent, and my teacher friends would be telling me that education is a tripartite collaboration – with the school, parent and child. But what happens when our concept of education is just so different from what the teacher or the school system perceives? What happens when I am proud of what Little Bee had achieved already, that I know she had already put in effort this year, and it is precisely this effort that I chose to applaud. Not to compare her end results with some high achiever in her class?

It was a sad day indeed, and I pray very hard not to be summoned for another parent-teacher chat! 

Finality...and Continuity

Last week had been unabashedly emotional and exhaustingly heavy-hearted - almost surreal in so many ways. Surreal in the sense that I shared this sense of forlorn bereavement with a whole country. A country whose people had always been criticised to be emotionless, passive and expressionless - just because we may not be understood in the same cultural context or measured in similar hues of socially agreeable behaviour as other cultures.

I had been thinking a lot about that feeling of emptiness when I woke up every morning last week. Those bursts of sentimentality and tears which are so rare for me, the constant appreciation and gratitude when I looked at everything around me - and even guilt for all those times I had taken Singapore and the lives we built up here for granted.

And even till today, I reflect back in wonderment - how, even in his death, Lee Kuan Yew managed to inspire a nation to stand up on our feet - literally - in order to bid farewell to him in so many ways. But seriously, how do we say goodbye to a great visionary? Granted, he was not the only architect of Singapore, that there was a team of brilliant strategists alongside him. But what makes a great leader indeed? He is truly the embodiment of a real leader - ruthless when the time called for it, and prophetic in uncanny ways. There is plenty for modern Singaporeans like us to emulate from him - to stand up for ourselves against supposed giants with different ideologies, to fight for our rights as Singaporeans, and to reinforce our very unique identity in a world where larger nations constantly fight for cultural hegemony.

So, it had been hard to bid farewell to this giant of giants, not because we will miss him as a person, but because it is like saying goodbye to what he represents, and the slow dawning of trepidation for the future of Singapore without these values.

Which is why last week would be indelible in my memory forever because we came together as a nation to mourn a great man and what he stands for - resilience, perseverance, determination, pride and unity. Regardless of inconsequential demographics like race, religion, language or socio-economical strata. And I hope these values continue to feature significantly in our future.

I think the deep-seated emotions that many of us felt last week were reflections of the pride we harboured as Singaporeans and what our little nation stands for - despite a barrage of criticisms and pressures from other nations. Many times, our perspectives towards nation building had evolved through the many stages in our lives. But for many of us who hailed from low-income families, we are deeply gratified for this system of meritocracy which provided us with umpteen opportunities and which helped us break through the cycles of neediness. And this meritocratic education system (which is evolving in dangerous ways these days, unfortunately) is something that I am personally very thankful for, because it changed the life of my family.

Much had been written about the unity of Singaporeans, the deep-seated emotions and pride harboured by many of us in our country - as well as the potential to finally be a gracious society. Yet, I constantly worry if our children would understand and grasp the frailty of our so-called success and security. Will they be resilient enough to continue this fight? To stand up for themselves as Singaporeans in future? To continually sustain a country without any natural resources? To carve out a stronger national identity and culture for themselves?

Yet, the glimpse of our Singapore spirit last week was a hope for a future where Singaporeans can fight on and keep our identity burning strong. This hope of unity, this seed of gratitude and the belief that we should stand up for our little island nation and all that we represent...these laid the foundation for much of my broiling emotions last week. There are many imperfections in our country, I do acknowledge that, and yet there is so much raw potential. We definitely have much to do and to work towards. More importantly, there is never a time when the words Majulah Singapura meant so much for many of us. Let us not forget and continue fighting on! And indeed, to let our children realise the importance of fighting on as well.

It was uncanny how the heavens poured with the march of the funeral procession on that unforgettable Sunday. And how the skies miraculously cleared after that...giving way to a beautiful, tangerine-tinged sunset. And maybe even creating rainbows with the inevitable blend of retreating raindrops and shy, emerging sunrays. An era is over, and it is up to us to write the chapters for the next era. Like Lee Kuan Yew once said, "...look at the horizon, find that rainbow, go ride it." Will we be able to spot the many rainbows over Singapore, or better yet, help create one, and continue the legacy of Singapore from now on? It is all entirely up to us, this much I know.

Goodbye, Mr Lee Kuan Yew

Today marks the end of a somewhat dazzling era, an era when miracles happened, an era when people started believing in the impossible, an era when anything is possible. This is the end of an era when dreams and hopes are realised through sheer determination and perseverance, when nation-building is at its strongest and densest. This is a time when all of us in Singapore remember yet again what it is to be a proud Singaporean - to stand together as one and stand up for ourselves against the tumultuous changes in this crazily changing world. 

There may be naysayers and detractors, but frankly, we will not be where we are without such dreams and devotion by this great man. 

Rest in peace, Mr Lee. You will always remain in our hearts. 

Colours Of Nature: An Ode To Nature

In our rushed existence, we often do not stop and realise that we are surrounded by endless natural beauties. Yes, even in urban Singapore.

Have you noticed the abandoned nest of the sunbird out in the shrubs? And the busy-ness of the ubiquitous and resilient ants transporting a dead wasp home? Or how the droplets of dew trapped in the mimosa plant captured the tangerine sunrays of a rising sun?

Have you ever smelled the rain before a storm, that piquant smell of dense condensation in the air that is the harbinger of approaching rain? Or were you fascinated by the dappled blue skies filled with painfully pretty altocumulus clouds that spells gorgeous weather?

And these are all around us in urban Singapore - free for all to appreciate. We just need to stop and observe. All it takes is a keen eye and an open mind to appreciate the natural beauty all around us. 

Children generally have sharp senses for little incidences of nature. Like how Little Bee first discovered a beautiful sunbird's nest just outside our living room. Or how Big Bee discerned a colossal spider web, lined with sparkling droplets of morning dew and a huge spider (and its insect meal!), on a walk in MacRitchie.

Can you spot the bird in the nest?

Just last week, as we were lazily ambling to our neighbourhood park, Little Bee chanced upon a small tree stump and squatted beside it for a long time, trying to decipher how old the tree is, from the rings in the stump.

As parents, it is so necessary to provide the space and time for children to observe little beauties of nature at all times. Not hurrying them along. Nor confining outings to sterile air-conditioned malls. Getting out into the great outdoors - no matter how hot it is here in Singapore - allows us to be more cognisant of the natural beauty that exists all around us. 

Spider-Girls

The Bees indulged in a fair bit of rock-climbing at Kallang Wave over the December holidays. It was exciting for them, and a great activity to dispel their excess energies. Big Bee, being her usual athletic self, is a natural at rock-climbing. She would literally scramble up the entire length of the wall, scaling walls that are challenging even for adults. I could only achieve heights that are half of hers, as I always made the mistake of looking down at the tiny people below and then going into a panic attack!

As for Little Bee, she prefers scaling lower walls so that she could reach the top easier and that gave her a sense of achievement. Different kids, different approaches!

We also had great fun at the bouldering section, where we tried to scale the wall without any ropes or reinforcement - just pure, core strength. It was exhilarating when we tested our limits and crashed down on the soft floor of the boulder section, unfettered and liberated.

Rock climbing is a wonderful activity to challenge our children's (and ours!) limits, pushing them beyond their comfort zones and teaching them the power of strength and perseverance. We will be back for sure!

Parenting Tweens 101

Big Bee is fast propelling into her teens, after a relatively unruffled ride as a tween. There were some bumpy and tumultuous moments at the beginning of her tweenhood, as exemplified here. The start of tweenhood would always be challenging for most parents, as we grapple with their fight for independence and their angst at battling their own hormonal changes.

Sometimes, I suspect tweenhood is invented for parents. It is like a buffer time period to cushion the separation anxieties for most parents! As I read back on my old posts on tweenhood, I smile at myself for being unwilling to let go, for worrying over the most trivial matters, for wanting to embrace the "babyhood" of Big Bee. Because, right now, as she is into her teens, I am enjoying the sweet fruition of sensible, companionable chats with Big Bee, sometimes seeking her wise opinions on issues in life, sitting back and not worrying about how she runs her life, and more importantly, having a lot more quality time to myself.

I am still adjusting my parenting style as Little Bee is trundling towards her tweenhood soon. In fact, I am already observing the same signs of independence-seeking incidents and moody meltdowns in Little Bee this year!

While I won't profess to be the perfect tween mum, here were some strategies which I used and these had proven to produce very fulfilling outcomes!

1) We MUST let go
- This is non-negotiable. Letting go, and allowing them the freedom to explore what they want is fundamental in gaining their respect for you as parents. This means allowing them the freedom to meet with their friends, visiting places that you normally would not allow, not bugging them over the phone, and not insisting that they call you every hour!

2) Accept that their peers are more important than you ... now
- This is a no-brainer. We had all been there and done that. They are surrounded by peers all day long in school and you are no longer their paramount source of information and opinions. By acknowledging the importance of their friends (and their weird opinions and advice at times), it actually helps to bring down the guard of your tween and make them open up more to you.

3) Befriend their friends
- I love to hang out with Big Bee's friends. They are such a bright, happy and funny bunch of teens. And I try not to act all adult-like and serious when I am with them. They like it when you are silly and listen to them without judgement (I think!). Once you know your tween's friends, it is such fun gossiping and chatting about their friends together.
- Set up an Instagram account (no self-loving tween is on Facebook these days) and link yourself with all your tween's friends while they are still open to having parents as social media friends! You can also check out what your tween or her friends posted, which is really important in keeping yourself up-to-date with the rapid developments in their lives

4) Listen to your tween
- And by listening, I mean truly sitting down and listening to their wishes, their hopes, their dreams. And just listen. Without judgement. Sometimes it is tempting to just put in our "adult judgements" on the things they want to do, but try to take a back seat and let them experiment with life. This is the time when they can learn about failures and successes, while having a thin lifeline to you and still possessing enough child-like dependence to listen to you at times (compared to their hardened teenhood!)
- It is ideal to have some alone-time with your tween every day to catch up on his or her day. 10 minutes of pure listening and chatting. No judgement :)

5) Get to know what they like...and immerse yourself in those activities!
- Which explains why I had been immersing myself in teen fiction, teen music, teen ... erm...fashion!? Okay, maybe not the last one. But yes, learn to enjoy teen fiction and talk giddily with them about their favourite characters, couples, whatnots!

Whatever it takes, tweenhood is a definite constant - and a new phase in our ever-changing parenting journey!

I Refuse To

This evening, Little Bee cried and told me she would be scolded by her teacher for not buying the Chinese Moral Studies activity book. Tomorrow would be Week 5 of the academic school year after all, and she is the only student in class not to have that book. Feeling guilty, I reassured her that I would go to school and check if the book is available in the bookstore. We scoured a couple of large Popular bookstores today, but it was sold out in these outlets, and she was not thrilled about it. But she could not chastise me for long because she only told me she needed that book last week. And I usually do not keep track of what books are missing after I bought all her textbooks in school. 

Within a split second, she cheered up considerably (this is the ever-optimistic Little Bee for you!). I was secretly thankful that I was on the receiving end of her nags...and not the other way round.

And this is how I try to govern school work with my 2 Bees since 7 years ago, when Big Bee first entered the highly stressful environment of the Singapore education system. 

When other parents asked me what homework was given today, I told them I do not know because I had not looked into their notebooks or homework files. 

I refuse to. Because this is the responsibility of my child, and not me. And if they found out they had forgotten to do their homework, they are the ones who will get reprimanded by the teacher. And I can save a session of nagging in exchange for more quality time together. 

When I heard about how parents had to intervene and correct their children's mistakes in their school work, I told them I have no idea what crazy answers my children gave ... because I had never looked through my child's completed homework. 

I refuse to. Because this is their homework, and they should do it themselves. So that their teachers can understand the full extent of the level of their standards as students. And I can just ask my children pleasantly, "So, have you finished your homework? Great! Now let's do some reading!" No flipping through their worksheets furtively, only to feel angst if there were some wrong answers. 

(Okay, sometimes I cheated and looked through their work just to find out where their level of understanding was. But I do not tell them if I spotted wrong answers!)

Of course, there are exceptions when they asked me for help with their homework. But since young, I had always been telling them that their school work is for them to handle alone, and they should not ask me for help. That should be the responsibility of their teachers. And I am thankful to my Bees' school and teachers who had always been insisting in the same message as me - "Parents, do NOT help with homework. We will do that!" So, the girls hardly asked me for help, unless it is some terribly challenging homework (which they seldom get from school anyway!). 

When I hear other parents complaining about English and Chinese spelling, I can totally understand their agony. Because it can be very frustrating to expect the kids to know every word on their spelling lists. Sometimes, I do not even know how to write certain Chinese words on their lists! 

So I refuse to be angry if the Bees - especially playful and forgetful Little Bee! - kept asking me to show them the words so they can refer to them. Or if they make repeated mistakes day after day. Or if they write or spell a word wrongly that they got correct the night before. I will just keep showing them the list until they get it correct. And they might come back with lower marks than usual. But hey, that is fine, I told them. Get better marks the next time. 

Our unforgiving education system is already so stressful, and sometimes I feel really angry with this system for ruining the beautiful childhood that my children could have enjoyed. But well, we live in this country, so we just have to abide by it! The best thing we could do is give our children some slack and not drill them so much. And give ourselves a piece of peace (pun intended!) by letting go and asking our children to handle their homework themselves. In addition to less nagging and lowered blood pressure, this also helps them to be more independent and hopefully, more persevering. Don't know a Math problem? Think harder! Don't remember a word for spelling? Take a look and try again! Don't know how to do your comprehension? Read again and write what you think is correct!

What resulted is this marvellous peace at home where school work is concerned. Unfortunately, I am still a stickler for punctuality and completing your work at the right time. So, sadly, I am still a drill sergeant asking them to "go do your work NOW" or "I am going to count to 3 so hurry up and come brush your teeth!" or "You need to sleep in 5 minutes' time!" 

I am still trying very hard to change this aspect of mine that is chasing the clock incessantly, abiding by it tirelessly and timing our activities right down to the second. Not a lot of success in letting go of this area, of flippantly dismissing the importance of time yet! 

Christmas Art

We did a bout of Christmas art on a lazy weekend over the year-end holidays. The Bees did some research on what icons they thought that most represented Christmas, and painted those out. We spent a couple of quiet hours drawing and painting these 2 festive icons, and it was really therapeutic.

Here were what the girls had done!

Big Bee's Christmas Tree

Little Bee's Santa's Torso!

Of Chalkboards And Clean Slates

To demonstrate the significance of life's impermanence, Tibetan monks will painstakingly create intricately designed sand mandalas. For months, they bent over the ground, arranging the sand grain by grain. Once their beautiful creations were perfected and completed, they cheerfully destroyed it in the ultimate celebration of impermanence.

Impermanence is the fundamental nature of the human condition. Yet, most of us are living our lives in a constant state of worry, denial and regret - and that is what's causing our supposed fears. Change is a constant reassurance that we consistently learn from the undulating affairs around us. Yet, we are often shocked by definitive constants like deaths, even though death is the most predictable outcome of life - more so than births, in this age of contraceptives and birth control tactics.

We emphasised the concept of impermanence with the Bees through simple chalk play one balmy evening. We hope that a better understanding of impermanence might help them to become more resilient, adaptable beings in future, able to face the myriad challenges that will appear in their lives soon.
We bought a box of colourful, cheerful chalks and painted a wall in our home black. We then spent the gloaming scribbling and sketching on the wall, drawing favourite pictures that bring us comfort and happiness. The Bees were mighty satisfied with the outcome of our family montage! Thereafter, we left the wall to the elements (this is an external wall, exposed to the elements).

Two days later, there was a huge downpour that wiped the entire wall clean of our sketches. After the rain, we observed the sad, faded imprints of our sketches and I felt a little sorry that our hard work was gone. However, I was surprised that the Bees exclaimed excitedly that they can start drawing all over again - on a clean slate!

And that is what life is about, isn't it? Building up things with people we love, appreciating them but not being overly-attached to them. And if something happened to shake up the foundation of these things, we cheerfully move on in life on a clean slate. Easier said than done, of course, but the Bees' approach to their chalkboard gave me something to learn and think about. I hope they can take this same attitude to the many vicissitudes in their lives next time!

Time Slows Down In Middle Earth (Part 2): Christmas Eve With Sheep

Christmas Eve was spent in a bucolic, tranquil way in New Zealand. We trekked around One Tree Hill, which incidentally was the third volcanic peak that we climbed in Auckland. We woke up to a brilliant day of sparkling sunshine and cobalt blue skies dotted with pure-white beguiling clouds, the types of which we can only find in New Zealand skies.

One Tree Hill, Auckland, New Zealand

As we ascended One Tree Hill, we saw hundreds of sheep and cattle scattered all over the slopes of the sprawling hill. They are wild and unfettered, with probably the city council overseeing them.

Can you spot the sheep?

It is wondrous to find spots of wilderness and pastoral living just minutes out of the city. An excellent juxtaposition of idyllic rustic living alongside frenetic urban lifestyles. It made it so much easier for frazzled city dwellers to escape into an arcadian, verdant paradise.

We trekked and ambled in the bush and rambling slopes of the hill, chatting with sheep that chewed on grass just an arm's width from us. Little Bee even sang incessantly to them, much to their annoyance.

The Bees creeping up to the top of one knoll to observe the sheep

These newly shorn sheep stared at us suspiciously and with much caution, but learned to ignore us once we kept quiet and did not disturb them. The line between humans and animals living in the wild is so thin. Most animals react to how humans treated them in the past, so we try to keep our profiles low whenever we want to observe these animals at close range.

It was so therapeutic and rejuvenating to be strolling in seemingly boundless and undulating meadows, with not a sight of other humans. 

With every step we took, we were able to appreciate nature's beauty rather than artificial man-made perks. Beauty in the resplendent red blooms of the pohutukawa trees (also known as New Zealand's Christmas trees because they only bloom around Christmas!).

Beauty in the placid and cautious behaviour of the sheep - we can literally spot idiosyncracies of each sheep once we observed them closely.

Beauty in the hundreds of sheep and cattle dotting the pastures, almost like polka-dotted snowflakes on an art piece.

Beauty in the rich emerald green slopes that shield potentially tempestuous volcanic activities just miles underneath the halcyonic surface.

We found a spot to settle down for a little tea break, on a bench high up the slopes, overlooking the entire city of Auckland with a massive border of rolling meadows. There, over apples and Tim-Tams, we laughed, we played, we sang, we giggled. Just the perfect way to spend a beautiful Christmas Eve afternoon.

The view from our picnic spot

On the evening of Christmas Eve, we sat down on our apartment's dining table and started decorating and writing Christmas cards for one another. Each of us would decorate and write thankful wishes on 3 different cards. Afterwards, we all sat around the bed and read our cards, what we thought of one another, our wishes, our flashbacks. Lots of laughter ensued, and it was a perfect way to count down towards Christmas.

Wherever we are, whatever we do, being together with our loved ones at all times is what matters. 

A Reluctant Good-bye To A Fabulous Year

2014 had been a really rewarding and fulfilling year for us. It was filled with unexpectedly pleasant surprises and lots of learning experiences. It was a year of milestones for the girls - with Big Bee ending the fundamental primary school chapter in her life, and Little Bee walking an inch closer to being an upper primary girl (can you imagine my little baby heading towards upper primary?!).

I guess the biggest "hurdle" had been Big Bee's PSLE experience, but we started last year with the philosophy that the PSLE is just another exam, and that we should not compromise on anything in our lives for this exam. And I was glad we lived up to that. There was minimal stress and life still went on in terms of overseas vacations, weekend outings, gatherings with friends, extracurricular activities in school, etc.

Last year was a year that I witnessed tremendous maturity and growth in Big Bee. She grew from an angsty tween to a wonderful teenager-to-be who shared lots of gossips with me. It came with a price though. This year was the year that I fed myself on loads of young adult fiction, lingo, social media and movies, just so I could keep up with her friends and her. But it helped that we read and watched their stuff, because that opened up so many conversations and it felt kind of wonderful when her friends called me a "cool mum"!

Despite the PSLE, Big Bee got into the school netball team with loads of practices. I encouraged that because I think extracurriculars are what make well-rounded, healthy and well-adjusted tweens. For the first 7 months of the PSLE year, she was practising in school 3 times a week, only coming home at 6pm in the evenings. For the first quarter of the year, she was also loaded with piano and ballet practices - all of which helped her to destress and deviate her mind from academic work, she admitted to me. She also went on a research trip with her classmates and teachers to Hong Kong, and it really enriched her perspectives on social values.

One of the best things that we did was to prepare her DSA personal statements. That helped her reflect on her life and past experiences, and we were able to talk a lot about these past experiences and what she looks forward to in future. She also switched her goals from a typical top school offering the A-levels to her current dream school with a different, more analytical form of education. We are constantly thankful for what she had been blessed with and from now on, her future endeavours would be up to her to craft and shape.

As for Little Bee, primary 2 had been fun and leisurely for her, as always. We were extremely lucky to be blessed with an excellent form teacher for Little Bee, who was also her form teacher in primary 1. She is a caring, committed and warm teacher, and all the students (and parents!) love her so much! I believe this teacher is a great inspiration to Little Bee, who had done surprisingly well in her school work last year, despite her highly playful nature.

I am really happy that Little Bee - being her happy-go-lucky self - loves school and treats school as one gigantic playground. Being a highly gregarious and sociable girl, she also had lots of good friends whom she bonded with. Last year, she began to devote herself more to her dance CCA in school, and was delighted to be part of a huge charity concert on the last day of school. She had also completed her swim course and is now swimming well.

The Bees' reading adventures had been colourful this year. Big Bee read a total of 100+ books last year (yes, the OCD her kept a record of the books she read), and is very into young adult, dystopian series like The Hunger Games, Divergent series, etc. As for Little Bee, she is full on into Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl, having completed all of Roald Dahl's children fiction and Enid Blyton's Enchanted Woods and Malory Towers series. She had started on the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series, but still prefers Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl for now!

2014 had been fun and beautiful for the Bees - let's hope 2015 will bring lots of equally enriching experiences too!

Time Slows Down in Middle Earth

At Mount Victoria in the little quaint village of Devonport. The volcanic mountain behind is Rangitoto Island, the newest volcano in the world at just 500 to 600 years old.

We are back from 12 days of immersing in the splendid outdoors and resplendent nature of New Zealand's North Island. It was a trip where time slowed down tremendously, allowing us to truly savour the richness of every single moment. It was true escapism in New Zealand, away from the madding crowds, seeing more sheep and cattle than humans! We were in tune with Mother Nature and the true magic of a land discovered almost a thousand years ago by the Maori people. We experienced the true respect and understanding of New Zealand's residents with the indigenous Maori and the legends of the land - something that many countries did not practise.

We spent days holed up on a remote farm, in a tiny little cottage, with nothing but the companionship of wary sheep, friendly dogs, nonchalant alpacas, glorious horses, passive cows, and magnificent views of undulating emerald-green hills. We went horseback riding as a family with views of stunning hills and gorgeous countryside, looking over sublime vistas of the Pacific Ocean. We trekked and walked (or in Kiwi terms, tramped!) over hectares of wild countryside and bush, summitted 3 volcanic mounts, climbed down a deep volcanic crater (just the Hubby!), climbed up trees and read our favourite books in the middle of vast meadows.

Living Earth - Middle Earth - Under Earth 

New Zealand is a land of stark contrasts. We were able to appreciate peaceful jade-green pasture fields, but were also privy to a land of active volcanic activity, with livid geysers, hot springs and scorching mud pools - testaments to a true Living Earth.

We went to Middle Earth and surrounded ourselves with the beauty of the Shire in the Hobbiton movie set. For The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit fans like us, this is a dream come true - to visit the Shire and immerse ourselves in the lives of Bilbo, Frodo, Sam and the rest of the hobbits (as well as Gandalf!). We revelled in stories of film magic and met fellow LOTR and Hobbit fans. The Shire was set in resplendent, rolling countryside with 44 beautiful hobbit holes. Gorgeous indeed. We did not want to leave The Shire!

We submerged into the pitch dark, mysterious caves of New Zealand, where we were awed spectators to thousands of electric blue glow worms. They dotted the ceilings of the cavernous caves like brilliant stars on a dark winter night. Totally magical and a truly enchanting Under Earth. 

It was a truly rejuvenating 12 days, where we appreciated the beauty of Mother Earth once again and embraced the true meaning of a sustainable, living Earth in the land of the long white cloud (Aotearoa - the Maori name for New Zealand). 

More to come in detailed blog posts!

Smells Like Singapore Spirit...

Rousing cheers. Rambunctious jeers. 

Packed, sweaty bodies violently gesticulating away. 

Massive crowds standing and stomping on their feet.

Banners. Whistles. Horns. Drums. 

A whole kaleidoscope of cacophony, elation, chaos, disappointment. 

And no - I am not talking about a rock concert (although the whole ambience felt like one!). Instead, the girls and us were at a Singapore versus Malaysia AFF Suzuki Cup match. Crowds were boisterous and all decked out in red. The atmosphere was electrifying. And the girls were shocked at how rude and rowdy football fans were, especially when they started chanting "boo" when players from Malaysia doubled over in pain during more aggressive tackles. Haha, not the best place to inculcate sportsmanship to the girls! 

The girls decked out in their father's favourite soccer team shirts!

Hubby and I thought it would be a good experience to bring the Bees to a roaring football match - and we knew the Singapore versus Malaysia match would be raucous enough! 

It was an excellent experience, and brought me back to those days in the early 1990s when we were all attending football matches with the Singapore "dream team" soccer team. Best of all, the match was played in the new National Stadium, and I was impressed by the huge infrastructure of a stylish, state-of-the-art stadium! 

The entire stadium was almost filled, and everyone did the Kallang Wave deliriously, much to the Bees' amusement. The Kallang Roar was loud and clear. And the spirit was high. Everyone smiled at each other, and much encouragement was shown to the small but zealous supporters of the Malaysian team. 

Little Bee brought along her pom-poms to cheer for the Lions!

Alas, we did not win, but I thought this was a wonderful experience for the girls (although they started reading their books halfway through the match!). We will be back for more matches! 

Oops, the girls started reading out of boredom halfway through the match!

We took the MRT to avoid traffic jams, and the entire MRT station was filled with red shirts! 

Playing Games The Old-Fashioned Way

Now that we are full-swing into the year-end holidays, the girls literally have a lot of time on their hands after a very busy and intense school year. They did not have any holiday programmes this time round, and they spent their long days luxuriously, without any schedules or objectives.

And that was how I remember my own school holidays as a kid too. There were no tuition in the holidays back in those days, not a lot of play dates and definitely no holiday enrichment programmes! So, I would spend my long days with my brother, cooking up ideas to play with - ranging from us being pretend DJs and recording countless radio programmes (on cassette tapes!) to playing restaurant or clinic. All I remember of those days was our unfettered happiness and carefree spirit. And I want the Bees to remember their school holidays in the same way too - unshackled and free!

So, they spent their days doing what they want. This is also an especially busy time at work for me, so they were literally left to their own devices the whole day. I am glad my mother is a great help though. She always believes in healthy, robust activities conducted in the great outdoors which do not involve paying, so she would bring them for walks in the park and badminton games.

And every night when I am back from work, we would try to play board games as a family. Every sort of board games from Scrabble to Blokus to Game Of Life to Monopoly to UNO!

The girls always enjoy strategizing against me in Blokus, which always resulted in me being the last! 

We are board game junkies from eons back, and have a good collection of board games at home. We will usually bring these out during the holidays to play games the good old-fashioned way. Compared to the instant, one-to-one and anti-social gratifications of iPad and mobile phone apps which I never approve of, playing board games slows time down, allowing for turn-taking, enforcing understanding, patience and empathy. Most importantly, we laughed together, jeered together, poked fun at one another together. What a wonderful way to bond!

Their all-time favourite - Game Of Life! I guess the reality depicted in this game appeals to them.