Sydney Through The Eyes Of A Rockstar – The Australian Museum

Posted on August 14, 2011 by admin

Hello, rather awesome Australian Museum…

Rockstar probably wishing he could play with the exhibits…
Be careful what you wish for… (yes it’s a jailcell)

We didn’t really know what to expect, so were expecting something like San Francisco’s Zeum. It really wasn’t, though there was a children’s area… I liked the animal bones exhibit… Rockstar liked running around the animal bones exhibit…

Caught In The Act: Kings on his Berry again…
And again…

Who’m I kidding, Rockstar liked running around the entire museum, we took turns watching him (and answering umpteen What’s This Fors and How Comes) while browsing the exhibits…

Former PM Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Indigenous people
Some of the art speaking out…

They have a bunch of interviews and art done by the “Stolen Generations”… I learnt something… Kings got called away for some work thing when we were done browsing this floor, if you didn’t guess by him being on the Berry – but lemme finish putting up a few more pics from this floor and pretend this counts as blogging…

Here’s another…

Then we move to the kiddie section, and – Kings leaves to run about in this neighborhood getting something printed, signed, and Fedex-ed while we entertain ourselves here, catching up to us in the the museum gift shop

Rockstar trying to stop me taking another pic at entrance to kids’ section
Then getting absorbed in all the animal-themed games…

It’s quite crowded (most of the booths are occupied) but I find it strangely quiet, everyone is supervising their kids erm discreetly, and even when the kids run about I don’t hear a single shrieker in their midst. Not even loud “outdoor voices.” As if influenced by the atmosphere, Rockstar behaves the same. Hmm.

Him looking at the lines and hairs on his hand under a microscope. Then bugs. Yechh.

In the gift shop,Ā which I think is brilliant if slightly chaotic with older kids all over the store exploring the merchandise,Ā I get a little worried Rockstar might get run over by a couple dueling about-5-year-olds, clacking those long plastic “grabber” arms operated by squeezing a lever… Needn’t have worried though, they maneuver around him like pros… Actually all the kids going nuts in the store don’t so much as brush into him..

Beside us, an elderly man purchases a genuine fish fossil… I’m tempted to get the one next to it for AUD 66, but Rockstar isn’t very interested <disappointed> I haven’t explained fossils yet šŸ™ (He picks an animal join-the-numbers book, Aussie animal playing cards, and two sets of animal picture slides. (I add a little plastic microscope).

Hurried shot along the streets in the drizzle as Kings speedwalks off with Rockstar on his shoulders

You would’ve thought after all this Rockstar would crash right, but he doesn’t…

We found San Francisco’s Zeum vs The Australian Museum (kiddie section especially) worlds apart; while the former features a lot of technology – kids playing against a green backdrop which computers then superimpose a deep sea scenery or matrix-ish code, the latter emphasizes nature – plants, animals…..

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Sydney Through The Eyes Of A Rockstar – Sydney Opera House Pics

Posted on August 13, 2011 by admin
Random Pic I Love, with Sydney Opera House in background… Rockstar is squinting at the bright sunlight tho

We didn’t catch a show… yet, anyway, we just went to the Opera Bar for brunch… I discouraged Kings from trying out the otherwise fairly popular dim sum stall in the foodcourt (well duh, we live in Dim Sum Land)… Relatively frequently, we pass vacant shop lots for rent around the city… (In the Blue Mountains area, we come across at least several “For Sale” signs on homes too…)

More small lattes at the Opera Bar… Lotsa kids, but they don’t do milkshakes (which the bartender literally calls to a mum he overhears asking her girls what flavor shake they want)

We pass a tiny (by comparison toĀ San Francisco and London) Chinatown… In fact we pass by so unexpectedly quickly I don’t manage to get my cell from Rockstar in time for a pic.. On an aside, come to think of it… There are actually quite a few Asians here, we’ve been overhearing conversations in Putonghua, Cantonese and Korean around the city… On of our waitresses was from the Philippines… But (hope I’m not offending anyone, it’s just an observation) there seem to be far fewer obviously mixed race couples or children on the streets here than in say, Hong Kong. Dunno why that is, HK has lots more obviously mixed couples/ kids…

This one is titled WHY Do I Continue To Believe My Child Will Comply When I Ask For An Identical Expression Picture, I Should Know By Now He Is Just Gonna Leave Me Hanging

Can you imagine he's bashful (about public mum-kisses)? ALREADY??

Ok! Give Up! Point Camera Away And Out Over Harbor!

(Anyway re the mixed couples/ kids thing… Just that when I was pregnant I went thru a phase of drooling over the beautiful mixed kids around me, there is a certain gorgeous coloring that you only seem to get from say, Caucasian and Asian, or other two very different colorings… Kings even went Uh, you know your child is not going to come out like that right? šŸ˜€ Then when Rockstar was a baby and I carried him around in a harness I would get Mainland aunties looking from me to him asking, “Is the father Chinese?” (Apparently I don’t look “very Chinese” to them) and when I ask why they will say, “Your baby looks very Chinese.”

What An Apparently "Very Chinese" Child Looks Like (not really lah, we haven't been getting that question since he grew into a toddler)

I seriously don’t get offended by this, and one of our Caucasian pastors in HK who adopted 4 children – 2 Caucasian and 2 Mainland Chinese, once mentioned he got asked by the taxi driver if he had 2 wives, and one of them was Chinese)

Love this pic... Too bad I hardly caught myself in the frame when I held up the iPhone

Try again...

Ok these are just our Horsing About With Opera House In Background Or Really Just Horsing About In Front Of It Pics (as kind of mentioned in header) – we didn’t stay long because we spent the day at theĀ Australian Museum… Akan Datang…

 

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Sydney Through The Eyes Of A Rockstar – Glenbrook and Blue Mountains National Park

Posted on August 11, 2011 by admin
Seasoned Travelers (note Rockstar’s expression. Yes, really) Exchanging Small Talk Over Breakfast In Some Cafe In Glenbrook

Ā We drive out to Blue Mountains National Park for the day, about an hour out we stop for brunch at Glenbrook before heading on another 45 mins to our destination..

Some of the shops in Glenbrook… We would later come back for dinner (for want of a better option because we’re a little late back) – I would then recall our breakfast cafe had no Dinner on the menu, only Breakfast and Lunch… In fact most everything is closed except the Indian restaurant on the way back at 7pm)
Nearby playground

Which do you think Rockstar wanted to do, see the Three Sisters and one of the most popular National Parks in Australia, or go play on a swing exactly like the ones in Sai Kung, HK? This is hard.

Sheepish Kings at gas station

This gas station pump along the way is on the blog because Kings literally drove round and round this thing three times before figuring out which side of the car the pump should be on so he could fill up. (He was deep in thought about some work thing.) Locals must be thinking we’re nuts. I say this in case you wonder why sometimes my husband and I seem to have strange conversations. It’s because we have strange conversations. (And then I’d like to think that’s just him except I agreed to spend the rest of my life with him so that makes me a little weird too)

When we finally make it there between 2-3pm, it’s 8 degrees Celsius, at least 5 degrees colder than the city was.

Breathtaking picture in brochure. Hahaha. Do you really think we are going to be able to make it here with tired Rockstar in tow?

At the entrance to the trails we look at the map. The pictures are breathtaking. And after 4-5 hours’ hiking you will apparently get this view above. It IS beautiful. I shall take a beautiful picture of the brochure.

(1) Made it. Only just.
(2) And then he went back to doing this (evil eye)
(3) And this.

Pictures 1-3 were taken barely 2 minutes apart. Seriously. It’s still a little freaky even for us – one moment your child is carrying on a serious conversation with you, the next you turn to see why he has practically cut off mid-sentence and – zzz.

Aren’t those mountains blue?

Well we enjoyed Blue Mountains. Even if we did have to take turns getting out of the car to see them.

Aren’t the Three Sisters just awesome??

Interestingly, quite a few tourists are speaking Putonghua. Some with distinct Beijing accent even. And I also overhear some Cantonese.

See?

Then it’s a colossal traffic jam as we head back. As in, we move maybe 100 meters in 55 minutes at one point. Which is when I had a chance to blog haha – after awhile we switched on the Wifi device we bought for the rented place.. (Kings holds up surprisingly well considering I don’t think we’ve been in a jam that slow-moving in 7 years in HK. AND I notice not a single person honks their horn. Come to think of it now I remember last year in Melbourne it took us awhile to realize when people were honking at us because they do it erm, so politely in comparison…)


Ps: In case you’re wondering, it used to be very hard to get Rockstar to nap outside as an older baby. But we kinda “had to” bring JD for her training or just out for the weekends – which necessitated Rockstar being able to nap to restaurant babble and music. Then at her training school it dawned on us – JD doesn’t bark much, but boy, some of her classmates were horrible but we didn’t want an older little boy who say, kept crying when he heard lotsa dogs barking so then we put more effort into getting him used to the sound.. Also, if we wanted to be able to sit in peace in a cafe for hours with a laptop (Kings does that while I bring JD for long walk or swim) Rockstar would either have to be sleeping or we’d all have to go home. Didn’t want to be stuck home too much.

Rockstar slept 3 hours in the car, waking in time to nibble at Indian curry dinner on the way back

Sometimes it took 45 mins, an hour, maybe more, of constant rocking between us amidst the hustle and bustle of busy HK restaurants but one day we realized Rockstar goes out easier now. (Though once in awhile there’s a little fuss it’s wayy less than before).Ā  That research where they tell you babies can block out lotsa background noise if you get them used to it was pretty true for us…

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Sydney Through The Eyes Of A Rockstar – The City, Mosman And Bondi Beach

Posted on August 10, 2011 by admin
Can you imagine I took this while we were whizzing along in the car?

Every once in awhile we drive by a sign or two in the city, that reads along the lines of We Can Treat You For:
Depression
Anxiety
Phobia
—-

Umm… Why would anyone be depressed or anxious living/ working here? How come you don’t see these signs in Hong Kong where people are in the office in the middle of the night and kids get raised by crappy helpers, and the sun shines like, 3 months a year, and there are used batteries in the sea… Doesn’t anyone in HK care that you might be depressed/ anxious/ phobic? (It’s possible they have these signs in Chinese and I can’t read them but really don’t think they have that much)

A nicely dressed Asian girl walks by in navy peacoat and riding boots, carrying an embossed chocolate “Louis Vuitton” bag with silver hardware. I’m not an LV expert, and may never own one (just too common in HK, I keep thinking too many people know at a glance what I paid for it, be it at flagship or second-hand store) – but I’m pretty sure it’s fake. Either they carry better fakes in HK or even the less nicely dressed are carrying the real thing (because of the many branded bags for sale second-hand or in outlets… though btw some can sell for more in second-hand stores than new, because of massive waiting lists… One I noticed years ago was the Chloe Paddington, the one shaped like a vanity case, not the regular satchel).

On the way home, we pass near enough to some lighted office buildings to see in to still half-filled floors and I think Who says working in Aussie land you get to leave relatively early, pitch dark and still maybe half the people are at their computer screens… Then I catch sight of the time on the car radio clock: 5.46pm, Monday.

Inconsequential Picture Of Cool Funny Bridge

Back to Mosman, which we learn is the second most upscale housing area, and we spend a short day exploring and calling/ visiting friends. (Upscale or no, it takes a few tries to learn how not to trip the power (a faulty heater), the main living room blinds don’t work nor does the Wifi (we end up BuyingOurOwnprepaidWifi), and on the first night after washing my hair I discovered there wasn’t a hairdryer (first place we ever rented which doesn’t have one). Fuh-reezing. Temperature is in the low teens. But drying your hair very slowly with one of the room heaters gives pretty nice body. And your rockstar might feel sorry for you and considerately adjust his seating position next to you without comment as you shift your head, so you will still be able to read his I Wonder Why books to him without difficulty.)

Random Residential Picture

We meet an older Asian lady who turns out to be one half of a “family medical practice,” with a daughter who has just been accepted into Cambridge. She explains that majority of her patients are senior citizens coming for regular physicals (not say, your average cough/ cold/ flu patient). And her husband, who shares clinic space with her, is in pediatrics.

Mosman apparently has a high proportion of well-to-do senior citizens, “because they’ve either owned the property for some time or are the ones who’ve amassed enough savings to buy one,” she explains. But… isn’t this place near the city? Where are all the yuppies? She smiles wryly, “Oh there are yuppies, but they’re the children of the (well-to-do senior citizens) who live here.”

Then on to Bondi Beach for brunch today…

Kings, carrying a yellow spade on his shoulders (yes Rockstar was in full photo-ruining mode - umpteen pics of him covering his face or rolling his eyes back in his head)

Before settling with Yellow Spade at one of the many cafes overlooking the beach, also a very popular spot with the local pigeon population (Rockstar is momentarily distracted by our iPad)

A loud argument breaks out between the proprietors of two shops, an Asian guy and a guy who looks Middle Eastern. Something about where they are placing the tables along the sidewalk I think.

Q: Guess which ones goes, “You are so much Deek head. I don’t want to talk to you!”

–

–

–

–

–

–

A: Asian Guy.

And how come the milk shakes come in buckets but the lattes come in teeny little kopitiam cups?

The sign in the shop window reads: PAINS & TIRED? GET RID!

I had to put this up… Because everyone makes fun of the English language signs in Hong Kong (and I maintain one of the reasons there are so many English typos there is because no one is reading the English except maybe us… and you haha)… Except… For some reason I get the feeling this English language sign might have been put up by someone who….. maybe used to put up the same in Hong Kong? As we gaze at the shop front, an Asian auntie exits…

Here's another...

Ok enough signs that you can get in Hong Kong…

Obligatory Beach Shot

And then some... (there goes Rockstar ruining another shot)

Rockstar gravely trooping back and forth with the sand - you would've thought he never gets sand when actually there's a sizeable sand area in his school but he spent quite a bit of time digging/ heaping over the last 2 days

Ā We meet a stay-at-home dad of a 16 month old with some serious sharing capabilities for his age, who tells us his wife is a lawyer working relatively long hours, “for Sydney”. I mention the work hours as a benchmark: Mon – Thurs, 7.30am – 8pm, plus quite a bit of work brought home. A mummy friend who lives here (and has worked in HK and London) will later confirm those hours would be considered quite long for here…

I’m still on the conversation I’ve had with SAHD <sheepish> I can’t remember when I last spoke to/ met an SAHD (a lot of the time you might not even get SAHMs in HK, you’d get helpers) – and he’s showed me how he’s dressed his son in a full footed onesie to keep all the sand out, and watching Kings bring Rockstar for a toilet break (Rockstar kinda prefers the men’s room if he has a choice :D), he starts a conversation about when to begin potty training. Wow.

Don't know why I like this picture of a couple on the beach, random birds and invisible surfers (there were like, 20-30 I think), but I do!

Then we crash at a nearby Italian restaurant (have to admit, eating out in general is pretty expensive – surprisingly quite comparable to HK) because Rockstar has spaghetti and meatballs just before 4pm (after not eating much brunch) then KOs for 2 hours while I have the cheese tortellini. And we had 6pm dinner plans. The elderly Caucasian man at the next table is the only person I’ve seen in a restaurant/cafe with a Kindle (we finally spot our first iPad over dinner later). When he starts brandishing a giant professional camera and iPhone however, I guess he isn’t local.

When we leave around 5.30pm (Kings toting a still-sleeping Rockstar who protests mildly), we notice the number of wetsuited surfers has not diminished… Apparently in the summer it would be wall-to-wall beach goers with everyone trying to leave at the same time and jamming up the carpark…

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We land…….. where?

Posted on August 9, 2011 by admin

On board the plane…

Snug as a rockstar in a rug... The flight was 8 hours 53 minutes, not quite enough for a full night's sleep, I didn't manage to feed Rockstar that much in the airport canteen before we had to board or I would have put him down for his sleep immediately... So he slept maybe 90% of the flight, awake just to eat... There were 4 other kids seated around us, all Asian; just one child cried and fussed in Cantonese through the night, the rest - in Cantonese and Putonghua - all settled quietly

Kings (in Cantonese,Ā indicating Rockstar to flight attendant): Excuse me, can we have the child meal first please, he’s about to fall asleep

Flight attendant (in English): I’m sorry, I can’t understand you, let me get a colleague

Me: Why didn’t you tell him you speak English?

Kings: Uh…

(Second flight attendant arrives, Kings repeats his request in English, she leaves. But the meal still isn’t ready. As luck would have it, Kings gets the same guy who doesn’t speak Cantonese, before I manage to wave down someone)

First flight attendant (hurriedly): Okok hang on let me get my colleague again! <bustles off>

Me: WHY do you keep letting him do that? You speak English.

Kings: I don’t know! He keeps running off too fast! And anyway we’re on a Cathay Pacific flight, HOW can he not. Speak. Cantonese??

Me: Because it’s a flight going to……….

Ta-ra! <sheepish> Rockstar’s wearing his school jacket cos I threw it in my handbag as a spare layering piece, cos it doesn’t wrinkle and I can scrunch it up quite small… HK was VERY hot the night we flew, it threw me off what 11 degrees Celsius would feel like when we landed in the morning…

Sunny Sydney, baby! (But it's like 10-15 degrees C)

Evil Breakfast Face

It was like, 10.30am by the time we cleared immigration, picked up the rented car and found our way here, after a quick walk along Darling Harbour…

Look, Rockstar - city

Look, Rockstar - floating train... wearing hat!

Look, R - Zzzzz

A waitress comes by, “I didn’t even notice him at first, we get kids here who wreck the place – even when they’re like, eight. I don’t know how their mothers can just sit there and do nothing! I’ve got 3 myself (ages 4, 5 and 9, eldest is a girl)…. How old is he?”

I should count how many times we get asked this trip, because even in HK Rockstar is small for his age – sometimes it’s really annoying when on school run one of the HK aunties picking up their grandchild exclaims “Aiyaa!! So small! Can meh?” And apparently he can be on the chatty side for a bit over 3.5, so it strikes the locals when we travel to places like US, Australia or NZ – they probably think he’s like, 2… And then when they realize he’s 3.5 they try to hide their surprise (but it’s nice of them to try and be polite about it haha)

Then we went for a little train ride (of course he picked the blue train)..

Rockstar KO-ed for 2 hours on Kings’ shoulder… Since the long haul flight wasn’t quite long enough haul for him to get his full night’s sleep (btw we switch to arrival time the moment we step into the cabin, I will start to adjust Rockstar’s timing before the flight – because I have almost the same attitude to jetlag that I do to getting sick on vacation. Kings can sleep anywhere, anytime, or not at all. I take a prescription sleeping pill to zzz when Rockstar goes down.)

Looks like a hostel right...

Then it’s time for us to check in to our rented apartment…

Apartment...

But with a garden...

And a view.

Posted in Traveling With Rockstar | 3 Comments

Shades of Accidental Tourist (Dog and Child Version)

Posted on August 7, 2011 by admin

Some stuff before we board our long-haul night flight.

Yes a ridiculous number of things involves Bug Prevention <shamefaced>. But… you also get the fever checks in HK a lot more than say, Malaysia or Singapore or Australia and – Yeah yeah I know a few friendly microbes are good for little kids. If they never get sick occasionally while growing up, they might be weaker as adults……….

When I’m feeling up to handling a bug or two in the comfort of my own home with a helper to load the washer with used sheets and towels a lot more often while I sit entertaining a snuffly child in a steam shower or slowly getting him to eat and drink fluids is when we shall look more into “building resistance.” Not when we’ve shelled out precious time and money for a vacation. (Also, I try really hard not to give Rockstar a lot of medication.)

Besides. Especially in airports and such where many travelers congregate, they’re not sharing the same bugs. We used to get like, a colleague from a London office come in to the dealing room with just a light runny nose and then umpteen of us would get really sick, including locals who certainly have better resistance than me.

Here are a few more accidental-touristy things I do.

1. Individually-wrapped alcohol wipes saved from restaurants and airline meal trays (to wipe down airport cafeteria tabletop upon which has been spit chicken bones or other meal remnants, then been wiped down with the exact same damp rag used to wipe every other table.)

2. Hexodane or other alcohol sanitizer (for spraying the soles of Rockstar’s shoes after using public toilets – unless of course you have a small child who doesn’t occasionally like to kick about on the plane seats with his shoes on)…

We buy industrial-sized and then refill small spray bottles we keep in the car, handbags, all over the apartment, a habit formed long before Rockstar was born because when not outdoors (about 3 hours a day) the dog’s often in our bedroom – so we spritz her paws with sanitizer and then clean with a baby wipe.

3. Rockstar’s recycled baby bed sheets which we lay on upholstery in hotel rooms or plane seats when he wants a nap. This is after once following Kings on business trip in squeaky-clean Singapore, checking into the room in a 5-star hotel in Raffles Place, and discovering Housekeeping had forgotten to clear the previous occupants’ used bath towels – which they had left in a heap, not on the floor, but on the plush hotel room jacquard sofa.

(Another mummy I know found a condom under the pillow of a bed in a supposedly “freshly made up” room. It was new, but erm, not provided by the hotel.) Enter trusty sanitizer sprays.

Guffaw at me all you want. But you have no idea who occupies the room just before your rockstar, or what they do with it. And who “cleans” it.

4. Kiddie Panadol and Cosyr (cough and runny nose syrup), a syringe for measuring, skin creams (Rockstar is very prone to rash, dry spots, one of the things we love is Elomet – which you can get at Watson’s pharmacy in Malaysia, but in HK I think you need a prescription… Not that we are going to Siberia and you cannot buy anything there, I just don’t want to spend precious vacation time in an unfamiliar place looking for somewhere to buy stuff if we can help it)

Yeah I know, so kiasu about germs still bring medication… And medication that often expires before we finish the bottle and then we have to throw it away some more.

5. Rockstar’s also a bug magnet so had we been going someplace warm I would also have packed not just the stick-on mozzie patches but one of the baby-safe (no Deet!) spray-on repellants and thin longs for park outings (spritz liberally on clothes, leave dry 15 mins before donning will drastically cut down how much you have to apply direct to skin, Deet or no Deet).

Pasar malam Malaysia PJs are often much thinner than what Mothercare stocks in HK (and much cheaper, plus I don’t have to worry if it’s from China and carrying dodgy dye or something*) so I’m using those, and SPF 30-50 rash guards from Bumps to Babes meant as swimwear but really don’t look vm like it)..

See? SPF 50, I hardly have to bother with messy sunscreen lotion after I add a hat

*Local friends keep telling us all these horror stories – like apparently months back it was reported locally someone took really nice-looking, supposedly hi-quality paper towels to a lab and they tested positive for fecal bacteria and in the ensuing investigation it turned out the manufacturer got materials from used toilet paper… another story has used sanitary napkins…

6. Crocs! So Rockstar can move about freely in hotel rooms etc and then jump about on the bed, pillows included, without us having to clean his feet all the time.

7. Spare change of clothes and socks for Rockstar for his night sleep on board, toothbrush (which I’ll throw away after – just easier than worrying how clean I kept the wet bristles on the plane or well, knowingly letting him not brush his teeth before bed)

8. And this last for the dog – because I found a giant tick on her less than a week ago (which added insult to injury by bursting into a juicy red mess garnished with tick eggs maybe, when I tried to get it off). So after bringing her home, donning rubber gloves and scrubbing her back, we decided to board her at the “5 Star Dog Hotel.”

I mention this because I remember picking umpteen dog and cow ticks off my (at one time eight) mutts in Malaysia – never once heard of tick fever. JD in Singapore never donned a tick collar except to board – never saw a tick on her. We move to HK and then not a few meet dog owners who lose their well-cared-for pets to tick fever, or freak out and bring their dog to the vet’s when they find a tick.

For some reason HK seems to have way more bugs like this than Malaysia or Singapore (unless maybe its just less reported in Malaysia- but 8 dogs of my own in my teensĀ  and gadzillion ticks later, we never had an incident.)

Last time JD got tick fever, the strain she had was quite highly fatal and required exact dosage of medicine that you had to syringe in the dog very carefully and make sure she swallowed it all – so that was another thing I was doing after work, besides the breastfeeding haha).

No lar, didn't go by pedal boat to the vets

So back to the vet to update JD’s 3-yearly and yearly vaccine records before the dog hotel will accept her. (According to the dog hotel people, the government issued a warning to all the boarding houses that they have to obtain all the dog’s vaccination records before boarding.) We were hoping the pricier dog place because they are more erm, business-oriented, would also probably be a lot more stringent (especially if we tip)… fingers crossed.

Ok gotta pack…

Ps: And now you know how obsessive compulsive I can be <sheepish>

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Still More HK License Plates

Posted on August 6, 2011 by admin

I seem to be able to put together a never-ending collection of these…

Oh, how original...

Who cares how original you are if you're driving a Merc? Someone was honest about their shopping extravagance... And had a sense of humor to boot

Xerxes is a Persian king... (Not Greek God like everyone in the car thought... Did anyone tell this guy before he bid on this plate?)

 

Instead of 1 Big One, Steve decided to buy half a dozen Little Ones...

As in, toy car?

Let us assume they mean the car

 

I find this one sweet... I'm guessing anniversary or baby birthdate?

 

Fine, use big word on little car

And This Belongs To...

Trucker also joined in auction for license plate?

Mainland car (note bottom plate) decided to go Pinyin too, so us Chinese Illiterate peasants also get the message?

Cute car, cute plate...

Leeeavinggg, on a Jet Plate...

Oh, if wishing made it so. But we are, soon…

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Rockstarism #143

Posted on August 4, 2011 by admin

#143

Me: (Half to myself) How come my phone keeps switching off (when it’s charging in the bedroom or by itself in my handbag)?

Rockstar: <looking sheepish> I switch it off.

Me: What? Why?? <Accusingly> Have you been switching it off when we play football??

Rockstar: <Nodding seriously> So the phone won’t interrupt.

Me: Hey, I don’t think Daddy’s seen you do that to his Blackberries yet! <Hint> <Hint> (Haha no, I didn’t really… But a mummy can dream :D)

Then Kings’ll put him in a washing machine…

 

Posted in Rockstarisms | 4 Comments

Close Encounters With PCCW Marketing Callers (Or Someone Who Hates Them Very Much)

Posted on August 3, 2011 by admin

**Caution… Painful conversations ahead.. You could seriously become an angry person and start hurting small animals after this…

One night around 9.30pm, our house phone rings. Very unusual – Kings and I are heavily dependent on 2 blackberries and an iPhone. Except for the bit with Kings and my mummy friend, the rest were in (horrendously ungrammatical on my part) Cantonese.

Young-sounding girl: Hello, is Mr Lai in?

Me: No he’s still at work, what’s it regarding?

YSG: I’m from PCCW and I need to speak to him about his phone contract. Landline number <our home number>

Me: (Thinking it’s something like we have forgotten to pay our bill or else maybe this is why our wifi has been down repeatedly recently. The guy just left after fixing it again. Maybe something else went wrong.) Erm, is it urgent, he’s out til late. I’m his wife but I don’t speak enough Cantonese to understand you very well.

YSG: Yes, it’s quite important. Is there any way I can contact him?

Me: Can I take a message and get him to call you right back?

YSG: Well… maybe you can help me… <rattles off in rapid fire Cantonese>

Me: Hang on. Slow down, I can’t understand. Can you say some of it English?

YSG: No, I can’t. It is about <repeats everything again in rapid fire Cantonese>

Me: That sounds like you’re trying to market something. Are you trying to promote something, like maybe subscription packages?

YSG: N-O. I. Need. To. Talk. To. Your husband. About. “Yau Wai”.

(Getting irritated but thinking she said it was important and what if tomorrow all our berries and smartphones die and then PCCW cuts off our home line and, God forbid, Rockstar or the dog set the place on fire and the lifts don’t work and we have to schlepp umpteen floors down to reception for a guy with an extinguisher)

Me: I. Cant. Understand. Is there no one in your office who can speak even a FEW words of English?? HOW important can it be then? Also, I have a small child I have to tuck in to bed. Why are you calling at 9.30pm, can you just call tomorrow when my husband is around? And how do I address you btw?

YSG: Ms L—. N-o one else you can speak to who speaks English here. I’m on leave tomorrow. I am trying to talk to you about “Y-au W-ai”

Me: <sounding more impatient> Doesn’t matter how many times you repeat it, I still don’t know that word. And can you not leave a message with a colleague to call us earlier tomorrow? And find out what “Yau Wai” is in English and tell me?

YSG: No I can’t leave a message, we don’t know who will be calling you tomorrow. Th-is. Is. A-bout. “Y-A-U W-A-I.”

Because apparently speaking louder and much slower like I am deaf/ stupid/ both will miraculously transform me into someone who can speak fluent Cantonese.

They should do this at the UN and save money on translation devices. Though it might start world war III. Many people could die. OK maybe not, then.

Next day, our housephone rings at around 9.30pm again.

Different girl: Can I speak to Mr Lai please?

Me: He’s not in. (Unfortunately true. Kings often cancels dinner at home with us at last minute, its why I no longer cook. If I didn’t slave over dinner he can Fong Fei Kei all he wants.) You’re from PCCW right? Please call tom. I can’t understand you.

The following day, the phone rings, but this time around 6pm.

YSG: Hello, can I speak to Mr Lai please?

Me: Did I speak to you a few days ago?

YSG: Yes you did. I need to speak to him about –

Me: Yes, yes I remember, you need to talk to him about our landline account. It was quite important and you’ve been calling for days.

YSG: Yes.

Me: Here’s his cellphone number. (What? Like, umpteen people have his cellphone number. He had Taiwanese clients who used to call him and scream at 6am the moment they woke up and switched on the news. In one place he had a righthand woman who called him at 3.30am because she got locked in the place.)

I text Kings to expect a call from “Someone From PCCW about our landline account because I can’t understand her.” I hear nothing further from Kings and assume this is sorted.

The next day, I’m out with a mummy friend:

Me: Oh, you speak Cantonese right? What does “Yau Wai” mean?

Mummy friend: It means promotion, discount.

Me: Oh, I am going to kill her. This PCCW lady has been calling for days and she assured me she is not trying to sell anything. I thought there was a problem with our PCCW account ok, the way she was telling me she urgently needs to speak to my hub about our account…

The next night, our housephone again rings around 9.30pm. I’m fairly sure (after so many conversations) she is the same idiot marketing caller – who btw, is back to 9.30pm calling.

(Probably) YSG: Hello, can I speak to Mr Lai please?

Me: You’re the same caller from PCCW who has been calling for a few days right?

<Pause>

I hang up.
She never calls again.

Me (accusatory tone at Kings the next day): Remember that PCCW caller I sent to you? You hung up on her the moment she started talking, didn’t you?

Kings (without looking up): Yeah.

Me: WHY didn’t you just find out what she wanted, that it was a marketing call, and THEN tell me?? She called for DAYS!!

Kings (looking up in mild surprise): Why didn’t you just hang up? How come you didn’t know it was a marketing call?

Me: She said it wasn’t!! Who lies about that?? How could she possibly still expect to sell anything after insisting she is not, who’d buy it, do you sell derivatives that way?

Kings (patiently): If you get a call in Cantonese, it’s always a marketing call. Don’t you know everyone just hangs up? If you speak to them they don’t stop. Don’t. Speak. To. Them.

Me: But –

Kings (still patiently): If they can’t also speak English (as in, not a single word), it’s not important. They’re marketers.

Sigh. Last time our landline saw that much action was when Rockstar was practicing numbers.

Census kids waiting for the bus outside Cyberport... Saw them moving about Cyberport one day very quickly and efficiently, regrouping after having split up to cover the different blocks... Soo much more professional than the telemarketers, I find..... Or is that just totally d-uh of me to say? šŸ˜›

He’s right, though. We got a call from the HK government population census bureau, apparently they also sent us a letter notifying us they were dropping in (that Kings must’ve picked up and forgotten to mention to me – this is normal in our marriage), the kid who intercomed and then quickly and painlessly did the 10 minutes censusĀ  with us switched immediately to perfectly grammatical English.

TO PCCW COMPETITORS:

1) IF IT WAS YOUR GIRL I HUNG UP ON, THAT WAS BRILLIANT.

2) IF THOSE REALLY WERE MARKETERS CONTRACTED BY PCCW THAT I HUNG UP ON, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.

Posted in aileensml | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Deep in DSquared Men’s Snowboots

Posted on August 2, 2011 by admin

Trumped-up excuse for a blog post because I wanted to put cute pictures of Rockstar up, he’d been messing with my snowboots most of last night…

Deep in DSquared! (Btw Deep in Dsquared is actually emblazoned down the sides, just not visible in the pics...)

Above: my child and my new men’s snowboots (60% off at Joyce Warehouse!!). Since there are not many men with IT38 (US Size eight) feet, I keep an eye out for heavily marked down boots/ sneakers in the men’s department for myself (better than less-marked down women’s stuff right, since my size is more common in the women’s dept)… Tho that’s also how Kings has muted gold crackled sneakers with jet black laces… (Really, really not bad as it sounds)

Rockstar on cracker-break before he attempts to get up again

Decided to BMO boots because the two men in my life have decided annual family vaccies of choice sinceĀ Lake Tahoe shall now be snow-filled and I shall have to freeze my bum off with them. At least lemme do it in boots that don’t feel like they were made out of concrete… Too bad I’m 20 years too old for the Ah Lian Ah Huay boots + cut shorts/ mini thing. (Hell, what’m I saying, I’ve never done it. I was just never Cute Girl.)

And that's how he ends up on the floor to begin with... Hai.... YAH!

(Also, we’re taking our end-of-year snow resort vacation now because Kings is on *gardening leave (yes, again!!) and will therefore be probably working his bum off come this Christmas.) Though it might be a good thing after all… Some families (who don’t speak English as a first language) have told us they’re holding off going back to (non-English-speaking) hometowns for the hols til after primary school interview season (at English-speaking schools) is over… Not… that I’m very adept at any other language besides English, but people sudah don’t play-play we also a bit kurang enthusiasm to go too nuts…

OK here we go:

Oh, Boots!

*gardening leave – in our case like a “non-compete,” ie when you leave 1 bank for another, if it’s to take up a role considered in direct competition with the one you are leaving, you are required to go on 1-3 months’ leave before starting at the new place. Since you can’t officially “work” you are described as being on leave to go “gardening”. And yes it means Kings is going to another bank.

Posted in Rockstar Shopping, Rockstar Shots | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments