P1 - First Day

Day One of P1 started really early.  Sky was still dark.  As expected, Baby G had problems waking up.   Clearly he was in no mood to take any pictures hence only 2 shots of him and that, I had to cajole him to pose for me.

We were late, reached school at 725am.  I think he was the 2nd last pupil to go in.  There wasn't much time to give him any instructions so I just dropped him off at his class and waited outside.  As the school was still undergoing some renovations, the P1 students were moved to a separate area of the school premise.  This made the place very exclusive and hence, not as chaotic and noisy as I was expecting.  Even the parents were calm and followed instructions well.

After singing the national anthem & saying our pledge, we went up for a parent's talk arranged for us to keep us occupied before recess time.

At recess, it was noisy (as to be expected) and I had trouble finding him in the sea of children.  Daddy was much smarter and looked for his teacher instead and had no problem spotting him at the table.  The first thing I noticed was, he ordered the same food as he did during orientation time and I also detected a new food item, nugget.  First thought that struck my mind was "gosh, not enough money".  The last time, he ordered fried rice with slices of chicken, it cost him $1.50, with the additional nugget, sure to hit his budget and no money leftover.  Hahaha...

Then he and his buddy went off to buy a cup of milo.... I was getting a little worried cause he only had $2.50 in his wallet.  I was sure it would be over-budget.  Luckily, he had some additional coins that his shu-shu gave him so he got his milo.  Will need to have a talk to him about drinking his own water rather than buying additional drinks... else at this rate, the recommended $2 is not going to be enough for him.

We also noticed another thing.... he was the last person to finish up his food.  The rest had already returned the plates and waiting for further instructions from the teachers.  You can tell that his buddy got really bored waiting for him.  I can sympathise with his buddy. Hahaha...

 

 

After recess, the parents were told to come back to school again during dismissal time.  We went off for our late breakfast and took a short rest at home before returning.

We came back just in time to spot him queuing up to walk to the waiting area for the bus.

Throughout the entire time, we kept our distance from him and he seemed quite comfortable with it.  He didn't rush up to us when he saw us at various points of the day.  We tried to communicate with a little hand signals and a little lip reading as I mouth the words to him and he mouthed back to me.

We decided to follow behind his school bus to know which route it would be taking.  Also, had a chance to say "Follow that bus".... hahaha...

And a sense of relief that he is back at his after school care.

A day of many new things for Baby G, lots to take in and learn.  He has grown up and crossed another milestone in his journey through life.  Mummy & Daddy are proud of you.

San

P1 Orientation

We attended Baby G's P1 orientation on 3rd Nov.  When we reached the school, we were told to wait at the canteen.  Baby G was very subdued.  None of his usual chatty behaviour.  He quietly sat and  waited with us.  When we were told to proceed to the hall, he didn't want to let us go and he acted like we were abandoning him.  So we cajoled him to sit with the teacher and promised that we will come back to him as soon as we can.  He agreed, albeit unwilling.

Some shots of the school canteen and the food stalls.

 

 
 After the orientation program ended, we went to pick him up from the class.  What a difference an hour makes.  He was back to his chatty self and looked happy.  We then proceeded to buy his school shoes and PE attire.  By then, it was pretty late so we decided to take our lunch at the canteen.  We gave him $2 and told him to get his own food.  He was quite game to try.  Not badly done, he managed to order a plate of fried rice with slices of chicken cutlet.  It cost him $1.50 in total.  Pretty expensive and the portions were not really a lot.  But he enjoyed the food.  Wondering if $2 is enough for him especially with his hearty appetite.  If he had ordered drinks, I think he won't have any money left to save.  While he ate, Daddy queued for the purchase of his books.  I also started to feel hungry so Daddy bought the $1.00 laksa.  Taste-wise, nice, but again ingredients quite pathetic.  3 small fish slices and a small piece of tau-kwa.  Food is really expensive, even in a school which is supposed to be heavily subsidised.  It is with little wonder that everyone says the cost of living is going up and up, even the school children are not spared.

 

Finally, we managed to get everything except his school uniform which apparently has not arrived from Korea.  Wow, uniforms from Korea.  Got standard sia.  Hahaha.

Oh, his class colour is yellow, a colour close to my heart as I was previously from the Yellow team.  Like mother, like son.  Haha.

Looking forward to P1..... another milestone crossed.
San
 

Hong Kong - Day 8

It is finally the last day of our holiday.  So not willing to go back to realities of work.  We packed our things in preparation for check-out.  But first, we need to settle our breakfast.

We crossed over to the Tsui Wah restaurant for a typical Hong Kong breakfast set which usually consisted of a sandwich and marcaroni.  We ordered another plate of noodles too.

 

 

After our breakfast, we checked out of our hotel.  Thanks Eaton Smart for the hospitality.  Before we left, we took a few more pictures of the place.  I am sure Baby G will miss the Bubble lift of the hotel most.  Everytime we went up and down the lift, he would say the same thing "Get ready to open my parachute and parachute down".

We decided to take a taxi to the airport since we were carrying quite a number of lugguges.  The ride was smooth and the weather was sunny.  How I wished we were actually arriving into Hong Kong as opposed to departing from Hong Kong.  Felt a little sad to be ending the holiday.





As we were early, we walked around the airport and did some last minute shopping.

Alex also wanted to buy some egg tarts for his brother.  At first, couldn't find any shop that sold them.  Luckily we found this shop.  The egg tarts were freshly made.  Smells good.

The food on this flight didn't seem as nice as the one that we arrived in.  But still acceptable, although I didn't really finish everything they gave.

When we touched down, we were busy taking our stuff that I forgot to get the egg tarts and we only realised it when we exited hte gates.  Alex tried his luck to go back in again onto the plane to get it but it was already gone.  What a pity.

And here is our loot from Hong Kong....

 

Til the next holiday...

San

Hong Kong - Day 7

When in Hong Kong, must eat dim sum.  So dim sum it is for the 2nd day in a row.  We found another restaurant along our daily route.  This time, we really ordered like there was no tomorrow.  We ate til we felt truly stuffed.

 
 
 

Finally, we finished our dim sum and made our way to the MTR as we had a long day ahead of us.

 

The best part of today was that it was a sunny day.  Over the past 6 days, all we saw was rain, rain and more rain.  Today, the sun is finally out.  It was a good day for Ocean Park.  Even the long queue to get on the bus did not dampen the mood.

We took the MTR, followed by a double decker bus.  Baby G was really excited to be able to get a ride on the double decker bus.

 

Enjoy the pictures.....

 

 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

After the long day at Ocean Park, we were truly exhausted.  But since this is our last night in Hong Kong, we decided to go all the way.  Dinner was at Causeway Bay again as we were supposed to meet TianYen to collect Dan's R2D2 Lego set.
 

While waiting for our dinner, Baby G decided to do a drawing for TianYen.  He drew all the things he saw during his stay in Hong Kong.  I must say, I was quite impressed with what he could remember.  TianYen was also quote touched and said that it was his first drawing he ever received.  Baby G was really happy especially when TianYen said that he would hang it on his wall at home.

Another nice surprise awaited us when we reached back our hotel room.  By then it was slightly after 11pm.  On the bed was a cake and a bottle of champagne for Alex's birthday.  He thought I arranged it but I told him it wasn't me.  In the end, we found out that it was a gift from the Eaton Smart Hotel.  It was really a nice surprise.

 

 

By then, Baby G was all tired out.  Even the prospect of blowing candles did not entice him much to stay awake.  In less than 5mins after wishing his daddy a happy birthday, he promptly fell asleep.

 

Happy Birthday to Daddy....

San