We’d like to wish all our Muslim readers and family, Ramadhan Mubarak!

May Allah bless you with all that is good this Ramadhan.

For those who wants to read more about Ramadhan, click here and/or here.

 It was the last day of my Summer soccer class, after teaching the basics for the past weeks, Coach Scott decided we were ready for a match. We were divided into 2 teams, red and green and I was in the only girl in the green team. It didn’t occur to us that we were only going to use one ball so once coach blew the whistle all of us went to look for our own ball. Imagine, a soccer match with more than 5 balls.. it was hilarious and the coach had a hard time trying to take the balls away from us.

Before the match we were told which is our house or goal post and we were supposed to kick the ball into the opposite post but once we were in the heat of the moment, all hell went loose.. we almost kicked the ball into our own post! I did some beautiful dribbling, Ronaldinho would have been proud of me but unfortunately Mamma didn’t manage to capture my brilliant moments on the video. It was very very tiring and a few of us tumble and fell, some got too tired they decide to just stay in the goal post and one got very cranky afterwards. I guess 4-5yrs old aren’t really ready for a soccer match. Still, it was fun and my team won 1-0 thru a penalty kick!

I’ve been spending less time watching tv and been playing this toy instead. It’s called Rush Hour Jr by Think Fun. The object of the game is to get your car out of a traffic jam. You can only move the cars forward or backward, no flying cars and no turning left or right. There’s 40 challenge cards for you to choose from and the complexity range from very easy to expert level. This game really requires me to put on my thinking cap but the fun part is offcourse figuring out the escape routes. My parents are addicted to the game too so they’ve bought a few more challenge card set to play.

Another favourite brainy exercise is Sudoku for kids by Pressman toys. Who says sudoku is only for old retired folks ??! Instead of numerals, this sudoku uses 6 animal pieces. First you arrange the animal pieces on the board according to the challenge card and then you have to figure out where to place the other animal pieces on the board. The same rule applies, no animal is repeated in any row, column or box. I know the rules by heart now and the game really help hone my analytical skills. Hmmm .. what next.. maybe chess ? Ermm but first I need to send my parents to chess classes hehehe

We’ve had so many fun activities over the past 2 weekends but just haven’t had the time to update. So here’s a summary of the events :

- watched the 4th of July fireworks at Central park, Santa Clara and trip to Walnut Creek to meet my friends who are moving to Sacramento
- picnic with friends at Vasona park on 5th July
- 6th july, bbq lunch at home with Aunty Ruth, Uncle Chris and Aunty Weilin. Abah made juicy steaks!
- July 13th, picnic at Chrissy Field, SF. This was supposed to be my post birthday party bash for the uncles and aunties who helped out at the party and a farewell party for Uncle Ray who was going back to Singapore to do his Masters. All the best to him!

Oh and i had a rude shock when we went to the beach after the picnic… guess who I saw at the beach ? Old n*k%d guys! One guy was really showing off and posing for pictures. Abah snapped some shots, one guy was even doing the head stand in the n*d&. Really shame shame, I was quickly whisked off from the scene. I guess I have to get use to this kind of stuff.

I thought I should best write all this down.. especially since it involves my future. I had a “meaningful” conversation with my parents the other day.. we were discussing about our travel plans during the holidays. I told them I wanted to go to the Savannah, you know places like Kenya to see the wild animals in their natural habitat. My parents vetoed that idea, they told me I need to be much older if I want to go to such places. Mamma promised she’ll bring me there if I do well in high school. I remember that Abah mentioned recently that he’ll buy me a yellow beetle (my fav colour!) if I get into a good college.

So below are the list of promises which I’ve written down in black & white for everyone to see so that my parents can never back track on their promises to me.

- if I do well in elementary school, we’ll go to Disney World
- if I do well in high school, we’ll go to the savannah!
- if I get into a good college, I’m going to get a yellow beetle, can you pls include a flat screen tv (or whatever is the latest and coolest model at that time), full kitchen set, bedding + other accessories and new wardrobe please
- oh, when are we going glacier walking ?
- hiking to nepal, I remember Abah mentioned this when I was a baby

Hmmm is that all ?? Will update this when there’s more promises

It’s been awhile since I played soccer.. I can’t even fit into my soccer boots anymore. But everytime I pass by a soccer field and see kids playing the sport, I will ask my parents when can I go for my next soccer class. So finally on Monday, I went for my summer soccer class after months of hanging my boots. Luckily, I can still fit into my jersey.

This is the most fun soccer class I’ve ever had.. my coach is hilarious ! I might not be the fastest player on the field and I may not even kick the ball into the goal post at times but hey, I had so much fun, I couldn’t stop laughing! By the end of 30mins of play, my face was as red as lobster bakar and my hair was all soaked in sweat I can’t wait for my next soccer class.

One of the endless gifts that Aunty Ruth got for me for my birthday.. my own scooter.  Thanks Aunty Ruth!

It’s been 3 weeks since I started school and I think I should give myself a big pat on the back for doing well  (at least by my own standard). School is fun ..my favourite session in school is sharing time every Friday. For the first week I brought along my musical puppet ducky and last week I brought Horton Hears a Who pop-up book to share with my friends. I really enjoy showing off my toy & book to my friends. Mamma is also very proud of me coz my teacher told her that I’m so smart (that’s her exact words) since I understood some concepts which the other kids in my class still doesn’t know.

I had a little surprise when I came to school last Wednesday, I was joining a line to go to the playground when a boy shouted and pointed to one of the teachers “I hate that teacher!!”. He was not only loud, he sounded like he really meant everything he said.  I quickly told Mamma that’s not a nice thing to say. I have a list of banned words and hate is one of them. We waited to see what kind of punishment will be handed down to that obnoxious boy but nothing happened.. the boy got away with it. There were 3 teachers in that room and no one did anything to this little angry boy.. I would definitely have received not just a warning probably even a hard spank for saying nasty things.   Needless to say my mum was very disturbed by that incident and then we realized that the boy’s mum was in the room, they talked as if nothing had happened and what makes it worse was that the boy’s mum was one of the teachers!  I wonder what kind of message are they trying to send out to the kids in school, that it’s okay to shout at your teachers and say hurtful things??!   What will your parent do if you say nasty things to others ?

That incident aside, I still enjoy school although I do complain here and there.  My form teacher was on vacation for the past week so I had a substitute teacher from another branch. Although the sub teacher is nice, I can’t help noticing that she speaks with a slight accent. When I came home I told my mum that the new teacher has a “slang”. It turns out she’s Vietnamese and her accent was a little strong. When Mamma came by the school the other day, she got a little worried coz my sub teacher was not using proper English when she speaks to us kids. She would say ”turn the paper” instead of “turn the page” and “get out” instead of “get off” when asking me to get off the mat. Hopefully it will be alright again when my teacher is back from her vacation this week.