The Magical Moments

One morning, while I was sleeping, hubby sneaked into the dressing and got something out of it.  I opened my eyes, he waved something to me and said : "I almost forgot!". Half sleeping, I didn't know what he was referring to. He went to wake up the little one and then I heard she screamed out loud. "I got a gift! The mouse gives me a gift!". I finally understood what was going on. She lost a tooth the night before, and hubby has bought some gifts waiting for the moment to come. Here it was, she put the tooth under the pillow and hubby went in to replace the tooth with a gift. What a magical moment for her!

The other day, she got two loosening upper front teeth, and she was very anxious. Her sister claimed that she can communicate with the mouse so she has got some questions from the little one.

"Big sister, if I lose two teeth at the same times, do you think the mouse will send me two presents?"

"No, you will only get one, as it will be too heavy for the mouse to carry two presents at once. If I were you, I would just put one tooth under my pillow, and put another one the night after, so that you get one present each time."

"Ok. Can you use your brain to tell the mouse that I would like to have a Harry Porter wand?"

"Yes, sure."

And there you go, one tooth fell. She put it in a container and put it under her pillow. As usual, hubby took the container and replaced it with a present.

Around one week after, during one evening, her other tooth was half falling. She tried to pull it out as it was hurting her. I helped but in vain. She reiterated that she wanted to take it out not because she wanted a gift, but because she was tired of having a tooth half hunging. Finally, her sister helped by twisting it. 

And voilà her without her two front teeth!

The little one with the gift from the mouse (her daddy actually)

I was chatting with the elder one, and we were discussing about the moment Santa Clause was dropping the present on Christmas Eve. I wonder when should we tell the truth, that Santa doesn't exist. She told me it was really a magical moments for them, and I shouldn't spoiled it. We had a neighbor dressed up as Santa for Christmas 2020. While the little one was really excited about all the presents, she suspected something as she can see that the beard on Santa was a fake one. Recently, her classmates told her that Santa was actually her parents, but her sister reassured her. I agreed that Santa, the mouse, the Easter rabbit are all helping to create magical moments for the kids. I hoped she could accept it well when she discovers the truth.

Her style

Awena has been in a phase where she dislike everything girly : skirts, pink color, princess... She wants nothing related to them. She was quite choosy when shopping for her clothes and shoes, condemning everything in the girl's department, until she saw the choices in boy's department. 

One day, after a movie, we went for shopping for Aelig. Surpringly, Aelig didn't find much to buy that day, but her sister bought a total of 10 clothes. She was facisnated with boy's T-shirts and pants. The shopping queen Aelig bowed to her sister, and urged me to let her sister go home with her choices since it was rare that so many things please her.

At home, Awena quietly removed all the price tags and tidied up her wardrobe.

All the price tags that she removed.

This week, her sister was invited to a birthday party, so I decided to have a date with her. We went to watch Frozen II (second time for her since she watched with hubby the day the movie was on cinema). It was the winter sales period, she had been complaining about her shoes so we went shopping. She browsed through the whole boy's area, selected those she liked, tried 7 of them, and urged me to buy her two pairs instead of one. I surrendered since we spent 1,5 hours trying out those shoes.She went to school the second day with her new pair of shoes.

New school year 2018

The school year starts in general in Sept in France. I always wonder why they would "start" something in Sept, the 9th month of the year, instead of in January. When I told my coworkers about this, they can't imagine that in Malaysia we start the school year in January, and, without a long summer holiday break! Anyway, the girls were eager to go back to school.

Sept 2017

Sept 2018

Every morning except Wednesday during the week, I have to prepare them for school. I usually wake up earlier to prepare myself, then wake them up to have breakfast together. It was a stressful moment, as either they complained about the breakfast, or they fought, or they took their time for everything. Especially the youngest, she would first lay down in sofa, refused to eat anything. Then by the time everyone was done, she came and requested breakfast. Of course I refused, I didn't care if she went to school with empty stomach, I had already warned her enough about the consequence. At one point, the eldest required a different hair style per day, and she had it listed on a paper. Some of them took me 10 minutes, and sometime she changed her mind last minute.

The school gates open at different time as one is in primary and one is in kindergarten. I have to send the little one to her class, sometimes she wanted me to stay to see her play a game, to show me something she has learnt. When I finally managed to walk out of school, there was traffic jams waiting, and I showed up always a bit late at work. 

A morning kiss to her sister before entering their school compound (primary school and kindergarten are separated by a gate).

Schools here will have 6 or 7 weeks of classes, then follows by a 2 week break. A lot of parents appreciate the break, including me. The girls usually go to their grandparents, that leaves me some personal time, and very relax mornings. It is amazing how having kids and without kids can change one's day. 

After the break de la Toussaint, we suddenly manage to have less stressful mornings. Hubby wakes them up before going to work, and the youngest stopped laying down on sofa, instead she comes directly having breakfast with us. And most importantly, the eldest prepares breakfast for me, and she is very proud about it. I still have to rush the little one to eat faster, as she can spend all her time talking or day dreaming. The eldest is less picky about her hairstyle as well. Sometimes they are done earlier so they read on sofa or play together while waiting for me to get ready. I always try to clean up the kitchen after breakfast.

The little one was chosen as class representative. That was a surprise to me, but well three of them were chosen because there was a tied at vote for two of them. The election process was quit formal, they had to write the name of the person they chose on a paper and put it inside an envelope, and the teacher counted the vote by taking out the paper one by one. A democratic process at young age.

I always remind myself, that there is only less then 2 school years left that they will go to the same school together. At one point, the eldest will go to middle school, and they will each have their own circle of friends, and school life. Therefore, I should appreciate these mornings, when they are still eating and playing together.

Mom, we would like to go home for lunch

One day, my daughter asked me why can't I bring them home for lunch.

"Mom, all my friends go home for lunch at least once a week, why do we have to go all the times?"

"It is very unfair, I hate going to the canteen. Sometimes I have to sit alone because those boys won't 

want me to sit with them, and all my girlfriends went home."

"You are working from home anyway, why can't you pick us up for lunch just like other mothers?"

I sighed.

While we are advised to not compare our kids to others', we parents are being compared to.

I don't know how they do it, but there sure are a bunch of parents able to send and pick up their kids, without ever going to the after school classes or canteen.

Kids here have school in the morning, a long lunch break, then resume the class in the afternoon. (In Malaysia, kids go to school either in the morning or in the afternoon, not the whole day). For lunch, they could either go home, or go to the canteen. Kids who go home, get picked up around 11:35am, and go back to school at around 1:35pm. Yes! Two hours lunch break!

I do not have 2 hours lunch break + 20 minutes for the drive. So I immediately said no to her. She was so disappointed, she kept asking, once a week. I was so upset, and torn apart. 

Yes, sometimes I work from home, but I have made that extra efforts to go pick them up right after school so that they don't have to stay in the after school class waiting for us.

But, when they are at home, sometimes I can't 100% concentrate on works. They fight, they scream, they ask for things, they want to share things with me....even though I told them million times that I AM WORKING!!!  They should consider themselves lucky because they only stay late twice a week in school, but still, they want more.

I felt that I have done my best. My lunch time is for myself. I get to each whatever I want, at the time I want, even in front of the computer continuing working, it was purely my choice. I do not want to put an alert to go pick them up, cook for them, eat with them, clean the dishes, entertain their demands. I need a break from them, isn't it too much too ask??

But, I yielded, as always, guilt to disappoint my child, guilt that they don't get to eat lunch at home while many others can. We did it once, it went well, they were happy, they asked for more, and I said we shall see.

The kids just drained up my energy. I don't even have any time/energy left to blog.

When all the chocolates are gone

On the 30th of November, one day before the kids were allowed to open their advent calendar, I saw that Awena had already took out 3 chocolates out of hers. Unlike her sister, she is just someone who doesn't listen to her parents. Hubby caught her hiding the chocolates in her room.

On the second day of December, six chocolates were gone, amid our warning that she would soon run out of it, and someday she would just see her sister eating chocolate while she has non. The warning didn't work, she refused even to open the box by date. She just randomly chose the boxes she wanted.

On the fourth day of December, she decided to open all the boxes, got out all the chocolates, and laid them on the floor.

On the 7th day of December, all the chocolates were eaten. Meanwhile, the big sister follows the rule, she patiently enjoys a chocolate per day.

Maybe that's because she's three that she doesn't understand things, or that's just her nature personality. She is just so different from her elder sister. When we said no to candy, the elder one was disappointed but did nothing. Whereas the younger one, she smiled at you, did nothing in front of you, but eventually you would find out that she ate a candle, at your back.

I hope things get improved. The house is a mess permanently and 80% of the damages came from her. She is just so unbearable. 

The arm broken witch

Didn't manage to finish this post earlier.

We are at Christmas season but I had something to record to myself about Halloween.

Halloween was not a big event in general in France. For example it didn't have the Halloween parades in most of the cities just like in  the US. Last year the kids were away, we got so many kids knocking on the doors that we were so fed up at the end. 

Can you see her arm cast? Well, she broke it the first day of school holidays, on the trampoline. It seemed ok at the beginning, but she cried during the night, her hand was swollen the second morning so hubby decided to call a doctor as it was a Saturday. In France, clinics do not open on weekends (except Saturday morning). A doctor came, declared broken bone in her wrist, and she was going to the emergency. Yeah, there was no other option, the girls were supposed to go after lunch with their grandparents, but instead she went with hubby to the emergency. Emergency here doesn't mean fast treatment, they waited for like 4 hours until someone finally entertained them. I have always wondered why people had to go to emergency for this kind of things. I mean it could totally be done by a small clinic, for radiography and putting the cast. But not, such clinics don't exist, so everyone with something broken would have to wait in emergency, after the personals treat life threatening cases and have some times for this kind of patients. 

My MIL prepared the costumes for them, and I think she did a good job. 

Finally our turn to go knock on our neighbors' door. Around half didn't answer, some answered but said they ran out of candies, or parents not at home....

Mostly they just want candies. I don't understand why we give kids so many candies, it was just another successful western marketing campaign I guess. 

Her arm cast lasted 6 weeks. She had to stop going to swimming classes and gymnastic training. She wrote and ate with her left hand, until when the cast was removed, she couldn't adjust back to using the right hand immediately. Overall, I felt that she was really brave, didn't fuss much about the inconvenient cast, I helped her wash, she mostly changed herself. At school, her classmates offered to jot down notes for her. I was so eager for it to be over, didn't like to see her in cast. Hubby said she got his gene, he broke many parts of his body when he was young. Well, I hope this is not true...

A visit to her future kindergarten

Awena will turn 3 year's old soon. She is eligible to enter kindergarten during the coming fall.

The school organized an Open House to allow the potential future students to visit the school.

 Parents can ask question and pre-enroll their kids.

 La chaise pour réfléchir : The Thinking Chair. Probably use to ask a kid to calm down. I sense that Awena would be here often, she is quite a stubborn kid.

 She was very happy here. So many toys to play around.

We also visited Aelig's classroom. She was very proud to show it to us.

A new organisation awaiting us, dealing with babysitter would probably soon a history to us.

Order and Disorder

With two young kids, the house is constantly in disorder, there are always toys, books, stuffs on the floor. The eldest was not setting an example, and the toddler, she gets on my nerves. 

Her new habit : to choose a cloth, she needs to first empty her drawers. We scolded her, we sweet talked to her, she didn't care, she smiled to us. As if her mischief was nothing.

Hubby built each of us a shoe rack. Everyone was supposed to put their shoes in their own place. I collected a bunch of old shoes from Aelig, but a new pair of boots for Awena, and put them inside a shoes box and placed it in her closet. She found it, took out everything, and displayed them in order, on the floor.

She found a plastic bag filled with saline solution (in France we use these to wash baby's nose when he or she has a flu). She placed them in order.

So she does have the sense of putting things in order, she just doesn't want to put them where they should be.

The apprentices

I kind of like Trump when he was the big boss in the show "Apprentice".
"You are fired", such a powerful word.
Now he is the President of the USA, who would he fire?

This post has nothing to do with Trump.
I just want to jot down some apprenticeship of the girls, as their process growing up.

Buying bread
I started sending the eldest to the bakery for bread.
On the way home from school, I would park in front of the bakery, give her some money, and let her go inside the bakery to handle the process. She was proud to be able to do it. The more she goes, the more she gains confident. Sometimes I asked her how much the woman gave her back and why. She didn't quite get the concept, but I'm sure she will get there.
Today, she insisted to go with her young sister. And the two year old asked for a chocolate bread.
Me : "Aelig, can you please go buy a baguette as usual?
Aelig : "Can Awena come with me this time"?
Me : "No, I will have to unfasten her seat bell then fasten it again, too much work."
Aelig : "Please, please." Then she asked Awena if she wanted to come buy bread with her, and the later nodded.
Awena :"Pain au chocolat."
Me :"Ok, buy three, one for your dad".
Aelig:"Ok Awena, we will save the chocolate bread for tonight so we can eat with dad ok?"
Awena :"Why?"
Aelig:"Else dad would be sad to eat the bread alone".
Awena :"Ok".
During the 4pm snack, Aelig couldn't resist the temptation, they ate their chocolate bread.
Daddy had his dessert alone in the evening.

In the school

As she goes to standard two, she has to jot down homework on an agenda. Sometimes I don't understand what was written, so we were mad at each other because I didn't know what she needed to do and she was not happy that I didn't understand what she wrote. She did ok on her tests so we didn't put too much pressure on her.

She likes to go to school but sometimes I feel that she didn't take things seriously. It happened that she forgot to bring home her agenda, so we didn't know what homework she had to do. I had to send a sms to a parent to know the homework for the next day, that was quite embarrassing. The best thing was, we got a reply from the parent so we knew what needed to be done, but she forgot her exercise book in her classroom so nothing could be done anyway.  

I noticed that she made mistake on spelling, especially the S at the end of a word (because S are normally silent in French when it is placed at the end of a word). For example, she would write gro gro bisous (big kisses) instead of gros gros bisous. She would write j'ai fai instead of j'ai fait. 

As for the little apprentice Awena, she starts counting in Mandarin and in French. She would say one two three five six seven....until 20 in Mandarin and missing the number 4. In French, she would say one two three five eight nine, skipping number 4, 6, 7 and 10. She speaks mostly French to me, unlike her sister, but she understands my reply in Mandarin. We tried to encourage her to speak Mandarin, I would pretend sometimes that I don't understand her when she speaks in French. Hubby tried to sweet talk to Aelig so that she would speak Mandarin to her sister, but she refused. She said that it's easier to speak French than Mandarin. True, she gets frustrated sometimes with me because she couldn't express herself well in Mandarin and tends to switch to French easily. We would see how it goes.

Baby Gym Christmas Party 2016

The baby gym was having a Christmas party for the kids.

When we arrived, the trainers had set up a Christmas tree, and different kind of gym equipment for kids to jump, crawl, climb, run, and have fun.

The party has gathered three group of kids. After an hour of the usual gym classes, the main trainer gathered everyone together and yelling for "Santa". They screamed 4 times before he finally arrived.

 Kids surrounded him. He asked if everyone was well behaved, and all of them said yes.

Santa called out name and handed each a gift. They girls waited patiently for their turn. Parents prepared the gift at the beginning of the party and gave them discretely to the trainer. I asked the trainer to include a gift for Aelig who was not in the baby gym program.

Soon Santa called out their names. This time, Awena was not afraid at all. She happily kissed Santa as requested.

 Awena got a pair of pajamas, as for Aelig, it was a gift I had long in mind.

This toy was more for Awena's age than for Aelig. But she showed her interested each time she saw it :  in someone's house, when we were in the doctor / dentist waiting room... I know this would please her.

As expected that, she claimed that this was her favorite gift so far. Awena was disappointed though. She was happy to have the pajamas, but when she saw this toy, she checked again, and said "there was no toy for me". She sneaked into her sister room when she was not around so that she could play with it. As a parent, I was sad to see one happy and the other one disappointed. Hopefully I could catch up on the real Christmas gathering.

Rice porridge à trois

On Wednesday, we usually have rice porridge for lunch. Hubby doesn't like it so I take the opportunity to introduce some Malaysian food to the girls, when their father is at work. I always opt for simple dishes, so porridge with some fish, sweet potato porridge, and the mandatory fried eggs (荷包蛋).

Use the chance to steam whole fishes instead of fish fillet. The man at home like less when fishes come with bones, and eyes.

For some reason, the eldest accepts better Malaysian dishes in general. She likes porridge and red bean soup. She asked me porridge for lunch sometimes. She loves fried eggs too.

The little one won't finish on bowl of porridge if I don't ask her to finish. When she was one year old she ate in big quantity, but when I presented her porridge, she would eat two spoons then completely refused it.

As a lazy mother, rice porridge with sweet potato and fried eggs are the easiest food to prepare. I love it myself. But the little one would finish the egg and refused all the sweet potatoes.

I used to cook rice noodle too, but I'm not keen to clean up the mess after.

My mother must shake her head seeing this. Porridge with dishes are quite common for descendant from Fujian region, so we got to eat plenty when we were young. However, she always completed it with two three dishes, unlike me only fried eggs. Anyway, it seems that when we grow old, we would appreciate some comfort food from childhood, I hope the girls will think about this "rice porridge à trois" moment. 

PS : Just realized, I have never eaten fried eggs when I'm invited to someone's house here. It must not be a common dish in France.

Jumping and biking

As a toddler, Awena was too young to join any sport clubs so when Aelig was going her activities, the little sister had to follow around, watching the big sister doing roller skating, admiring the big girl jumping inside the water, or envying her play partner running around with her Chinese school classmates.

One day when waking around with her while waiting for Aelig, we ventured into a gymnasium. We saw kids jumping around and it intrigued her to try. I didn't think it was possible as I thought she was too young. By chance, I talked to a coworker who happened to be a committee in that sport club, and she told me that they accept any kids that walk for their baby gym program. 

I immediately signed her up. So one Saturday morning, I sent her to try out the class. She refused the concept but as soon as she entered the gymnasium, she wanted to participate, eager to try out every equipment. So did Aelig, she was jumping on the trampoline but quickly she was asked to come down. This time she was the one accompanying, waiting for her little sister, before her Chinese class starts.

I thought I have time to send Aelig to her classroom just two minutes away, but I was told that I have to be with Awena during the whole session. So I ask for help. Her teacher would come to pick her. While Awena happily jumping around, playing with different kind of games set by the trainer, Aelig was busy guiding her sister, I know she wanted so much to participate, but she has to learn that this was for Awena, not for her. At the end of the session, toddlers were asked to follow simple instructions. For example when the music stopped, she had to cuddle up herself; or she has to round herself up like a ball. She didn't really understand what was told compared to other kids, she was more eager to continue playing.

After the baby gym, we have to wait for Aelig. I finally bought her an used push bike. We went to a park to pick up the bike, she was all attracted to it, so happy to have a bike to herself. She took it with her around, afraid to sit on it at the beginning, but now she walks with it. After a morning of baby gym and some push bike, she was finally exhausted. 

Now every Saturday morning, she is happy when I tell her that we are going for baby gym. Way to go girl.

Her bla bla bla

Awena can pronounce some words and she loves to repeat after me. It has become a game between us.

Here would be how it goes (we speak in Mandarin):

Me : Mao (cat)
Awena : Mao
Me : Ma (horse)
Awena : Ma (this is her favorite word, whenever she sees a horse in a park or on a book, she will scream this word until I repeat after her)
Me : Zhu (pig)
Awena : Zhu
Me : Ji (chicken)
Awena : Ji (there is a book with chicken shape she would yell "Ji" each time she sees it)
Me : Niu (cow)
Awena : Liu (she couldn't really pronounce it)
Me : Gou (dog)
Awena : Gou
And it continues with other animals : Yang (goat), Yu (fish), E (goose), Ya (duck), Wa (frog)...
She understands but couldn't pronounce these : Xiao Tu Zi (rabbit)...

And then I noticed this:
Me : Papa
Awena : Papa
Me : Mama
Awena : Mama
Me : Jie Jie (big sister)
Awena : Aeyi (she wanted to say Aelig)
I paused as hearing her saying Aeyi.
I repeated : Jie Jie
Awena : Aeyi
Ok now I got it, for her Big sister means Aelig, which is her big sister.
I continued : Mei Mei (younger sister)
Awena : Mei Mei
Me : Ge Ge (big brother)
Awena : Ge Ge
Me : Di Di (younger brother)
Awena : Di Di
Me : Ah Gu (uncle in Hokkien)
Awena : Ah Gu
Me : Ah Kim (uncle's wife in Hokkien)
Awena : Ah Kim
She still couldn't pronounce Wai Poh, Da Yi, Er Yi, San Yi, my other family members' name.


And then this:
Me : Xiao Xiong (her stuff animal)
Awena : Dodo (French way to call stuff animal)

So each time I say Jie Jie (big sister), she would call the name of her big sister, and when I say Xiao Xiong (her stuff animal), she would say dodo.

She can also point to her body parts when I ask her where they are, but she couldn't prononce them : Tou (head), Tou Fa (hair), Yan Jing (eyes), Er Duo (ears), Bi Zi (nose), Zui Ba (mouse), She Tou (tongue), Tu Ji (belly button), Shou (hand), Jiao (feet). She could say Bao to represent Mian Bao (bread) and Fan (rice). She says Bei (cup) when she wants to drink. Mei You (finished) when finished something.

As for songs, she likes to listen to Da Xiang (Elephane), Xiao Zhu (Little Pig), Xiao Xing Xing (Chinese version of Twinke Twinke Little Star).

In French, she could say : Pain (bread), Au revoir (goodbye), paule (épaule) (shoulder - when she wants to sit on her dad's shoulders), ballon (ball), bateau (boat), feuille (leave), main (hand - when she wants us to hold her hand). And, Noooooooooo (with her mouth stops at O shape), this is the word that she learns fast and uses often.

Where is the swimming bag!

The swimming classes are held during the weekday, hubby handles the sending and fetching.

One evening he had to go to the teachers - parents meeting, so he sent Aelig to the swimming pool, and I was going to fetch her back.

When I arrived with Awena in tow, I quickly checked through the lockers so I can grab the towel from the swimming bag. I looked for two minutes and still couldn't find it, although hubby had told me that I won't miss it. I rushed to get Aelig, all wet in her swim suit, then spent another 10 minutes looking through every lockers. I left my phone in the car so I had to go pick it up through the rain. I phoned hubby but he was unavailable, and Aelig didn't remember where her dad put the bag.

After all that mess, I suddenly thought of a possibility : would the bag in the male changing room? Aelig suddenly remembered : it was in the boy's room! We rushed to the boy's room and we immediately found the bag.

Ok, I have two daughters so I never have the problem to bring my kids to toilet or bathroom. I had never thought of it would be a complete issue for hubby. Bringing his daughter to a room full of girls, showering and changing into their swimsuits, what were I thinking? He would be considered a pedophile! Not easy to be a dad if you only have daughters.

And this might not only concern dads with daughters. I was in the swimming pools and after a training session, the trainer dismissed the students. One boy was moving towards the girls' changing room but the trainer asked him to go to the boys'. He protested : "but my mother is coming to pick me up, she is waiting for me in the girls' changing room!" Ok, so we have girls and boys taking shower (with swim suit on) together. Not easy also for mothers with boys.

Summer camp around a Castle

Last summer I read on our community newsletter that they were having a summer camp for kids of 4-6 years old. I immediately contacted the Town Hall, but I was told that all camps were fully booked.

Around March this year, a friend told me that the Town Hall was organizing different activities for kids and we could get all the information during an exhibition in a castle. We went there to check out, and Aelig was intrigued by the camping coordinators who dressed as a queen, a fairy, a knight and an elf (lutin). So, on a Saturday morning, hubby set his alarm clock to make sure he woke up on time to enroll Aelig to this camp, as we were told that the spot would be gone within the first 20 minutes. The enrollment went through, Aelig was going to her first summer camp.

We chose the first week of July for her camp, right after her summer holidays started. We brief her about the camp, she realized little by little that she was going to sleep in a tent with people that she didn't know. But, she was brave, she didn't protest. So off we go. On Monday and Tuesday, she got introduced to new friends and got used to the new environment. She still came home in the evening.

Starting from Wednesday, she slept in the tent, we only picked her up on Friday evening. On Thursday morning, we got an email from the organiser, who gave us some news of what was going on in the camp.

Friday evening, we went to pick her up. Her first reaction was crying in hubby's arms. After hugging us, she calmed down and started showing us what she did.

We were invited to a performance where some of the kids (total 18 of them) describing what they did during the one week camp. They drew castle, forest, tent, queen, elf and knight to show us the adventure they went through.

Before we left, Aelig was surrounded by her new friends. They hugged her and said goodbye.

Overall, it was a good experience, for us and for Aelig. I was worried that she would be scared to participate in this camp since she knew nobody. Most of the kids enrolled with their friends and asked to sleep in the same tent. But, she did well, and she enjoyed it as she was so excited she wanted to join the camp again. Well, 120€ well spent.

School year end performance : The Little Prince

The last Saturday of Jun, we went for Aelig's school year-end festival. I learnt that if it is a private catholic school, it is called "Kermesse", and if it is a public school, it is called "la fête de l'école", meaning the school festival. These year-end festivals are meant to mark the end of school year while raising some money to finance the school activities including field trips.

Around March, the kids started having rehearsal for their stage performance. This year, the dances were designed around the theme "The Little Prince". It is such a clever idea, as the film will be released this summer, now parents could tell their kids that the film is related to their stage performance.

The woman raising her right arm was the dance teacher. She designed all the dances and the costumes. Not very school has the budget to hire a dance teacher, some schools have their teachers handling the performance. In the photo, the kids dressed as The Little Prince, with green shirt and orange scarf (in our book at home The Little Prince is more wearing a yellow scarf than an orange one, maybe every book is different?).

 Then come the pilot.

 This is the scene where The Little Prince asks the pilot "Please draw me a sheep?"

His rose. While these roses were beautiful, it was painful for the kids who had them around their head.

 The Little Prince ventured outside of his planet, he met the king.

Aelig's class was splitted into two groups: one as snake and one as fox. She was in the snake group. She already showed us her dance at home. I almost told her The Little Prince died due to the poisionous snake, but I figured it would be better for her to figure it out herself.

Afterall, the film is coming out on 29 July, she could have chance to watch it. I told her about this film, she has been waiting for it. We brought her to cinema yesterday, she thought she was going to watch it, but instead if was another movie. Since then, she has been asking, when are we going to watch The Little Prince?

Jun was the month where most of the schools have their year-end festival. We went to tour around town one Saturday and attending two of them. One school had Disney characters dance this year.

 Those in green dress must be Thinker Bell? I was not sure.

This one was from a public school, their performances were simpler, but they had more interesting games.

Back to Aelig's school. Beside the stage performance, the school also prepared some stands (at the far edge in this photo).

Schools sell coupons to parents, they can then use them to play games or buy food (sponsored by parents). Some games are simple yet creative, for example on the photo, Aelig was using a broom to push a round shape thing into holes at the other edge. They would win something if they succeed.

Overall a fun day for the kids. It is also a good way to raise money. I think Malaysian schools could use this model. Instead of asking parents to directly donate money to the school, they could raise money through students / school / parents participation.

PS : The stage performance continued on The Little Prince theme, but we went for games (hubby was holding a game stand), so didn't have photos for the performance after Aelig's.