Let's just say she is spoiled

Everyone is spoiling Aelig since we got here.

It was not her birthday but she got to be in the center position, blowing out the candle and cutting the cake.

And since blowing out the candle is such a fun game, she got to do it over and over again, this time within a bunch of durians.

Yes, we have been eating durians all the times. Don't be jealous.

The Perhentian Escape

To satisfy hubby's crave for diving, we planned a trip to Perhentian Island. He keeps a fond memory on his first trip there 11 years ago.

The ant effect. She saw some big ants on the floor so she hung on to her daddy. This improved overtime as she told me that she is not afraid of ants anymore.

The Bonjour phenomenon. Sometimes she greets people with "Bonjour" and some people just ignored her as they didn't understand French. She turned to me and asked why these people didn't greet her back. Once we met a Chinese couple so I explained that she has to say "Ni Hao" to them. She doesn't quite get the idea that different people speak different languages. Anyway, she continues the greeting from time to time, and to my surprise someone greeted her back with an heavy accented "Bonjour".

Hubby likes adventures so we did the trekking from Mama's Chalet to Abdul's Chalet on another beach. We went further down and he wanted to do the trekking through Fauna Resort to rejoin our hotel. Unfortunately, we got lost. We stepped on unknown insects and at one point, I got really scared. We decided to regain the beach. We were compensate with isolated beach with tons of fishes close to the shore. It felt like Redang back in 2000 where you were greeted with fishes once you stepped into the water. On the way back, we swam passed Abdul's Chalet and managed to see three "Nemo" playing. Hubby said there were many corals in front of Tuna Bay Island Resort. So, if you have young kids and choose to stay in Perhentian Besar, I would recommend to stay in resorts along this beach (TunaBay and Abdul's Chalet, beaches in front of New Cocohut Chalet are less nice). We stayed in Coral View and could enjoy the sandy beach in front of Perhentian Island Resort, but the waves were stronger there.

Bread hunting. Aelig finished the bread we brought for the trip. We went to several shops but couldn't find them. A waitress told us that we had to go to the small village to get them. But we managed to find some in the shop closed to New Cocohut Chalet. We got her breads stuffed with chocolate and strawberry jams. She loved them.

We made a trip to Rawa Island. It was worth it. Fishes all over the place. We also stopped at Turtle Bay and saw several sea turtles. At one stop, the boat was leaving and a tourist discovered that the parents of the two kids in the boat hadn't been back to the boat. We turned back to get them. They were not happy and I agreed with them. The boatmen should have counted the passengers before leaving.

Making noodle with Si Fu

My dad was making noodles and this time he has a student. They communicated with hand gestures. Or the Si Fu would pass messages to my mother, and my mother would rush to get someone for translation. A fun and harmony process.

My parents showing the student the size of the noodles that they prefer.

Under the guidance he started cutting.

Noodles in process.

The fruit of hard work.

Making more since we have to feed so many people.

We got fried noodle for lunch and loh mee for dinner.

Hubby also made ravioli for my family.

Our dessert : tropical fruits. My BIL bought us some durians.

Hubby made us some choux patisserie. We stuffed it with durian, and apparently it was yummy. Copy right reserved please hehe.

Food Trip

We have been only here for 4 days and my family has already pampered us with so many scrumptious Malaysian foods. My mother has been making some of my favorite foods, just say that my stomach would never has chance to get emptied. Just to name a few of them : bah kut teh (herbal pork soup), sticky rice dumpling, pohpia (wrap with jicama), satay, roti canai, chai kueh, curry chicken, Indian rojak mee, different kind of soups, vegetables and fruits.

Homemade chai kueh

Homemade curry chicken

Roti Canai

Satay

Durian

Lah-lah (small clam)

Pandan chicken

Homemade meal

As I said they love the raclette cheese, they have been baking them to go with different food.

Even a simple bake cheese is good.

I think I'm going to gain a lot of weight by the end of my stay.

Arrived in Malaysia

We have arrived safely in Malaysia.
We are welcomed by my families and also, the haze.
Indonesia is burning their forest again, and this time Singapore got their share, the pollution level is at a dangerous level in several areas.

Anyway, back to the trip.

It was a long trip. We left home around 5am French time (11am Malaysian time), and arrived the next day around 3am French time (9am Malaysian time). A total of 20 hours' trip using all mean of transport : car, bus, tramway, train, plane, car. Aelig kept repeating : car, bus, tramway 3 times (including the transit in the airport), plane. And she asked to go on a boat.

At the immigration, one officer told us to go through the non-EU line so we could stay as a family. We met another officer and we wanted to switch to the EU line but he said that since I'm a non-EU citizen I would need to use the non-EU line in order to get a stamp on my passport. While queuing, we met another officer who got us passing through the long queue since we were traveling with a young kid. That was nice!

With Aelig growing up, it is easier to travel with her. She slept quietly on her seat instead of stretching her legs and moving on us. No more diaper, no more milk powder, no more pacifier. She watched "A life of bug" over and over again, and required the headphone at all times. As for me, I watched three movies : Caught in The Web (Chinese), I Love Hong Kong 2013 (Cantonese) and Miracle in Cell 7 (Korean). I did sleep but couldn't sleep as well as before. I remember I used to sleep through the whole trip from LA to KUL 18 hours straight. Hubby was all happy to be in the double decker Air Bus 380. It has big screen with better quality, he was excited to eat some Nasi Lemak and Beef Rendang, and drink some Tiger Beer!

Touched down in KLIA.

So what was in our luggages?

Crazy Asian ladies loving their LV and Long Champ bags.

Hubby wishes to dive. We are heading to an Island soon but the weather forecast predicting thunderstorm throughout our stay, thing is not looking good.

And, raclette cheeses, my family is addicted to them...

Training in Paris : Food and gathering

Early this week I was having training in Paris. I took the opportunity to arrive a day earlier to meet with friends and try out some Asian food.

A friend brought me to try out the Dim Sum in Chinatown last time but it was fully booked on a Sunday afternoon. I really wanted to try it since we don't have Dim Sum in Nantes. The food was authentic, I loved their Cheong fun. Here is their address:
Restaurant chinois Chinatown Olympiades
44 avenue d'ivry
75013 Paris
Tel : 01 45 84 72 21

 Unfortunately we had some sound pollution as a group of Vietnamese were dancing and singing Karaoke, on a Sunday afternoon.

 In the evening I met with my classmates who are now working in Paris. It was nice to catch up with them.

The food was ok. The service was bad. I asked a waiter to take a photo of us and he said he was busy and would come back later but he never did. And, they only accept one restaurant ticket per person. I was a bit surprised as I didn't know that restaurants could limit the use of restaurant ticket as payment.

I know I know I'm going to Malaysia soon. Friends discouraged me to try out Malaysian food in Paris. Well, I don't go to Paris often and we don't have Malaysian restaurant in Nantes. So, I figured I would just try it out for once. I went with my coworker and she loved it. Well, the satay was probably reheated but the sauce was quite tasty.

And, I finally got to eat Nasi Lemak in France. The shrimp sambal was excellent. Under the nice ambiance I slowly introduce the Malaysian culture, language, and cuisine to my coworker. Here is the restaurant:
Legenda de Malaisie
46, rue de Trévise, 75009 - Paris – France
Tél. : +33 (0)1 47 70 87 07Fax : +33 (0)1 40 22 00 41

The training was carried out in La Defense, an area with many headquarters of international companies. We dined out with the trainer once, and felt that 23€ a meal was too expense with the quality of food provided. We decided to venture into other restaurants in the big shopping mall. They have a huge variety to choose from. I got sushi and Chinese for lunch. The service was fast and efficient. That compensated the lousy weather with grumpy sky.

Three days of metro, training, dodo, we had had enough of it and was so eager to go home. Yes home sweet home.

Getting ready for the big trip home

We are ready for our annual big trip to Malaysia.

Guess what are inside this bag. There are mostly hubby's gear.

And this one? None of the items here belongs to me. Checked the Airlines and discovered that each of us can check in 30kg. Hope all of them would arrive safely in Malaysia.

So what about mother's day?

One Friday evening while picking up Aelig, we came home with a container with three paper flowers and a piece of paper printed with a poem. Well, obviously the school made some art work with the kids for the mother's day. She was repeating some phases with gestures, I realized later that it was the poem:

Devine ce que j'ai caché
(Guess what I'm hiding?)
Un bisou pour la joue
(A kiss for the cheek)
Un baiser pour ton nez
(A kiss for your nose)
Plein de fleurs
(Plenty of flowers)
Pour ton coeur!
(For your heart!)

It was sweet to see her repeating it over and over again for me. As for the paper flowers, she presented them to me, but claimed that it remained hers!

Question: Do you keep these art works at home? At 3 years old she is accumulating tons, I wonder how many I need to collect over her schooling years.

GE 13 : Observing from France

Almost two weeks after the polling day, the elections are still a heated topic in Malaysia. Ten of thousands of Malaysians are attending rallies held by the opposition protesting the election results. Well, the ruling party won, even though the electoral process was fraudulent with many alleged irregularities.

The polling started at 8am in Malaysia (2am in France). I couldn't sleep so I woke up around 1.30am to follow updates on Facebook. Friends posted photos showing long queues in varies polling centers.

My fellow Malaysians were queuing in the rain waiting to cast their votes. An historically 80% turned out responding to calls from varies parties / groups to vote for a change.

Past 8am, photos with blue finger started to flood into my Facebook page. Photo above shows proud Malaysians showing off their blue finger indicate that they have voted.

Photo above shows a candidate advocating in 4 different languages, to appeal to the diverse demographics in Malaysia.

What struck me the most were photos and videos showing angry people blocking the suspected phantom voters from voting, especially those with foreign faces. Rumors circulated that the government handed out ID to foreigner workers and sent them to varies polling centers to vote for them. The opposition parties were calling the people to "catch the ghosts" resulting in electorates monitoring around. Thats appalling if it is true.

Around 7am the result showed that the ruling party has retained the majority and would continue its mandate after 56 years in office. This ended the hope for many who wished to see an implementation of a two-party system. It was a nervous yet exciting day, I have never so "political awaken" before. I was not disappointed at the results, but a deep saddest hovering around due to the credibility of the whole election process. Suddenly, I felt a great envy towards hubby, as it seems that his country carries an electoral system in which people can trust. Anyway, we should not lost hope. French women were granted the right to vote in 1946, only eleven years before the Malaysians. So, let's continue fighting for a clean and creditable electoral system. Malaysia Boleh!

A daddy version of bed time story

Aelig could be very harsh to her father, she refuses to do certain things with him, for example, having him during the bed time story.

To change this habit and enable daddy to share more bonding time with her, I asked hubby to pick one of her favorite stories, written in Mandarin with pictures.

It started well. She slowly calmed down and stopped protesting the present of her daddy in the room. She was actually curious how daddy was going to tell the story in French.

It was not an easy task but he did it. The book was printed from right to left so I had to correct him when he turned the pages.

Here is daddy's version of the story:
The little cat is hungry but he couldn't find his cheese. He realized two mice stole it so he scold them badly. With an empty stomach, he played with butterflies. Once he saw his mother, he asked if she could give him some food as he was still hungry. His mother gave him some eggs. After eating, he played with a turtle and a bat. (Aelig protested when he said "chauve souris" (bat), direct translation = "bald mouse", she said the bat is not a mouse). While he was sleeping two mice came to visit him. They had good time playing together. The second day after waking up, he realized all his eggs were stolen. (Finally he realized it was not eggs but Chinese bun so he switched to "bao" (Chinese bun in Hokkien)). The "bao" reappeared  and he managed to catch the mice. He can finally enjoyed the moon and stars.

The real story:
The little cat likes to chase butterflies in the garden. He has never seen a mouse in his life. One day, he asked his mother how does a mouse look like. His mother told him : " The mouse has shape mouth, round ears and long tail...". She got cut off as he said he knows what a mouse look like now. One night his mother has to go out so she asked him to guard the Chinese buns. While guarding, he confused a turtle and a bat as mouse. He was so tired until he felt sleeping. He got awaken by a weird sound and finally met the real mice. However, the mice convinced him that they were good mice, and were invited by his mother to help him. He believed them and played with them. He even treated them to a dinner. The mice encouraged him to take a nap which he gladly obliged. The second morning, he discovered that all the buns were gone! His mother arrived just in time to console him and told him that all the mice are bad. The little cat was determined to catch the mice. He prepared some buns and hid behind his bed. The two mice came and he caught them without struggle. After this episode, he finally knew what a mouse look like and has since become the bravest guardian.

Ok daddy's version was quite different from the real story but they had a good laugh, that was the most important.

GE 13 : Voted in Paris on 28 Apr 2013

Despite the expensive train tickets, I decided to go to vote in Paris. There were several pull factors, mainly because it will be the first time I could exercise my right voting outside of Malaysia. Equally important was that the candidate in my State constituency is a capable man. I have to vote for him.

I arrived in Paris before 10am. It was a sunny day with cloudy sky. The Embassy was located in a peaceful neighborhood close to the University of Dauphine. Some Bersih volunteers were interviewing some electorates who just casted their votes. I was greeted with the warmest welcome from the Embassy employees. While waiting for my friend, I watched the voting process displayed on a TV. I chatted a bit with one of the employees, and was told that I couldn't take any photo during the whole process. Ok, as a first time voter, I didn't know much. I was quite anxious as the postal voting process is quite different from the one at home.

Once my friend arrived, we put our cellphone and camera into a plastic bag, then went upstairs to the polling room. I handed over my ID card, the first staff read my name, the second one handed me an envelope (Sampul Keutamaan). Inside the envelope I saw two smaller envelopes (Envelope B): The pink one contained a form and an Envelope A with the state ballot inside; the white one contained another form and another Envelope A with the parliamentary ballot inside. I was instructed to make sure that the serial number on the form matched the serial number on Envelope B and the ballot in Envelope A for both State and Parliamentary seats. It went nonchalantly for the State ballot (two candidates) but everyone was laughing (there were three staffs supervising the process) as I took out the second ballot as it was a long piece of ballot with 6 candidates! After checking, both me and the witness signed the forms. I then proceeded to a small booth to choose my candidates. I took out the ballot, put a cross beside the candidate, put the ballot back into Envelope A, put both Envelope A and the form into Envelope B, then sealed it. Repeated for both ballots. Final step, put both envelopes into a postal bag. The voting process was then ended.

When we stepped outside the Embassy, we were greeted with Bersih volunteers who cheerfully congratulated us. They then asked us to write a message that we wanted to share with other Malaysians, and with all these photos they have made a video.

Once casted my vote, we went to Chinatown to meet a friend. We wanted to try Dim Sum in one of the restaurants there but it was full! Despite on a Sunday, the whole area was convivial with restaurants patrons and shoppers. We ended up eating roasted pork and duck which were delicious as well. Next we went to a bubble tea shop. All in all we chatted 6 hours non-stop!

Back home, I was still suspicious with the postal voting process, especially the part how it ensured the privacy of my voting decision. In both forms it stated my ID number with the serial number. The Election Commission explained in their website that once the ballots arrived in Malaysia, they will open the Envelope B, then check if the serial number in this Envelope B matched with the one on the ballot inside Envelope A. If yes, they will put the form a side, and the Envelope A will be put on other side together with all other ballots, and be sent to the constituency for counting. Still, it means that if they want to trace my vote, they can just check the serial number on the form. I don't really trust the process but I wanted to give it a try. Every vote counts!

3 year 4 month

 Some highlights of the month:

1. Pacifier-weaning
She has been pacifiers free for three weeks.
We know we need to do this, but we kept procrastinating it.

She had two pacifiers, one green and one blue. She usually puts the green one in her mouth, and the blue one in her hand. We let her have them when she sleeps. Sometimes she asks for it when she is frustrated, tired or uncomfortable. They helped her calm down.

One day she lost the green one. The blue one was at the school. Each day she forgot to bring back the blue one so she slept without any for three nights. She had hard time falling asleep though. The fourth day she brought back the blue, she was proud as she remembered to bring it back. But, we were cruel, we hid it. Since then, goodbye to pacifiers.

Then one night she begged me with a sad and serious voice :"Maman, I have lost the green and the blue pacifier. Can you please find them for me? Can you go to aunt's house to look for them?" I almost surrendered to her plead. I kindly explained that the pacifiers wouldn't fly themselves to her aunt's house in Malaysia. They should be in the apartment. But, since she is a big girl, she doesn't need them anymore. She was not convinced but she has no choice. In my heart, I feel that I have taken away her two best friends that have gone through up and down in her small world. I'm not convinced that pacifier would harm her teeth. I agree that esthetically it doesn't look nice when a kid has pacifier in her/his mouth, but why bragging around a stuffed animal wherever a kid goes is accepted or even encouraged at school?

2. The first dental visit

In France very kid has a health book. It recommends the first dental visit at age 3. I have heard that kids are afraid of dentist, so I tried to prepare her mentally. After eating chocolate, I would tell her that some chocolates were glued to her teeth, if she doesn't brush her teeth, the ants or insects would come dig a hole. And we need to go see a dentist to let him / her catch the ants and insects. She agreed to go see a dentist.

The day came, we went as a family. I went first to show her how it works. I asked if she wanted to go after me but she said papa should go first. Then it was her turn, she did it without fear. She was very happy to hear that all were fine with her teeth.

Here is where I found skeptical about the pacifier's harm on teeth. The dentist looked at them, and concluded that she must be sucking her thumb while sleeping. Well, he was wrong, we told him about pacifiers. He said it must be the pacifiers who started to make her teeth parting away from each other. Ok, that was not his first diagnosis. I feel that every dentist will tell you different things, there is just no concrete evidence on this.

3. Language development

The school starts teaching the kids recognizing alphabets and words. Sometimes she would point at some alphabets on a billboard and scream with excitement. So hubby decided to teach her ABCD. She doesn't have much patient though. However, she prefers alphabet to Chinese characters, I think she can sense that learning ABC is much more easier than learning  大小. On the other hand since French's pronunciation on ABCD is different than the English one, she feels confused when watching Dora or when I accidentally pronounce an alphabet in English (eg French pronounces i as e). She would say, no maman, you are wrong!

4. Trip to library

The Town Hall built a new library so we decided to pay it a visit. This was the third time she went to a library so she knew she could choose the books she likes and bring them home. She chose quite some and I borrowed the DVD "Chicken Run" for her. She complained when we returned some book to the library but she finally accepted that they were not hers. One day we went for grocery shopping and was passing by the books alley. She went to pick up a bunch of Dora books and said we would bring them home. I told her here is not library, we need to pay! Eventually I let her buy one book, she was so excited to see Dora and boots in a book!

5. School carnival

Her school organized a yearly carnival where kids were invited to disguise in whatever they wanted. I asked my mother in laws to pass me one costume and guessed what? She passed me a costume from my BIL, disguising as a Chinese, with a Chinese coolie hat (斗笠) tailing with plait. When we arrive in school, her eyes almost popped out seeing her teachers dressing as a crown and a witch. Some kids came to see her and I told them that she is a Chinese. "I know", said the two boys. Suddenly I felt very stupid, even without the costume she looks like a Chinese. I have heard several times kids telling their parents that I'm the mother of the Chinese girl in the class. What was I thinking? Next time I will dress her up as a Malay or an Indian.

6. Enjoying holidays with grandparents
It's school holidays again so we sent her to her grandparents. Previously, when we had to leave without her, she would cry and protest. This time around, she waved goodbye to us with a smile! Hubby said this is just the beginning, the day would come when she would cry when we go picking her up!

She is so blessed, she gets to climb apple tree, goes to the beach / zoo / library / bicycling, plays hide and seek in the garden. Not to mention that the weather has been pleasant these days.

Enjoy your holidays my girl, I hope to bring you camping again since you loved it so much during our trip to Noirmoutier.