Kung Fu Swim

I am sure you have heard of Kung fu Soccer made popular by Stephen Chow, the actor which was a hit many years ago. Have you heard or seen Kung fu Swim then?

I certainly have and the star of this unique style of swimming is none other than our boy, Ryan Looi. Yes, he loves swimming and he adores kung fu, the fist fights and the kicks. And the best moment he enjoyed the most during his twice a week swimming lessons with his coach Mr Lee, are towards the end of the session where he gets to play and have fun with his coach.

Look mommy, I am flying .....

At the end of each session, his coach will reward him by tossing him high into the air and letting him do his stunt before splashing into the water. He is quite a sensation, I must say at the swimming pool each time, they do this because, many parents would be staring in disbelief and and marveled at how agile and daring this tiny little boy is, having no fear, as it were of the water or the height.

The Eagle stance flying through the air ...

The Bruce Lee's high kick ....

Just a couple of days ago, I took him for his usual swimming lessons. We were a little early. His trainer was still teaching another kid. The moment, Ryan changed into his swimming costume, put on his cap and goggle and the next thing he did, was jumped straight into the deep end without any hesitation.

Jumping into the pool with style ...

There was another mommy who was there watching his daughter swim, and I could see her mouth gasped as she pointed at Ryan. I could see her disbelief and concern, I am sure, thinking that Ryan was reckless. Then I can see that her facial expression turned into one of envy the moment Ryan's head popped up from the water and started his first breaststroke lap.

She came over later and asked if Ryan was our son and how old he is and how long he has been swimming. 

Words cannot described how proud we were, when we happily declared that he is and he is only 5. 

Ryan in The BeijingKids Magazine

The much awaited December 2013 issue of the Beijingkids expat magazine is finally out. We have been eagerly waiting for it because Ryan would be featured in it, promoting a Northeastern Chinese cuisine restaurant known as Liulaogen located at Dongcheng District.

Ryan featured promoting a Northeastern Chinese cuisine Restaurant in the December 2013 issue of the BEIJINGKIDS

He was invited by the magazine to be photographed, promoting this restaurant last month, after we wrote in with pictures of both Ryan and Chenya, informing that we would be glad if either one of them could be given opportunities to be used as models for their magazines. Our sole purpose is to provide them with the commercial photography exposure and experience.

I did not think that the invitation would come so fast but came it did, one month later.

Well, I must said that Ryan was a super easy child model to work with because he was just super friendly and obedient on set and did everything that was asked of him, without raising a fuss. On top of that, he actually enjoyed tasting the food that was put before him and that made the photographer's job so much more easier.

He was enjoying his food so much that the writer wrote in her column "During the shoot, our photographer had to stop to let the model finish a piece because he found it "too yummy to concentrate on the camera."

It was certainly a `First' for everyone at home. Hopefully, he would get more invitations in the future, not so much for the money (that would be good too) or the free stuff (I would not mind having any of that) but more so, for his own personal exposure and experience.

I hate the word ACUTE

There is one word that I fear the most here in Beijing. And that dreaded word is ACUTE.

Why? Because, every time, both the kids fall sick and when we bring them to the hospital for treatments, this dreaded word will almost always appear in their diagnosis.

It seemed that everything that they were infected here were ACUTE.

Both kids enjoying some rare moments, playing together without fighting and quarreling. Ryan was pretending that he was on his high power motorcycle, bringing Chenya for a ride.

With winter kicking in recently and temperature plummeting from high 30's during summer to sub zeroes in winter coupled with strong chilling wind, the entire family has been under the weather for almost two weeks now.

Both the kids are back to school today after over two weeks of coughing, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, running nose and more coughing. Daddy and mommy were not spared either. Both of us were also done with fever, coughing and diarrhea.

At first, Chenya came down with diarrhea and was diagnosed as Rotavirus. Before she recovered, Ryan was down and while both were recovering, both mommy and daddy were infected. When both Ryan and Chenya finally recovered from their diarrhea, Chenya caught the flu bug and was down with fever. By then, Ryan came down with a nasty cough and fever. 

He was first diagnosed with ACUTE upper respiratory infection. By the second day of infection, his cough got worse and was `barking' like a seal at night, leaving everybody with very little sleep. We brought him to the hospital again and this round, we was diagnosed with ACUTE laryngotracheobronchitis or CROUP COUGH! We were warned that the virus is infectious and air borne. We were worried sick because the last thing we wanted was Chenya coming down with it, especially since she is only two. We had to split up the kids in separate bedrooms since just to make sure.

I just hope that the worst is over and that we could now get through the winter with less drama and hopefully enjoy our very first WHITE CHRISTMAS here in Beijing.

"Dashing through the snow, In a one-horse open sleigh...

O'er the fields we go, laughing ALL THE WAY! .."

Stolen but Proud

Recently in May this year, a Facebook friend from Hong Kong messaged me all of all sudden and said that she had seen Ryan and me in one of their newspaper! No way!

There were only two occasions that I was ever on the newspaper and that was work related years ago and I do not recall going for any particular photo shoot or event with Ryan that has any such publicity, all the more that we have been in Beijing since November 2012.

So, I asked her whether she was certain that it was us. She said she was dead certain because she has seen that picture before on my Facebook. She was kind enough to take a picture of that particular page of the newspaper and emailed to me.

 Can you spot us in the article above?

Yes. That picture was definitely us when I was having my first 9 hole golfing experience with Ryan when we were holidaying at Club Med Bali in 2011. I remembered posting that picture in my Facebook and writing a post in my blog then about our trip with that picture.

 Our first 9 holes of par 3 together as father and son at Club Med Bali in 2011

Someone sitting behind a desk in Hong Kong with the assignment to write an article about Club Med must have been surfing for pictures and stumbled upon us because I definitely could not recall anyone giving me a call for approval to use that picture.

My first reaction was of anger because our privacy has been infringed in a way and that the picture was used without getting our prior consent. I wanted to know which newspaper it was and wanted to write in to demand for an explanation. After a moment to calm down, on second thought, since no reference was made to who we were and was just a random picture included as one of the many activities that one could do at Club Med, I felt that minimal harm has been caused.

Putting up such pictures in the first place in my blog or Facebook for example will automatically opens up the risk or opportunities for others to gain access and in this case, used one of such pictures although without prior approval.

Looking back, I am rather proud that our father and son's first golfing experience had impressed someone enough to `use' it to capture the wholesome family experience that one could gain at Club Med. We certainly did enjoyed ourselves.

So, yes..the picture were `stolen' but I am proud that someone saw it worthy to be `stolen'....

Charmed Lives

I remembered my first photograph taken with me riding on a horse. It was taken in Batu Maung, Penang, one of those rare family holidays with my parents made during Hari Raya. I still remembered staying at the then Merlin in Penang, with our room overlooking the sea. I remembered being overly excited with the soft drinks in the mini bar that I spilled the Fanta Grape I had all over the carpet and got a good scolding from my dad for it.

I remembered playing some arcade games (which I rarely had the chance to do since my parents are extremely strict when it comes to parenting) while my parents were chatting away with their friends.

And of course, there was this opportunity to sit on a horse to have my picture taken. I remembered distinctly two such black and white pictures. One was me sitting on the horse while another was with my mother standing besides me. I have been trying to locate those two pictures but to no avail. It is probably in one of the boxes we left behind in Malaysia.

Anyway, when I looked at this two pictures of Ryan and Chenya sitting on the horse, taken at the Kangxi Grassland, it reminded me so much of mine, especially the one of Ryan. The only difference is that mine was in black and white and taken by the beach and his was taken in color and in the vast grasslands of Kangxi in China.

Ryan is definitely leading a life much much better than I do in my childhood. I get to ride my first horse when I was in my primary school and he got his first ride when he was only five. He has been to so many places that I could only dream about when I was his age (in fact, I don't even think I know that those places exist in the first place, like the malay idiom "Seperti katak in bawah tempurung.")

And if you think that Ryan is having a good life, I think Chenya would probably surpass that very soon. She got her first taste of horse ride when she was only 2 and had her first aeroplane ride even before 2. I remembered taking my first flight to Perth when I was closed to 25!!

I am sure if we had our way and if things worked as planned, Ryan could be well be riding a horse on the vast grasslands in Inner Mongolia next summer, something that the daddy of his has to do it as part of his bucket list.

What charmed lives these two had and I wish that when they read this post sometime in the future, probably in my absence, that they will know how fortunate they are and to value all these experiences that we are trying to give them as much as we possibly could.

No Longer Available

My wife's laptop has been invaded! Yes. Invaded by stickers of every kind, from Ultraman to tiny burgers!

Suddenly, her laptop no longer looked so serious nor 'corporate'.

My wife often comes home telling that some colleagues or acquaintance were telling her that she does not look like one who already had two children at home. Of course, each time she tells me these, she is is smiling and grinning from ear to ear and I guessed that is something every lady would love to hear.

To be honest, she definitely does not look her age and she always complained that I do not say that enough in front of her. So, I might as well document that down here in my blog.

When she showed me the laptop and what the children have done with their newly acquired stickers, I was telling her that it is one way that the children are labeling or branding her as a 'Mommy', 'Married','Taken' or simply 'No Longer Available'.

What would be your first impression when you see this laptop?

Back to School

The long summer holiday is finally over today.

Ryan is finally going back to school and he is more than glad because he just cannot wait to get back to see his favourite teacher, Jeff and his pretty assistants, Mari and Grace and to play with his classmates. The two long months of summer holiday have been challenging especially with Chenya at home as well, because Chenya tends to fight with her brother quite a fair bit. Most of the time, it was Chenya who bullied Ryan rather than the other way round. She bullied her brother so much so that Ryan spend most of his time in the master bedroom, watching TV and playing with his toys while Chenya stayed in the living room with her toys.

The moment they are together, Chenya would already have either scratched or beat her brother, or comes crying that her brother had beaten her, although most of the time, it is the other way around, all within 10 minutes.

This morning while Ryan was getting ready for school, Chenya was getting ready too. She said that she wanted to go school too, complete with her school bag and waiting. I just hope that she is as eager to go to school when she actually has to go and not have to be drag up the school van every morning, kicking up a fuss, screaming and crying.

We have already registered Chenya into the same school and although the term actually starts today, we have asked to delay Chenya starting date till November. That is because the first week of October is going to be China National Holiday and after that we would be going to Juizhaigou for a holiday. Hence, we thought it is best to start her in November so that we don’t have to waste paying for her school fees in October when she is going to be away from school so much.  We also did not want to start her off in September and then having to re-orientate her all over again in November after our holidays. That will save us quite a fair sum of money.

For now, daily routine is back to norm and slightly better, now that we have already engaged a full time Chinese helper (Ahyi) for 8 hours everyday to do the cleaning and cooking.

Just looking forward for Chenya to start school too.

Obsessed with Dandelion

There is no flower that attracts both Chenya and Ryan like the common Dandelion. After the harsh winter this year which ended sometime in February and when spring kicked in, there were so many little white tiny fluffy star burst like flower popping up everywhere – the dandelion.

Both Chenya and Ryan were having a blast, picking them up and blowing them into the wind. 

 

I enjoyed watching them having simple fun like this and being back to the nature, running wild in the park (although it would have been much better if they were in a real natural park somewhere with clear blue skies with little air pollution, unlike the severe ones that we get in Beijing).

 

The laughter, the squeals (especially from Chenya) and the screams from Ryan as the light tiny white dandelion seeds float in the air, being carried by the wind, landing we know not where, but with a possibility of a new beginning and starting the next life cycle was something precious and memorable to me.

I can’t really recall whether I had such fun when I was younger but from the look of both my children, I can sense the true, deep and uninhibited joy of simply blowing the dandelion flowers and chasing after the seed all over the place.

 

We just went through some hot and humid summer here in Beijing, reportedly one of the hottest that most Beijingers would attest to. Autumn has arrived and the weather is slowly cooling down a little and we can see more clear blue skies in the recent weeks as compared to the hot polluted summer days.

Days are shorter now as compared to summer and soon the sun would set by 4:30 in the evening, as winter arrives. Honestly speaking, I am looking forward to the winter although it can be very cold and harsh at times, but I am looking forward to snowfall and another round of snowball fights with my son and this year, I am sure Chenya would be able to join in as well.

 

For now, with this post, I just hope and wish (if I could) remind my children when they do grow up, that the best fun and laughter and true joy sometimes comes from the simplest of things in life, such as a tiny white dandelion.

So, if you are ever depressed and frustrated anytime in the future, try picking up a dandelion and blow it into the wind, sit back and watch them float without care nor worries, wherever the wind takes them, knowing that a new beginning for them has just started.

To Fight or Not To Fight

“There was this older kid at the slide and he just pushed my son. Normally, my son would walk away but that day, he was absolutely furious. He pushed the older kid back. I had to tell him not to and get him out from the playground.” this mommy friend was sharing with us over breakfast on Sunday.

That sounds rather familiar. Incidents like this have happened so many times when Ryan was playing at the playground where other kids, especially the older ones just pushed him around. Most of the time, I would quickly stepped in and asked Ryan to politely walk away and play something else.

I am not quite sure why I always do that. Thinking back, I guessed firstly, I really do not want Ryan to get hurt and secondly I don’t want him to get into fight. Ryan would obediently walk away but mostly with a look that shouts “WHY? WHY ME? I WAS THERE FIRST! THIS ISN’T FAIR!”

Herein, is my dilemma, just as this friend later shared. We have dreamed and wanted our children to grow up to be go-getters, not afraid to go after the things that they want in life, to be motivated and to be strong enough to defend themselves in the real world when they grow up. Yet, here we are, telling them to walk way despite being bullied, to give up their rights just because they are being pushed around. So, what message are we sending to our kids exactly?  Instead of fortifying our teachings at home, I am contradicting myself when the test of courage is before him.

Should he fight back? Should he stand his ground and defend what is rightly his? Should he risk the possibilities of being beaten up, defending what is right and just? Or should he simply walk away from a fight, not wanting to create a scene and just want to be the MR NICE GUY?

I am not quite sure. Honestly, I have been taught to walk away and back off so many times as far as I could remember when I was younger, and that has grown into an adverse effect on me, where I would back off from many arguments even though I know deep in my heart that I am right. For the same of so-called diplomacy, I have many times held my tongue and allow others to occasionally step all over me, only to feel frustrated later. Maybe, it is our Asian, in particular MALAYSIAN culture, to be always polite, seen by others as a sign of weakness to a point of being exploited.

I have seen very aggressive Caucasian children and mainland Chinese kids are no different when it comes to aggression in getting what they want. Is it time for Ryan to learn to step up and to be equally aggressive to defend what is rightly his?

What do you think? Maybe, that is one reason why I started him on his Shaolin kung fu classes, not only to build discipline but also to build self confidence, knowing that he will be able to defend himself adequately.

My Shaolin Master

Ever since Ryan was a young boy around 2, he has always been interested in `fighting’ and keen to demonstrate his `kung fu moves’ that he picked up from his favourite Ultraman movies. There are so many of his photographs that he strikes up a pretty impressive pose with his kung fu stance.

I, for one, have always been interested in kung fu although I don’t have the opportunity to learn when I was young. I remembered that I wanted to learn tae kwan do but was not allowed by my parents because they feared that I would be using those skills to fight even more, not that I fought a lot. I guessed parenting mindset then and now are significantly different. Modern parents nowadays would want their child to learn as much skill set as possible to equip them for hopefully a brighter and better future. Moreover, such opportunities or classes were not so easily available then and even if they were available, were rather expensive.

I am always impressed with my dear doctor friend, Dr Liew (our children’s paediatrician and also my long time class mate) who practised wushu. I remembered him demonstrated his wushu moves during one of our class parties back in ACS Ipoh when we were in Form Four and I had been mesmerized since then. I wanted Ryan to pick wushu as much as possible, knowing that it would do him a world of good, not only learning a skill to fight, but some form of discipline and to channel his interest in fighting in a positive way. Unfortunately, I was told that he can’t be practising till he was four. Hence, we have to wait.

Now that he has turned five, we started immediately to find out where and how we could enrol him for some classes to start him off. We were originally thinking of either starting him on junior golfing lessons or kung fu. However, I still think that at his age, kung fu would be a better choice since he is much more flexible now and is a skill set that would instil better discipline and self confidence.

While looking around, we were informed by one of our new neighbour who has also become a good friend and their son, Slevin, Ryan’s best friend is taking Shaolin kung fu lessons. We wasted no time to get Ryan there for a trial class and he is hooked. He loves it and from what we observed, he is totally focus and agile for this particular sport.

It was his third lesson yesterday after missing several weeks due to our travelling. We were happy and glad that the trainer actually came over and commented that he was totally impressed with Ryan’s commitment and focus during his lessons and training and is of the opinion that he has the talent to pick up this sport.

It seemed that my son is living my dreams. I am not looking forward for him to become another Jet Lee but I would be contended that this discipline would mould him into a better person.

I TALK because I want to LEARN

Ryan is TALKATIVE and when I said talkative, I meant really talk and talk and talk and talk and talk.......

There are times when he can really get to your nerves when he kept on repeatedly asking the same question again and again, especially when you are tired and needed to focus on getting something done.

He talked and asked questions for an entire 25 minutes this morning in the car, while on the way to attend his summer camp. And it all started the moment we came out from the car park with him saying "Zoewe (our toy poodle) is small but FAT" after he heard me telling the driver to pick us up tomorrow to sent Zoewe for her grooming since her birthday is coming up on Saturday.

And that one statement turned into a conversation on why Zoewe is not big, what is a poodle, why is a poodle not big, is a cat big, what about a tiger, how about a dinosaur, how about T-Rex, how will a T-Rex fight, can a T-Rex bite, can a T-Rex step on it's enemies, what about that dinosaur with a big head and horn, why is it called a triceratops, where is the third horn, is a bird big, can a big bird catch me with it's claws, why cannot, what is a big bird, why is eagle is big bird, what other bird is big, can a vulture catch me and it goes on and on and on ....

By the time, he arrived at his school, I said "You talked non stop" and he replied "Yes. I talked no stop from house to school." proudly.

What he said following that struck me.

"I talked non stop and ask because I want to know ma. I want to know because I want to learn ma. That is why I talk non stop lo!"

Now, how can you beat that? What he said is absolutely true. On one hand, I want to encourage him to learn. The only way to really learn is to be curious about things in his life. Curiosity will lead to questions and more questions for the truth. And yet, here I am, often times telling him to keep quiet because he `talks' too much.

I am led again to be reminded by what Jeff (his class teacher) said "Do not curb their curiosity. Instead nurture it because it is their nature."

So, my dear son. I am sorry if I ever tell you to talk less. Keep talking and asking and keeps on learning as long as you live. Remember this when you grow up that ASKING is a GREAT WAY TO LEARNING! (But do give me a break every now and then will you...at least to catch my breath and think of the answers.....)