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. 

Swimming like a Fish

Although Ryan has always wanted me to stay through his hourly swimming lesson, I have often opted not to, because the indoor swimming pool tends to get rather stuffy and hot (even in winter) since the pools are heated and I always ended up with a splitting headache after staying there for 30 minutes.

Ryan doing a backward flip into the pool for me to take this picture...

He was his usual self, asking us to stay behind after dropping him off at the pool for his lessons. Since my wife and Chenya came along, we decided to stay to watch his progress. After all, this would be his 58th hourly lesson since we started him off one year ago with Mr Lee, his coach. We knew that Ryan has learnt much and came a long way but seeing him swim that evening was simply awesome.

The moment he changed into his swimming suit and had his cap on, he jumped right into the adult pool. His coach was already there waiting for him. He put Ryan through some simple warm up exercises in the pool and then sent him off to practice his breaststroke, which was the very first swimming style that Ryan learnt.

Ryan coming up for air as he did his breaststroke ...

I sat there, watching him swimming from end to end of the pool, each lap measuring 50 meters. Ryan is a small size boy and it is rather cute to see his tiny frame floating across the pool with his tiny head, popping up every so often for catch his breath before it disappeared again into the water ...

I started to count the number of laps that he is doing while his coach urges him on, screaming instructions and corrections, to make sure that his technique is right. Second, third, fourth, fifth and so on. I started to realize that the coach is now not just ensuring that Ryan knows how to swim but having the right technique to swim the breaststroke to maximize speed, as if he was being trained for Olympics. To my disbelief, he actually swam TEN laps of 50 meters each continuously without stopping. That was an amazing 500 METERS for a 5 years old boy. I can't even do three continuously but then again, I can't swim!

Then, after a short breather, he was put through his paces with his free style and then his backstroke, all of which he demonstrated with such ease and little difficulties.

Ryan doing his freestyle ....

Ryan doing his backstroke ....

It has always been our dream to see our son swim like a fish and whenever we see a child swim the entire length of the pool, we wish that Ryan could do the same. Sitting there, that evening, I realized that our dream has been realized. There he was, swimming the entire length of the pool, not once but ten times, and not just in one style but three.

Finally, the coach took Ryan through his paces on his most current technique, the butterfly. Although his timing and his coordination is still not exactly right, I can see his determination to learn and to master it and that was exactly, what his coach sees too.

"He is a very determined child. He does not have the physical strength but his mental strength is amazing." Lee shared with us.

Ryan with his coach whom he adores....Lee

Well, Ryan, as parents, we believed that this is one of the best gift that we have given you, apart from all the toys that you have been receiving...the skill to swim like a fish, a skill that will last a lifetime, a skill that we hope will strengthen your self confidence.

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.

2013 Halloween In Beijing

We can definitely feel it this year as Halloween approaches. Unlike back home in Malaysia, where Halloween was only celebrated by a handful, parents here, especially coming from the States were already busy preparing for their children's Halloween party, trick or treating and celebrating weeks ahead. There were loads of bright orange pumpkins  stacked up at the grocery shop at the apartment where we stayed (nothing of course compared those we found when we were in USA last year where pumpkins were everywhere and the entire Disneyland was celebrating Halloween).

As the fever of Halloween picked up, I was tempted to try my hands to make this Halloween a little special for the little ones - carving our very first Halloween pumpkin. I have seen so many such carved pumpkins before and always wondered how difficult and messy it would be to carve one ourselves. However, I was hesitant, not knowing whether it will turn out right until the very last night before Halloween when I finally took the plunge and went out to buy myself two medium size pumpkins. But I was still unsure how to get started and what is the best place or resource for information? The internet of course. Armed with some basic knowledge, I told the children that we would do it as a family project. With the images I wanted to do in mind, I drew the outlines on the pumpkin, cut off the top and told the children to dig out the seeds with a metal dinner spoon.

Me and the kids goofing around with the two medium size bright orange pumpkins I bought before we started our quest to carve our very first Halloween pumpkin.

First step is to have the initial design I wanted to carve and trace out the outline on the pumpkins.

Being totally immersed in the experience is the most important key to carving out a successful Halloween pumpkin and I am sure you could see how `immersed' I was in the process ....

Ryan, deep in concentration, digging and digging, working very hard to spoon out the seeds of his Halloween pumpkin.

I had to wait till both the kids were asleep before I could start the real carving because I knew that I would never be able to do it in peace and with the consideration, especially not with two very eager `assistants' bugging me. Once they were in lala land, I took out a small sharp carving knife and a little thin saw and started out my quest.

Two hours later, I have two rather impressive carved Halloween pumpkin staring back at me. I was rather pleased with myself.

The final masterpieces ....The ones on the right and the left were those I carved on the first night. The middle...that is a different story ...

I must said that I outdo myself this year because I did not stop at two. We registered ourselves to participate and attend our apartment's Halloween's party and we were given another two pumpkin as part of the goodies. I had to carve one more and since Ryan would be dressing up as BATMAN to his school's Halloween party, I thought that I would be rather cool if he could bring an EVIL BATMAN HALLOWEEN pumpkin to school. 

The evil Halloween Batman .....

Ryan has a new costume this year. His mommy bought a new costume for him during her recent visit to the States. It was Sulley from the Monster Inc. movie. Chenya was not left out in all this. This would be her first Halloween, one that she could participate (since she was too young to remember or participate in the first one when she was one year old). Mommy got her an extremely cute red and black Ladybird costume complete with a very attractive head gear.

Mommy goofing around with her two most favorite characters of Halloween, Sulley and the Ladybird

As much as we love the Sulley costume, Ryan very much prefer his Batman costume and insisted to wear that for his school Halloween's party as well as the party held by our apartment. He only wore the Sulley costume at home for some pictures and a short while walking around the park.

One of the lobbies of our apartment turned into a Halloween party grounds, complete with hanging pumpkins, spider webs and creepy spiders.

The party at the apartment was packed and all the children came out in full force, all dressed in their cute and some, rather scary costumes. It was a night where little Iron Man fought with Spiderman, Superman holding the hands of Cindrella and Batman was seen having fun with some witches.

Mommy with the two superheroes of her life, the Batman and the very cute Ladybird

Our pumpkins on display .....

"This pumpkin is MINE ...."

Batman striking up his pose .....

Our Batman surrounded by pretty ladies .... I definitely need to dress up as the DARK KNIGHT next year ...

It certainly was a fun night for the children and an exhausting one for the adults, but a definitely an interesting Halloween for me.

His First Commercial Photo Shoot

Ryan has always been photogenic even when he was a little baby and with his easy disposition, he basically can get along with almost anyone (except with his little sister most of the time, although most of the time, it is no fault of his).

He was once spotted by a talent hunt when we were still in Malaysia at KL Hilton just before we left for China and as requested, we have sent in his details as well as some pictures of his to them.

So, when we are in Beijing, my wife actually wrote in to BeijingKids, an expat family magazine to express our interest to have our children do photo shoot for their magazine if there are any opportunities.

And to our surprise, they actually replied and asked us to sent in some sample pictures and details. I sent in for both Ryan and Chenya and we got a call last week that they were interested to have Ryan do a photo shoot, to promote an upmarket family friendly Chinese Restaurant.

We were definitely excited since this will be Ryan's first commercial photo shoot. When we told him that, he was excited too and told us to give his hair a trim to make sure that he looks NICE! (He actually told the hair stylist to cut it to make him looks nice!)

We took him from school earlier, get him to have an afternoon nap, ensuring that the gets enough rest and off we went in the evening to this restaurant for his shoot.

The staff writer for the magazine turns out to be a real looker and Ryan as usual was in his element, chatting her up in no time and holding her hands like he has known her for the longest time.

When it was time to do the shoot, they laid the food before him, told him to relax and enjoy the food and looked up to smile at the camera. AND he actually enjoyed the food!! We have so much trouble getting him to eat anything at home, and here he was, in his sales and marketing element, selling himself, giving thumbs up for the food, saying how nice and delicious they were.

The photo shoot was over in 30 minutes because he was so so so ready to smile and pose and do whatever the photographer asked him too.

It was a good experience for both us and him. He has done HIS COMMERCIAL PHOTO SHOOT!!! And we are looking forward for more to come, for his sake. Do we have a model and star in the making????

Cook with Love

For those of you who have been following my adventures as a parent, you would have known that I actually learn to cook after my wife had given birth to Ryan (now 5 years old) during her confinement months. What got me started were two confinement recipe cook books and I remembered faithfully following the ingredients in those recipe books to the letter.

Over the last 5 years I have developed a passion for cooking and coupled with my passion for photography, I am obsessed with the thought of making sure that my food looks delicious and tempting to start with. I love to cook but I must admit that I DO NOT have the discipline required to be a good cook. I, for one would and could never remember or even bother to record the types of ingredients and their measurement that I used to whipped out a dish. Hence, I always have problems trying to tell or teach others how to prepare a dish that I have just cooked because I could hardly remember what I had just dumped into the pot nor how much I have used.....

I get bored cooking the same dish over and over again because there is no challenge and above all, nothing interesting to photograph. I am always game for a change. Anything visually stunning excites me and hence, my wife always know that I would order something visually attractive whenever we go out to dine, not bothering whether the food is going to be delicious or not. Yes..I am a sucker for good looking food. That is because I am curious to see how exactly these professional chefs laid out their creation.

 This is one example where I ordered this dish earlier from a Yunnan restaurant. I have always had challenges on how to plate an eggplant dish and since my mother in law adores eggplant, I got tired of cooking the same egg plant dish over and over again. So, when I saw this dish at the restaurant, I ordered it immediately and over the next few days, I went out to buy me some eggplants and attempted my version. The result was oven grilled eggplant, stuffed with stirred fried eggplant with minced pork meat and Chinese mushrooms and red chillies with Chinese cooking wine of course, topped with chopped chives and Chinese parsley leaves. My wife said that this is even better than that at the Yunnan restaurant ! I am a happy man!

To me, cooking is an adventure. Gone are the days when I would follow a cook book by the letter (although I still do when I run out of ideas to cook). Most of time, I would just buy something that I fancy, conjured up the taste I thought I wanted as outcome and picture the dish being presented in my mind. Other times, I would just open my refrigerator, and plan what I wanted to cook based on what I still have left in the fridge.

 This is a dish where I roughly know what I wanted to cook yet had never attempt before nor do I have a recipe for it. I wanted to cook a mussel dish in premium soup (something rather popular back home in Malaysia in restaurant like LaLa Cheong) yet I have absolutely no idea what the ingredients are. Cooking is an adventure and being innovative and creative. I roughly knew what taste I would want my dish to come out as and I made used of some of the ingredients that I have left in the fridge, such as some left over lemon grass and lemon. The final product was mussels cooked in thick spicy and sour lemon grass soup with lots of black pepper and red chillies to provide the extra kick I needed. To thicken the sauce, I add some corn flour and whipping cream for colour. I am not even sure whether I am using all the right ingredients to get what I want but I got WHAT I have set out to prepare. Verdict: My mother in law whacked every single mussel that is left and even kept the left over soup for her next lunch!

I am not one who could cook every meal because once cooking becomes a daily chore, I will loose interest and the desire to cook. I see cooking as a escape from my mundane daily routine, something that I could exercise my creativity and at the end of the day, a sense of achievement and satisfaction with a nicely taken picture of that creation.

 This is one dish that I have been cooking almost two to three times a week for Ryan since he absolutely adores salmon. The only thing that keeps me interested with this dish hence, was to see what other sauce I could use to accompany this dish or how else can I better present this dish. Here, I made a horseradish sauce based on a recipe I found on the internet (Thank God for internet!)

Above all, I think I cook with a sense of love for the those that I am cooking for, wanting them to enjoy the same journey that I have taken in preparing them, when they feast upon the food before them.

 One of my wife's favorite is scallops and I have always been on a look out on different ways to prepare a good scallop dish. I used to bake scallops with Japanese mushrooms and Japanese mayo but I have got bored preparing that dish. I wanted something different and instead baked these lovely scallops that we found at the wet market near our place in Beijing, simply with some Chinese cooking wine, sea salt, black pepper and minced garlic topped with finely chopped chives for color. If you cook with love for the one you love, you would constantly think how to better yourself with fresh ideas to surprise them and in the process, learned something new.

Prior to this, I always thought that cooking is something beyond me. But if I can cook (and only started to do so when I was 45), so can you, as long as you cook with LOVE for the very ones that you LOVE.

Am I a good cook? I seriously do not think so but one thing I do know, I can cook, I love to cook and I love to cook for the ones I love. Bon appetit!

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?

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.

Childhood Friend

Childhood friendship is one of the most interesting parts and parcel of our lives as we grow up. I grew out of those childhood friendship unfortunately, as I got busy with my college life and corporate life and have not touch base with many of those playmates that I grew up with. There are many of us who still keep in touch with our childhood friends and have remained close.

As I grow older, there are nights, digging deep into my fading memories, trying hard to remember their names. As each of their name came up, fond memories followed, of the laughter we had, the mischief we got ourselves into, the secrets and adventures we shared. I always ended wishing I know where they are now and if only we could just sit down for a cup of coffee and relive those little precious moments together.

Ryan has got a new friend here in Beijing and they have become very close over the last couple of months. Just a couple of months younger, Slevin and Ryan have grown almost inseparable. They are constantly asking for each other and always looking forward to meet up whenever they can and have a good time.

They have grown so close that they are each asking whether they could move into each other houses and live together. Kids!!

And Chenya has grown fond of Slevin too. There was a day when she woke up from her nap and the first person she asked for was “Where is SLEVIN?” This girl is having her first crush on a BOY at 2 years old!

The parents of Slevin are probably the closest pals we have now in Beijing and rightly so, because they are also simply nice people to start with. In fact, they have volunteered to take Ryan out with Slevin a couple of times, including the latest Michael Jackson Immortal World Tour concert.

I just want to write this down as a way to remember this great family and remind Ryan that he once had a good childhood friend by the name of Slevin if they should ever part and go their separate ways, that somehow, their lives have touched somewhat and left a little something behind, pleasant and happy memories of a growing childhood.