First Saturday of My Stay-in Period

Well, doesn't the title sounds a bit like me being in prison or the army?? haha... Well, it's actually because i'm not going home for the exam period to study. I can predict that i'm gonna get so bored and lonely in here, now with all my friends in school busy with the exams as well, and the fact that Cavin and I are no longer in contact, it's gonna get more and more lonely. Among all the friends that i have, only Cavin stays the nearest. The rest are all far far away.

Well, but that doesn't stop them from being concerned about me, which i am very grateful for. On the first day of the exams, my shi xiong (Chinese ancient name for senior) has already emailed me and gave his regards. My best female friend has also called. And quite of number has given their wishes online. Man, am i lucky to have such wonderful friends! It seems to me just days ago when i wrote the other post about feeling lonely and without friends... Seems to speak truth about the phrase "Friends in need are friends indeed!" Now, everytime i feel lonely, i'll just pick this post and reread it to remind myself that

"Friends need not be by your side to remain as friends;

They live in your Heart!"

Well, seems like i have always known this, but i could never fathoom what it means. Now i truly understood and am really glad for it. Thank God, as always, even though i am not a christian. Heh... I mean, there has to be a reason that things happen the way they do right? And when good things like this do not apparent to have any reason behind it, it has to be God's doings. Right? : )

Will I Ever Be Free?

My parents are away for the weekend.

"Hurray!" I hear you say?

Yet, what was suppose to be a happy occasion turn out to be a disaster. Mums... The moment they have to leave their kids at home when they go overseas, they freak out. It doesn't matter that the kids are already going on in their twenties or late in their tens... They never grow a day older in their eyes. Hence, they NEVER stop meddling with your lives. That alone doesn't bother me a lot. I've lived through 23 years of mum taking care of me, even if it is a bit excessive in times. But mums looking out for their kids is natural. However, not when others come into the picture.

My mum ain't gone for even 24 hours and i am already feeling strained. I had barely rested my feet at home when i received a call from cousin 1 saying that his mum got us some tickets to see the Prime Minister when he grace an event at our neighbourhood tomorrow. Hell, i know that he is coming but i don't even know that it's tomorrow. And he wasn't asking if we wanted to join his family for the event tomorrow but we MUST because our parents are overseas and his mum already got the tickets. You will think that I don't have a life at 23. Honestly, i don't because it's exams period and i NEED to study!!! Does ANYBODY see that?? Oh yes they do. But no doubt they feel that since our parents are not at home, they have to take up the responsibility of "looking" after us. Literally looking. And the best way to do that is to keep us by their side. Literally.

Obviously, this is not the ONLY case. Cousin 1 also kindly request that we make our presence at his house tonight for dinner because his mum assume that we will be having dinner at their house since our parents are away. Naturally i declined because it is something that i am not aware of and i already made plans with my sister to have dinner outside. This is easy to decline but not the dinner event tomorrow. Know what's the best thing about tomorrow night? Apparently they didn't know i was coming back because they only got the tickets for my sister. And they assume that my brother will be working so he will not be able to go for the event. Since my mother has already asked them to make plans for my sister and look after her, why the hell did she ask me to come back for?? Now that they know i am back, they feel obliged to include me in their plans. Great. Even though my parents are not at home, i can feel their eyes following us the moment we step out of the house. What's the best thing that you get from having relatives that live so near to you? No-Thing. Free dinners and lunches, you say?? But every single one of us knew how to cook. My mum made sure of that. And when u have a choice and the time to cook, free diners don't attract you all that much. Moreover, my mum has already stacked up enough food to last us a week even if we cook everyday. Why bother if she ask someone else to look after us??

I know, you'r say we can decline the offer if we had plans right? Right. Do you know how difficult to deline "kind" offers from your relatives? When my cousin first called tonight to inform us of the "kind invitation", i have already told him that we had plans and "to thank his mum for the kind offers". Then Cousin 2 called to inform us that his mum took the liberty to provide for our meals for the weekend since our parents are away. "Thank you very much, but i think it won't be necessary because i have to give tuition the whole day on Sat so i think we will settle our meals outside. What about my sister? Oh, i think she will be going out. How about Sun? Oh, that i don't know yet. I will discuss with my sister and we will inform you again. But thanks anyway for the offer." Such was my gracious deline. Subtle but firm rejection, i think. But obviously my aunt don't get it. Either that, or Cousin 2 didn't. So his mum called us PERSONALLY and request that we make our presence felt at her house. Then what is our house for? The last time my parents went overseas without us, we slept at her house too and she took care of us. We were grateful, of course. BUT THAT WAS ALMOST TEN YEARS AGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right now i just feel so suffocated. This once-in-ten-years opportunity for me to enjoy home alone life is such a great excitement and they had to ruin it. I had plan to go out and enjoy myself a bit, but decided against it because of my impending exams and the fact that my sister is home alone. That thought alone will prove that i have grown up! BUT WHY DOESN"T ANYONE SEE THAT?? DOESN"T MY AGE SIGNIFY ANYTHING? Strange, but i recall several occasions when they did. Especially when they had asked me to do favours for them. DAMN.

God, i just feel so suffocated. Plus i had a bad morning. I was insulted really badly yesterday and by someone i like too! Damn. And then i have this really bad headache today. Hell, i don't need someone else to RULE MY LIFE!!! JUST LET ME BE!!!!!!!

A Day of Dealing with Sibling Rivalry (and Simba Chewed My Slippers!!)

Today, i went to give tuition to my cute little kids as usual... It started out bad everytime... Haiz... Kids... Although i love them, there always comes a time when i have to deal with the not-so-cute part of them. Today is one of those days.

First, i woke up too early this morning, just to have breakfast with my family. So i ended up being too early for tuition. I arrived at Olin's house at 15 mins past 10 when i'm not expected till 11. Never mind. So i waited at their lobby till about 10.45 then i made my appearance at their doorstep. All seems fine until i'm told that both Dan and Olin will be tutored by me today (usually its only Olin cos Dan is fine with Chinese). Well, i ain't upset with it cos i do like tutoring Dan (he's just soooo Cute!!!! if i ever manage to upload the photos from my phone to the com, i'll post it here.) However, the brother rivalry thingy is something i have to be careful of. Cos, you see, Dan and Olin are only two years apart and Olin is only ten this year. So the brother rivalry thingy is very strong. (and getting stronger as the days go by, if i might add!)

Well, things can't be helped so i have to think fast on how to tutor them both at the same time, so i tried to deploy the same method i used the last time. It worked fine the last time so i figured this time should be no different. I was WRONG. What happened was that these few days, there has been a soccer dispute between the two of them so nothing at the moment could cease the fire between them. Their parents thought i could work some charm but apparently it didn't work (with Olin, at least) So my hour is spllit between tutoring Dan first, while Olin gets a "heart-to-heart" talk with his dad. Although many (and me, at first) would have preferred to tutor Dan, now my heart goes out to Olin cos he is actually a very smart kid. And i'm quite taken to him. He is very nice when he's good. And he never ever talks back at me.

Well, turns out the heart-to-heart talk did some good and by the time Olin returns, he is all well again. His only condition is that he do not want to do tuition with Dan. So, i had to finish up with Dan, gave hime some homework and start tutoring Olin. The session turns out good and when i left their house that day, Olin remarked that "It is good to be tutored by me." I was so happy!!!

But the happiness didn't last long... I was apprehensive on my way to the next tuition class: Kyland and Bali's house. Becos the last time i went, i promised Kyland that i will find out the Chinese names of her favorite flowers for her ( which i forgot due to heavy school work) and the fact that i will be trying to get her to study for her spelling tests (which she absolutely hates!) Things weren't looking too good as i tried to crack my brain to find my way out of it on my way to her house.

Luckily for me, kyland forgot about the flowers the moment we started class. Before i could comment on anything, she said:"Mommy said we were going to do flowers this week, but she forgot we did it last week already. This week i wanna do something new, can i??" Phew!!! It was definitely a relief. Of cos i said yes!! :P

However, when i took out the spelling sheet, her face changed. i had to talk to her nicely and convince her that it is not her spelling lesson that i am worried about (of cos i wasn't. She has been exempted from her chinese exams cos she's a foreigner.) However, she looked ready to cry even as i tried to talk to her nicely. Plus, there was Bali to deal with. As with Onlin and Dan, there exists sister rivalry between Kyland and Bali. They are both two years apart as well. *Sigh*

I managed to convince Kyland that the spelling test is going to be just another part of the tuition and it is not expected of her to get tops for her spelling test. However, there is a condition that i can only start the following week cos i have to get her another book to write the spelling tests in. (she doesn't want to dirty her "favorite" book by writing spelling words in them. Kids... *rolls eyes*) Once i'm done with Kyland and started her out on some writing, i turned back to Bali.

Bali is a very active girl and has not been to preschool. She is to start her education straight at Primary One in a local school and she does not know any word at all. I have to start at the very beginning with her. So i made her write Chinese words and start pronouncing them the right way. However, unlike Kyland, Bali do not revise her work and she don't remember the words after she wrote them. As her teacher, i have to make her repeat those words until she can remember them. Thta's what triggered her tears... She started ranting about how she just cannot remember and she's jealous when Kyland tried to show her how it isn't hard to remember those words and proudly rattled off those words that she has learnt from our previous lessons. That just didn't sit well with Bali at all. She started crying then. *rolls eyes*

I had to hug her and to talk to her nicely, even asking if she would like to do other stuffs instead. After some mutterings and red-eye sniffs, she told me that she would like to try memorising that again. Good. After several tries and a few more sniffs (not to mention some good-nature "mistakes" made by Kyland to show Bali that everyone makes mistakes; Kyland is a really sweet girl actually) Bali finally did it!! Phew!! As a reward, the housemaid (another sweet philipino) agreed to make them popcorns.

Just when i thought everything is coming to a good end, that's when i saw simba. Simba is one of their dogs (they actually have two dogs, three cats and three tortoises int he house!), a Labrador. He is huge, even though he is only four months old. And he loves to punce on me and try to lick my face. Yes, i love dogs but i dun wanna be licked. When he doesn't heed my command to sit (although he usually do), kyland will come help me pull him away (you'll be suprised how sure-handed these girls are when it comes to handling the big dogs!!) Well, i guess that's why he took his sweet revenge on my slippers. :-(

Not only did he chew my slippers, he also scratched me... :-( Stuck with no slippers and with an arm of scratches, u can imagine just how bad i looked. Luckily, i could borrow one of the slippers from the house-maid and i hurried off to get myself another pair of slippers. Just in case, i bought another pair of $6.90 slippers. Hope that this episode won't repeat itself again... *sigh*

Well, as much as i love kids, the day didn't go too well today. Hope that it will be better next week. On top of that, hope that i can finish my studies in time for the exams as well. I seem to be lagging behind my schedule. Damn, i can't believe i took an hour just to write this!!!! haha... Gotta get back to studying now..

Until next time!!