SKYNI

Once in while I am taking over the posting and writing on this blog, mostly for publishing videos and specific photos.

This time we had 18th century gathering in an old silver mine. Linn was a princess and Jon was a knight. My mother and the children’s cousin and where dressed in traditional dress of our shire from late 19th century.

It is so quiet in the house! I can hear everything….right now, I am hearing the wind howling gently outside.

Nichlas has brought the kids to Grandma’s house for the weekend. He knows I need to spend some ‘me-time’ alone to catch up on my studies.

Part 2 of the Swedish Course has just started. I have started another course in a different school last week. So far, the teacher has given us way too much homework It is difficult to complete the homework and at the same time, look after the kids and do housework. Most of my classmates either don’t have kids, or have grownup kids who do not need 24 hours TLC. They spend alot of time in the library studying as there is a major exam at the end of the course. It is important to pass the course if I want to work in Sweden. So, this means that I really need to pull up my socks and study hard. It is extremely hard to master this language. I also find my English language skills deteriorating the more I learn Swedish. So please forgive me for the many grammatical and spellng errors in the blog.

Yesterday, I thought that I would go to town for some ‘me time’ and retail therapy. But I spent most of the time in the book shop finding the relevant textbooks to help me with the Swedish grammar. By the time I left the shop, it was a little late to do any retail therapy. Blowing 500 swedish kronor on text books is hardly my idea of retail therapy!

Right now, i better get down to my homework – write a letter to the press voicing your opinion on a topic you are passionate about… eg Stop Chid Labour, Safe the environment..drink less bottled water!

Happy birthday my darling Linn.

We love you very much.

Big Kiss,
Mama

We are celebrating Linn’s 4th birthday this weekend. I cannot believe my little girl will be 4 years old this Monday.

We kicked off the weekend with a celebration at Nickis (similar to GoGo-Bambini) for Linn and her schoolmates. She had a lot of fun with her schoolmates. This was followed by a family celebration with Grandma, Aunties and cousins.

For Linn, I think birthdays are all about presents, candy and having fun. My little princess sure had a lot of fun.

The Chief Entertainment Officer is back from his holidays and has now organised many activities to keep us busy. The kids have been swimming in the lake and sea all week. I still haven’t mastered the courage to dip my feet into the cold freezing water. Sometimes we have to drag our kids out of the water before they turn blue!!

Yesterday, Nicke arranged a boat ride around the beautiful archipelago. It was amazing. This is how the Swedes love to spend their summers… in their small summer cottages usually by the lake or sea. These summer cottages are quite simple, some of them have no electricity and bathrooms. We visited a friend this week and they take the showers out in the open.

Nichlas asked if I am ready to live out in the nature every summer. I think most of you should know my answer.

The kids and I took the commuter train to town yesterday. Jonathan loved train rides and I can see that he really enjoyed it. Somehow, Linn thinks that the commuter train is a little faster than the underground tube. Which is strange. Maybe because she can see the train passing quickly through the different towns. She is alittle apprehensive about trains after the mini roller coaster ride in Legoland. She totally didn’t expect the speed and her face expression was priceless.

We found a great children’s library (Rum för Barn) right in the middle of the city centre. It has a great collection of children’s books, very good exhibitions, eating area of kids, childrens washrooms and even a place for kids to do art and craft. The children had a lovely time and I had a hard time dragging them out of the place.

We were waiting for the train when the kids wanted to kiss. They are going through this lips kissing phase. (they want to kiss me all the time on the lips) Jon and Linn were trying to see who can kiss Mummy more on the lips. Linn who has been watching too much TV will kiss with her head tilted to the side as she pressed her lips to mine. It looked so funny and I can see the other commuters trying not to laugh.

I used to think twice about bringing the kids out all by myself. Now, I think it is ok. But we are really glad that the Chief Entertainment Officer of the household got home last night from France.

Based on recent conversations between Linn and I, in her tone and manner.

Dear Mummy

You know you said I am naughty and I don’t listen to you. But I listened mummy. I just cannot remember. But you know Mummy, you are alittle like me, you do not listen to me too. Naughty mummy, naughty mummy. I tell you again and again that I don’t want my toys like this. But why you do that?

I am a big girl now and I can do many things myself. I do not need you to brush my teeth, shower, go with me to the toilet, pour milk and cornflakes for me for breakfast. I want to do myself. I know you get very angry when i spill milk and water all the time on the table but it’s ok mummy. Don’t worry.

You know Mummy, you ask me to choose between a Princess party or Hello Kitty party for my birthday next week. But why I cannot have a Hello Kitty Princess party? I want 2! I don’t want to choose.

and Mummy, i really want a puppy like Bawser next door. I don’t understand why you asked me who is going to look after the puppy when we go on holidays. But YOU are mummy. You can do it mummy.

Tomorrow Mummy is Saturday. I like Saturday because I get lots of candy. Can I see the candy before you give to Jonathan and me? I want to count the candy. Maybe you can give the candy to me first and I share with Jonathan?

You know, I like it very much that you read to me every night. I don’t think 4 stories is a lot. But I also want you to sleep with me because I am scared of the monsters that will look for me when I sleep. So, you must protect me. You cannot go to Jonathan because I will cry.

I know Mummy you are tired. You can go to sleep now but you have to pat me first to sleep. On my bum bum please? Thank you.

I love you mummy!
Linn

This is one of the most interesting playground I have been to and it is about 15 mins drive from where we lived.

In my desperation to ‘entertain’ the kids and burn those energy, I have been bringing them to different playgrounds. Whilst Jon tries to improve his climbing, Miss ‘Kaypoh’ (Busybody) strike a conversation with the kids and mostly ‘fathers’ of kids’.

My kids have been Barbiefied ..they want me to play these Barbie movies again and again and they even know the songs. Even Jonathan is singing and dancing with Linn!

What have I done? But I must admit that the movies are quite entertaining.

Today I brought the kids back to the apartment we lived in for 2 months when we first arrived last July. Surprisingly, Jonathan even remembered the exact apartment where we lived.

We walked around the neighbourhood and the park next to the apartment where we lived. I remembered clearly how I felt when we first arrived. I guess we are now more settled down to a certain extent with our own house now and the kids attending school. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I am ‘swedified’ as I am still very much a Singaporean at heart. Maybe the kids are more ‘swedified’ as they run naked in the park!

Linn is completely at home and she can walk up to strangers, introduce herself, ask what they are doing and have a decent conversation with them in Swedish. She is definitely not shy and I am the total opposite. Hmmmm…I wonder where she got that from.

your daughter tells you confidently in a low deep Darth Vader like voice….

‘Search your feelings, you know it’s true’

After spending a few hours with the kids in the playground, mowing the lawn, picking raspberries from the garden, cooking dinner, cleaning the house, bringing the kids out for another long walk, I am dead tired!

Another long day tomorrow.

When I did not answer to Jonathan’s shouts for me, he called out ‘Mummy, är du död?’ (Are you dead?)

!!!

We are back from our Legoland Roadtrip. The children loved it specially Jonathan. He spent alot of time at the Star Wars Section. Must say it was pretty inspiring. But not inspiring enough to change my opinion about those small little mini figures. I have now come up with my own homemade skinny light sabres to save my poor eyes from looking for them.

Legoland, like any themepark in the world is in the business of ripping parents of the hard earned cash. They even passed the 2% credit card transaction cost to the customers!!! I guess we will probably spend our vacations in these themeparks for the next few years. Next time, I will equip myself with a good book when I stand in queue for hours for the rides. I had my fair bit of fun when I customised and created my own fun ride in the Legoland Powerhouse. Just imagine being held by a Transformer as he fights his enemies!

For now, I am home alone with the kids while Nicke is out drinking champagne in France.

After months and months of waiting, we are off to Legoland! We need to drive 7 hours to Denmark and will be away for a week! Thankfully, we will not be in Legoland all the time but visiting some friends along the way. I do not think we can afford 7 days in Legoland…both money and sanity 🙂

Jonathan is just so happy and he cannot wait to get his hands on those little plastic mini figures with detachable ultra mini hands, heads and headgear! (Yes, do you feel my love?)

For those in Singapore wondering what Sweden is like in July? Let me put it this way…

It is like having a month of Chinese New Year. Nobody’s working, everyone is on holidays, schools are closed and the city is quiet. People are eating, spending time with family and visiting friends.

We (my mom and I) had a great time in London. It was really nice to spend time with my sister Pau Ping and I love her bachelorette pad. It reminded me of my time in the little Wilkie apartment in Singapore.

With the strong backing of the Singapore dollar, we could actually go shopping! Unfortunately, summer clothes are not so useful for me now in Sweden. It is hard to justify buying more summer clothes when I can wear them for only 2 months in a year. And summer clothes are mostly what I brought with me from Singapore.

We have a good time catching up and spending time together. I realised that there are so many things I do not know about my mom – her likes,dislikes and her needs. My mother has dedicated the past 45 years looking after her husband’s and children’s needs. At her current age, it is a little hard to pursue her interests such as sewing and ballroom dancing. When I was a kid, I complained that my mother walked too briskly and it was hard to keep up with her. Now, she trails slowly behind us but urges us to walk ahead of her. As I watch my mother stare out of the window (which happens a lot), I wonder what she is thinking about and what’s on her mind.

I think i am becoming more and more like my mom….but not the sewing and ball dancing bit.

The kids are off on their 2 month vacation. Jonathan is really looking forward to the Legoland in 2 weeks time.

As for me, I am also looking forward to a weekend trip to London with just my mom, sister and I. I am bringing my mom to London so that she can catch a direct flight home to Singapore.

Time really really flies and she has been here for slightly over 5 weeks. She has been a great help here, specially during the exam period. My mother does not like so much to go out in the crowds, shopping and sightseeing. She prefers to stay at home to cook and clean for us. So, for the past 5 weeks, she has been pampering us with wonderful home cooked food – sambal squid, carrot cake, green bean soup, bo bo cha cha, glutinous rice, chicken rice, fried ho fun, fried bee hoon etc.It has been wonderful…but not so good for my expanding waistline.

The kids really love having her here. The first thing they asked when they came home from school was ‘Where is Po Po?”. It will be hard when they see her leave tomorrow. Jonathan is in denial and said that Po Po can go back to Singapore but she must come back again!

The children will begin their summer vacation today. For the next 8 weeks, they will be with us 24 hours. After the summer vacation, Jonathan will start his official school and Linn will go to another childcare which is opposite to Jon’s school. So today marks the last day of school for them in their childcare.

I was really sad today when I dropped them off in school. The kids gave flowers to their teachers and thanked them for taking care of them for the past 10 months. It has been a great 10 months for them and I can see that they have grown very attached to the school. Linn asked why she has to change school when she liked her friends and teachers very much. It was difficult to answer her question. I became very emotional and had to leave before the teachers see my tears.

That is another thing about me. I have become so emotional ever since our move to Sweden. Come end July, we would have been here for 1 year. How would I describe our First Year? Maybe this is not the time for me to make a fair assessment as June has been one of my toughest month. Having to sit for Swedish exams and trying to get my Swedish driving licence (the Singapore licence is not recognised here) are new experiences for me. Perhaps the fact that i have to study and sit for exams, take my driving theory and practical test have made me finally realised that I am basically required to start from scratch all over again. My experiences with exams and driving tests more than 20 years ago have not been exactly great. I am not sure if I really like to do this all over again!

Whenever I feel down and feel like giving up, I just remind myself that I am doing this purely for my kids.

Today is Sweden’s 2nd biggest holiday after Christmas. It is Midsummer Festival and the day with the longest daylight.

We spent the entire day outdoor and celebrated in typical Swedish fashion. We went to the forest and danced around the ‘fertility pole’. It was quite fun and the kids love it.

We had another reason for staying outdoors. Our Russian painters are working overtime painting our house and so we have no choice but to keep the children out.