SKYNI

Things we do on weekends…

Dear Lego Toy Company,

Congratulations on a winning collection of Star Wars Lego toys. I have not met a single boy who is not crazy about the collection. Thanks to our kind relatives for their wonderful Christmas gifts, my son has almost the entire collection. Jonathan is really totally obsessed with Star Wars. He not only hums the Star Wars tune when he plays with it but he will also hold the fighter spaceships whilst watching the movie. His obsession is funny and it makes us laugh sometimes.

On one hand, I fully appreciate his efforts to improve his fine motor skills with the collection. On the other, I must say that they are also driving me nuts. You see, my son likes to ask me to ‘help him’ rebuild and look for his lost toys. His autism sometimes get the better of him and he gets really upset when he cannot find his favourite R2D2. My poor back is hurting from picking up all the small little heads, helmuts, eyewear and bits on the floor and also I am most frustrated with re-building some of these really complicated spaceships. And those tiny tiny skinny light sabre…i must say that they are not easy to spot and looking for them is really a test on my very poor eyesight. At one stage, I even tried tying a string around the light sabre to the little Darth Vader’s hands. It somehow does not work. Would you please consider including super strong glue in your products in the future?

Enough of consumer feedback, I must say that you are keeping my son very busy and I am surprised that he is able to sustain the interest for such a long time.

Thank you very much and would be grateful if you can also reduce the price by 50%. Your toys don’t come cheap! It will definitely help some poor stay at home mothers.

Yours sincerely,
A not so good at lego mother

My dear husband got this for me because it has ParkAssist. It will parallel park automatically!!!! wow!!!

We have so much snow that we will build an igloo for our kids. This one is WIP.

Hey….one should make good use of the snow right?

Hmmmm..maybe i should add a table and some more chairs…

After being hit by the worst flu ever for more than a week (yes, i spent Christmas mostly in bed), I am finally starting to taste again. However, I still cannot smell and my ears are still blocked.

It has been a one of the most eventful year for us. I must say, moving from one country to another was certainly not easy. It has been ‘çulturally challenging’. Back in Singapore, we had the luxury of a ‘reliable back-up plan’ to cope when we get sick. For example, we were so sick last week that we couldn’t even get out of bed to send our kids to childcare! I guess we have been really pampered in Singapore and it is hard to adjust when you have to do everything yourself. There are no back up plans!

We will toughen up and appreciate our new environment in time to come.

So here’s wishing our family and friends a very Happy New Year and may all your dreams come true. Enjoy the ride!

We wish you a very Merry Christmas! Eat, Drink and be Merry! God Jul! NIcke, Szeto, Jonathan and Linn

After we came back from London, the whole family have been sick with very bad flu. The kids could not go to school and we were hibernating at home. Their childcare has also been hit by chicken pox and we are keeping the kids away from school. Not so nice to get chicken pox during christmas.

The kids really enjoyed seeing the Singapore cousins, aunts and grandma. Linn threw a big tantrum when she reached home and wanted to go back to London.

Otherwise, we had a great trip catching up with the family and spending quality time together. Saying goodbye wasn’t easy. My heart just cannot take it.

We also came home with alot of additional luggage. We did not buy much but one nespresso and one ipad can still take quite some space. Due to the very weak Pound, shopping in London was quite good. The nespresso machine is a housewarming gift from my sister, Pei Yao. It comes with 280 capsules and cost Pounds 180 (SGD 360)

The weather has been crazy with strong winds and the snow is just mounting high in our backyard. In London, my mother and sister’s family is supposedly to depart last evening but their flight from London has been cancelled due to the snow storm. Healthrow will only reopen on Monday. I wonder if they will be spending their Christmas in London. Thank goodness the accomodation is taken care of by Uncle Poon and Bok who let us stay in their town house centrally located in the heart of London.

But now…i need to crawl back to bed…

Kids…they say the funniest things.

On a rare occasion, I saw that our local supermarket was selling Ferrario Rocher and I happily bought a box for our family. We used to eat alot of these in Singapore. I gave one to Jonathan and was really amused when he asked me really nicely if he can have more chocolate meatballs? I never thought of them as meatballs before.

Linn was playing Cinderalla with me. She wanted to make a dress for me so that I can wear it to the Ball. When I asked her if I am Cinderalla, her response was really quick that I am not Cinderalla but the Ugly Stepsister. How Sweet!

Linn was out playing in the snow in our backyard and she came to asked me for carrots. When she said she needed 2…and i asked her why. She replied that she needed another one for the snowman’s penis. Hmmm….

We are really happy to have our first vistor. Even though she could only stay for 2 days. My best friend, Bertilla braved the snow storms to visit us and had a glimpse of our lives here in Stockholm.

It was really great to have her and to show her around the city. The kids enjoyed her visit as well but I think it made some of us more home sick than ever.

Thanks Bert for your visit. It was certainly short but extremely sweet. Please come again soon.

Whilst Jonathan and Nichlas spend some quality time together, Linn sat on the aisle enjoying something sweet and nice. She has earlier been horse riding with Papa.

Actually, Jon was really good. He was very specific about what he wants. He was only interested in Star Wars Lego and nothing else.

Dear Linn

I know you really miss Singapore and you have been constantly telling me that you want to go back to the house in Singapore. It has not be easy for you but Mummy is really proud of your Swedish. Your teacher in school told me that the kids did not want to play with you initially because they coudn’t understand you. But now, they want to play with you because you can talk to them in Swedish.

It is very clear to be that you don’t like the cold and you rather wear your sundresses instead of these long sleeves t-shirts and long pants all the time. You don’t understand why it is so cold and you have to wear 3 layers of clothing everyday to school. Even mummy find it difficult with the -15 degrees temperature. Today, when your teacher told me that your skin is starting to react to the cold. I see your skin is turning red and starting to crack. I know it is really painful because mummy has the same problem too. But please bear with it Linn Linn. It will get better once we get used to this.

We are going to meet grandma and your two aunts in London next week. You will get to see your cousins Juwin and Ki-en. That may cheer you up. Hopefully.

Big Kiss and Hug,
Mummy

P.S. : By the way …I don’t really like Dora’s everyday outfit. Pink t-shirt with orange shorts is not a good combination. You should really try to avoid that. 🙂

Dear Jon

I know you are really into Lego and Star Wars toys these days but really, mummy cannot print money and cannot keep buying new toys for you all the time. You make it sound so simple when you say ‘Mummy, you have to buy it!”. It’s not like I have a money growing tree in our backyard you know.

It is nice to see you playing with the lego toys but really painful when I see that the ‘structure’ last only for 2 hours. Seriously, I really don’t think Mummy is capable of reconstructing the Harry Potter Lego and Star Wars structure that Papa bought for you just a few weeks ago.

Yes, I see the list of toys that you have prepared for Santa. And yes, I know you want that Red Robot which you remind me 10 times a day. Let’s see if Santa Claus is feeling generous this year.

I Love you so much,
Mummy

In case you are starting to think that we don’t like it here, here are some small good things about our new environment.

1. Fresh milk is really cheap. The kids drink 1.5 litres everyday and that cost about 10 Kroner (SGD $2).

2. Great supermarkets. I guess most people entertain and eat at home and so their supermarkets are mega with fantastic produce and great prices too.

3. The insects have no chance to survive in this harsh climate. I haven’t seen an ant for more than 3 months.

4. People here are friendly. They are generally polite and willing to help out.

5. They are forgiving. Jonathan can be clumsy at times and he sometimes bump into other people. They do not ‘tsk’ at him as much.

6. School is free here and the children like their childcare. They go to forests, learn about nature, theaters and are out in the playground rain, snow or shine most of the time.

7. Despite the cold environment, the four seasons are very different and beautiful in their own way.

8. Ice water on tap!

9. I like how the Swedes show respect for different cultures. They will organise an interpreter if you go for a meeting and cannot speak swedish. Even though they can speak in English.

10. H&M

Do you remember the old TV comedy ‘Mind Your Language’? This is exactly how my swedish class is like. My classmates are from Iraq, Tunisia, Turkey, Poland, India, Kenya, Peru, Romania and China.

The classes are conducted every weekday morning between 8.30 am to 12 pm. During these 3.5 hours, the instructor only speaks Swedish and try to teach the students basic swedish grammar, vocabulary and how to pronounce Swedish words accurately. Ultimately, we need to pass the tests and get a certificate to show that we can speak Swedish somehow. Without this certificate, it will be almost impossible to find a local job here. So I have been told.

It is definitely not a piece of cake. Maybe it is my age but they could at least make the class more interesting. The teacher is very critical and maybe she herself has forgotten what it is like to learn Swedish when she first arrived from Russia. The grammar, the pronounciation and melodic way of speaking is not easy. Maybe it will be less complicated if they don’t have those 3 extra alphabets – å,ö,ä

My classmates are nice but we hardly spoke because not all understand English. We are still struggling to find the words in Swedish and the questions are limited. Whilst i struggle with it, Linn seemed to find it really easy and her teachers in school told me that she is picking it up really quickly.

But I can tell you this..although my Swedish is far from perfect, my mandarin is improving. Most of the time, I speak to my classmates from China. I have never spoken so much Chinese before. Thanks to my classmates from China.

Not the best topic for the moment but definitely a must. After the snow storm last Tuesday, everything has been a little wet. Currently it is just raining and very icy on the roads. There are ‘slushies’ everywhere and they are not a pleasant sight. It is much nicer when things are all white and clean.

It is getting dark at 3 pm now and my day seems to be even shorter specially when i come home from Swedish class around 1 pm. That leaves me with a couple of hours to sort out the house, check my emails, facebook and cook dinner before picking up the kids from daycare. I can understand why the suicidal rate is quite high in Sweden. The darkness itself is quite a killer. Nicke’s colleague told me that there are places in Sweden to get some ‘light’ therapy. It seems like people use it to lift their spirits. Now to think of it, does he think I am suicidal?

I miss the days when I can just get the kids in the car and just drive off. These days, i need half an hour to dress the kids and in the meantime, i warm up the car, try to melt the ice on the front and back, brush off the snow and then watch the kids try to get into the car with their ‘heavy padding’. (It is a little like watching teletubbies getting into the car).

Nichlas says that it will take time to get used to it. Sure, i can see my poor skin getting used to the harsh conditions. I cannot even buy winter jackets from Venice as they are consider autumn jackets here and not warm enough for Sweden. That’s how cold it is.

Imagine this….your teacher calls in sick and that you think you can find some time to visit the Ikea store 15 km away from your home to buy the curtains in your bedroom before the neighbours complain about your husband’s nudity.

You happily invite your classmate with you to the Ikea store. On the way out of Ikea, you realised that whilst you are inside the warm comfortable store, there is a serious snow storm brewing outside. You start driving the car and realised that something is seriously wrong. The brakes are not working well and the vibration feels weird. The sign on the dash board tells you that the roads are extremely slippery. You do not want to alarm your classmate and so you drive on 3rd gear really slowly but you can barely stop the car at the traffic light even jamming the brakes. You can only hope for the best as you drive slowly causing a serious traffic jam. You do not want to crash. It suddenly occurred to you that this car that Audi lent whilst they are servicing your car, is not with winter tyres! You have never experienced anything like this and you are seriously scared.

You crawled slowly on the highway (E18). Your only thought is that how can you get your classmate home safely in this freak snowstorm. The roads conditions on the highway are slightly better and just when you think that things will be ok, the car refused to move up a slope about 1 km towards her home. You are now in a residential area with less cars and the snow is now thicker on the ground. The car kept turning around, slipping and sliding in all directions. You are about to shout and wish you are back in Singapore and that is when you panic and called your husband for help! After trying for almost 15 minutes, a kind (and rather good looking) man stopped and offered to help. But he apologised and said that it does not look good. Another man offered to help…and this time, he asked other people to help push the car up the slope and he even trailed behind your car to ensure that everything is ok.

Your husband called Audi to complain, told them to bring the winter tyres and it is definitely not possible to drive in these conditions. They responded that they need to ‘order’ the winter tyres for a new car!!! But they will come immediately with another replacement car with winter tyres. They came quite quickly with an A6 and you very happily drove home safely and got your kids from the daycare.

Quite an experience, and that is why I am sitting in my warm kitchen drinking a nice cloudy bay to celebrate that I got through this safe and sound! But I can tell you…it is really really really scary and definitely not nice!

Ok…it has been more than 3 months being away from Singapore. So here is my top 10 list of what I am missing so far. (not in any special order).

1. Of course my family…my mom, my sisters and my mom’s cooking.

2. My friends …i haven’t had the time to make new friends because the housework, the swedish classes and the kids are taking up all the time. I hardly have any time for myself.

3. Kopi in the morning. I have seriously downgraded to instant coffee. (nescafe sort). The swedish coffee is too strong for me.

4. Chai Tow Kway, Char Kway Teow, Laksa and Yong Tow Foo.

5. Cheap Taxi Rides (you can never think about getting a taxi here and not expect to pay less than $100…unless you are seriously drunk).

6. The convenient laid back NTUC supermarkets (specially the one is Hougang festival market). The supermarkets are great here…even better than those in Singapore. But the feeling is not the same. Everyone is so dressed up and upmarket here even going to the supermarket.

7. My chinese desserts…i want my cheng tng!!!!!

8. Ok lah. my domestic helper Joy. I must give her credit. Keeping up to my ‘Monica’ standard is not easy but she did well. I just cannot stand mess. Maybe that is why I am so tired cleaning up after my 3 kids.

9. My chinese drama. We have good cable here… in fact we have 33 channels at our fingertips. But none beats my Channel 8 local drama and of course my Chinese Channel on cable.

10. I miss my Singlish lah! I am so blur with my swedish and i fear that I may start Swenglish.

11. Yes, I exceeded 10. i am on the row here. I am not sure if i like the cold. I haven’t seen my arms in 3 months. Its totally dark here at 4 pm and taking time to dress up the kids is no fun. Today, i had to buy another pair of gloves for Jon just because i forgot to wear one for him. It’s not like i can tell him to ‘tahan’.

12. Service…service…service. Your roof needs to be repaired. But the repair guy says that you need to wait for 3 months as he is fully booked. Ditto for every household repair service. I am seriously thinking of taking up a ‘home improvement’ course.

13. A ‘Galang Kuni’ man. Seriously, this country takes recycling to the extreme. You have to think twice about buying something big and new because you need to think about how to dispose the old one. For example, how can i dispose my queen size mattress?

Otherwise, things are ok. 🙂 and we are having some fun. The kids love their new house although Linn wants to go back to Singapore.