It was some time late 2020 when C came to this decision - she would continue her post-secondary school education in a junior college. Since then, she had been gearing herself up.

We spoke about the challenges she would face - the late dismissal from school, the CCA commitments, the pockets of "free" time from her time table, and the demands of the curriculum. We also advised her about the friends and school mates that she might encounter. It was not all solemn and serious, of course. We also commented that class would be interesting especially for English and General Paper because of the discussions that would take place. We candidly shared that during our time, our motivation to get into jc was as simple and frivolous as us just wanting to go to school in trainers. Haha

It has been about a month since school started for her and she is still acclimating. She is definitely spending more hours online reading up on materials, or watching a film for class but she is enjoying the process. Then there are days where she is grouchy and waking up tired - all part-and-parcel of student life. 

We keep her in prayer. May the good Lord watch over her and guide her.

12 January 2022 -  O level results release

The much-awaited day came and went. Unlike 4 years ago when she received her PSLE results, this time she was alone - parents were allowed in school due to the Safe Management Measures (SMM) so we had our mobile phones close in case her message came in.

A lot of sweat, hard work, and sleepless nights went into the preparation for the national examination so she was anxious naturally. She recounted the friendships she had fostered, the pep talks, and the occasional well-meaning scoldings the class received from teachers. These 4 years hadn't been easy - they went on a month-long of Home-based Learning in 2020 and another short one in 2021, all when they were moved on to upper secondary where the syllabus and work were more demanding. Camps and outdoor activities were suspended, CCAs came to a halt and social activities were very much none in existence. Yet, this lot of students strived and persevered - they adapted and rose to the challenge. 

I was browsing my photo album and saw these photos that I had taken earlier :

The lovely notes of encouragement and gifts from her teachers and classmates when they had their own farewell. Among them was also a letter that she had written to herself.

A plaque from the school for her service.

and the parting gift from school. She loves this bear a lot :) 

God is good - all the time and C knows she is in good hands. 

 

Last day of exam and C was already getting ready to let her hair down.

She only had one thing on her mind and that was to get her hair coloured. She had talked about it previously when she was much younger but our answer to her had always been "no". She knew from an extremely young age that there was a timeline for her to be able to get certain wants.

So this time round, we agreed of course.

Here she is, our happy camper with her flaming hot hair. 

It is an understatement to say that time flies... really.

A photograph popped up on Memories in Facebook and it was on a set of photographs that I had taken of C getting her uniforms and books for primary school. Fast-forward to 2021 and she was sitting for her O level English papers this afternoon.

She was pretty nervous, I must say. Whenever I could, I would get back home in time to say a prayer with her before sending her off for her papers. However today, I did not manage to and gave her a call instead. She had initially said that she would only leave for school at 1.15 in the afternoon but her papers were starting at 1.30! After that correction, I received another text from her that read she had taken the bus in the wrong direction! oh man... 

Luckily C has a habit of giving herself an hour of buffer time so she wasn't all that flustered.

Talk about being stressed. She commented the EL papers were tricky with many inferential questions for Paper 2 but Paper 1 was alright and she didn't feel much anxiety about them. Hopefully the exam would proceed smoothly. 

The latest vaccination drive was for students who would be taking their National Exams and we booked her a date during the June hols.

She was supposed to get her second dose earlier but she had a paper just a few days back and we didn't want to risk her falling ill just before so we waited till today.

Daddy took her down in the afternoon.

like the previous times, she returned with freebies. 

She is resting now and hopefully she will feel better tomorrow. 

In 14 days, our entire nuclear family would be vaccinated but I doubt this changes much for us - we are already staying home during the weekdays and much of the weekends as well.  

For some strange reason, I remember Mother's Day to be the first Sunday in May and because of this mistake, we went about making plans for our hot pot lunch at Mum's.

We hadn't gone out as a family for meals but we were always grateful that we had been able to go over to mum's for meals. Food does bring people together, gives us the opportunity to chat about anything and everything under the sun, or just with with each other. 

So after the announcement came out in the news that the number of visitors each household could receive would be reduced to 5, due to the spike in C19 cases, we joked that our "mistake" was timely. On a more serious note, we rarely gather - the last time we had all of us together with during the CNY period where a maximum of 8 guests was permitted. Even after the restrictions were less stringent last few months, we still rarely went out on weekends. 

Back to our lunch, food was tasty and plentiful, company was awesome - we are thankful that we are all in good health and keeping well. :) 

May all of us continue to stay strong!    

Writing this entry to mark another significant event - last year this time, all of us were working from home. Daddy started way earlier as his company had grouped them into Teams A and B and then rostered each team to report to work alternate weeks. That gradually stopped and some time late March, Daddy was just staying in for work full-time. 

I returned to school on 25 May 2020. Our mid-year break which usually happens in June was brought forward a month earlier to May. This was after a month long of Home-Based Learning (HBL) where we taught from home, graded papers on our laptops, and fidgeted with gadgets like microphones and ear-pieces.  C returned to schools for lessons on alternate weeks on  8 June. 

My set-up at home where the dining area was my work station.

Daddy's work area at the Study. We have a sofa-bed against the wall which also doubled up as Cheryl's work zone. On days where Daddy had meetings, C would be in her bedroom with the laptop, plugged in for her lessons. 

Well, today, Daddy heads back to the office but the good thing is he isn't required to be there the entire week. For now, he gets a reprieve from this arrangement of being alone at home. 

Exactly a year ago, after we celebrated C's birthday, we went into Circuit Breaker. This year, things are seemingly looking up -  Daddy would be returning to office soon after having worked from home for more than 1 year.

Our usual practice would be to dine out on her actual birthday but this time round, as we had just taken our second dose of the vaccination, we decided it was best to stay in. As such, we had told C that we would throw her a different sort of celebration. A week from her birthday, she received a little surprise each evening - it could be cooking her favourite dish for dinner, to getting her desserts, or some cute knick-knack from the book shop. 

It was Good Friday and a public holiday so we took her out to buy her present. She deliberated over it for months before deciding on the iPad Air so she was over the moon when she picked up her gift. Her friends at school also gave her a treat and showered her with presents. 

Western food as this is definitely her favourite. It would have been steak but the girl likes her fish too. 

Her jaws dropped when she saw these massively succulent oysters! 

We surprised her on another evening with a candle over yoghurt. She was laughing but exclaimed "it will do!" 

Pizza spread!

the must-have. :) 

Gifts from her school mates and our friends. 

The battle between the iPad and the laptop - for months she was wondering which to get but I guess her mind was finally made up. The gift was incomplete as the Pencil was out of stock and had to be brought in. 

We ask for God's guidance over you, may He always protect you and may you always seek Him first before you leap. Learn to hear His voice in all the noise and lastly, have the courage to do what is right and just.

Since the announcement was made last December that vaccination for our country would start, I have been praying for an answer as to whether we should take it. While some were rejoicing that teachers would be on the list of priority people who will be receiving the shots, I was in two minds. Deep down, I strongly believe that C19 would go away, that is when the world gets things right. Yet at the same time, I am looking at how countries have been handling the pandemic and see that that is not going to happen any time soon. :( 

My prayers didn't yield an answer for months but God did give me a sign and told me to go ahead. This came after much anxiety and agony in the early days of March. So with prayers from close friends, I put my name down for an appointment.

The wait time was short although there were over 20 people ahead in the queue. 

I asked if I could take a photo of the shot. A series of questions were asked at the registration counter and the next appointment was scheduled. Then I was led to a booth where the same set of questions was asked again. I guess they just had to be certain before sticking the needle into the arm. It was over before I knew it - just like an ant bite. 

Looking pretty tired after the jab. Then I was ushered to an observation area where I had to be for 30 minutes.  

After 30 min, we walked up to the counter where we were given our "discharged" papers - a vaccination card which had our details and the name of the vaccine that we had taken. We didn't feel anything unusual after - soreness of the area where the shot was at and that was it. 

The arm became a lot ore painful the day after actually and lifting it to open an overhead compartment was slightly more difficult. We felt tired and just wanted to nap more. 

Will update again when we go for our second dose. - 13 March 2021

We went for our second jab on 3 April - this time round, there weren't much of a queue. We showed the appointment/ vaccination letter that was issued after our first shot and waited our turn. Similar to the first time, we were asked a series of questions and more importantly, we had to state the side effects we had. 

Us, sitting our 30-minute observation out. At that point in time, we didn't feel anything - no soreness of the arm where the jab was, actually we didn't even feel the pinch of the needle. No headaches, nothing. 

I did fall ill the next day - fever, body aches, the soreness of my arm was worse than the first time and I was exceptionally tired. I was out for 2 whole days while Daddy came down with a mild fever in the evening. His recovery was a lot faster - by Monday he was up and about as if normal, while I was still trying to sleep my aches away.

So concludes our C19 vaccination journey. Word has it that it may be an annual thing now and honestly I am not thrilled about it at all.  

2020 saw a lot of "first". 

It was the first time we had a month-long of online lessons - both for C and myself. 

It was the first time I had to mark digitally

It was the first time that our mid year holidays started in May

It was the first time that term 3 started in June

It was the first time that we had a 13-weeks long Term 3

It was the first time that we had CCA virtually too. 

It was the first time that C had to sing and conduct sectionals over the Internet

and Daddy has been "working from home" from February 2020. 

...

Yet the Lord has provided. 

Thank you for the year past, and for the year to come.

n

Chloe, C's friend, asked if she was keen to participate in a singing competition during the National Day period and all it took was a nod. It was a competition organised by Sengkang Central Youth Network.

Both of them spent the two days working on the piece. There was the selection of the music, and then they were also discussing the presentation of their video. The initial plan was to do a MTV. While it seemed feasible to go ahead with the recording, the editing of the video was weighing heavily on their minds as they knew they were on a tight schedule.

In the end, they recorded themselves individually and then stitched both parts together. 

Then about a month later, C texted us with a screenshot of an email she had received - Their entry had come in Top 3, much to all of our surprise. :)

Today is our favourite man's birthday.

Although we are in Phase 1 of the Circuit Breaker and many more shops have resumed businesses, dining at the restaurants is still prohibited. During our 2 months of the stay-at-home order, we have grown accustomed to sending our love for our friends and family through food deliveries. 

Daddy was commenting that he was "busy" all day from the receiving of the deliveries - this simply means that he is loved by family and his friends. 

He spent the evening replying to texts and thanking everyone who had sent him greetings. :) 

Lots of anxiety in the air...

Amidst the preparation for school closure, and waiting for the news that school would close, we did not forget to also get something for our little girl.

Like all parents, we want to make the day special for our children. She was pleased with the cake too.

Look at her- time really flies and 15 years have gone by just like that! 

After our simple celebration, we tuned in to watch our Prime Minister deliver his speech. We will never forget this day because the streets were almost empty, and there were very few cars on the road by the time I reached home. This evening, the PM announced that all students would embark on full scale Home-base Learning (HBL) from 6 April. 

Though we were mentally prepared - actually teachers in school have been on a roller coaster since the Lunar New Year period and every Friday since then we had been lugging our teaching materials home in case the announcement was made over the weekend and we didn't have the things we needed. Well, this would be another post.