Chinese New Year Celebration @ Beaconhouse

In conjunction of the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations, we had a mini concert at school. We we all allowed to dress at our best for the performance.

I was picked to perform a celebration song in Mandarin and perform a dance routine along with other Year 1 students who were selected for it.

A rousing success indeed and we received heaps of appreciation for the fine performance!

Mascot @ Tesco

Karate Boy and me!

Children's Library Revamped!

For the last 6 or so months, the children's section at the National Library was under going major renovation work for both the reading area and books.

All new parquet flooring with a dedicated play area to keep the small ones busy. We are to leave our foot wear outside and would easily keep the are clean.

The shelves are all marked nicely and there are lots of new books. They managed the space well giving more room for readers to occupy.

I like the new look and I do hope everyone plays their part and as the sign says, be careful with the books so that everyone can enjoy this for a long time.

Toddling @ Playground

Beaconhouse Band

The band played this morning and they were simply awesome!

New Eats - Arabian & Yemeni Meal

I was introduced to Arabian meal at daddy's colleagues wedding reception. Back then I was not into new food discovery hence avoided trying them out.

I gave it a shot at Sam Hadramawt restaurant serving Arabic and Yemeni cuisine. The menu inviting with different choices tempting the taste bud.

It was a simple ambiance with an LCD screen showing exactly how it was prepared which gave us a good insight on the main course boasting super tender meat.

Starter was creamy chicken (left) and lamb (right) soup.

Main course - Chicken

Main Course - Lamb.

I'm not sure if it was mandy or kabsah. Daddy settled that as I got quite mixed up with the order nevertheless they both were delicious.

My favourite was the Hummus. Arabic food dip made from cooked, mashed chickpeas blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. The Vimto blackcurrant juice was equally brilliant. I had double serving!

Lord Muruga Returns ...

As the lion dances in the foreground, the silver chariot is seen entering Jalan Ipoh leading it's way back to Jalan Bandar last night. Huge turnout!

Happy Thaipusam!

Thaipusam is a largely popular celebration in Malaysia as it is celebrated in various township on a large scale. This year I headed out as early as 7am.

The crowd was picking up fast and the Kavadi's were making a bee line heading up. There were rules imposed on the do and don'ts of carrying the kavadi, which may have contributed in a dip in the exaggerating ones that normally makes the front page.

Timing was right as the main highlight prayer was taking place.

I always wanted to walk with the chariot after hearing loads of stories about it from daddy. Looking forward to participating in it in the coming years.

A new attraction was seen near the Hanuman temple.

The popular stalls were all ready to greet potential shoppers.

This is something we could do away with. With rules being imposed on kavadis, they should also consider scrutinizing on having the right stalls.

This year's popular item could easily be this T-shirt inspired by a popular Tamil movie.

Happy Thai Pongal!

Happy Pongal everyone! This year's celebration fell on The Prophet Muhammad's Birthday holiday automatically giving us a day off to celebrate too!

I woke up as I do for school and got involved actively in the preparation work. One of my tasks was to pick the flowers for prayers.

The other was getting the Mango leaves for the Maavilai Thoranam. They need to be thoroughly cleaned before I can hang them up. 

I applied the sacred ash (Vibhuti), santhanam & kungumam on them.

The old leaves were removed first.

The new ones went up nicely. This by the way was performed under strict adult supervision with all safety measures taken into account ;-)

Looking splendid!

Once again the pongal took place indoors.

With constant guide from Grandma, I did a great job.

Jilla

Ilayathalapthy Vijay joining hands with Malayalam super star Mohanlal!

A combination as powerful as this was last seen in Unnaipol Oruvan which was incidentally starring Mohanlal as well. Jilla was mass entertainment! Due to school, I missed the first day screening and settled for yesterday afternoon show. A must watch for all Vijay fans! 

First Day @ School - Beaconhouse Sri Inai

I have been eagerly awaiting the new school term for I'm stepping into Year 1 primary! It's a new school with an all new syllabus to enjoy learning and experiencing.

The unique selling point here is the hybrid curriculum which means that I learn all the subjects based on Cambridge primary syllabus and having Bahasa Malaysia as per the Malaysian KSSR standards. This, I'm assured will give me the best of both worlds.

Orientation was on Friday, 3rd January and actual classes began on the 6th. Waking up at 6:30am weekdays was a tough one for me but I had prior training thanks to daddy.

He will be sending me to school as it's on his way to office and before I headed out, we had a prayer seeking blessings from Lord Ganesha for a great school year!

On orientation day, daddy wanted to try out a new route so we reached pretty early. I decided to wait in the library for the event proper to kickoff. Daddy and other parents were busy checking out the class assignment and who the respective teachers were.

When the announcements were made, we all gathered at the center court before we were divided to our respective classes. Principal John and Sukeshini walked around trying to calm anxious children and parents.

A very pleasant looking lady called out my name along with others who later on introduced herself as Teacher Sugu, our class teacher!

I'm in Year 1 Johann Strauss! This is super cool, to be in a class named after the Austrian composer famous for his waltzes. The Blue Danube being the most famous composition of his son, Johann Strauss II who continued his father's musical legacy.

As I was busy introducing myself, I was pointed out to be the tallest girl in class, creating instant recognition for standing out among my peers ... literally!

We were given a tour of the school, the computer lab, canteen (where we had our morning break) and the library, which I got a chance to experience earlier.

Here's an excellent view of the insides from the 2nd floor.

I made new friends instantly and some of them still had some separation anxiety which I am pretty sure they will overcome. Those that I instantly clicked with were pretty awesome and this made me feel assured that we're gonna rock Year 1!

Dashing in my school uniform!

All geared up in my sports outfit.

My school is built on great values and a history of excellence and it made me feel very proud to be part of it and I am, just like daddy, convinced this is the school for me.

Toddling @ Sentul Wet Market

Yesterday, after almost 2 years, I made my way to the famous Sentul market!

I don't really know why the sudden switch but I guess it was just a one off instance as we normally shop at hypermarkets. The visit brings back memories.

I vaguely remembered talking about shapes and colours when I was here before so this time around it was more on identifying the vegetables by their exact name.

Understanding their texture and use was also a plus as I could relate to them when they are part of my meal as the main ingredient or as additional flavour.

The best thing about wet markets is that you get really fresh items and you can be sure they are addressed exactly how you want them unlike the bigger players.

Happy New Year 2014

I joined aunt and uncle at their place last night for dinner and a pre new year celebration with some sparkling non alcoholic juice. 

This morning we were at Batu Caves to join the special prayers. The heat was unbearable but that didn't stop neither us nor the large crowd gathering to seek Lord Ganesha and Muruga's blessings.

This year marks a new milestone in my educational journey as I will be stepping into Year 1, primary in a few days time. I really prayed hard for a good year ahead.

We made our way to Sivananda Ashram for their noon prayers followed by lunch. It was awesome and though this picture wasn't what I had but looked very similar to what was served. I'm not a big fan of briyani but today's 'Annathanam' was superb.

Later in the evening we had some left over Christmas fruit cake.

The icing got pretty hard from the refrigeration.

Like I said, 2014 is going to be a massive year for me, new school, friends, teachers and basically a whole new chapter in my educational journey. I am eagerly looking forward to great fun learning and discovering.

Happy New Year Everyone!