To give or not to give ...

My maid is 19. And her eating habits are worse than my girls.

She doesn't eat ANY vegetables or fruits. Not even durians. She claims that she's allergic to seafood too. I'm not so bothered by the seafood thing. More prawns and crabs for me I say. But the no veggies and fruits thing .. now that bugs me to hell.

My 3 year old eats vegetables. Well, not ALL vegetables .. but some. And she LOVES most fruit we give her. Claudia and Lauren also take fruits and vegetables.

But here, we have a fully grown woman refusing to eat ANY ...

sigh.

She likes chocolate though. And she doesn't take tea or coffee. So she drinks Milo .. I'm fine with it since it will give her energy to do housework. I just thought it was rather kiddy-ish of her to prefer to drink Milo than tea or coffee.

Anyway, I've been toying with the idea of getting her Vitamin C pills. If she doesn't take any fruits or vegetables .. then how is she going to get her Vitamin C (for starters) ? .. No Vitamin C means she's likely to fall ill ...

And I don't want that. So, I'm going to get her Vitamin C so she can at least get the recommended daily dosage.

Yesterday, she lost her condo access card. I was quite upset ... I didn't scold/yell at her ... (not my style with my maids) .. but I nagged. I asked her how on earth did it get lost and I told her that the next thing she better NOT lose are the housekeys. And that I will not be replacing her access card .. she can stand at the gate and buzz the bell and ask the guards to release the gate lock. While I understand that it was an accident that the card in a cardholder fell out of her back pocket, my previous maid, Khalimah .. held onto that card for 3 years and didn't lose it. Newbie took just 5 months to lose it. She could tell that Sir was really agitated about it and that she would've gotten hollered at had I not been there. And she would've deserved it .. really careless of her, I felt. CLAUDIA who is all of 10 years .. has yet to drop things outta of pocket like that.

dammit.

Good times ...

are the ones I remember from living in the States ... it was a very happy 2 years there. We lived on a airbase so it was safe, and we had other Singaporean families there with us as well .. the ones I was close to were a couple of other pilot wives .. we met when we were posted there with our hubbies .. and a few of us even get pregnant about the same time ..

We all came back to Singapore in 2004/2005 .. and yet, through the years we've managed to find some time to always meet up .. even if it's only a couple of times a year. Last year's Christmas party was held at my house .. and recently we all met up again at Michelle and Forest's daughter's birthday party at the Keppel Club.

This time around, we didn't have the time to reminisce about those good old days in the States ... but given enough time, we usually end up talking about it. Our husbands have all told us at some time or another to GET OVER IT now that we've been back so long ... but we just love to talk about those times.

I remember all of us taking turns visiting each other's homes and just having a potluck lunch or tea together .. or even dinner if the squadron was night flying .. and a lot of times, especially when Michelle, Weng Yee and myself was pregnant, we would make the rounds at Wal-mart etc and eat out ..

We ate out A LOT ... lol .. not only when we were pregnant, mind you. Since we all lived quite near each other, I would volunteer to be the driver and pick everyone up (Weng Yee lived just a few doors away from me) .. and then go off straight to town ... we'd either eat at Red Lobster or Guadalajara for lunch ... or we'd have ice-cream at this quaint little ice cream parlour in town .

heh. And then we all had our babies ... for the longest time, Weng Yee and I both wanted to name our girls "Ashley" .. hahahahah!! .. But we had a change of heart and named our girl "Lauren" instead and used "Ashley" as a middle name ... When Michelle had Beverly, Lauren was about 2 months old ... We were close to being there for 2 years already and it was time to go home ...

I can never accurately describe how I felt as the place touched down in Changi Airport after a 28 hour flight ... and it was NOT happiness. I was really bummed about leaving the States .. lol !!

Thank goodness ...

vandals have awful handwriting ...

We were in one of those handicapped lift things that u find at Suntec Fountain Terrace cos they have these steps which makes it impossible for the handicapped and also mummies with strollers to get up and down .. so they had to install these lift thingys ..

and as the thing moved down .. and we were all staring at the door, I noticed some graffiti written on it ...

Claudia was also staring at it .. and attempted to read it out aloud ...

"For a leisure time, call XXXXX" .. I kept quiet and didn't correct her ...

It wasn't "leisure" .. it was "lesbian" ..

hahahahahahahahah. But it was written quite illegibly to my utter relief.

I don't want to explain the meaning of "lesbian" to my 10 year old just yet.

COMEX 2009

Arghhhh! I want to go to COMEX but I can't ... or rather I don't want to. I lurve gadgets but I can't possibly buy everything there right?..

SIGH. Technically, I don't need anything right now except my Canon EOS 500D. I have to save up for that one. Other than that, nothing else I need right now. I just got my netbook - the HP Mini and my Omnia is fine too. It's not about "needs" sometimes .. I just love ogling everything I.T. ... am tempted to just go but actually scared I'll end up hankering for things.

Bummer.

It's like I'm experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

damn.

disappointed ...

Drove to town to meet up with my friend for lunch today. We met at the new Orchard Central.

Gotta say, man ... there is nothing nice there. Well, what I saw of it. I don't think I'll be walking in there again .. well, maybe to have lunch at Quiznos .. which is what we did today. I love these sub shops .. when we were in the States, and pregnant, I would eat Subway sandwiches almost everyday .. lol !! I would share it with Claudia but get different toppings for each half cos I'd order olives and jalapenos that she didn't like eating ..

And on Sunday, hubby and I with the girls took a stroll down Clarke Quay and also visited the other Central .. that is also another hopeless place to visit - Central I mean .. NOTHING to see there.

I haven't been to Iluma .. but I have my reservations. ION Orchard is so-so .. not a place you'd visit ALL the time .. especially for moms like myself with kiddies in tow. Give me Takashimaya or Suntec or Vivocity anytime !!! .. lol.

Sorry, what did you say?

You know what?! My maid and I .. we have language issues ..

For all those of you who think Bahasa Indonesia is the SAME as Malay ... come, let me whack you on the head with my Tommy Hilfiger clogs. It isn't. Some words are similar. Most aren't .. and the language is just different. And before you say .. well, that should be enough to issue instructions - it isn't. Really.

I swear my maid probably only understands A LITTLE of what I'm telling her .. and the same goes for me. When she starts chattering to me about something, I have close to no clue at all about what she's telling me. SIGH. As long as I don't hear relevant words like "blood", "fall", "knife" etc .. I don't ask her to repeat her story.

SIGH. My previous maid, Khalimah ... did a 2 year stint in Brunei before coming to Singapore so she understands Malay very well and she can even speak it the way Singaporean/Malaysian/Bruneian Malays do .. so it was a piece of cake working with her.

Newbie speaks with a strong Indonesian accent. And she understands ZERO Malay. I think most of the time when I ask her to do something, she understand just 40% of my instructions and justs wings it. Damn.

Thankfully, Khalimah did manage to impart quite a bit of info to her those few days before she left and so, the situation isn't THAT desperate. I overheard Stanley trying to tell her something the other day .. and of course, she got it wrong much to his annoyance. hahahah!! I HAD already told him NOT to try to instruct her to do anything. Just tell me and I'll let her know but uncle decided to be clever ... anyway, his instructions were given in really really bad Malay ... cos of course, he can't actually speak proper Malay just the usual 20 words or so .. lol .. and even then it's the type of Malay u hear being spoken by the old Chinese aunties and uncles ... cos he learned it from his mother.

Anyway, I've decided that it's easier for me to use her Indonesian words so she can understand me quicker, so I've started saying "mobil" rather than "kereta" ... which is "car" in English (for eg) and I'm picking up words here and there from her and using them. Hopefully, I'll get to speak Bahasa Indonesia soon so SHE can understand me PROPERLY finally.

One can hope.