SportsCare Basketball Clinic

Nic (back row, in black) and cousin Shannon at the basketball clinic. It was Shannon's first time at basketball and she enjoyed it.

SportsCare Badminton Clinic with Cheah Soon Kit

Sports Day

Nic was not picked to run this year as the school practices a 'everyone gets to participate' policy - I think it is a superb policy. This way every child gets to be a track star for a day.

We were present to support one of her buddies, Gloria and she was beaming , ear-to-ear after winning a medal.

The iconic iced Milo!

 

 Nic and Gloria

Taekwondo Grading Exam

Nic just completed her grading this morning. I hope her performance is sufficient for her to attain the rank of Senior Green. Yeah, I believe she did enough.

Taekwondo and a Moth

Nic wanted to quit taekwondo mainly cos her pal Reyna has quit and is joining gymnastics instead. I was not going to let her get off so easily so it is early Saturdays once more!

There are the newbies (white belts) who were mostly 1st Graders and a few older kids (Grade Two and higher).

[video] The kids were so fascinated with a dying moth - some rascal killed it a bit later on. The moth was a Lyssa Zampa aka Swallowtail Moth - they are common in Malaysia. In fact I recall seeing many of them when I was a school kid myself. They are quite dull in color - greyish but they look majestic and this specimen had a wingspan of around 150mm.

For the record, being the animal-lover that is Nicole - she wept.

Grading Results

Attendance was probably 50% today as some families are already away for the year end school break. Nic and her buddy Reyna both passed! Whew, we were kinda worried as they did not look very confident last week. Time to get a green belt.

Taekwondo Grading

Nic took her 6th grade test this morning and we'll have to wait to see if she passes cos there were a couple of errors. We hope she'll nick it and gain promotion to Junior Green belt.

left: Nic and Reyna after the test.

Sports Day at MBPJ Stadium

Nic has been looking forward to this day and was upset that I could not attend but mummy took the day off and got to watch her in her race. Nic was ecstatic as her blue team got third spot and she won a medal.

(above) Nic savoring her moment with friends Gloria (blue tee) and Reyna.

Taekwondo Grading Results

Yay, everyone who took last week's grading test passed which makes Nic a 7th grade Gup student. She is now a yellow belt senior and I think there will be another test in November. If she passes that she will be promoted to green junior.

Today was Nic's first DanceSport lesson. Over fifty kids attended last week's trial and it was good to see the children show so much excitement. Instructor Miss Yukiko Hori who runs Dance Xpress studio was wonderful with the kids and taught them the cha cha cha!

Although I did not get to attend today's class I am sure Nic was even more excited cos she got her dancing shoes!

It's Been a Tough Week

It began with Nic finally seeing her upper front teeth (incisors) falling off. Her permanent teeth is barely showing. Kinda funny seeing her without her two front teeth. Next she had four ulcers on her tongue and it made eating and drinking painful. The ulcers subsided on Thursday and she is able to eat easier since. The last concern is she has not moved her bowels for 6 days! And it was a major relief for us when she managed to go at noon time today. Phew!

Taekwondo lesson in the morning (left) and meeting her class mate Chen Ter at the Seaview coffeeshop in Paramount Garden during lunch. His mom (background) operates a 'Bak Chang' stall there.

Yellow Belt (8th Grade)

It is Taekwondo grading results and all 40 beginners (white belts) passed, which is not a surprise as I figure the grading is quite lenient. Two girls even managed to achieve a double promotion and they are now yellow belt seniors or yellow belt (8th kup)! Nic is now a white belt with yellow tag (9th kup) but both grades still wear the yellow belt.

If the white belt signified innocence of the beginner with no knowledge of taekwondo the yellow belt represents the foundation in the earth for which the roots are laid.

It's Easter!

The day began early as we have to be at school by 8.00am for Nic's taekwondo grading. Her beginners class comprised of forty kids in total. The grading is done in groups of ten and Nic was in the Group Four, the final group. I think it went very well for all the 'white belts' and I hope everyone passes - results will be out next Saturday. Proceedings ended at around 9.30am and that gave us time for a leisurely breakfast before heading to church where Nic's Sunday School class were to present a short skit.

End of First Semester School Break

The first term break was just a week and so it is back to school for Nicole tomorrow. We had wanted to visit Melaka (Malacca) - the historical sites like the remains of the Portuguese fort dating back to the 1500s but had to postpone due to mom's (Susan) poor health.

We watched Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son  on Friday and it was hilarious. Yesterday was Nic's fifth taekwondo lesson and she will be taking the yellow belt test next month. I showed her some YouTube clips on the test to get her familiarized.

First Taekwondo Lesson

Lessons start early (7.45am) and lasts for 75 minutes. There were 26 kids in the beginner class ages ranging from seven to nine. Another fifty or so kids were in the intermediate group (yellow, green, blue and red).

The kids learned the basics today like [1] the attention stance (cha-ryot in Korean) to show respect and courtesy to the instructor. [2] horse (sitting) stance - feet are placed much wider and the knees are deeply bent.[3] throw a punch and double punch. Nicole enjoyed it - long may it last!

Co-curriculum Activities

Week two just ended and Nicole has received her textbooks and her school bag weighs 10lbs - which makes a trolley bag a must. The pace so far is quite relaxed and I expect it to pick up after the Chinese New Year break (classes start February 7).

The school has a co-curriculum list of twenty activities like Art, Math, Science, Violin, Guitar, Piano, Martial Arts, Rhythmic Gymnastics and more.The one that stands out for me is the Yo-yo Club - amazing! We have talked it over and I suggested Nic take up Taekwondo as I am counting on her to learn discipline besides the obvious reasons like self-defense and sport. I showed her clips on You Tube on both Taekwondo and Wushu and she chose the former. I was suprised as I had expected her to go for Wushu seeing it had more graceful movements. I guess the tomboy in her runs deep.

Awesome Show

A break from the football mania - here are some cool gals.

Brazil are out!

After watching our fave team Brazil knocked out of the World Cup, Nic is now supporting Argentina. Alas the support is short-lived as soon as Germany scored in the third minute. She now supports Germany and although she only stayed up until half-time - the young Germans hammered Argentina 4-0. The match just ended. 

After the group stage I'd expect the South Americans to monopolize but now Brazil and Argentina are dumped and suddenly a European winner is looking likely. 

I Want To Ride My Bicycle

Got me a mtb today as I have not done any exercise since my last futsal session in October 2008. Initially I was very tempted to buy over my neighbor's Merida as he was throwing in a quality a car rack and speedometer. He bought the bike for over two grand and it is in almost mint condition. But I thought why spend so much as I may get bored with it after a few weeks. So I got a used beginner Lerun bike. Here goes nothing!