From the category archives:

daily life

China’s military might

by KittyCat on October 26, 2009


Oct 1 was China’s National Day (guo qing jie) and for 2009, China chose to showcase its armed forces in their full glory at Tian’anmen Square, culminating in the unveiling of its “giant nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles.”
The camouflage nuclear missiles, riding on 18 launch vehicles, rumbled past Tian’anmen Square and were reviewed by Chinese leaders [...]

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A Burnout Banana

by KittyCat on January 18, 2009


Guess the title says it all, doesn’t it? I started out wanting to make this a travel blog on China but with

cooking,
cleaning,
cockroach killing,
household appliance fixing,
preschooling,
part-time working,
vege, meat and chicken marketing,

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Maids in China

by KittyCat on December 18, 2008


I was reading this article “Maid agents from hell” in The Star and wonder how my fate will be when we return after the Christmas and Spring Festival holidays…
Because our families have little history of employing maids or nannies, I have little experience with them. However, as a) I’m on my own here with an [...]

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Food poisoning!

by KittyCat on October 14, 2008


Just when life is ordinary again, something else strikes. I’d just discovered that I’m not pregnant, our nice neighbours have moved out and now, Lucas has a fever and diarrhoea!
You know I cook everyday? On Saturday, I took a break and instead of Chinese food, we decided to try Western. We ordered pizza and spaghetti [...]

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Great un-expectations

by KittyCat on August 29, 2008


Welcome to our new blog
While I am fitting in really nicely in preschool, Mummy has had a few tough weeks because:
1. SHE CAUGHT THE SUMMER FLU BUG
She got it from me but I was up and bouncing after 3 days. SHE had a heavy head, stuffy nose and bad sore throat which made [...]

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Hiring household help in China

by KittyCat on January 3, 2008


Nobody from either side of my family has ever hired a maid. My Ahma (Chinese=maternal grandma) has 11 children and yet, she took care of them on her own, cooked and even helped my grandfather with the family business.
If I remember correctly, my late Grandma (paternal) was a housekeeper who helped out at several British houses because she [...]

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On the snack food trail

by KittyCat on December 30, 2007


As I’ve been such a good SAHM with my home-cooked meals almost 7 days a week, I do need my KitKat breaks once in a while. Besides the packs of Lays chips, a box of chocolates and other baddies stowed high away from Lucas’ sight or reach, I’ve been checking out the local snacks:
CANDIED FRUITS [...]

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Communicating with the Chinese

by KittyCat on December 21, 2007


While shopping for clothes, the first thing I asked was, “You kou ma?” (Any discounts?)
Chinese: Kou? Kou shen me? (Reduce? Reduce what? Looks at me like I’m the Moron from Malaysia, which I am obviously)
Me: Err…jian jia? (Cut price?)
Chinese: mutter…mutter…you da jer. Da liu jer. (Translation: Sale on. You pay 60% of price.)
That’s my introduction [...]

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Shopping for food

by KittyCat on December 19, 2007


I knew I had to do it one day. It’s now or never. *Breathe*
You might think what’s so tough about shopping for food? Here’s my dilemma:

pushing an ACTIVE 23 month old toddler
maneuvering a stroller around non-wheelchair friendly places (I’ve had to haul him in his stroller up 3 steps once. Oof, heavy!)
keeping my shopping list to what I [...]

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