Under the sea ...

A first time for me - visiting the Singapore Science Center Omni theater last Saturday (20-FEB) with my wife and son.  The Omni theater was opened in 1989 and it has been offering a growing number of IMAX 3D movies over the years.

We watched "Under the Sea" and were instantly immersed into the enchanting beauty of the sea and her colorful fish, sea lions, corals etc.  This 3D exploratory documentary, whilst had a most calming effect on our senses, sent us prodding reminders on the wonderous beauty we as man will be wasting away, destroying and so losing out in the coming years, if we do not cherish the seas and continue our current wayward ways in pollution.

Strongly recommend you go for this movie.  Certainly sets you thinking.  What are your recommendations for documentaries around similar themes?

related links:
1. Singapore Science Center
2. Science is Fun at the Singapore Science Center
3. Singapore Omni Theater
and more under collection ...

Embracing & Participating in the Educational Journey of our children

I was pleasantly blown away yesterday, 21-NOV, from the Primary One induction program for my son, Elijah, who will be entering the road to Primary School education come Jan 2010.

The school principal spoke about the mutual trust in her team which parents have to allay, the collaborative participation and support parents need to play at home, all in the continual efforts and spirit to reinforce the learning journey of our children in the 6 upcoming formative years in primary school education. Totally with her on what she presented. I also liked the section on the school's English program which delved into how students would start getting into writing, through experiential exercises, teacher-students guided exercises before later progressing to joint student team writing assignments before embarking into writing their own journals. There will also be a lesser emphasis on the final year examinations too, which will now account for just 30% of the total scoring - continual assessments and assignments in the terms taking up the majority 70%.

I also found the introduction of new age digital media literary refreshing - students will get an opportunity to learn the skills of interviewing, writing scripts, putting to production virtual student exchanges with students from the US - all with the use of PCs, digital editing software and podcast production tools - pretty cool. How I wish to be a child again!

til later,

Nelson

Enjoying Fishing experience at the Qian Hu Fish Farm

We had a fantastic time at the Qian Hu Fish Farm last weekend, 4-JAN. I did have some initial challenges finding the place - 71, Jalan Lekar, near Choa Chu Kang Road. But no worries, after consulting my Nokia Maps in my Nokia E71 ... or simply go to maps.ovi.com and do a search for Jalan Lekar. From Ang Mo Kio, via Lentor Ave, the SLE ->BKE->KJE (exit Sungei Tengah) route worked for me.



Built over 4.2 hectares of land in 1995, there are a wide variety of activities for the family there - lokang fishing, feeding the ever-hungry Koi fish, leg spa fish (if you like to pay to offer your dead skin to the small fish), or simply marvelling at the large number of species of ornamental fish (and gaping at the prices as well, e.g. S$6,888 for an Arawana!).



Reminisces of my younger days as a kid where I ventured out to the drains near my home to fish, especially after it rained, came to my mind ... and heck, now I was paying $5 per pax for 30 mins to do the same! It was all good fun though. I roll up my sleeves, took my little fish net, carefully dipped my hand into the pools of water and went about netting my catch (caught about 8 fish in 20 mins)! My son, Elijah, patience not being one of his virtues, went from pool to pool, swishing his net here and there but alas had no luck.

We spent around 2 hours in the air-con fish galleries, and under the sun feeding koi and catching lokang fish. Good fun! There are other vegetable and farms around this area ... probable destinations for upcoming weekends.


Nelson
for more info on Qian Hu Fish Farm, click on the following links.
1. Qian Hu Fish Farm corporate site
2.Uniquely Singapore, Qian Hu Fish Farm

Embarking on my Parent Volunteer Duties ... siong!

Like a large growing number of Singaporean parents, I am currently doing my parent volunteer duties on FRI, 2-JAN at a nearby primary school, looking forward to secure a place there when the placement and balloting takes place mid 2009.

Here's a little introduction to newbies to parent volunteer work. Due to their popularity (especially when their students performed remarkably over the years for their PSLE results), a number of primary schools may resort to a balloting exercise when demand is greater than supply of places in their schools. And so parent volunteer work, whilst not compulsory, may (and the word to note is may) put the parent volunteer's kid(s)' chances to be better in securing these scarce places in the schools of the parent's choice. A total of 40 hours of parent volunteer duties are required of the kid's parents (father, mother combined).

Tough, yeah, believe you me, it was TOUGH. Why? Well for one thing, my legs and knees were turning jelly after 4 hours of arranging books in the school library, standing and stooping, shifting books around the shelves all the time!

The other 2 hours were well more relaxing in comparison. The 12 parent volunteers, including myself, who turned up were responsible for guiding the new primary one pupils in the canteen, observing them as they bought their food(some probably for the first time in their lives). The freshies were fine. Each of them were paired with an older student from the school who helped them along - introducing the food in the canteen and helping them with their selection, payment and carrying of the plates of food. A couple of the freshies appear to be lost, terrified when faced with the prospect of ordering their food, collecting and accounting for their change. This is definitely a good practice of independence and practical maths - mental note taken to inculcate in Elijah.

More interesting and fun experiences to come, I am sure for the next 34 hours of my remaining duties in the school!

For more info on the various phases of primary one school registration, you could click on the following link in the Ministry of Education website. And there are also a number of community sites out there discussing on this very topic - just search and you shall find.

ciao!
nelson

DEC 2008 Japan Family Holiday

Singaporeans love to travel. Despite the current market situations where many are tightening their purse strings and spending only where necessary, Singaporeans when polled, still say they will save up and still travel, albeit less or to nearer places. My family and I decided we needed a well-earned trip and Japan called out to us (somewhat influenced by the Japan Hour programs we watched over the weekends and the raving reviews from our working colleagues)

We travelled early december over 8 days and 6 nights with ANA tours. The trip itinerary was pretty punishing to say the least. Picture this: Singapore - Tokyo to Osaka (domestic flight after 3 hour lay over) Universal Studios - Chitose - Sapporo - Lake Akan - Noboribetsu - Chitose - Tokyo Disneyland - Singapore! But heck, the experiences were sweet and memorable - See the pictures for some highlights.


Elijah and I also enjoyed our snow mobile ride up the hill and down, and played with the soft cotton-like pristine snow. He did not even bother to put on his gloves, throwing all abandon in moulding a ball of snow into his little palm and whoosh ... yeah tossing snow balls at this "hapless" dad.

I personally felt the magic of Hokkaido under the fairy tale like snow landscape with ambient music box music tinkling in the air ... beautiful. See the video below:


Elijah was also enthralled by the swans who flew in from Russia to the Lake here in Akan area to bathe in the nice warm hot spring water as well as getting free food! Have a look at the video on the swans.


My main gripes for this holiday: the early morning calls, the daily change of hotels, the rushed schedules, the commercialized and not as tasty food (we had frozen and rather lean salmon sashimi!)

If I were to go again, I would probably go free and easy, plan my routes, stay longer at Otaru (languish on its cheese cakes, caramel cream, soft Hokkaido ice cream) and visit the famous port at Hakadote (for its fresh seafood, sashimi).

Click here to get more details on photos and annotations from my Hokkaido Holiday Channel.

Nelson Wee signing off for 2008~
Til 2009 ... Happy New Year to all!

Our Visit to the Singapore Flyer

We are most blessed to be Singaporean - I must say. Yes, there are the ever-growing number of ERP gantries sprouting, the unceasingly growing traffic irrespective of measures taken, the typically unique local Singaporean nuances (like "choping seats at food centers", but heck, don't you (well I do) feel that tingling sense of belonging and welcome when you hear the air stewardess announce over the air "... and a warm welcome back to Singapore for all Singaporeans" as we touch down on the runway of Changi Airport?

Anyways, back to my visit to the Singapore Flyer. My family and I decided to experience the Singapore Flyer on 6-SEP ... or should I put this as my son kept reminding me (like a broken record as kids seem to be these days or is it just my son?) "Shall we go to the Singapore Flyer this weekend?".

First experience ... not trying to start on an unhappy note ... about the parking ... there was this car queue we had to contend with before we could get into the carpark located next to the flyer. And then the reason dawned upon us. The car park fee was not cheap - S$8 per entry (cash). Right ...

Elijah was excited though, chatting non-stop like a lark, supervising us to queue for the ticket (ticket booth was one level up from the car park via an elevator). While we queued, there he was then busy collecting brochures from the brochure stand and exclaiming, rather loudly for all to hear apparently, "Daddy, why are the brochures not in English?" "Well they are out of stock?" then the usual "why, why why ..." tirade starts ...



Ok back to the outing proper ... walking across the overhead bridge to the Singapore Flyer ... here is Elijah posing with his brochure.
"Let's go to the garden there ok?" said Elijah as we passed over the greenary located under the flyer. I nodded to yet another request from my 5 year old.

And so onward we marched for our ride ... and with Elijah by your side, it was like ...
step, step, question,
step,
question,
question again,
request,
step, step,
and then ... voila ... we reached the "launch pad " to our ride ....

We all entered then the carriage (do I call it that? tell me please) of the flyer gingerly - ample space to walk around and gaze at the oncoming full-360 panoramic views. Have a look below. Notice the views around were prior the Singapore Formula One Night Race.



After the ride, we got round to the garden below the flyer. It was a nice cooling oasis, amidst the warm weather outside - small waterfalls, dedicated misty area, adopted plants, pond with fishes (and yes there was a kiosk for you to buy a small plastic box of fish food- costs about S$1 if I recall right), and yeah a small tunnel which Elijah was excited about (something I could not comprehend but hey, that's kids for you)



There were a restaurants, the usual souvenir shops and also a spa (to soothe your tired muscles (and fish to nibble at your toes too) - we did some window-shopping and then headed for our dinner somewhere else.

Personally, I found it a nice, pleasant experience. It is always good to spend time with the family and this was perfect - to have such panoramic views of a Singapore you seldom get to see, realize and appreciate.

Signing off, Nel