Our Christmas @Bangkok, Thailand

Phew, finally, Rachel's fever is also residing after a dose of the chinese medicine we've gotten from the Physician this morning...

 

This trip, prompted by hubby's clients/friends, wasn't arranged last minute(thank goodness) but somehow, we didn't have the mood to pack til the eve and hubby even needed to 'push' me to get me going, heee.  Luckily he did, 'cos it made me realised that I still had quite abit of stuffs to pack! hahaha.

 

Actually, I was rather skeptical about the trip. Firstly, although I've heard alot about the generosity and kindness of the people whom we'd be travelling with, I couldn't help but worry if we could all get along well and most importantly, whether our young kids might cause them any inconveniences.  However, it turned out that they are really nice people and even helped us with our kids!  They were so kind that even Renee felt abit sad when they returned home a day earlier than us(they arrived a day earlier too).

 

Our flight was at a good timing, 5pm(Rachel napped on the plane) and we arrived at Baiyoke Sky Hotel at close to 9pm(Thailand time).  We arrived at a good timing and were greeted with a parade/performance of some of the fairy tale characters and thereafter, the choir started singing and the characters/'Santa Clauses' went around distributing Christmas cookies and we were given quite a handful, lolz.  Our companinions had wanted to wait for us to join them for dinner but it'd be too late, so we told them not to.  Neverthelss, they still packed some food for us and luckily, they told us on time whilst we were trying to find food on our own, :). 

 

As I hadn't been as enthusiastic about the packing this time round, I had only remembered to pack in the kids' travel meds but not the adult's, :(  and so, when the 2 teenager kids of our group fell ill, I hadn't got any of mine to offer.

 

Arrangements had already been made for us to join a local tour @6:45am the next morning and due to the early hour, I only managed a 3hours sleep!  We were brought to the infamous floating market which we've been hoping to have a chance to try!  It was a nice experience though Rachel clung on very tightly to me in the carrier during both boat rides(one motorised and one manual) and my legs almost got numbed from the cramp during the ride on the 'manual' boat, hahaha.  We didn't buy anything from the rides, heeee.

 

Next, we headed to the elephant village where papa and Renee(reluctant initially) rode on the elephant but as Rachel's afraid and refused, I didn't get to try...  Anyway, I don't think it's gonna be easy for me to go onboard carrying her, :).  We were then brought to the wood carving and the gem factories, after the snake show(which Rachel and I missed). The wood carvings were really really nice and we were tempted to buy a cabinet but the price tag put us off the idea, hahaha.

 

After our half day guided tour, we went for our own lunch and though it was already past 3pm, we still managed to do some shopping, grabbed dinner at a chinese restaurant and came back to the hotel for a room change(co-incidentally, this room was also given to 1 of our companions but they had rejected it on the spot).  The 2nd room, though abit smaller, has a king size bed, so it's better for us.  Earlier, on our way back, we had stopped by Amari Hotel and there was also some performances going on there and again, a 'Santa Claus' gave Renee a present, :).  Whilst I got the kids ready for shower/bed, papa went for a massage with the rest, all except me - the one who needed it the most since I carried Rachel the whole day! :(

On the 3rd day, we did more shopping and after our sumptous Japanese dinner at a Zen restaurant, we headed back to the hotel where again, I was left alone in the room to take care of the kids' needs whilst papa went to join the men drinking in 1 of their rooms.

The 4th day was a miserable one.  The night before, I had already felt something coming and I woke up with a high fever, bad phlegmy cough and feeling extreme lethargy.  The paracetemol didn't help and for the whole day, I fell in and out of sleep in the room.  Had wanted hubby to bring Renee along to shop but with my condition, she had to stay in to help watch over Rachel(but she was playing game on my iphone the whole time! lolz).  This turned out to be a better idea 'cos there had been alot of walking involved and Renee would have complained and killed papa's shopping mood, hahaha.

Fortunately, I had felt better on our last day and though I very much hope to sleep-in, I knew I had to wake up early so as to catch on some lost shopping.  Hubby needed to go back to 1 of the shops to do some size exchange, so he left us at the nearby wholesale mall where we only spent 1hr plus before we decided to return to the hotel room 1st.  Thereafter, when we have checked out of the room upon his return, I told him that I wanted to go back to the Platinum shopping mall and we managed to buy some more stuffs(mostly and mainly the kids', hardly any of mine) before we had to rush back to the massage parlour near our hotel as hubby needed another round(haiz) and before we knew it, it was time for us to come home... :)

As I had to carry Rachel onboard the plane, she caught the cold virus from me and got a high temperature when we got home, :(.

We had been to the physician's this morning and thankfully, she's feeling better already, after the 1st dosage of the medication.  Next would be my recovery I hope...

*Bought quite abit of stuffs this trip but mainly, papa's and the kids', :)  Not as much photos taken as well but they can be viewed at facebook, :).

Renee's 1st Solo Performance

Finally, the feeling of a heavy stone is finally relieved today, shortly after 4pm at The Lee Foundation Theatre.

 

At the beginning of this year, we were told that Renee was elected to audition for an opportunity of a soloist performance at Nafa School of Young Talents' annual year end concert.  After a few months of nagged preparation during the 1st semester, she was selected and it was around July or August that they started to prep her on the concert piece.  A few months of tensed/nagged enivornment(due to her laziness to practice!), she finally made it through today!

 

The pre-concert rehearsal began at 1pm and we were set to leave home around 12:30pm BUT, we left her dress at home and had to make a U-turn and thus, we were a little late.. Luckily, the young ones from the Prep Group took a tiny bit more co-ordination/arrangement, so we weren't deemed to be too late(her teacher was just about to ring us when we showed up though, hahaha).

 

As Rachel was not allowed in the concert, we took our helper along so that she could help us look after her when the concert begins.  However, she has to do that even before the concert starts because I was needed at the backstage.

 

We had thought that we could be allowed abit of time for a quick tea break after the 2 hour rehearsal(the whole process run-through), but we were told that the 1st batch of performers are to go to the dressing room straight away and thus, papa had to rush over to the bubble-tea shop to get Renee's/my favourite oreo vanilla shake + chocolate waffle.

 

Having detoured to look for papa, I had to bring Renee to the dressing room myself and had ended up at the 'groups' room but the Dept Head of Junior Music told me that there's another room at the other side for soloists and told us to go over...  However, that room was smaller and not wanting to go in there, I went into the next one(with more toilet cubicles) instead and got her ready there.

 

Her teacher then came by whilst we were munching on our waffle, and told me to get Renee to warm up a couple more times but the latter wasn't quite willing and did only half-heartedly, haiz...

 

When the concert was about to begin, the programme director(I'm not sure if this is her actual job title, hahaha) came to fetch Renee up and her teacher told me to go along with her.  On the way up to the backstage, the lady asked if I've got a seat ticket and if so, then I should go to the audience hall.  So, I went back to the dressing room, pick up the violin case, dress cover, etc etc and rushed back to my seat only to find that my hubby's not there...

 

Soon, my sister Li and good friend Vicky came in with hubby and before we could even say a proper hello to each other, the concert was ready to begin...

 

Sitting there, my heart was in a turmoil - between the want to go check on Rachel and the desire to be with Renee at the backstage, to give her more support if not to keep her warm... But I had to stay put in my seat, if I were to catch my precious girl's very 1st formal concert performance and so I kept telling myself to stay 'calm', hahaha.

 

When it came to Renee's turn to play(she was the 2nd soloist to perform after the prep group's performances), I daren't breathe.  I was secretly praying that she won't trip, make no mistake and a 'smooth' performance.  I'd held my breath til the very last bow she did and finally, I felt sooooo relieved!

 

After her performance, I waited for an opportunity for me to sneak out and straight away, I went to look for her at the dressing room.  I saw her sitting there, alone, looking kinda 'sad' and my heart went to her but she immediately light up the moment she saw me and I quickly gave her a hug.  Told her she did a good job and I'm proud of her.  She said she wasn't sad but felt tired and I guess this is what anxiety(she was really nervous then!) could do to one.

 

Although we felt that some of her home practices(even during rehearsal) had been better but this being her 1st formal performance and that she'd felt really nervous, we think she did not too bad, :).  Hopefully, should she be given another opportunity to perform, she'd do better.  For now, we're happy and glad that the concert's over, so we could concentrate on the next item on the list - Moving home tomorrow!

*Rachel had been good and had slept through the concert(outside the theatre hall, with the maid)...