Exciting Day

Nique turned 6 last month. At her age here in Australia, she is required to go to school. I'm blessed that as a full time student at Murdoch University, my children are entitled to free schooling in any WA public school.

Nique is quite excited to go to school again especially here in Australia where she'll attend a regular and bigger school. I, too, am very excited for her as she slowly ventures to independence in learning.

In the processing of my children's admission to a WA public school, I have to submit the necessary papers to Murdoch International. This office handles all issues relating to international students. From visa, health cover, school issues among others. I was told by a staff that upon submission of our papers to the Department of Education and Training, it will take about a month for DET to reply. The DET has to ascertain where there is still a vacancy near our declared residential address. So, we waited.

However, a friend suggested that we go straight to the nearest school in our suburb to inquire. Inquire we did and voila, today Nique and Nira are enrolled. Nique is in pre-primary while Nira is in kindergarten.

Hopefully, Nique won't be bored with the activities that she'll do as she's a bit advanced in terms of reading and numbers. As to Nira, I'm sure she'll have a very good time using her creative skills in drawing and coloring into action. :)

Of Perth and Delays

After months became weeks, weeks became days and days became hours, the time came for our travel to Perth. We flew via Brunei Air, which was the cheapest flight to Perth from Bangkok.

We maximized every opportunity that was given to us for this travel. We tried to say goodbye to most of our friends in Bangkok, chasing time and cherising every moment with them. We even maximized our baggage allotment--125 kilos in checked in baggage (we actually had 127.7 kilos after finally weighing it in at the airport) and more than 35 kilos in hand-carried luggages.

We left Thailand and arrived Brunei on time. However, the plane that would take us to Perth had to be delayed for further maintenance check in Kulala Lumpur. We were told that it will be delayed for five hours.

Nique, Nira and Nel (as seasoned travelers as they are) tried their best to maximize and enjoy Brunei International Airport--for a child, the airport was a bore, not too much to see although Nel had an interesting chase to observe how the cleaners brush the corrals in an aquarium. :)

I failed to get a wi-fi signal at the airport that I had to go to the Internet cafe to inform Elaine of our delay. Time passed by, we were then instructed to go for our final security check only to be told that the flight will be delayed for another hour--most of the passengers who originally flew from Europe gave the loudest howl of protest.

As if giving in to their request, less than 5 minutes we were instructed to board the plane but it was only able to taxi to the runway after almost 30 minutes.

We are excited and a bit anxious of what will be our life in Perth but we look forward to enjoying it. We've heard so many good things about the city and the people and we look forward that this will be better than Newcastle or Sydney.

We arrived in Perth at around 12 midnight and finished disembarkation procedures at around 1am. It was raining hard and I hardly left the airport when my hands became numb--it was freezing cold!

Anyway, the following day, we're up off to the Uni to formalize my enrollment, meet my supervisors and familiarize ourselves with my new University.

It was nice, with almost similar landscapes as with the University of Newcastle.

Next assignment after finishing Uni matters will be finding a house, a school for Nique, Nira and Nel, and buying a car. :)
Cheers 'mate!

Nique turn 6

A few weeks ago, Nique requested that she celebrates her birthday at the same venue as her friend's birthday celebration venue. The venue was at the Train Park (Suan Rotfai) near Chatuchak Park. We were a bit apprehensive as it was always raining every afternoon in Bangkok.

Anyway, the Filipino attitude of "whatever" (Bahala na, Que cera, cera) ruled that we just gambled to hold the celebration there. July 22 came, to God be the glory, the Sunday morning was one of the best Sundays we ever had since the rainy season started.

We started a little bit that day as we had a late night shopping for other stuff needed for the party. This resulted to us coming also a bit late to the park. There were a few guests already waiting at the venue.

We waited for a while for the other guests to come and when it was time to celebrate, the guests numbered at around 50-60!

Pastor Badua (in white shirt in the photo above) led the prayer for the blessing of the food. He then led everyone to sing Nique a happy birthday. Nique was indeed very happy as all of her friends and their parents were present even the whole Bangkok Baptist Church and some missionaries were also present to join the celebration.

The gathering was also a sort of despedida party for us as we near the date of our departure for Perth. Among the food line up included pancit canton, spaghetti, pop corn, cake, roasted chicken, hotdog and marshmallow on stick and some drinks.

As the celebration moved on, there was some drizzle that for a while I thought we'll be crammed inside the shelter in the park. Thank God the good weather persisted.

The good weather, however, enticed some of Nique's friend to take advantage of it as they rented bicycles and biked around the park. So, we had a bit of a hard time calling them for the prepared games.

When they got to prepare for the games, we were indeed happy that the kids enjoyed every game prepared for them from the Echo game to the breaking the pot to the relay games. Everybody had a blast!

Dei and I are very happy with the outcome of Nique's party as we never expected everybody to be present and we do appreciate everyone's contribution to make this event successful.

We will be leaving Bangkok but definitely with that great desire to return not only for the good shopping venues and great places! but for the good friends that we are leaving behind. Truly, we saw the some of the best Filipino families that became truly our family friends. :)

God bless all of you.

Countdown

As months become weeks, it is really apparent that our trip Down Under is almost around the corner. However, just as with other exciting development in your life there are little hang-ups sometimes.

Nique recently caught some eye infection last week then Nira recently developed a little fever. As always Nel is the strongest among our kids as she fights off any sickness despite her seemingly puny body.

Nique and Nira are recovering. Maybe just some excitement about their trip to Australia--they just finished packing one box of their stuff. :-)

See the countdown to our trip to Perth here.

Quick update

Dei went home last Saturday morning so I was left with the two kids for almost a week. Being the Daddy and the nanny was quite fine as Nique and Nira can basically take care of themselves. They can eat on their own, play on their own, walk on their own! Well, they basically don't need that extra attention back when they were less than 3 years old.

The timing of Dei's departure for the Philippines to pick up Nel, though, was quite bad as the office has an upcoming major meeting in three weeks time--and this is a critical time of preparation as I prepare reports, logistics among others. Anyway, I said to myself, let's see how it goes during the weekday.

The weekend together was fun but the challenging thing was where to eat. Nique, Nira and I went malling during the first day Dei was out. We checked stores for some sale on kid's winter clothes. Sunday, we went to church, it was father's day! then off to home to prepare our stuff for the week.

The first day at the office was pleasant. Nique and Nira obligingly woke up early without any fuzz. :) However, they were not used to coming to office together on a weekday that they thought it was alright to make noises at the office just as they were used to on our weekend trips to the office. So, I had to ask them to hush down and behave properly--especially when the boss was around.

At the end of the first day, my migraine struck and downed me that I almost wasn't able to serve dinner. But I was able to do my duty and clean the house a bit.

On the second day and the subsequent days. It became apparent that cleaning the house would be a task that might will be overlooked during Dei's absence. So, I wasn't able to clean the house regularly--we have to do it regularly to avoid dust mites, which are allergens to Nira.

During the weekdays we were together, we were fortunate that we were invited randomly to lunch and dinners that I wasn't obliged to cook (well, I wouldn't be able to cook complex food anyway).

Well, my kids and I survived almost a week together, regularly coming to office sometime by bus or taxi and coming home by bus. I pity my kids whenever we go home as we are all tired after a day at the office. Traffic is bad (Bangkok traffic, what do you expect?) and so is the weather sometimes.

But we survived. Dei and Nel are coming a little after midnight and we've prepared welcome home banners! :)

Nique's Recital

We bought a keyboard for Nique last March 13 in preparation for her piano recital. It was also our graduation gift to her for her promotion from prep to Grade 1 last December.

Yesterday, her school held its graduation ceremony and we are definitely proud of her early accomplishments. Her sisters, Nira and Nel are surely proud of her (well, Nel might have no idea but she sure enjoys the company of her Ate Nique's and Ate Nira's friends, who some are also her friends.

Nique was the youngest of the ABC graduates.

Today, after weeks of practicing Row, Row Your Boat, Nique performed her piano recital in front of a crowd. She was the first to perform and while there were some slip-ups compared to her almost perfect rehearsals, she made us proud as she carried herself well. We are very thankful that God is continually guiding her in her studies and instilling in her the confidence that she needs.

Here's the video of her performance.

School routine

A few days ago, I realized that the school term is about to end. Just a month to go and Nique will finish Grade One here in Thailand (Congrats Ate Nique in advance).

I can’t imagine how I can manage weekdays. I mean, I did not have any hard time of waking my schoolgirl up.

My time with Nique starts from 8 in the morning. So, 8am the siren of the house starts! Nique loves to go to school but sometimes she moves slow so I kept on telling her di ka na papasok (You're not going to school) That would definitely put her up and move as fast as Flash, from preparing for school to eating.

Then after one moment of rush, here she goes again, as slow as a turtle. Then I would repeat again and again the magic lines until she finishes dressing up and ready for school.

It's a good thing that we have the school principal for a neighbor. Nique usually tags along with him, along with his daughter who's a classmate of Nique, to go to school. It was convenient for me as I'm having a hard time bringing Nique to school--imagine preparing three lovely girls to school (while my the other two have yet to go to school--there's only me to look after my jewels).

I'm proud with the set-up anyway as Nique is learning to be independent at an early age.

Come 11pm, I'm starting to rush to school together with Nira and Nel and bring lunch for Nique.

I usually teach my second daughter, Nira, to read and write or teach my youngest, Nel, to sing (well, trying to teach her how to, but I think she knows how to better than me!) while waiting for Nique to be dismissed.

It's not an easy task but I get to enjoy it when I see my daughters develop everyday. Seeing them develop their wings to fly and strengthen their roots make me confident that they are ready for the real world--with God leading them.

Nique's First Day in School

Early this year, Jim and Dei agreed that their kids, specifically Nique was not going to school. The reason was the uncertain schedule of our trip to Australia. The compromise was to enter Nique in a summer school.

Nique went to the newly established Bob Hughes Learning Center in Bangkok, Thailand. The school was quite new, in fact it was still processing its permit to operate. The school was renamed Bangkok Baptist Learning Centre at the start of this school year. It's curriculum is based on the Accelerated Christian Education, which focuses on engraining biblical and high academic standards.

Nique was informally under home school for about a year--with her mother as her teacher--even before the summer school in Bangkok. We got a home school module from our family friend, the Panlilios, who introduced us to it. The module is based on the Distar Fast Cycle Reading Program.

So, with the informal training that Nique had, we were confident that Nique would make it through the summer in a breeze. And she did!

By mid-year, we informed friends of our blessing and now, the dilemma of registering Nique to school even if it was almost over a month since school began.

After thinking it over, we decided to ask the school for Nique's late registration. She's in.

She entered as a pre-school and halfway through the school year, she's now in Level 1 because of her progress (at 5, she reads, write and could throw a sentence or two of good English, she's also learning to speak and write Thai!).

Well, she's got the best teacher/coach at home anyway--her mother.