Experiences: Chinese Story-telling Competition

Proud of boy who overcame nerves and language challenges to finish top 10 in his Chinese storytelling competition :-) Think mummy was more nervous, actually ... video ended up all over the place.

Experiences: Voice Overs

For the past year or so, the 2 older kids have earned some pocket money for themselves through voice-over jobs.

It all started with some Facebook casting calls. Didn't think much about it, but thought of trying the kiddos out for fun.

So Girl and Boy went for castings with two different recording studios.

Girl had her first job in February 2015 for some Disney Princess TV ad. It was an exciting experience. She managed to get parts in 5 different scripts. The director was very patient in guiding her line by line, with the proper inflections and diction.

We only managed to catch one of the 5 ads she did, though. And that entailed sitting in front of the TV for a while, with camera ready to shoot.

"If I were a Princess ..."

Boy had two V/O jobs in end-2015 and early-2106. One was a TV ad for a Baby toiletry brand, which we managed to find a recording for many months later.

Another was a CNY radio ad ... we were sitting in a dentist waiting room when we heard it come on the speakers. Mummy acted like a sua-ku dungu when I dropped everything and raised my phone up to the ceiling to try to record the ad.

Where all the discussions and directing go on 

Second job was with a female partner and required more coordinating

Then the two of them had a recording for an educational programme — reading words and phrases to teach kids English.

So the recording experiences have been quite varied.

And there have been jobs that they have tried for but didn't get.

And while they won't get rich through it, they've been enjoying the ride.

Hopefully there will be more such opportunities to come.

Experiences: Feeding & Giving

We usually practise a no-gift policy for holidays and birthdays because the kiddos have a LOT!

And part of the life lessons we try to impart is learning to give and to bless others with all we've been blessed with.

Last Chinese New Year, we decided to take part in street feeding for the homeless with Need to Feed the Need.

Kiddos contributed part of their ang pow money to buy "mini paus" to supplement the menu of the night.

Yummy at good price too!

It was the second night of CNY, so after dinner, we headed over to Chow Kit dressed in our festive clothing.

Nature: Our Turtle Adventures

One of the purpose for our recent holiday in the East Coast was to enjoy the natural beauty of the beautiful Malaysia. Some of the things I really wanted the kiddos to see were sea turtles nesting and fireflies, so I planned a couple of excursions for our time there.

Turtle Watching

Turtle nesting season in the east coast of Malaysia is from May to September.

We got in touch with Pak Su, a well known local expert guide who brings tourists turtle watching nightly at Teluk Mak Nik, Terengganu, which is about a 15-minute drive from Club Med Cherating.

Turtles usually come up at night, so the meeting time is 9pm and can last till past midnight. Mindful of that, we "strategised" to go turtle watching on the first night of our holiday so the kiddos would not be too tired out from a whole day of activity and will be able to stay up.

We arrived at 9pm at the meeting spot. A small crowd had already gathered, comprising guests from various hotels.

After an introduction and briefing from Pak Su, we crowded around a small basket of green turtle hatchlings from Pak Su's hatchery (he buys the eggs to hatch them in his hatchery). They were the cutest little things, with their tiny little flippers. We were repeatedly reminded not to use flash while taking photos to avoid damaging the newborn turtles' eyes.

Experiences: Meet the Author

We were having lunch at a little cafe, Food Foundry, when Girl saw a sign on the table about a Book Signing session with local author Boey Cheeming that weekend. She was very excited and wanted to attend it, so we went.

Boey, who is also an animator and artist, authored "When I was a Kid" and its sequel, "When I was a Kid 2", which contained anecdotes of his childhood memories.

The little session was surprisingly well attended by fans, who were treated to some background information about the author and his books as well as the reading of a few of the stories.

We got our books signed. Girl said she enjoyed it very much as it was her first time at a book signing and meeting a "famous" person :-)

Experiencs: Lights, Camera, Action

Sometime back in December 2012, there was a small ad posting for talent casting for an Internet-based educational programme (which we had never heard of).

So the Boy and Girl went for the audition. Being camera-shy, they gave mainly monosyllabic answers interspersed with giggles. Tiger Mum was rather disappointed and wrote off all chances of them being cast.

Somehow, four months later, we got a call from the agency telling us to come back for the actual shooting. I couldn't believe it and double checked if it was another round of auditions or the actual shoot itself. It was the latter, and a paid-one at that.

So, am thankful for this new experiences for the kids. They had their make-up session, shoot and playback viewing. They were still nervous, but somehow pulled through. And now they have earned some money for their savings account!