Tip 108: Make your own Snow for Play

Its winter soon and in fact, London already had one brief snowy morning. Not heavy snow, but a brief half an hour evidence of snow depositted at the top of cars before it quickly melted away. As it rains a lot in London, such brief snow encounters are possible, though the temperature does not drop below the freezing point too often. Last Saturday, Haruka already had her first Christmas show hosted at a shopping complex near our home. Daddy took the effort to be kept updated of happenings, especially free events and made early reservations so the family could enjoy Christmas carol singing and magic shows rendered by Santa Claus, Tin Soldier, Candy fairy, Rudolf the reindeer and some elves. It was just a 45 minute informal show where the children could sit on the floor near the stage and I am glad Haruka could stay glued throughout the show. I wonder if that would change in a dark environment like a cinema movie or musical London theater performance. (That's something daddy and mummy wish to do before they leave London and Haruka would have to be tagged along.) As the finale of this Christmas show, the organizers had fake snow falling from the top to the floor and all the children were delighted to play with these bits of paper. After the show ended, there were kids who stayed back to scoop the mountains of white and silver paper snow flakes, threw them up into the air to simulate the snow falling act and some also threw them at each other. Haruka watched them and began doing the same and was occupied for quite some time. I thought to myself. I could import this idea for a cheap yet interesting play item to occupy Haruka.










































As written in a previous blog post, the more simple the toy, the more avenues to encourage creativity in kids during their play time. Kids do not need too much sophisticated toys with a host of many press buttons or wardrobes full of 5.11 Tactical Pants to accompany the play. Those are toys for the adults obsessed with law enforcement games. Kids need to play toys that allow them to observe the environment, assess different materials, shapes and texture, calculate and differentiate them and create different play sequence using simple objects. Most importantly, these toys need to put a smile in their face, if not lots of giggles. How satisfied daddy was to see that happening with the end product (Watch last photo). Here is a step by step guide on how to make fake snow, whether you are in a snowy climate or not. First, get white used paper from your piles of unused printed documents at your office. You could also use some silver or gold paper to add some glitter, but not too much since the focus is on the white snow. Then, fold lots of strips so you could cut very small squares of 2cm x 2 cm or 3cm x 3cm. If its too small, it may be difficult to pick them up after play. Aim for 1000 pieces or more. You could start with a smaller amount, but later it gets more fun with a larger quantity to scoop and throw up high to watch the snowing effect. Prepare a container to store these pieces of paper that you have cut out. Before playing, clear the area of other toys and items so that you could easily gather the bits of paper in 1 place and store them back in the container after the play time. Be sure to play in only 1 place and not throw them all over the house. Set the rules early - but usually babies and little toddlers would follow such instructions. After play, get everyone involved to put the snow flakes back into the container and watch for small bits hiding inside or in the sides of your clothes. Insist on clearing the place neatly after each play time. This makes everyone happy including mummy.


















Do share your feedback if you have tried it. Would love to hear other simple toy ideas that would keep the baby happy constantly without fail.

(Photos show fake snow play at Canary Wharf, London Christmas event and fake snow play at home).

Tip 107: Do not jump lights when mummy is around

Its funny when you look back at possible disagreements that could happen between husbands and wives. Maybe, it can be less funny sometimes when you do not look at it with a sense of humor, objective mind, realistic mindset and calm heart. If one tends to hang on to an idealist view that two distinct individuals can read minds and have perfect knowledge of each other and agree to be at peace with each other at every moment in time, constantly consulting with each other on every possible suggestion and idea, constantly behaving based on each other's preferences and expectations, having the same ideals, beliefs and cultural habits, then such disagreements should never happen in the first place. But, we do not live in a perfect world, and as much as idealism can make this world better, we need to learn to be kind and accept one another all the time. Sometimes though, disagreements are meant to wake us up that we are wrong. Like when I crossed the road after watching that there was no traffic, even when the pedestrian crossing traffic light showed red. I did save 3 seconds before the light turned green. Or sometimes, my mind may have became one with the traffic light that my leg would move at the change of the signal light but technically, it was still red when my wife watched me crossed the road. So, I got the scolding and rows of disagreements on why I need to be nagged on the same issue over and over. Such happens in the daily life of a married couple.














Interestingly, the road crossing methodology is different in different countries. In Japan and sometimes Singapore, everyone follows religiously the pedestrian traffic light signal. They would wait patiently and only when the light turns green, a big group of pedestrians would cross the road quickly at the same time. Later, there is a warning sound and blink when the light is about to turn red again and everyone still on the road would hurriedly go over the other side of the road and countless others, would not attempt to cross the road even when the signal has not turned red yet. This does not happen in Hong Kong or Malaysia. One simple reason is that Malaysia do not have so many pedestrian traffic lights or overhead bridges. So, the pedestrians have gotten more brave to navigate the traffics on their own instincts on what is safe and what is not. They have more experience crossing busy roads and gained a spatial sense of how far the car is, at what speed it is travelling at, the possible reaction of the driver on whether it would stop or slow down and whether it would be safer for the pedestrian to run faster to cross the road when the car would not stop or its safer to step back and attempt to cross again. Same goes for Hong Kong even with more pedestrian traffic lights available. The citizens there have less of a law abiding mentality, a greater desire to gain on the extra seconds spent not waiting at the traffic lights and a generally higher propensity to take risk. A Japanese friend of mine who has lived more than 1 year in Hong Kong, even could flexibly adopt this law breaking habit of jay walking. So, its really a difference in cultural mentality, rather than what is right and wrong. But, I agree with my wife. Wives are always correct. If I have a baby in my arm, I need to wait till the light shows green. At least to avoid another long lecture, or having my wife threaten to go home after we have taken the train out to sightsee London. Hopefully, I would not forget that. Hey, all men have short term memories, right?














Do all men have short term memories of their wives' nagging or is it just me? Wives, are your husbands the same? Do console me. :)














(Photos show Regent Street and Oxford Street, London city).

Tip 106: Cheap supermarkets in high cost cities

Supermarkets are a reflection of good taste and healthy lifestyle these days. Yet, this is the image that these supermarkets are trying to sell to naive consumers and may not necessarily be the case. There are certainly good quality products that do deliver better value than cheap low cost products but, do they deserve the hefty premium they charge customers? What if you could get good quality products at cheaper bargains by knowing where to shop? It does make a huge difference especially when you are buying good quality products at high cost of living cities such as Tokyo and London. Yet, from my experience, its at high cost of living cities that you can save the most and get the most out of your hard earned cash. That's because there usually is a high disparity between the cheapest supermarkets and most expensive supermarkets in high cost of living cities. In the wake of the current economic environment, many are proposing that consumers take the downshift challenge of dropping a brand level down and see if they can tell the difference. If its the same, then stick with the cheaper brand or even take the challenge to even move further down the price ladder. Its about trying, not necessarily switching. Its about challenging the marketing hypnotism that we have gotten used too. Next, downshift supermarkets too as supermarkets that do not do neat merchandising and pay their cashiers to smile more does not necessarily sell better products. Of course, it may mean daddy may have to make the trips to those cheap supermarkets alone and buying those less than essential goods that mummy do not bother too much if its branded or not. As they say every cent or penny counts and daddy would be happy to save those.














I have to thank a friend of a friend, Khor May Nee for taking the trouble to email me detailed information about London including a comparison of the cheapest to most expensive supermarkets and I have added some of my own observations. Here it is (from cheapest to most expensive):

Netto
Aldi
Lidl
Asda
Morrisons
Tesco Metro
Sainsbury’s
Budgens
Marks and Spencer
Waitrose
Harrods Food Hall

Even when you are just living in a foreign city for a short period of time, it makes a difference when you join shopping clubs, apply for shopping cards and monitor shopping coupons and discounts. I have been doing that in Hawaii, Tokyo and now London. Of course, when I was a student, I went to extremes by cycling to far away supermarkets offering good discounts, or even soon to expire goods. Gone are those days, but yet its always good practice to get the most value with your hard earned cash and save and still get good quality products. In recessionary periods, its cash that's king and if you can do your bit to save while you can, why not do it healthily yet smart. If mummy refuses to do it, daddy can always shop alone on weekdays and shop with the family for the products that mummy would not downshift in brand. That's what daddies are for. Keep the bank account in tact all the time.

Would love to hear other shopping tips my readers would love to share.

(Photos show the huge British museum)

Tip 105: Playgroups & Playcenters for mummy & baby

Daddy can play an important role to assist mummy even when she is a full time homemaker by being resourceful and providing information that could make her life easier, more fun and interesting. One way is to find out information on playgroups and playcenters near home. This is especially important when one is living abroad. After ensuring the family has access to good food and is happy with the home, next on the agenda would be to think of activities for mummy and baby. By finding a playgroup or playcenter, mummy can find new friends living in the vicinity and baby can participate in interesting activities such as story telling and playing with other babies and kids. Its amazing how education and the power of the Internet has brought people together since mummies in any and every region are always looking to group together and combine their resources to organize interesting activities. In some cities, the government subsidizes a public place that has sufficient room for playing and is well stocked with childrens' books and toys. If that's not available, one can check out churches or simply use the internet to google for resources. You will be delighted to find many enthusiastic full time mothers who have a passion for their children and in making friends.

In Tokyo, Haruka and Tomomi would go 4 days a week for 2-3 hours to play at a government playcenter that's just 5 minutes from our home. When I came to London, Tomomi read in her guidebook that the libraries in London host such activites and today we explored one such library and is pleased at the craft work and story telling they organize. I really hope Hong Kong would have such as well. But, as I mentioned above, one should not stop searching as one would definitely find. All it takes is the initiative to search. Babies and children are generally happier at such playcenters compared to paid children nurseries where the kids there would see the same children, nannies and caretakers everyday. Also, with more hands involved in organizing the activities at playgroups, there is more room for creativity and fun. Playing for a baby is the key to learning. Playing with other kids is the key to developing social skills and learning to converse. Of course, the baby also learns other bad habits from other babies such as playing tantrums with the parents, but the pros outweighs the cons. Anything is better than having mummy locked up at home waiting for daddy to come home. A happy mummy and baby makes a happy home. And it can start by daddy having the initiative to search for a playcenter. Was that ever in daddy's job description? Why not.

What's your experience with playgroups and playcenters? Do share.

(Photo shows our visits to Canary Wharf, Carnaby Street and the British Museum during the weekend and Haruka at the Tokyo Shinjuku Playcenter near our home at 10 months old)

Tip 104: Extending spouse support in a new land

Its the first week for me and my family in London and this coming weekend will be fun to explore the new sights. Interestingly, I have been fine adjusting to new weather, new time zones and new work cultures each time I set foot on a new land. This the second time, adjusting to a huge time zone difference. My first was in 2004 when I flew to Hawaii to undertake my MBA under scholarship. Then, the only other foreign countries I had visited before going to Hawaii were Singapore and Thailand. Now, I have spent 4 years in Japan, 1 year in USA, 8 months in Singapore and soon a considerable time in London and Hong Kong. So far, most of my travels have been sponsored under the work that I do or the scholarship that I have received, all praises to God who meets the desires of the hearts of those who seek Him. I am somehow blessed with a good sense of direction in a new land, a high degree of curiosity to ensure I learn quickly in a new environment. Though now, with a baby and a breastfeeding wife, that means I would have to be supportive and understanding that they are different from me and need more time to adjust to a new environment. The optimism, enthusiasm and zest that I express whenever I move to a new land to push me to experience new things at a fast pace, would need to be scaled down so that I am near to my spouse and baby and that they could feel my loving support and patient guiding presence.














Tomomi and Haruka have not ventured alone far from our home in Canary Wharf, London due to jet lag and cold winds, even when they do not need to work a day job like myself. But, if that makes them happy to spent time playing at home while recuperating, that's fine with me. It also means we spent more happy moments together as a family during the weekends. Since the accomodation provided by my company is spacious with a good view of Canary Wharf, it does make living at home feel just as good as heading out to new sights, besides keeping warm. Its interesting that my experiences in high cost of living places like Hawaii and Tokyo has made me adjust easily and street smart to know how to get on with a good life within affordable means so I could ensure good savings for myself and the family. It may not necessarily be true for others such as my wife who may not be enjoying walking as much as me or enjoying making the extra trips to further away supermarkets that would offer better bargains. Yet, we need to support one another and as we do, we begin to enjoy the opportunities to share this support in a new land. Being vulnerable and having someone you can trust, offer you that much needed understanding and support is priceless. Of course, this is not advisable for those in their 1st year of marriage to experience huge changes such as move to a new environment since trust is at an all time low and needs to be built incrementally. Yet, with determination and patience, each experience of love yields a good fruit in time to come. As I said, love takes time.














Do you usually lag behind your spouse and feel lonely? Do you sometimes move ahead too fast and leave your spouse behind? Do share what you feel. I am sure readers here love to hear your thoughts and feelings on this.














(Photos show view from my office and view from my company rented apartment overlooking O2 Millenium Dome).

Tip 103: Take gains in a volatile market

I have written a little about the current economic climate, investing and a little on currency trading. My readers of course need to judge by themselves what suits their investment needs. As investments are risky, its important to invest with amounts we are prepared to set aside for a long period. Also, its necessary that we know what we are investing in. Some investments could reap high gains when the economic climate is positive, but at times like now are very risky. Its therefore important to understand our investment objectives, our risk appetite and how we would respond in times of volatility when making investment decisions. Also, there are times when we may consider taking opportunities to reap early gains instead of keeping the investment for a long period of time during times of volatility. Of course, we can only take gains when such investment cost is less than the gains we could make as some investment products have high management or surrender fees meant to encourage investors to be long term investors. If we have been monitoring the volatile markets, it may be a good strategy to seize those opportunities to take gains of part of our investments.















Since I have quite a large portion of my savings in Japanese Yen as I am still paying off my home mortgage, I decided to make a few foreign currency deposits whenever the yen is strong instead of earning the almost zero interest from the japanese bank deposits. I would be converting the Japanese yen in stages and not doing them at one lump sum. I monitor the rates regularly and record them down so I would be aware of how much it has risen or dropped against other currencies. This is by no means a way to time markets, but rather as a means to understand the reasons for the ups and downs of a currency by comparing comments of investment or currency analyst. For instance, at every drop of the Australian dollar by a large percentage points, I would have converted my yen and so far I have accumulated quite a big portion of Australian term deposits. As the market is quite volatile, I have made only 2 weeks, 1 month and 3 months terms so I could easily sell the currencies on maturity of those terms. One such opportunity presented itself on November 10 when I made 14,000 yen over a 2 week period on a deposit of 100,000 yen or a yield of 14%. I converted a few of my term deposits but still have quite a few others that I kept to earn interest else, I would realize a loss if I would convert them now. Yet, this strategy is different from a previous one where I kept the deposit for 6 months when the
AUD currency was on a consistent upsurge in beginning 2008. But, I do not think its the right approach not to take quick gains in such volatile markets. It requires more time and concentration to be more vigilant in times of volatility and I think this not only applies to investments. Whenever there are times of volatility and big change, the society rewards those who are constantly on the look out and keep tabs on change. For instance, investors are investing in countries where central banks are more actively changing rates than those who prefer to keep a steady rate. To some extent, we need to be changing with the times as there are times we need to be steady and times we need to evaluate the necessity to make constant changes. And when necessary, take gains when possible. No hard rules - it really depends on our own assessment of volatility and risk tolerance. But definitely, only make such decisions that you can afford making.














(Photos show dau fu fa sold at HKD6.50 (USD0.80), porridge with pork intestines and stomach that are the most smooth I have eaten at HKD24 (USD3) and prawn noodles which are almost similar quality or not as good as those in Malaysia at HKD26(USD3.3)).

Tip 102: Part time jobs to serve others

When I first arrived in Tokyo in August 2005, I worked hard to build my connections by attending networking events such as product launches, IT discussions and many others. I also filled my diary so I could meet with a recruiter each day and was searching databases to cover as many recruiting companies as possible, both large ones and smaller ones. It turned out that it was a smaller recruiting firm who was willing to have faith in my abilities and convinced a large company to meet me. I got my first job in Tokyo on my 2nd month of job search and it was just 1 more month before I had to leave Japan on completion of my internship. Got my job, but I did not want to stop the networking mode and decided to teach English and Bahasa Indonesia part time on weekends and after work on weekdays. Its really small money, but its about serving others and connecting with new people. We live in a society where everyone has specialized roles and we could easily just keep to ourselves and not meet anyone. Nowadays, we have online banking, transporting companies and wedding planners to help people instead of getting the help of friends and many other servicing companies. Yet, connecting to new people and serving others fulfils a greater call in our life. It could even produce unexpected results of having others return the gesture at our time of need. The bottom line is we are never self sufficient in this society. We need to give as well as take from others.

I taught 2 classes of 2 hours each in a week. Throughout my 3.5 years in Japan, I taught 6 students and got to know them well. I charged a fee of only 2500-4000 yen (USD25-40) per hour while other teachers or schools would charge much more and some may think that its not worth the effort at all. I was of course not an experienced teacher like others who do it on a daily basis, though I had previously part time lecturing experience back in Malaysia. However, I tried to understand the needs of the students and saw how I could help them besides just teaching English such as introducing them to recruiters, preparing them for job interviews and finding out what topics of conversation they were most interested in. As I got to know them better, they also got to know me better and that's a valuable exchange especially in Japan where people tend to be more shy to share their personal lives. As it turns out, one of my students later got transferred to work in Hong Kong last year. I did not expect that I would one day meet up with him and his wife in Hong Kong. Later, I found out his wife was ranked 8th position in Hong Kong for women's tennis player in just a short span of less than 1 year upon her arrival and has already a large network of influential people. They invited me to a tennis tournament held at an exclusive club house near the Peak of Hong Kong. They also shared with me from the point of view of Japanese people how they adapted to Hong Kong and what areas were preferable for accomodation to them. Its certainly a great priviledge to have made new friends. Would not have been possible if I had not took the trouble to connect even through part time jobs.

Do share any other tips you have found useful in adapting to a new land.

(All photos show Ladies Recreation Club at the Old Peak Road, Hong Kong that I was invited by my ex students, a Japanese couple).

Tip 101: Regular phone calls when abroad

It has been 2.5 weeks since I have been in Hong Kong alone without being with my loving wife and cuddly daughter. Here I am at the airport heading home soon. Oh, how much I miss them. When I took up this new job in Hong Kong, I made a condition with my employer that in any travelling engagement more than 3 weeks, my family would join me. So a new chapter of life would start soon with my family travelling with me. We would be in London for approximately 6 months (or longer) bearing the cold winter, but surely also to appreciate new cultures, make new friends, explore new lands and have a good time. I have been reading other blogs of mummies and daddies travelling abroad more frequently nowadays. Yet, with webcam internet and the phone, the family can still stay connected. Of course, its not the same as being with each other, holding hands, playing together, cuddling one another. The virtual communication through phone and internet could get boring and less engaging after a while, yet for a short period of time, it is a worthwhile communication. A baby more than 6 months old will recognise the voices of daddy and mummy, especially if they take the trouble to sing or make a familiar sounds over the phone.

After mummy spoke to me, she passed the phone to Haruka and said papa. After a while, Haruka would follow after her and said papa as she hear my voice. Then, I make a lion's growl and she gets excited that it was the playful daddy on the phone and she responds with a growl. Its certainly endearing to know that someone loves you and misses you deeply and enjoys spending time with you. The phone or internet can not replace human presence and touch, but it can still fit the missing gaps temporarily. These days, we can use all sorts of facilities to keep us connected, yet when our privacy is at risk of intrusion, there are also tools to ensure higher security and greater vigilance. We have probably gotten over the debate between the benefits and disadvantages of science, of technology. Yes, we would have to incur more cost, time and efforts to prevent spam, avoid prank calls, protect from identity theft and keep our privacy intact, but the benefits far outweigh such cost. And now, the internet is beginning to leverage on the masses to reduce such cost through collaborative efforts. For instance, there are websites that allow phone users to share information about prank calls and what to expect from certain phone numbers. When a user gets an annoying phone call from a telemarketer or someone who disguises their identity, they can report that on this website called Phone Number Reporting. Hopefully, we can continue to enjoy the benefits of technology through more of such collaborative efforts.














(Top 3 photos show snake soup, lor mai fan dinner set HKD55. Bottom shows lor mai kai for breakfast, where in HK, its less brown yet taste as good HKD10.)