Christmas eve at Home.

Its christmas eve, and yet there is no festive mood in my household. Not that there ever has been, for xmas has never really had a special significance to us since we are neither angmoh nor christian. Now even more so, as I watch my younger brother growing up. Well, at least he once used to spend days like this at home but now, asking him out even for a family meal requires us to book in advance. It is now a given that he is not available unless otherwise stated. Hopefully, somehow he will miraculously get through this Im- the- king- of- the- world stage. I blame army- although i hear from people that the compulsory conscription in Singapore makes our dudes more mature, I suppose it can backfire in some cases yeah?

Since, its afterall a festive period, I should stop sounding so bitter cos my line- up for the day is really not so bad and it actually doesnt quite reflect my cheery mood (plus Im actually in Singapore, which makes Christmas, or any other day for that matter, 1000x better). Wakeboarding class in the late morning with my brother (and possible his mate), dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown (How ironic, considering its Christmas. But i will rather have this than turkey anytime.) with one of my best mates and still trying to find sometime to do in between.

Maybe I could break the tradition for myself and do some Christmas present shopping?

Home sweet Home.

As a I sit at my bar table having breakfast in shorts and T- shirt in lovely Singapore, reading this makes me count my blessings. By some stroke of luck, Gatwick opened for operations on the sunday i was flying home and it stopped snowing that very morning ... just for 1 day.

Although I have only been away for 13weeks, somehow it felt like almost half a year (if not more) has passed. Its not that I havent enjoyed my term, but it has been an exhausting one albeit exciting one. I found wingchun, much to the dismay of my mum, who promptly dragged me to the chinese sinseh after seeing all the bruises on my chest and hands. (We had to be punch bags for our respective partners to practise on. And my partner, S, is really one strong woman. The massive blue- black on my sternum speaks for itself.) Im more than glad that she was assured by him that not only is minor bruises and cuts part and parcel of martial arts, but that the basic stance of wingchun is a fantastic way for women to keep prolapse and osteoarthritis at bay.

So I begin my holidays, by getting my mum her new iphone4 (calculated that with viber and such, we would save more on long distance calls in the long run), wakeboarding classes with my brother (so rusty that Im aching all over now), visiting my Gran who is recovering very well from her knee surgery, a family Harry Potter outing and loads of kopi, kaya toasts, hokkien prawn mee, carrot cake, wanton mee and pork floss buns.

Keep fingers crossed for me that flights back to London will all be cancelled. I could really do with more than 10days in Singapore.