About the birthday...

The birthday celebration was simple but a very good one.

I wanted to be memorable and it did turn out to be memorable.

Though it was a public holiday (because of Deepavali), I still got out of bed early as I agreed to have lunch with Kok Kuan and Norman. The former is going through a cooking phase at the moment. He asked Norman for a chicken rendang cooking lesson. It was a special chicken rendang, since it was to be cooked the Peranakan way given that Norman is a Peranakan.

Prior to heading to Norman's beautiful home, Kok Kuan and I drove first to to Kovan to pass by the wet market to buy the ingredients. After a quick breakfast, Kok Kuan headed to the fresh meat section while I looked for one corner where I could wait for him. Haha!

From Kovan, it was a quick drive to Norman's home in Tampines. It was my first time at Norman's place and I was absolutely amazed at how beautifully done it was. The flat was decorated with beautiful Peranakan pieces.

Close to noontime, Kok Kuan and I headed to Tampines Mall. He needed to buy some drinks. I wanted to buy my birthday cake (LOL!) and fetch HB Boy from the MRT station. HB Boy had no idea it was my birthday. Lol! I dunno, I wanted him to be surprised I suppose.

Once Kok Kuan bought his things and I got my cake, the three of us headed back to Norman's place to have our yum lunch!

It was a wonderful lunch as we listened to Norman talk about his family and his interesting hobby of tracing the family's Peranakan line. Being in his home felt like visiting a private museum. In fact, Norman gave me and HB Boy a tour of his home and talked about the pieces on display, how he acquired them, what the story was about each piece.

The only other agenda for the day was to meet up my gang for dinner at Char along Guillemard Road.

Since I had a few hours of free time before dinner, HB Boy and I went on a mini-date. Haha! From Tampines, I took him to The Coastal Settlement for coffee and to try out the cookies that Kok Kuan baked for me. After that, we boarded a bus not knowing where it was going. It led us back to Tampines. The next hour or so, we walked around Tampines area. Our last stop was Bedok Reservoir, which is one of my favourite spots in the entire island.

By the time we left the reservoir, it was almost 7. Thankfully, it was easy to get a cab and I made it to Char just in time for the 730 dinner reservation. HB Boy, on the other hand, headed back.

The cast at the dinner included Richie, Mon, Tipz, Ian, Chris and RKGreg. MkSurf8 and Jon were both in Manila. It would have been great if they were there, too. Maybe next year? Hehe!

We all enjoyed the famous Triple Roast platter - roast pork, char siew and roast duck, as well as a few other dishes. The guys gave me pressies and birthday cards, which I really liked! Haha!

Stuffed from dinner, we headed to Richie and Mon's place for dessert and more chitchat. Finally called it a night around 10PM.

It was a very simple birthday celebration. I'm really glad though to have spent it with good friends. I'm always grateful for the friendships formed in Singapore and the friendships that started way back in Manila.

Oh, my Mom and my two bros also had a celebration at our home in Manila. That was really thoughtful of them!

Advance mini-celeb...

Turning 34 in a few days. Haha!

Can't believe it. I've been alive for more than three decades already. Haha! It'll be a bit different this year. I didn't get to organise the birthday party for kids like I've been doing for the past five or so years. I hadn't really put much thought on the celeb this year. Whether it's because I'm one year away from mid-life or I'm just being bo chap about it, I'm not sure. What I'm sure of though is I am grateful, deeply grateful, for what I have right now.

Last night, Mr. Lim and Miru were kind enough to have an advance ultra mini-celebration. The plan was really just to catch a movie. We watched About Time at Plaza Singapura. Very good movie, I must say. It's worth watching.

After the movie, Mr. Lim suggested we go for coffee and he said he wanted to buy a cake. I did say that there's no need for it, but he was just "Why not? Let's go for it."

Okay then.

So we headed to Canele at the new wing. We got a table beside a group of four girls who were also celebrating a friend's birthday. Hehe!

It was just a simple celebration. To be honest, I'm really not planning any major celebration. I'm just going to Mass. Afterwards, I'm going to have my health screening. LOL! Can you say aging? Haha!

Everyday is a celebration, anyway. Hehe!

Kiddie party with the Yong-en Care Centre...

The 28 all over again birthday celebration was held last Saturday at the Yong-en Care Centre in Chinatown.

This is the second time for me to hold a party with the kids of the centre. I was really glad that they said yes again to my request to have a simple party for the kids.

One major takeaway that I learned from this year's activity is to just believe that things will work out. :-)

Prior to the party, I was worried that I won't have enough gifts for the kids and that there won't be enough friends who will be able to join the activity. It was a long weekend, and a lot of people already had other plans.

A bunch of friends (thank you, Tipz and CP) have already promised to give gifts. With the help of uni friend and fellow Pahinungod volunteer Jean, we were able to get enough presents as the day of the party neared.

On the day of the party itself, I was (pleasantly) surprised that there were more kids this year. Initially, the center told me that there would be about 15-20 kids. During the party, I counted about 30 kids. Then there were also a group of volunteers from Singapore Poly who helped out in ensuring that the kiddie party would go smoothly.

Again, I was a bit worried that we may not have enough gifts and at that moment, even food, because I was expecting just about 2-3 volunteers from the center.

But then, things turned out very well!

At the last minute, more people confirmed their attendance. Jean's colleague Robert also decided to buy more gifts that morning. As for the food, Alexie baked a lot of cupcakes, which was just enough for the kids and the friends/volunteers. Ho and Pg Boy bought more drinks and some more food, while the games were ongoing.

So, yeah, the entire activity went great. My friends looked like they had a good time. The SP volunteers were still energetic even after the activity. Most importantly, the kids all looked happy! Yay!

Really, really grateful to everyone who helped make the event successful! :D

Pre-birthday lunch with the guys...

At the last minute, I decided to have a birthday lunch for my becky bunch here in the little red dot. 

Initially, I was just planning to have the kiddie gift-giving activity next weekend as my main celebration for this year. On the big day itself, I was just planning to have a "me" day since it's a work day and since PG Boy is still overseas for his holiday.

Then I just thought of holding a lunch for friends. After all, except for MkSurf8, Ian and Chris, I rarely see the rest of the guys. It would be a good time for everyone to meet and catchup. It would also be my own little way of thanking them for being my becks family here. 

Good thing most of them were free for the lunch. Only Rich and honorary becky Coly were unable to go because of work. 

So yesterday morning, I woke up quite early. After dropping by Toastbox for breakkie, I headed to Fair Price to buy ingredients for the lunch. By 9, I started prepping my pasta. By 11, I got the roasted chicken, drinks and desserts and headed to MkSurf8's place.

Half past-twelve, people started arriving. It was a small group and it was just right. I'm glad that Tipz and Chris were able to go. I'm glad that Bien and his kumare were there. It was also good to see Chiz, Jeff and Mon. 

After lunch, we all just hung out. MkSurf8 opened a few bottles of wine. Others started mixing their own drinks. I had a few glasses of wine and whiskey, so I had a buzz at 3 in the afternoon. LOL!

In the evening, Ian, Chris, MkSurf8, Mon and I met up with Rich at Little Vietnam along Guillemard Rd for dinner. I'm also glad to have seen Rich.

What I thought would be just a few hours of hanging out with the guys turned out into an almost entire day thing, which I thought was just really awesome! :D

I'm grateful to have these guys as friends. And I'm grateful to have the advance bday celeb with them!

Kiddie party with the kids of Yong-En Care Center...

Several weeks before my birthday, I was thinking of what I can do to make my first birthday away from home really memorable.

The answer came while I was on my way to work one morning. Why not celebrate it the way I've been celebrating it in Manila for the past four or five year.

Together with friends. At a kids' institution. With games and presents for the kids.

I thought to myself that it would be a nice and meaningful activity to gather together friends from different groups not just to celebrate my birthday, but also to share with friends something really close to my heart - volunteering.

When I got to the office that day, I Googled for orphanages and care centers in Singapore. Surely, a First World country would still have institutions caring for children in need. The good thing about Singapore is that it is well-organized and very efficient. I stumbled upon a website that listed almost all the charitable institutions in the island-state.

Since I had no idea about each institution, I tried to narrow the list down according to type of organization, location and whether they had volunteer activities for the kids.

After coming up with a list of 5 institutions, I drafted a nice email to introduce myself, mention my proposed activity and the reason behind it. I even added photos from my previous kiddie birthday parties to show the institution that I'm no psycho and that I just want to have a birthday party for the kids. Haha!

I sent out my first email. A day passed. No reply. I sent out a second email to another institution. Decline. I sent out a third email to another one. Decline. I sent out a fourth email to one more. Decline.

Wow! I certainly did not expect getting turned down. And then I remembered I am in a First World country. Hehe! Almost all the institutions are well-funded or are very strict about their programs for the children. I told fellow UP volunteer Jean about the declines I was getting and how I was starting to get crushed. She said not to worry about it because I will find the right institution.

The right institution turned out to be the first institution I emailed - the Yong-En Centre. After several days, I got a very positive reply from Sharon (a program executive from the center). We agreed to meet up at the center so that I can explain the activity and talk about what I had in mind.

After finalizing the date, the time, the program, the next thing I did was to invite friends and get them to support the activity.

I was overwhelmed by the support extended by my friends. We were supposed to prepare gifts for just 20 - 25 kids, but we were able to gather so many gifts. Work colleague Alexie promised to make her delicious cupcakes for the event. Friends who weren't available on the day of the event itself promised to send gifts and they did. I couldn't be more grateful.

On a nice Saturday aft, Jean, Julie, Robert and I arrived at the Yong-En Centre quite early to wrap some more gifts and to prepare the venue. I also decided to come in early to wait for the food and to buy some more stuff needed for the party.

By 4PM, more friends arrived. Yong-En Centre's Sharon and Candice then gave us a pre-activity orientation. I was really impressed at how organized and efficient they were. They gave us a brief background about the center before proceeding to discuss the afternoon program's lineup of activities.

Fifteen minutes later, close to 15 bright-eyed, highly energetic and happy kids entered the activity hall.

Looking at my friends, they seemed just as excited as the kids were to be there that afternoon.

We started the fun afternoon with Human Bingo. I gotta say the kids were really smart, huh. I wasn't expecting young ones like 7 or 8 year olds ready to play that game. But as soon as Sharon signaled for the game to start, everyone - kids and adults - scrambled around to look for people to sign their Human Bingo sheet. I had a great time watching the kids and my friends interacting amidst laughter.

The next game we played was Streets and Alleys (I think). This one was more tiring because it involved some running. Hehe! I knew it was tiring because I volunteered to be the first player. Haha! It felt nice to be running around the hall chasing after one of the kids, while everyone else did their own role for the game. To be a kid again. Haha!

By the time we finished the second game, the kids were prolly starving. I guess so were the adults. Hehe! So we all moved towards the back of the room to queue for the food. It was nice seeing my friends taking care of the kids and making sure each kid had food.

Cheesy as this may sound, I felt a huge amount of joy in my heart watching everything.

The last part of the afternoon was probably the kids' favorite - gift giving. Because we had so much presents, each kid got to queue for a gift twice.

There were several gifts left and I just asked Sharon to please distribute the remaining gifts to the kids who were not able to attend the activity.

Oh, the kids also surprised me when they started singing "Happy Birthday" and birthday cake was brought out.

The activity ended past 6. I felt tired after the event, but I was just really happy with how the activity turned out. The kids left with big smiles on their faces. My friends said the kindest words.

It was definitely, definitely a very memorable first birthday in Singapore. It was the perfect way to close my three-part birthday celebration. Haha! (Yeah, I had a long birthday celebration. But the story for that is reserved for another blog post.)

To everyone who became part of the event, thank you very much! I am really, really, really grateful.