New Chinese mum thread 3

[trying2bgood]

Thought I would start it!

I have to admit, I dont use the microwave for my DS's food, i normally make a big batch of food for him, freeze them all and then reheat using a saucepan.

Where can you download chinese soaps?

Autumn, only have the one DD so can't comment on sibling characteristics. In my family my brothers and I look alike whilst my sister looks completely different! We have a running joke in the family that our folks brought home the wrong baby and that our real sister is still out somewhere! It really winds her up!

Off to HK for CNY and planning to stock up on chinese DVDS for kids, books and even a chinese dolly!

Speaking of nannies, my BIL just hired a nanny from Malaysia. A friend of theirs out there knew of her and recommended her. She's only been here a month and it seems to be working out so far. Not sure if I'm brave enough to do the same though!

Hi Snowmum,

Is your broadband back up or are you still on dial up? Did you go to the West London bash on Wed?

Lucky you, going back to HK for CNY. Would you mind bringing some books for dd for me? I'll give you the money before hand and get my friend to buy it and pass it to you.

wow, snonmum, i am so jealous. I bet you cant wait!!!

Has anyone got google earth? You can actually see Hong Kong quite clearly on there. I am a bit obsessed with that at the moment!

Still on the dial up. Broadband not scheduled to be reactivated til 21st Dec at earliest. It is very tedious to have to wait 2 mins for a mumsnet page to load.....

Mellow, happy to bring back some books for you. I will in fact be sending back a parcel to myself to save on carrying stuff especially as we are off to Thailand after HK. Yes I did go to the bash on Weds, it was good fun and nice to put some faces to names!

Mom - where do you go to download chinese soaps etc? I used to love watching them as a child but nowadays only get to watch HK films.

snow & mellow - are you planning on going to the next west london bash?

Thanks Snowmum. If you're going to Thailand after HK, it might not be such a good idea though. I'll let you know.

T2bg, I might go to the next WL bash if it's not too dear.

Snowmum, where are you going in Thailand. We are also planning a trip to hk and thailand next nov. Just wondering if you have any good child friendly suggestions in Thailand?

mellow - will hopefully see you then if not before. I hope xmas with your in-laws proves to be good or at least ok. I will think of you and you can think of me on the day with our respective in-laws !

In regards to travelling to HK. My mum will not even allow us to go until dd2 is at least 3, she feels it is not a place babies should go to! Not very logical but to keep the peace I go along with it, cannot afford flights at the moment anyway .

OH HK! Haven't been there for 5 years. DD1's favourite food there is "quai ling go". People selling it always found that strange cos she was eating it since about four!

I download my chinese soaps using www.BitComet.com. You will need to install the software first. I have changed my language to chinese to allow for easy searching, but it's own preference really.
The torrent site that I use mainly is bt.btchina.net for chinese soaps. Cartoons I normally download from bt.greedland.net.
It's best to choose the ones with the higher seeds which is quicker. If you choose the ones with 0, sometimes you might not get a connection. Always try and find out what language the program is in. It could be mandarin and cartoons are more likely to be in japanese. Most are described in the title.

Most files are in rmvb format which you have to play on your PC using real player. I used to decode and burn on disk, but it is so time consuming. That is until I got myself a wireless AV PC to TV sender. I'm still playing the file on PC, but using the TV to watch the programs instead.

I'll stop here as I've written an essay. Please let me know if you need anything else.

Gosh MomOnTheRun, that was most impressive! I will check out the chinese soaps when I get my broadband back.

Wyls, we are going to Koh Samui in Thailand and staying at the Banana Fansea Resort. They provide cots and have a childrens pool and playground. I think they also babysit too (extra charge). This will be our first trip to Thailand with DD so not sure exactly how child friendly it will be. Will let you know on our return.

Mellow, its upto you. I will be sending a parcel of stuff back to myself so happy to add your books. In fact I will be sending back loads learning chinese books for my mandarin class. They want the ones with pictures on!

T2bg, I'm hoping to go to the next West London bash but it depends on what date is picked. If weekend of 19/20th Jan then prob not as it clashes with DH's bday!

Do you teach a mandarin class, snowmum? Do tell.

hello, I am posting this question in multiple place to get some advice so sorry for the hijack.

Hello

For those of you who don't "know" me, I am English and Mr Wong is, surprise surprise, Chinese flavour but grew up in Australia. Family from KK.

He speaks Hakka all the time to my boys and they are fully bilungual but cannont read or write Chinese as my dh can't either, and now that ds1 is going into year 1 we think it's about time he learned Mandarin. The local Chung Wah Association runs a Chinese School on Saturday morings fro 2.5 hours with all classes in Mandarin to develop and introduce Mandarin language to kids.

My question is; do you think this is the right time to start learning Mandarin? Do you think it may be a bit of an overload? Did you go to anything similar when you were a kid and if so did it help or hinder you?

TIA

It's never too young to learn another language. As long as your boys are comfortable with it. In fact it will be a lot easier for them.
My sister took her son to the local chinese school for half a year and stopped. He's a very bright kid but just hated going and started playing up. She didn't want to affect his other studies so gave in.

Hi I will be moving to UK next year. I am Indonesian Chinese. My husband will be working in Canary Wharf. I would like to know where is the best place to live. I have two little boys and I want to send them to Chinese school(mandarin)

Which area or suburb is safe and accessible to supermarket and good schools.

Thank you

hi all,

Just found this article with regards to Oriental City!

Thought you all might be interested the link is
news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1990385.ece

Have a lovely xmas and happy new year!

Hi everyone - in case i dont get onto the computer before xmas - HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY .

Mints - i know canary wharf quite well as i used to live there. if you want a really short commute then greenwich or blackheath just over the river is fantastic. it has a huge park plus a heath for flying kites. has a very village feel to it even though its right in the middle of london. a few good schools - private and not private. However houses are expensive. would love to live in blackheath if i could afford it.

autumn, merry christmas to you too. If you're still keen to meet up over the christmas new year break, let me know when.

Thank you for your reply autumnlover.
Is too expensive to live in London, we probably looking at Kent or somewhere around there, just wondering is there any mandarin school around those area.

Thanks mellow - yes definitely up for meeting up over the xmas period. perhaps friday???

Mints - when are you planning to move to the UK, because we're looking to love next year - anytime after April really (depending on us finding a hse too). I live in lewisham/catford. Very close to greenwich & blackheath. 20 min walk to transport straight into canary wharf (about 20-30mins). what is yr budget for hses?

in terms of kent - i'm really not sure about chinese schools. although Petts wood is a very nice area to live in (SIL lives there) and the english schools are good.

how about east of london - essex area. cant advice u on it though as dont know that area at all. hth

Hi autumn,

Is that Fri 29 Dec? I should be okay. Let me check with dh. Should we try Ping pong again? I went a couple of weeks ago and I really enjoyed it. There wasn't a huge selection but what they had was good. I wouldn't recommend it for kids though. It's really FULL of MSG. Are you thinking of bringing your DDs?

I'll check with Snowmum if she can make it too. Think she might still be having broadband problems.

Dh is home for the holidays so dds will be with him! it'll be nice to have an outing without the girls. And ping pong sounds great.

Mellow, Autumn - I'm up for get together on Fri 29th. Will be bringing DD as DH back in office that day. Not bothered where we meet, happy to go to Ping Pong or any other dim sum restaurant. Think most of them are full of MSG - well it does encourage DD to drink lots of water!

And yes I am still having broadband problems.

Mints, I was going to suggest Greenwich as they have a chinese mandarin school and its an easy commute to Canary Wharf. In terms of Kent, lots of great schools however house prices are quite high as well. Good luck with the hunt!

Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone!