2018 Week 44 Update

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November is here and with it comes the realisation that the year is coming to an end and 2019 is just around the corner.

This week is quite busy for me what with the Festival of Lights aka Diwali or Deepavali starting form tomorrow. This is the biggest festival in India and the festivities go on for almost a week in certain parts of the country.

We also commemorated my late Father-in-law’s death anniversary over the weekend. We do a special prayer for a departed soul every year on the date of his or her death (according to the Hindu calendar) and the prayers in our community are quite unique. I will do a post on this one of these days.

To all celebrating Diwali, wishing you and your loved ones a very Happy Diwali. May this Festival of Lights light up your lives!

2018 Secondary 3 Week 44 Update

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This is the last update for Secondary 3 for the year. School has been out for more than a week now, but both GG & BB had to go back to school for a week for the Sec 4 head start programme. They had full day of lessons the whole week and teachers started on work for the next year. They have also been loaded with homework for the holidays in all subjects so that when they go back to school in January, they can continue from where they left off.

Since the year is short, school’s are expected to complete the O level syllabus by the time they break for their mid-year holidays in June.

Our O level countdown has also begun with the exams around 11 months away. I need to take some decisions about whether they need extra tuition for any subjects, especially the sciences.

Next week is Diwali and today promises to be slightly busier than usual. But here’s to a wonderful Sunday to everyone.

In My Hands Today…

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The Orchid Affair – Lauren Willig

8111651Laura Grey, a veteran governess, joins the Selwick Spy School expecting to find elaborate disguises and thrilling exploits in service to the spy known as the Pink Carnation. She hardly expects her first assignment to be serving as governess for the children of Andre Jaouen, right-hand man to Bonaparte’s minister of police. Jaouen and his arch rival, Gaston Delaroche, are investigating a suspected Royalist plot to unseat Bonaparte, and Laura’s mission is to report any suspicious findings.

At first, the job is as lively as Latin textbooks and knitting, but Laura begins to notice strange behaviour from Jaouen – secret meetings and odd comings and goings. As Laura edges herself closer to her employer, she makes a shocking discovery and is surprised to learn that she has far more in common with Jaouen than she originally thought…

As their plots begin to unravel, Laura and Jaouen are forced on the run with the children, and with the help of the Pink Carnation, they escape to the countryside, travelling as husband and wife. But Delaroche will stop at nothing to take down his nemesis. With his men hot on their trail, can Laura and Jaouen seal the fate of Europe before it’s too late?

In My Hands Today…

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The Dark Road – Ma Jian, translated by Flora Drew

15811572Meili, a young peasant woman born in the remote heart of China, is married to Kongzi, a village school teacher, and a distant descendant of Confucius. They have a daughter, but desperate for a son to carry on his illustrious family line, Kongzi gets Meili pregnant again without waiting for official permission. When family planning officers storm the village to arrest violators of the population control policy, mother, father and daughter escape to the Yangtze River and begin a fugitive life.

For years they drift south through the poisoned waterways and ruined landscapes of China, picking up work as they go along, scavenging for necessities and flying from police detection. As Meili’s body continues to be invaded by her husband and assaulted by the state, she fights to regain control of her fate and that of her unborn child.