20090430

Milan 3


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WEIRD

Can't sleep. Just jump up and write.

ROMANTIC

This Tuesday.
" Mama, I have a [romantic] afternoon in the school! " iza told me when we walked home.
" Oh!? How is it? "
" I have a daydream ... then fell into sleep ... suddenly I woke up and rushed into the classroom before my violin teacher entered the room ... haha ... at the last possible moment ... " iza explained enthusiastically.
" ... ooo ... we normally do not use [romantic] in such a way ... we use to describe ........ " I don't have a clue to explain what is [romantic] to her, no matter in a way that she can understand, or just telling somebody in words how it feels when he/she never have such experience before ... I resist to relate this to prince and princess, it limits the meaning of [romantic]. But, I'm really amazed by her association of experience in the way of building up her vocabularies :)
The next day, I tried to elaborate more on this ...
" iza, we use [romantic] to describe when we feel sweet and good ... "
" Just like in Chinese classic moral stories and Chinese three word classic poetry idiom?" iza asked.
I couldn't hold my laughter ... oh ... there're more confusions ... If base on my definition, her daydream and Chinese stories are very [romantic]!!! When I'm still thinking ...
" Is pikachu the pocket monster [romantic]? "
" Is Superman and Gundam [romantic]? "
" Mama, how about Mathematics ? " iza continued to drag on...
My first impression is of course NOT, but before the word "NO" came out my mouth, I realized that they could be very [romantic]! I'm confused ... !!!!
I just leave the matter and let her to find out later. She will know ...

HOT CHOCOLATE

In london, uncle Danny (my brother) had iza to buy some hot drinks to Auntie Wendy and mama on our way to Legoland.
Guided by Uncle Danny, iza managed to go to the counter alone and asked for
" Hot Chocolate, please! Take away! "
However, she couldn't resist to turn her head over to Uncle Danny and said,
" Why hot? Hot chocolate melts! "
Next time, when anyone asks for hot chocolate, just put your chocolate bar in pocket and sit on it. You will have HOT chocolate :)

I love HOT chocolate!

20090427

6

Yesterday was iza's birthday.
She's now 6!


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We've been to London and Milan for the last 10 days. I thought I could manage to write something during the trip, however it's too rushed ... and tired ...
Lots of materials to organize ...

20090409

STRAW INSTRUMENT

Iza's kindergarten teacher tries to introduce children with some simple science experiments, hoping that parents and children would find it simple to explore in our daily life. After 2-3 weeks exploration in school, children are asked to work out something with parents at home and present their experiment at school.

Iza decided to make a straw instrument with 50 straws.
Eventually, we've made an instrument of
7 x [ d r m f s l t ] + 1 x d´ = 49 + 1
We used transparent straws for all [d]s, white straws for other notes.
Visually, iza learnt multiples of 7.


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We've developed other forms...
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Iza was so keen on inventing something ...
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On the way of experimentation, papa ziggy had found some interesting videos on the web for making straw instruments ... It's not only inspiring to iza and also to myself. You may search under
www.youtube.com
on topics:

- straw instrument
- straw oboe
- vegetable instrument (Broccoli ocarina - Mary Had A Little Lamb)
- Hydraulophone
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This is another interesting site :
www.sciencetoymaker.org

Under "QUICK AND EASY" - Snake Chamber's duck call, we can find videos on:
- Build a Reed Instrument out of a Drinking Straw Part 1
- Make a Reed Instrument from a Drinking Straw Part 2
It is an instructional video starts with an introduction about how the author got interested in reed instruments when he was living in Bangladesh, country in South Asia. This is a great project to make with groups of kids. It only takes a straw and scissors; a hole punch--and earplugs--are optional. He makes the case that even our vocal chords act like reed instruments: rushing air causes them to vibrate and create sound.
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The process

20090406

We've been to Shanghai together with iza over the weekends.
And, I'm leaving for Beijing tomorrow for 2 days.
Compact schedules...

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Enchanted Shadow (HK)




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An interesting school project : a straw instrument.
Will share more after the trip.
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DINOSAUR THEME PARK
A theme park in Changzhou, total 5.5 hr car drive to and from shanghai!
Iza was very upset because it was raining the whole day... all thrill rides closed.
More photos to come.
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20090401



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In the last set of photos, we were in Camper - a shoe store.
Iza was not fiitting new clothes,
but
taking off what she's wearing,
in the public,
not in fitting area!
She's "liberal"...
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