Doors Of Life

Salsa

JFF

CNY Eve 2-Hr Line Dance Class at TF (Taipan)

Dear All

It's the early wee hours of the 1st day of Chinese New Year. Since I'm still up, let me be the first to wish you GONG XI FA CAI, XIN NIAN QUAI LER. Though of course, you'll not see this till the morning proper :-)

For those of you who are travelling, drive safely ya.

Yesterday night, I conducted a 2-hr line dance class at True Fitness, Taipan, Subang because I covered for the class after my usual 8pm slot. So I had a 2-hr run from 8-10pm. I was not expecting many to show up as most of the regular 'kakis' in this class are chinese. At the most 2 I thought, or maybe 3 if I'm lucky.

But to my surprise, 8 turned up. Eight! Wah.....very auspicious number man. This year I believe I'm going to 'fatt' ah.

We did 4 dances:

• JFF (Just For Fun) by Raymond Sarlemijn & Darren
• SALSA by The Girls (Maureen & Michelle)
• DOORS OF LIFE by Michael Barr
• BOM CHI BOM by Joanne Wong

And we revised CT GIRL by Maggie Gallagher.

Although it was 2 hours, but the time went by very quickly. I was definitely having fun. I hope those who attended had fun too.

Once again, XIN NIAN QUAI LER and HAPPY HOLIDAYS everyone!

To friends, students, acquaintances and visitors to this blog:

Here's wishing everyone A Happy, Healthy & Prosperous Chinese New Year!

May this year of the Rat bring you joy and happiness and may all your wishes be fulfilled.

GONG XI FA CAI !

YEAR-END UPDATES

The tail end of 2007 was a whirlwind of activities for me and my family.


WORK
On the line dance front, I closed an enjoyable year of classes at True Fitness, Taipan with a Christmas-themed class cum party. Everyone was extremely sporting and came decked in Christmas colours, Santa hats and Reindeer headbands.

The turn-out was great, exceeding 40 people and the studio was close to bursting at its seams. The air was thick with excitement in anticipation of the class/party.

We kicked off the class with an upbeat number WAIT A MINUTE that left the crowd wanting more.

Then came the Christmas dances: CHRISTMAS TREE ROCK, ROCKIN AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE, ROCKIN RUDOLPH.

I had modified the first dance CHRISTMAS TREE ROCK into a couple dance. Everyone grabbed their partners and competed against each to see who would emerge the best dancing couple. Criteria for winning was: (1) least mistakes made, (2) timing, (3) coordination between partners and (4) creativity. And the winners were:

CONSOLATION PRIZE:

CARMEN & PC

SUZIE & TONI

BEST COORDINATION: JADE & SHELBY

BEST OVERALL COUPLE: SALLY & AISHAH

Next came ROCKIN AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE which was also modified into a contra dance. Everyone had fun amidst the chaos :-) With yet another bit of modification, ROCKIN RUDOLPH offered the dancers a chance to have fun in a circle partner dance. By this time, everyone was high on mega doses of fun and laughter created by the dances.

The TF Taipan line dancers have improved in leaps and bounds since last year and recognition was given to the following:

MOST IMPROVED:

CARMEN

MOST CHEERFUL, NEVER-SAY-DIE ATTITUDE:

MRS ANG

As they say, every beginning must have an ending and we ended the night with FELIZ NAVIDAD, leaving everyone on a high note and looking forward for more in 2008.

FAMILY
My family and I, with my parents, maid & my brother's family in tow, took a well-earned break away in Ipoh. The trip was mostly planned for the kids but we adults had fun too.

In Ipoh, we visited KEK LOK TONG (for the kids to appreciate nature's wonders),

GUNUNG LANG (we arrived too late to take the boat ride across to the park so we ended up feeding the fish instead.)

and TAMBUN LOST WORLD WATER PARK (where we all burnt to a crisp despite applying generous layers of 50SPF sunblock lotion).

But the highlight of the trip had to be my friend's place in the middle of the Gopeng jungle.

If you haven't already heard of it, then you're about to hear it from me. It's the best kept secret (not-so secret now) hideaway for a relaxing, back-to-nature break. It won the "Most Exclusive Accommodations" award at the Perak Tourism Appreciation Awards 2007.

Besides the very natural settings, cool-fresh air and the lovely company of 'friendly' mozzies, Adeline cooks up a mean meal. You're never in want of food at this rest house. Every dish is mouth-wateringly delicious (I'm not exaggerating!). If you're on a diet, you're up for a pretty difficult task of sticking to your guns. Needless to say, we STUFFED ourselves silly.

Among the activities available here are: WHITE-WATER RAFTING, PAINTBALL, CAVING, ORANG ASLI VILLAGE, BODY-SURFING and WATER ABSEILING. Except Body-surfing, everything else has to be pre-booked and paid for before hand. As we had children with us - the youngest being just 11 months and the oldest, 11 - we opted only for Body-surfing.

To get to the stream for body-surfing, we were all carted onto the back of a small lorry and taken on a very bumpy but fun ride to our destination. Everyone squealed and screamed when the lorry hit bumps along the road and when overhead branches and leaves brushed over the lorry. The passing orang asli were quite bemused with this bunch of comical city folk.

Brrr....! the water was ice cold! Nonetheless, my baby loved it.

3 generations of 3 families (my cousin brother's parents and 4 children, my parents, my brothers daughter and my 3 boys) spent a tight 2-day-1-night stay at the resthouse renewing ties. It was a holiday to remember.

No wonder some of the children shed tears when it came time to depart. My son is already planning the next trip! :-) But we'll definitely be back. What more now that my husband and Adeline are working hand-in-hand to promote her resthouse to PJ-ites and KL-ites. (Contact: ALLAN 019-2626086)

Check out the photos (sorry, no photos of food because too busy eating)

FROM MY FAMILY TO YOURS:

HAVE A HAPPY, HEALTHY & PROSPEROUS

2008!