.: I am Irfan :.

Ayah pointing the way to the elephant exhibit. He is hilarious, my Ayah. He chooses the most interesting of times to let me have my first driving lesson. I mean, how many toddlers have had their first driving lesson at the zoo? .... wait ... how many toddlers have had driving lessons at all??? AYAH!!
















Anyhow, I am apparently a fast learner. This is me teaching Mama how to use the stick-shift.
















We finally reached the elephant exhibit and they were HILARIOUS!! Could you tell from our expressions?

Here are some of the other animals that we saw at the zoo!






































































.... oh wait ... these are some of the animals that I DIDN'T get to see ...
i was just way too tired and fell asleep right after the elephant exhibit!






















Oh well, there's always next time!
See you again, my furry animal friends!!

Mama and Ayah wishes for me to grow up to be a gentleman; open doors for people, give up seats to those who need it more, say my thank you and please etc ...

So, today's lesson is brought to you by the letter ... P!

p/s: My 17-mth-old tongue is still grappling with consonant clusters, so if you thought you heard me say "peace" instead of "please", you heard right. Pardon me, yeah? peace ... hurhur

Mama and Ayah think I've got a chance to be the poster-boy for READ! Singapore '09. Ya think?



Riiiiiiight ... Let's wait till I figure out what THIS one says first, Mama, Ayah ...

Good luck, Tok! Good luck, Nenek!
Prepare to burn off some calories with us around! ;)



cute, innit?
I hope the 3 of us won't look back at this in years to come only to say ...
"where did it all go wrong??"

Ayah's note: Choy!Choy!Choy! Touch wood!

Gosh ... I am picking up so many words nowadays Mama and Ayah's heads are spinning just trying to catch up!

Mama says my Chinese pronunciation, in terms of tones, has been pretty zhun.
And that's apparently a big deal. Heh.
We'll see how zhun it is when it really matters, Ma. See also: PSLE, "O" Levels, "A" Levels

Anyways, here's a sample few additions to the original list:
Jiu Jiu - "Uncle" in Mandarin
Ah Cheem - "Ah Gim" is Hokkien for "Aunt"
Ahlong - Malay for "eldest". Here, it refers to Ayah's eldest brother, whose real name is .... errr .. Ahlong? I think ...
Moto - Motorbike
bù jiàn le - Mandarin for "can't see it already"
duduk - Malay for "sit"


... and Mama's favourites:
PoPOto
Mamana

Guess what those two are.
Here's a hint to help you: the first is what french fries are made of, and the second is a term commonly used to refer to an angmoh-cised chinese. fiiiiiiine, I'll make it simpler: the second is a long and yellow fruit.

Tokyo ...

savouring food that is to die for ...





in the company of the ones you love to death.

oh, and one last thing ...



Happy 1st Birthday to me! :)
Thanks for celebrating my birthday together with me Mama, Ayah and my bestest buddies in the world: Elmo, Tang-tang and Penguin!

We were hoping it wouldn't, but the day had to come.
It was our last full day in the Big Apple and there was still so much left to be done, sights to see and smells to be savoured!
*Sigh*
I DO *heart* NY!!!


Aboard the ferry to Staten Island to bid "Adieu" to Madame Liberty (She IS technically French, after all)


Pretty picture of Mama ... heee ... love ya, Mama!! *muacks*


Okay, you can open your eyes now, Mama?
Tada!! Behold ... the Brooklyn Bridge!


View from the Top of The Rock



Ayah HAD to, just HAD TO, savour NYC's chicken-and-rice for one last time. They are, to quote Ayah:"BRILLIANT!! Just ... BRILLIANT!!"



Watch out, Tokyo!
Irfan-san's coming your way!