Out Of Action

I had been out of action for quite a few days, due to a bout of food poisoning, or stomach flu, or diarrhoea, or just plain indigestion, who cares about these terminologies, anyway? Not me, all of the above merely implied that I ingested something which didn't agree with the rest of my being, so my body succumbed the best way it knew how, by taking a mostly horizontal position. My one other bodily function turned very active of course, but I'm not about to gross out anyone who happens to be reading my post here, so I'll just leave it as that, leaking (ah-ha!) no further details.

Anyway, I'm feeling hale and hearty again, fit to continue my quest of checking out nearby centres for a suitable playgroup to place my son it. Why go through all these hassles? Just choose the BEST school, you can't go wrong that way. A premium school, which undoubtedly comes with a premium fee, is as good a bet as any. Er... excuse me, I happen to have to work something out within my "cute little" budget and it's not as "elastic" as our Government Budget reserves, so there! Ha ha, but I'm not bitter about it, ok... the Lord will soon (very soon) manifest increase in His blessings on our bread and our kneading bowl, amen! Our shoe-string situation is just temporary.

So far I've visited three places. Centre "A" was my first choice based on fees alone (the lowest, ~thweng~!), but once I stepped onto their premises, I changed my mind pronto. It was like, how shall I put it, like... a market-place. The noise level was what you'd find in a school canteen during recess time. The whole floor space was fully utilised, different areas were divided by partitions, and no matter which corner you are standing in, you'd still get the "full package" of talking children, playing children, a stray wandering child or two, and voices of teachers trying to make themselves heard above the din. A first exposure for me, and an eye-opening one indeed!

Centre "W" was the second place I dropped in on. The fact that Joseph did not cry when I first put him down was already a plus point, compared to Centre "A" where he kept whimpering, I don't know why. I also liked the fact that this place was openly ventilated, meaning it wasn't air-conditioned, so I think that could help minimise the risk of children sharing their bugs with each other as opposed to a closed-up area. This centre did not look as over-run with children as did the first one. I found out that this centre had been opened since more than ten years ago, I wasn't surprised, because this joint sure looked her age!

Centre "S" was of closest proximity to my abode, so I popped in on the way home. The supervisor was very chirpy and bubbly in personality, the whole place seems much brighter than Centre "W", and the children here looked decidedly more happy and cheerful than the first two centres I went to. I saw rows of cups and teaspoons on their shelves, each individually labelled with a child's name. Yes, the supervisor confirmed, to maintain a strict hygiene standard, the children here do not share drinking utensils. I failed to ask, what about the plates they eat from? Are they labelled too? Ha ha... next time I'll ask them... don't lose sleep over it, ok?

Anyway, I have one last place to recce before making my final decision. Will Centre "P" impress or depress me? We'll just have to wait and see...