My Son, The Dropout

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Earlier this year, I enrolled my son for Mandarin class. It was provided by the school for free and it was conducted for 2 hours every Friday. I thought it was a good idea for him to learn an additional language and initially he was pretty excited about it. The first few weeks, all he did when he came home from school was try to practice his new language skills on me. Not that I understood a single word he said.

Fast forward eight months later, my son came to me one day and complained that he wanted to quit the Mandarin class. I was surprised as he didn't give any indication of not enjoying the class. I asked for his reason and he told me that it was a difficult language to grasp and that his Mandarin class teacher was a fierce dragon lady and so on.

Thinking that he was just being his sometimes lazy self, I told him to continue with the classes as learning a new language is never easy but that it'll come in handy for him in the future. I told him to just take things slowly and don't get too disheartened. I feel bad when I can't even help him in his Mandarin homework cos I really do not know a single thing about the language.

Recently, he came up to me again and told me that next year he doesn't want to attend the Mandarin class if possible. He looked so sad (I don't know if it was genuine cos that boy can sure act like a pro at times) but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I know how it feels to do something that I don't enjoy, it's not a good feeling ya.

I feel there's no point forcing him to take the class when his heart and mind are not into it. Perhaps he should take an English language class instead. His English is far from perfect, at least I can help him with his homework. But at least he did try it out for a whole year, so dropping out at this stage is not too bad, ya?

Aside from the fact that my son is dropping out of his Mandarin class, the year has been a long and trying one... it has its up and downs but I guess that is life. There are times when I feel like giving up, pack my bags and head home but I don't want to be a quitter. I believe my sons have a better future here especially the eldest one. He has progressed tremendously compared to the first time we set foot in KL. He was such a timid fellow and afraid of his surroundings. I'm so proud of his achievements :)

Wouldn't it be great if I could just fly off to some place nice. Some place where there's plenty of snow would be great :) I've always wanted to play in the snow, building a snowman and make snow angels... hehehe. Maybe go some place like Telluride, Colorado where I could try my hand at skiing, something which I've never done before and have always envisioned myself skiing down a snow covered trail.

Originally a mining town, Telluride now is known for its magnificent views, ski resort, famous autumn color changes and slopes during the winter as well as extensive festival schedule during the summer.

And I wouldn't have to worry about equipment cos I could just check out Ski Butlers which provides telluride ski rentals right to your doorstep. All you have to do is make a reservation online or call their toll free number, do an in-house fit and your skis delivered right to you :D


And if in the process you need some help with it, especially for someone like me who has never skied before, I can always count on technical support from their customer service people and when I'm all done with my ski adventure, I can have all my ski equipment picked up, pack my bags and head for home. Now if only I could afford a vacation like that!
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