Hello, Merry Christmas and Happy Millennium, from Jessica!

With the coming of the millennium, I think that this year’s Christmas, Chinese New Year, would be a glamorous one. So hereby, on behalf my Daddy, my Mom and my little brother, I wish all friends out there a Merry Christmas and Happy Millennium with a jubilant heart! Wishing everyone a gratifying holiday and success in all your endeavors!

Our family has settled in Singapore for about 8 years now, since 1991 when my little brother James was only a baby of 3 month old. Now as you can see from our "line-up", he's quite a "grown up" already. Naturally, me too. And Dad and Mom are still energetic, as usual.

We have adapted well to its surrounding and we could triumphantly say that our feet have almost covered every inch of the country. Partially due to Singapore’s small size but mainly because of my Dad’s exploring nature. I herald that Singapore is a wonderful place to be in.

In the past year, our family has gone through some minor changes. After the Christmas, the New Year is around the corner. Hence I'd like to take this opportunity to update you all.

My brother, James, likes various sports: mountain climbing, swimming, rollerskating, cycling... Of all these, cycling and rollerskating are his favourite. As for language, he can now speak a fluent Singlish, English and Chinese. One reason is that Singapore schools emphasize on English language as the first language and he speaks Chinese to my Mom all day. He and his friends use Singlish most frequently. James will be in Primary 3 next year and he is doing pretty well in school. He loves to read. There was once an incidence whereby he went to a library near our house to read after lunch and forgot to come home! And I had to go search for him because it was getting dark. He devours all kinds of books that he could get his hands on. Now he has already started scouring my bookshelf for my early Secondary storybooks.

Unfortunately, due to his love of reading (maybe partly true or maybe due to his infra light treatment for jaundice upon birth), his eyesight has been deteriorating consistently for the past few years. He had started to wear his spectacles since primary one at age 6. At a tender age of 8 now, his degree has grown to 600. My Mom is deeply depressed over this issue. Every time James goes to have his degree tested, his degree would have aggravated. For the next few days, Mom would be really downcast. Nevertheless, James is still the typical schoolboy who is extremely hyperactive, as again evidenced in the picture. Out doors, you hardly ever see him stop jumping around for a moment. When we go out to shopping complexes or to the movies he will always come up with some mischief and makes everyone laugh. He definitely brings joy out of everyone. It would be so quiet and stagnant without this little snippet.

I wonder if any of you still remember my Dad’s big belly? Well, for those of you who have not seen it, you would never see it again (hopefully). He has slimmed down! He’s once again the tall and muscular man you once knew. You can see for yourself from the photographs from these pages. A few monthes ago, he looked in the gargantuan wall mirror at our new house and decided that he hated his growing spare tire. He wanted to take action, so he did. Everyday after work, unless it rains, he heads directly to the university swimming pool for 500 meter nonstop before going home. It works wonderfully for him. Before coming to Singapore his waist was 34, then it escalated to 36 when he had to buy all his trousers. Now he's back to 34, he has to buy all his trousers all over again, but this time downsizing.

This year, he is turning 44 and I think it is the elite time to do something he likes: teaching at a university. That is what he will be doing after the turn of the millennium. After so many years in a research environment, now he decides to return to academic. I think Senior Research Fellow is fine but evidently he prefers the tile of professor (though "associate" for now). I think being a professor is not an easy thing. It means you have less time to be with your family because you have to handling students and it would be much more fatiguing because you also have to do research. Hope he does not tire himself out. He sure would be exulted to receive your mail, to exchange views on research topics...(let me leave this topic to himself, I don't think I can elaborate, not just yet).

Seeing my Dad has effectively slimmed down, my Mom has adopted my Dad's "Swim for Slim" program. They go swimming everyday before dinner and for long walks in the evening (usually for about one hour). Most of the times, especially during the holiday, James and I go along too. She is determined to slim down and repossess her figure of her youth. Actually she has not changed much in my opionion. However, her cooking skills sure changed, I mean improved. She could prepare a dish from one trial at restaurant or learn from the TV and try it out with results superb. We always get to eat sumptuous food at home, so much that I worry about getting fat!

Oh, yes, the photos inserted here were all taken afresh --- my Dad says it's difficult for friends to see each other nowadays because all scattered all over the world, so it would be nice to attach a few recent photos for friends to catch up. Seeing is believing. A few more are attached below, hope you like them.

At the end of this Christmas cum New Year rekindle message, once again, my heartfelt wishes for your Merry Christms and Happy Millennium.

Sincerely Yours,

Jessica Zhang

16 December, 1999

In Singapore