KAPAP Kids & Family

Being a dad with 2 daughters, sometimes I will wonder are my girls able to protect themselves against bullies or bad guys on the streets. I was indeed tempted to send them to learn some martial arts or classes like Taekwondo, Karate, Kendo, etc.

Thank God for listening to my prayers, one day I was introduced to KAPAP which is the acronym for Krav Panim el Panim, translating as face-to-face combat. Now the girls have a chance to understand more about self-defense.
Cadre Academy is KAPAP’s  home for Asia Pacific.
The main difference between KAPAP and the other martial art lessons is that KAPAP focuses on principles and concepts, rather than techniques. This is a program adopted by many Special Forces around the world, like the famous elite Israeli Special Forces.
It doesn’t just teaches you the moves or actions, it is more like a concept-based lesson which makes it easier for learners to remember, retain and apply in real-life situations.

Cadre Academy is the only authorized center in Singapore to teach KAPAP. Master Leon Koh who is the Principal Coach is the lead representative that is trained and appointed by the Grandmaster Avi Nardia to represent KAPAP with the permission to use the name, trademarks and logos in the Asia Pacific region. Master Leon Koh was also the National Taekwondo Coach that brought us the recent 28th SEA Games Taekwondo Gold Medalists.

We were invited for a combined introductory session for both adults and family. By the way, KAPAP is suitable for kids as young as 5 years old. Kids can build a strong foundation in their cardiovascular endurance, balance, strength, flexibility and mental alertness which are all vital to self-defense knowledge.

Master Leon brought us through a series of warm ups, tips on stretching, and even fun games to help us understand the difference in performance martial arts and street self-defense moves.

We played a game of kicking the ball to hit the opponent team, catch is … we are not allowed to stand up and only to move on all fours.

A great game of learning and bonding with the kids!

End up I had some abrasions on both my knees as we played the game, because I was dragging my legs instead of moving with my legs up. Lesson learnt – in real “street fights” the ground would not be cushioned like we had at the studio, it would be worst than just abrasions. Hence, learning the correct concept of body movements like this would already be very useful. All through just the opening game. Nice!

Next we were taught how to fall and rise up in the correct posture. This simple move really tested our abs and Joey was pretty good as you can see in her excellent pose.

How to apply this move in the streets? When we are down and the attacker is coming towards us, we can be in this position and get ready to defend and break the attacker’s move. Easier said than done, but the repetition lessons are designed for students to remember the steps and the body will follow in times of emergency.

   

As Master Leon demonstrated, in this position even as so many of us are piling on top of him, he is still able to talk normal and not crushed under our combined weight. Quite amazing I must say.

When you face an imminent danger, will your fist be clenched or opened?
Most of us would likely be clenching our fists and getting ready to throw a punch or block the attack. But do you know that in KAPAP, you will be taught to always keep your fists open? Because this is pose of lesser threat to the person standing opposite you as compared to a clenched fist ready to fight. More than just a pose of lesser threat, an opened fist presents greater strength of resistance to a clenched fist. Don’t just take my word for it, try it like the pose below.

When your fist is clenched, it is easier for the other person to pull down the out-stretched arm. When the fist is opened, the resistance level is much higher, even when it is Jayne doing in on Kless. Important tips for ladies.

   

It was a great time of fun and different learning for me and the girls.

KAPAP Family forges a spirit of bonding not in the usual comfortable moments, but also in the tough real life situations. It’s a great way for kids to learn hand-to-hand battle skills, to stay strong and fit in a fun setting, and learn to stay calm and confident in the face of dangers.

GIVEAWAY!

All thanks to Cadre Academy, I’ll be giving away 2 sessions of Family KAPAP to 2 winners!
Which means you and your family (2 Adults + 2 or 3 Kids) can enjoy 2 free sessions together.

Follow the instructions below and stand a chance to win.
The giveaway will run from today till 28 Feb 2018, 10pm. All the best!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Carnival Fun - Family Bonding

I think carnivals are the best way to promote family bonding. What better ways than food, games and prizes?

How not to get a “NOooooo” when painting your hands?

Do it when everyone else is doing it too.

Organized by Touch Community, this simple act of hand prints on wall will serve to remind people of equality and unity.

The J Babies’ handprints.

We have been to many carnivals before, and the girls will always pester us to play at the game stalls.

 

  

If not for charity, I seriously believe that we are (the girls are) throwing money towards something that was designed for fun but not for winning.

 

But no matter what, I am learning that family outings are not so much on how much we spend or not spend. It’s the time when we build memories that will last. And I want to create memories with my family that carnivals are fun because we are able to enjoy fun and do charity at the same time.

Isn’t it enough to see this face of contentment? =)

To add on to the great day, this is the first time both girls won something from the games.

 

PS. my mom won’t be too happy with the additions of soft toys at home.. hahaha..

Camping with a Capital G

A few weeks back our family finally fulfilled a long standing wish of the ladies. Read it right, the man in the house aka me was not the least interested in camping.

I mean which man who has gone through army’s field camp (except the really minority) would say they loved the experience. Sleeping on hard uneven ground, tents pitched with less than enough enthusiasm, bugs and sorts crawling all over the place, and if you are lucky like me, rain and soggy muddy field.

That was the background of camping for me and no amount of words or pictures can I manage to lower the ladies’ excitement of this camping trip. Well, at least the venue is not some ulu places but the East Coast Park.

Welcome Glamping Society!

A brief understanding what is glamping. A simple way to understand is camping with style and much more comfort. No bugs, no hard sleeping floor (in fact you have beds), no fear of rain, no fear of being attack by wild boar, no army officers to shout at you! Hahaha..

We were treated to a luxurious 6-man tent, so we invited a fee friends over for some gathering and fun.

Check out the interior decorated like bohemian style, rugs and all.

Here are a few cool facts about glamping.

1. No need to set up the tent on your own. All is done nicely and securely for you (I mean that is what you are paying for). So just bring your barang barang and bunk in.

2. Simple food are provided for you and your group. Be wild and free, that’s all we need to do!

3. Just relax and enjoy. We basically just packed our change of clothing for sleep, the rest are taken care of. There was even a flamingo float for those who are interested to ride the ECP waves.

4. Plan a BBQ. Okay, we didn’t cos we were lazy to bring all the stuff and food. McDelivery is available.

5. Enjoy the sunset! This is probably the main reason for having it at East Coast Park. The sunset was stunning!

Last but not the least, spend a great evening with the missus. No camping or glamping is complete without the missus completing her wish.

Happy wife = happy husband

块三点心 Dim Sum @ $1.30

After staying in Woodlands for more than 3 decades, I am still very amazed at the new things I find around this neighborhood. This time round we visited a 24-hour dim sum place at Primz BizHub Coffeeshop (21 Woodlands Close).

As described perfectly by the stall name 块三点心 (Kuai San Dian Xin), all the dim sum are sold for $1.30 each. Yes! You read it right! Opens 24 hours daily, dim sum @ $1.30 each.

We visited on a Sunday evening around 6:30pm dinner time, though there was a queue but the service was fast and good.

There were ample seats in the coffeeshop too.

Don’t expect restaurant service, you have to queue, order and pay before you get your food. Basically there are only 30 dim sum items to choose from. But you can surely find the usual delights like, Char Siew Pau, Pork Ribs, Siew Mai, Prawn Dumpling, Carrot Cake, and even Century Egg Pork Porridge.

We (read me) were determined to try as much as we can. And here is our round 1 orders. We had 2 rounds in total, and mind you it was just for the 4 of us (2 adults + 2 kids).

Total cost was a whopping $20.80!!

I know some of you must be thinking how good is the dim sum. So here is the verdict, on a scale of 1 to 5.

Century Egg Porridge (3 points) & Carrot Cake (3 points)
The exterior was crispy and nice. The carrot cake inside was decent, but I would recommend to eat it fast, once it is cool the skin can be a bit too hard to swallow.

Prawn Dumpling (3.5 points) & Siew Mai 2.5 points)
We had a second helping of the prawn dumplings, in total of 3 baskets. That should tell you either we love prawn dumplings or it is really quite nice.
As for the siew mai, personally not much of a pork eater, I felt that the pork taste was a bit too strong for me. I had to dip it with chili sauce to finish the plate.

HK Style Prawn Chee Cheong Fun (3.5 points)
Another dish that demanded a second serving. The cheong fun was soft and at $1.30, I have to say the prawn given was in good proportion. It was still nice even when it was slightly cold.

Paper Wrapped Chicken (4 points)
Definitely my first choice in future. Technically the dish is a chicken wing wrapped in paper and lightly salted, with a tinge of ginger and Chinese cooking wine. It’s not too dry, just nice to go along with anything, maybe even plain porridge.

Fried Yam Dumpling (1 point), Xian Zhu Roll (2.5 points) & Fried Sotong Roll (2.5 points)
If you are a Cantonese like me, don’t spoilt your taste buds with the yam dumpling. Not worth the money even when it is $1.30. The fillings were dry, very little and the yam paste was almost non-existence.
As for the xian zhu roll and fried sotong rolls, it has always been our family’s top favorite, but the girls just only managed to finish till the last piece. I think the problem is too oily and the skin was not crispy enough.

Like I said earlier, do not expect restaurant standard. So as we managed our expectations, the overall experience was good. I think we will still come back for more, especially when it is opened round the clock. A good consideration for the late supper peeps!

The last mouth.

Kuan Family 好介绍!