The end of a wonderfully crazy year...

SO, I apologize profusely for not posting anything in months... The last part of the year FLEW by.
We ended October with a few of B's business relations coming into town - we were able to meet some amazing new acquaintances.
We also got a small taste of Halloween. The largely American populated areas, especially the area around the American school (called Woodlands, I know, right???) was heavily hit with trick or treaters. They estimated a few hundred children hit the homes up there. Some of the kids actually stayed after school and hung out until it was twilight. Being room mom for both of the kids classes, I organized the parties and the kids had a blast. We ourselves did not go trick or treating as V is getting a bit disillusioned with the whole thing. But we did attend a party at the American Club where they got a few treats.
October also brought on another project for V - which means another project for MOM. This one was titled "Images of Singapore". The point of this project was to travel around Singapore visiting museums and historic sites. Then to present what you had learned about the history of Singapore. It was very educational - especially since we have not been here that long. We learned a lot about Singapore and it's origin and Japanese and British occupation.
My mother-in-law came to town in the beginning of November. She was here for 9 weeks and we were able to show her most of the sites on the island in between the normal routine of our daily lives. She was able to go on holiday with us to Bangkok in December and Sydney at the beginning of January.
The kids are now back in school and full fledged into their activities. I've never been one of those parents that overloads her kids with activities - for their sanity and mine... BUT, it seems as if fate has played us a different card this first part of the year.
V has swimming, Amazing Minds and a Telunas class (more about that in a bit).
S has basketball, swimming, and Jr. Scientists

About Telunas - V has been hand picked to go on a 5th grade community service trip to the Riau Islands, Indonesia. He has to take classes for 6 weeks to learn about the culture, including songs and local expressions. They will then carry out some sort of project at a local school (some sort of school improvement) and mingle with the other children. So mom is a little nervous as he is actually leaving the country... He will take a ferry to Indonesia, and from there, a tuk tuk ride to the area that they will be staying. My head knows it will be an amazing opportunity for him, but my heart's not quite there yet.

So, that's about it in a nutshell - here are a few pictures from the last few months.

Sydney

Christmas

Merlion
The Singapore Flyer

Our Holiday Ecard...

Make a Smilebox greeting

UN Day

With the diversity represented at the Singapore American School, it was no surprise when we learned that the Primary school was going to celebrate United Nations Day. Just in the Primary School alone - 50 different countries have children represented.

It all started off with the children getting to choose what country they wished to represent. To my delight, S chose India. The first thing they did was to create a "flag" place mat for their International Luncheon. The next part was to create a large paper doll that was dressed in some way to show what country they had chose. the also had to put together a short presentation telling why they dressed their doll in that way. S chose to dress his doll as a cricket player.



Today was the UN Day assembly which started off with a parade of flags. The 50 flags were paraded through the high school gym by various children in the Primary school. There was a short presentation about UN day, then an Indian dance group performed. The children then sang songs with their respective grades - all of a friendship theme. The children were all dressed in some sort of outfit that showcased the country they chose.
The last part was an international feast where the parents each brought in a dish from a different country. Here's the menu:


Appetizers / Salads
Japan - Sushi Rolls – Cucumber and Egg
Japan - Sushi Rolls – Fish Flakes and Tuna
India – Raita (yogurt salad)
Ireland – Irish soda bread

Main Course
Korea – Japchae (Noodles)
Korea - Vegetarian Pancakes
China - Fried Rice
Korea - Korean Beef
Mexico - Chicken Tacos
Unites States - Macaroni and Cheese
Korea – Rice cakes with BBQ sauce

Dessert
Unites States - Chocolate Chip Cookies
Philippines - Leche Flan
Mexico - Arroz con Leche
United States - Cupcakes
Indonesia – Assorted Kue-Kue


I was SO proud that my child had this chance to celebrate diversity. It was an amazing day!

Trying to Understand

We've barely been out of Houston for 3 months when "the big one" comes along. Hurricane Ike. The storm that we waited for the entire 9 years that we lived there.
I cannot seem to focus on anything except for my family and friends that are there. How did we get so lucky to get out and be spared the stress and worry of having to go through something like this?
I was cyber-chatting with a friend of mine earlier today and you could just hear the concern in her words. I wanted to virtually put my arms around her and tell her that everything will be alright.
I have been watching coverage on the local Houston networks who provide live streams. I kept seeing the pictures of what was going on - the wind, surf, and rain. I kept looking for some sort of time frame as to when the worst was going to pass through where my family and friends are. But instead, they were fielding calls from people stuck in areas that were "mandatory evacuation" areas that needed help.
One of the anchors fielded a call and called his ordeal "a true act of heroism". This man stayed back in Galveston which took a direct hit from the storm. He saw the water starting to rise in his home and broke out the bottom of his door. The water rose to his neck and he and his daughter clung house to house until 30 minutes later, they made it to shelter in the convention center.
HOW is this heroism??? When he was under a mandatory evacuation order from government officials, why did he think it was alright to risk his young daughter's life like that? To make it worse, he said he was trying to get some of his neighbors to go with them.
What would it feel like to be listening to this on the radio with no power... Not hearing when the storm was going to be closing in on your area, but stories of stupid people who paid no heed to the experts.

My heart is in Houston and my head is in prayer...

Heaven on Earth?

I have been hitting the gym pretty hard lately and my body is telling me so. So instead of trying to force in a workout, I decided a leisurely walk would do me a world of good. I had heard about a place here called the MacRitchie Reservoir. It is supposed to be a beautiful place with walking trails. So I hop in the car and go down there this morning.
I walked up the path to the trail around the reservoir and was just HIT with the beauty of the area.

In the hustle and bustle of Singapore, it was so incredibly quiet that I turned off my music just to listen to the water and the birds. All along the path there were signs that told about the plants, wildlife and reservoir itself.


I stopped at a map to check out the various trails and decided on a short 5K walk.
I ended up walking a bit further than I had hoped and got a little lost. By the time I realized I was lost, I was about 6K into a 11K trail. Most of the trail is shrouded under the trees and the terrain is very uneven. I only had my joggers on, no trail shoes, no water, no carry pack, not dressed properly.
I decided to take it easy during the remainder of the walk seeing as I was committed.

They have an observation tower that you can climb up to see the surrounding skyline.
They also have a 5K treetop walk on a suspension bridge where you can do just that - walk among the treetops. After realizing that I wasn't even 2/3rds of the way through this trail, I was starting to get tired. My knee was hurting, I was itchy from bug bites and running into spiderwebs. It was tiring trying to navigate the path. It was tiring trying to decipher which way was "out". It was tiring trying to decide if needed to pass the large monkeys that decided to block my way. By this point, I was wondering if this was a nice place after all. Any other day - I would have enjoyed it, but not being prepared was a real letdown.

After a total of about 13 K, I finally made it out of the woods and was just so happy to see that I only had a 10 minute walk to my car. At one point along the path to the car, there were some people on the side in a grassy area with about 15 elderly in wheelchairs. They were singing to them and feeding them Popsicles and smiling with them. And my immediate thought was "ME, ME, ME". I was whining because I was tired. I can't imagine how tirelessly these amazing people worked night and day to take care of these elderly patients.
My next thought was "This truly is Heaven on earth".

The Lizards...

Well - I have been trying REALLY hard to get used to the fact that we get lizards in our house. Any of the locals will tell you that it is impossible to keep them out. My maid was shocked to hear that they didn't come indoors in the States.
I actually try not to chase them down anymore, the minute I get near one, it runs for cover. The lizard is scared of me - as it should be. I still can't get used to them sneaking around the house.
Just the other morning I walked into the kitchen and turned on the light. One came shooting out from the behind the dishes that were drying next to the sink - and toppled half of them over. At 6:00 am - scared the holy ghost out of me - talk about heart-attack city. And Lord only knows where they run off to - they are probably upside down in my kitchen cabinets.
They are ugly - their skin is slightly translucent - they leave their poop all over the place. I've heard that their poop is toxic - so I really want them in my kitchen.
My maid said this morning that they were good to have in the house - they eat mosquitoes and other tiny bugs. She also said that they were "lucky".


Why couldn't it have been lady bugs...

The Tooth Fairy

S has been struggling with a very uncooperative tooth the past few weeks - he was SO excited when it finally fell out while brushing his teeth tonight. I went up to say goodnight to the boys and asked S if he had put his tooth under his pillow. Here's what took place after that:

S: (Very sadly) "V said that there is no such thing as the Tooth Fairy"
Me: "He did?"
S: "Yes, he said that you and Daddy put money and stuff under our pillows"
Me: "Well, you know what happens when you don't believe in the Tooth Fairy anymore..."
S: "No, what?"
Me: "She doesn't leave things for children who don't believe in her"

S: "OHHHHHH, Well that changes EVERYTHING!"

I think we need to have a little chat with V ;-)