National Organ Donor Awareness Month

Okay - So every April, I get on my high horse about organ donation. I understand how personal the choice is, in fact, before having to live with the possibility of having it creep into our lives, I am not so sure how I felt about it myself.

First, a few facts:
Organ Demands
Each year 20,000 people receive organ transplants. This figure is only 25% of the 94,000 people in need of an organ.
Everyday around 17 people die while waiting for a transplant of a vital organ.

The Waiting List
Nearly 4,000 new patients are added to the waiting list every month.

The Potential Donor
You can choose to donate one or more of the following organs: kidneys, heart, liver, lung, pancreas, intestines, cornea, skin, bones and/or bone marrow.
The heart is the only organ that cannot come from a living donor.
There is no age limit for organ donation.
The few absolute exclusions are those who are HIV+, have active cancer or systemic infection.

Statistics
Less than 30% of the population has signed a donor card or has discussed organ donation with their family.
One organ or tissue donor has the potential to save 50 lives.

Common Misconceptions
Organ donation happens only after the patient is declared brain dead. The law clearly states that the doctor who pronounced brain death must have nothing to do with the removal or transplantation of organs.
After organ removal, the body does not become disfigured.


Second, the pitch:
I know that there are so many reasons NOT to become an organ donor, but in my life there in one MAJOR reason that is behind my reason TO be one.

My son.

He never asked to be born with liver disease. There is no defining reason why he even has it. It's a "fluke". All I know is that he has been through so much in his short life and I'd like to hope that when he ventures down the path of transplantation, someone thought enough of children like him to make that decision. I know I have.
No, we cannot guarantee who our organs go to. But we can pray that our decision changes someones LIFE for the better - that they actually get to LIVE.

If you haven't already - PLEASE consider giving the gift of life.

Resort-style vacation, I think...

The kids are on Spring Break this week - Yeah!
With B being EXTREMELY busy - we decided to take off on a very short trip to Bintan, Indonesia to hit the beach. The kids and I were very excited because this was to be our first "true" beach vacation. I loved going to the beach as a kid and I was sure that my water monkeys were going to love it as much as I did.

Bintan is a short 1-hour ride from Singapore by ferry. We left the house at 9am to catch an 11am ferry. It was really neat to travel by boat - very easy and convenient. It was also pretty special to see so many of the cargo ships that pass through the Straits up close and personal.


We arrive in Bintan, no hitches. In fact, as we are getting through immigration, I see someone I had met once at the kids school at baggage claim. It turns out that she and her family are going to the same resort that we are. Since she also has a 8 yr old boy, we decide to try to meet up while we are there.

We get to the hotel and it is really pretty.


It is 12pm local time and the hotel tells us that check-in is not until 3pm. They did say that our room would probably be ready early, so we decided to walk over to the golf club for some lunch and then head back. It was quite a steamy day and after eating in the open air, we were starting to feel a bit wiped.




We get back to the hotel and find that our room is still not ready - so we hunker down for the duration. We were guaranteed a room at 3pm, so when our room was no ready then, the staff started to scurry a little in order to get us settled. What we didn't know was that they put us in a room that had not been used in a while. The aircon was streaming water, leaving a large puddle of water on the floor. The toilet was running constantly - and our so-called "private" terrace had no fence at all. (Although all the other rooms around us had one). There were no towels, soap, or iron in the room. After bothering the poor man cleaning some of the other rooms around us about a thousand times and after engineering came and fixed the toilet and the aircon, we decided to unpack a few things and go down to the beach. As we leave out our back patio, something large with a 3 foot tail, hightails it into a foot-wide hole about 5 feet from our back door. Ummmmmm....



The beach was clean, the South China Sea clear - we really enjoyed ourselves. The kids were just in awe of the waves and eventually found themselves wanting to go in deeper and deeper until I had to pull them back. It was a lovely evening and we decided to go wash off in the pool. So back to the room we go to get the goggles. The back door does not work because the lock is jammed from the outside, so we have to walk around the side to get back to our room. We get inside and...
The aircon has started to leak again. I bend down to the bag and drop one of the goggles so that it has scooted slightly under the bed - when I pull it out, part of it is covered with cigarette ash. B tells me to take the kids to the pool and he will meet me there after getting engineering to come to fix the aircon again.
He finally comes to meet us there and tells us that we need to get back to the room to pack, he got the hotel to switch us to another newly renovated room.

It's all the way on the other side of the resort and by this time it is also 8pm and we have not had dinner. The lizards and the beetles are out in full force and one decides to dive-bomb right into the front of my bathing suit. As I scream and drop EVERYTHING I am carrying, I freak the kids out enough that S is frozen in his footsteps. I finally manage to extract the beetle (the size of my big toe) and we make a beeline for the room. After we get into the room and shoo out 2 more beetles, S is finally calming down, I am nursing my wounds, V is starved and B is trying to figure out how much we would have to pay to change our ferry reservation to leave the next day. Each room carries a can of bug spray in it - if that shouldn't have told us anything. We notice that our lock doesn't work on the door and the safe will not close - we again wait for engineering to come and help us out.

We decide to tough it out and B sprays the opening for all the rooms with bug spray. We order room service and settle in for the night - although by this point none of us are feeling the least bit "settled".

The next morning, we wake up and get ready for breakfast when B says "I don't have my glasses on, can you come tell me what this is on your slippers?"
OMG, OMG, OMG... It's some sort of reddish brown millipede looking thing that is about 1 inch fat and 8 inches long. We DOUSE it with bug spray and B gets it out of the room. We never showed the kids - which probably was a good thing. We navigated through the dead and slightly alive beetles (the lizards had gone home for the day) and get breakfast. By the time we venture back to the room, the staff has done an amazing job of sweeping up the beetles.

We take the resort bus to a little place called Pasar Ole Ole to do a little local souvenier shopping. Hot day - but it was nice overall.




We had another amazing day on the beach and saw the people that we knew. We decided to meet for dinner at their villa. We had a great time at their place and came indoors when the beetles and lizards started coming out again.

We left feeling as if we had made some wonderful new friends and braced ourselves to get back to the room through, as B put it, "National Geographic". S freaked out again and I carried him half way to our room - but I seemed to think it was much easier that time back. No issues that night with critters.

The next morning we pack, relax (it's raining cats and dogs), and get ready to check out to go home. We have major issues with our bill and decide that although we truly had a good time - our relaxing vacation didn't turn out to be so relaxing. Although I hope we will go back to Bintan, we will never stay at that hotel again and have decided to write the manager.

All in all, we are HAPPY to be back home and spend the rest of the week here in Singapore. If you ever plan a trip to Bintan - we can definitely tell you where NOT to stay ;-)

A few little idiosynchracies...

We have been here in Singapore now for about 8 months. During that time, we have all managed to fall head over heels in love with this tiny little nation. I have met some wonderful people, both expats and locals.
We have had the opportunity to experience local festivals, traditions and customs. Right now, we are in the middle of Chinese New Year. With one of my dearest friends being Chinese, it has taken on a very special meaning for me and I hope to continue the traditions that I learn for the rest of my life.
Singapore is probably the cleanest place on earth - a fact that we noticed while traveling to other destinations this past holiday. Even in Sydney, the sidewalks were spattered with dried up old chewed gum - since chewing gum is banned from being sold here in Singapore - the streets and sidewalks are pristine. The sides of the roads are manicured to perfection - even the overpasses are littered with tropical flowers.

A few oddities I have noticed so far:
1. Middle aged western men come to Singapore to find themselves a "honey"
2. The stores here have an amazing return policy: "Don't"
3. The government knows exactly where you are at all times - they keep tabs on every one of it's citizens. BIG BROTHER is watching you...
4. I have only seen one drive-thru in the time I have been here... But I have seen a few "skate-thru" McDonalds. BUT, they do deliver...
5. I have yet to learn all of the Chinese traditions, but am learning fast what I should NOT do - almost everything wrong can result in death.
6. Lion Dances are easily louder than your average rock concert.
7. Bill payment, cinema and theater ticketing, money transfer and restaurant reservation can be done through one and the same ATM machine.
8.You will never hear any propaganda that opposes the government.

I'll stop at 8 since that is the "auspicious" number in the Chinese culture.

Til next time ;-)

S

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...