A New School Year

Teacher Assignments and Open House- check

Back to School Night-check

Sports and After School Activities Sorted out-check

Homework Routine-check

All three kids are now in the swing of things for the new school year at Singapore American School. The bus comes at 6:55 and returns home at 3:40, that is if there are not extra curricular activities that day. In that case, they ride the activity bus to a set location and get home around 5. In addition to that, Morgan can opt to ride the late activity bus which gets back at 6:45. So for her, sometimes it is a 12 hour day!!!

Morgan is now in 6th grade, middle school. She has her own locker (s). One for academics and one for PE. She has a great set of core teachers for Reading/Language Arts, Science (it's a lab), Math, Social Studies. She also has Spanish, IT (computers), Drama and PE. So far so good with the homework and staying on top of things. She is very responsible and was more than ready for 6th grade.

Marshall is in 4th grade. He has a wonderful teacher who has been at SAS for about 6 years. He has a couple of his buddies in his room and loves being able to buy his lunch and snack now.

Ethan is in 3rd grade and likewise has a wonder teacher. She has been teaching in international schools all of her career and brings a load of neat experiences to the classroom. He has two of his best buddies from last year in his class and one little girl from our condo whom he says he tolerates!!!

For extra-curricular activities, they have all found something fun to do!

Morgan tried out for and was accepted onto the Fighting Fish swim team and in less then 1 week she has demonstrated her abilities by moving up a 3 stages in one level and then onto the next level. She started as a bronze junior and is now a bronze intermediate. We are so proud of her hard work and determination. In addition to that, she is participating in an after school dance club and is learning some fun hip-hop moves. I'll take a video and post is when they do their show. Since she is not busy enough, she has added girls touch rugby on the weekends and is part of a dance/etiquette group that meets once a month. She has to wear formal dresses and is learning all the "traditional" dances.

Marshall is keeping himself busy with baseball and rugby. He was selected for an American tournament baseball team and will play against 3 or 4 other countries in October. Also, he has begun training for the new tackle rugby season. Although he doesn't know it yet, he will also resume his tennis lessons that began this summer next week!

Ethan is enjoying playing flag football in an after school program two days of the week and is also going to be playing touch rugby on the weekends. He is still at the age where getting friend time is the most important thing to him.

For me back to school meant freeing me up to try on some new hobbies for size. I began tennis lessons and am really enjoying the game. This is something that I have always been curious about and luckily it suits me! In addition to that, I am taking a Pilate's class, a weight training class, mandarin lessons and getting ready to teach CCD. For those of you who don't know what CCD is...it is religious education for kids regarding their catholic faith. In addition to all that, I stay busy meeting new people and enjoying the expat life. Some people have asked me what expat means: it is short for expatriate and means anyone living and working in a country outside of their home country.

Did I forget to mention Paul???!! Oh yea, he is crazy busy at work. Has multiple projects going on. Jet sets to numerous countries for meetings all while being a great dad and husband. I'm very proud of him too. For a person who works as hard as he does, there is always time for the kids and me. I am also very thankful for the life we have created together.

So there it is. Our life is a nutshell. Hope you enjoyed.

Fun Family Weekend

A couple of things you need to understand first!

A Hawker Center: An open air food center where "hawkers" sell their local and authentic fare at very reasonable price. The Singaporians like to eat out with their family and friends as a way to socialize. There are many Hawker Centers around the island.

East Coast Park: This is a undeveloped park along the East Coast of Singapore. There is a continuous paved path that has about 10 miles designated for biking, inline skating and walking/jogging. There are some scattered seafood restaurants, ice cream stands and bike rental stores all along the path. It overlooks the south china sea which is always filled with very large ships loaded with tractor trailer sized containers.

Okay, Now I can begin!! Friday night I took the lead and we went to eat at Tiong Bahru Hawker Center near our house that I had heard great things about. After weaving our way to find a parking space, not an easy task, we started our adventure! We found the center and then checked out all the stalls to try to make some decisions on what to order. The kids are getting a bit more adventurous but in any new area, they aren't ever quite sure what to order. Morgan found some wanton noodle soup. This is her safety food! She should be able to critique many places once we are done!! They boys on the other hand, don't have any safeties! So Paul got them some steamed dumplings. No worries, they can always find something at home later!! I can't remember what Paul settled on, but I found something fun and new. I got bitter gourd with fish and fermented black bean sauce!! It was wonderful! I tried this because I had just conversed with my Mandarin Lao Shi (teacher) about how to cook and eat bitter gourd. It was fun to try something new. We finished our dishes and then I decided to get a bowl of shaved ice with a dark sauce with random things in it. It has some homeopathic properties I think! Something else different. Not new cause I had had it one other time with a friend who is Vietnamese. After dinner we had to jet set back home for one of Paul's grueling conference calls.

Saturday we decided to go out to East Coast Park (definition above!) to rent bikes and get some exercise. We did bring our bikes to Singapore, but we have no way to transport them around the island! We taxied out so Paul and I could indulge in an adult beverage after biking and got dropped off at the McDonalds! No we didn't stop for a big mac, but MickyD's is always busy here! We successfully rented 4 bikes! One for Paul, one for Cathy, one for Ethan and one for Morgan and Marshall! That's right M and M opted for the two seater! Of course they would need to swap out with Ethan later so all could enjoy the fun and giggling that goes with riding a tandem bike!

We headed off north toward Changi Airport on the wonderful path that is clearly marked with arrows. The paths are also clearly designated for bikes by a big yellow bike painted on the path and walking/jogging with big yellow feet painted on the path. You wonder why I mention this....because no one in Asia knows how to follow the directions. People were all over the place. Walking in the bike path, riding in the walking path, standing in the bike path, parking their bike in the middle of the bike path, you got the point!! It reminds me of the streets of Ocracoke on a busy summer day!! We weaved, rang our bells and mutters some unpleasants under our breaths but none the less made it to some areas that were less densely populated and had some fun! It was fun in a weird kind of way. We rode for about 2 hours and returned the bikes with visions of food and beverages on the mind.

East Coast is known for it's seafood restaurants and for it's steamed crabs in particular, so when in...we went to Jumbo seafood restaurant and ordered the local crabs. These crabs are different looking than blue crab, but the crab meat has a very similar taste. The Singaporians like to smother their crabs in a chili sauce and other things. We ordered one chili crab and one black pepper crab, a seafood clay pot, a platter of garlic broccoli, two bowls of steamed rice, a pitcher of tiger beer and three cokes!! Then we went to town! It was very yummy. Next time, we will only order the pepper crab, cause it was the best! I actually need to find out how to make this!!

After that we made the mistake of telling the kids that they could have a try at 360degrees cable wakeboarding only to find out that really they should go for the first time in daylight. I guess the tiger had warped our brain a little. We didn't give in and they didn't get to wakeboard that time. We did stay and watch some of the "locals" perform some great tricks on on the ramps though!! After that we needed to call it a night and head home. Got a taxi and got home safely.

Sunday was Sinapore National Day...just like July 4th for us so Singapore was hopping. We went to mass at 11:30, went to our usual food court for lunch (like the food courts in the US, but all asian food) after mass and then to the grocery store to pick up some food to grill for a small family gathering later. I do need to mention that even the stores in Singapore run out of hotdog buns on their independence day!!! Got home around 2 in time to make the salad, coat the steak and head down to the bbq pits. In our complex, there are 2 grills with a common area that can be reserved for gatherings. We met up with two other families and had a great time getting to know some new folks, kids swam and we ate and ate and ate!!! It was fun.

Monday was the "official" public holiday so Paul had off work! Woo Hoo! He took the kids, as a surprise to them, back to the wakeboarding and let them have a go at it. So at the end of the great weekend everyone got what they needed...some quality time with each other.

Sick sucks

Came back from Langkawi and while in the airport to leave, felt it coming on. Not a good feeling. Made it through the flight and made it home only to find my way to my bed. Finished my book and went to sleep. Of course, woke up around 9 and couldn't go back to sleep till around 11. Next day, headache and 3 movies on HBO. Many weird food items (when i have a stomach ache, I eat and eat and eat). It is so wierd. Got off the sofa around 11pm and went to bed. Full night sleep and woken at 7 to take Paul to MRT. Got home and went back to sleep till 9. Feeling much better. Now for a good breakfast and get out of the house! Need to go get the last Twilight book and some groceries.

School is about to begin!!

One more week and school starts. I'm ready and they are ready. An exciting year is about to abound on us too. Morgan begins middle school and the other two are in 3rd and 4th grade. I can't believe (well yes I can) that they are changing so rapidly. With the new school year, Morgan will see the most change. She will have a locker and will change classes for subjects. Big deals going on here!! She will get to go on a 3 day CWW (classroom without walls) trip to Malaysia (passport stamp 4 for there for her!) and will get to try out for school sports. We are very excited for her and know that she will prevail.

We go to the school next saturday and find out who the teachers are and who is in the classroom that we may know. Since we were only in the school for 3 months, the amount of people we know is limited. Sports has helped widen this though.

So after Saturday, I'll let you know what we find out

3 star hotel!!

When they say it is 3 stars in Asia, beware. We just got back from a trip to Langkawi and it is such a shame that the hotel where we stayed was so nasty. It made the trip not nearly as much fun as it could have been. This made me realize that I need to step up my game in researching destinations. With that said we did have some good times. We were able to take one day island hopping where we visited the fresh water lake, fed some eagles and floated about in the sea. The kids really enjoyed it too. There were some other sites in Langkawi that we wanted to see, but since a stomach bug hit us, we couldn't go out! So end of it all, note to self...when in Asia go for 4 and above stars only. It is worth the money. Plan out the activities that we'd like to see and review this blog to remember these things!!

Maiden Voyage

This is the first of hopefully many entries. I am known to start something, stick with it for awhile and then move to something else. I will do my best to stay focused on the valuable tool this gives me. So to get started!

Living in Singapore has been quite an adventure in some ways and quite difficult in others. We decided to take on this overseas assignment for many reasons. One, to give our kids a taste of what living outside the US is like. Two, to gain some valuable professional tools for Paul. Three, I don't really know! For me, it like most of my adventures. I just go with the flow to see what will happen. I assume that somewhere along the line of getting to 40, I have developed an attitude that everything has a reason for happening and sometimes just letting it happen is the healthiest attitude.

So, you are probably wondering what the adventures and difficulties have been. If not, I'm sharing anyway! Actually this topic will appear and re-appear often!!

As with any major move, finding all the necessities of life is an adventure. The first trip to the grocery store was an adventure. The smells are all different, the stuff is in different places and the products are packaged different. On the first trip, we went right after arriving in Singapore. This is another story...to be shared later!! The kids and I were very tired and jet lagged, but since we were living here, we had to go get essentials. Bread, Milk, Cereal, etc!! Also, we had consider that we had to carry everything cause we had no car! We got what we needed and got the heck out of the store. The smells were making all three kids nauseous.

Another adventure, hinted at above, was city life with no car! We had to learn very quickly how to ride the Mass Rail Transit (MRT). This was actually more fun than the trip to the store! So off we go. Paul had already been taking the MRT so he kind of knew the drill. The kids were very receptive to going and so was I. We knew that if we were to see some of this new place it meant riding the MRT. Surprisingly enough, we have met people who have lived here a long time and never rode the MRT. Wow. I can't imagine.

Another means of transportation is via taxi. They are plentyful and not expensive. More expensive than the MRT, but still very reasonable. The adventure with them is sometimes they have no clue were you are going so it is a hunt and peck adventure. The good news is if you give them some rodes or landmarks near where you are going, they can generally figure it out.

The public bus system is always an option. While this is a good means of transportation, it takes forever to get somewhere and after 5 months I'm still a bit stumped on how it works! We do on occasion take it. I think we were here at least 2 months before we took it though.

Since I'm on this transportation kick and adventures, I must tell about getting a car and driving on the left side of the road! After some deliberation, we decided that we needed a car. The kids school is on the other side of the island I felt I needed to be able to get there quickly if need be. That with the multiple sports they play and all the "stuff" a car was inevitable for us. So I pick out a car from a rental agency and they deliver it! If I remember correctly, Paul drove us a few places for the first week, but I still insist on riding in a taxi. I paid special attention to the "road rules" while in the taxi. Read the "Driving in Singapore" book and one day said this is the day! It took me from 6 am to noon to get the courage to get in a drive. (I am writing this many drives later so I'll do my best to accurately remember!) Just the act of walking around to the right side of the car to drive is foreign, not to mention that all the controls are reverse! I put the car in drive and headed out. I did require that we get a navigation system, so I plugged in the address of choice and hoped for the best! Once I was out on the street, while it felt very different, it really was not a big deal. I do have to mention that I only went one place, did what was needed there and drove back home! That afternoon, the kids had some sports practice so that was the real kicker. Got them home and all got in the car. Don't talk, don't ask questions, don't play the radio, just sit there and I'll get us to our destination in one piece...I hope!! They cooperated and mother nature didn't. We drove to the Woodlands (North part of the island) in 5 o'clock traffic in a complete downpour!!!! Like I mentioned above, you just have to let it happen!! We made it in one piece and from then on I was off. 5 months later and I can take you to anyplace on the island that you want to go! Navigations still comes in handy, but I'm not scared to drive!!

I have so many things to tell...I'll be back!