Apr. 19, 2006 - Imaginary Ponies and Easter Adventures
We are finding a rhythm unique to life here and the days slip past mostly pleasantly and positively. Even the solitude and lack of other people’s company seems to be something we are adjusting to, although I am sure that when we get the opportunity to interact with like minded folk, we will thoroughly enjoy that.
The pattern of a typical week sees the girls and I either doing school work in the apartment, or out and about exploring. We try to get out on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, those being the days that the apartment is cleaned, and since it is uncomfortable to feel underfoot on those occasions I have found it works better to make sure we are not here.
We have investigated some of the main shopping malls, drifting in and out of absolutely gorgeous, candy coloured stores; the girls are slowly learning to be content with just looking and not asking for things as much as they did in the beginning. I have yet to find them an activity that they can do without me, but this morning they had the opportunity to create a little rubbery stained glass type artwork. I was not sure how appropriate it would be to abandon two small people in the middle of a busy mall, in the hustle of lunch-hour, so I sat with them in the art kiosk on a little plastic stool (praying it would not break) and helped them with their paintings.
They have been forced to step up their imaginative play since there is not much here to tangibility play with and Maddy has discovered that the shower head that sits atop the bathtaps is a lot like a phone and she hops in and out of the bath, having long conversations with somebody. They have make-believed a whole herd of imaginary ponies who roam through the apartment apparently, in various colours and with impressive gymnastic abilities, if the way they have to move to get out of my way is anything to go by. The ponies also come swimming with us, and I have simply turned a blind eye to the looks we get as my children studiously lead invisible horses to the waters edge, and then I pretend that everything is quite normal, as each of my children harnesses their pony, pats it, hurls it into the water, rescues it and rides it up the steps.
They attended the Resident’s Easter Party on Sunday afternoon which I successfully managed to dodge, and had a good time by all accounts, but failed to interact with any of the other children there. It seems this is because they are German, or Japanese and speak no English: or because the American and British kids are bossy little brats who pushed our girls out of the way, and were hardhearted and mean. Glad I wasn’t there to watch that, it would have made me growl. I did fight off tears as some little girls at the pool told Maddy to get lost because they said did not want her in ‘their’ pool and that she was yucky. FORTUNATELY, Maddy did not quite comprehend their pommy accents, and she continued to smile brightly at them, until they just completely ignored her overtures of friendship. She ran to me, not unhappily, but later she mentioned how unkind they had been and I wondered how much she had in fact understood. It made me realise how sheltered our children are and how seldom they have a chance to face negative words.
We decided on Easter Saturday to venture off to a drama production put on by City Harvest church in one of the Expo Halls by the airport. We arrived by taxi to a heaving, milling crowd and were soon swept up into the torrent of humanity as it milled over the road and around into a huge hall. We were half an hour early for the show, however, we probably needed to be there an hour beforehand, as it was crammed to the seams with thousands of people, perhaps five we thought. Finding a seat was impossible and we eventually just stood on the aisle of some bleachers as the music blasted off. It was a glitzy, shiny, powerful worship performance that was riveting to watch. Swinging light effects, massive screens, and cameras on cranes added to the hype, and Maddy dissolved into sobs of terror at the assault on her senses. Kenzie sat down, worn out and we stood there and watched thousands of arms waving in complete unison to the pulsating music. Soon we were hustled off the bleachers by one of the few hundred ushers with little head mikes and shepherded to a space down the side of a set of bleachers where a few more hundred chairs had been hastily put out. We could hardly see anything except one great big screen, and the kids stood to watch. The drama started but it soon became obvious that we would not be able to stay until the end, as Maddy was starting to say loudly “Me Hungee” and although it was a pity to miss the vital ending of the Easter story, it felt wiser to escape before five thousand other people and do the rest of the educating at home. I am so grateful we left early, although it was still a mission as there was a Northern Indian Expo on in a neighbouring hall and we had to cope with the foot traffic of that very popular event, however we got home in one piece, pleased we had made the effort and began the rather interesting objective of explaining to Maddy that Jesus and the Easter Bunny are not interconnected nor one and the same. She nodded vigorously and seemed to get it, but the following day when I found her munching on Easter Bunny chocolate without permission, she informed me that Jesus had told her she could eat it. So I’m thinking the gospel of salvation according to Maddison has a lot to do with Jesus, Father Christmas, the tooth fairy and of course, the Easter Bunny all co-habiting in perfect harmony. The thought that I was confusing her for life crossed my mind fleetingly, and then I mentally resigned myself to the fact that four year olds do not possess great ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality, and in time she will realise some true facts, no doubt presented vividly by her big sister.
Kenzie is in paroxysms of delight at the thought of her birthday tomorrow and does a little dance each time she remembers it. She has given me a terrifyingly long wishlist, of which I have managed to recall a couple of things. We will have a day of treats for her, and a surprise trip to the movies before heading out the zoo for the night safari. Early night tonight for sure.
Apr. 18, 2006 - I'm a Marshmallow in the Microwave
Sunday saw us heading off to Burgis Junction in a cab and once there Greg showed me the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel where he is accommodated in
After that we tackled the
Kenzie grew very tired in a short space of time and we knew we needed to get her home, so clutching our newly bought Japan shop items (an Asian equivalent to the $2 shop) and a toy each for the girls, we made our arduous journey back to the taxi stand, a couple of hundred meters away but took us ten minutes of shuffling and sidestepping to achieve. My sympathies for those who actually went to the market hoping to shop. You would have been blindsided if you stopped for long enough to look at anything.
The heat was intense, both in the markets and especially I thought, standing beside the road waiting to cross. But I have learned to give myself to the heat rather than fighting it, and although I feel like I’m a marshmallow in the microwave, I breathe deeply and allow my desire to be cool to sink below the warmth. It almost becomes an assault on the senses to be jarred from the sauna of the outdoor air to the artic freeze of an air-conditioned space.
A different food court found today but the bowl of noodles and beef Greg procured was mind boggling to contemplate consuming and almost too fat riddled to even warrant an attempt. I gingerly sipped some of the soup which was spicy and tomato flavoured but the noodles refused to oblige my clumsy chopsticks and slithered off greasily. The huge chunks of meat that we fished up to inspect were the size of hamburger patties with the appearance of corned beef but were crisscrossed with numerous wide stripes of opaque gristle and were impossible to eat. The kids fared better on fish and chips! We will learn what failsafe options exist at the food junctions I hope.
Apr. 12, 2006 - Flossy Bread and Feeling Fat
Greg’s first day on his new assignment arrived and thus we three girls are facing the reality that this is how life will be for us, without having him around to guide us. When he is with me I tend to switch off, relying on his sense of direction, eagle eyes and tuned ear to catch the sometimes garbled conversation from the locals. I am feeling slight trepidations at the knowledge that caring for these two little girls falls solely on me, and the dangers around us are huge. I will have to have eyes in the back of my head, with pools, lifts, escalators, buses, trains, busy traffic, very friendly men who play with Maddy’s blonde hair as she walks past them and the general confusion that goes with being unfamiliar in a huge city. It is daunting and as I write this I am drawing a deep fortifying breath, however I am not intending to hide in the apartment all day, so we will take our chances and enjoy the opportunities that await.
Thursday we had a slow one, I felt fatigued and dizzy for some reason and realised my aching legs were not up to another huge long exploration. It was good to just hang out together and we spent the morning at the pool. Late afternoon we went down to the mall and found a couple of necessities we were after, like a new chapter book for Kenzie and a book of bedtime stories for Maddy. I did not want to bring a heavy pile of familiar books over with me so as I can I will buy the odd new book to bring home.
We decided to eat dinner at the food junction and determined again to succeed with local food, we approached the food court before it got too congested so that we felt comfortable taking our time with ordering knowing there was noone waiting in line behind us. We chose Roti Prata for the girls, a fascinating method of dough being transformed from a soft block to a parcel of paper thin layers of crispy pastry, containing a chewy soft cheese and in Maddy’s, sliced sausage. Mads picked out all the sausage, so she had all in all, probably about an inch of processed meat for dinner, but we choose our battles! Kenzie enjoyed hers, it was pleasantly lightly flavoured and she got full. They had watermelon juice to drink which they both grimaced at but managed to get down with the addition of a little 7Up from their daddy’s can. Greg and I shared a large plate of Thai beef rice washed down with iced tea.
After that we wandered around a little more and went into a large clothing store. Kenzie rather liked several items in the women’s section, which would possibly have fitted her, and I noticed a huge purple flashing sign at the back of the store reading Plus Sizes. I swallowed my appalling sense of horror and approached the racks beneath the sign. The racks contained clothes in sizing numbers completely foreign to me, but an eye for size I have and can quite confidently report that Plus Size in
On our way back to apartment last night, we stopped off at Breadtalk, a vibrant little pastries store at the entry to the mall. The shop attendant periodically shouted at the top of her lungs “Orr bun one doorra”, which we decided to take advantage of and bought a bag of assorted buns. We prepared these for the girls when we arrived back at the apartment, but Kenzie looked pained and ate no more than a mouthful of each, commenting that they tasted too funny. Maddy however enjoyed gobbling up her little face shaped bun, complete with eyes, nose and mouth, and odd paste like filling tasting like a cross between jam and chocolate. In the bread shop they have shelves of different choices and I was intrigued at the variety and unfamiliarity of it all. In particular, I saw they had a range of large rounded oval buns, topped with caramel coloured crinkles, called Flossy bread. It did look a little like burnt sugar candy floss atop each bun, however, closer inspection of the ingredients sign proved the fluff to be nothing other than pork floss. They also had packets of bread, sliced in cross section and sold in assorted flavours and colours…Green Tea bread is lime green. Who knew? Each of these experiences is fascinating and we are soaking up the new culture around us with interest.
Saturday was Greg’s birthday and to celebrate we decided to make our first trip to the zoo. We ordered a taxi from the front desk and five minutes later went down to the foyer where our cab was waiting. The interior reeked of cigarette smoke which had Kenzie holding her nose and making gagging noises for about ten minutes after which time the aircon must have cleansed the car. We drove through such amazing scenery, such a contrast of urban superiority juxtaposed with raw native greenery, and arrived at the zoo 20 minutes later.
We had been advised to buy tickets that included free tram/train rides, which is what we did, before walking into a steamy and lush environment unlike anything we have ever seen before. It is hard to know how best to describe Singapore Zoo. It took our breath away with its beauty, seamless infrastructure, cleanliness and possibly most important to us, how content the animals were. The animal enclosures were generous and planted appropriately according to the species and their origin. There were wide, clean roads to walk down, and little paths leading closer to the animals, and refreshment booths dotted around, some even air-conditioned to provide a short respite from the heat.
We walked slowly until lunch time where we made our way to a spotless eating area with a good menu and enjoyed the break. After icecreams we then made our way to the amphitheatre where we experienced a very entertaining and professional wildlife show. The zoo is set around a lake and as well as its token worldwide exhibits, but also has a children’s playland with a KFC on the banks of the water. There is a children’s fountain and swimming pool and great play equipment, and this is where we caught the little miniature train that circled a loop past Animal Land, the domestic animal portion of the zoo, where farm animals are displayed. Of course we realise the average Singaporean child possibly has never seen a farm, so they must enjoy the experience of seeing cows, sheep, goats and pigs greatly. The stables made me laugh, each donkey or horse has its own fan positioned above them!
There were a number of tourists milling around us, but for the most part, it appeared that the Singaporeans themselves are the most frequent, respectful and enthusiastic patrons. By late afternoon our legs were tired so we hopped on the tram for a ride back to base and then caught a taxi back home. We were exhausted but exhilarated after our day and as we let ourselves back into the apartment we noticed there was an unfamiliar plastic bag atop the dining room table. It contained a birthday card and cake for Greg from the Resident’s Manager! We were delighted, it was just the thing to finish off the afternoon. We lit the candle that they had provided (taped to the cake box) and sang him H.B. I was thrilled, because I’d felt regretful that I could not make him a cake with our limited resources in the sparsely kitted kitchen, so this was a nice touch.
We then went down for a swim to end off what I think had been an enjoyable day for Greg, big bonus that it had fallen on a Saturday and he was able to spend it with us.
The girls are seem to be settling in, although Kenzie has become edgy and intense, quite normal for her, and to be honest I was waiting for it to happen. She is very socially inspired and without contact from others, becomes tricky to handle as she has no opportunity to express herself. She has become quiet and remote, and loses that bright, energetic, carefree nature she possesses at home. It is infuriating to watch her fade with loneliness and know that until we meet some other people with similar aged children, she will need to learn to become balanced with just being one of four. She enjoys reading and we have just started the
Maddy on the other hand thrives on minimal contact with other people, although is happy to make new friends if the opportunity makes itself easy! She is quite content and eating like a horse for a change. We have had no tantrums and only a few whinging sessions, and she says and does things that really make us laugh. A few nights ago Greg checked on her when we went to bed, to find she’d fallen asleep upside down with her head under her shawl. When he lifted her to put her head on the pillow, he noticed she’d fallen asleep with her sunglasses on.
Apr. 5, 2006 - Dining Out and Orchard Road
Our first real night in
We found a little place called Country Manna, which had a pleasant scriptural ring to it, and indeed on closer inspection, had verses etched onto the glass between cubicles. It was all much more familiar and less intimidating and although we felt like cowards, we settled in there and ordered some dinner. But, this meal experience revealed itself to be slightly different to what we are used to! The waiting staff literally flung the boarding-school china plates down the table where they bounced and slid towards us. The food had the freshness of preservation, if you know what I mean. Soup from a can. Pastry from a pack and a pizza too dry to swallow. The water was however iced, and most refreshing albeit every time the glass was a quarter empty, a teenage waiter appeared at the end of the table, grabbed each glass by the rim to refill it. No words or expression exchanged between him and us, so we learned to sit there in silence as he repeatedly demonstrated the
Once we had eaten all we could, we paid the bill and went off in search of dessert. This was interspersed with going in and out shops to browse until the kids began to fade. We stumbled across an icecream kiosk called Ben and Jerry’s and negotiated an unfamiliar menu board, ending up with four sorbets for the blistering price of $16. We crouched over a little table in the midst of streaming pedestrian shopping, and tried to hear ourselves think over the pulsating assault of some of the worst expletive rock/rap music we have ever heard. Finally we looked at each other with an identical expression, and taught the children the fine art of eating sorbet out of a cup while on the move up and down escalators. All in all a dining experience we were keen to avoid again.
The next day we decided to explore slightly further a field and after a morning swim, we set off to find the free shuttle bus to
We beat a hasty retreat, after discovering too that they had no children’s section. We did find a remarkable art and craft store, making up a whole floor, Spotlight meets Gordon Harris times ten. Here Kenzie wanted to buy nearly everything that was on her eye level and Maddy had fun rolling polystyrene balls along the aisles. In the building we also found an upmarket toy store, everything wooden or similarly possessing some targeted enrichment psychology. The staff behind the counter were enchanted by Maddy and blew bubbles for her with their magic machine and demonstrated the Mensa qualities of some of their toys. Enchantment does not cover shoplifting we can vouch, and as Maddy cheerfully left the shop clutching some wooden puppet we were chased by the store person to retrieve the stolen property in quite a snappy fashion.
Lunch time beckoned and so we found a food junction and although we were still tempted to quail at the worrying assortment of multiple stalls with strange offerings, we were determined to succeed. So we walked around and found a juice counter where ordered a drink each and found a table. Then, cash in hand I went off alone to hunt down some food. I found a Thai counter with a friendly face and averted my eyes from the rows of some sort of fowl, about the size of a tui, plucked and hanging from a rod inserted through where their eyes used to be. I successfully carried back to the table a tray bearing a large bowl of soupy stuff with noodles, beef and sprouts, and four little crispy spring rolls. OK, not so foreign, but one has to start somewhere and the whole tray cost us $6, and we felt triumphant for achieving a small step towards ordering local food.
The children have been adjusting, still out of sorts slightly and Kenzie looks pale and gets a wee bit grumpy, which is not usually in her nature. Maddy is also quite wan, gets tired easily and falls asleep at night in less than a couple of minutes. Their body clocks are still on NZ time, and they wake like me, very early and are at this present moment, lying fuming in their beds where I sent them to try to get some more sleep. They have both enjoyed the pool immensely so far and have surprised us with how settled they appear to be. They have expressed no fear or sadness, and are outwardly anyway, very secure. They sleep in different bedrooms (a first for them) and strange beds, in rooms which have views of the sparkling lights of the city which are a far cry from nikau palms and silver birch trees. Playing outside does not involve one blade of grass, nor a breath of wind, and this they take in their stride. It is really very serene here, more so than I thought. There are no sirens and little traffic noise and mostly all one can hear is the hum of the air conditioning, or the odd call of an unfamiliar bird. Thunder rumbles every afternoon and we crowd onto our little laundry balcony which is open to the air, and watch the spectacular lightening flash in sheets across heavy rain clouds above the city sky line.
Mar. 31, 2006 - Short beds and starfruit
Our Singapore Airlines flight was a reasonably pleasant experience despite the potential disaster of travelling with two small children. The thick novel bought to while away the flying hours did not even make it out of the hand luggage unfortunately, but on the good side there were no serious screaming tantrums, vomiting acts or other remarkable fits of violent despair-inducing drama.
The airline staff were serenely efficient and the picture of polite indifference. This was made apparent even when the head steward lay prostrate on the cabin floor, his head under Kenzie’s seat, brandishing torch and ice tongs while fishing for her chapter book. This had slipped down the side of her chair mid-flight and resulted in both her parents experiencing bruised and battered right arms as we each attempted to capture the missing book by jamming our oversized arms between the cabin wall and seat, to no avail. The children became extremely adept at managing the hand held controls for the interactive games, and this kept them occupied for at least 2-3 minutes at a stretch, before which time Maddy would request a new game. We were sitting next to an uptight business man whose heart must have sunk as he saw us advancing. I suspect he was muttering “not me, not me, not me…keep walking, keep walki….oh great”. Poor man. He ignored us completely and we in turn tried to pretend he wasn’t there. After a while we put the girls together on one side of the aisle and played the ‘whose turn is it to get up?’ game for the ensuing 9 hours to avoid the remorseful guilt I felt at wrecking this man’s business class peace and quiet.
We were fed serious gourmet food including practically raw meat, which was seared briefly but 95% of it left bright red and bleating, and a sad slimy stack of anchovies and capers...obviously our robust African upbringing has ruined any hope of us ever possessing a shred of good taste. Despite several near attempts, no glasses of liquid were completely over-turned accidentally, and a great additional bonus - the children both fell asleep, much to our deep delight.
The airport was the picture of seamless efficiency and we were processed out of the terminal within a quarter of an hour. A very cheerful shuttle bus driver was standing waiting for us, clutching his hand written sign for MR GREG, and shook all of our hands in genuine welcome, unfazed by Maddy’s dubious left-handed offering as right hand was otherwise engaged with thumb in mouth. We then stepped out into the tropical fragrant blast that is typical of
About half an hour later we drove into the open air foyer of our serviced apartment building and three enthusiastic security/porters descended on the van as it slowed down. Their friendly faces made up for the rather cold reception we received from the staff at the front desk, and after what felt like being read our rights, “Uncle Lee”, (an elderly shuffling man in worn black shoes with no socks) was commanded to take our luggage up to our apartment.
The apartment itself is a little sterile of course, and after our frosty briefing we felt too scared to touch anything. It doesn’t help that there are ornate Ming lamps and traditional Chinese vases out on decoration. I might stow them out of harm’s way should an errant skipping rope or flying child knock them onto the tiled floor, for which we have been firmly informed will be at our expense. There are half a dozen air cooling units around the apartment, all blasting an artic gale of 21 deg C, something I have adjusted up to 22 today, much to the staff’s disbelief. The units do not all hum cold tunes all day and night now and when we walk in from the warmth of the outdoors, it no longer feels quite so shocking and deep freezer-like. The place reminded me faintly of a tomb, with high ceilings, so any attempt to make it more comforting will be embarked upon.
We slept reasonably well, in tightly made hotel beds, which we discovered, are a little shorter than we are used to, and both of us slept with our feet hanging over the end. As I am such a midget, this really means the bed is made for dwarves and I am amazed that Greg managed to find a comfortable position at all.
The bathrooms are compact (real estate jargon for really cramped) and although tiled and gleaming when we arrived, their appearances have been rather marred with our army of toiletries making a haphazard scraggly regiment on every possible flat surface. I think I need to find a vegetable trolley to store under the basin, as one’s deodorant repeatedly falling into the toilet from it’s perch on the cistern is not a fantastic start to anyone’s day.
This morning we went off early on a hunt for breakfast, as apart from a having remarkably intact packet of digestive biscuits to devour (which a very clever friend had popped into our hand luggage), there was not a skerrick of food to be had in the house. The only shop open at the obviously un-godly hour of 9am, was good old Macdonalds. The kids and Greg tucked into hotcakes and apple juice but I dipped a toe into South East Asian cuisine and had a Himalayan Tea Latte. The tea was delicious…and not so exotic really, I think just another name for Chai Latte! Tasted the same anyway.
The shops eventually showed signs of opening at 11am, and we decided to do a grocery shop before we wilted. To get a trolley we discovered we had to put a dollar in the lock to unhook one. Much nuisance as we only had two fifty dollar notes! However, I prevailed and Greg rolled his eyes and went in search of change, and returned triumphantly pushing the trolley to the veggie section where we waited. There are lovely tropical fruits for next to nothing, like 16 cents per papaya and 32 cents for a star fruit (disgusting but we had to buy one just to try) and 1.95 for a half a delicious sweet watermelon. However, anything that has even half a whiff of being imported from NZ or
A trolley-full later, we had the sudden idea of asking the checkout lady whether the supermarket could deliver our bags to our apartment. She nodded and we grinned at each other with relief, lugging tired children with sore legs and ten bags of groceries would have been torture. We set off back to the apartment, each with a child piggybacking and about half an hour later the doorbell bing-bonged and a little man in a green Cold Storage tee-shirt stood at the door with our trolley! We found out later that we could have pushed the trolley back ourselves (through a basement level carpark and up the lift). Next time….
We also went on an exploration of our apartment complex, the facilities are quite astounding. The Kidz Lounge is a technological marvel with a padded indoor playground and an impressive gymnastic quality outdoor playground on a balcony. Maddy became more monkey than human in less time than it took to sit down and watch her squealing with joy while Kenzie cautiously began to familiarise herself with climbing slowly on the equipment.
The pool is also quite ridiculously lush, although it does service 34 floors of apartments so quite a large guest list, and therefore deserving of its enormous size and quality I suppose. Greg took the girls for their first swim this afternoon while I went on a hunt for some plug adaptors. I had to walk through the atrium foyer, down an open air corridor, through a huge wrought iron gate and turn a corner, along a short pedestrian tunnel and less than 60 seconds later, arrived at the entrance of the multi-level mall we had earlier been to for breakfast. This time it was busy, with gleaming shop fronts of label brands surrounding the perimeter, and a multitude of craft/market stalls crammed into the middle section. I was able to find my adaptors and bought three (last of the big spenders at 1.35 each).
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