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Friday, August 1st, 2008
It's August 1st - 11 days until school starts!
We got the CIS Handbook in the mail the other day, along with the names of Maxine & Sydney's teachers. Maxine has a Mr Derosa, and Sydney, Miss Wilton. The nerves are beginning to set in now. Both girls are fretting over whether they'll make friends, whether kids will be friendly, who they'll sit next to for lunch, whether they'll be behind in their work, whether they'll be wearing the "cool" uniform combination! My stomach just knots up when they start talking about it so I can only imagine how they're feeling!
We've got orientation next Thursday so I'm hoping that we can clear up a lot of the questions then....

Today we went to Arab Street to visit the fabric and bead stores. Wow! If you're shopping for silk - you're spoiled for choice! Maxine was in heaven - planning her dress designs. The store owners had the fabrics cleverly draped over mannequins so you could see how nicely it flowed and how the different patterns blended together. The colors were magnificent and the combinations of sheer and silks was just gorgeous. We also went to a few bead stores, of course. I was hoping to find some silver findings, but didn't……but did find lots and lots of Swarovski crystal!!!! Yippee!!! I came home totally inspired and whipped together another 5 pairs of earrings. I have made so many pairs of earrings that I think I have enough for one every day of the year! I saw an earring storage/display stand the other day at the plaza down the road from us. Maxine really wanted one, but I think I'm going to have to get one too! It was incredibly hot today and as much as we tried to stay out of the heat we were still dripping hot. Along the main road to the mosque there was a bazaar that was only on this weekend. There were lots of vendors selling cookies and brownies. We filled up on Snowballs which were actually small shortbread type balls of melt-in-your-mouth heaven!! We called in at most stalls so the kids could test all the M&M and chocolate chip cookies! I think we did them a favor - they would only have melted in that extreme heat!!

Sunday, August 03, 2008
Another change of plans! Not written in stone, so could change at any moment! Steven & Samantha & boys are coming in January, over Chinese New Year, instead of Christmas, which means we'll still be going there for Christmas! The girls get a week off school, so we could get away for a few days if the weather cooperates.

Rory and I went out for supper last night to an Italian restaurant in Holland Village. It was a terrible meal and I regretted not saying anything to them before we paid. We both had lasagna and it had obviously been warmed through under the grill and was so dried out that you couldn't even cut through the top. There was only one layer too, so basically it was just chunks of ground beef, with one unidentifiable layer of pasta, and swimming in a reheated bottled red sauce. When we got the food the plate was so hot, from being under the grill, that we couldn't touch the food for a good five minutes either! I was quite surprised since there was a steady flow of patrons and actually took reservations! We didn't have dessert there, opting to go somewhere else, but ended up not having any since we didn't feel so great after the icky lasagna - a first for us!!!!

Today we went to People's Park Shopping Center and got some beads for Maxine and granny. Okay, a few for me too! And I bought an earring display thingy that holds 100 pairs - I have only a few spaces available…..but I doubt that will last long!
Max has been making a lot too and wants to start selling her creations - GO MAXINE!!!

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
Sydney got her "orthodontic appliance" today. It consists of two plates, with a wire that passes over her front upper teeth. It's not nearly as bad as she thought it would be, although eating is a challenge. It will take some getting used to but I'm so proud of her - she really takes everything in her stride.

Today I found some more classes I might take in a small publication I picked up, purely by chance, at the library. It's called Craftholic and is choc-full of information on various stores, and classes for numerous different mediums - fused glass, silver, art clay, and parchment paper crafting called Pergamano. According to the description, parchment paper is embossed, stippled, perforated and then water-colored or inked to create different lacy patterns. Although this link is to a gallery of pictures showing the various techniques, it's not the actual place I'll be taking my classes. It still gives you a great idea of what it's all about though.

Rory left for India tonight. He text-messaged as he was waiting to board, saying that the flight was very full and very Indian. It's only a 5½ hour flight, and they're only 2½ hours behind us, so luckily it won't be too much of a haul getting there. The hotel he's staying in looks wonderful - can't wait to hear about it.

Thursday, August 7th, 2008
Today we met Andrea and Jean, and the kiddos at the American Club. Since it's over S$20,000 to join, we're NOT members! Some companies will pay for your membership, but not ours! Jean I both agreed that it's much easier to mooch a visitors pass off friends (Andrea) who are members!! We had a fun afternoon, albeit hot, sitting out by the pool, playing with Zoie (Andrea's baby) and eating pizza. It's been weeks since we'd met so it was nice to visit and catch up with what everyone had been doing over summer. The kids got to play in the arcade, computer room, go bowling, and just hang out. They got chat about the school and what to expect so I think they feel a little more at ease with going on Tuesday. Tomorrow's orientation will probably help too.

Rory's flight to India was somewhat interesting being the ONLY white dude on the plane! The liquor flowed freely during the flight which resulted in some very loud passengers, not that they weren't rowdy to begin with. Apparently, the Indian women were the worst culprits, standing in their seats and shouting across the plane to their friends aisles away! Rory had booked a seat at the bulk-head to allow for extra legroom, only to find that all the "aunties" gathered there the chatter during the flight, standing on his feet, bumping into him and making a real racket! When they got to Mumbai it was monsoon weather, pouring rain, and the pilot decided at literally the last second, about 100 feet off the ground, that they weren't going to land after-all - at that point his visibility wasn't good enough!!!! So, he cranked the engines and back up they went to circle a few times and try it again! As they landed, for real this time, all the passengers started screaming and shouting and clapping and praising the pilot for landing them. And to top it all, upon landing, two women seated at the back of the plane decided they wanted to get off the plane first, and proceeded to push and shove all their way to the front with their armloads of carry-ons, while the other passengers were already standing in the aisle waiting to disembark! I am, and Rory probably too, just sooooo glad I wasn't on that flight!!!! His hotel sounds lovely though, from what I can make of the little he's told me about it. Mumbai on the other hand is a third-world wreck! If there are roads they're filled with potholes and are just rivers of mud. There are so many vehicles on them that you could pick the nose of the driver in the car next to you, without leaning over! The roads are just so congested that when crossing the bridges to downtown the cars just take over all the lanes. If there are more cars heading in one direction, they take up the lanes of the oncoming traffic! Yikes!!!! And I thought Singapore was bad! Luckily Rory has a driver!

Friday, August 8th, 2008
We went to orientation this morning. We'd planned on going by taxi as I thought there would be a parking issue. I was right, but since I had to go draw money and was already in the car, we drove. Fortunately, I found a space pretty quickly, just lucky timing, but I had to PARALLEL PARK! On the wrong side. After going in-and-out, in-and-out, in-and-out about 30 times, I eventually landed up where I started. Screw it! I just got out, stood back to take a look, and figured that I looked like I'd made a valiant effort, locked the car and walked away, quickly, checking discretely to see if anyone had been watching!
Orientation itself went well - organized chaos, well, sort of organized, mainly chaos! All the "booths" were set up in the outdoor cafeteria which, with the addition of dozens of warm bodies, got very hot, very fast! We grabbed our PE uniforms and another set of school uniforms, signed up for the PTA and got out of there to go visit the teachers in the air-conditioned classrooms. Maxine's homeroom teacher, Mrs Nah, is very sweet - looks like she might have a really strict under-current!!! Maxine will have 8 kids in her homeroom, but will rotate with another 12 or so from other classes. Sydney's teacher, Mrs Wilton, is Australian and also teaches PE. Sydney will have one of her friends in her class that she met when we first arrived in Singapore, and she met another little girl as we were leaving. She also won't be the only newbie in the class - there's five more!!! I think the whole orientation helped settle a lot of nerves for us all!

Sunday 10th August, 2008
Friday night we cooked burgers and then watched the Olympic Opening Ceremony. It felt somewhat strange being more familiar with the Asian location. Six months ago we wouldn't have known the significance or importance of half the things featured in the ceremony. We were very intrigued with the sequence of the "Mandarin alphabet" in which the athletes were led into the stadium, trying to figure it out. As usual, it's the terribly long and drawn out part of the ceremony so we kept ourselves amused by giving some considerable critique of the uniforms and costumes or the various countries. America looked like they belonged in France…….ALL of the European countries used the same tailor - pockets, pants and lapels were all piped and bordered in contrasting colors! The Hungarians looked like they'd been attacked by a paint gun! It was a magnificent ceremony though and we were relieved for all that the weather held out.

Rory came home early Saturday morning. His homeward bound flight was much better than the outgoing one! He bought some beautiful gifts for everyone. Maxine and Sydney got some intricately hand-painted paper-mache trinket boxes, and granny got a hand-painted picture frame to take home. Rory bought me got a beautiful aqua-colored pashmina shawl. It is so incredibly light and soft, and just so beautiful. He also bought an elaborately carved soap-stone elephant. It's hollow, and inside the elephant is another elephant, with another small elephant inside that one!

Saturday night we watched the Singapore National Day Parade. It was a lot of "show" for one weekend! And it was more like a show than a parade. I had been trying to research about the route the parade would take, only to find out that it all takes place down on the Marina, on a floating stage - the biggest in the world! We watched it on TV, probably a good things since it rained for the first hour! It was really long - about 2½ hours and the first hour was all military show with lots of dignitaries and military personel. They had a few different planes and helicopters fly over and we could see them fly over and around our house as they made their way towards the Marina. We were standing at the sliding doors watching on TV and out the window at the same time. We weren't close enough to see the fireworks though, but once again, the aerial shots on TV probably showed them better. The whole show was very Disney-like from the stage show costumes to the voices of the singers and the actual lyrics. We half expected the seven dwarfs to come dancing across the stage.
We had ordered pizza for supper and waited almost 2 hours for it to arrive! I called to find out where it was and the order clerk to me it was on its way. It arrived about 30 minutes later, then another 30 minutes later, she called back to say that the driver had tried to deliver our order and that no-one was home. I told her that although we had waited almost 2 hours for our pizza, he had in fact already delivered it and we'd already finished eating it, so NO we would not like to cancel our order!!! The last thing I need is a record of a CANCELLED ORDER at our local pizza place!!!!

Monday, August 11, 2008
Yesterday we visited the Dragon Kilns again. It seems to rain every time we go there but it's such a fun and interesting place to visit. There are thousands of pieces of pottery for sale. It's all so beautiful that I enjoy just strolling around the place. They have giant vases that stand about 5 feet tall, to the tiniest little chopstick stands, and everything in between! There's a bunch of stuff we would like to get and we've already realized that when we leave Singapore we'll probably be stocking up on a truckload of things the last weekend before our shipment leaves! They do pottery wheel classes (I think it's called "throwing") as well, or you can just go for a couple of hours when you feel like it. I might try my hand at that sometime. Although, we watched one of the owners fashioning a big round wide mouthed bowl and he got all the way to what we considered be almost done, and then collapsed the whole thing! We never got to visit the Jalan Bahar Clay Studios which, although it is in the same location, is a whole other section, so a return trip will be required!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Well, after three and a half long months of summer vacation the kids have started school! Yipppppeeeeee!!!! The bus picked them up this morning at 8:15 (it was a little late - understandable the first day) at the house. It's a door-to-door service, and it doesn't come cheap! The bus was a little bigger than a mini-van, with about 4 other kids in it so I have no idea why it should cost so much!

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
Maxine and Sydney had a great first day at their new school. Althought they're at a Canadian school they've both made lots of new friends from all nations. They didn't do much schoolwork yesterday, instead having group assembly and meeting all the teachers. They have a different schedule everyday of the week which is going to be a challenge to keep up with! Maxine got put into the French class, which was a mistake, but it's already been sorted out. She was a bit overwhelmed since the teacher wouldn't let them speak ANY English. Maxine's friend, Megan, who is more fluent in French told her to just say "wee" to everything, which Maxine did, until Megan was re-shuffled to another teacher, mid-class, and then she sat in complete silence for the rest of the lesson!!!! Luckily, Sydney had Mandarin yesterday already and said that teacher was really friendly so Maxine is feeling a little better this morning. She has PE today. They're required to shower after each PE class so she's somewhat stressed about that - I would be too! Maxine has only one double lesson of art per week, so she's very disappointed about that. She's used to having a double lesson every day! Luckily we've got her into art lessons on a Thursday afternoon at what seems to be a really good art school. School lunches went well. Although they were each with their own friends, they both sat at the same table. The lunches aren't subsidized, so very expensive. They're taking homemade lunches most days and some days, perhaps Fridays, they can have school lunch. We'll have to check the menu first - one day they have Orange Chicken as an option - the kids love that! The bus ride couldn't be better - they're the last ones on the small bus in the morning, so it's only a five minute ride to school, and in the afternoon they're the first ones off the big bus, so again, a five minute ride. Overall they had a great day which is an enormous relief all-round! I'm loving the UNIFORMS!!!!!!
I'm looking forward to meeting some other parents, both new and existing, tomorrow at the PTA Welcome Coffee. Not sure what to expect, but we'll see.....

Thursday, August 14, 2008
This morning I went to the Canadian School PTA Welcome Coffee. While it was supposed to be a "welcome" coffee, I really didn't meet anyone! They had a long table full of breakfast pastries, coffee and juice, which I steered clear of for the most part. They also had tables set up with representatives from local sports clubs, Brownies, American Women's Association, and some people selling their handmade crafts. It was very well done, but most people just gathered in little groups chatting amongst themselves, or were looking at or buying craft items, so it really defeated the object of being a "welcome coffee". There are three different campuses that were represented at the meeting, so likelihood is, half of the people you're not going to know anyway, even if you've been there for a long while. Tsk, tsk, they should have had some way of making it clear to the existing parents, which of the guests were new to the school. They could have done with some names tags for everyone, with a different color for the new parents…..where is that suggestion box???
At times I had almost a surreal feeling that I was back at Town Center. There was a lady with such an uncanny likeness to Trish, even down to mannerisms - I kept on doing double-takes. I also "saw" the back of Christie S's head and almost found myself walking up to say hi! I felt like I was going to bump into one of my old friends any minute, but it didn't happen. It was so weird, and I felt so out of place, that I went to go sit down, with a glass of water. I felt so incredibly homesick and thought I would burst into tears any moment (which I did on the way home) Anyway, I went, I visited some stalls, I picked up a brochure on the Girl Guides, skateboarding lessons (sounded cool) and a business card for someone who makes really ugly birthday cakes! I came home, by taxi, and sat at the computer to investigate how I could fill my calendar with "other" stuff.....

Friday, August 15th, 2008

Today Granny and I went to Chinatown to pick up some gifts for her friends, and family. It was really hot out but we made it through with the help of some satay with peanut sauce and lemonade. They're already starting to put up decorations for the Mooncake Festival coming up at the end of August. It's going to be very beautiful - I can't wait for the tour we've booked on the 27th.

This afternoon, while I was hanging out laundry, I was chatting with our neighbor, Madam Ong. I don't see her that often so it was nice to chat with her, albeit in very broken English. She was asking what our dog's names are, and mentioned how the black one loves to visit with her!!!! I was horrified!!!! Here I am thinking we've solved all our "wandering dog" problems and Frisco has been visiting with her "often" while we're out. She said she didn't mind, that her daughter loves to pet him, but I was MORTIFIED!!!! My stupid mutt, jumping the fence, entering her home, and waiting for a back rub and a snack no doubt!!!!
As the conversation progressed she explained to me that she was busy preparing "offerings". This month, the 7th lunar month, is the month of the Ghost Festival. The spirits and ghosts of both the dead and the living are welcomed back into the home to spend the time with the family, who will leave empty seats at the dinner table for their "guests". Activities include preparing food offerings, burning incense and paper items, of which we've already seen a lot of around town. I haven't told the kids about the visiting ghosts and spirits - not sure how they would take it, especially Maxine!
I digress. Madam Ong was preparing a wonderful offering right outside her kitchen door, about 4 feet away from our fence. She must have noticed the look on my face when I saw the delicious looking and smelling roasted duck, perched on the end of the table and Buster nose sticking though the fence! My eyes must have glazed over as I had immediate and horrifying visions of Frisco or Buster leaping the fence "to visit" and making off with her duck offering! How was I to stop them??? The darned thing smelled DEVINE I couldn't exactly blame the dogs if they did decide to have lunch out! Yikes!!!! Last thing I need is to offend our neighbor and all her dead relatives! I closed up the back door to the dogs outside room, forcing them to get relief from the heat and sun under the front porch, which would at least keep them from going around the back of the house. I called Rory and explained our predicament. We both agreed that there were a lot of cats around our neighborhood. If the duck was not found in the actual mouth of one of our dogs then the cats would be to blame!!!! Get rid of the bones and no-one would know!
A few hours later, while hanging out the next load of washing, I noticed, much to my relief, that the offering table was gone, moved to an alternative location! Like I said, I think she must have seen the look on my face! Apparently, no hard feelings though since Madam Ong gave us some roasted pork and some steamed Chinese Pork Buns, or Cha Siu Bao!!! Sorry dogs, you lost out!!!!

Sunday, August 17th, 2008
We had a lovely morning at the Singapore Botanical Gardens. We went early to avoid the heat and since it was also clouded over it was perfect. We focused on just a small area, The National Orchid Garden, which in itself is quite expansive. There were dozens of different types of orchids flowering, all different colors, shapes and sizes, but all so delicate looking. We took lots of photo's so be sure to check the "Recent Photo's" page of our gallery. Maxine spent Saturday afternoon and night at a friends house along with 3 other girls. They took a taxi to one of the bigger malls, VivoCity where they went shopping, watched a movie, and got some ingredients for their homemade pizza from the market. I think it was a very late night as she's upstairs taking a much needed nap! I'm just happy she's made some good friends already and is having fun. It' so easy for them to get around here that she's going to be very dissappointed when we get back to Dallas and she has to rely on Mom to haul her around!

Monday, August 18, 2008
Tomorrow morning is the AWA (American Women's Association) welcome fair. They'll have a booth set up for each of their groups so I might get to meet the bead lady, and a few others, hopefully from the scrap-booking group, and even Bunco!!!

Kids are still doing fine. They're still complaining about being nervous for school, but I explained that it will take some time to get used to, until they feel comfortable with their surroundings and their new friends, etc. Maxine doesn't like PE. The coach makes them do "jungle laps" which are laps around the track which goes through the "jungle" at the back of the school. Not only does it get very steep and sometimes slippery, but there's wild monkeys back there too!!! I just know that at some stage Maxine is going to come face to face with a monkey - it's fate!!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Yesterday I spoke with one of the ladies that runs the beading group with the American Womens Association. They get together every 2nd and 4th Thursday morning, sometimes just meeting at someone's home and sometimes taking trips to bead stores. We joked about shopping for beads - that no matter how organized you are, you still are totally befuddled when you get to the store and end up buying oodles of stuff, only to get home and not have that one critical thing that you need to complete your project!!! She said that the group has varying skill levels, some are very experienced and talented and some like me, have a pair of earrings for every day of the year! She thought I would fit in very well!!!
We had storms last night, and it's raining again this morning, so I'm going to have to call for a taxi early since it can take up to 45 minutes to get one if it's raining! Grrrrr!
We've got the bug-man coming today. He's fumegates the yard with a leaf-blower type machine, except it's filled with some sort of insecticide! Then they come inside and and change out the ant bait under the sinks. Last time they were supposed to spray the baseboards as well, but didn't because of the dogs. This time I'm getting them to do it - upstairs at least - the dogs don't go up there. I don't want anymore critters running around!

Granny's starting to prepare for her homeward journey. I think she's repacked her boxes of Red Hat stuff a dozen times already! She leaves on the 29th.

Thursday, August 21, 2008
My calendar is begining to fill up - yippee! I'm going to be a "crafting genius" by the time we leave Singapore! In addition to my occassional scrap-booking classes, I've signed up for Parchment Craft classes - every Wednesday for the whole of September. Then the AWA beading group meets every other Thursday morning, and the scrap-booking group meets the other Thursday mornings! Those are both social groups so I don't necessarily expect to learn anything there. I haven't even got my beading and scrap-booking classes scheduled yet! Every other Friday morning there's a "morning coffee" at at one of the Starbucks cafes downtown. All those are ongoing. Even though I won't attend all of these get-togethers, it's nice to have them on my calendar as an option and to fill up some of those empty spaces! Having said all that, there's nothing that can replace early morning coffee and a chat with a good friend or two, or phonecalls and emails from faraway friends....so keep them coming! My sanity depends on them!

Maxine and Sydney's list of optional extra-curriculars for the next three months got emailed to us yesterday. There's quite a selection! In addition to the run of the mill soccer, netball choir, band and gymnastics there's also Cartoon Drawing Club, Chinese Culture Club, Kids for Kids community Reach, Climbing Wall, needlecraft, chanbara (Japanese martial arts with swords), wushu (Chinese Martial Arts), Art and Community Murals, and circus!!!
Maxine's interested in Art Club and the climbing wall, and Sydney wants to do choir and Chinese Culture Club. (I can't help but think of an Asian version of Boy George when I write that....!!!)

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

I went to the PTA meeting this morning. The Head of the School, who oversees all 4 campuses (or should that be that campii ??) gave a long talk. Couldn't recite any of it if I tried, but it seemed interesting at the time! They voted in some new executive members and then had a guest speaker. She's the music teacher's wife, and works for a counseling organization, SACAC. She gave a very interesting and informative talk on expatriation and relocation, culture shock, etc. While I thought I was getting along quite well of late, it seems I am only in the honeymoon faze and that the crunch is yet to come! Anywhere from 6 to 18 months after moving……expect to hit a brick wall! Crap! That's when you truly start to miss things like food from back home ~ helllooooo - I've been missing my fajitas for quite a while now! TV programs ~ double helloooo - we're watching the FIRST season of ER here! George Clooney is looking might fine, and very young! And, at that time you really start getting annoyed at the way things, in general, are different than what you're used to... Can you say maniac drivers, NO clothes for fat people that's onyone over a size 10 - if you're a size 12 and hadn't considered yourself fat don't come to Singapore; and how I could buy an entire cow back home for the cost of a good steak here, and humidity that could send your already short and curlies into frenzy mode???? Lordy, if I miss my Mexican food anymore I'll be making my own dough for tortillas - and that won't be pretty! I have managed to source some tequila - cheapest bottle was S$27 (about US$20) for a half-jack. No cheapy margarita tequila to be had here - only the real deal - which makes for some very expensive margaritas! But tasty!!! Hmmm, funny how most things always seem to come back to food……
I suppose one of the more difficult things I come across is identifying my own identity. If that makes any sense! Being born in England, and having a mixture of South African and British accent, it really throws people when I tell them I'm from Texas! I do come from Texas though and I really do consider it my home, but try and tell that to someone who's lived in 14 countries over the last 20 years! I seem to find myself having to "prove" that I've really lived in Dallas, not just made a fleeting pass through like most people I meet have in their respective locations. I even printed out some business cards with our names, address and numerous phone numbers on to hand out when I do meet new potential friends. I emblazoned them with a "howdy" written in rope text and numerous "lone" stars just to reinforce our Texan-icity! Although tempted, I thought longhorn skulls and spurs were pushing it a little! Oh well, the confusion makes for some conversation, if anything!

My mom and I went on the Chinatown Mooncake Walk today, with about 14 other ladies from the AWA. We had a great time and visited a lot of places that I'd seen before but never ventured inside. The tour guide must have been in her late 70's and since she'd spent her entire life in Singapore, except for a few years during the war, she was so full of knowledge and interesting facts about Singapore, the history and all the places we visited. She mentioned that some of the shops had been in existence for many many years - that she used to visit them about 50 to 60 years ago!!! We got to taste Mooncakes. There are two different types, one is more like a pie with a thick pasty crust, and sometimes questionable filling. We had the more palatable flaky pastry version. Although the filling was made of lotus bean paste it really didn't have much of a taste. we also stopped for some fresh lime water, which is a staple drink here. Our tour guide said it was the best in Singapore - it was delicious, very refreshing and very tangy! After the sweet treats we'd had it really made your mouth pucker!! One storeowner, who had moved to various locations within Chinatown, made woven rattan mats - they were beatiful. You can get one custom made to whatever size you want - placemat to king bed size! We browsed around a great restaurant supply store that sells kitchen equipment and supplies to local hotels and restaurants. They had a great selection of glassware, and some very interesting gadgets, including hand-carved wooden mooncake molds. If you get there first thing in the morning you can bump shoulders with some of the top chefs in Singapore looking for the lastest gadgets! The tailor we stopped at was of Indian heritage. Apparently they are better tailors for the bigger and "beefier" Caucasian figure! It was a fun morning and I got to meet some very nice people that I'll hopefully cross paths with again at other meetings and group get-togethers.

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

Beading Group was fun today. A little intimidating at first as they do a whole different style of beading than I've been doing. They do more of the weaving style. We got a supply list for the project we're going to work on next month. Although we're not "required" to work on the project, I am going to try it. It looks fairly easy, and I'll get to use some of my seed beads I've had for years! It does involve buying a crochet hook, thread and needles though, so a trip to the craft store is still required! It was a small group of 8 ladies, and one of them lived in Highland Park, Dallas! A few other were also familiar with Michaels, Jo-anns and other American stores which was nice for a change. The hostess lived in a 21st floor condo, beautifully decorated, which had a fantastic view of downtown. I can only imagine the rent they must pay for such a location!!! I'm hoping I have not only the skill, but the patience to finish this project!!!

Rory, on the whole, is enjoying his job here. As with any other job, each day is different depending on who have to deal with, what work has to be done, and your own frame of mind! He's the only Caucasian in the office which I think can be a bit frustrating. His employees seem to like him and they all have a good rapport though, which helps. Some days can be quite boring though. He often has to take conference calls late in the evening so they can accomodate the US office, as well as India and China. For now, he has the luxury of working downtown and can walk anywhere for lunch along Orchard road. Come next year, when they move to the plant on Jurong Island the traffic will be worse and it's at least a 45 minutes drive away. No options for lunch out there! You have to go through a security check point to get on and off the island since that's where all the petro-chemical plants are - not an ideal location! The ladies that work in the office were not impressed about the move since they've been working along Orchard Road, the shopping and dining mecca of Singapore, for years. At the plant they have to "dine" at the canteen!! The only "pro" is that they'll all get every second Friday off. Ahhhhhhh! The Silver Lining!

Sunday, August 31st, 2008
It seems Granny got home safely, after leaving late Friday night, and everyone was very pleased to see her.

We had a somewhat quiet day yesterday. Rory and I went to the Comex Electronics Fair at Suntec City, where he bought a new computer. We got there early so went to Starbucks for a cuppa. While browsing through the leaflets he came across an ad for the computer he wanted, at $300 less than what he'd previously seen it selling for. So, when the doors opened we walked straight to the booth, said I want one of those! Two minutes later we were waiting for the elevator with a new computer! Not only did we get a good price, we also got a wireless keyboard and mouse, a really good headset, a 4gb memory stick, and some software, PLUS a fold-up cart to carry it all home on!!! Awesome! Rory spent the evening setting up his new toy……..
Last night the kids had a sleepover at their friend's house, so Rory and I were on our own!!! We thought about going on a "date night" but decided to just stay close to home and enjoy the peace and quiet at home.