Now I Remember

Sometimes you need to do something you haven't done in a long time to remember why you vowed never to do it again. Like the Polar Bear Swim. Or drinking grape soda.

This morning I remembered why you should never, ever, under any circumstances, go to Mustafa on a) a Saturday morning after 8, b) with children, or c) on Saturday morning after 8 with children.

Because it sucks.

Some of my friends might think I'm crazy for going to Mustafa at 5:30 a.m. on Saturdays, but having the freedom to shop alone (and I mean totally alone) is worth so many hours of extra sleep. Mustafa, under the right conditions, is a glorious one stop shopping experience that I'm sure has saved me hundreds of dollars during my stay here. Under the wrong circumstances, it's right up there with heavy dental work on the torture scale.

What amazes me is how many people are willing to endure those conditions. Don't they know it's open 24 hours a day? I propose a country wide schedule where people can sign up for a time, thereby spacing out the number of shoppers. But no one can sign up for Saturdays from 5:30-7. I have dibs.

Pine Wood Derby

They say a good story needs conflict. If I may be so bold, this is a good story.

The annual Cub Scout Pine Wood Derby was today. Ethan's worked hard on his "Legomobile" (could it have been anything else?). He is a "Wolf Scout" which means one step up from Tigers, but below Bears and Webelos. We drove the long haul up to the Singapore American School in time for the Wolf Rank registration from 10-11. As we neared the school, Erik said, "Do you have your car buddy?"
To which Ethan replied a meek, "No."

Quick, think. It's 10:25. Registration ends at 11. The race is at 11:15. It takes about 1/2 hour to get here. We can't possibly go home and back in time.

I suggested we call our neighbor and ask a giant favor. Erik hesitated until I insisted that we had no other choice. Mark was willing, and he grabbed the car and headed our way.

Inside, the Derby was running late. Good thing because the car showed up at 11:10 still needing to be weighed. The cars can't be over 5 ounces. Ethan's was 5 ounces at home, but there it weighed just over. Get the knife! Erik frantically scraped chunks of wood out of the bottom of it. Weighed again - still over. Try another scale! Perfect.

We slipped our "late entry" car into the mix just in time for the first heat. Ethan's car was in it, and he won! Each car races three times. Second heat, 1st place! His third heat wasn't until the very end, but he easily pulled another 1st place finish.

But wait! The timers were broken today, so the cars were given points rather than times. There was another car who also placed first three times, so they had a face off. Ethan won by a nose.

Now as great as all that was, it meant we had to stick around another hour for the grand finals. Unfortunately Ethan didn't place in that race, but he was happy enough to be the Wolf Champion.

Erik does the last minute whittling to get Ethan's car down to the right weight.


Ethan's car is the second one in. We used magnets to make the top look like a Lego. I'd like to take credit for the Lego idea. As usual though, Erik gets full credit for the engineering.


We like to call this one, "Eat my dust."


The tie breaker for 1st place in the Wolf Rank - Ethan won!


Last year Ethan got an award for Best Design. He had no idea what it was for, but he was thrilled. This year he knew what he'd won and he was pretty proud!

Reading Like a Pro

Ok, this is one of those brag-on-my-kids post. If you get annoyed with those, you should just stop reading right now.

The topic of this post is Megan reading. Some time in the fall I checked out a book called Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo, who also wrote Because of Winn Dixie and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane which is absolutely wonderful. Mercy Watson is a pig, for the unenlightened. Well, the kids liked it so much that two weeks ago I checked out Mercy Watson Fights Crime. The kids usually plunk down on the living room carpet and browse through our books when we get home, but Megan didn't just browse Mercy Watson - she started reading it. She read the whole thing. It's a chapter book! She's not even 6! Now, by Singaporean standards she should have been doing this by age 4 at the absolute latest, but I'd say that's pretty good.

So we returned that one and got Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride and Mercy Watson to the Rescue. She read both of them in an afternoon. I'm a little baffled as to where to go from here with her. If anyone has some suggestions for books around that level, I'm sure she'd be happy to read them.

Ethan (just to balance out my bragging) is immersed in Magic Tree House research guides and Magic School Bus chapter books. He's evolving into a walking encyclopedia as a result. It's so fun to see my kids take off in reading and love it!

We Have an Eight Year Old!

Ethan's willing to give me a smile while he waits for his cake



This picture's a bit blurry, but hey, it's an action shot! Truth be told, my photo skills were lacking this day. But do you see the red balloon about to hit the birthday boy? Way to hold him Aaron!


Seems like just yesterday I finished watching The Truman Show with friends, started doing dishes, and went into labor. (I don't believe either of those activities influenced me having contractions). But apparently it's been eight years since that night! Ethan requested a "Star Wars Lego" birthday party. We bought Star Wars party supplies in the States last summer and made do with sticking Star Wars Lego figures all over his cake. He was satisfied.

The great thing about an eight pack of party supplies is that it limits the number of guests. I'm all about small birthday parties with no games. Thankfully, this is what my son also enjoys. So he invited seven good friends over for a swim party, a water balloon fight, cake and ice cream, and gifts. His wish list - Mars Mission Legos and Transformers. He got both and some Star Wars figures to boot so he was mighty pleased.

Singaporean spring

For the month of February, it seems, it is spring in Singapore. The rainy season is over but the clouds are still covering the sun, and nice breezes come from . . . well, somewhere. It is a time we wish would last forever, when we leave our windows open almost constantly (thereby enjoying lower utility bills) and wonder why anyone wouldn't want to live here, or at least visit.

Then, overnight, it is over. This year it happened last Friday night. We woke up Saturday, shut the windows, and started sweating again. We'll stop sweating maybe next November, when the rainy season hits again. The upside of this time is that the pool becomes much more enjoyable and necessary. The downside is that some mornings the need for air conditioning hits at about 6 a.m. It was good while it lasted!

Words of Affirmation

Our daughter's love language is words of affirmation. She's always been one to cheer others on and affirm them without prompting. Then again, she can take that sweet little tongue, turn it around, and use it in quite unholy purposes. But that is another post.

For some reason lately she's been on a roll with the encouragement. Each night I get a litany of how I'm the "goodest mommy in the world" or "this is the mommy I love the best!" or "I love you more than anything!" Ethan and Erik are also affirmed in their roles as brother and daddy, but I'm usually the one tucking Megan in so I get the lion's share. I'll admit, if it's just her way of getting me to linger over bedtime, it's working.

Look, mom, a satellite!

Ethan and I have a running joke about how every time we think we see a star, we realize it's just a satellite. We've always lived in very urban areas where stars can't be seen. And aside from one time when he was small, we've only been in the U.S. during times when the sun goes down too late for him to see stars.

In the Mae Sa Valley last week, we were walking back to our cabin after dinner, and we realized at the same time that we could see thousands of stars. I got to point out Orion to him, which he kept calling Ryan (it's the only constellation I know besides the big dipper). The next night he found it himself.

Next winter we plan to go back to the U.S. for several weeks. I'm looking forward to doing a unit on astronomy with real stars! Until then it will just be, "Look, mom, a satellite!"

Mae Sa Valley day 2

Our resort offered a variety of handicraft activities, so our three families chose papermaking for the morning. We picked leaves and flowers, flattened a ball of fiber over a screen, and made patterns in it which what we'd picked. They took it from us and set it out to dry. Then we stirred a huge vat of fiber filled water and took turns scooping it up with a screen, which makes thinner paper. We got to take our creations home (yay! Another carry on!). As I watched my kids stirring with wooden paddles I thought, "Yeah, I didn't do this as a kid. We're really blessed in a unique way."

After another painfully slow lunch, we spent the afternoon at the stream. Well, most of the kids did - I spent the afternoon with Megan playing garbage, this new card game we learned. She was surprisingly happy to stay back at the cabin and play. I think she just enjoyed having me or Erik all to herself.

For dinner we thought we'd try something down the road thinking it would be faster. Think again weary travelers! We found a roadside place that looked promising, until we realized that their English was non-existent and so were many of the items on their menu. The first family got their food within a reasonable amount of time, although one person did get a green Fanta when a Sprite was ordered. After more than an hour, I started realizing how people on reality shows like Survivor get so petty and shallow - they're hungry! The kids were going a bit stir crazy, and then the waitress came out and said, "All done?" to which we all protested vehemently. Turns out when they brought the Pad Thai for the first order, they crossed it out on all three, and so on for all subsequent food. Long story somewhat shorter, we got there at 6 and left at 8. So much for fast.

After the kids went to bed, we adults entertained ourselves playing Bang (card game) and watching season 3 of The Office. It's a funny show to begin with, but when you're watching with others, it's even funnier. I'm tempted to launch into a string of quotes from the show, but I'll abstain. Thus ends day 2.

Mae Sa Valley

After weeks of "are we or aren't we?" waffling, based mostly on our inability to contact any resorts near Chiang Mai, and compounded by Megan's accident, we decided to spend our extra four days after the conference in the Mae Sa Valley outside of Chiang Mai with our friends, the Hausmans and Olivers.

We were a little afraid that Megan's foot might slow us down, or limit our activities, but she's been taking her cast in stride. We were a little daunted when we saw that our resort is built into a hill (lots of stairs!) but it's beautiful and fun. A little like being in a hobbit village, with all its cute little bungalow topped with straw. It's a bit primitive, I'll admit, but kids don't seem to notice much and we just pretend we're doing high end camping. The kids were surprised by the temperature - after living in Singapore, they can't conceive of places that are in the 50's in the morning and then warm up later in the day. So we've been somewhat unprepared for that aspect. Funny that the Singaporeans dwellers have to come to a cold place to vacation for a change.

Mae Sa Valley day 1
We spent a little time exploring the grounds, and the kids decided the river was the most appealing fun. Ethan has never met a river he didn't want to cross. Once they'd all taken turns falling in, we went for dinner. There's a nice little restaurant there, but the number of tables was deceiving, as it appeared they only had enough cooking equipment to serve one family at a time. Our six adult, eight child group overwhelmed them, as did our inability to speak Thai. Erik's always mocked my mime background, but it sure does come in handy in those situations. As the temperatures dropped, we retreated to our cabins and were thankful for thick comforters.

Mae Sa Valley day 3

Thailand and elephant rides seem to go hand in hand. So we piled into our rented car and threw some extras on motorbikes and headed down the road to the Mae Sa Elephant Camp. We were late, so we thought, "We'll just ride the elephants now and come back later for the show" which turned out to be a good idea. I knew that the thrill of elephant rides has worn off for me when within a minute of starting I sighed and rested my head in my hand. Really, it does get old.

The show in the afternoon was mildly entertaining, though trying to keep our kids from running out in front of the wandering elephants afterwards proved nervewracking. We thought about going to a nearby waterfall, but realized the kids would be just as happy playing in the stream again. The men even got into it and tried to dam it. I'll give them an A for effort.

We adults had a brilliant idea for dinner. The Hausmans took the early shift for dinner from 4:30-6:30 while we and the Olivers watched all the kids. Then they put a video in for the kids while the rest of us went out to dinner. We ate at a place near a waterfall, with beautiful umbrellas lit by lanterns, and I thought, "I love my job!" We get to live in this amazing place and travel to places I never dreamed I would be. The food was great, although it could have been stale and tasteless and we probably would have been happy just because it came right away. We asked for a dinner menu which was all in Thai aside from "caramel custard" and "homemade ice cream." Erik asked about another one, and all we could make out from the broken English was "beans" and something that sounded a lot like, "raw meat." We passed, but they brought it anyway! No raw meat, but kidney beans and some other questionable items floating in a warm sweet soup. Very common in this part of the world.

Before bed, we spent an hour talking about what we learned at our conference, then, to counteract that depth, we watched a few more episodes of The Office. Oh, and the Hausmans found about 1,000 ants in their bathroom, starting from the corner, running down the wall, across the back of the toilet, and having a hey day all over their toilet seat. That's enough to make you want to hold it for a good long time.

Pictures to come when I find my card reader.

Dangerous Crocs

The next time your dear little one is heading out the door wearing Crocs, you might want to remember these pictures. Here I thought that it was a blessing Megan was wearing Crocs when her foot got caught in an escalator, since I thought her wearing open toed shoes might have caused more damage. Turns out she probably had the accident because she was wearing these. Granted, the escalators were not up to safety par in anyone's opinion, but look at her shoe! My daughter's foot was in this. You can't see it too well because the material bounced back, but when it first came off her foot, the top part was twisted 180 degrees away from the bottom (see those cracks on the inside?). Her toe was broken in multiple places and she had stitches on three sides of it. Several nerves had to be reattached and one tendon was severed and couldn't be fixed. She'll have a cast for a total of five weeks. I'm not normally one of those doomsday moms, but this is one of those things that is so easily avoided. It may only happen to one in a million, but believe me, you don't want yours to be one of them.

Oh, and no, we aren't reporting this to Crocs. Why? Well, because it was a fake Croc and I'm guessing they don't care about that. But people have told me that the fake Crocs are actually a stronger material than the real ones, so I suspect it's more likely that the real ones could be caught in a moving floor. There, I've done my duty to society.

Our Biggest Thai Adventure

As if hot dogs in our waffles weren't enough, Megan decided to make this the ultimate trip to remember by landing herself in the hospital on Monday night with a severe Croc meets escalator injury. Yes, I now know it is common knowledge in the U.S. that Crocs and escalators don't mix, but that news has been slow to reach Asia. Until now.

Here's the situation - I was in the hotel room with a nasty head cold while Erik took the kids to the adjoining mall for dinner. On the way home, the Croc got caught and mangled, and Megan's middle toe was nearly severed. Erik scooped her up, and a friend who happened to be nearby helped him get to a hospital right around the corner. Being there from the beginning has made this a much more traumatic experience for my husband than me. He was gracious, as always, to protect me from the worst, so I had some time to absorb the depth of what happened. Here's the progress of my knowledge:
7:45 Erik calls and says, "Megan cut her foot and she'll need stitches. She'll be fine. You don't need to come."
8:00 Our friend calls and says, "You probably should come."
8:15 I get there and see that Megan's foot is already bandaged, so I'm wondering what the issue is. Erik tells me we have to wait until 11 p.m. to operate. Operate? Oh, there's nerve damage.
I think we probably will have to stay overnight.
10:30 They take her to the operating room. I feel like passing out because I remember I'm still really sick and shouldn't have been standing for the past three hours.
1 a.m. We go to the recovery room where the doctor starts talking about the tendon that couldn't be reattached, the artery that wasn't severed which kept blood flowing and probably saved the toe. And it hits me, "My baby almost lost her toe." Then he tells us we need to stay 3 days, probably 5.

If I'd had all that information at 7:45 p.m. I think I would have lost it. Although it killed me that my little girl had this horrible experience without me there initially to comfort her, I know that it's spared me the worst of it, and it was a lot easier for me to put on a brave smile when I was there (Megan is so sensitive that if I cry about anything, she will cry).

But last night, after two full days in the hospital, we got the great news that we could leave this morning. Since our hotel is right around the corner, the doctor felt it was safe for her to be there. She'll have a cast for five weeks and will always have less movement in that toe, but we have seen God's faithfulness in this situation. He's provided so many friends here who've helped with meals and entertaining Megan, and He's granted her healing that has amazed the doctor. Most of all, I feel like He's given us great peace and sustained us through it all. Thanks to those of you who have prayed for her!

There's a Hot Dog in My Waffle! and other Thai Adventures

It seemed like a good idea. Since I was buying pad thai for my kids for the first time (traditional Thai noodle dish) and so was my friend Martha, we decided that buying the waffles on a stick would be a good alternative if they didn't like it. When they bit into them, they found hot dogs. Not just regular hot dogs, but the nasty flaming red piecemeal hot dogs you can find here in Asia that make Oscar Meyer hot dogs look organic. What a waste of 30 cents. Good thing they liked the pad thai.

We have two adjoining rooms here. The first morning Ethan shut the door between the rooms and said, "Mom, it's ok that I shut the door because I have the key!" A minute later he told me that he'd tried 10 times and the door wouldn't open. I tried. Erik tried. I told the front desk. They frowned at the idea that their keys couldn't work (these are actual keys, not cards). The bellman came with me and he tried the key. I was sincerely hoping that it wouldn't work for him so I wouldn't look like an idiot. He realized that someone must have turned the deadbolt, so he went off for the one master key.

When he returned and opened the door, we discovered that some little person had also thrown the other lock, you know, the one that lets you open the door about three inches? When that happened, the bellman looked at me and threw his hands up in defeat. I set off in search of a leatherman tool.

I was surprised how quickly I found one. Do all guys carry these around? I think I need one. I intended to use the screwdriver and take the piece off the door, but I couldn't maneuver it. The man indicated that I could pry another part off for the same effect. So I pried one off, and he pried off the other, and we were in.

Thailand is not without its own version of crazy English. One day for lunch we had "white baan curd in brown sauce" and "stir fried blocolie." Last night we were blessed with "Mini Stone Soup." Yum.

Did you know that this year the king of Thailand had his 80th birthday? You can't be in Thailand and not know this. To help you celebrate, you can buy a wide variety of clothing and paraphernalia, mostly in pink and yellow, and show your love and support for the sovereign. I might buy one of those little rubber bracelets. I only love the king 100 baht worth.

So that's been our adventure so far.

No Unpaid Tickets Here

I have to say that in several ways, Singapore has a leg up on the U.S. in terms of efficiency. This is most obvious when it comes to transportation. The public transport system here is spectacular, which is good because it's a tiny island with 4 million people and you can't have all of them running around in cars.

I've mentioned a few of their nifty systems before. This week I landed on the wrong end of one of them, but I'm still impressed by it. I got a ticket for "non-payment of ERP charge." Specifically, the letter sitting next to me says, "We would like to bring to your attention that on 18 December 2007 at 5:46 PM, you vehicle SFU2512U was detected passing through the ERP gantry at CTE Northbound before exit to PIE without a CashCard properly inserted into the In-vehicle Unit."

What that means is that I didn't pay a road toll. Our cars here have a box on the dash where you put a credit card that has money on it. As you drive into high traffic areas, there is a Electronic Road Pricing overhang that automatically deducts money from you. That is, if your card is in there. Mine was low on cash, so I had pulled it out because otherwise it beeps annoyingly. Plus, I was going north AWAY from the city, so I was surprised to come upon an ERP at all.

I've done this once before. It's a horrible feeling driving under that thing without a card. You hope that somehow they didn't see you, but within days you get a ticket in the mail, and you just can't argue with it. They KNOW it was you. If I don't pay the $10.50 within 14 days, my fine will increase to $70. If I pay it online it will decrease to $8.50. What a bargain! I don't imagine there is any issue with unpaid tickets here in Singapore.

The Brief Gingerbread House of '07

Gingerbread houses still make me twitchy. If you don't know why, you probably haven't read this post. And yet, here's another year where I found myself buying a gingerbread house for my kids to make. We made a treasure hunt of it, hiding the house out in our complex, then giving the kids GPS clues to find it (this was partly an attempt to make geocaching more exciting for Megan, because right now she's not down with this being a family hobby).

It started out ok, after the hiccup of realizing we needed to make our own icing. We knew we couldn't keep it up for long (see ant post of previous day). But we didn't realize how not long that would be. See for yourself.



Looks good so far doesn't it? No apparent structural faults.


But what's this? It appears the roof is beginning to cave in, and the side is starting to buckle. Must be the excess of icing making it soggy, or perhaps the weight of way too much sugar.


As I was writing the word "condemned" on the side, the roof gave in, making my statement rather obvious.

And then it collapsed completely. That lasted all of about 10 minutes. But the kids had fun and will eat as much of it as I let them (not much) later. Why do I do this to myself?