Bok Choy, anyone?

This morning the Newcomer's group that I joined back in January took a field trip to the Little India wet market. The leader's son, Aaron, just graduated college as a chef so he met us there to educate us on all the local fruits and vegetables and how to cook them. Some day I would love to go back and look at the rest of the stalls as today we concentrated only on the produce - I will skip the meat stalls, though, as the smell is a little overwhelming! It was very interesting and I'm looking forward to trying some of the local produce.

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Egg noodles, anyone? These are used in stir fries. There were also bean sprouts (kind of hidden behind the lady on the left) and tofu. You can also purchase fried tofu - seems like that defeats some of the purpose of tofu but on the other hand anything fried tends to taste better!
This man was cutting up jack fruit. We all tried a piece and I wasn't too impressed. It's more of a melon-y flavor than sweet. We were told that it's better dried as the flavor is more concentrated so I'll try it that way first before I completely write it off. We also sampled some rose apple which was bland - not bad, though. The bright pink fruit behind the jack fruit is dragon fruit - it looks like a white kiwi inside but has a very bland flavor. Here is one of the fruit stalls - notice that there are a lot of recognizable fruits as well! There are mango's in the box by the lady with the pink shirt.

Aaron is explaining to our group the different vegetables and what they are used for. One that I want to try soon is called baby bok choy. I will have to post a picture because I'm not sure how to describe it. You steam it and than add an oyster sauce and dried shallots (type of red onion) to the top. I had it at a hawker's center once and really liked it...now it's time to try making it myself!
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I'm not sure if I already posted about a provisioner so if I have please forgive me. I had a man call me last week who is known as a "provisioner." He calls each morning, except Sunday, and asks if there is anything you need. He can deliver anything you can buy in a supermarket to your home - usually before 6pm that same day. He has been a life saver to me as he can usually get hard to find items - like Pillsbury crescent rolls:) I haven't used him every day but there have been times when I haven't been able to make it to the grocery store so I've had him bring milk, oj, spices, Coke, beef bouillon, applesauce (which I can't find), and Kosher salt. I also found an online butcher the other day where I was able to order brisket - a cut of meat that is hard to find here. Most things from back home are available here - you just need to know how to find them! We have pork ribs in the slow cooker for supper tonight:) YUM! Add some real mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, and bakery bread and you have a good KC meal! Incidentally, slow cookers are very popular here - most likely because they save you from heating up the kitchen with the stove.
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This one is for Dad R - I can hear a thunder storm moving in:) Days that there is rain it's so humid that you find yourself taking a shower 3 times a day!

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One Last Note of Interest:

For those of you who have been following the news there have been several earthquakes in Indonesia (Sumatra, which is directly to the West of Singapore) this past week. It's possible that they are gearing up for another big one like the one in 2004 that caused the Indian Ocean tsunami. Singapore has been proclaimed by geologists as one of the safest places in the world, tectonically (safer, even, than Central Illinois should a big quake occur along the New Madrid fault line.) Since Singapore is a relatively young nation most high rise buildings have been built to withstand the tremors that we do feel from the bigger earthquakes. We haven't felt any of the past week's tremors.

If you are interested I posted a link below that will give you more information on Singapore and earthquakes.

http://app.nea.gov.sg/cms/htdocs/article.asp?pid=1199

Oh! How could I forget the POOL?!?

The darker water in the forefront of the picture is a child's wading pool. The main pool is behind it.

Kenton is getting ready to go underwater! They have really started to turn into little fish - we are glad that they have overcome their fear of the water finally.
"Take a picture of me going under water, mommy!" She was too fast so I caught her coming up:)
And of course we can't forget about my little buddy!

Another Snapshot of Our Lives

With the following pictures please keep in mind that pictures haven't been hung yet or walls painted. Katie - this shows what some creative picture taking can do with the mess that is still there:)

This first picture is of Kaitlyn's room. This is also our GUEST room for when all our GUESTS come to visit (hint, hint!)

Here is our office and where we e-mail and Skype to you from. Keep in mind that I kind of just shoved things onto shelves and in drawers and under the desk so it's a little messy yet! The lamp was left here by the previous tenants and I just realized that the shade is tipped - now it's going to bug me that I can't just reach in there and fix it! How do you like our new computer monitor? Ryan won it at his company supper so we hooked the Wii up to it and will eventually hook up our computer as well - you will all be in HD when we Skype so look your best! :) Joan - do you see my "Angel of a Friend?"

This is our front door. The door that is hiding off to the right of the picture goes into the kitchen which is the door that service men use, the provisioner, and the maid - if we had one! This area is enclosed by a metal gate so we can leave all our shoes, stroller and wagon in this area as well.

Woodgrove Condo, where we live, is pictured directly behind the Woodgrove St. sign. Our apartment is hidden by the palm trees...

Note the plunger in the corner...when I first sent this picture to my family several people pointed it out. So I decided I better mention it first this time least you think we are tacky people! It is covering a drain hole and our Realtor advised us that it's there for a reason - maybe when it rains heavily the drain backs up??? I guess we will find out soon enough:) This balcony is off our of living room and the office also has windows that overlook it.

Our master bedroom - we have our own private balcony although we've never used it! In fact the white metal gates covering the sliding glass doors are locked and I haven't taken the time to figure out which key fits it yet! The previous tenants left us a nice little wooden chair to sit on, even. The desk and mirror are built in and couldn't be changed - the wicker chair and the lamp also came with the place. We were fortunate to be left a grand total of three lamps:) I just noticed that there is also a TV stand that was left here that is at the foot of the bed. Since we don't have a use for this I'm not sure what we are going to do with it yet...any ideas? (Storage room is full and if we pitch it we may be held accountable.)

Kenton and Ethan's room sports a bunk bed that is tall enough for a dresser to fit under. We figure that when E is out of the crib we will sell the crib and dresser and put a little toddler bed under there and make it into a fort. Maybe he'll actually stay in his bed that way???

We have wardrobes here instead of closets. Trust me when I say that a closet has so much more space than a wardrobe! Our world map was kicked out of the office due to a lack of wall space and found a home in the boys' room. Incidentally - Ethan doesn't sleep in this room. He's still in a pack n play in our room which begs the question - "WHY do we have a crib?"

The wardrobe in this room is not built in and was also left by the previous tenant. We transformed it into a toy cabinet as it's in the office. Oops, Katie! Guess I didn't get EVERYthing hidden well!

Another view of Kaitlyn's room to prove to our future GUESTS that you get your own private balcony! What is NOT shown is how BIG your own private balcony is! You also get your OWN private bathroom:) So, who's up for coming first???

E and the Wii

Ethan likes to do EVERYthing that his big brother does! The other day I found him with a door stopper in one hand swinging it around like the Wii controller! Kenton was setting up his next game and I think that Ethan thought HE was the one making the screen do it's thing:)

A Typical Sunday

I found this picture so thought I'd post it to let you know that we feel your pain! We haven't completely forgotten what the cold feels like:)

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Several people have asked lately how our Sunday's have been going here without a "church" to attend - what our typical routine is. Here is how our typical Sundays go:


We wake up around 7 - 8am and eat breakfast together. The twins take showers afterwards and Ethan gets a bath just like we did back home. After everyone is squeaky clean:) and in our church clothes we start Sunday School. We like to be started by 9:30 just for consistency. The last week's lesson is reviewed, roll call taken (Ryan insists on this which the twins think is funny), memory verse stated then we begin the week's lesson. Usually we let the twins take turns reading it aloud with Ryan stopping them occasionally to drive a point home or ask questions. The lesson tends to stick better this way! After we are done reading they do the work book page and we each take a turn picking out songs to sing together until we have gone around the table twice. Once our piano is hooked up (it's electric) our morning service will go on a little longer as we will be able to sing together better. After Sunday School - around 10 - 10:30 we begin our service. We have either listened to CD's that have been sent to us or we download a sermon from Bro. Mike Fritz's website. We are finished by 11 - 11:30 which is 9 - 9:30pm Saturday evening back home so we can have a "fellowship" time. This is usually accomplished via Skype. We have participated in singings, Bible studies, or have talked with brothers and sisters after a singing back in KC. Lunch is usually around 12:30 or so consisting of sandwiches, fruit, veggies, and chips - a lot like back home minus the sweets!


Our afternoons tend to be quiet - we have taken walks, taken the kids swimming, taken naps, played games together, or read books together. Supper is around 6pm after which we fall back into our "school night" bedtime routine - translation - early!

We are promised that where "two or three are gathered" He will be there. We have felt His presence in our little "church" but we do miss the fellowship of back home!

"Behold, O Jesus, we implore Thee,

Thy flock assembled now before Thee,

That we may, Lord, Thy blessings find!

O raise Thy hand in heav'nly blessing,

Thy Spirit true our hearts possession,

Which makes us humble, meek and kind.

Thy peace shall flow upon our meeting;

The kiss of faith shall be our greeting,

When we are gathered by Thy side!

Should only two or three assemble

In Jesus' Name, yet meek and humble,

His peace and love in us abide."

Zion's Harp #219

I Need a Little Help...

Whoever can tell me what the above sketch means wins a prize! I have three dials on my oven - the first one is the timer, the second one is the temperature (in Celsius, of course!), and the third one contains the above four options. I made the sketch for our Realtor to see if she can possibly help me...

Good Luck!

Ryan goes to the Doctor...

The following is Ryan's take on going to a local doctor. Back in January I joined an online group for our neighborhood and yesterday morning when he called into work sick I posted a message asking for a recommendation of a local doctor so we didn't have to make a 30 minute drive to the city. Within an hour I had 7 messages and 2 phone calls in response! By today I've had maybe 20 different people respond and they all pretty much recommended the same doctor - Dr. Lee. Ryan walked in yesterday (without an appointment) and here is his experience:

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I walk into the Doctor's office, fill out a very short form, sit down for 3 minutes, and they call my name.

I open the door to the room, and the doctor greets me, asks a few questions, does an exam, and draws my blood for my blood type (on the spot, at my request), passes his diagnosis through a little window to his assistant, she fills my prescription, and gives me a receipt to submit for insurance.

All of this in about 15 minutes... Wow!
In the US, I would not have even seen the doctor for at least 15 minutes, then they would have swabbed my throat for Strep, sent their assistant back in 20 minutes later to draw my blood, told me I didn't have strep, so I wouldn't need antibiotics, but that I should follow up with my primary doc the following week, for another $65, and if I was lucky enough to convince them that I needed antibiotics, I would have had to drive to Walgreens, drop off the script, gone home, returned to Walgreens 1 hour later, and then I would get a bill that says something about a surgery, and is trying to charge $365 from a doctor I have never heard of 4 months later...

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Ethan Talking

I meant to post this video of Ethan talking last week. He says, "uh oh", "baby", "ummies" (for food), "ackies" (for sticky diaper), "uppie" (for I want up/down), "da da", "momma", and "bye-bye!" It's so fun to see his vocabulary expand:)

Today we are heading to the school for a county fair. I doubt it will be like the county fair's back home but it should be fun for the kids! On the way there we are stopping by a house to look at plants that they have for sale...hopefully they are not so big that we can't get them home.

Cheers!

Speaking of Gecko's...

Kaitlyn came out of the downstairs bathroom this afternoon saying, "Mom! There's a lizard in the bathroom!" I went to check it out and sure enough there was one on the wall. My first instinct was to chase it back outside and shut the window but than I figured that it will help keep the bug population down:) They really don't bother me - they are just a little startling if you don't know they are there. We watched it for a few seconds and than it zipped back outside. I guess he was scared of us!

Our Ship Has Come In

I've always wanted to say that:) Unfortunately our ship did not contain money BUT it did contain our life's belongings which is just as nice!

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WoW! What to say about move-in day? Let's see, Ethan's into everything, some boxes contain items from three different levels of our old place, I have a LONG list of things that we still need, Ethan's driving me crazy, we still don't have the promised patio furniture (I think that we're back to looking for it ourselves), the movers kind of dumped things out of boxes, and Ethan systematically broke glass on the marble floor.

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We are slowly getting unpacked - the kitchen is done, the laundry room and maid's room (storage room) are done, the dining area and living room are unpacked although not entirely put together, and I'm working on the office. The three bedrooms still need to be done but it's easy to just shut the door. I'm getting everything into closets and off the floor and than next week I'll work on organizing everything.

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We had an interesting experience the first night in the condo. After we went to bed we starting hearing a clicking noise - like the noise a barbed wire fence makes, or when you click two fingernails together. We turned on the lights and started rustling through all our clothes on the floor but the noise continued and we never saw anything. We went into the hallway next where we also heard the noise and figured out that it was coming from the floorboards. Our next thought was that we had some kind of pest living in the wood floors and were worried that our furniture would be next. There are a few of you who we called that first night that are going to laugh when you hear what we have learned that it was! Since the condo hadn't been lived in for awhile the noise was being produced by the wood floor because we had turned the air con on...:) Yep, it's from the air conditioning! I guess it was drying out the floor boards which had been recently varnished and causing them to shift and "click!" I'm just thankful that it wasn't the death-watch beetle...or geckos...or cockroaches!

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Anyway, today was another Singapore day but I'll save that for another post - some day I'll laugh but not today! Thank you to my friend who prayed for me at lunch:)

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Kaitlyn came home early from school with a 103 fever - stay tuned! Hopefully it is viral and will clear up soon. OH, YEAH! While I was picking her up from the nurse's office they were checking a class for lice...say a prayer that it avoids us!

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On Sunday we brought our first load over to our "new" place and Ethan kept climbing into the suitcases with the toys and playing:)

This is part of the kitchen. I will post a link to a podcast with a video tour once we've finished unpacking and everything is set up.

This picture is a little dark because of the windows in the background. The back wall is all windows and off to your right behind the screen are sliding glass doors leading out to a patio.

Another view of the living room. It's starting to look like home! We have a 2 hour free handyman service through our moving company that will come and hang pictures and my clock.

Boxes, boxes everywhere! This was the beginning of unloading us:) Here you are looking towards the front door on the right and the kitchen straight ahead. It's our eating area and the living room is directly behind me.

PS: I was having some trouble with formatting paragraphs so therefore the "*****" between paragraphs. Also my spell check isn't working so hopfuly i din't spel to much rong!! Better go save my things from ETHAN!

Thank You!

We received a special Valentine's package today:) Thanks SO much for the Jibbitz! The kids loved them and put them in the Crocs while we were still in the car! They are so cute and were a perfect idea for them!!! It was ironic that I opened an e-mail today from the school and they are selling "SAS" ones - maybe we'll get them for their birthday to add to the collection=] (To get a better view click on the picture - you have to see these up close!)

Update on the Condo

Our final move date appears to be this Monday at 9am. They will take two days to move and unpack us and than we should be close to settled in! Today we took one final look at the work they have been doing to the apartment and than headed to Carrefour to pick up some electronics - iron, vaccum, fan, hair dryer and some misc. cleaning supplies. They will deliver our purchases Monday morning - YEA! It is starting to feel like we are "home" and not on an extended vacation.

We are spending this afternoon packing up our temporary apartment and than later are heading out to Ikea to find a bunk bed for Ethan and Kenton's room. We'll take a load up after church tomorrow, another on Monday morning when we go to meet the movers, and another on Tuesday morning when we head up there for the last time, hopefully! Tuesday is our check out date for Park Avenue Suites.

Below are some pictures I took this past week but didn't get around to posting...enjoy:)

Ethan has had this habit lately of climbing on top of EVERYTHING he can! Here is the before picture of him climbing on his Little People Garage...

And here is the after picture of the garage once I put it up out of his reach! He was starting to bend the plastic:)
Kaitlyn came home from school this week with this jump rope made out of rubber bands. I guess she was the first in the class to jump 100 times.
Kaitlyn and the bus helper on the last day riding the bus. Kenton had just woken up and didn't want to be in the picture.
Ethan in the baking aisle of Carrefour. "I wanna climb outta here!" This picture is for Val - the inside of a grocery store:)

The following video is a little long so don't feel like you have to watch the entire thing! We have been seeing these dances take place all over the city for CNY so I finally caught one on video. There was a crowd so it was a little hard to catch - I was holding Ethan in one arm and holding the camera up over heads with the other arm!

Happy Valentine's Day!

"For God so loVed the world, thAt he gave his onLy bEgotten SoN, thaT whosoever belIeveth in him should Not perish, but havE everlasting life!" John 3:16

Have You Ever Chewed a Rubber Band?

Below is Ryan's First Ever Post:

Well, I ate Jellyfish for lunch yesterday. They warned me before I ate it, that it had the texture of a rubber band, and they were right! I never would have guessed...

If I have learned nothing else yet, I am getting pretty good with a pair of chopsticks. It is one of those things that happens when you get hungry... You learn to eat the local food, and you learn to use the utensils you are given!

I can't catch a fly from the air with my chopsticks like the old master in the "Karate Kid" movie years ago, but I can get an oyster, shrimp, small pepper, carrot parts, and noodles to my mouth. Sometimes my technique isn't perfect, but the flavor is the same.

I miss a few things from back home... Primarily friends, family, and church.

The other critical thing is corn fed beef! When I get home this summer, my goal is to find a steak, a cheeseburger, a good burrito, a pizza, and a short slab of ribs in my first week! Shoot, I might try it all on my first day...

Anyway, I am on the bus ride home. Have to stand up, because it is very crowded in the evenings! Fortunately, it makes a stop at a major shopping center about half way home, and clears off enough to sit, usually...

The weather is beatiful here so far. A lot of people everywhere, but somehow they have found places to put nice little parks in the midst of it all. The plants grow thick like a jungle because of the climate.

I have found that the people are not as clean as first believed. There is a lot of litter in certain areas, it just gets cleaned each morning.

Well, I am getting a little car sick on the bus, so I will sign off for now!

Best Wishes and Gong Xi Fai Chai (Chinese Happy New Year)!

Charlie bit my finger - again !

I saw this on YouTube and had to share it! I have no idea who these two kiddos are but it's pretty funny:)

Overheard...

Kaitlyn: "A boy in my class today said the "F", "S", and "A" words."

Mom: "WHAT?!? Do you know what those words ARE?!?"

Kaitlyn: "No-o-o. A girl said that he said those words."

Mom: "Whew!"

Kenton: "He must have said "fat"! That's a bad "F" word!"

Yep, I'm SURE that is what the boy said.

Cable Car Ride

I know that the video isn't the best quality but in my defense I was confined in a REALLY small place!

Well, it's back to getting up early for me! We had a very nice four day weekend and it was so hard to wake up this morning at 6am:) We spent Thursday up at our new condo taking pictures and letting the kids swim. There is a much more kid-friendly pool there than the one at our serviced apartment so they enjoyed that. We took the MRT up and as we were walking from the MRT station to our condo we passed by some HDB (government) housing. We just stood on the sidewalk for awhile and listened to all the families that had gathered for CNY - from where we stood it sounded like a convention although it was individual families in individual apartments! A lot of locals keep their windows open instead of using the air-con. so that is how we could hear them.

On Friday we went to Sentosa Island - and won't be doing that again over CNY! We couldn't believe the amount of people waiting to go out there. You can take a train or a cable car to get their and the queue's for both were very long. Once we were on the island there were lines to everything. We found a trail and hiked it down to the beach which was also super-crowded. Some lady shared her daughter's beach toys with the twins so they dug around for awhile before we decided to head home away from the crowds! It was still fun because we rode a cable car there and the train back:)

Saturday we celebrated Collin's birthday with him via Skype and played checkers with him for awhile. After lunch we went swimming before heading out to Clarke Quay for supper with a family we recently met.

Sunday was spent the usual way - church, lunch, and relaxing in the afternoon. We headed to East Coast Park Beach for awhile but didn't stay there long as there was trash everywhere. We're assuming it was from CNY because it was much cleaner when we went a few weeks ago.

Now it is back to the regular routine - which includes getting up so early! I'm going to start packing up our place this week in anticipation of moving next week. We'll see since they have changed the move date on us three times now. Hope everyone had a blessed weekend - we are thinking of you!

Blast From The Past

Wow! I was browsing through videos when I came across this one - am I ever glad I caught Kenton with his blankie!! It will bring back memories, Mom R and Joan!

CNY

Kenton marching in the New Year's parade at school. You could either wear traditional Chinese wear or a red shirt. The whistle he is blowing we found in China Town last weekend. The idea is to make a lot of noise so that something evil is scared away - I have no idea what that evil was but I'm telling you there isn't much that would stick around for the noise of this parade! There were teachers in the front pounding on drums and cymbols and the kids followed with whatever noise makers their moms could come up with. Amazingly, Ethan wasn't scared!

Kaitlyn's class leaving the classroom to march in the parade. You may not be able to tell from the picture but all the classrooms open to the outdoors. The hallways are actually outside! I will try to remember to take pictures the next time I am at SAS.

We are looking toward China Town in this picture. I decided to go ahead and include it since the lights won't be there the next time we venture that way.

Would anyone care to purchase a rat? I have to say that they are kind of cute:) I'm not sure what's growing in the pots...it's a plant that I have seen a lot of lately so it symbolizes some kind of good luck to the Chinese. These were some of the wares available for purchase in China Town.

The following video starts with a stall in China Town. Each stall has a man that is yelling out what he is selling. If you actually stop he begins to explain why his product is superior. Occasionally they would switch to English if they saw me looking over their wares. They use microphones clipped on to the front of their shirts so that they can be heard over the other hawkers when you are standing directly in front of their stall. The middle and last part of the video are from the parade today. I didn't get as much video as I would have liked as I kept having a little escapee that I had to track down:)

New Diet Needed ASAP!

It's true - I went shopping today for a company dinner next weekend (we're supposed to wear traditional Chinese clothes) and discovered that I'm an XXL! Here I thought I was doing so well since Christmas and had actually lost weight just to discover that I'm an extra, extra Large!!! :( How on earth did I jump 4 sizes in one month? Pardon me while I go drown my sorrows in a can of Coke. And maybe some chocolate ice cream. Oh, and some potato chips. I may as well make it true:)

A Lonely Road

I've come to the realization that parenting is often a lonely road. Advice can be given on how to help overcome a problem (i.e. potty training) but each child and each parent is unique and has their own personality and in the end we need to figure out on our own what works and what doesn't. Friends can cheer us on, advice books can be read, Mom can be consulted but ultimately it's between us and our children. What do you do with a 5 year old boy who just can't shut his brain off at night so he can fall asleep? How do you get a 14 month old baby to keep their little hands away from something that could hurt them when you can see that they understand "No" but they are just too curious? How do you discipline a 5 year old girl who has developed an attitude since beginning kindergarten and quite frankly doesn't care what you think? All the advice in the world can be given but we're the one that it falls on to find the answers on how to best raise our three gifts from God. May He grant us sufficient patience, love, and wisdom to get us past our own inadequacy and failings and through the trials of raising children!

On a much happier note I have discovered the joys of doing my grocery shopping online and having it delivered to our front door! I have never minded doing the actual shopping through the store but I've never much enjoyed loading and unloading the car and hauling all the groceries into the house. On Saturday I went online with my list in hand and clicked on what I needed. It was delivered to my home this evening so all I had to do was unpack the bags!!! I was stocking up for CNY so there was no way I could get that many groceries home by myself without a car...hey, any excuse works for me:) I plan on doing a lot of my shopping this way as it was way more stress-free! AND for the best part - I can stick to my cash only budget as you pay when it's delivered. I can honestly say that will be one thing that I will miss when we move from here:(

PS: Still working on what to say about China Town - my camera died about two pictures in (my fault for not checking how much battery life we had left) so I'm thinking about waiting to tell about China Town until after our next visit there. Hopefully than I'll have lots of pictures and videos to try and paint a picture of the experience!

Wet Market Field Trip and Smelly Fish

Friday morning I was able to find a sitter for Ethan so I could go with Kaitlyn's class to a local wet market. These are usually found underneath HBD housing flats (or government housing) and are made up of a bunch of different stalls/stores selling a variety of things. They are known as wet markets because the floor around the meat will be wet from melting ice.

Kaitlyn and I were in a group together with one other mom, Kay, and Jessica. We had three goals for the trip: a scavenger hunt, buy a Chinese New Year decoration for the classroom, and buy a typical Singapore lunch from a hawker center.

Kay, Kaitlyn, and Jessica are waiting for us to order lunch.

The little orange trees or bushes (I can't quite figure out what they are) and the pussy willows you see symbolize prosperity - you will see these in arrangements in store windows and the orange bushes can be seen outside establishments to symbolize that they had a prosperous year and are hoping for another one. I'm guessing that they are displayed whether or not the previous year was prosperous:)
Kaitlyn is looking at decorations to buy. Each child brought $5.00 along - $2.50 for the decorations and $2.50 for lunch.
Kaitlyn is showing off her clipboard with the scavenger hunt. They were looking for CNY related items like the color gold, dragons, rats, fish, pussy willows, new clothes, etc.
You can even buy live fish for an aquarium at the wet markets!
The girls are going through a shop where they are selling CNY paraphenalia. I bought "hung bao" packets that you are to give to children with money inside to wish them prosperity in the new year.
More CNY decorations. As you can see from the signs they are inexpensive. I think that you are supposed to barter for them but I didn't. It was easier not too:)
Kaitlyn and Jessica try to find items for the scavenger hunt.
Behind Kaitlyn is one of the fish stalls. It's smelly and a little disturbing because the whole, entire fish, eyes and all are being sold! There are shrimp directly behind Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn, Jessica, and Kay are ready to begin their adventure at the wet market! There is a bike shop directly behind them.
You can find inexpensive electrical items here at this store.

The girls are ready to eat their chicken rice - a distinct Singaporean meal that is mild enough for kids. I have had it twice - once I really liked it and this time I didn't so much. It all depends on how the chicken is prepared. The first time I had a vegtable, bok choy, I think that was really good. We didn't order the kids vegtables;) I had pepsi as they didn't have Coke and there is a big difference between the Pepsi made here and the Pepsi made in the US.
A hawker's center stall selling all kinds of food. They usually have pictures of each dish on the menu which is nice because you know exactly what you are ordering.
This is a fruit and vegtable stand. They have a much wider variety than the grocery stores and it's usually cheaper.
And We're done! The girls are in front of a fresh flowers stall - I didn't see prices but I've been told that they are VERY cheap - maybe 50cents a stalk. No excuses for the men to not bring home fresh flowers EVERY day:)


Below is a video of Kaitlyn and her classmates doing the annoying chicken dance that they learned in music class this week. Joan - ignore the temptation to break into song about now...=O Notice that most of the little girls are in dresses. I have seen very few little girls in shorts even at the school....a refreshing change over the US I have to say! Lately Kailtyn had been refusing her dresses and now I can tell her, "But it's what all the little girls are wearing!"

We are headed to China Town for an adventure this evening so be sure to check back in the next few days for more pictures and experiences! We've heard it's crazy to go this time of year but we figure what a better time to go and learn more.