Back to Normal for the Kids

In a glimpse back to our life in the States, Sunday evening was spent at our first official Singapore Lacrosse Association lacrosse practice!  When we decided to move here, we quickly realized that lacrosse didn't really "exist" in Singapore aside from a small group, SLA,  that was trying to establish a presence here.  SLA had been started by a couple of former Division I players that had been relocated to Singapore and they were offering free lessons/practices on Sunday evenings to any adult or child that showed up.  I spoke with its President, Craig, before we moved and he encouraged us to bring all our lacrosse equipment so that the kids could start playing with them.

Let me stop for a minute to remind you that we have moved into a home 1/4 of our original size with exactly one storage closet aside from the kids' bedroom closets.  And then let me remind you that the boys' lacrosse equipment includes helmet, shoulder pads, gloves, stick, elbow pads, and cleats.  And as a goalie, Ella's equipment includes two sticks, helmet, chest pad, thigh pads, shin guards, gloves and an assortment of other things.  Basically, their equipment fills up a good part of our ONE closet - but sure, I was excited to bring all that equipment with us!

We arrived at practice yesterday to find a big group of people ready to start the Academy practice with one surprise - they all practiced together and played together.  Which meant that 7 year old Henry and 10 year old Sumner played with 20 year old guys who wanted to learn a new sport.  I think that this picture below summed it up perfectly - Sumner is in the middle (dark grey shirt) getting ready to face-off with a kid his size (thankfully) and then slightly to the left is Henry (in orange shirt with white helmet and Green strip jersey) facing his opponent who outweighed him by 200 pounds and had at least 15 inches on him as well.  The best part was that Henry was the player running around the field hitting people with his stick and yelling for them to throw him the ball - despite him having no idea what he was doing!  Sumner scored a couple goals!  Small world - the coach in the white shirt and funny looking shorts below is KJ Sauer, a 2006 Duke Lacrosse grad who is the main coach for the boys' Academy - go Duke.

This field is atop a parking garage at UWC Dover, one of the best schools in Singapore - it wasn't even accepting any 2014 applications when we decided to move here this past spring.  It is an Astroturf field in full sun and it literally smelled like burning astroturf yesterday afternoon thanks to the fact that it was 95 degrees out and 90% humidity.  After running around for only 30 minutes (without pads thankfully except for Henry who wanted to wear his and once I saw his opponents I figured it was a good idea), the kids were bright red and soaking wet.  We went through a huge amount of water but it wasn't enough for one of the other participants who collapsed due to heat stroke.  Scary how easily it can happen here.  After 90 minutes of practice, the boys were thrilled and exhausted (and stinky).

At the same time, Ella practiced with the girls/ladies who were learning to play.  Two weeks out of her cast, she is still having a hard time getting around on her ankle without it really hurting so she didn't do a lot of running but still participated.  Hopefully it will start to get stronger as she uses it more and more - it's definitely slowing her down a lot right now.  Wasn't nearly as exhausting for her but still a good practice.  

After the FREE Academy practices (the only thing we have found in Singapore that is free!), the SLA Mens and Womens Lacrosse teams practice and scrimmage for 90 minutes.  These are all either former high school or college lax players that have found themselves in Singapore or else grownups that have decided to take up a new sport.  This is a paid league that practices each week and plays against other teams when they visit from other countries.  After learning that Ella was a goalie and watching her practice during the Academy they approached us about her being a goalie for the Womens' team.  The concern of course was the fact that she's a lot younger than the other players so they wanted to be sure we were comfortable about her playing against them. She was eager to do it so we gave her permission and now she's going to practice with the Academy in the field from 4 - 5:30 and then with the team from 5:30 - 7pm each Sunday as a goalie.  She's very excited although she's going to have to really practice and learn a lot to be able to stop these players' shots since this isn't Middle School lacrosse any more!

(Ella in the goal - the good news is that most of the women are not appreciably bigger than her!)

Proud of all three kids and actually excited to have a sport that all are playing at one time - and one that we enjoy watching as well!

Hiking the Tree Top at MacRitchie Reservoir

With Ella's cast officially removed last week and her ankle in a brace, we have been itching to get out and do some more exploring than we were able to do with her on crutches.  This past weekend we decided to head out to MacRitchie Reservoir where there are lots of walking trails around the reservoir.  In addition, there is a hike called the Tree Top Trail which takes you up into the forests and around part of the reservoir.  It was an almost 10km walk through some different terrain so it took us a while but was lots of fun.

Of course, one of the highlights was crossing this 250 meter long free-standing suspension bridge 25 meters above the forest floor.  It definitely swung some and there were lots of people on it so it was a little unnerving at first but the views were wonderful.  Traffic can only go in one direction and there are rangers overseeing the safety of those crossing but I still wouldn't have wanted to linger too long on the bridge.

 Us at the start of the bridge

Another highlight of the trip were the monkeys.  While we know that there are monkeys around in Singapore, we had yet to have any sightings since we are right in the center of the city.  MacRitchie is apparently full of monkeys so we were excited to see them.  That being said, we had been warned that monkeys can be aggressive and to take care.  And signs like this also made me a little nervous:

Well we were probably only a couple kilometers into our hike when ahead of us we saw a monkey on the fence along the side of the path.  Approaching slowly, we then realized that it was a male monkey sitting on the fence and then a meter to his left, on the other side of the path, was the mother and a bunch of babies snacking at the base of a bush of some sort.  While amazing to see, I didn't have any intention of walking between the two groups and getting attacked by crazy monkeys (it reminds me of scary movies I had seen growing up!).  So we stood, took some pictures and waited to see what we should do.  Luckily, along came another group of hikers who nonchalantly walked between the monkeys without much concern.  Seemed like they knew what we were doing so we followed their example and continued on our hike.  We ran into numerous other monkeys along the way and learned that the rangers are serious about eating carefully around them! Ella opened up a granola bar and it was like she had yelled "dinner time" in monkey language.  Several monkeys all came running towards us and we immediately put the food away and walked quickly down the path!

 Surprise, it's a monkey on the side of the trail!

 You can't really see the baby monkeys sitting in her lap and in front of her!

 This is about when they heard Ella opening up a snack!!  Watch out!!

Formula One Racing in Singapore

Since our visit to Singapore to look at condos in June, Singapore has been preparing for the Formula One race that takes place each year in September.  Our anniversary was this past week - 16 years of marital bliss - and I gave Drayton tickets to the Saturday F1 events which included the qualifying race as well as concerts by several notables, most importantly Robbie Williams.

Yes, you've probably never heard of him but he's a revered rock start in ever country except the United States.  I have met women who basically swoon when you mention his name.  He apparently used to be in a boy-band and so I'm starting to think that the 40 year olds are his current fan base but I could be wrong.  There were thousands and thousands of people out to see him Saturday night.  Along, with Drayton and me....

Watching a car race is like a lot of build up that culminates when a car zips past you at 200 kph and then you wait and another passes you a few minutes later and that continues on for a long time.  The most entertaining part is watching the spectators all try to get pictures of these cars flying past us faster than we can blink.  Of course, we had to try as well and below are our best results - you should have seen the other 99% of our pics!

By the time that Robbie Williams began to play at 10:30pm, the skies let loose with an absolute torrential storm that left Drayton and me soaked as if we had jumped into a swimming pool.  And we were the smarts ones that took off for the MRT as soon as the rain started since Robbie Williams wasn't a major draw to us.  The remaining loyal fans (there were thousands of them, including numerous friends of ours) all stayed to watch him play in the rain.  

Apparently he was a major good-sport who continued to play his whole show in the monsoon, occasionally dragging some of his band members out of the cover into the rain where he was standing/playing.  Still don't know a song that he sings but give him credit for continuing on with his show.  The following night Jennifer Lopez was the star singer and I can assure you that if it had rained like that, she wouldn't have been out there dancing and singing in the rain for hours!

Before the rain started though, Drayton and I had a great spot on the grass where we enjoyed fish and chips - something I've never had before but enjoyed - and were surprised to look up and realize that part of the entertainment appeared literally dangling above our heads.  It meant the end of our nice spot in the grass since we were immediately bombarded with thousands of spectators but it was very impressive. 

 Our spot on the grass before the crowds arrive!

 This is a man dangling from a big bunch of balloons spinning around on a large rope.  Probably not the safest job in the world but it was pretty cool to see! PS - he looks naked but wasn't really; I checked!

Whoops, missed two weeks....

I'm not sure what happened to me over the last two weeks but apparently blogging wasn't on the top of my list.  Will work on that I promise because it hasn't been for a lack of funny or interesting experiences.

Over the last two weeks we have tried some new cuisines as we attempt to expand our horizons.  A favorite was Blue Bali, an Indonesian restaurant that we all enjoyed.  We are traveling to Bali next month and this restaurant made me excited for the food we will hopefully be enjoying!  We sat outdoors and ordered a variety of things so that Drayton, and the kids and I could all sample different things.  Some were pretty spicy and others a little tricky to eat - grilled shrimp with heads and shells still on while on a skewer makes for a messy meal.  Imagine you are trying to remove the shrimp from the skewer (where it is well glued on from the marinade) and you are only trying to avoid shooting it off the end of the skewer a la "Pretty Woman' style.  When finally removed and peeled, it was quite tasty although incredibly messy!  We sat outside and decided that next time we would request a table where you sat cross-legged on cushions around a low table.  The only question is whether I would be able to stand after sitting Indian Style for a couple hours!

 Enjoying a special Indonesian drink (who knows what it was called!)

 On another day I took the boys to Din Tai Fung, an asian restaurant that is famous in Singapore.  It's known for having the best "buns" and "dumplings" so I decided we were going to give it a try.  Ella was at a friend's house since the kids were off from school so I told Sumner and Henry we were going to go on an adventure.  After examining the menu, I ordered one thing from each section of the menu and it just arrived randomly in no particular order, as does everything in Singapore.  It wouldn't matter if you ordered an appetizer, a main course and a dessert - you might get the appetizer after your dessert or you might get your appetizer and then no one else gets there and then their food arrives and your main course takes another 1/2 hour to arrive.  Basically, you eat what has arrived and don't wait on everyone else's food or else it all is cold.

Anyway, we determined that Henry loves dumplings - just without the wonton wrappers on them.  He split each open and ate the filling out of the inside leaving a pile of skins on his plate.  You will be shocked to know that Sumner liked none of it - yeah, I know you aren't really surprised.  Even the fried rice was not too his liking but that's about par for the course.  I did make him try one bite of everything else and despite acting like he was dying each time, he did manage a bite.  There was a fried wonton that he thought was passable and a bite of a marinated pork chop appetizer that was only ok.  I thoroughly enjoyed all of it and ate enough carbs to last me for quite a while!  That's becoming the norm here in Singapore and my whole "low carb" diet has been shot to hell.  Oh well, when in Rome.... :)

You can't appreciate the spread of food we had at lunch - I think the waitress thought we were gluttonous pigs but I wanted to try a little bit of each thing!

The resulting bill was a little interesting - haven't a clue if I was charged for what I ordered but we got a kick out of looking at it.  Basically it was an expensive lunch for three of us but again, we're in Singapore!!

Sidewalk Etiquette

After a frustrating afternoon walking in Singapore I thought I might make a few observations on sidewalk etiquette - or technically the lack of such etiquette!

First off, I understand that it is hot and humid - very hot and humid.  But as a result, NO ONE walks at more than a snail's pace, if that.  The logic is that if you go faster than a snail, you will start to sweat as soon as you stop moving (since the slight breeze you create while you walk is the only thing keeping you from sweating).  This is completely true - as soon as I stop walking I'm sweating profusely.  Lovely image I know but it's true.  It's just that hot, all the time.  A lovely breeze appears just before it starts to rain so that's always appreciated except that you now have to walk even faster to get under cover before the sky's let loose!

As many of you may know, it is a family tradition to walk quickly - my mother is of the opinion that if you are walking you should basically be doing it as quickly as possible and that is the way we grew up, constantly yelling to Mom to slow down!  My sister and I have both picked up this technique and it has worked out well until moving here.  In the States, friends have laughed at the briskness of my walk but I was able to get more things done by just moving quickly!  Here, people look at me as if I have two heads as I try to weave through sidewalk traffic hoping to avoid the huge groups of snails everywhere.  Of course, I pay for it when I finally arrive at my destination and realize that I'm dripping wet and I look horrendous!  Thank goodness I know almost no one here to judge me!

Now this snail's pace on the sidewalks in and of itself might not be such an issue IF the people on said sidewalks had any sense of organization in their walking.  For one thing, automobile traffic is on the left here and hence the logic would be that pedestrian traffic would follow the same logic.  But the problem lies in the fact that a lot of the residents here have also lived in other countries where people walk on the right hand side.  And then there's a large percentage of the population that doesn't care what the proper way to walk is, they just walk straight down the middle of the sidewalk and often in big groups.  And these groups never move out of the way when they see people coming the other direction - they just assume that the other person will step off the sidewalk to make room for them.  

In the course of walking 1/2 mile to the grocery store this afternoon, only two people I crossed paths with on the sidewalk (meaning they were walking towards me) actually moved over to one side enough to allow me to pass.  These are standard width sidewalks so really shouldn't be an issue.  I don't care which way they move, I'll adjust accordingly but the others I passed just continued to walk side-by-side and never even moved over slightly to let me pass without hoping off the sidewalk.  Luckily I was on a road where there was some grass to one side so that I wasn't jumping into traffic!  Most of these people were men and I've learned that many here definitely are of the opinion that they don't need to move over for a woman anyway so I was out of luck.

Of course, my favorite move was right before getting back to our condo when I was run off the road by a Segway (seen several of them around our neighborhood)!  He came up behind me as another group was approaching me and decided to just yell for me to move and for the men approaching both of us to move.  That time I nearly did end up in the path of an oncoming bus since I rarely have been passed from behind.  If I survive walking on these sidewalks without injury during our time in Singapore, I will consider myself lucky!  Maybe I will start a business offering Sidewalk Etiquette classes but don't think anyone would sign up.....

So How Did the Moonlike Tasting Go?

 Showing off the new Mooncakes to try with breakfast.....

 .... first taste of one of the flavors (first realization that these are NOT Moon Pies!)....

 ...tasting another flavor....

The end result was a mixed opinion.  They tried the Five Nut flavor which they didn't like and they tried the Jujube Paste which they thought tasted similar to a Fig Newton.  Will have to keep trying the other flavors but since the remaining flavors are a bit more exotic, we thought we might wait for the weekend.  We can let Daddy sample those! Stay tuned!!!

Moon Pie versus Mooncake

This month the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in Singapore, a holiday usually feted by families getting together to eat Mooncakes while looking at the moon.  This is one of the most important festivals in China and Mooncakes are typically serviced in small wedges and eaten with tea while celebrating this holiday.

I told the kids that I was going to buy some Mooncakes for us to enjoy since they are being sold on every corner around us.  They are quite excited to enjoy this treat and are looking forward to the arrival of the mooncakes.  Today I went to the place most highly recommended for said Mooncakes - and bought what were the most ridiculously expensive little things for the family to try.  The gentleman explained the flavors to me and I had to laugh as I imagined the kids enjoying these tasty treats:

1. Lotus Seed Paste
2. Sweet Bean Paste (mung bean paste, red bean paste or black bean potato paste)
3. Five Kernel (five types of nuts and seeds)
4. Egg Yolk (a whole egg yolk is placed inside to symbolize the full moon)
5. Jujube Paste (a date paste)
6. Note:  there is also the option of Seafood Mooncakes filled with abalone, shark fin or dried purple seaweed but I must say that I opted to skip these options.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the kids think I'm going to buy Moon Pies!!! Not Mooncakes!!  I corrected them but they are still under the impression that they are the same thing as Moon Pies and they are so excited.  Ella reminded the boys that they used to serve Moon Pies with Kids' Meals at Ebb and Flo at Bald Head Island in the past and then all three of their mouthes were watering.  I think that at breakfast tomorrow morning when I serve these Mooncake treats, there are going to be some interesting reactions.  Chalk this up to trying new things and exploring other cultures!!!