Spirit Week

This week at Stamford American International School is Spirit Week for the Elementary School (KG2 - G5) and each day has a different theme associated with it.  This week is an opportunity for the kids to not have to wear their school uniforms and instead wear their "street" clothes.

Monday started with the boys being able to dress in neon colors.  Both Sumner and Henry gave me a confused stare when I said "neon" clothes so I explained to them that neon clothes are really bright colors that everyone wore in the 1980's.  That resulted in a discussion about how old Mommy is so not exactly the direction I was hoping.  Instead I tried to show them pictures of neon oranges and greens.  Henry immediately realized he had a neon green shirt he could wear.  Sumner couldn't really find anything neon in his closet but he picked out a lime green shirt that we decided could pass as neon.  First day checked off!

Second day involved a class theme with each classroom picking their own theme.  Henry's 1st grade class picked "beach wear" which was easy for him to accomplish.  Sumner's classroom picked "PJs" as their theme which was a little trickier.  In our house, all the men wear their boxer briefs to bed and that's it - less wash and they want to be like Daddy.  Needless to say, Sumner needed another outfit so luckily we decided that athletic shorts and a comfy t-shirt would have to pass for PJs.

The third day was crazy/mismatched clothes day and both boys had a field day with this one.  Sumner went with his favorite hat that has a built-in wig in it (which has been worn for school dress-up occasions for probably at least three years) paired with a t-shirt that he adores that has a tie painted on it.  To finish it off, he wore two different sneakers on his feet.  Henry opted for a polo shirt with a bow tie (ie, dressed up) with athletic shorts (ie, casual) and then of course, two different sneakers on his feet.  They both looked pretty darn cute and all of the elementary school kids at our bus stop in the morning were certainly a sight to be seen!

Thursday was Favorite Sports Star Day.  Sumner sported his Cam Newton jersey and Henry went with the Carolina Hurricanes.  Fun to see all the interpretations!

Next Great Baker

So Henry and Sumner are obsessed with The Cake Boss and his shows including the Next Great Baker competition.  Both boys fancy themselves bakers and have been begging to have the chance to make a fancy cake with frosting.  Needless to say, they have envisioned the 5 foot tall models that the Cake Boss has constructed using motors and steel frames.  I was envisioning taking a sheet cake and cutting it up and covering it with frosting.

Today Speech was canceled so we suddenly had an afternoon at home free so I spent the afternoon before the boys came home making vanilla cake so that they could finally have the chance to make something.  When they arrived home, they were so excited about the job.  They quickly began sketching out what they were going to build (after of course fighting over who was going to get to design it but luckily a meltdown was averted).  What they came up with was a Jabba the Hutt cake with green frosting.

First we had to make the green buttercream frosting and of course, I wanted to make it the fancy way with beaten egg whites and sugar syrup boiled to 246 degrees.  Despite a few missteps, we ended up with some bright green tasty frosting.  Sumner then took the knife to the cakes I had made to cut them up and reassemble them in some semblance of Jabba the Hutt.  For those of you not in the know, Jabba the Hutt is a character in Star Wars and looks like this -

In terms of things they could have picked to create, this seemed doable since he's just sort of a big, green blob.  Well, after an hour of cutting, frosting, licking the spoon, adding more frosting and licking more fingers, we ended up with our own Jabba the Hutt.  I would say that they wouldn't have won on the Next Great Baker but at least they had fun trying to create this cake.  And I can officially check this off my list of things I need to do this Spring!

Use your imaginations please!  He tasted great by the way!

Cheerleading

The end of January Ella came home announcing that she wanted to try out for the Stamford Cheerleading team ..... my mouth dropped open and confusion was clearly in my eyes.  1) Stamford doesn't have a cheerleading team, 2) Ella hasn't even done a gymnastics or dance or ballet class since she was 4 and 3) I have this stereotypical opinion of cheerleaders that I haven't been able to get rid of despite numerous attempts by friends.

Regardless, Ella went to tryouts the following weekend and came home gushing about how much fun it was and how much she hoped she would make the team.She said that they had to do some simple dance routines and jumping around and that in the end they asked them to do whatever moves they knew how to do - cartwheels, flips, back handsprings, etc.  Ella said she was a little lost in this area but regardless, still loved it.  Needless to say, when the word arrived the following week that she made the team, she was really excited.

Here's what I learned - Stamford was selected by a Singapore committee to represent the USA in the Chingay Parade.  I quickly learned that the Chingay Parade is a celebration at the end of the Chinese New Year celebration and it's an enormous parade of over 11,000 participants including 760 participants representing 15 different countries.  Last year had over 600,000 spectators and was watched by over 35 million viewers in Asia.  It's a huge deal - tickets sell out quickly and the President and Prime Minister both attend!  This year will be especially big because it's also Singapore's 50th anniversary and the theme is "We Love Singapore".

Stamford decided that cheerleaders, football players and a pep squad would be a great way to represent USA and hence the creation of the cheerleading team.  Ella was selected as a base so it's her job to throw up and catch a flyer (the lightest and most agile girls they can find!).  They have been practicing constantly for the last month including 2+ hours a day for the last three days and all day Thursday and Friday.  The end result will certainly be awesome and many pictures will be posted after this weekend.  In the mean time, here are some pictures of Ella and her base team.  Man has she grown up!

快乐中国新年大家

Happy Chinese New Year - The Chinese lunar new year is a huge holiday in the Asian community around the world and Singapore celebrates it with style.  The kids are off from school for a four day weekend and the decorations have been impressive throughout the city.

What I have been finding very funny is the fact that in Singapore, it was announced that it is the "Year of the Goat" and there are goat figures EVERYWHERE.  But here's the problem - there are also Sheep figures and Ram figures everywhere as well.  While Singapore refers to it as the Year of the Goat, Japan is referring to it as the Year of the Sheep.  I've been chuckling thinking that these city slickers here didn't know the difference between a darn sheep and a goat!  Turns out there's an explanation.....

Technically it's the "Year of the Yang" in Mandarin which as a specific Mandarin character associated with it.  "Yang" refers to any animal in the Caprinae subfamily (any hoofed animal that eats grass and bleats).  The Chinese have a symbol that goes along with "yang" to specifically describe a goat, a different one to describe a sheep and so on.  For instance, a goat is technically translated to "mountain yang" while a sheep is described as a "soft yang" and a Mongolian gazelle is a "yellow yang".

So what animal you pick to go with the Year of the Yang is open to interpretation and what you might like to look at for the following year.  So as a family, the Virklers need to decide whether we are on the side of the Goat or Ram or Sheep and then we'll find something fun to represent this year as a memento.  In the mean time, we have had fun looking up year the kids were born in - Sumner was born in the Year of the Monkey, Henry the Year of the Pig, and Ella the Year of the Horse.  Funny characteristics go with each of them.

The Lion Dance is one of the most famous parts of the Chinese New Year celebrations.  They are done throughout the city and require an enormous amount of agility and practice.  The kids had a Lion Dance assembly and they all commented on how loud the drumming was that went along with the dance.  Like man of the things we've seen in Asia, the loud drumming seems to be very popular and is almost used as an attempt at putting someone into an almost trance-like state.  The whole dance is absolutely amazing.  Pictures below.

A Good Problem to Have

As is typical for kids in elementary school, it seems that Henry has a birthday party every weekend and I am constantly having to buy birthday presents.  I have encountered a unique problem here that I have had to address as each birthday party invitation arrives and a gift needs to be bought - is the person who is having the birthday party a girl or a boy?

In the States, Jack's birthday party invitation arrives and I know what I'm buying; Lucy's arrives and likewise I know what I'm getting.  This week we have Roozbeh's birthday party and Wei Zhe's birthday party.  Last week it was Hadassah's and HeeWoo's birthday parties.  

Each time I have to ask Henry whether the child is a girl or a boy and then he looks at me incredulously - as if I have two heads - because obviously Roozbeh and Wei Zhe are boys and Hadassah and HeeWoo are girls.  What was I thinking?  What I love is that Henry doesn't think twice about it and doesn't think it's at all different.  That is part of the reason we moved here - each of these children brings amazing experiences and perspectives into the classroom.

Now I just have to go find a toy store and find something to buy them.....

Another Universal Visit

When we moved here we enticed the kids with a promise of annual passes to Universal Studios which they were very excited about.  And I must say that we've really enjoyed having the passes because it makes it quiet feasible to drop in for a couple hours, do a few cool rides (we have the "express" version so we can skip most the lines!) or see a fun show and then leave and not have to worry about getting our money's worth.  We've probably done this 4 or 5 times and each time we discover something new - which is impressive since it's a pretty small amusement park!  We ended the day at our local Hawker Center for satay, seafood friend rice, grilled prawns, kai lan, and indian butter chicken with cheese roti - a delicious if not particularly healthy dinner out!

Even Universal is decorated for Chinese New Year

Hamming it up

Daddy bought Mommy a poncho in order to get her to go on the water ride because she didn't want to walk around wet the rest of the time!  Nice look!

Dinner at the Newton Hawker Center - kids can scooter from our house there

Extreme Sailing Series Comes to Singapore

This weekend we stumbled upon the Extreme Sailing Series taking place in Marina Bay.  The Extreme Sailing Series specifically races 40 foot catamarans that have been doubled in size and speed from the ones raced in the Olympics.  With a rectangular shape, they are stable but still kick up on one hull and hit speeds of over 30 knots.  It was impressive to see them cutting through the water and turning on a dime.  It was actually more fun to see them warming up and cutting around on one hull - once the race started they had to follow a specific course which meant that they lost the wind at certain places and then the races definitely was a little slower.

The weather was just perfect with lots of gusts of wind and there was music playing, beer and popsicles being sold and even Range Rovers being tested out over an obstacle course (which Drayton and the boys enjoyed getting to ride in).  A fun way to enjoy the beauty of Singapore with the family.

They are definitely very rectangular.

And lightweight!

Start of the race - cool with the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in the background

Another view of the race with the ArtScience Museum in the background

Thaipusam 2015

Once of the most amazing things about living in Singapore is the mix of so many different backgrounds and religions.  As a result, I have had the opportunity to experience religious festivals and cultural traditions that I had never even heard of before moving here.  Today was a perfect example of something amazingly different.

Thaispusam is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February).  It is celebrated in countries where there's a large presence of Tamil people and Singapore is one of those places.  Tamils are an ethnic group who speak Tamil as their native tongue and they are spread all around Asia (Tamils comprise 15% of Sri Lanka population, 6% India and Malaysia and 5% Singapore as the largest groups).  It commemorates the time when Parvati gave Murugan a spear so he could kill the devil Soorapadman.  The festival focuses on a Kavadi which means a physical burden pledge in return for help from the God Murugan.  The Hindus offer a Kavadi to ask for avoidance of some major misfortune.

For 48 days prior to this festival the devotees fast and prayer, eating only one small meal a day.  When the day of the festival arrives, devotees shave their heads and undertake this pilgrimage while showing their devotion by carrying Kavadis (burdens).  These Kavadis often involve spears through the tongue and/or cheeks as well as spears piercing the skin itself.  Some carry large Kavadi canopies for the 4.5 kilometers, using their skin to support the burden.  Those on the pilgrimage are each carrying jugs of milk which must arrive at the temple without a drop spilled.

It's hard to describe what this was like to watch although one thing I continually thought was that these people must have an enormous amount of belief in their gods to go to these extremes to ask for their help.  What it must feel like to have such a certain and strong belief in something - to go to the pain and exhaustion that these people were undertaking.

We watched the dressing of the devotees for the pilgrimage and the blessing before they began as well as the pilgrimage itself before arriving at the temple where the pilgrimage ended.  I saw people collapsing or fainting as it started and many more as they arrived at the temple to give their milk offering.  I am not sure whether the collapsing was due to exhaustion, pain or happiness at it's completion.  If I had not eaten more than one meal a day for 48 days (along with no sex, only pure Satvik food and continual prayers), I might have collapsed as well even if I was carrying nothing at all!

I think that pictures are the only way to help people understand what this pilgrimage must have been like.  I was uncomfortable taking pictures originally but the families of those carrying these Kavadis were actual happy to have their pilgrimages documented by others and did not seem at all shy about having their picture taken.  The incense that was burning constantly made the pictures smokey looking and the constant drumming certainly gave me a headache but the purpose of both was to help the participants move their body into a trance like state where they would feel no pain.  Not sure it worked.

Preparing to be pierced

Checking out his buddy who just was pierced!

His wife being pierced - she almost fainted and then began this sort of trance-like dance where she adorned her other family members in a red chalk.

Spear through the cheeks and through the tongue (so you can not talk during the pilgrimage)

Kavadi to be carried

Another Kavadi

This man is pulling a cart through hooks in his back - a significant Kavadi!

Carrying a Kavadi with his face pierced

Spears to be used in one adornment

Hooking the Kavadi to his body

This man is carrying his Kavadi and the spears help stabilize it in his skin

Another set of spears awaiting placement

Temple statues

More statues

The entrance to the temple

Carrying their jugs of milk .....

...without letting a drop of the milk be spilled

The juxtaposition of the traditional pilgrimage versus the tourist bus going through Little India behind it!

All ages participate in the pilgrimage

The Tamil don't all look Indian although this family was the exception

Carrying small jugs of milk on his back

Carrying lemons (limes) to the temple on his back

Walking with his family and carrying his jug of milk (not on his head as the elders do)

Preparing to have his Kavadi spears removed

Father and son

Spear removed from his cheeks and tongue - very little blood which seemed amazing

This mad is carrying his Kavadi with it literally bolted into his waist

Note the bolts at the bottom.  Amazing dedication to his religion.