Category Archives: Singapore

Dear friends,

What a year it has been.  Not only have I proven yet again what an inconsistent blogger I am, but it has been a year of unbelievable highs, intense lows, and through it all we have been blessed with exciting plans for the future.

Since our last entry a lot of good things have happened.  I graduated from the National University of Singapore with my Masters and have been doing some freelance research and consulting.  John got a job promotion.  We have traveled a ton:  we had an epic weekend in Bangkok, visited the majestic temples of Ankor Wat in Cambodia, lived in the Philippines for almost a month, made a trip to Penang, Malaysia with Accenture, saw the majestic beauty of Halong Bay, outside of Hanoi, Vietnam, saw the kiddos in Batam, Indonesia, went back to the USA for the holidays and spent a few long weekends at random beach resorts a short ferry ride from Singapore.  We’ve made new friends, tried new things, eaten weird things, etc.

But, then John got a phone call while on a project in Manila.  It was bad news regarding his mom’s health.  Less than a week later (thanks to good friends and the folks at Accenture), we were on a plane back to the United States to be with Robin (his mom) and his family.  In mid-February, Robin was diagnosed with a rare, rapidly degenerative brain disease that would eventually take her life.  Through it all, Robin had a grace and a dignity that was inspiring.   Below is a link to a speech she gave at the Geneva School (where she worked and where all of her children have attended) on her disease and dying.

On 31 May, 2011, Robin passed away.  She was peaceful and surrounded by her family as she went home.  The memorial service was a few days later and proved to be a beautiful celebration of her life.  We were grateful to have family and friends from around the country travel to Orlando for the service and more supporting us from all over the world.  After the service ended and we saw family and friends, and all of the dust started to settled, we all had to decide what was next.  Matt, Caroline, and Lydia are living in Orlando where Matt found work as a minister.  Steve is beginning his second year of university and Lucy will be a senior in high school.  As for John and me, we headed back to where our lives are:  Singapore.

I am writing this from the National Library Building in Singapore while John is finishing up at work.  We have very generous friends who are letting us stay with them while we work on our next step.  We will be in Singapore for six to eight weeks and then we are moving to……

LONDON!  John was accepted to a graduate programme at the London School of Economics, where he’ll start at the end of September.  I am planning to work and am currently applying for positions and seeking opportunities.  John and I will truly miss Singapore.  We’ve been here for three years and it is our first married home together.  We have incredible friends here, have learned so much and have fallen in love with Asia.  But, we are extremely excited about the opportunities western Europe will afford.  Not only will we be a bit closer to home, but we will also have an entirely new list of options for our excellent adventures  🙂

As always, thank you for reading.  John and I truly appreciate your support–especially during the hard times we’ve had recently.  Hopefully, I can update the blog a bit more often, but as I have a horrible track record, I make no promises.  Until next time, have a great summer!!!

I can’t believe it has been two months since my parents’ visit to Asia!  This was their first time over here and I think they’re ready to come back–we had such a wonderful time!

My parents got in at around 1am (as most flights from the US do).  After hugs and greetings my Daddy’s first comment was:  “you live a long way from home, kiddo.”  After more than 24 hours in transit, I can imagine why he said that.  We got into a cab and headed to their hotel where Momma gave me some delicious cake batter balls that she picked up in my favorite Shelbyville candy shop (seriously, a trip to Shelbyville is worth it for these things).  After some more hugs, I was off to my apartment to let them get some sleep.  I know from experience that when jet-lagged, morning can come all too soon.

Family Reunion--minus Patty

To my surprise, when I called my parents at 11am the next morning, they were ready to go and “see the world!”  We started with some delicious Indian food, then headed to Clarke Quay where we took a Bumboat ride through the city centre.  We went all the way to Marina Bay and then back to Boat Quay were we alighted and sat at a riverside cafe sipping drinks and waiting for the afternoon storm to pass.  Later, we headed to a hawker centre where we had stingray, roti prata, satay and fruit juice, before Momma and Daddy crashed.  Bedtime.  🙂

The next morning, John was supposed to fly in from Kuala Lumpur to meet us, except he slept through his flight.  Fortunately, he was able to get on a later one and after taking my parents to our church (International Baptist Church, Singapore) we met him in the Arab Quarter for some Egyptian food after which we decided to check out the new Integrated Resort and casino.  After that, we caught a flight for KL–Momma and Daddy were heading to their third country in less than a week!  They are such jet-setters!

Momma chasing a monkey. It was awesome. 🙂

After a good rest and a shower in the most amazing shower in the world (according to my Mother), we headed to the Batu Caves–a Hindu temple about 11 km from the city.  I’ve mentioned this cave in previous entries (think Thaipusam) and it never disappoints.  After the 300-stair climb to the top, we found one of the best spots for monkey viewing ever!  The monkeys had decided to reek havoc inside the temples by throwing offerings at one another and leaping from deity to deity.  The best part, however, was not the monkeys.  It was watching my sweet mother chasing the monkeys with her camera!  I purposefully didn’t tell her that I’ve seen monkeys rip bags out of peoples’ hands before…haha…good thing she was safe.  🙂

Trying new foods...fishballs!

After some prime monkey-viewing, a coconut, and a Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride-esque taxi ride back into the city, we met John for a delicious lunch at the Old China Inn, then went in for some rest before our grand viewing session of the Petronas Twin Towers and some dinner and jazz.

How about a spot of tea?

The next morning, Momma, Daddy, and I left John in KL to head back to Singapore to see some more of the sights!  We took the bus and were home by mid-afternoon at which point my parents proceeded to fall asleep on our pull-out couch.  I think they were having too much fun!  This was our low key day.  🙂

Pros with the chopsticks. Blending right in!

The next morning, we headed to Chinatown for some shopping and food tasting!  We wandered our way through shops and food stalls until we found some bamboo cakes, fish balls, and sugar cane juice!  We watched the shop keeper making the sugar cane juice (by squeezing sugar cane through a grinder and catching the juice that seeps out) and Momma got so close she got squirted!  You can imagine her expression–it was hilarious!  🙂

My sweet parents with the HK skyline. I love this one!

That afternoon we headed to the Fullerton Hotel for High Tea (including scones) and then we were off to the Night Safari!!!!  Momma and Daddy were such troopers, but were pretty tired at this point–they fell asleep on the tram ride.  🙂  The following day, we spent a rainy day at the zoo followed by and Italian dinner (per my request) and then hit the sack early.

Some things never change. 🙂 Momma is quite good with those chopsticks!

The next day, John joined us in Singapore and had a “guy’s day” with Daddy at the Tiger Brewery while Momma and I shopped along Orchard Road.  That night we went out for some chili crab (a Singaporean specialty).

The next morning, we were at the airport bright and early to catch a flight to Hong Kong!  Four hours later, we touched down and got into a taxi to start our newest adventure!  Momma found an amazing hotel in Kowloon overlooking Victoria Harbour–it was fabulous!  We spent the afternoon window-shopping and trying exotic foods.  We ended up in the Mong Kok street market where we did some intense bargaining and came home with a couple of beautiful paintings!  After some drinks in a sky bar overlooking the Hong Kong skyline, we were off to Sweet Dynasty, a delicious Cantonese restaurant and then to bed because in the morning we were off to….

With the ruins in Macao

Macau!  The Las Vegas of China.   We caught the ferry in the early afternoon and spent the afternoon wandering the streets and sampling delicacies such at almond cookies and Bakwa (the Chinese version of jerky…only it’s sweet).  It’s laid out in huge sheets and they use scissors to snip off a small piece to sample before you buy it by the pound.  It is so yummy!!!!  After viewing some ruins and a fort, we headed to the Wynn for lunch and then to the Venetian for drinks, to explore the canals, and a nice dinner!  Then, off to the Hard Rock Casino before we caught the 2am ferry back to Hong Kong.

In the busy streets of Hong Kong...

The next afternoon (we didn’t get up in the morning), we headed to get some dim sum (the pre-high tea meal of appetizers) and then to the jade and pearl market where we found some GORGEOUS pearl necklaces–it was every southern woman’s dream!  We even made friends with a sweet little old lady who kept pulling us away from other people’s stalls.  She offered us the best prices, so we were ok with that.  🙂  After an hour and a half (literally–if you know my mother and me, you know this is true) in the pearl market, we strolled through wet market (fruit, vegetable, and meat market) and then back to the hotel to clean up before our big dinner.  For my parents’ last night in Asia, we decided to eat in style–as if we hadn’t been eating that way the entire time!  We had dinner on Victoria’s Peak overlooking the Hong Kong skyline.  It was beautiful.

We were there, too! And, as always, goofballs. 🙂

The next morning, all too soon, it was time for my parents to head back stateside and for John and me to head back to Malaysia.  I think Momma and Daddy had a good time and I know John and I had a blast.  We can’t wait for them to come back over!!!!!  Heck, maybe they should move to Asia!  😉

Greetings, all!

While John was in Hong Kong about a month ago, I went with a few friends to Thaipusam.  Thaipusam is a Hindu festival to honor the Lord Murugan and to celebrate the day he received his spear.  In KL, hundreds of thousands of people participate.  Devotees make a pilgrimage from a Hindu temple to the Batu Caves, a cave that also serves as a temple.  To reach the cave requires climbing 300 steps.  What’s so unique about this pilgrimage, however, is the manner in which they do it.  Participants pierce themselves (their faces, their backs, etc.) and then carry burdens called “cavadis”.  In KL, many of the devotees had the cavadis on wheels and were pulling them via hooks (large fish hooks) in their backs.  Friends would hold the wheeled carts back stressing the hooks and the skin, thus demonstrating their friend’s devotion to the God.  Periodically on the path between the temples, the participants would go into a trance like state and dance and yell.  To look into their eyes you see nothing and they are seeing beyond you.  They are in a trance beyond their pain and beyond their surroundings.  This year, we even saw a guy swinging a four-ish year-old girl over his head in celebration.

This year, it was about 100 degrees and sunny, so it added to the environment.  Loud chanting was ringing in our ears and the smell of incense was unavoidable.  As usual, it was unbelievable.  Pictures are in a gallery below.  There were too many to upload through out the entry.  View with caution–some are a little painful to look at!!!

As always, thanks for reading!!!

Hello dear family and friends!

It is inexcusable how long it has been since we’ve updated the blog!  As a result, we have lots to tell you about!  After this entry (which will be a general update), I’ll post three entries:  Bali, Philippines/Hong Kong, and my unexpected trip back to the States.  Then, it will be up to John to post entries on a few miscellaneous happenings, such as the wedding he was in in Singapore!  Thanks so much for coming back, despite our long absence!

Where to start?  We are both doing just great!  John is STILL on a project in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and will probably be posted here through April, if not later.  He’s been on a couple of projects in Malaysia and is really enjoying them.  We’ve moved to an amazing new apartment with an infinity pool looking over part of the KL skyline and a rain-shower in all the apartments!  I really love it and am grateful we have somewhere so nice to stay in the middle of the city.  🙂 We’ve really been enjoying our time in Malaysia.  We have visited a couple of the famous beaches and historical cities as well as really learned our way around Malaysia’s capitol, KL.  It’s a truly beautiful country with delicious food and kind people.

I have since finished all of my Masters courses and submitted my dissertation.  It should be evaluated within a few months at which point, I’ll edit/revise it then submit to the University for a final time.  I turned it in about a week ago and could not have been happier.  I loved my topic (Energy Poverty Eradication in India–a comparative analysis of government and business efforts and potential), but I was ready to let it go.  Probably explains my absence from the blog–I was sick of staring at text on my computer!  In short, I’m finished with my Masters Degree at NUS, barring any major catastrophes with the dissertation evaluation.  Now, I’m spending most of my time in KL with John until I find something to do work-wise.  I have a few things in the pipeline and I’ll be sure to post when something works out.

Since we’ve last blogged, we’ve been to Bali for Thanksgiving, the Philippines to visit our friends Patrick and Yoshie and Hong Kong for Christmas, and I went home to be with my family after the passing of my grandmother.  All in all, it’s been a busy few months.  John is currently in Hong Kong with his project group on a much deserved site visit/holiday weekend away and I’m flying solo in the heart of Malaysia.  Since John’s not here to distract me 😉 I’m going to update the blog with at least three more entries, so hold on…it’s been a most excellent adventure!

Greetings, everyone!!!

What a month October has been.  I can’t believe Halloween is this Saturday!  The weather here is no colder (it’s actually hotter) and the leaves are all still on the trees, so it still feels like summer time.  I guess that’s how time has passed so quickly.  I’m sitting in Kuala Lumpur in our apartment next to some beautiful roses John had waiting for me when I got here.  They were such a wonderful surprise when I came in after my journey from Singapore.  And, the best part is, I get to stay in Malaysia for more than a week so I can enjoy them (and being with John) for a while!  My sweet husband is definitely a keeper!  🙂

This is just an update from your friendly Asian Candetos.  John is still working in Malaysia (potentially extended through January now) and is working 12 plus hour days fairly consistently.  He seems to be learning a lot and is sleeping lots on the weekends.  🙂  He’s promised that he will write a blog entry soon, so I’ll let him give you all of the details.

I’m in the final stretch of school.  Only one assignment, two exams, and a dissertation stand between me and a masters degree.  I can hardly believe it!  My dissertation will be turned in by 15 December and I will be able to enjoy Christmas!  John and I aren’t coming back to the US for Christmas this year, but we hope to keep in touch with all of you all through out the holidays.  We’ll definitely miss being back.  John’s work schedule is very much up in the air and we are hesitant to book something and then not be able to come.  We’re not sure when we’ll be back next, but we’re hoping it’s soon!  We’ll definitely keep you posted!

We are LOVING Asia right now.  We’ve had a really wonderful time getting to know a new city (Kuala Lumpur) and being able to have a “home base” (Singapore).  Kuala Lumpur, as I’ve said in previous entries, is a rapidly developing city in a developing country and every day here is an adventure!  For example, today, I was walking home from the grocery store with my groceries (maybe a 10-15 minute walk from our apartment) and a bolt of lightning hit and a loud clap of thunder followed!  Of course, I was startled, but I was even more frightened to find out that the lightning strike has knocked out all of the stop lights and I was about to cross a major intersection!  As you can imagine, traffic is quite crazy here–or can be.  So, I tightened my grip on my shopping bags and sprinted across the road behind a local, hoping and praying I wouldn’t get hit by speeding car or a stray motorcycle.  I am happy to say that I made it home in one piece.  Long story short:  every day is an adventure.

Malaysian Open

Since being in Malaysia, we’ve tried to do a bit of sight seeing.  One Saturday, we went to the finals of the first annual Malaysian Open Tennis Tournament and realized how much we miss playing!  Oddly enough, there is a tennis court right outside of our door in Singapore, but we have yet to utilize it!  We had wonderful seats and had a nice gentleman take our picture!  The next weekend, we decided that we needed to get out of Kuala Lumpur!  We headed to the Genting Highlands which is Malaysia’s version of Las Vegas and Disney World combined.  We saw a dance/magic/comedy show, had some delicious local food, and generally explored.  It was actually pretty cold up there, especially considering the kind of weather that we’re used to.  It was probably 65 degrees Fahrenheit.  To us, that’s cold!

The real adventure of our trip to Genting, however, was not the Las Vegas–Disney World combo, nor was it the local food.  It was the drive up there.  You see, in most of Southeast Asia, you drive on the left side of the road with the driver on the right side of the car.  Neither of us have EVER EVER done this before (we don’t have a car in Singapore) so this was an adventure in itself.  It didn’t help that KL is fairly hard to navigate (the signs for exits are posted AFTER the exit actually happens) and that it was a Saturday.  John did a fabulous job–we made it back safely and didn’t hit a thing.  I guess next time, it’s my turn to try.  Or, I could just let him drive.  🙂

Uh, John, are you sure about this?

For the past few weekends, we’ve been at our place in Singapore (I’ve had school commitments).  We were lucky enough to have visitors from Manila one of the weekends (our friends Yoshie and Patrick who we met in Singapore back in December of 2008).  Patrick works for Accenture and is working in a project based in Manila.  He and his wife Yoshie came and stayed with us and we had a lovely visit with them!  We really wish they would move back to Singapore or to KL or that we could all be in the same city again for a while!

So…that’s what’s been going on with our lives!  On Monday of this week, John sent me a text message:  “Hey, what are we doing this weekend?  Want to go to the beach?”  Heck yes, I would love to go to the beach!  So, on Monday, we booked a little Halloween trip!  Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we’re headed to Langkawi, an island in the northern part of Malaysia (near the Thai border).  We’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them soon!

We miss you all very much and can’t wait to see you again soon! Check in soon for another update!

One last note:  Tomorrow is the big App St. game–GO PALADINS!!!!!

Dear Blog Readers,

Wow.  And I thought our trip back to the States was a whirlwind.  We’ve been back over a month now and I can’t believe it has already been that long!  I feel like we haven’t stopped and there’s no sign of slowing down anytime soon!  We wouldn’t have it any other way :).  Here is what’s happening in the lives of the Candetos in Asia…

We have moved.  We’ve moved to a new apartment!

From our living room into our kitchen--look at all the space!!!!

I’ve sent our new address to a few of you, but if you haven’t received it an would like it, drop me a note!  Our new apartment is closer to the MRT (train) and in a more local area.  This means we have better access to the city AND to local food, bakeries, stores, etc.

Our beautiful swimming pool!!!

Our new place is about 600 square feet–about 2.5 to 3 times the size of our old place!  We have a kitchen, living area, etc.  I’ll post more pictures once I get it looking good!

I’m in my last semester of Grad School!  Two days after we returned, I started my last semester of my Master’s degree.  I’m currently taking three classes and working on my dissertation.  I’ll be finished (God willing) on 15 December!  A WONDERFUL Christmas present!!!  My dissertation is kind of a “developed world meets developing world” piece.  I’m studying sustainable energy potential of developing countries and the ways that developed countries could help the poorer nations realize this potential.  My particular interests include technology transfer, business model transfers, and the social implications of these transfers.  I’m just beginning and I’m sure it will evolve as bit as I write. I’m also still teaching English at church.  I have a new class of ladies and they’re wonderful :).  I have a few from China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea.  Lastly, I am traveling to Indonesia once a month (to the same Children’s Home I’ve mentioned before) to teach English to the kids.  These kids have really captured my heart and i’m looking forward to spending more time with them!  I didn’t get any pictures last time…I’ll try to be better when I go in October!

And now for what is probably the biggest change we’ve had since we’ve been back:  John is working in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

My husband, Konsultan!

Originally, he was slated to be on the project for four weeks (he’s been there for four weeks already), but now he has been assigned (barring any last minute changes) to that project until December.  He is learning a ton about the Malay culture and the Malay was of doing business.  Malaysia is an Islamic nation, so there’s definitely a lot for us to learn.  Fortunately KL is only a five hour bus ride from Singapore, we so alternate weekends traveling.

At the bar made of ice. Yes, it was cold.

For now, we’re both flying solo–him in KL and me in Singapore, but definitely looking forward to weekends we can spend together.  In fact, next week is my mid-semester break (already!!!), so I’ll be spending it in Malaysia with him.

Last weekend, I went up for his 24th birthday!!!  We had a delightful breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, then went to Top Hat Restaurant for some upscale local fare.  It was delicious.  Following that, we headed to “Quatro” a bar that has a room for each of the four seasons.  We took a picture in winter, where the bar is made completely of ice!  As our sweet friends were telling us, people from this part of the world have an obsession with winter because they don’t have it!!!  Before I knew it though, I was on a bus back home, all too soon.

Long story short, we are loving life right now.  It’s not so fun being away from each other, but we’ve had a great time getting to know a new city in a developing country and are traveling lots!  This weekend, we are headed to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam for the long weekend (it’s Hari Raya here–Malay/Islamic holiday), then we’re headed back up to KL until the big F1 race in Singapore next weekend.  Whew.  We love it.  🙂

We miss you all and hope you’re doing well!!!  Drop us a line sometime!!!!!

Greetings, friends!!  This is the last post of the day–finally!  We have been so horrible about keeping up the blog–we really want to do better.  We’ll see how that goes!!!:)  In this entry, I will tell about my last trip to Batam, Indonesia, give a general life update, and a schedule of our upcoming trip to the US!!!

I went to Batam, Indonesia two weeks ago with church to volunteer at an orphanage/children’s home there.  The children at the home range from ages 5-17 and have either been abandoned by their parents or have no parents.  I went with about twelve other women and children from our church in Singapore.  We did a handicraft with them, ate lunch, did sudoku, and then had to leave far too soon.

Sweet kids...

These children really stole my heart.  Until our church became involved, they were on carbohydrate rations–only certain children got carbohydrates on certain days.  This was happening in the land of rice–I was shocked.  The children were also keeping their tooth brushes in the same bucket with the brush to clean the toilet–which is an eastern toilet (hole in the ground).  They need lessons in hygiene.  They had no idea that this is harmful.   Their home has enough electricity to power four light bulbs and has poor drainage–so poor that if it rains too much, their sewers can back up.  This is an area that was rainforest until it was developed, so you can imagine how frequently that happens.

So cute!!

When we arrived (Batam is only a 45 minutes ferry ride from Singapore), we went through customs, then got on a bus and headed straight to the home.  The children do everything in just a few rooms.  There are thirty children and one large room that serves as a church room, classroom, dining room, playroom, etc.  I don’t know where they sleep.  A minister and his wife have taken in the children in hopes of giving them a better future, but the minister himself is poor.  Once we got there, we did a sewing project with them (they made drawstring bags), then we had lunch, then we did sudoku.  We spent only about 4 hours there and it went by so so quickly.  The children were so eager to learn and to have someone teach them.  I can’t wait to go back this fall–hopefully we’ll be doing some ESL lessons there.  It was a very sad sad thing to see, but the children were so hopeful, it was also encouraging.

Now, on that somber note, it’s on to life updates!  I have been on summer vacation from my graduate program since we went to India.  I’m currently starting to do some research for my dissertation.  That will start full swing in the fall.  My topic is energy poverty and energy efficient ways to address it.  Of course, as the term goes on, it will tweak a bit–but that’s the general idea.  John has been working on a project lately that has been taking up a lot of his time.  He’s working late and going in early–but his last day is next Friday–the day before he leaves for the US!  He’s going back for training and is very excited about potential projects when he gets back!

We have some more big news……we’re moving!!!!!  We’ll still be in Singapore, but we’re moving across the country!  Our move is a grand total of 20.3 kilometers!!!  We’re moving to a bigger place, closer to the MRT.  We can’t wait!!!  We’re moving the day after we get back from the US and the day before I start the fall semester and John starts a new project.  Can you say jet lag???  Yes, we’re still insane!

As most of you probably know, we’re coming back to the US for a visit!!!  Here are our schedules–if you’ll be in any of these cities at any of these times, let us know and we’ll see if we can work something out!!!  We would love to see you!!!!

John:

18 July-25 July:  Chicago (Job Training)

25 July-26 July:  Louisville/Shelbyville (Whitney’s Wedding/Tory’s Wedding)

26 July-31 July:  Chicago (Job Training)

31 July-1 August:  Orlando (Stephanie’s Wedding)

1 August-2ish August:  Charleston, SC (Tyner’s Wedding)

2ish August-8 August:  Orlando (Family Visit)

CB:

14 July-16 July:  Orlando (Family Visit/Jetlag Recovery)

16 July-17 July:  Greenville (Visit Patrick/Furman/Tyner’s Bachlorette)

17 July-19 July:  NYC (Tyner’s Bachlorette)

19 July-30 July:  Shelbyville/Louisville (Family Visit/Whitney’s Wedding/Tory’s Wedding)

31 July-2ish August:  Charleston, SC (Tyner’s Wedding)

2ish August-8 August:  Orlando (Family Visit)

Then….we come back and move and resume our lives in Singapore:).  Email us if you want to hang out–phone communication may be questionable!!!  Thanks for reading as always!!!!!!!  We’ll update soon (we hope;)!!!!!

Love,

John and CB

Whew–what a busy time it’s been since our return from India!  We are terrible bloggers–sorry for the delay.  And thanks for checking back:).  Now, on with the update!  Happy Meal visited us, the Candeto family came, we’ve been to Thailand, celebrated two birthdays, been to Indonesia and are generally trying to keep up with the busy day to day lifestyle in Singapore since you have last hear from us.  Instead of boring you with an incredibly LONG blog entry on all of these things, I’m going to spilt them up over several entries.  This entry:  Happy Meal aka Mizzle aka Flid aka John McDaniel’s trip to Singapore!

Flid arrived around midnight one evening after John and I had gone to see Shakespeare in the Park–a delightful rendition of “Much Ado About Nothing” with local soap opera stars.  It was a wonderful show and we had wonderful weather.  After the show, I was off to the airport to pick up Flid (John was not feeling well and ended up heading home).  Rev and I met at the airport only to realize that neither of us had Flid’s flight number and there were two flights originating in Tokyo at the same time on the same airline.  However, these two flights were arriving at different terminals in the Singapore airport!  So, Rev went to one terminal and I went to the other to see who could have the first “Flid sighting.”  Rev won and I was off to greet Flid via sky train.  It had been almost a year since we had last seen Flid, so this was a joyous reunion!  The first thing he said to me after his 30 plus hours of traveling was “my butt feels like a flotation device.”  Some things never change:).

Flid stayed with us in our 250 square foot one room apartment!  Fitting three people into that small space proved to be quite interesting, but we’re all such great friends it worked out fine!  Flid slept on our pull-out couch and we were hopping all around each other when we were all in the apartment!!!  He was such a good sport.  Hopefully, we’ll have a larger place the next time he comes to visit and more optimal visiting conditions!

Turtle Face looking at the turtle

The next morning, well afternoon–Flid slept until about 12 or 1pm every single day–we went off on an adventure to the Turtle Museum!  For those of you who don’t know, Singapore hosts the world’s largest collection of turtles, both living and in statue form.  Before we could do this I took Flid to a Singapore “coffee shop” which is a type of hawker centre where there is very little coffee actually served.  There we got some chicken rice and Flid got a taste for what most menus around here have to offer with items such as pigs organ soup, chicken foot soup, and other wonderful parts of animals that can be consumed.  After Flid’s first meal here (I must admit, I’m not sure if taking him to such a local place so early was such a good idea:), we were off to the Turtle Museum!!!  The museum is literally a tiny building with lots and lots of aquariums with turtles floating around in them.

Flid the Turtle God

We saw creepy snake turtles, turtles with pig snouts, and turtles that will worship you if you give them food.  After viewing a turtle who was supposedly over 100 years old, we left the museum and headed to Holland Village (an expat hangout) for a sushi dinner and some Ice Kachang.  Ice Kachang, or as we lovingly call it “blended clown,” is a dessert that is a snow cone on top of black beans, grass jelly, and jelly beans, then topped with cream corn.  It’s as delicious as it sounds!

Flid nervously eyeing his spoonful of Ice Kachang (that's melted a bit)

The next afternoon–mind you, Happy Meal was sleeping until then–we set off to explore the city and two of the main cultural quarters of the town.  Our first stop was the Arab Quarter where we looked at the mosque, did a bit of souvenir shopping and met John for lunch at a delicous Middle Eastern restaurant.  Next, we headed to Chinatown where Flid spent most of his money (there are so many beautiful presents to buy!) and we explored the Buddhist Temple and went in the Buddhist museum.  I must say, images of Religion 12 all came flooding back while we explored the exhibits!  In fact, we had done a project together on Buddhism for that class–we found out that we were exceedingly accurate with our presentation…haha:).  For the rest of the afternoon, we wandered around the city until we met Rev and John for dinner at a hawker centre near the Singapore River where we introduced Flid to delicious Sting Ray and Flid and John ordered cockles in honor of Molly Malone.

Cockles in honor of Molly Malone

The rest of the week seemed to go by in a blur.  One day, Flid and I did the zoo AND the night safari (I think Flid slept until almost 2pm the next day) and another day we intended to go to Little India, but I went the wrong way when we got off of the MRT and we ended up back in the Central Business District.  That day, we did a lot of walking. One of the best part of Flid’s visit was the chance to catch up with him–I feel like we’ve missed so much since we’ve been over here!!!!

The Saturday of Flid’s visit was Revant’s birthday!  So, after Flid got up, we went to the Asian Civilizations Museum (a really cool museum that takes Asia country by country and displays artifacts of historical significance) and walked around until John could manage to get off of work (he had to work that Saturday…).  Once John was able to meet us, we visited an Ice Cream Uncle just ouside the museum.  Typically, ice cream is quite expensive in Singapore, but not if you can find an Ice Cream Uncle!  They charge only one dollar and cut off a small block of ice cream for you then put it between two wafers.  John got mango ice cream.  I got chocolate chip.  Flid got red bean.:)  He was so adventurous with his ice cream decision!  He said it tasted like strawberry…it certainly looked like it!

This picture pretty much sums up the evening...

After this we headed over to Clarke Quay to Rev’s birthday dinner!  Rev had chosen a Mexican restaurant (Singapore only has Mexican “fine dining”–none of the cheap Mexican that we all know is far superior to all other Mexican food) over looking the Singapore river.  Even though it wasn’t cheap Mexican, it was good:).  We hadn’t had Mexican food in about six months.  It was a wonderful evening with lots of fabulous pictures including a photoshoot on the bridge over the river!!!!:)  Just a note of how awesome Rev is:  the morning after his birthday he biked something like 60km at 5:45 am.  We were all extremely impressed.

Happy Birthday, Revie!!!!!

The next day, sadly, was Flid’s last day in the ‘pore.  His visit flew by as quickly as this entry makes it seem.  We went to church, had a nice lunch, then went swimming in the pool at our condo before seeing Flid off at the airport.  We are so thankful that he was able to come over here and really appreciate him taking all of time and making all of the effort to make the trip happen!!!!!  Flid–come back soon–or go to wherever we end up next!!!!

Three days after Flid left, Steve, John’s little brother came over for a visit.  John’s family followed shortly thereafter.  Check out the next entry to hear all about our adventures in Singapore and in Thailand!

Dear all,

Happy Summer!  I’m officially half-way finished with my Masters Degree (I took my last final exam yesterday) and am ringing in the first day of summer with a blog entry:).  Summer has become a relative term.  Today, it’s about 80 degrees outside and it feels cold.  Perhaps this is because of the 100 plus degree week we had last week.  Despite my complaining, though, I am starting to get used to the heat.  When I walked out today and realized the actual temperature and how cold I felt, it was a bit disconcerting–80 degrees should never feel cold.  Wait til we get to India…

The past week has been a typical, good week.  Our English class potluck went wonderfully!  I was extremely nervous that no one was going to bring any dishes besides Yoshie and me, but as it turns out the concept of “potluck” bridges cultural gaps!  Everyone made a dish specific to their home country (I brought cupcakes that “tasted like America,” says Yoshie, to represent the good ole US of A) and the food was delicious!  Yoshie made a SPAM sushi that is very popular in San Francisco.  It’s the only SPAM I’ve ever tasted that I liked!  We had dishes from Mongolia, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Indonesia.  And, the best part, every lady was able to tell us how they made it–in ENGLISH!  I think they surprised themselves with how much English they knew.  What a wonderful class day!

The Western Niceties Seminar was a good time!  It was actually a Japanese Bible Study Coffee House that I went to with Yoshie and Hozumi where I also learned Western Niceties.  Despite being Western, I actually learned quite a bit because we discussed European customs.  After the presentation, I went to the presenter and told her how much I had learned.  She looked at me and denied it and said I should have known everything she said.  I then informed her that I am, indeed, an American and we don’t have the same customs.  “Well, that explains it.”  She said.  “You Americans and your air kisses.  It’s a whole different level.”  Whether that level is up or down, I’m not sure.  I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and say that it is up!  After years of Cotillion, I should think that!

On Friday, I volunteered at the nursing home with church.  This particular facility is home to 13 ladies as old as 91 years of age!  The only problem was, none of them spoke English.  And, I don’t speak Cantonese or Mandarin.  After singing some church songs in Mandarin (I did my best to hum the tune) and listening to a testimony in Chinese (the staff was kind enough to translate for me), we had lunch with them.  The food was incredible–all traditional Chinese food including vinegar pork and eggs that are traditionally eaten by a mother after a child is born.  There are lots of links between food and health benefits here–more so than the calories consumed!  As I was leaving and shaking hands with each of the old ladies, they each tried to speak some English to me, as I used what broken Chinese I know to try to communicate with them.  One lady grabbed my hand with both of hers and kept repeating “happy happy happy.”  It was the sweetest thing.  Another of the ladies wished me a Happy Birthday (it wasn’t my birthday;).  Many of them said thank you and smiled at me.  It was yet another lesson that language doesn’t have to be a barrier.  I had a wonderful morning with those ladies even though we only exchanged ten mutually understood words.

Sorry for the short entry, but other than economics and technology finals with a few highlights thrown in, I have relatively little to report.  John and I are leaving for Bangalore, India tomorrow night!  I’m sooooo excited!!!!!:)  We’ll be sure to have lots of adventures to report from our trip.  Check back soon!!!!!

Miss you all,

CB