Singapore Chapter 3

Introducing the "4 Angled Bean" (See-Kak-Tao)
To all my Aussie friends, this will look alien to you. It's a veg! Cooked with anchovies and garlic, it's the simplest of all pleasures. Thought I'd blog it as it is something most people outside of South East Asia will not see.

I found this treasure in the wet markets (very common here) but it's been years since I've had some of these. Had to ring my mom who's holidaying in Cairns to jog my memory on how to best stir fry it. Tasted great and the entire family loves it. Wonder what nutritious values it has?

Big Bad World out there!

Been more settled at home as well as with our family routine. This meant that I am now able to continue more reading and pre-planning for us and the kids. We've also been blessed by many get-togethers and meet-ups with old friends from the past (Thanks Wongs, Gohs, Gohs, Angs, Chias etc!) It's nice to just catch up with where everyone's at in their different stages in life.

One of the many challenges I faced as a parent is when my child starts life outside of home. Having dedicated my waking life to the upbringing and nurturing of the little ones, it's very human to experience separation anxiety myself. I went through it with Letitia and thought it'd get better with Mathena. It is Mathena's turn to step out on her own two tubby feet. She's grasp this "going to school" concept ages ago and only until now she's been given the chance to go. She's doing very well and having a ball everytime she goes to "playgroup", she comes home all exhausted (Mommy, I am tired!) and all mushy (Mommy, I love you!) but very happy. She is turning 3 in September and she still melts my heart. I have had reports that she is a tough cookie and has often shown "bully" behaviour towards the younger ones. She is one of the more senior ones as the playgroup only takes little ones from 1.5-3yo. She's had a few "false starts" where she decided that she's not going to playgroup but generally after a few moments, she's happy to go. This is heartbreaking for me. She's my little bubba growing up....too quickly.

Now, Letitia is a whole new story. From day one, Letitia has been our social butterfly. She's great at making friends and capturing the hearts of big people. Over the "school years" of Letitia short life, she's had no problems being accepted and welcomed amongst her peers. Being parents, we just assumed that the entire world will love our child like we do!! Yesterday, Letitia came home and quietly told me that she has been "excluded" by a few kids. These bunch of Kindy-tough-nuts apparently went around yelling and telling everyone "to go to the shops to buy Letitia rubbish!!". They also jeered at Letitia's rainbow drawing and called it "poo-poo" very much to our little artist's dismay. She's apparently had a BIG BAD day at school and she is feeling a bit sad.

Every inch of me wants to seek out those "verbally-unbridled" tikes to give them AND their parents a peace of my mind. After a few moments of ranting and breathing steam off my nostrils, I calmly resorted to doing what a mom SHOULD do.

TAKE HER OUT OF SCHOOL AND GO BACK HOMESCHOOLING!
TAKE HER OUT OF SCHOOL AND GO BACK HOMESCHOOLING!
TAKE HER OUT OF SCHOOL AND GO BACK HOMESCHOOLING!

No, instead I,
1) Reassured Letitia that she's worth more than words can describe and,
2) As long as she is not doing the same to others, we have to forgive these kids and let it go.
3) I told her that our GOD sees all these things and HE will in his time deal with them.
4) I then reminded her that NOT everyone loves God like we do and wants to please God (she immediately replied, but they all sing GOD songs like me!).
5) I told her she must believe that she and her work is valuable to us (her parents) and most of all to GOD.
6) Lastly, I remembered Colin's "In the Bible, in Ephesians, Chapter 4 vs 32, God says be kind to one another!"and it's okay to go tell a teacher when the going gets tough.

After all that, Letitia added, "Mom, I did pray about 3 times, when the kids were not nice to me!" and I congratulated her for doing that. She said it made her feel better and braver. Her faith has been tremendous recently and we've practice simple things like asking GOD for bringing us taxis (so we are not late for church) and for cool winds in our apartments (to cool our guests down when visiting) etc.

After every heartbreaking parental moment, there's always glory coming from GOD and eventually given to GOD. PTL!

School Bus in Singapore!

If there's anything positive I can say about Singapore, it's the public transport and private school bus systems. I also recommend taking the taxis anytime. Being a city packed with so many people, these systems keep the city buzzing and active 24hrs a day.

Letitia hops on a private bus/van everyday for 5 days a week, for a 10 week-term. It works out just about S$1.80 per trip. We still pay the bus company a years worth of fees even though they don't drive them over the holidays. Can't complain because...

The van picks Letitia up half an hour before school starts (a 15mins trip) right at the doorstep of our apartment block and drops her back here at exactly 30mins after school finishes. This is convenience at an affordable price. I know that this is EXPENSIVE considering the FREE public school buses the NSW gov supplies, but the best bit is, we do not have to be at the bus stops and worry about the rain etc. Letitia gets home and I am there to wait for her. There is even an elderly "aunty" lady who keeps the wiggles at bay and keeps the peace on the bus. The driver just concentrates on the traffic and route.

I am a happy mom as I no longer have to drive 30mins each way to chauffeur Letitia (gone are those days!!!). Mathena can continue to sleep while I hop down to lobby level to greet Letitia and come right back up to a less tired preschooler (hopefully still asleep).

WANTED, Green & Yellow spotted!

Missing! Green Dinosour with Yellow spots!
Will answer to "Dorothy" and holds a yellow circle teether!
Been missing for 1 week at least (the last I noticed not kicking her)
A favourite toy of Mathena age 2.9yo.
Originated from the Wiggles group, loves to eat roses,
and giggles quite a lot.
Last seen in our apartment and have suddenly dissapeared!!
If found please contact via comment!

Below is a picture of Dorothy the Dinasour in her natural habitat

An inflammatory condition of the skin characterized by redness, itching, and oozing vesicular lesions which become scaly, crusted, or hardened

"ECZEMA"
We have been battling with the above since Mathena was 1yo. She somehow had more issues with her skin as compared with her sister. As time went on and she received more exposure to dirt (a very common ingredient in our house) and itched more, scratched more and therefore had MORE "owies"!

I had just taken her to see a local GP to initialise our GP/patient relationship. I was told that her condition is a fact I will have to live with. It'll come, it'll go. She'll be irritated, she'll scratch. With the help of steroid creams, we can keep it under control but there no stopping her hyper sensitive skin condition to sweat, dust, air, dryness, anything at all.

The BAD news is, I have been diagnosed with the dreaded "E" skin condition too! I have had for the 6 months, bubbles and skin peeling off my left foot. I remember this happening when I was pregnant with Mathena. Soon after she popped out, it all went away. Then it reaccured around the time Alex went off to work in North Sydney. Summer, winter came and went. I still have it now, in the hot tropics and it has now SPREADED to both my hands!!!!!!!!!!!! It's apparently all Eczema, just the hand and foot type! GREAT, just what I needed to have in my life!

THIS looks like what I have!

L & M's Refuge

This is Mathena "monkeying" around and yes, she's got a graze on her forehead. All that running downhill on the way to swimming!

Our demure and ladylike girl. Cosy in her little corner bed.

The girl's room, all cosy and LARGE!

Rocks vs Chips!

When reading this, many of you will think and be convinced that I have ROCKS in my head! Read on..

Over the past few weeks, I have been teased and tossed with the idea of getting a "reward" as a wife (after organising our relocation), a mom and a person (yes, I do have a personality outside of the first 2 roles!). Alex has been planning to get me "something" for our upcoming anniversary, which in reality is still a couple of months away (He plans ahead and then oftens forgets). So he's been jewelry shopping. He's done some research while he was in North Sydney already, unbeknowned to me... How/what was my respond to that?

I was somewhat annoyed and dissapointed. Yes, I do like jewelry especially the white and sparkly sort. Yes, I still stand outside jewelry shops dreaming of a "princess" life. Yes, a $20K diamond set will suit me just fine and allow me to show off to my safety deposit box.

I was just thinking that maybe there are other things that I would have prefered and liked. It did not take me long to come out with the idea of a "personal laptop". On further discussion, I realised that I had never really owned a computer for myself. I have had to use Alex's hand-me-downs or his all this while. He's always bought them but with intention for the family and yours faithfully to use. But it's never mine! The girlie, pink and personalised, mine!

So, I asked him for a small Mac Laptop. Would you believe it? Alex was thrilled out of his socks and immediately boasted me to his "friends"! I think I have made the right choice. He's eager and keen to get me one ASAP but, being a bargain hunter, I am happy to wait till the Apple people are willing to throw in more stuff or they come up with something even better. What can be worse than buying a YOU-Beaut computer only to have something bigger and better in the market the next day! I will get one. It wouldn't happen overnight but it will happen!

I have made Alex a happy man. I am pretty excited about this choice. Chips or rocks? I will take chips (the computer kind!) anytime....just look at how much time I spend on the laptop? ...and it's not even mine!

Power Failure

We experience our very first (apparently more to come) SINGAPORE power failure last night.

We got home just around 6.30pm and while waiting for the lift, saw the lights went off before our eyes. We initially thought that it was the lifts that has gone wrong but later realised that it was a power failure.

I had to make the choice of waiting down the lobby for don't know how long or walk up 10 levels with the two girls. Letitia and Mathena had just spent a whole hour swimming and drilling in the pool. They were both exhausted AND hungry. We made the hike. To my surprise, the girls did not complained and Mathena chatting-ly trooped all the steps on her own. Letitia took the liberty to walk ahead to count the floors are we reached each one and when we finally arrived, MY knees were weak.

As the sun slowly set, I dug out all my candles and set up the dining area with some lights. The strong winds did not help with keeping the candles lit. To a point while eating dinner, we had to close all the windows and boil in the candle heat so as to maintain some lights. Our conversations revolved around, "long, long time ago,... Little House on the Prairie,... Grandma also did not have lights etc". The kids felt the novelty but was soon worn out by the day.

The power failure lasted under 2 hours and I believe for Asian standards, that's pretty good. All is well and back to normal The tired little ones all trooped ahead to their schools and playgroup today.

Lesson 1

This is quite funny. Just when I think I KNOW everything, I discovered that I STILL have room to learn, especially relating to life here in Singapore.

How to grow Black MOLD/Fungus
Just keep unused rice in rice cooker. Allow it to stay in kitchen under hot tropical room temperature for 2 nights. Open rice pot lid for a fluffy, black surprise! I learnt not to leave things/food overnight in the "open". There's geckos around!! Singapore is NOT like Australia. The temperatures breed creatures and mushrooms galore. Even the food/leftovers in the fridge cannot be left for more than 48hours. The opening and closing of fridge doors can spoil the food.

How to attract a hefty FINE of S$500
Just by using the shortest path and crossing the bus lanes within the bus depots of Singapore. We are apparently only allowed to walk in specific walking areas and bus lanes are just that: for buses only.

How to break another civic law
By picking the flowers off the road side. Okay, the Growing Kids mob will all say "told you so!", but my girls and I have the tradition of picking them to talk about them, play with them, bring them to someone and even put them in our hair. I was in the process of showing Letitia a type of flower (grown like wild fire everywhere) that it's nectar from within can be sipped if the flower is grown in a clean and refreshed area. Then, the very next day we saw a documentary on tv that pulling "public" plants is illegal! I was VERY prompt in getting rid of that tradition.

Schooling in Singapore

Playground

Even at 5pm in the afternoon, the heat is quite torturing. The girls seemed happy enough to just run around the well equipted playground facilities 2mins from our place! The photos don't show it but both of them were red in the faces from the heat!

Choices

Over the past week, I had to make some pretty tough choices and decisions.

I have decided to follow the Singapore system in education and age cut-offs. I rang the ministry and was told that schools will only admit kids born within 1st Jan-31st Dec of the year and they all enter Primary 1 at age 7. They have K1, K2 being first and second year Kindy. Preschool/childcare starts at Pre-nursery, which is age 3. I have been asked to enrol Mathena for nursery next year as she's turning 4 nest year.

I rang a few schools and have not really been satisfied with the ones I have seen. They were either cheap but run down, to "Roman-Catholic-cy" or too expensive. Today we found a Baptist Kindy that runs a beautiful and Christian-like system. I have long given up the standards as good as Cedars back in Wollongong but this one I found has at least 30% of the same value systems as Cedars. The total year fees might even add up to be the same as what we are paying for Letitia in Australia and this includes the bus shuttle fees that takes her from our doorstep to the school and back. Mind you, all this excitement is only for a 3hour session from 11am-2pm for 5 days a week. The same for next year.

This means I will take a back seat with homeschooling (sorry, SB!) I will miss knowing and understanding Letitia's school level though I can still spend time with her when she returns in the afternoon or in the mornings before she goes. I do however like the 3hr per day concept as it allows the kids to rest (if needed) and me as a mom to have time with my child. I am hoping the extra year in Kindy will also expose Letitia to an extra year of listening and talking in Chinese. If all goes well and I pay up the fees, Letitia will start school tomorrow and she'll have her first excussion of Singapore on Friday. There's only 2 weeks left to this term and she will get a full week's holiday to continue with a 10-week Term 4. Phew! A lot of test runs for the next week.....

Why did I do what I did? I have found over the past week, even when we are doing things at home, Letitia was whimpering for school and it's routine. She missed the interaction with kids, with her old friends and the teacher. She loved every moment of being at home with me but I could see the zeal running low as she scans through her work sheets, sighing away as she tries to stay focused. She has however taken on the "phonics" thing by storm and spending hours on end reading books after books after books. She is now doing the Good News Bible New Testament, paragraph by paragraph and comparing them to the Kid's Bibles she has. To read and to tell me the parables. Her head is so buried in books that we struggle to get her attention when we need her to do things or just to talk to her. She also reads our blog when I am logged on. I will however spend more time (typical me!) to suss out her level with "work" and fun stuff at home.

Paid childcare for 3hours is called Playgroup. Mathena has had 2 days worth of this and has returned exhausted and very happy. I REALLY think she is ready to socialise. So far, no tears except lots of "jabber" on return of her day at "school". She is my baby and seeing her growing up still breaks my heart. Each time I take her to school, the staff are asking to put her there full time...for 5 days. My conviction is that she stays home with me for another year of so, to learn, grow and be nurtured in her home, with her mommy.

Relationships in Singapore

One thing I have noticed, as I step into the society of Singapore (via conversations with taxi drivers and the like), there is a HUGE population of divorced people and remarried families here. I was first made aware of this when nearly 3/4 of the taxi drivers who pick us up talked about their ex-wives, their new courtship or their NOW lonely life without a partner (due to divorce).

It is also a very common thing for women to make the step out of an abusive relationship, choosing to leave the children in the care of their father. Hence, the youth generation is seaped with issues of self confidence, stability and self worth. Many more stories by taxi drivers and real estate agents.
Check this article, and this one out. A bit out of date but still relevant.

Today, while flicking the ever increasing choice of cable tv for the girls (I was trying to find a wholesome chinese tv show to expose them to chinese...yep, an entire blog in itself!), I came across a "info-mercial" where the government is teaching the public how to "resolve" issues and disagreements in marital relationships. It was the coolest little 10min programme, using actors sitting in a "yuppie" unit setting, a character narrating the "theories" and methods of conflict resolution. What stood out most was the fact that they used the ancient "chinese" philosopher's (Khung-zi, someone like that!) war/battle strategy and convoluted them into "human relationship" communication skills.

Singapore is a melting pot of many things, inter-racial marriages, marriages solely to move up in ranks, marriages for convenience and of course, marriages that aren't really (shacking up). The country is so "open" in their standards and thinking yet at the same time, tied up in traditions and superstitions that I find it confusing. During the "hungry ghost" month, parents will take their kids away from all water sources (swimming lessons) for fear that the children will drown. They will regularly purchase paper mache designs of BMW cars, furnitures, money, houses etc and have them burnt as an offering to these "ever-hungry" persons (creating pollution and lots of ashes in the air, sheesh!) This brings "Halloween-Asian-Style" to whole new meaning. In a different manner I heard of "Chinese ladies" training their protege on the lessons of "How to hitch a RICH, old European man!". These women (usually from mainland China, Philipines, Indonesia) fight hard to leave their lives of poverty and aim HIGH towards the luxurious life of the EXPAT community. During our stay at the luxurious apartment, I have met many of these ladies who dressed themselves up superbably (very sexy as well) yet when they open their mouths, they don't rank up to their clothes. These ladies come adorned with maids and spoilt mixed-blood kids. I was even annoyed at some point as their noses seemed higher than mine (showed no respect for other people even for a simple greeting!). What an eye opener!

All these I learn from my 38 days here and the amazingly efficient taxi community of Singapore. Food for thought!

Laundry Day

In reality, everyday is laundry day. We can't leave our clothes till the next day as they "stink" and the humidity breeds something chronic.

All the way...down from the 10th level. The bamboo poles are slotted into these built in holes.

Yes, I am now quite happy to use the bamboo poles hanging off the ledge of our window. Have a look at my perspective....it is in fact quite a muscle building task and I have to be VERY careful!

Swimming in Braddell

The common swimming facilities here (the girl's favourite!)

p/s We avoid the harsh sun (11am-3pm), the times we do swim,
we usually have the whole place to ourselves, yippee!

Looking More Homely

A nice sunny area to play but we have to remind them not to "jump!" 10 floors down.

I can see the floor!
(Shelves belonging to owner!)

Our living area all tidied up! Girls watching
nice new tv compliments by Cable/Phone company

My Thanks

Now that things have settled down a bit...I have had the chance to think and ponder on the many people that graced my life the past few years. This article is my heartfelt thanks to them.

Firstly, my parents...(is this starting to sound like an Oscar Award Acceptance speech?). No matter how grown up or how much one has moved on in life, the need to "seek home" is just as strong and important. Both my parents have been in every single part of the "special occasions" in our lives. It was a second nature thing for me to do, to seek mom to help out when I had Letitia and then, Mathena. I sought them each time we relocated, interstate or overseas. Dad stood in each time mom had more than her share to juggle. Both of them seemed to have moved mountains to help us in whichever way they can. Thanks mom, thanks Papa! If I have not said it enough, thanks!

Our church! Alex and I strongly believed in the prayer and spiritual support we had from the churches we traverse through in the past. To the most recent, Figtree Anglican in Wollongong, our heartfelt thanks to the entire superb and loving pastoral care team, the leaders who knew us as friends and loved ones and to the church families that reached out to us one way or another (bible studies, parenting classes, playgroups, GEMs, babysitting etc). My heart still aches each time I realise how far we are yet I am forever grateful that our friendship and crossed-paths are cemented in Eternity. You guys are the 'angels" GOD brought to our lives in everyway. You have been there in our lowest moments and you were there in the highlights of our lives. Keep loving those around you like you did us!

My sisters in Christ, in heart and in motherhood. The ladies in our Tuesday night Bible Studies, the cool friends from "Growing Kids", the special women in our Sunday Avo Bible studies... I really hope YOU know who YOU are! You have touched me, taught me, toughen me, talked-me, and trained me to be who I am as a wife, a mom and a servant of Christ. All that I needed to learn about being a wife, GOD brought you to me as a testimony, an example and a direction. I had a glimpse of the "future" from the ones who's walked ahead in life, I had a practical outlook from those of you still walking the walk (parenthood) with me and I have had the pleasure of your friendship with those who loved me for JUST me. If I name names...the list will be endless!
We have officially been in Singapore for 37 days. My apartment is starting to look like a home. The bits that is hidden will be tackled in the near future. My next task is to get my girls' life back on track. This means school work, school options, playgroup, social groups (dance or swimming) and later our church life. I have a few appointments to attend next week to "try out" and meet people (Australian NZ residents here!). Mathena will try out a playgroup programme already running in this estate. She misses her playgroup. This one is a paid version where parents are not allowed (semi childcare for 3 hours per day). Will try out for an hour to see how she goes. I will call up swimming coaches for Letitia to keep her up to speed with her swimming and I will call more schools regarding the options we have locally. All these while having them at home, running around and getting school work into them in between. Checkout how expensive the kindies here are!

Been IN since Sunday

After a week, we've moved in on Sunday with the kids. We have officially lost our ties to the "luxurious" and cool refuge of GREAT WORLD city apartments. Been a lovely month there and am absolutely grateful for such a place.

Now we are 89% unpacked. Have only 10 more boxes to deal with and decide. Our store room is wall to wall covered in stuff including two spare mattresses for guest/family visiting. The master bedroom is looking tidier though we have a lot of pc stuff on the floor still waiting for a solution/space to set up a study. The girl's room is the cosiest as all the wall pics are up and looking very sweet and homely. I have made the decision to move out one tall storage shelf to "open" up the room a bit. Now they have a little "dressing table" for grooming and looking at themselves (a favourite girlie pastime) in the mirror. The guest room has boxes at a corner to be 'dealt'. We've set ourselves another weekend this Sunday to sort them all out so that he removalist will come pick up all the trash and boxes. Still wondering how we can fit a 4BDR household into 3!! It won't happen overnight, but it MUST happen!

Girls are well, the air-conditioning in their room is working well and I have been sleeping in their rooms. Did I mention it's HOT here? The winds pick up every once in a while but it's not cooling. It's humid and I am constantly heading to the showers. The girls have acclimatised but are constantly wet-haired/sticky and blushing in their faces. I have to remind myself to cover them with sunscreen as they are getting REAL dark.

Been to the local places to shop for groceries, so much more affordable. Now am cooking from home and yes, I am getting real sick of the oily and sticky foodcourt food. In fact I have been cooking in the hotel already as I got sick of the heat by day 2 of arrival. I now only select the "cool" places to eat, at least while I am eating, I am not melting away. I am convince that chubby people can't stand the heat as much as the skinnier version. Maybe this heat will melt away some of my excess fat??

School is still in the drawing board. I am ringing around to find out what the 'local' kindy conditions are. I got info from some of the "well reputed and cheaper" kindys. These ones are less "pressured" and emphasis on play while learning etc. I gasped at the cost, eg S$850 per month (approx A$800). They do not function per term and the holidays are "optional"?? There are a few government run versions near here which I am yet to call (in the 1hour break I get a day) but after the Singapore National Day celebration yesterday, they are all on holiday today.

Am still exhausted....must be the heat! Will write more...the day is moving along.

Oh yes, dad left for Kuching this morning. The girls will miss him terribly and he obviously will miss them too (tears when saying goodbye). He's taken to them very well and they enjoy his company and kookiness. Now I am left with all the weird words instilled on the girls, but with Aussie accents! Sigh!

Of Cooking & Cleaning

This is what I have discovered...

FOOD here is dirt cheap. 80% of households DO NOT Cook at home. It seems that buying groceries is actually most costly than eating out at the zillions of hawker stalls around.

Another discovery, there's HOMECOOKED food on delivery. There are companies who delivers your dinner, 5 times a week at S$280 for 20days (Mon-Fri). This works out S$14 a day to feed a family of 4. This includes 3 dishes, a soup and you'll have to cook your own rice. An extra $20 if you want them to supply the rice. Of course I checked out the "menu", 15 chicken dishes, 15 fish dishes, 15 Pork/Egg in a varied style, 15 Tofu/Duck/Veg dishes and of course another 15 varieties of chinese soup. Who needs a maid?

Okay, ...my fingers are all peeling from the cleaning and sort of Ezcema thingy. They were on my feet the better part of Wollongong years and now "they" have decided to move upwards to my upper limbs. The nice cool breeze in the apartment also answers for the amount of dust on the surfaces....grrrr! Just did my first even mop of the place, new mop (not happy with the design!!), but pretty easy as all are tiles and timbe floors. My feet are still black in colour though....?!?!

Am yet to cook in my kitchen..maybe next week? The fridge is looking scary bare!

Wanna See Our MESS?!?

Since our stuff arrived on Tuesday, I have been back for 3-4 hours at a time sorting out all the "urgent" things and allocating them a space outside of their storage box. Am quickly running out of floor space as well as storage!!! My dad has been really great to entertain the two girls and they seem to spend the mornings quite happily together.

Would you like to see our mess?

Looking at the pics, I have spared you the REAL mess....by today (Thursday, I can safely say 50% is all in a home) but I am yet to "detail" the things and line the cupboards with the appropriate things so as to protect the house.

Our Journey in Pictures

The CHAN girls say goodbye to Australia!

Mathena enjoying airplane cuisine and comfort (note the earphones are bigger than her head!)

Letitia all snuggled in for a little nap (while watching Jamie Oliver cooking on tv)

Our fancy accomodation before we find our own home!

This is kids club (at our fancy aprtment block) where we release our energy with equiptments and new "friends".

"Pisang Emas"= Golden Bananas, only the size of mommy's thumb, very sweet and cheap (A1.50 per bunch)! Pictured next to a small Cavendish (from Thailand)

Mathena spends the whole 15 mins on her table! Yippee!

Letitia doing "school work" with mommy!

CHAN girls looking one shade darker (before Lice!)

We finally saw the MERLION !!

Pictures at last!

We had our stuff arrived at our new place today. BIG, tiring day and the girls were in the care of their grandfather the whhhooolle day. We are now exhausted but relieved to see all our stuff arrive safely (136 boxes actually!).

The good news is we can now unload our pics on to the mac...then blog them! Yippee...

This is a picture of the girls are their happiest moment: after a big swim and having afternoon tea around the pool!

Our home in the making (my lovely kitchen). Can't wait to start cooking in my own stuff!! Yey!

Our living room, full of stuff (landlord's) that comes with the package. It looks NO-WHERE like this NOW!. Full of our STUFFssss!

Our dining area, great to cook and have the kids on the table doing work etc. How cool is that?
Don't forget we are 10 levels up and on top of a little hill, which means it's pretty breezy for an apartment in the hot tropics. Phew!

Pics from "Butterfly park" in Sentosa. Letitia told me, "Australia is beautiful, and I want to go back there!" (after she realise her stuff are ALL here in Singapore!)

p/s Vanessa (Mrs W) thanks for your lovely text, it meant a lot to me! Butterflies galore, just for you! Letitia misses all her friends and her time in K-rafter and she wishes everyday that she's home with you guys!