Little India, Singapore

Little India 360 Stand in one place, turn in a circle and this is what you’ll see on a Sunday night in Little India during Deepavali. Ok, maybe you won’t see Tommy but there was no shortage of noise and excitement here!

 

A Walk Through Little India  I set the camera on video mode as Tommy and I walked to the MRT station. This gives you a good visual of what Little India is like on a Sunday night. Quite an adventure! It’s actually pretty mellow (and still an adventure) during the week.

If you’re seeing this on facebook, here’s the link to the blog if the video’s don’t feed. http://thestunzfamily.wordpress.com

Couldn’t Resist

I couldn’t help but add these two photos from our shoot this past weekend with Leonny.

(This was her coming down.)
She’ll always be Daddy’s “little” girl!! Just maybe not always so little.

Finally!!!

Meet Leonny!
 

I have been following her blog for at least a year now, probably longer. I can’t even remember now how I found her blog but it was while we were still in Texas and planning our move here. She is from Indonesia, living in Singapore for several years now. She’s a devoted Christ-follower, mom and wife. I immediately fell in love with her family through her beautiful photos and posts. We’ve been communicating in cyber world for all this time and finally got to meet in the real world!! She is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. I hope that our families will get to meet up at some point. Maybe they’ll come over for a homemade Tex-Mex meal. Yes, Leonny, this is an invitation.

Right after we moved here, she went pro with photography. She offered a special for her blog family. We were planning Anna’s Passport To Purity weekend so I thought that would be a great opportunity take advantage of her talent. Now, my friend Jenny has always been our “personal family photographer” and I told her I kind of felt like I was cheating on her but of course she didn’t mind. Not that there was anything she could do about it being a bazillion miles away and all.

Here’s one photo that Leonny shared with me on facebook.

She took others with Tommy and Anna and I, which was the main reason we did the shoot. I might be able to share a few more at some point. We wanted pictures for Anna with just her and her mom and dad. It was all about her. But this photo was so sweet. A little secret, though… we were laughing because we were discussing toe fungus. No one has toe fungus but Anna’s feet were pretty dirty and she mentioned something about having toe fungus and it was funny.

If you need a good photographer and live in Singapore, you should totally check out her site. You will not be disappointed. www.reaction.sg

Thanks, Leonny! It was SO great to meet you!! Finally!!!

The Face Of Singapore

We’ve experienced some pretty hot days here lately and we’ve been outside alot. We went to the Botanic Gardens on Sunday for the 150 couple mass wedding and I’m pretty sure we were dehydrated in about 30 minutes. You really can’t avoid the heat here in Singapore and it’s year round. You walk, you wait for a bus, you walk some more and even the a/c from a building with an open door as you walk by is a treat.

Apparently our home town south of Houston and where our daughter lives in Dallas is getting a decent cool front in about now and I have to say I’m jealous. Especially since I’m reading about it all over facebook and my daughter calls to taunt me about her having to wear a jacket! We won’t be getting one of those cool fronts in these parts. I’m told that cool only happens when it rains. Maybe…  In Singapore’s defense, we did have one really nice day a few days back and it wasn’t raining. I walked to the bus stop and got on the bus and didn’t even sweat one drop. I think I finished out that day still smelling like a girl.

So family and friends, you want to see more pictures of me??? Here you go…..  I took this photo yesterday after getting back from picking up Anna from her netball practice. This is what I look like most days. Sweat, smeared makeup if any, frumpy hair, and yes, I have the wrinkled, perplexed brow look often as well.

This is the face of Singapore. Please don’t let this stop you from coming to visit. I’ll provide the sweat rags and you just bring some good deoderant!

Girly Date

Anna and I had our annual mother/daughter date this Friday and Saturday.

We use a program called Passport To Purity for “the talk” with our kids. Me with the our daughters and Tommy with our son. The program instructed us to go through the entire thing in one weekend date when they are about 11 or 12 but we felt like some of the information was beneficial starting at about age 9. We broke down the program into 4 sessions/years and the kids looked forward to that time with us each year. Tori and Jakeb have “graduated”  and we couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome that this program has helped us achieve. We can’t speak enough good about it. If you have kids, you should definitely check it out! It’s an incredible program and the creators say all the hard stuff and have it planned out so well. It’s a little uncomfortable at times but the rewards are far greater than any awkward moments we’ve encountered.

So Anna and I ate out and ate well!! We ate at Din Tai Fung twice (the best dumplings in the world!) and had lunch at the conveyor belt sushi place and called Dad to rub it in. We also ate Ice Cream Sandwiches (the kind on bread). We had Starbucks FOUR times in 24 hours. We shopped. We talked. We prayed. We walked. We tricked out her cell phone. We laughed. We got rained on. We had an incredible time together.

Why would they even sell coats like that in Singapore???

I love you, Anna. You’re growing up way too fast! I can’t wait until our date next year!!

Anna Rocks!

This past Friday was Sports Day for Anna’s school. It’s a half day of fun in the sun (and some in the rain as it turned out) where the kids participate in fun sports activities and all skill levels are encouraged. Anna was in her element, no doubt. She’s pretty good at sports and loves being outside more than anywhere in the world and when you throw playing with friends into the mix, she’s ALL in!

There were 80m runs, 200m runs, 400m runs and relays. Javolin Throw (the Nerf version), Shotput and Long Jump and some other fun stuff for the little guys. From preschool to 5th grade, these kids played hard and seemed to have lots of fun. I have to say that watching those preschoolers run the 80m race was so incredibly cute!!

The school split up into 4 teams, Somerset (Anna’s team), Orchard, Newton and Raffles. These are representative of different areas in Singapore. Every team wore a certain color so no matter your grade, your team cheered you on. Since Anna is on the Student Council for the Somerset team, she organized cheers and made posters to promote team spirit. They definitely had some team spirit! I was so proud of her in how she got kids together to cheer everyone on.

So, Anna took 1st place in Javolin Throw, 80m and 200m, 2nd place in the relay and 3rd place in the long jump. Perhaps the Olympics are in her future.

She took 1st place overall in my book! What an incredible young lady she is becoming.

(The guy in the 2nd picture is Anna’s principal, Mr. P.)

And I couldn’t resist putting these in. So cute!!

They were open!!!

When we first moved here to Singapore we stayed in a serviced apartment in the Newton area. The first hawker center (outdoor food court with privately owned food stalls serving really good and inexpensive local food) we went to was Newton Food Centre. That first time was actually a disaster. The smells. The stall workers in our faces to buy their food (as if that would work on us). The heat. It was all so unfamiliar and difficult to enjoy and we left unsatisfied and one member of the family, whose name begins with Tori, actually felt a little sick to her stomach.

So much can change in such a short time.

We now love eating at hawker centers and it really didn’t take all that long. Even Tori grew to not mind the array of aromas. Going to Newton feels almost like going home. The fried rice, Satay and Indian food there is the best we’ve had at any hawker center. We’ve been told it’s the most expensive hawker center in Singapore and caters to expats but the food is just good. So we go back.

We went back a week ago and they were closed!! Oh, the horror!!! We felt violated. They really should have let us know they were closing. They were closed for cleaning and I’m purely speculating here, but it may have been because there was no food left since everyone was feeding the hungry ghosts. This was taken just beside the food center that night.

We had a hankerin’ (Texas word) for Newton food so we ended up going again later in the week and then again a few days later. I mean, come on, how long does it take to clean???

We tried again today and guess what? They were open!!! We got our fried rice, satay, mutton marsala, and fresh lime juice and we were pretty happy!! I took these pictures tonight. We won’t eat there all the time but we do look forward to going there occasionally.

The best fried rice we’ve had in Singapore, maybe ever, and this guy is so nice! The lady next to him had really great wonton soup. A huge bowl for S$5.

A picture says a thousand words. Don’t you love the pink plastic teapot??? Who is that picture of in the background?

Even the cat gets to eat good food!! He was obviously used to it.

These girls just ate a bite of Durian and some other fruits that have like a big slimey grape in the middle. They were taking pictures of it before they partook so I’m guess it was their first time to try it. They have more courage than I.

Hey, kids! Guess what time it is??

It’s time for a post about you!!

Here’s Tori in all her college life glory! She’s gained some independence and took a trip back to LJ to visit family and friends and feel some love since she missed us so much. They were all happy to see her for sure. She got to enjoy a concert of one of our favorite artist/friends ever, Alisa Turner, and got to see some of our other favorite friends too! She took a weekend road trip to College Station to “that other college” and manged to keep her own school spirit. Caw!!! Go Eagles!! She’s doing quite well with her classes and thinks she really lucked out with her professors this semester. She’s taking some Psychology classes and her foreign language is Chinese. That’s one is hard. She’s found a church that she really likes and is staying busy with homework and running over to her aunt’s house for homecooked meals and some family time.
 

 

Jakeb is busy, busy, busy with school. As expected, his school work is taking alot of his time. The approach to education in his school here is very different than the American education system we are familiar with. It’s cool, though, and he is learning and that’s kinda the point, I think. He’s playing volleyball now and may play basketball later on. He’s really enjoying volleyball and their team is pretty good. He is taking Spanish for his foreign language here. Interesting, huh? He goes to a church youth group meeting on Friday nights and is making some new friends from church. He is also formulating a plan to raise funds to go to Kenya again next summer. In the US he could work. He worked at a local BBQ restaurant and earned his whole trip this past summer. He can’t work here in Singapore since he only has dependent status so we’ve had to get a little creative. More on that later but you’ll want to buy his product, I’m sure! He’s also still playing his guitars. His pedal collection is kind of messed up but he recently found out his amp can do some things he didn’t know about so he’s back in business. He’s also really enjoying all the great food here. Eating out here is always an adventure and he’s pretty adventurous!

 

Anna is also doing great at school. The IB (International Baccalaureate) learning style seems to work for her. IB is more of a wholistic approach to education and involves knowledge, experience, critical thinking and service all wrapped together. She’s making friends easily (even statues are her friends) and enjoys most everything but the bought school lunches and the bus ride.  I never liked riding the bus either so I can relate but it’s the best option we have right now. She recently got voted into the Elementary Student Council for her class. She signed up to run on like the 3rd day of school! What confidence she has in herself!! She and two other classmates will get to attend the weekly lunch with teachers and prinicipals to represent her class. A future leader in the making!! She got the Risk Taker award and was the first one to receive any kind of award in her class. She is playing Netball after school and taking a cermaics class. She is learning how to play the recorder and plays around on the keyboard we brought with us. I miss our piano but the keyboard is fun. She is also enjoying church and playing with her friends and the little kids afterwards. She’s so good with Caleb & Levi (two little guys who came to Singapore at the same time we did from Houston) who are attending the same church as us.

We couldn’t be any more proud of our kids than we are. They have dealt with alot over the past few months and this time of transition has not been all peaches and cream.  Their attitude has amazed me. Their sense of adventure has surprised me.  And their courage has inspired me. 

Tori, Jakeb and Anna, you guys ROCK!!!

USS Nimitz Singapore Part 2

So here are all of the pictures I took with the sailors we hosted and while on the tour of “the boat” all wrapped up in a tidy little package with background music and all. If you’re just tuning in, here’s the post  to let you in on what all took place.

To top things off, I just found out this morning when talking to my Mom and Dad, that my grandfather was a flag radio man for Nimitz himself in the early 40′s! I believe he told me it was on the USS Trenton (don’t quote me on that) and before the USS Nimitz was born. But my Nanna and Grandfather were invited to a party that he was at and “accidently” bumped into him while dancing.  Apparently one of my Nanna’s favorite dance stories but I never heard her tell it. I asked my dad to write up all that interesting info and send it to me. If he does, I’ll be sure to share.

Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

USS Nimitz in Singapore

Today is 9/11 here in Singapore. It’s not 9/11 yet in America but I thought this post would be appropriate for today. Let us not forget the lives lost on that horrific day, their loved ones that miss them all so much every day and what our men and women of the US Military and their loved ones sacrifice daily to protect us.

———-

We had the most incredible opportunity this week!!

A few of those US Military who have dedicated their lives to protecting us came to our house. We had the pleasure of hosting 4 Navy Sailors for dinner and some sight seeing around town. The USS Nimitz, along with it’s fleet, was in port here in Singapore for a few days and the sailors got some much needed r & r. Jennifer and I also got to tour the Nimitz. What a treat!! I wrote a little about it in a previous post with links to some info about the Nimitz.

I made Chicken Chalupas for dinner and a huge bowl of ‘nana puddin’ and sweet peach tea. One of the guys was from Georgia.  They seemed to really enjoy the meal. We got to visit with them for a little while and then we headed out to Little India. We were so blessed by this experience. I think they had a good time but it was truly our pleasure. Jakeb had a team sport commitment with school and couldn’t join us.  We were all pretty bummed about that but it was the right thing for him to do.

There are way too many pics to post but I’m pretty sure most of our readers are on facebook so you can see them all there if you like. If I have time, I’ll make an album on a different program and post them all. The tour was so interesting and I’d love the share all of them with you.

Here are just a few. I know they don’t fit on the page well. I posted them huge because I wasn’t able to email them to the guys. I was hoping they might be able to grab them from here.

Gotta love those shades!! He bought them in China Town the day before and couldn’t take them off.

Anna was taking a bite for her ice cream sandwich (block of ice cream on bread) and they were making sure it was okay before they got theirs.

He got sweet corn ice cream. He said it was good but I don’t think I’ll be trying that one. I have corn on a dessert here before (iced katang or something) and it wasn’t appetizing.

Brandon, Brian, Edward & Jovon, if you’re reading this post, thank you for serving your country, for serving us. And if your family members are reading this, thank you too! Thank you for the sacrficies you make. We were so happy to get to know you a little on Tuesday and and show you a little Texas hospitality on the other side of the world. Our prayers are with you! May God bless you all and protect you and your families.