It’s COLD in Singapore!

Yep, I said it. Bet you never thought you’d read this here. I’m only saying it though because everyone else is saying it. Cold is such a relative term really.

The high today in Singapore was about 78 F, which for Singapore, is really pretty cool. It’s usually that for a low at like 2am and then by 5am it’s back up to 90.

It’s been raining for the last two days so that has kept it kind of cool. It’s nice and all but I’m losing my savage tan. And I’m thinking I might have to find these shoes if it doesn’t let up soon.

Anyway, Anna and I went to Holland Village for lunch today and then we got some frozen yogurt at The Coffee Bean. The lady at the nail salon was shocked that I was eating ice cream. Why??? Because “it’s COLD”, she said. She had her jacket on and it was zipped all the way up.

Today is the kind of day when the locals break out their sweaters and jackets and would not even think about turning on their a/c. I remember when we lived in Brazil when I was a kid. It was H.O.T. there too and we got so acclimatized to the heat that I remember putting on a sweater when it rained there. Not so much now. I produce a little more body heat now than I did when I was a scrawny 9 yr old.

So there you go. Today, was a “cold” 78 degrees, 94% humidity day in Singapore. I suppose this would be winter. I have to admit that I was pretty happy to wear pants instead of shorts. And I didn’t break a sweat. I might even wear jeans tomorrow!!! I think it’s supposed to be 84 F so I may have missed my chance in this 2 day season of Winter.

Meet Buck and Cici

We went last Monday to the SPCA to return Lucy and Beauty. They were healthy and ready to find their forever home. We were anticipating utter depression and planning a trip to Din Tai Fung for therapeutic purposes. Instead, we brought home two more. This, as it turns out, is the perfect cure for separation anxiety. We didn’t even have time to work up good tears.

Allow me to introduce you to Buck and Cici.

Buck

Cici

They are super sweet puppies. We got them at 4 weeks old which is really young. They should still be nursing their momma but she was apparently ill so Buck and Cici and their other 6 siblings needed a foster home. The first day they ate really good out of the dog bowl but the second day we couldn’t get them to eat a thing and they went downhill really quickly. So then we started scrambling. Asking for advice, buying things and they have pretty much consumed our days and nights for the last week. Through the ups and downs, we rested in the fact that the care we were giving them was much more personal than the SPCA might have been able to give, not because they wouldn’t want to but because they are often spread so thin and can only do so much. This is why they created the fostering program. We believe we are giving Buck and Cici the best possible start, given their sad circumstances, that they could get and we are happy to do it.

This week has been a roller coaster ride of “YAY they pee’d!” to “Are they still breathing?” We have almost made it one week and through all of our successes and failures, they are still breathing. After almost exclusively bottle feeding them puppy formula and rice cereal, we have Cici eating soaked and mushy dog food and drinking water from a bowl on her own now. We are still bottle feeding Buck. We think he might have been the runt of the litter. He is so frail and fragile but he’s still fighting. That’s what runts do, right? I have always thought that the runts make the best dogs. If Buck survives, he will have such a great personality and be a good pet. I have been up several times each night to let them out and try to feed them some more. It’s like having newborn babies. Mostly that’s ok but their puke and poo is not nearly as cute as newborn baby puke and poo. And our kitchen  has sort of been turned into doggie central. I’m not sure we were ready for the intensity of all of this but it’s still worth it. Anna is learning some great lessons and it’s been a very positive experience for her for sure. She’s not so confident on feeding them with the bottle so that round the clock duty has sort of been left up to me. She gets pee and poo duty.

As of today, we have bought, tried, and either continued or set aside:

Dry puppy food
Canned, moist puppy food
Baby rice cereal (2 kinds cause I got the wrong kind first)
Lactose Free Milk
Avent Baby Bottle (pricEY!)
2 tiny pet feeder bottles
Alot of newspaper
Doggie bowls
Baby Liquid Vitamins (Buck throws up anything we feed him except water so we’re hoping the vitamins will get in his system.)

I’m sure I’m forgetting something but we’ve spent a pretty penny on doggie items this week but it’s totally worth it.

We have also prayed alot, taken lots of pictures and washed alot of towels.

We have had to separate the two because the girl is obsessed with trying to nurse and she won’t leave the poor guy alone. He’s too weak to do anything about it (if he wanted to) so we’ve had to come up with a creative solution to keeping them apart with only one kennel. Laundry baskets were a great solution.

Cici gets to stay in the kennel and Buck stays in the laundry basket so we get to him faster and see him better and peek every now and then to make sure he’s alive. I tell ya’, it’s been a pretty rocky road with him. Cici too, at first, but she’s a little fatter so she has bounced back quicker than he has.

I think if we can keep Buck hydrated and give him some extra special puppy lovin’, and if he can fight for another week, he’ll be out of the woods. Praying…

Here’s one of my favorite pics of the two little squirts (and I mean squirts in the most literal way). Yin and Yang. This was before the separation took place.

Annaism

www.jhintze.com

Anna is one of the funniest human beings I think I have ever known. She cracks me up all the time! And the funny thing is, half the time she doesn’t really mean to be. I don’t normally put such random things as this on our blog, I would put them on facebook and I do, but I wanted to remember this one.

Anna: We need some “ice”.

Me: Well make some then.

Anna: ummm… I’m not really a chicken.

…thoughtful pause and glance to see what in the WORLD she’s talking about.

Me: OH! You said we need eggs!!! Not ice.

LOTS of laughter.

Annaism.

8 Golden Steps

I recently wrote about how we are “Seeing Red” in Singapore. CNY is apparently the time of year for spending money on advertising. My goodness, our mailbox, tv ads and outside signage is a CNY ad for Abalone, lingerie (yes, lingerie of which the ads I cannot put on this “family” blog), KFC CNY egg tarts and even CNY pizza.

Double the cheese, double the prosperity. SIGN ME UP!! We don’t order Pizza Hut pizza but I wonder if they are really making the coin shaped pizza. Might have to order to find out.

Speaking of dollars being spent… Anna commented yesterday how everything in the US over a holiday goes on sale and how it seems that everything over a holiday in Singapore gets more expensive. So true! You can break your budget buying mandarin oranges or pineapples and traditional CNY treats right now. Even gas prices have gone up. Maybe the price of oil went up, but I think it’s a CNY conspiracy.

Our nearby DIY Home-Fix store (Lowe’s and Home Depot crammed into a closet-sized space) are promoting their 8 Golden Steps to a perfect lunar new year. I thought I’d share with you. Who knows, it might be just what you’ve been looking for. You can thank me later.

1. Use steam cleaners (steam cleaner for a healthy start)
2. Make stains disappear! (stubborn stain remover spray)
3. Spruce up moods! (paint color in your home)
4. Lemons to the rescue! (“Lemons clean better sometimes, try this!”)
5. Don’t Forget Me! (wash and rinse your rubbish bin and sprinkle baking soda for an odour free life)
6. Cleaner Water (buy a water filter for your faucet)
7. Untangle (Clear up the mess with Command organiser clips)
8. Plants (liven up the atmosphere – auspicious plants like lucky bamboo, pussy willow, cherry blossoms, mandarin orange trees.

And as they say on the ad, “There you go.. all the tips to help you prepare to usher in the new year!”

I think I’m going to get some lucky bamboo soon. It’s really gorgeous and super easy to care for. The only thing is you have to change the water out every day so you don’t breed mosquitos. When the mosquito police come knocking, any water you have standing had better be clear and clean. Every shop and food stall and condo and mall and Chinese house have these huge mandarin orange trees in front of their doors. Anna and a friend at our condo ate one the other day. Well, sort of. She said it was super sour and they didn’t finish it. I didn’t know that was “legal” but her Asian friend said it was. I was thinking I might need some lucky bamboo to counter balance the bad luck she brought in to our house. Just kidding! We’re not supersticious at all because 0ur faith and freedom in Christ doesn’t leave room for that. CNY is full of interest, intrique and everything auspicious. Auspicious. Definitely the ‘word of the day’ in Chinese culture.

Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Hummingbird

I love music. I love nature. When the two collide, it’s magical.

Enter hummingbird.

I know the hummingbird doesn’t actually sing but it hums or they wouldn’t have named it the ‘hum’mingbird. Duh…

We have been watching a hummingbird build a nest in our small potted palm tree on our balcony for the last couple of weeks. It’s a pretty unique nest and we have totally enjoyed watching her build her hanging tree house.  If you notice, she even decorated it with flower pedals.

This is the hole where she will lay her eggs. What a brilliant creation. How anyone can argue that there is a Master Creator and Designer is beyond me. 

The nest was “removed” by the lady who helps us clean our house. I guess she didn’t know what it was. So sad. It looks like she might be rebuilding, though. I hope so.

I was fortunate enough and patient enough to capture the bird. How often do we get good shots of a hummingbird? They are so fast! And absolutely beautiful!!

She was waiting here forever to see if it was safe to decorate her house. I, too, stood there forever without moving a muscle so I wouldn’t scare her off. Then I got this shot.

Amazing!!! It makes me want to sing… err… hum.

What will it be like?

Since we may be on our last year of living overseas, we’re starting to think more about what it will be like to repatriate back to the US and the lifestyle we once knew and were quite comfortable with for many years.

Everyone says that repatriating is way more challenging that expatriating. We’re kinda nervous about that. I wonder if this is why so many people choose to just take the next overseas job and keep living the lifestyle they now know as familiar.

Living overseas, we have been fortunate to meet people who understand what it’s like. When we go back home, not too many people understand. They kind of just put up with us. When we move back, we feel like we will be “those people from Singapore” for a long time. It’s what we know. It’s what we’ve enjoyed. It’s a different path that hardly anyone we know in the US has taken or can relate to.

Will we still hang out with the same people we used to? I know we’ll want to but will they???

Will it be hard to make new friends because our experiences have shaped us to be so different now than we were a couple of years ago?

Will it be hard to find a church community?

Will we be bored? Will the “driving to the store in a car that we got into in our garage” trips become mundane and annoying again? Will we be able to maintain our adventure junky habits? No fun taxi drivers, no people watching on busses, no barely cramming into the subway train, no daily walks to the grocery store in between rain clouds.

Will we find contentment in the life we used to live once again?

I think we will be but the transition won’t be easy. I’m sure we’ll grow even more but then again that will make us even more different. I guess we should just embrace being different because we pretty much are. I’ve followed and am learning from an expat friend that is in the process of repatriating. It’s not easy for her. We rest in the fact that wherever God sends us, we’ll be ok. We definitely know this to be true, but we still wonder, what it will be like.

Stunz Planned Adventures January – July 2011

Never a dull moment in the Stunz family! We are sort of feeling the urgency in making the most of our time on this side of the world. We are scheduled to be here until February 2012. We might be here longer than that but we can’t count on that. We want to squeeze every ounce of adventure we can while we’re here and since our last 12 months are upon us, we have a lot of squeezing to do.

Here’s what we have planned so far. “So far” being a key phrase.

January – Singapore (just got back from Texas) Our adventure this month has been mostly taking care of puppies that we are fostering through the SPCA.

February – Singapore – We’ll experience all that CNY has to offer. We have dinners planned with friends and we hope to enjoy some time in China Town and the delicious CNY goodies that come around during this holiday. We also bought tickets for the Chingay Parade. I’m pretty pumped about that. It might be “just another parade” but I’m thinking it will be awesome. And even if it is “just another parade”, it’ll be our first and probably only in Singapore so that alone will make it a good adventure. We have Japanese friends who are in the parade so it’ll be fun to see them.

March – Singapore and Nepal - The LION KING!!! YAAAY!!! Tommy got us tickets to see The Lion King at the Sands Theatre. That will be cool!! And right after that, we pick up our dishwasher (almost just as exciting!!), and then we head to Nepal for 2 weeks. Ahh…. I can’t wait to get back there. The guys will hike the Annapurna’s for 8-10 days and Anna and I plan to join them either at the beginning or end for a short 2-3 day hike. Lots of beautiful mountain scenery, cooler weather and amazing people and food to experience there. We also hope to see, Karun, one of our favorite guys who we met at Amber Restaurant. Singapore MOM wouldn’t renew his work permit so he is back in Kathmandu trying to find work. We hope to meet his family. That would be cool!

April – Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia - We’re going with the Willertons for 4 days. The guys will hike the mountain and the girls and kids will relax at the hotel, shop, eat and veg by the pool. We’re pretty excited about taking this trip to the mountains of Malaysia and with friends.

May – Singapore -  This month will be focused on Jakeb’s final exams and getting ready for his graduation. Craziness!!! Tori will come to Singapore when she gets done with her school year and spend May and June here with us.

June – New Zealand – We’re going to the South Island again! This time with Tori. This has been the only trip we’ve taken that Tori was mad at us for going without her. So, we agonized and agonized and finally decided to go again while she was here with us. Ok, no agonizing. It was a no brainer! We’re RV’ing this time. This will make it a whole new adventure for us.

July – Texas – We think. I’m sure we’ll be in Texas at some point during July and August but we’re sort of waiting to nail that down. We’re waiting to find out for sure where Jakeb will be going to college.

And in the middle of all of that, we will cram in our normal adventures on busses, in taxi’s, at restaurants, in Little India and China Town or Arab St., and in our home. And spend as much time as we can with our Singapore friends and learning as much as we can about Singapore while we’re here. It’s so strange to think we might actually see the end of this crazy ride. But as everyone who has lived this life knows, things change at the drop of a hat so who knows where will be and when. We have tickets for Nepal and New Zealand so we’re definitely going there!

Adapt or Whine

When you live pretty much in one place or geographical culture and environment for all of your life and then move to the unfamiliar and different geographical culture and environment, you have two choices. Adapt or whine.

We mostly adapt.

In Texas, we had huge open fields in which to throw frisbees. One of which was our yard. No fences. Just plenty of room to throw and run and land on soft grass when you fell.

In Singapore, here is where you throw a frisbee.

Amongst the Lexus’, Maserati’s, Mercedes’ and BMW’s (none of which are ours), you adapt. This was taken from my bedroom window looking down on our parking lot. Who needs a yard???

Jakeb is a frisbee hog, btw.

SHS – Stunz HomeSchool Update

Last semester, we focused heavily on PACE with Anna and because that program is very intense and is geared to help in areas of reading and processing, we scaled way back on most Language Arts, History and Science work. This semester we are still finishing up PACE but since we made significant progress in that program, it is taking a back seat to the main subjects that we left behind.

This semester is eating my lunch. As a teacher, my brain is mush. I am going through trying to decipher and plan what we will do and although I love the curriculum we’ve chosen, some of it is not set up in the format that my brain can easily process. It’s kind of a big mess to me. I’ll get it and I’m hoping Anna will learn something about the Eastern Hemisphere but it is quite frustrating right now.

Anyway, lest anyone think that homeschooling is all peaches and cream and field trips and watching tv all day, let me be the first to tell you, it’s not. 

Is it worth it?

If it is what God has called you to do, YES!

I pity anyone who tries to home school in their own power. We will make it because it is what we are supposed to be doing. But as I glare over at my teacher manuals for History, it really just makes me want to either cry or throw up. I’m not sure which yet. Maybe both.

I’m not throwing in the towel cause it’s worth it.

Our SHS motto is: I CAN. I WILL.

I can and I will.

Maybe after some chocolate.

Signs and Wonders

A better title might be “signs that make you wonder”. We see plenty of those in Singapore. Taking pictures of signs here is one of my favorite things to do. I posted previously, “Looking for a Sign” if you want to see some others.

Here is one I took the other day in Little India. Lots of construction going on over there, as is typical for Singapore in general.

I think it is meant to clarify the road path. hmmm…..