I passed by this fruit? and asked the older Chinese man what it was. It was one of those moments when my eyes met his and I realized in a split second that this is going to be interesting. That moment always makes me smile. So did this fruit. Weird!

I asked the man what it is and he gave me one of those thoughtful but puzzled looks and only said, “Ah… you cannot eat.” Well, ok, then. Guess I don’t need to buy it if I can’t eat it. So I just took a picture instead. I suppose they sell them for a reason but if you can’t eat it, what’s it for? Maybe for Ang Mo’s like me to stop and take pictures and give them something to laugh about today.

Then I saw this. Obviously a vegetable since it was in the vegetable section of the market. They were all linked together like sausages. Weird.

Always something interesting, usually in the category of weird, pretty much wherever I go if I keep my eyes open.

Today, I was sweating and it annoyed me.

Anna and I were sitting on the grounds of Istana waiting for friends to get through the line and this teenage Asian boy sits down near her and I know good and well his dad is trying to get Anna in a picture of him. I told her to not look up.

After that, this family came by and a guy not so discretely takes out his phone and take a picture of Anna and I.

Annoyed, I get my camera and take their picture and he tried to look away. Sorry buster, I got you! Funny enough the lady appears to be posing for me.

WHY do they want our picture anyway? What are they telling their families or friends when they sit around their living room and show these pictures of us on their computer screen? Where are they posting them? Are they writing blog posts like I am? They can’t be because they took my picture first so are obviously not annoyed by it. Anyway, I don’t get it. We’re really not freaks or aliens. Promise.

Then there’s this guy.

I’m pretty sure he was trying to get our friend’s young boys who were with us which creeps me out even more. I turned around and saw him and without even thinking grabbed my camera and aimed it right at him. He took his shot. I took mine. He smiled and waved. He was happy. I was annoyed.

I just don’t get it. I know that we are all curious about cultures other than our own and I often snap photos of people that catch my attention so I suppose I shouldn’t be annoyed and just go with it. I really would like to know what they are thinking though, when they take our pictures.

And in case you are wondering what I’m thinking when we take pictures of people from other cultures, here it is.

You make me smile.

You are absolutely adorable!

You are ingenious! (to use a shopping buggy for a stroller)

And I wonder why in all of the beauty of Istana Park you choose to take your family photo in common tree.

Gotta love and embrace diversity!

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” Luke 10:27

Anyway, mostly Chinese New Year in Singapore is awesome! Everything red! Everything decorated! Way more than Christmas or any other holiday here. It really is beautiful. I guess it’s one time when the affluence of this city state pays off. It’s all really nice until you have to walk through the smoke of the burning offerings and have to pay extra for just about everything. During a holiday in the US everything goes on sale, here everything gets more expensive. And yes, people still buy it.

A few observations and CNY happenings that I don’t think I’ve written about before.

1) Many Chinese families get rid of old things to replace with new. Sort of like taking out the bad luck from last year and bringing in good luck. Luck is the end all be all in the Chinese culture. The old stuff congregates down in the car park basement. If you’re not superstitious, it’s a great time for what we call dumpster divin’.

2) It’s the biggest waste of oranges ever! Oranges are given out in pairs. Or displayed on cash registers or store fronts. Orange represents the color of gold and of course, prosperity.

3) More people buy their holiday goodies than make them. They stand in LONG lines for Bak Kwa (sort of like greasy beef jerky’d pork), pineapple tarts, cornflake cookies, prawn rolls, love letters, etc. It’s a racket and the bakeries are making a mint! Although I did make my holiday goodies to give away. I made my version of cornflake cookies and Mexican salsa to give our neighbors. It is red, afterall. I did buy the chips to go with the salsa.

So if you decorate everything in red, get rid of old, spend a lot of money on the new and buy or make holiday treats and buy and waste a bunch of oranges, you are sure to have good luck and prosper in the coming year.

Last year, Chinese New Year fell on our weekly date night. Here’s that post. It’s always so much fun to look back. This post made me giggle. It was quite a lonely  experience and very different from this year’s outing.

This year we went to TGIF on Orchard Road to have dinner with friends who were in from Vietnam. It was not lonely. There were actually people out and a few stores open. Although a lot was still closed, we had plenty to do and a fun family night out. In the course of our dinner at TGIF’s, the manager came out and put a $100 bill in a red envelope. In the spirit of CNY and all things good luck, he let the kids draw, several times. No one got the $100 but they got meal vouchers and Anna even got a voucher for Malones, a local pub, for a beer tasting which Tommy used after dinner while I enjoyed an $18 margarita. It makes it easier to stomach paying $18 for a small margarita when the beer is free. Anna went upstairs and got her a Starbucks drink and joined us in the pub. 2012 Best Parent Award comin’ our way! Hey, she looks like an adult here so no one gave us a second glance.

We parked in an empty mall parking garage, drove on very peaceful and uncrowded roads. It was a little eerie but very nice!

So here are all the photos to illustrate this post. Enjoy! (I don’t have pictures of oranges, though. I tossed the ones that our condo mgmt gave us. ooops! Bad luck for us. I suppose I’ll just continue to rely on Jesus’ eternal gift of love, grace and mercy.)

Oh, I guess I should mention that this is the year of the Water Dragon. And another observation is that I have way too many smiley faces in this post. I suppose CNY just makes me smile.

Chinese New Year 2010.  And the posts for 2011 are linked above throughout this post.

Btw, Gong Xi Fa Cai are not curse words. I have no idea how it’s really pronoucned but I seem to remember a trusted source telling me that it is translated to mean “Congratulations and Prosperity”. I’m sure that my Singaporean friends who read this will correct me if I’m wrong. (yep, another smiley face)

Happy Lunar New Year!

Some days baking cookies is more important than Grammar.

Some days she saves her Science to do with Dad in the evening.

Some days she does extra Math just to get it over with earlier.

We try to stay fairly flexible but most days we push to stay on track. I don’t want to be doing school all day long any more than she does and some day she will be out in the world and will have to know how to operate with a rigid routine. I suppose we strive for balance. A balance between academic and life education.

This schedule has changed about 5 times since we started this past September and will probably change a few times more before we finish in May. Another beauty of home school flexibility.

This post has more about our home school stuff in case you’re interested.

Yesterday, Anna went down to hang out with a few of her condo buddies. They were on the playground (really a Chinese exercise area) that we can see from our balcony. This moment had to be captured.

Same same but different. Anna, the only fair-skinned, light-haired kid in the bunch but she fits in perfectly. It’s not about what’s on the outside….

Hodge Podge - agglomeration, alphabet soup, assortment, collage, jumble,  medley, menagerie, miscellanea, mishmash, mixed bag, montage, muddle,  patchwork, potpourri, ragbag, smorgasbord…..

That’s what this post will be. A hodge podge of thoughts and pictures from our recent trip home to Texas. I probably should take more time to organize my thoughts and photos from this trip but it was even more of a whirlwind than our last trip. Since this blog acts as our family journal of sorts. I need to get this one done so it will be documented. And I need to move on to a few other posts that are floating around in my head.

We did have a great trip. Our daughter graduated from University and we were so glad we could be there for that! Of course, we wouldn’t have missed it.

We shopped. As soon as we landed in Houston, we went to check in at our hotel. Anna and I didn’t even get out of the car. Within a few short hours of landing in Texas we had our bellies full of Tex Mex and our Target bags in the back of our car.

We enjoyed family and friend time. I didn’t take enough photos because I guess I was too busy soaking in the moment or jet lagged. (I’m not sure in a 2 week trip that we even have time to get over jet lag.) I regret not taking more photos but I will always remember those who made this trip special for us. I did manage to get a few good ones, though.

We cooked. We made a Thai meal at the Hintze’s and we made Onde Onde (the photo of the green balls) to share at our family Christmas in Dallas. Both were yummy!

We spent Christmas in a cozy cabin with a fireplace that we actually got to use in Gruene, Texas. What a treat! We got to eat at the Gristmill and do some shopping in the Country Store. We also spent Christmas Eve in nearby San Antonio eating our favorite Mexican food, seeing the lights on the River Walk and even caught a movie together.

Anna got her Soda Stream. It’s THE ONLY thing she wanted for Christmas. Tori, Jakeb and Tori’s boyfriend, Austin, gave it to her. She was super happy! However, when we were packing to head back, we realized it had a little ‘gas rocket’ full of carbonation which is not allowed on airlines. We sadly gave Anna the choice to leave it in Texas and use it when we move home (who knows when that will be) or return it and get something else we can take back on the plane. Talk about the opposite of super happy… We did what any responsible parent and traveler would do. We decided to take our chances and see what happened. We prepared Anna for the worst (it not making it to Singapore and her mom and dad being put in jail) and put the whole machine in a small piece of luggage with a few other things that we didn’t mind being confiscated if it should come to that. The bag only weighed 35 lbs. We sacrificed 15 pounds of goodies for that soda stream! And to our surprise, it made it without issue. We even found the little piece of paper that says our bag got inspected so it obviously was looked through. Anyway, her precious soda stream made it. YAY! I’m not sure she’s ever prayed so hard for something. And I’m pretty sure we will not press our luck on anything like that again. Gum is one thing but gas cylinders… quite another.

So here are the images. Hodge podge for sure… it’s just the way life is most days.

He’s been wanting a tattoo.

Perfect solution! We give him a tattoo for his birthday while he’s in Singapore. This way he gets what he wants and we get to share in the experience.

What do you get a 19 year old boy for his birthday anyway??? His choice was a motorcycle or a tattoo. No brainer!

So, for about a month before Jakeb came to Singapore, he began his email conversations with Moon (same guy who did mine and Tommy’s) and nailed down the artwork. Jakeb set the appointment for two days before he leaves back to Texas since you can’t swim or sweat for 2 weeks after (and there’s plenty of that going on in Singapore).

He’s really happy with the results of is 1 hour 10 minute session. So are we. Moon did a GREAT job once again on the design. It was thought through in depth and is very meaningful to Jakeb. Something he won’t mind having on his body for the rest of his life. Good thing, huh?

When Jakeb posts about it on his blog, I’ll link it here but for now, here is how Jakeb describes the meaning:

“Koru (spiral at the top) is a Maori symbol for new life, growth, and strength.
And of course the cross intertwined in the Koru symbolizes the new life I have in Christ, and the continuing growth in knowledge and relationship with Him. The flames are just intimidation for the runners behind me “

Happy early birthday, Jakeb!!

But for now, I’m not feeding the beast but I’m feeding my kids and exploring Singapore and surrounding areas with them while they’re visiting. I’ll be back. Be ready ’cause the influx will come and the blog beast will once again be satisfied.

I start out this new year with all sorts of stuff to find places for from our Texas trip. We have so many luxuries I am grateful and do not take this blessing without being well aware of how little others have. We hold these blessings with an open hand, always willing to share.

I start out this new year blessed with great friends and family who have allowed us to be a part of their crazy adventures and are willing to be a part of ours. No pictures here cause there are too many. You know who you are.

I start out this new year thanking God for his bountiful provision, health, safety and blessings on our family.

I start out this year being SO grateful for fresh starts, new beginnings, do-overs, whatever you want to call it. “Lord, help us to not squander the gift of time you’ve given us and may we live every day bringing honor and glory to you!”