July 14, 2011

Singapore Art Museum

Before we moved here, I had been to Singapore a few times on my way in and out of Jakarta. I would spend a few days (tops) here, eating and shopping. I never ventured much out of Orchard, and really didn't know Singapore very well. My impressions at that time was that Singapore was a very cool, clean place, with great shopping- and that's about it. When we learned of Derek's acceptance to NUS and started planning for our big move, a part of me was worried that we would get bored in Singapore. I had talked to a few people who had lived, visited, and worked here. Many of them said that there was not much to do in Singapore but shop and hang out in malls. It sounded somewhat dull to me.

After having moved here, I must say that those people were incorrect. There is so much to do in Singapore- no matter your lifestyle. For us, having moved here with a 10-month old, the locations we hit are generally kid-friendly destinations. There are so many options for outings with kids here, both indoor and out. Today we hit up the Children's Art Garden Exhibit at the Singapore Art Museum. The kid-friendly exhibits were really fun for Dewi, even though she was a little young for some of them. She really enjoyed putting stickers on the elephant exhibit, attempting to make a pear origami, inspecting papier maches, dressing up a cake with velcro fixins, and running around the courtyard. No outings with a toddler is complete without a tantrum or two, so unfortunately we didn't get to look at the adult exhibits today. Next time!



July 06, 2011

Dewi's First Taste of Fame

Check out Dewi's photo in the local Chinese-language daily paper. Her daycare just instituted a new curriculum (yes, for pre-schoolers) and media were on hand. Seriously.

6 Months in Singapore

Time has really flown by. This past week, we celebrated the 4th of July in our new home, and we toasted to having lived in Singapore for 6 months.  It seems just like yesterday that we were packing up our lives and moving out here. Now we are quite settled in our new home and our new city. We've been pretty busy the past two months, with a trip back home, moving Dasher to Singapore moving to a new apartment (we love Holland Village and aircon!), having family in town, moving Dewi to a new daycare, and getting to know our neighborhood. Some snapshots of the past two months:

Hort Park

Derek's Birthday & Nutella Cake

Flying home in style

Dewi's favorite playground in DC

Hanging out in Grandma Cindy's yard

The view from our bedroom in the new apartment

Clarke Quay (Marina Bay Sands in the background)

Dasher & Dewi are best buds

After brunch at Dempsey Hill

The Botanic Gardens (a quick bus ride from our new home)

May 07, 2011

Yes, Dewi, dragons do exist

This afternoon as we were walking back on to campus from an awesome outing at Vivo City, we saw several fellow Prince George's Park residents standing near the gate, one or two with cameras, staring at the patch of trees that line the fence. Must be someone posing for an end of the semester picture, or maybe a pretty bird.

No, it was the damn scariest wildlife I've encountered in a long time. It was a Malayan water monitor, maybe 4 feet long from nose to tail, just creeping around and "smelling" for prey with his tongue. Now, I grew up in the Badger State, and so encountering a badger might scare me more, but this lizard looked like he could walk away with Dewi if he were so inclined. I've since learned that they're more scavengers than hunters, but he probably does feast on the smaller lizards and other wildlife that is pretty abundant here.


They apparently can live in canals (of which there are many on the island and even on campus), and can do saltwater or fresh (both are close), and can climb trees (got lots of those). I don't think I'd feel much better seeing something that big up in a tree as opposed to on the ground. Anyway, allegedly they are more prone to hide than fight if provoked, but, uh, what constitutes provocation, and are we talking 51/49 flight vs. fight, or are they really passive animals? Regardless, I will be carrying Dewi in my arms anytime we step outside the gate. Somehow I don't think the dragon would respond kindly to a giggling toddler staggering over to pet it.

Wah yo smah keh?

We've been regulars at a little kopitiam since we moved to Prince George's Park four months ago. Before Karina started working, we were going in every morning when the stall opened at 7:30, Dewi in tow, to have two kopi-o's and some little cakes or curry puffs.
Since March it's been more of a weekend treat, and we've since moved on to iced kopi tarik, which is, to put it mildly, the best coffee drink on campus. The one constant over these four months has been the proprietor, always there to greet us, getting his stall opened up, giving orders to his staff, and sometimes having us try his latest concoctions. Dewi has been the beneficiary of countless little treats in his effort to win her over (he has succeeded, by the way).
But for all the interaction we've had over these months, we still can't understand him for the life of us. Now it's no secret that Singlish is distinct from English, and for those natives who spend most of their time speaking Malay, Chinese, Tamil or something else, their Singlish becomes even more of a hodge podge.
Anyway, the other day I went in during the week, solo, to get an iced kopi tarik and a chicken ham bun for breakfast.
Proprietor to me: "Wah yo smah keh?"
My interior monologue: "Why am I smoking? Do I look or smell like I've been smoking? That doesn't make sense... um, what else? Why you small cake? Does he think I should have a bigger breakfast?"
My response: "No, thanks, this is enough for me right now."
Proprietor, puzzled, pointing but not helpfully: "Wah yo smah keh?"
My interior monologue: "Oh, he's trying to get me to try those new little cakes he has on display. They look like old birthday cake. Stall...stall..."
Proprietor, a little impatient: "Yo smah keh."
My interior monologue: "I'm not gonna try that cake. I don't know what the hell he's saying. Wait... small kid? Where... your... small... kid? Is he asking about Dewi? Yes, that's it!"
My response: "Oh, my small kid! She's at daycare."
Proprietor: "Ah, with mama."
Me: "Um, no. Daycare... down the road."
Proprietor: "Ah, at home."
Me: "Yup, ok, thanks, see you soon."
The details just didn't seem to matter. He seemed satisfied that "smah keh" was being cared for while I was gallivanting. I was happy that I solved the puzzle without the benefit of having already had my morning kopi. And this morning our smah keh finally high-fived him after at least a month of repeatedly leaving him hanging. Progress...

May 01, 2011

4 Months Ago Today

4 months ago today we were on a plane from LAX to Tokyo to Changi, making our way to Singapore for our big move. Derek had just left the working world, ready to be a student again. Dewi had started crawling, and had just said goodbye to her nanny-share nanny and buddy. I had just wrapped up all my work at WEAVE, and was about to start life as a temporary stay-at-home-mom . We had just cleaned our house from top to bottom and re-painted for our renters, sold off all of our furniture and household goods, packed up most of our items, made several Goodwill runs, and said goodbye to DC. We had just spent Christmas with Derek's family in Wisconsin, then New Year's with mine in California. We had just said goodbye to family and friends and were on our way to Singapore...just the 3 of us.

Here we are, 4 months later in our new city, and the feelings of being nomads are slowly going away. I have started a great new job, Derek has handed in his last paper of the semester, and Dewi is growing and excelling every single day at her daycare and at home with us. She is walking everywhere, and loving her newfound freedom, saying new words, dancing to new songs, and delighting at every single piece of her new walking world. We are moving off campus to our own apartment next month, we are prepping for our first visit back home, and we have visitors coming in the next few months. We have taken the MRT and buses everywhere, tried out restaurants recommended by foodie friends, had our full (often too full) share of hawker food, gone to parks, museums, friends' homes, and relaxed at home in our teeny apartment. Life is good, and best of all- we have at least 3.5 more years of exploration to do in our new city. Life is good.

At Jurong Bird Park

April 23, 2011

Singapore's Parks & Other Side Outings

For many tourists, Singapore is well-known for its food and shopping. Maybe even the zoo. But not many people know of all the parks in this little city-nation. For the past few weekends, we've had occasion to explore some of them and we have many more to visit! We already wrote about the ever-so-beautiful and expansive West Coast Park in a previous entry. It has a couple of great playgrounds f, it's right on the water, it has a big off-leash dog park, a mangrove, a bicycle obstacle course, and beautiful flora.

No idea what this statue represents
The park closest to us is Kent Ridge Park. Last weekend, we walked for about twenty minutes to its northernmost entrance, and explored the stroller-friendly portions of the park. We heard lots of birds and other animals, and walked through a shaded footpath.
No choking the birds at Kent Ridge Park


If you are a loan shark who charges people exorbitant rates, you will get thrown onto a hill of knives
Since Dewi fell asleep in the middle of our outing, we decided to walk our way home through Pasir Panjang Village, a small restaurant/retail area close to where we live (also home to one of our date night locations, Hoo Ha Cafe). After the Village, she was still asleep so we walked through the former amusement park by our home, Haw Par Villa. There is no other word to describe this place, but "strange". It has free admission, so our curiosity got the best of us. Singaporean friends had informed us that they used to go on school field trips to this place, before all the amusement park rides shut down. Now, it is an interesting place to see, though it's not very well-maintained. The most memorable part of Haw Par Villa is the "Ten Courts of Hell" exhibit. You walk through a dark cave with dioramas of horrific torture scenes for various sins one may have committed during their life. Not recommended as an outing with your grown kids who may be traumatized after viewing this exhibit. 

Labrador Park
Today we went to an Easter Egg Hunt at Labrador Nature Reserve. We'll have to come back to visit the other parts of the park, but the playground area by the water is beautiful and scenic. Dewi loved watching the waves crash onto the rocks. Though the start of the morning was hot hot hot, once the sun went away and we spent time in the shade, we were able to cool down and enjoy our surroundings.