A Month at the Y

This is by far the longest amount of time I've ever spent continuously in a hotel. We have now been in the YMCA almost 3 weeks. We are starting to feel it too. There are some funny things we are starting to notice about ourselves. One thing is that in China, you can't drink the water. Well, in Singapore you can! We were completely shocked, but the funny thing is that we can't bring ourselves to do it. I boil water every night because I can't bring myself to turn on the tap and take a drink. I though that I was just going crazy, but come to find out that many of us who live in places where drinking tap water is not option feel the same way.
The other thing that I have discovered is that I don't know what side of the road Americans drive on. I used to. Now though we have traveled in all these countries that drive on the left that it almost seems more normal to me. In China they theoretically drive on the right, but really the whole road is fair game.
So now I wonder what else has changed about me. I see a lot of things about my kids that I really appreciate. They walk more than any kids I have ever met. I don't think that they will ever be kids that say it is too hot to go out to play. It's funny, in China, Isabella will eat just about all kinds of vegetables, except eggplant. Here in Singapore though she won't eat it. I don't know if she is holding out for something better or what!

Christmas Wish List

Christmas list
Isabella: size 5 (for length) needs
3 jeans, 1 khakis, 1 corduroy
Long sleeved shirts
2 sets of long underwear, tights/leggings
Elijah: size 3T needs
3 jeans, 1 khakis, 1 corduroy
Long sleeved shirts, heavy sweater
2 long underwear
Lydia: 6-9, 9-12 needs
2 jeans, 1 khakis, 1 corduroy
4 rompers, long sleeved onesies
Long underwear or snug fitting sleepers, tights, hats (warm)

Rachel: jeans (size 14 Old Navy), corduroy (size 14 Old Navy), long underwear, long sleeved shirts (not to short), leggings or stockings

Tim wants an MP3 player. As these are expensive, a couple of you might go into together. BUT, it can’t be shipped here or Mr. Wang at the Post will have a new MP3 player and Tim will go without. My Mom can put the money into our account, and we can buy it here. They are the same price here as the States.

I’ve looked online and Old Navy seems to be the cheapest place to get the clothes. I would ask that at least the pants be bought there because all of our kids are skinny and tall. Old Navy has adjustable waist bands. This will help us out a lot. We don’t need any underwear or bibs. Only other things are maybe some easy to put on slippers for the kids. Maybe some that go on like shoes and have good traction. You guys can let each other know what you are getting by responding to this blog at the comment spot on the bottom right.

Merry Christmas!

In the clean land of expensive prices...

Wow! We have realized now just how stinkin' cheap we are. After living in the land of 2 kuai noodles ( about 26 cents), we have now arrived in Singapore where half the noodles cost 3 Singapore dollars ($2.50). We have a heart attack everytime we go to buy something. Even though we are still enjoying our time immensely. Singapore is now one of my favorite places on earth! When we flew down on Singapore Air (currently my choice airline for those traveling with children!), the flight attendant was so corrdial she actual SPOON FED Elijah! He loved it up!!! They gave us diapers and wipes and a bib! It was fabulous!
The other great thing about Singapore is that it is so multi-cultural! Singapore is a composite is Chinese, India, Malaysian and more! Then I think I heard that at any given time, there are more tourists here than citizens. Most people speak some English (what a break). But we are really enjoying the food. We've had sandwiches from Subway and Indian.
Elijah's birthday was a lot of fun for him. His class had cupcakes and his teachers got him a gift. He had a great time playing with his Thomas the tank engine. We went out for Pizza Hut last night. He always loves that.
Anyway, for all of our famiy. I hope to update this a little more often. We'll try to post some pics soon.

Ants in my Pancakes?

We leave today. So last night I decided to be proactive. I made pancakes for this morning. We had eggs that needed to be used up, and I didn't want to open a box of cereal that we wouldn't finish. So I made the kids favorite, M&M pancakes, wrapped them in a plastic bag (not ziploc), and happily went to bed. Proud of my accomplishment of planning ahead, which rarely happens anymore. Now I deal with things after the fact mostly. Which in the end is what happened with the pancakes. Did you know that ants can survive being microwaved? This is a fact that was previously unknown to me. Somehow, even though the pancakes were in a bag all tied up, they got ants in there with the pancakes. I put the pancakes on the plate to heat them up in the dark kitchen (pre-coffee) and nuked them for a minute. When I open the microwave, ants were running all over the place! But having lived in China for over a year, I am now totally unaffected. I just made sure that I had all (or at least most) the ants off and cut them up for the kids. Yes, I know, there goes my mother of the year award. I wasn't counting on it anyway. Then I went back to bag, cleaned the rest of the pancakes off and had breakfast. I figure, in some places they eat chocolate covered ants. If there were still ants on the pancakes, I had M&M's in them so it's about the same.
Bon Appetit!

Elijah's birthday party

Open Windows

Yesterday and today we have had wonderful weather. It's been in the mid to low 70's. What does that mean for us? Turn off the ac and open the windows. This is a completely different cultural experience here. Maybe this is what it is like in NYC, but not AR. No crickets chirping. But the guy down stairs, who likely has TB is spitting. Someone is listening to Peking Opera, which sounds like a stoned ferret being drowned (see Sports Illustrated, June 19, Life of Reilly, if you can read it without laughing you must be crazy!). Anyway, some one is playing a video game and someone else is watching a romance movie, I can tell because of the kind of music. This morning a woman had a baby, yes, I heard all of that too. I have gotten used to being in crowded places with a lot of people, but I'm not sure that I've gotten used to living with a lot of people. I kind of feel like I'm in a dorm with 2 million other people.

Yesterday, we had Elijah's birthday party. Poor guy, there are no kids here his age, so I think he felt a little left out of the playing. But he liked the Superman Birthday cake which I was prodigiously proud of, even though the red frosting was a little pink and I still have blue food coloring under my finger nail. And happily, we gave the rest of the cake away today to the friends who couldn't make and we didn't have to scarf down the rest of it before we left. Although, I'm always up for cake!
Anyway, sending some kid pics for you to enjoy!

In the beginning

For our dear family:
I have been inspired by some friends of ours who have faithfully kept up their blogs to start one of our own. We hope that it will be a way that you guys can see a little into our life more frequently. Mostly, I hope to keep a lot of pictures on it and keep you all updated with what our stunningly wonderful children are up to. As Elijah said today, "I'm the greatest boy in the world." So humble!
But just so you know, we are leaving tomorrow, so it may be a little while before I get back to this...we all know my tendency to start projects.
Anyway, hope this works well and you all enjoy it!!!
Rachel