Leading to Jesus' and Michael's birthdays

This week was very wet and rather cold, probably 25 C rather than the normal 30 C ;-). Unusual weather for Singapore, maybe the typhoon over the Philippines brought the rather constant rain? Sidewalks and roads flooded and even one part of Orchard Road despite flood barriers, the shops there lost stock. But it was nothing compared to the flooding in Brisbane we experienced in the beginning of the year. Bukit Timah Road is a three to four lane road going from East to West, then there is a canal to channel the flood waters and the other side is called Dunearn Road and just the opposite of Bukit Timah Road (i.e. three to four lanes going West to East). There are lots of bridges for pedestrians to cross those busy roads, mainly to connect the bus stops. Those canals carried quite a bit of water during this week ...

Also the pool felt colder. We are surprised anyhow how cold the pool is compared to our pool back home, which heats up nicely in summer. Maybe due to the rain season the almost daily rain shower cools down the pool? Or maybe the blue sky in Queensland heats up the pool quicker? We'll see in a few weeks when the rain season comes to an end. Another interesting observation is: Despite the humidity, the food, as well as water bottles, don't mould as quickly as in Brisbane during the summer heat and humidity. Nevertheless we keep the bread in the fridge, just to be safe.

Due to the rather constant rain this week our outings were limited to shopping (groceries). On Saturday we picked up our turkey at the supermarket. David and Katrin decided to take the bus to the post office to get a few stamps. It's a similar system here as in Australia leading up to Christmas, letters cost only half price. So we tried to get the right stamps to post a handful of letters to Europe to our families. A few weeks ago on the way to Michael's and Esther's school we found this post office (they are not necessarily in the shopping centres) and bought some stamps. After we finished writing the cards, Katrin hunted for those stamps and couldn't find them. She even feared they had been thrown out because they were in a postage brochure. So another trip to the post office was necessary to send those letters off. It started to rain steadily, but it wasn't too bad without an umbrella, the rain was warm, the climate is warm. Even the shopping centres (post office for that) weren't too cooled down to freeze us. By the way at the check out of one of the supermarkets there is a freezer with little bags filled with ice cubes to keep your shopping cold - complimentary. In the turkey cooler bag was also a little bag with ice - nitrogen ice cube, Jonas enjoyed playing around with it!

Esther was very busy those past weeks sewing artworks for the family. She mainly used felt and made a bag for Michael, a Christmas stocking for Jonas, two animals for the other boys, a snowman for Karsten and Katrin got a pin cushion.

On Christmas Eve we have our tradition:
A rather quick and child friendly dinner (hot dog sausages with salad) starts the evening. Then Karsten reads from the Bible:

Every year we can find an eyeopener: This year we contemplated how God chose the shepherds to tell the most exciting news. Shepherds were on the lowest society rank, their witness wasn't even worthy in a court case. Yet they were willing and available to come and worship Jesus, that is still required today: Availability and openness.

And isn't it interesting that God sent his angels to the shepherds, and not to the political or religious leaders ? What does this tell us about leadership? It starts at the bottom.

Isn't it interesting that despite all those time reducing household gadgets we have less time to be spontaneous or have our plans changed. Children are a great "tool" to help learn this lesson ;-)
We also like to sing a few carols (there is a helpful app: "Carols" it has not only the lyrics but also supplies the music a-cappella).






Then we open our presents:

It is very interesting to look at a globe and see what lies on the same longitude. Singapore is almost exactly on the equator, like Egypt and Peru for example. If you look up what would be the equivalent of Brisbane in the Northern Hemisphere it would be Hawaii for example.




Boxing Day was Michael's birthday - wow 11 years old!

We went to Marina Bay Sands Shoppes, a very new shopping mall opposite the fancy Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The centre offers lots of exclusive shops as well as exhibitions. At the moment there is a Narnia Exhibition, we weren't allowed to take picture in the exhibition, but while we had lunch we took a picture of David and Yannic with the exhibition in the background ;-) There was quite a lot to look at and videos explaining how the movies were shot. Also some original props from the movies.

For dessert we went to Cold Rock and enjoyed yummy ice cream.

Our Fifth Week

On Monday we went to Jonas' school, we literally walked, well, the children took their scooters (another blessing from the sea freight) while Jonas and Katrin walked. We kept the book-uniform-shop-conveyor busy, firstly Jonas and then Michael and Esther got their uniforms, then we went through the stationary list for Jonas, Michael and Esther will have their stationary pack given by the school, all ready to go. After that  we went to the library to collect Jonas' text books and finally we looked for his class teacher, Herr Maier. He gave Jonas two Spanish CDs to start practicing ;-) By this time everybody was hungry, so we had lunch at the canteen, the little ones went for Pasta Bolognese (which was spicy and a lot of water/cordial was consumed) and the older ones (Michael, Jonas and Katrin) had sandwiches (not spicy). There were also Laugenbrezel available, a typical Southern German bread type. Jonas chewed on those as a baby/toddler all those years back and whenever we go back to Germany, the children love to eat them.
Coming home we hopped into the pool to cool down.

Tuesday Esther, David, Yannic and Katrin went to the primary school by bus. The teachers wanted to assess Esther, an hour later she came out with flying colours. Meanwhile David, Yannic and Katrin browsed through the library, sitting happily in air conditioning. How did people study and live here without any air conditioning comfort?

Wednesday and Thursday were quiet days, pool, games and reading the newspaper. Every morning there is a free newspaper at our door step (the cleaner crew deliver them to every unit). The articles are well written and informative, lots of political news (especially the Euro crisis) and then also focusing South East Asia. Very tempting for Katrin to lie on the sofa and read ;-) Slowly we start to recognise the names of the Asian leaders, at least which country they belong to.

Friday we went to see the baby again, it weighs now 2.7kg and Katrin is quite happy that the weight gain isn't too fast ;-)

Saturday had heavy rain in the afternoon, so we decided to postpone our outing to Jurong Bird Park.

Our Fourth Week

On Monday we visited the obstetrician again. We saw Buzzelchen again on the ultrasound and all seems to be fine. Buzzelchen presently weighs 2.5kg.

On Tuesday we visited the children's schools, German European School Singapore, it has two German and two English speaking classes at each level. Jonas, Michael and Esther will go to the same school, but to two different campuses: The kindy and high school campus (from Y6 upwards) which Jonas will attend, is 2 km North from where we live. However, the Y1-Y5 campus which Esther and Michael will be visiting, is 20 min West by bus from us. So Michael and Esther will be able to comfortably take the bus from almost in front of our condominium and alight (the official Singaporean word for getting off) in front of their school without transfers and it only costs 0.73 cents one way. They can use 4 different buses, which all leave very regularly, no long waiting times. Jonas will most likely take his bike. The way is mostly flat, just at the end it goes a bit uphill.The primary school campus is very new,  the school only moved there 2 years ago. The children love the libraries at both schools, I guess the children will be very frequent visitors there.

Jonas' class will be 10a, this year they have started with Spanish, so Jonas has a bit catch up to do. There are 16 students in his class, most of them native German speakers, we heard a lot of German being spoken while we walked around the school.
There is a canteen there too, and the children have the choice between three (high school campus) and two (primary school campus) main meals, one is Western, one Eastern and one Vegetarian. The children have a student ID card which can be used as "credit card" at the school canteen, which is open all the time.
The school uniform is green t-shirt and black short/pants/shirt as the formal uniform and white t-shirt with the school logo printed on and black sport shorts. Hat, bag and shoes are up to each person's liking, Australian schools are much stricter. German schools normally have no uniform at all, so for those expats it's quite a change and therefore the school is a bit more lenient. We'll have to come back next week to buy the uniforms, books and stationary, there was no time today.
All in all the school reminded Karsten and Katrin a lot of their own schooling, it's somehow very German, especially looking at the text books. Most of the staff is from Germany. Hopefully the children will come back to Australia with much improved German and maybe a better Mandarin too. But that is not taught at school, rather everyday life, maybe a tutor would be a good idea.

Wednesday was another exciting day: Our sea freight arrived. Finally Esther has her own bed again. Lots of Lego came as well. We have now all the baby stuff here (pram, baby capsule and cot). Esther is also very glad to have Katrin's sewing machine for all those projects. Some books were unpacked. Most unpacking happened on Wednesday and Thursday. Now there are lots of boxes for more nests or other buildings. Two boxes serve as makeshift book shelves:

On Thursday we went to the library again, all by bus. Since the library is in a mall (Clementi Mall) we also stocked up on groceries, a bit more than we could comfortable carry on the bus. It had started to rain, too, so we waited at the taxi stand for a little while only. Instead of cramping everybody in one taxi, the older three and Noah went by taxi and Katrin, David and Yannic took the bus back home. They arrived only 15 minutes after the taxi. At first it was a scary thought to leave Jonas, Michael, Esther and Noah in the taxi all by themselves, but Singapore is very safe and Jonas knows where to go.

After a busy start to the week, the remainder was stay at home and enjoy the pool and the new-old toys.
Katrin started to browse through the online shopping of the two supermarkets close by. Delivery costs are $7 and if she goes by herself and takes a taxi back it costs almost as much. Most of the grocery items are available online, but although one doesn't get to choose the items, the quality is fine. Usually if ordered before lunch, delivery is made the next afternoon (between 2pm and 6pm) or evening (between 6pm and 9pm). And since it is being carried right into the kitchen it's very convenient.

Back home in Australia school has wrapped up for the year, so the children are now officially on holidays ;-)

Saturday we stayed home assembling Esther's bed and the cot. Esther made cupcakes and did some more sewing, she is very industrious.

Our Third Week

Our third week started with a visit of Karsten's colleague Wasim for dinner. It's nice to have a familiar face visiting, even for only a short time. The next morning, Dorotee and Henrik with their children Tim and Kiara visited us briefly during their 8 hour stop over. Boy, was that an early breakfast, but so much fun! We had set the alarm clock for 6:45am which we thought would give us enough time to get presentable and also breakfast on the table. Katrin woke up earlier - pit stop as usual - and thought she heard something. Well, sure enough our friends were already at our door step! Luckily friends are those people you can greet in your pyjamas and they don't mind ;-) After breakfast we had a swim together and then they were off again. What a blessing to have friends visiting!

That day proved to be a busy one. Not that long after the Maier-Braun family had left a friend of friends rang to see if she could come over to introduce herself before they flew out that night to holiday in Japan. A little while later the buzzer buzzed.

Level 1: lift entrance to our section

Under the non smoking sign is the swipe card terminal

A quick explanation: To get in you need to have a swipe card at the gate either on level 1 - to get into one of the courts of this condominium - or in the carpark (B1) to get into the lift. In the carpark there are a handful of lobbies which have lifts for each 'tower' of the court. Lobby 4 of Chempaka Court (= 991 Bukit Timah Road) leads to our unit, just take the lift to level 7. There are 4 units on each level. One day on our way back from the pool Yannic and Noah ran ahead to the lifts and pressed 7 and stood in the door to keep it waiting for the rest of us. When the rest got closer we called them away from the lift, after all it's not a toy, so Yannic came running leaving Noah in the lift. The door closed and off he went. We were a bit in a frenzy then. Karsten and the children took the other lift up while Katrin waited on Level 1 in case Noah came down again. They must have pressed 4 too, because Katrin could hear Noah cry when the lift stopped at Level 4. There is a display next to the lift to show where the lift currently is and if it's going up or down. That stop gave the other lift with Karsten time to catch up, so when both lifts reached level 7 Karsten could "rescue" Noah, who was not a happy camper. In hindsight is't quite funny, but when the lift disappeared with Noah, we got a big fright, all kinds of what... if scenarios crossed our minds. That all happened after Katrin had told the children to wait sitting on the little garden wall opposite the lifts until everybody is there - Katrin isn't the fastest at the moment ;-) How often tells God us the same things over and over and still we don't learn the lesson by listening but by experience?!

View from our unit towards the lifts

View from the lifts to our door

Back to our visitor that Tuesday: After answering the buzzer, Katrin waited at the door for the visitor to step out of the lift. But out came Shirley, the landlord's manager, whom we hadn't expected. It's quite funny if you wait for somebody and suddenly somebody else comes, Katrin was glad that she had met Shirley before otherwise it would have been interesting to see how they would have solved the misunderstanding. Shirley had a few questions. And a few minutes later our visitor arrived: Beng-Wan with her children Chloe and Jared. She offered to take us to the public library the same day and to show us a wet market once she is back. So at 2 o'clock off we went all squeezed in one car, Katrin thought Being-Wan had a van or so, but it was a normal Sedan. So 6 children squeezed in the back seat and Katrin had a front row seat ;-)
At the library we got one library card, which costs over $50 since we are not citizen nor residents but foreigners. On one card we can borrow 8 books, but at the moment due to the holidays they have extended it to 12 books. Those of you who know our little bookworms can imagine how quickly we might have to go back to the library. They all love to read. We took a taxi to get back home - same method; 6 children in the back seat and Katrin in the passenger seat, the poor taxi driver didn't have time nor words to object. But Katrin was glad when they got home safe and sound, we won't be doing that too often.

Noah and bounty from the library

Yannic's nest

Wednesday and Thursday were quiet stay at home days for 7 family members and go to work for one (guess who). We read the books, hopped into the pool and played computer. Friday Karsten was able to work from home, a treat after a few long days at work (ups, I told you now). The air conditioning units (we have 6 units in our 4 bedroom appartment) were serviced. This has to be done every 3 months apparently since they are being used rather frequently.

Singapore during the rain season is very humid, as throughout most of the year :-). That is the reason for not having fly screens despite Mozzies and the possibility of Dengue Fever: Moss would quickly grow on the fly screens. A lady told me that her mattress moulded and only when it came through the fitted sheet, she realised what was happening - she has been here one year so far. Somebody else told Karsten, that his leather jacket got ruined just sitting in the wardrobe for a few weeks. That's why it is helpful to let the air conditioner run every day. ;-) And it's also advisable to dry clean suits which aren't used for a while. The washing is drying very slowly since there is not always a breeze. Although the breeze seems to pick up shortly before a big thunderstorm comes through.

Saturday we made a trip to Sentosa Island again - iFly! All except the oldest and youngest member of our family had a go, well, three goes in the wind chamber at flying. Noah and Katrin could watch them from the outside. IFly is the world's first largest themed wind tunnel for indoor skydiving and the world's largest vertical wind tunnel. The chamber is 16.5 feet (5 m) wide and 56.5 feet (17m) tall - about 5 storeys high - with a 18 feet (5,5m) tall acrylic glass wall with view over the South China Sea. It was very comfortable inside in air conditioning almost cold.

Unfortunately we weren't allow to take pictures of the actual flying, some people did nevertheless. So we just have a couple of pre-flight pictures.

The afternoon was spent at the beach much to Noah's delight, he loves the sand and the water.

Michael, Esther, David and Yannic went exploring, across a small channel of water was a little island like sandbank where they climbed on the rocks until the life guard ask us to get them off since it's dangerously slippery.

Our time at the beach was cut short due to the seasonal thunderstorm. So we found a bar and had satay sticks for a late afternoon tea or early dinner. Those sticks were yummy and Karsten was going back a few times to order more for the hungry family.
We stopped at a water play and Noah decided he was still hungry. Hasn't he got a big bite?!

On our way home there was a long queue at the taxi stand, so we took the monorail out of Sentosa, boarded the MRT (Mass Rapid Transportation, an underground train) and then the bus to get home. Almost exactly the same way Karsten commutes to and from work. The children enjoyed it, but we all were rather tired by the time we go home.

Sunday we went back to the Methodist Church around the corner, we received again a warm welcome. The children went to Junior Church/Sunday School. First all the children have a worship/singing time together before they break up into small groups for the teaching and some arts and crafts. Jonas' Senior Church was not on, it's only three times per month, so that the teenagers can participate at communion. The sermon taught about Mary, about our plans and God's plans. Also after her response came the action: "Be unto me according to Your word". And how Mary was wise to turn to an older person (Elisabeth) for guidance and purpose. Mentors are in!