The second station was all about maths. Esther had prepared a game called: "I am... Who is...?", for example: 'I am 25. Who is 4x5?' is one card, the second part is read and then both players have to find the answer-card: 'I am 20.' and then read out the question on that card and so on... After that first Esther and then Katrin did the 'Mad Minute', a sheet of Maths questions had to be answered in one minute or less.
Off to the next table: Storytelling. Esther wrote a story about 'Three Wish Fairytale' called "The Winged Horse" complete with illustrations ;-)
The last station was an interview with Esther's class teacher, who was very happy to have Esther in his class and said she is doing well, settling in and contributing to class. Good to hear, it is difficult to join a class halfway into the school year, even though Singapore has a lot of coming and going. (There seems someone to be moving in or out every week in our condo. Many notices about garage-type of sales.) Esther didn't find it that easy to get into the exciting groups (girls!) but after a birthday party at a water park, where all girls of the class were invited, the ice was broken! Thank God!
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| cubby house |
Sophie is being more and more alert. Her smiles light up her whole face, how wonderful and heartwarming a baby can be!
Mozzie (mosquito) combat Singaporean style:
The first time we encountered this method we were in our unit, level 7 and suddenly we heard this loud noise as if a big swarm of locust was approaching. Then the fog appeared. It was quite surreal. Now when we hear the swarm of locust we check that all windows are closed, one reason being the fumes the other the aggravated mozzies.
Esther's year level showed off their progress with the string instruments (violin, viola and cello) at a concert, which left us very impressed. They played 6 pieces ('London Bridge is Falling Down', 'Super Trouper' and others) and sounded really good, not like beginners at all. Well done, Esther and class!
Sophie had her first dip in the pool:
The pool is rather cold so she has not been in before, despite the heat. But the children couldn't wait for her to join them. So far she has been in the pool only three times.
One interesting discovery we made is McDonald's delivery their fast food here, for only additional S$2.50! ;-) Singaporeans like spicy food, therefore you have to be careful which tomato sauce you take - normal or chilli tomato sauce. We hadn't seen before the seaweed salt either:
This month saw the three oldest boys on the move all over the world.
Jonas spent two weeks in India with his year level. There they built a road or painted a ward in a hospital or filled sand-bags. Jonas was in the paint crew for the first week and then had to shovel sand during the second week. The hospital was in Mundakkayam, Kerala, India. The children flew into Kochi (on the West coast close to the Southern tip of India) and then took the bus for another two hours to the South-West into the mountains. Apparently the mattresses were only 1 cm thick, so the boys looked around and found a spare room with more mattresses in it, they all grabbed a few. The meals in the hospital were yummy, but back at their quarters they had meat stew each night (40% bones and 40% fat). Jonas had quite a few funny stories to tell. On the weekends the group did some sightseeing.
Here is Jonas' view in his own words:
My experience in India was very unique. My class and I were shown India how it is today, with a boundary between rich and poor. Although we weren’t in the poorest part of India we definitely weren’t in the richest.
We were divided into two groups, one in Velichyani and the other higher up in the mountains. I was assigned to Velichyani where we were divided yet again into two groups, one working on a road and building a house and the other helping renovate the labour wards in the local hospital. I along with my new friends decided to help in the hospital due to the lack of volunteers.
For the first week there we painted the labour ward and in the second week we shoveled sand into 50Kg bags. On the last day we went to visit some waterfalls, which were located a good 2hr drive away from Cochi airport.
India was a very different experience and I am glad to be at home. It was nevertheless a once in a lifetime experience. It made me grateful for what I have.
A few days after Jonas, Karsten flew to the US on a business trip, he also did some shopping:
The children got new sport shoes and sandals and Esther also received new outfits, beautiful! Karsten resisted the temptation to buy another Apple electronic gadget, but came home with black Apple t-shirts for all including an Apple bodysuit for Sophie (in pink)!
Karsten came home in the middle of the night. Noah was counting down the whole week. The morning after Karsten's arrival, Noah went to check for the daily free newspaper and sat down to 'read' it as he usually does. Karsten came up to him and greeted Noah, who didn't react. Where upon Karsten said "I am back, Noah!", to which Noah replied without looking up "Yes, I saw you!"
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| Michael and his friend Mika |
The day after Karsten arrived, Michael went off to his school camp, 3 nights in a resort in Malaysia (Lanjut Resort, Kuala Rompin, 4-5 hours to the North on the West coast of Malaysia)! He was quite thrilled that he would be sharing his room with his friend Mika. All the other rooms had three students. Wow, what a different world, Karsten and Katrin's Year 5/6 camp was a week in a youth hostel a few hours drive from home away. Well, in a way Michael was also only a few hours drive from home away, but in a resort!!
He had a good time, that's all we got out of him and that he didn't really enjoy the seafood BBQ on the last night. ;-)
We had a few typical German dishes, the German shop receives every Thursday a fresh/frozen delivery from Germany including "Maultaschen". This South-Western speciality is like ravioli, pasta filled with meat or vegetable. Traditional it is cooked in broth. Any left over can be fried in butter, this tastes even better.
The other food item came by post, Karsten's parents send over original Black-forest ham.
To stay with the food theme: The other day we bought a Malaysian watermelon and got a surprise when we cut it open: bright yellow! But it tastes the same as the red ones.
Karsten started to have special nights out with the children, they usually go to the restaurant around the corner and have a cocktail. But sometimes it gets a bit more special like the quick trip to Sentosa Island.
Karsten took David, Noah and Yannic with him to work, they loved it there!
The last week before the holidays, while the older boys were still all over Asia, Esther's year level and the younger ones had project week. They made some great constructions: marble-towers and bridges out of paper/newspaper:
Another project was reproducing Singaporean landmarks out of paper while being inspired by the late Hundertwasser, an Austrian artist, who is well known for the usage of bright colours. Esther's group recreated the Helix-bridge a la Hundertwasser:
Once again we were impressed by the artistic ability and creativity those student displayed.
We ended the month with a visit to the Marina Bay Sands Shoppe, a very posh and new shopping centre opposite the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which has the amazing pool on the roof top. What money can buy!
We have been there before and shared pictures of the Narnia exhibition. This exhibition was on the grounds of a iceskating rink next to the food court. Now it's back to iceskating rink. Well, it's more a plastic oil skating arena, but works very well. The children had a great time, one hour flew by. Isn't it a convenient concept to keep the children busy exercising while the parents can supervise and enjoy yummy food.
Ice-princess Esther enjoys herself!