May - 5 School events and a birthday!

 Now it was Esther's turn to go on tour with her class (school event 1 this month). Her class had a sleep-over at the Singapore Zoo - a dream of Esther come true! She loves animals.
They left after school on Wednesday and came back Thursday lunch time after less than 24 hours full packed with activities and fun. The program included guided tours to different enclosures, learning how to pitch a tent, Night Safari tour and breakfast with Orang-Utans. Esther was hoarse and very tired upon her return ;-)

Off to the Zoo Sleepover

For her sleepover Esther decided to take the huge backpack, which held all the things Jonas needed for 2 weeks of work in India ;-) To her defence: she didn't pack many clothes, just a pyjama and the next day's clothes, but also a mat and sleeping bag, which took up the bulk of space. Other children were astounded at her big bag, but they then had two or even three bags ;-)

The camp site

Sunrise impressions:

This month the primary campus at school held their swimming carnival called Swimming Gala, it lasted a whole week because each morning it was another year level's turn. Esther's year swam on Wednesday and Michael's year on Friday (school events 2 and 3). It was fun to watch it, no individual competitions.
First they swam a lap-a-thon to raise money for a charity - so far all money raising went to a charity or the care organisation of the school. Jonas' trip to India helped the local community there and all the funds necessary for boarding and working material were paid by the students.
The lap-a-thon was the formal part; then began the fun, each class against each other. First a pool-noodle relay race, followed by a two-person-foam-mat rely race (both person had to have their torsos on the mat and were allowed to paddle with arms and legs). Afterwards the teacher threw lots of glass stones into the pool (David and Yannic helped her ;-)). From each class only one child at a time could pick up one stone and then it was the next child's turn. Which class had gathered the most stones in a set time had won. In between those fun games there were relays, only boys, only girls and then only breaststroke. (Esther helped her class to come second in the breaststroke event, she was really fast and pushed from fourth to almost first place. Michael did also very well in his breaststroke relay, they came first. Well done you two!) The highlight of the gala had to be the last event: class teachers versus students. For the Year 3s the teacher won, but for the Y5s the students won ;-)
In the end Esther's class came second in their year level and Michael's class first. There were no individual winners/losers, which made it fun and relaxing for all. The children still gave their best.
At the primary school (Y1-Y5) each class has swimming lesson once per week and also once 'normal' PE, so there is ample opportunity to take times/PBs (personal best).

Esther is collecting a glass stone

Michael + his best friend (in Singapore) Mika

 Happy birthday, Jonas! His traditional birthday dinner is: Kaesspaetzle, a local dish in South-West Germany, a type of homemade macaroni and cheese. After Katrin had made up the batter she realised she didn't bring the special tool with which to grate the batter into the boiling water. So we tried to use a real grater and Michael got adventurous with a garlic press, but in the end we succeed the traditional way to grate it from a wooden plate with a long knife. We always thought this would need a lot of skill, but it turn out to be not too difficult, one secret being to dip the knife into the boiling water ever so often.
All the children like the slightly thicker pasta and gobbled it all up ;-) So much for the hope of left-overs.

Karsten makes Spaetzle the old fashioned way

Jonas and the traditional birthday cake.

Jonas' birthday treat was going to the movies with Karsten, Michael and his friend from school. He didn't want to invite more people or have a party. Talking about growing up!
This month Karsten traveled a lot, here a week - gone a week. It's great that he could be home for Jonas' birthday.


David and Yannic and Noah are still busy doing their school work, which they call home work ;-)
Some funny quotations:
"Bridge and gloom" (= bride and groom)
"People will sneak your flavour" (= people will seek your favour)
"God is in your heart to kiss Him" (= to love God with all your heart)

Yannic and Noah doing their schoolwork 

Both Esther and Michael's classes had performances at assembly (school event 4 and 5).
Esther's class wrote a play called Amazing Race Singapore about their Unit of Inquiry (UOI) topic "Transport". In it one team each from three Singaporean schools participated in a race to win one million Dollars. The aim was to spend max. $20 to get to three destinations in Singapore, each destination provided the clue for the next one. Of course the first one was to win. One team was disqualified because it didn't prepare, so the team got lost (took the wrong bus) and got caught in a thunderstorm, where it got so wet they caught a cold and had to go to hospital. The second team didn't make it because twice they took a taxi which cost more than their $20, so they had to go to jail (Esther represented the police ;-) In the end the GESS (German European School Singapore, Esther's school) team won because they used the internet to find the best route, they took public transport and solved the riddle (the name of a teacher who is a big advocate of public transport).
This play reflected one real life project: The class was split up in teams of 6 students, which were given an itinerary. In each team two students prepared the route to one of the three stops on their itinerary. All the teams were to meet at the Asian Civilisation Museum - to get into their new UOI topic "Ancient Civilisations".

Esther wears the blue shirt

 Michael's class showed a dance, their UOI topic was "Advertisement".

Apart from the dance they went up and down Orchard Road (Singapore's famous shopping street/district) to take notice of ads. They also had to prepare for a debate under the title "Is Advertising Harmful" - each student could decide which side he takes.


Sophie:

David + Sophie

As mentioned before Karsten had a few oversea trips this month, also to Germany. He brought back some asparagus, fresh from the fields next to his hotel. We enjoyed it with pancakes, potatoes and Sauce Hollandaise, a feast!

Noah + Yannic

David + Katrin + Esther

Yannic twirled around in the lift one day and bumped his tooth - yes, a bit chipped. The dentist fixed it and he is happy.
The dentist's surgery is a tiny room in the rooms of our GP in the shopping centre close by. The room is not more than 3x5 m, but this doesn't stop her from having all the modern gadgets a dentist needs. You go down a small hallway to the receptionist window, her room is big enough for her chair and a desk for the phone and appointment book, around the desk are boards to hold books. The door behind the receptionist leads to an equally tiny room, it's the x-ray room! To the left is the dentist's room. Katrin was quite amazed, this whole practice could easily fit into our living room here, not to mention our living room back home!
When the dentist told Yannic, she is putting a blue paste on his tooth, he asked if she had it also in purple and then was hoping it would stay blue at least. It would stay blue, so Katrin took a picture for him to see and remember his blue tooth:

Yannic's blue tooth

Esther has settled into school life, mainly due to finding friends. She has two good friends with who she has met after school:

Esther at a birthday party

Dilly and Esther

Our church had a special lunch: Hawker-centre style lunch. Every small group (around 16) prepared a traditional meal or drink. Because we meet in a big school, their canteen was used to set up the stalls. On every side there were around 4 stalls and the eating place was in the middle. It was great to walk around, have a chat and a good look and then a taste. The boys passed a stall which handed out a blackish drink, they thought it was Coke and each took one. It was not Coke, it was a herbal tea with pieces in it: Chin chow drink or Grass Jelly. It is made from the herb Mesona Chinensis, it's stalks and leaves are boiled. Sometimes starch is added to make it into a jelly. It has a bitter taste and therefore sugar sirup is added. Katrin liked it, it's quite refreshing. We hope the boys learnt to choose carefully and share if it's unknown, instead of giving it a miss or being greedy without knowing what they are greedy about ;-)

Karsten enjoyed fish balls and Katrin chicken curry.