July - Comings and Goings

 July was a busy month: School holidays, Karsten's trip to Germany, visit of Karsten's father with us and then we flew back home for a short visit to cool down.

 The month started with Noah's birthday:

Birthday cake all around:

The children loved to build a mattress tower from which they jumped down or on which they jumped. Since there is a window behind we discourage them from the jumping part. Don't want to have children flying out of the seventh floor...

Sophie loves to eat:

Sophie is curious,...

.... has to look at everything...

...and is on the move (a mechanic in the making).

In the middle of July we visited the Science Centre to see the special exhibition "Sultans of Science", a display of scientific achievements by medieval Islamic scholars. 

There were a few hands-on activities like rebuilding two types of arch: A round arch which is not the most stable arch. An Ogee arch, which is much more stable.

Round arch

Ogee arch

One of the highlights was the Elephant Clock,  invented by the Kurdish engineer al-Jazari (1136–1206). It is a weight powered water clock in the form of an elephant. The different elements of the clock are in the housing at the top, lots of features move and every half hour a sound is made. It is also an example of multiculturalism: The elephant represents the Indian and African cultures, the dragon represents Chinese culture, the phoenix represents ancient Egyptian culture, the water work represents ancient Greek culture, and the turban represents Islamic culture. Wikipedia has an article on it.

A regular demonstration at the Science Centre is the fire tornado - the children's favourite! (I hope Michael's video works, otherwise we'll try next month again... it's fascinating!)

Just a short time before Karsten went to Germany on a business trip, his father agreed to come back with him to visit us for two weeks:

Opa helps Noah

A trip to Sentosa with Opa:

At a local wet market we found different kinds of fruit from the Sapindaceae family (except for the mangosteen):

Longans (on the twigs), mangosteen (at 12 o'clock), lychees (at 3 o'clock) and rambutans (at 6 o'clock)

Longan translates literally "dragon's eye" due to the resemblance with an eye when peeled.

Rambutan comes from the Malay word "rambutan" and means hairy.

The shells or seeds of all are inedible, but the flesh is whitish, sweet, juicy and succulent. Excellent when fresh, the children liked lychees best. ;-)

Online we found a good self guided tour through Little India:

After arriving by bus we visited Tekka Market, a local wet market:

Morning tea at Tekka Market

Noah is enjoying himself

Cornered!

These colourful garlands are made of fresh flowers and have a strong scent:

The houses are painted in different styles, this one is one of the most colourful:

Can you spot Esther, Yannic and David?

We had lunch in an interesting restaurant with the theme "jungle" from outside to the very dark inside, with fake vines hanging from the ceiling (including Tarzan) and all kinds of animals hidden in the artificial jungle flora. It was cool (design as well as the temperature). Unfortunately we felt a bit ripped off. When our order came they also placed two sauces (which we didn't ordered) on the table with the roti/bread (which we ordered), but they appeared on the bill extra.... one way to collect a tip, obviously a tourist trap...

Boys!

Mylady!

The shophouses mainly looked like this:

Apparently the last operating spice grinder, once a common sight. The spices were ground in the morning to be used on the day.

Sophie and her Opa

Sophie loves the water!

The children used the holidays to catch up with friends before they all went back home for a visit or some also for good. At Maplewoods the pool was very quiet during the holidays. The pool is anyhow mainly frequent by Europeans, but during the long summer holidays many families went back to Europe. 

Esther and a friend

Sophie loves chocolate ice cream....

... and spicy Chicken Curry!

Because Noah is now 5 years old he can join the others on the artificial ice skate rink:

Here is Karsten's father in front of Singapore Flyer (purple light) and the Helix Bridge (redish light):

Karsten's newest hobby - a 3D Printer:

A homemade remote controlled car.

Karsten has also printed whistles, snakes, vases and various other items. Tupperware, here we come!!


July ended with our flight to Australia for a two week 'holiday', we flew with Scoot Airline, a budget airline off Singapore Airlines. It was a pleasant night flight and Sophie travelled well ;-)  Arriving at the Gold Coast Airport early in the morning we were looking for a taxi. Interestingly the taxis there drive passengers, who want to go somewhere in Brisbane, to the CBD and then the Brisbane taxis take over. We went straight home, which is more direct than going through the city  ;-)





 

A photo gallery of June

This time we have uploaded a few pictures and their captions:

 Katrin and Esther had a girls' night out at a nearby Italian restaurant drinking mocktails.

 Some children's idea of "play with Sophie" = dumping the content of her toy box on her.

 Esther's version of fruit salad. 

 Two cheeky ones!

 Sophie loves to sleep with her Frogman, a stuffed toy Michael knitted with Katrin's help.

 Michael entertains Sophie.

 At school Esther had to come dressed up as a book character - any guesses who she might be?

(zO fo draziW ehT morf yhtoroD)

Sophie reads the newspaper.

 GESS celebrates the near end of the school year with a Summerfest. The children painted a flag of their home country and paraded into the court of the Main Campus. Esther made two flags ;-)
Where is Esther??

(ecaf reh rednu galf namreG a ,thgir eht to skool dan sliatgip owt sah ehs ,erutcip siht fo elddim eht ni yltcerid tsomlA)

Yannic as gargoyle.

David as gargoyle.

Noah as gargoyle.

There are no more!

Jonas and Sophie enjoying each other.

 As father as daughter ;-)

As mother as daughter ;-)

Noah and Sophie.

Isn't that a fascinating combination of black and blue?

Michael and Karsten went together to Michael's Graduation from Primary School Party. From Year 6 onwards the students attend classes at the Main Campus and belong to the Secondary School. The same evening Jonas's End of Year 10 Party took place. It was also a big event since now some students continue with the German section and finish with the German "Abitur" (similar to OP in Australia) or swap to the Euro section to finish with IB. Jonas' class teacher built his speech around the current soccer Euro championship tournament and the ABC ("A stands for ...") describing his students, it was quite funny. Esther also had an end of year celebration: Breakfast at school with the whole family on a Saturday, it was a great idea! Michael's and Jonas' events were explicitly without the siblings, which is sad, since the siblings belong to each students' family and should join in the fun (often the younger ones have to wait or go along to the older one's activities). It reflects also the common mindset that everybody has a maid, who then looks after the siblings. 

Michael's class teacher Mrs. Carroll and his best friend Mika.

Esther's class teacher Mr. Landrum, she had a good time and found a few good friends. 

In March the Secondary School had its Sports' Day ("Bundesjugendspiele"), the children all give their best at a running, jumping and throwing event, their results are translated into points and depending on the number of points one gets a participant, distinction or high distinction certificate. Jonas got a high distinction certificate. Can you spot him amongst the other high distinction recepients?

(wor pot eht ni tfel eht morf driht) 

On Sentosa Island, Palawan Beach.

Top: Yannic, Noah, David

Right: Sophie and Jonas

Bottom left: A boy and his stick

Bottom right: Sophie, unsure of the ocean

Yannic explores the flora or does the flora explores Yannic?

Karsten and Katrin waiting for lunch. We went to Azzura Beach Club, it's the first of its kind in Asia, their website states. They offer a range of hydrosports activities, have bistro-style dining and entertainment, while situated on the beach. So we sat in an alfresco style restaurant looking out onto the beach/sea. The different seating facilities (table and chairs, daybeds or lounges) were interrupted by two bubble jacuzzis and two pools.

Esther and Karsten

Michael and Jonas and a milkshake tussel

 

Both a winner?!

David, Noah, Michael and Yannic displaying their milkshake galore

"You can stand under my umbrella"

Sophie is doing her chores

Sophie is contemplating the fact that her two male cousins are both born on the same day (17.06.) this year and 5 years ago (Happy Birthday Benjamin and Mika!)! Her three female cousins (Happy birthday Sarah, Maren and Mia!) have their birthday all in the same week two weeks after the boys - who could have planed that?

Karsten in a Faraday Cage. 

We went to the Science Centre and saw the Tesla Coil Show. When they asked for volunteers to hold light tubes everybody's hand went up. Those tubes started to glow when the Tesla coil was heated up. Then they asked for volunteers to sit in this Faraday Cage and the room went silent except for one excited big kid...

The Science Centre has a water play area which is a lot of fun and educational.

So far all of Singapore's attractions have water play areas (for example the Zoo, Jurong Bird Park), but very few water bubblers...

Yannic and a purple column

Visit to Art Garden 2012 at Singapore Art Museum: 

In this installation the artists have painted the floor and columns with flower patterns. To show frailty they used chalk and the visitors walk on it thous rubbing it out off step by step. Just the painting on the columns are protected by a vinyl sheet.

There were four levels of interactive art for children, it was great. Reminded us of Lotti's Place in Ipswich, Qld.

David and his favourite column

Noah and a green column

Esther and Michael glow in the dark!

The children were in a room with a video camera installed and danced to music. Their video was later posted on this wall along with other previous recorded clips. The slot of the video clips rotated after a while. It was fun to search for them. Can you find them?

(thgir morf dnoces ,wor pot) 

Pass the Sophie 1

Pass the Sophie 2

Jonas at Changi Airport, on his way to Australia. ;-( 

He has to go back to his old school in order to be insured for the school exchange trip to Germany in October to December this year. Thanks Vicki and Grant for taking him in!!!