We’re on a roll for rainy Saturdays … plans of beach going and pool staying go the wayside and we wonder, what will we do? To escape the 1000 square foot house in the sky, we do what all Singaporeans do – head to the mall!  Mama believes that only one quarter of the malls in Singapore will be visited by the time our six months is up. That being said we try to hit a new one each week. Last weekend was VivoCity.  This week was Plaza Singapura. A vertical mall – its stores, rather than sprawling, are stacked. Our favorite part of the day was finding the Japanese $2 store, Daiso full of kitsch and bustle. Mama couldn’t leave without some goodies. And, it takes a mall on a Saturday to make you feel like you’re in a city of 5.3 million people.

 

 

 

There is a definite focus on appearance in Singapore – so the “get slim” tricks and treatments can be found everywhere. Here the kiddos take a turn on the “Aibi” – aimed at stabilizing yourself fit (we think). Mama finds them fun and relaxing, but she doesn’t think it will fit in our suitcase.

 

 

The highlight of the week was attending Maggie Lou’s “student led conference.” An empowering approach to showing us her progress in the classroom, the students are asked to outline (and rehearse) areas in class to  engage their parents in – we spent a half hour immersed in kindergarten! We learned about math, their current inquiry about art, the mixing of different materials and her challenges and successes in Mandarin. Hats off to all the students of Singapore – it seems a tricky language to learn!

 

 Michael and colleague, Suddha (from home office in Boston) enjoyed black pepper crab on Boat Quay one night. It was so good that the family went back to the same restaurant for more black pepper crab … we may have a family favorite!

A few things you probably won’t see in NH:

Lastly, as we get ready for Easter in Singapore, we are grateful for all the cards and goodies that came our way. We are missing our church community and children’s choir this time of year, but have been talking about what Easter means and singing Easter songs. To get us in the mood we sculpted our own Easter decorations from the playdough Maggie Lou and mama made and we shared some of our goodies with neighbor, Brent. He had never seen a Peep before!