Safely home from India

When Marc’s friend from college, Jeff Sladkus, got married the weekend before Thanksgiving, and we could not go, he invited us for a couple of days on his honeymoom in India. However we awoke Thanksgiving day to find Jeff’s scheduled hotel in Mumbia in flames. We were horrified. After 30 minutes of phone calls, we got confirmation that Jeff and Laura were okay – rerouted to another hotel just before reaching the Taj to check in. Relief.

A week later we met them in the state of Kerala, city of Cochin. We spend the first night exploring the backwaters of Kerala on a thatched roof houseboat. Although its appearance was traditional, it had two bedrooms with full baths. The cook made a fantastic seafood dinner, and we slept that night under a mosquito net!



Nights two through four were spent in Cochin where we toured the old city, including a Synagogue built in 1568. In the 5th to 15th century the Jews had an independent principality ruled over by Jewish royalty - a smaller version of Palestine. Eventually the Jews dispersed, and there are only 13 residents left. It was so interesting to walk the streets of India seeing the star of David etched into buildings, molded in wrought iron fences, and street signs in Hebrew.

Elie's 5th Birthday

For Elie's 5th birthday, we had a My Little Pony party downstairs at the pool. She decorated the cake herself with her favorite ponies, and said it was her favorite party so far!

The Lantern Festival

The Moon-Cake Lantern Festival in September is a celebration of prosperity and togetherness, at a time when the moon is at its fullest and brightest. During the Festival, we marched in the annual Lantern Parade! Hundreds of people gathered in an open field just outside of Chinatown. It was a magical feeling – a dark night, but everyone’s lantern illuminating their face. A giant dancing dragon (5 men underneath) led the parade, and all of the kids marched right behind it. There were stilt walkers, fireworks and all sorts of performers.



The following night the American Club had a party and we sampled the Mooncakes. They look like a round petit four, but they aren’t sweet. There were games and music, and Nathan volunteered for the Hula Hoop competition.

Eli's Purple Cast

Dancing to Hannah Montana in the playroom with Nathan, Elie fell down backwards and fractured her arm just above the elbow. We loaded her in a bundle of blankets into the cab and whisked her off to A&E (Accident & Emergency). The doctors were kind and took her X-rays while she sniffled, and around midnight she finally left with a brand new purple cast. Three weeks without swimming. What in the world would we do? Her teacher reported that her popularity grew.
Attached are pictures of Dr. Kok-Poh taking off the cast. He was incredible, brilliantly convincing her to let him run that huge saw up and down her arm, creating a cloud of fiberglass dust all over the two of them.

A New School

Just weeks before the fall term, I got a call from the Overseas Family School – Elie and Nathan had gotten in. We put them on the wait list way back in January, and I promptly forgot, assuming there would never be spots available. But there are . . . Elie and Nathan are now at a big international school. Now they wear uniforms. Now they ride in the tour sized bus to school instead of the mini-van. They want to go down the elevator and wait for the bus alone. I drop them off for playdates and don’t need to stay. Nathan even pees standing up. There are no babies in our family anymore. Everything feels just a little bit different. Time waits for no one – not even the reluctant mother.

Bali, Indonesia

While Marc's parents visited for three weeks, we spent 5 nights in Bali, Indonesia. It was the most gorgeous place I have seen - an island bigger than Singapore - with magnificent beaches and lush mountains. The economy is largely agriculture-based, the biggest being rice. The rice fields were beautiful.

We visited Turtle Island, just a grouping of ramshackle buildings, with an incredible showing of animals. Jane swam with turtles ranging between 50 and 75 years old, averaging 4 feet in diameter. Marc, as seen here, toured wearing a giant python around his neck. Unlike the states, no one worries about liability, so they were willing to let us swim with and hold onto any animal we wanted!


We walked each day just enjoying the scenery and flowers at the resort. I thought to myself, we rake leaves each year in the fall. Here, the groundsmen just rake petals and blossoms that fall from the blooming trees.

Our favorite pool was an infinity pool which dropped off into another pool. The kids jumped off hundreds of times. Here, Nathan is caught mid-air!


Marc and Jane celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary with a day at the pool!

The resort had an 18 hole miniature golf course, each hole about 30 yards long. The kids thought it was great and played almost all 18 holes.

Each night, we bathed the kids, ordered them room service, snuggled them up with a movie, and then the babysitter arrived. They were completely happy - and so were we! We left the resort each night to explore the island and local restaurants.

It was a fantastic vacation, and we feel lucky to be over here to experience such a beautiful place. Thanks Jack and Sheila!

Riding the School Bus

The very best part of the day for me is waiting for the school bus in the afternoon. Elie and Nathan jump off, arms loaded with backpacks and artwork and snacks, enthusiastically shouting about whatever was going on that day. I think the bus may be the best part of their day, too. Elie told me the other day that all of the "dirty stuff" happens on the bus. When asked what she meant she responded, "lots of talk about potty, diapers, poop and bottoms." Wow. That's about all I can say - Wow.

Nathan's Belated Birthday Party

I finally got around to throwing Nathan's 3rd birthday party - in July! Things weren't the same without Lynn there to create a masterpiece of a cake, but three cake mixes later I had created Lightening McQueen, the star of Nathan's favorite movie. In the picture at left, see Elie watching behind Marc's arm? Here is a video of the big candle moment.

Our First Singapore Wedding

Nathan's teacher, Miss Agnes, got married this weekend, and we felt honored to be invited. We sat with the rest of the class in the back, and waited anxiously. When the doors opened and she started down the aisle, everyone not only stood up, but clapped and cheered loudly. Nathan was standing on the pew hanging out into the aisle clapping like crazy! The "most beautiful dress I've ever seen", said Elie. After the ceremoney high tea was held outside and next to the church.

We learned a few things about etiquette for a Chinese wedding. You're not supposed to wear black or white - bad luck. Bright colors and reds are best. Typically no one buys gifts. Instead, all cash, in a red envelope, you present at the reception. Regarding how much - number eight is lucky, but no fours!

Daddy's Day

Last Saturday night, Eli & I went to the "Father-Daughter" dance at the American Club with Tony & his 3 year-old Amelia (friends from Australia). Tony and I work together at Dell and our families have gone out many times since our arrival. The four of us dressed up in our party clothes (Eli painted her nails and did her hair) and took a cab together.

We danced, played games and danced more. The club served a bunch of kids food and they had an emcee which really made things fun. As a dad, it was a night to remember...being able to take your daughter out dancing till late and you could see how much fun she had!

Elie's Dance Recital

We spent last Saturday afternoon at Elie's dance recital, hosted at the infamous Raffles Hotel. She was fantastic, dancing in Act I as a bear and Act II as a butterfly.

Hoi An, Vietnam

I was thrilled that we were going to Vietnam. But I had to laugh as I heard myself telling people we were going to Vietnam for the weekend.

We arrived at Danang International Airport after a 2 1/2 flight from Singapore. Airport a bit dingy, but customs was a breeze. In advance, we obtained Visas from the Embassy located in Singapore. A 30 min. bus ride, passing China Beach (Outpost during the war), to the Victoria - Hoi An, our hotel (pic.).

Our first day in Hoi An, we hired "Cyclones" - two persons riding, on guy bicycling - and a guide to show us the city. A highlight was the Japanese Bridge - one of the oldest in Hoi An. It was originally built around 1600 by Japanese traders who also created a Japanese quarter on one side of the bridge - a place to stay when traveling here. The bridge was later restored and maintained by the Chinese who settled Hoi An and lived on the other side of the bridge. We visited a House of Commerce where the kids learned how to play dominoes. There was an adorable puppy at the house that would not leave Nathan's side. He was following him so closely that he even knocked Nathan down! Hilarious.

The second day we drove an hour to My Son ("Mee Son"), the site of ruins from the ancient Cham civilization of Vietnam. It is a good showing of Hindu architecture in the 4th century and has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Unfortunately, the site was heavily bombed during the war as US intelligence believed the Viet Cong were hiding among the ruins. Bombing was stopped in 1969 after strong public protest. We saw shell craters created by the bombs. The kids were really patient on a really hot day. Nathan, newly potty trained, bravely turned to nature when he had to go, as the Hindu did not build in a public toilet. My only concern is that Elie may have left an empty pretzel bag somewhere in one of the inside chambers.

Marc took the following video of the down while riding on the cyclone. It is a bit bumpy but worth having a look:

We had great babysitting and a "Kids Club" at the hotel. We put the kids to bed each night and got to explore the town and have a more "adventuresome" dinner. In the afternoons during nap, Marc and I rode bikes back to town to have lunch and shop.

Elie Learns to Swim

After a couple of months of swim lessons, Elie has promoted to the next class level. Here is just a little showing of what she can do!

Marc's Business Trip to China

I had a major milestone this week when I took my first trip to China (Shanghai). From a professional point of view, the opportunity to learn and work ‘on the ground’ (versus the Wall Street Journal) and to help Dell crack the Chinese market by spending time with our teams is one of the most important things I want to get out of the next couple of years. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about going on a business trip since perhaps my first trip fresh out of college to Chicago when I worked for Bain & Co (someone besides my parents paid for me to get on a plane and travel!>!>!)

I SAW VERY FEW SIGNS OF COMMUNISM IN CHINA – they are hopping with the latest cars, cell phones and capitalist aggression that you’d see in a New York stock pit. If India (Bangalore, Dehli, Mumbai, Hyderabad) is a Motel 6, then Shanghai is the Ritz. When you get out onto the street, there are the vendors selling knock offs like you might hear about (I bought some $4 Tiffany cuff links and some $1 toys for the kids – no, Jane doesn’t need more purses – my mom takes care of that in San Antonio). You can buy CDs, DVDs, etc all for ~$2 and all the cigarettes and Olympics items you’d ever need.


The city is massive – the tallest buildings in the world for miles and miles (30M people live there). It isn’t like there is a downtown, it’s just massive and tall everywhere, but not in a depressing way like I expected (“Ants Marching” as Dave Matthews might say), just a Chicago type downtown for as far as you can image. One afternoon I walked home from the Dell office to the hotel with Rudy (a colleague in Singapore from Indonesia) and Gavin (a Shanghai employee who is originally from California but has decided to move back to his parent’s native land). You can see them on this video in he beginning on the sidewalk.

Another fun part that I took some picture of was the stop in Hong Kong. Jane and I flew though HK when we came over, but it was always at odd times. Flying onto to the island during the day was a beautiful sight as the airport is surrounded by mountains. The airport itself has incredible shopping and the business lounge has an incredible restaurant and supply of beer.

Overall a great trip and I hope to go back soon if work requires it.

Elie Meets Cinderella

Today the American Club hosted its annual "Princess Party". Elie arrived dressed in her best princess outfit, high heels and jewelry. Trumpets sounded and the party room doors flew open to reveal a long red carpet leading to a giant painted styrofoam castle! After another loud trumpet blast, all six princess's arrived - beautifully floating down the red carpet! Dancing, crafts, a chocolate fountain, and even a manicure station. Definitely, the best day of Elie's life thus far. In her picture with Cinderella, note that her nails are not yet dry from her manicure!

Passover in Singapore

We were VERY late this year in considering what to do for Passover. After a laborious search for Temple contacts, I was led to the chair of the family seder, Katie Valentine. I begged for a last minute reservation for dinner, and she later told me that we received the very last four seats. Relief! She also invited us for a pre-Seder playdate with her two sons - 3 and 5. They had awesome Australian toys, and Elie ate her first meringue. It was so yummy that she politely informed Katie she would like to take one to her "little brother who was home sick". That meringue didn't even make it out of the cab.

We were anticipating a beautiful night as a family until Nathan came down with an ear infection, and Elie fell asleep on the couch 1/2 hour before we were supposed to leave for dinner. Marc and I looked at each other wondering what to do and then jumped into a cab. Date night. . . or so we thought.

The Reform congregation does not have a Temple (hence no temple contact numbers) so dinner was served at the American Club, and the Rabbi was imported from Melbourne. No real differences from home except that half the people there were Asian. Now that is something I didn't expect! Volunteers read the four questions in eight different languages including Yiddish. The family we were randomly seated with is from Austin and friends with Mimi and Marc Spier.

The highlight of the night came half-way through dinner when our babysitter called. Elie and Nathan were howling in the background because we left without them. Date night over - Helen brought them over and dropped them for the second half of dinner. Attached is a picture of Elie beating the drum to "Diaynu".

Playing Before School

Sorry it's been so long...I've been very busy at work for the past two weeks. Here are the kids at 7:30 AM this morning playing in their room after they awoke.

East Coast Biking

This weekend we took a cab to East Coast park. It is huge, with trails for biking, skating, walking or just laying by the ocean. It's a lot like Town Lake in Austin, just hotter and a view of the ocean and the cargo boats.

We were planning to rent a bike for Elie to begin learning, but as always Nathan wants to do everything Elie does! And so, for $6 each, we rented two 12" bikes and set out on the bike path. Although tentative at first, quickly they were getting it. They found a particularly treacherous hill and cruised up and down for the majority of the hour.

Afterwards we walked to a newly opened Indian restaurant. It was a huge and delicious, with a big cooktop in the middle of the table where they cooked skewers of meat. By the time we left, it was raining really hard - perfect weather for to get home, snuggle in and take a nap.

Phuket Phling

Well we thought we just loved Thailand for giving us pad thai (Thai Orchid in Dallas) and green curry chicken (Singha Thai in Chicago on Clark), but it's now passion at a whole new level. We just spent four days in Phuket and had a blast as a family. We booked travel on SilkAir (Singapore Air's discount airline) and arrived at the airport for our 9AM flight on the weekend with excitement!

We booked the trip with only a week's notice so we didn't know what to expect. I had used Trip Advisor for recommendations when we went to Portugal last year and relied on it for much of what we did here as well. We stayed at the Hilton Resort and from check-in (they gave Eli a teddy bear and us fruit drinks) to the shuttle drop off at the airport, we were pampered. We had a room on the top floor with beautiful views (Nathan enjoyed the feeling of freedom it gave us).

We spent mornings at the pool with a long, fast water slide for kids as well as the beach with crystal clear ocean water (not exactly the Gulf of Mexico). Eli must have slid on the that slide 30 times a day, her highlight of the trip. In the afternoons Jane and the kids took naps and I usually relaxed in the business lounge (JW Black and Chivas for free) and read. Nathan awoke early a couple of days and they served him large chocolate drinks which he could finish with one straw suck! In the early evening we went to the 'Kids Club' to play and feed the kids dinner.

EVENINGS

Each night we had a baby sitter (the hotel arranged the same woman for us each night - fees were $5 per hour for two kids) she popped in a child's DVD that the hotel provided. Jane and I took a 'tuk tuk' (open air taxi, you better hold on) and explored different areas of Phuket (local dinners, $8 hour-long Thai massages, Jane = $3 pedicure, $12 wax). The kids were always sound asleep when we came in as they had played in the sun the entire day.

CORAL ISLAND

My favorite day was when we went to the bay and rented a boat to take us to an island for an afternoon to swim and eat. It was a beautiful, wet ride and seeing nearly empty islands spotting the sea was just incredible. We had Singha to drink and fresh fish for lunch and spent the day swimming and collecting sea shells.

Not sure if we'll make it back to Phuket, Thailand again, but we are already looking for our next long weekend.

Last night we went to a family dinner at Brewerkz with the Windevers. The restuarant is a microbrew on Clark Quay (15 min walk from our house onthe SIN river) that gets packed like the SA River walk or 6th Street. We went for an early dinner with the families and Nathan and Amelia (Windever's 3 year old daughter in pink here) found a fountain and before we knew it were soaked. You can see Tony and Jane taking pictures and Kylie, Campbell (their 1 year old son) and I staying far away!

Picnic Video

Jane's father bought an RCW pocket video recorded which we are messing around with and we are posting this to see how it works/looks. We had a picnic last weekend at the Botanical Gardens and filmed this quickly.

Today is 'Good Friday' which is an official government holiday so I'm at home relaxing. I went running this morning (trying to find the right route, not sure it'll compare to Town Lake in Austin, but working on it) and am hanging out with Eli. Jane and Nathan went grocery shopping - she is teaching Helen how to cook Western food. Helen is out buying a bathing suit so she can start to go with the kids and I (and eventually take them swimming by herself at the American Club or downstairs if things go well). It was odd, she knows how to swim, but doesn't own a suit...we'll see :)

We booked a trip to Phuket, Thailand and we can't wait! We leave Sunday AM and get back Wed afternoon - 3 nights at the Hilton:

http://www.agoda.com/asia/thailand/phuket/hilton_phuket_arcadia_resort_and_spa.html

Talk to you soon!

Back to Relaxing

After a couple of weeks of business, the family is basically back to normal. My brilliant wife was smart enough to bring the kids plasma cars and hook up the TVs when we moved in so she could concentrate on getting the place in order.

We had a couple of birthday's last week (Nathan and Jane) and celebrated at a friend's house (Kathleen from Atlanta / Wayne from Papa New Guinea) with a couple families. Jane's close friend from SMU, Allison, is an incredible cook (used to have her own bakery in Germany) and baked cupcakes and a cake. She and her husband have been so generous with their time and friendship that we just feel so lucky to have connected.

The kids are really enjoying their school, especially taking the bus. The teachers have a little diary they write in every few days and send home so you can read an update. It is a change from when we Jane did the drop off/pick up as there were frequent in-person interactions.

Now updates are through a journal that is kept for each child and calls over the phone. Here are the kids when they left this morning for the bus - Eli loves her Spurs dress and there won't be many more opportunities for her to wear it as she is growing out of it. I don't want my daughter walking around wearing those revealing clothes! Speaking of...I follow the Spurs at work on ESPN.com as the games update real-time on the internet while I'm at work. I really miss going to the games with my dad...trade offs.

Back to the kids...one of the things we found out from school is that Nathan started going potty on the potty. We've been working on it for a couple of weeks and he is doing pretty well - 1 Skittle for going #1 and 2 Skittles for going #2. You can see how much he is enjoying it.

Everyone is settling in to our new accommodations. We love the central location. I walk home from work a couple of times a week - it's a $5 cab ride to the American Club (our second home) - we walk to the grocery store (the same distance from our house on Mesa to the Randall's). The furniture Jane ordered is starting to come in and everything I've seen is beautiful. She ordered a bunk bed for the kids from IKEA and that came tonight. It was a surprise and they saw it when they came home from Eli's ballet. Kathleen from Atlanta owns the ballet studio and it's great that Jane gets to see her a couple of times a week as well.

The biggest edition to our home however is our fifth family member, Helen! She is 29 years old from the Philippines and has lived in Singapore for the past 4 years. She moved in a few days ago and has already transformed our lifestyle with her cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, etc. Jane and I are able to spend so much more time with the kids before and after school as well as with each other at night. She has Sunday off from noon - 7PM each week and I think we'll miss her just in that short amount of time.

Now that we are in more of a routine, we have time to write and talk to all our friends and family who we miss dearly. I couple of house keeping items:

Jane Cell = (65) 9337 3798 (she learned how to text, so ping her)
Marc Cell = (65) 9337 3433 (I'm shutting off my US phone next week, so this and home are the numbers to call me on).

To dial "011 65 9337 ____". To text, type "+659337____"

We already booked our trip home to the US in Dec/Jan for ~30 days (Chicago, Indianapolis, San Antonio & Austin)!!! We had to do it far in advance to get business class tickets using AA miles (now we are officially out of miles as it cost us 440,000, but well worth it). We have started the internet search for our first trip here - likely a 3 night vacation to Thailand. It is moderately priced $200 per plane ticket and $200/night for a hotel for the 4 of us - we just need to finalize and pull the trigger.

Please call us at home and we'll talk to you soon!

We're Still Here

We have been in the middle of our second move, from Great World City, to our permanent residence at Leonie Tower (15th floor).

http://www.homecrawler.com.sg/condo/name/Leonie_Tower.html

It has been a bit crazy with repacking, moving and now unpacking. The things we've been working on are:
1) picking temporary furniture (our place is totally empty except the 8 suitcase we brought and our air shipment, so we have a few pieces of furniture now)
2) picking permanent furniture (our sea shipment will arrive in ~15 days and we are also ordering some things here...mostly living room stuff as it is large and our stuff from home wasn't big enough)
3) choosing a maid - interviews done, paperwork signed, she should move in next Thursday
4) more electrical issues - it took us 2 hours to figure out how to get hot water. I have burned out 2 phones and my favorite atomic alarm clock from Austin. ARG!!!
5) Hooking up the computer - got the home desktop from the seashipment and phone up and running (have I said how incredible Vonage is). NO MORE EXCUSES FOR JANE NOT WRITING OR POSTING ANYMORE!!!
6) Buying and hooking up DVD player for kids playroom (~$70 US) and stereo/DVD combo for living room (~$270).

We realize we had a honeymoon at Great World City and now we are back in the trenches for anouther week until the maid arrives and we get another pair of hands.

Talk to you soon!

Water Adventures

I was talking to my friend Jeff Sladkus this morning and he was laughing because when he told me every time he looks at the weather in Singapore online, it is always 87 degrees with chance of thunderstorms. He is right...Singapore is ~70 miles from the equator so the temperature does not really vary day-to-day or month-to-month - IT IS ALWAYS SUMMER.

When I get home from work, Jane and the kids are often coming up from the pool and we go swimming as a family Saturday and Sunday. Here are pictures from a few places we've been and I think we've only scratched the surface. The closest watering hole is the pool at Great World City, our temporary housing, and you can see Eli & Nathan in their floaties and a yellow tube. It is a great place to meet people from around the world who are also moving to Singapore and are all at the same stage. We had dinner on Friday with a couple originally from Houston (husband designs deep water oil platforms for Shell) and have plans with a couple from New Jersey next Friday. The pool has a reasonably priced snack bar with typical American food [burger, fries, club sandwich, pint of beer, etc.] that we enjoy.

We've ventured out to a couple of other places last Sunday and this Sunday. Last weekend we went to Sentosa Island and found a great restaurant on the beach. You can see us eating pizza and pasta together at "Trapizza" [there is a circus trapeze setup where you can pay and swing from one bar to the next] which is part of the Shangri-la Hotel Resort. Jane and I relaxed at the table while the kids played in the sand. We watched the sunset and saw fireworks in the distance. We had an incredible time seeing the kids chase each other around and remembered the great beach trips we had taken with our family to South Padre Island and Cabo.

http://www.shangri-la.com.hk/en/property/singapore/rasasentosaresort/dining/restaurant/trapizza

This morning we took a taxi to the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden at the Singapore Botanic Gardens - it is a specialized garden dedicated to children. You can see a picture of Nathan and Eli in their swimsuits with water shooting up from the ground. Developed along the theme "All Life On Earth Depends on Plants", it is created as a unique and interactive fun place where children discover how plants provide their daily needs. Jane packed a great snack lunch for us and we played together and ate before coming back and taking naps.

http://www.sbg.org.sg/bukittimahcore/images/map.jpg

Although we are members of the Singapore American Club, we have not yet been to their pool, but it may be the best of all - they have a permanent 'moon walk' type float that kids jump on. It is about a $5 cab ride from our apartment and we really should be going there considering we're paying for it! It's another hot day here and the kids are just up from their nap, so off we go...

Our next big event is our move into our apartment first week of March!