The last few months of 2007 somehow got away from me and now it’s already 2008…Happy New Year!
One week ago, Darrell, the boys and I returned home from a blissful holida.JPG)
y in Bali – 2 weeks spent swimming, reading, eating, watching TV and sleeping in, with a little bit of shopping and sight-seeing thrown in as well! We’ve been to Bali a number of times now and each time we go we seem to enjoy it more than the last. We came back tanned and relaxed but the reality of work and school has already set in and we are struggling to get up at 5.30am again every morning!
The 10 days before we went to Bali were spent with some very good friends of ours – Alison and Mark Borresen from my college days, and their eldest daughter, Emma, who came to stay with us in Singapore. We hadn’t seen each other for 9 years and they had never met C
aleb so there was a lot of catching up to do! The trip to Singapore was a congratulations present to Emma for successfully finishing high school, but it ended up being a present for us too as we had a wonderful time catching up and renewing our friendship.
We celebrated Christmas together: in addition to the more traditional custom of watching the boys rip open their presents in a matter of minutes (!) we also managed to squeeze in a visit to a nearby wetlands reserve, shopping in Chinatown, dinner at an open-air buffet of international cuisine and a visit to the must-see Singapore Night Safari! Alison, Mark and Emma had never been to Asia but they came with an adventurous spirit and by the time they left were eating curries and spices and tackling market place bargaining like old pros! We were able to take them across the border to Johor B
aru, Malaysia, and also across the water to Bintan, Indonesia, during their stay, so in the space of 10 days they visited 3 countries and packed a LOT into their time with us. It was a wonderful 10 days for all of us and we are hoping it’s not another 9 years before we catch up again!
Now we are looking forward to my Mum and Dad coming to Singapore for a visit in March. They haven’t been here since September 2005 so it’ll be nice to show them sights they haven’t seen yet or revisit favorite ones from their last time here. We’ll also be travelling to Phuket, Thailand, with them for 5 days during our March break which should be fun.
Since I last blogged we have already completed half a school year. Caleb is enjoying 1st grade and has a lovely best friend named Ryan who shares Caleb’s passion for dogs. Ryan is also one of my ESOL students (he is Taiwanese) so I have gotten to know him well this year too. Caleb needed to get glasses a couple of months ago - I have never seen a child more excited about the prospect than he was!
Lachlan likes 5th grade but has found the extra homework and expectations to be a little more challenging than 4th grade. Unfortunately, his best friend, Teddy, has just moved to Germany which will require some adjustments for Lachlan as he and Teddy have been very close for 18 months. He is a very adaptable kid though so I’m sure he’ll be fine. Lachlan has changed violin teachers and now learns from Mr. Goh, who lives 5 minutes from our house, and so far the arrangement is working well. Both boys have had the opportunity to perform in concerts over the past few months which has kept them both busy.
I continue to enjoy my job teaching K-2 students who are learning English as their 2nd or 3rd language. I have some very unique little personalities and my days are never boring. I also managed to finally complete my M.Ed (TESOL) at the end of October – an achievement of which I am both proud and relieved. It was definitely a worth-while endeavour to update my qualifications but I am looking forward to a study-free period now where I can focus more on Darrell and the boys rather than being holed up in the evenings and on the weekends working on assignments!
Darrell has a busy schedule of travel coming up in the next couple of months. At the end of January he is taking a group of his strings students to Bintan, Indonesia, to do a combined performance with an International School from Jakarta (JIS, for those who know it). In mid-February he is off to Belgium with students who have qualified for the annual International School Honour Orchestra, and early in March he is off to London to sit on the AMIS (Association of Music for International Schools) committee to which he was elected last year. But the news he had been anticipating most came in December when he found out he’d been accepted to upgrade from his current Masters studies to a Ph.D program.
We have added to our family: Lachlan is now the proud owner of 2 hamsters – Spike and Oat – who reside in separate cages in our family room. They are very cute and are extremely easy (and non-smelly) pets to have indoors. We still have our 2 dogs – Muffin and Cookie – whom Caleb spends lots of time with but we recently lost one of our 4 turtles when we moved them from their plastic tanks to the pond in our front yard. We’d been waiting for them to grow big enough to survive happily in the more natural surroundings but obviously one was just not ready to adapt. The surviving 3 have nearly doubled in size since the move, however, and are thriving!
We have now completed one week of our second school semester - our year is definitely off to a good start and we hope yours is too!!
One week ago, Darrell, the boys and I returned home from a blissful holida
.JPG)
y in Bali – 2 weeks spent swimming, reading, eating, watching TV and sleeping in, with a little bit of shopping and sight-seeing thrown in as well! We’ve been to Bali a number of times now and each time we go we seem to enjoy it more than the last. We came back tanned and relaxed but the reality of work and school has already set in and we are struggling to get up at 5.30am again every morning!The 10 days before we went to Bali were spent with some very good friends of ours – Alison and Mark Borresen from my college days, and their eldest daughter, Emma, who came to stay with us in Singapore. We hadn’t seen each other for 9 years and they had never met C
aleb so there was a lot of catching up to do! The trip to Singapore was a congratulations present to Emma for successfully finishing high school, but it ended up being a present for us too as we had a wonderful time catching up and renewing our friendship.We celebrated Christmas together: in addition to the more traditional custom of watching the boys rip open their presents in a matter of minutes (!) we also managed to squeeze in a visit to a nearby wetlands reserve, shopping in Chinatown, dinner at an open-air buffet of international cuisine and a visit to the must-see Singapore Night Safari! Alison, Mark and Emma had never been to Asia but they came with an adventurous spirit and by the time they left were eating curries and spices and tackling market place bargaining like old pros! We were able to take them across the border to Johor B
aru, Malaysia, and also across the water to Bintan, Indonesia, during their stay, so in the space of 10 days they visited 3 countries and packed a LOT into their time with us. It was a wonderful 10 days for all of us and we are hoping it’s not another 9 years before we catch up again!Now we are looking forward to my Mum and Dad coming to Singapore for a visit in March. They haven’t been here since September 2005 so it’ll be nice to show them sights they haven’t seen yet or revisit favorite ones from their last time here. We’ll also be travelling to Phuket, Thailand, with them for 5 days during our March break which should be fun.
Since I last blogged we have already completed half a school year. Caleb is enjoying 1st grade and has a lovely best friend named Ryan who shares Caleb’s passion for dogs. Ryan is also one of my ESOL students (he is Taiwanese) so I have gotten to know him well this year too. Caleb needed to get glasses a couple of months ago - I have never seen a child more excited about the prospect than he was!
Lachlan likes 5th grade but has found the extra homework and expectations to be a little more challenging than 4th grade. Unfortunately, his best friend, Teddy, has just moved to Germany which will require some adjustments for Lachlan as he and Teddy have been very close for 18 months. He is a very adaptable kid though so I’m sure he’ll be fine. Lachlan has changed violin teachers and now learns from Mr. Goh, who lives 5 minutes from our house, and so far the arrangement is working well. Both boys have had the opportunity to perform in concerts over the past few months which has kept them both busy.
I continue to enjoy my job teaching K-2 students who are learning English as their 2nd or 3rd language. I have some very unique little personalities and my days are never boring. I also managed to finally complete my M.Ed (TESOL) at the end of October – an achievement of which I am both proud and relieved. It was definitely a worth-while endeavour to update my qualifications but I am looking forward to a study-free period now where I can focus more on Darrell and the boys rather than being holed up in the evenings and on the weekends working on assignments!
Darrell has a busy schedule of travel coming up in the next couple of months. At the end of January he is taking a group of his strings students to Bintan, Indonesia, to do a combined performance with an International School from Jakarta (JIS, for those who know it). In mid-February he is off to Belgium with students who have qualified for the annual International School Honour Orchestra, and early in March he is off to London to sit on the AMIS (Association of Music for International Schools) committee to which he was elected last year. But the news he had been anticipating most came in December when he found out he’d been accepted to upgrade from his current Masters studies to a Ph.D program.
We have added to our family: Lachlan is now the proud owner of 2 hamsters – Spike and Oat – who reside in separate cages in our family room. They are very cute and are extremely easy (and non-smelly) pets to have indoors. We still have our 2 dogs – Muffin and Cookie – whom Caleb spends lots of time with but we recently lost one of our 4 turtles when we moved them from their plastic tanks to the pond in our front yard. We’d been waiting for them to grow big enough to survive happily in the more natural surroundings but obviously one was just not ready to adapt. The surviving 3 have nearly doubled in size since the move, however, and are thriving!
We have now completed one week of our second school semester - our year is definitely off to a good start and we hope yours is too!!
Sharon, Darrell, Lachlan and Caleb
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