Nothing quite went as planned or hoped
Not able to truly focus on Christmas until yesterday
Sickness of different kinds in the house
Delaying birthday celebrations for Dad
Putting on hold regular household routines
Throwing out all but the essentials
Even the special church lunch
And the evening supper team celebrations
So very muted and only half attended
So Christmas break begins today for us
We're done the intense week
Energy and life is slowly returning after sickness
The wall is full of our advent musings
O Come, O come Emmanuel
This morning a market breakfast for all
Chicken porridge, chicken rice, koey teow soup, roti and dahl
Sesame balls, ice lime or milo drinks
Groceries bought for the week
The fridge stuffed with extras
This afternoon was planned a swim or a trip to the small water playground
But instead we stay home for a game of Catan
And Dad finally gets his birthday gifts
An attempt at homemade eggnog
(that tasted good, but nothing like eggnog!)
And evening full of last minute jobs
Preparing for church and beach day Christmas
Finishing present projects
Sleeping off final sickness (we hope)
Monday, December 24, 2018
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Morning Meditation
This morning, Lord
Feeling the fight
Struggling with depression
Let me see the great cloud of witnesses
Eager to see my story's play
Bated breath ready to cheer
Glory to God at victories
Warm words of encouragement
Parakaleo
Infusing me with hope
Feeding faith
Strengthening weak knees
Giving energy to throw off
Everything that entangles and hinders
Opening my eyes to see entangling sin
So I can ask Jesus to remove it
Then unencumbered
Lord, let me run
This race you've laid out for me
Whether I like it or not
Not the way I would choose
This dark, rocky, twisty way through evil
And yet, Let me fix my eyes on Jesus
Who quickened my faith to life
Who will finish what he started in me
Open my eyes to see you
Let me understand, remember
The horrors you endured for me
By the joy set before you
So, so worth it that
The shame you scorned
Let me contemplate
What joy you've set before me
The measure of my cross
Can I scorn my shame also?
Remember I am seated with you in the heavenlies
In triumph and victory?
And in this way
Not grow weary
Not loose heart
To truly know
The path of pain is hallowed
For your love has made it sweet.
Heb. 12:1-3
Feeling the fight
Struggling with depression
Let me see the great cloud of witnesses
Eager to see my story's play
Bated breath ready to cheer
Glory to God at victories
Warm words of encouragement
Parakaleo
Infusing me with hope
Feeding faith
Strengthening weak knees
Giving energy to throw off
Everything that entangles and hinders
Opening my eyes to see entangling sin
So I can ask Jesus to remove it
Then unencumbered
Lord, let me run
This race you've laid out for me
Whether I like it or not
Not the way I would choose
This dark, rocky, twisty way through evil
And yet, Let me fix my eyes on Jesus
Who quickened my faith to life
Who will finish what he started in me
Open my eyes to see you
Let me understand, remember
The horrors you endured for me
By the joy set before you
So, so worth it that
The shame you scorned
Let me contemplate
What joy you've set before me
The measure of my cross
Can I scorn my shame also?
Remember I am seated with you in the heavenlies
In triumph and victory?
And in this way
Not grow weary
Not loose heart
To truly know
The path of pain is hallowed
For your love has made it sweet.
Heb. 12:1-3
Monday, November 19, 2018
Prodigal Pet Plus
Batik
A week ago we were invited to go to the local batik factory and try our hand at making our own batik squares with some friends. Grace and Jasmin sent in their own designs, which the workers outlined with melted wax for us. We then enjoyed an hour or so of experimenting and painting with dyes on our cloths.
Conference
Last week we attended a conference together as a family. It was a bit of a long way for us - a whole day of travel, with many modes of transportation. We went by taxi, ferry, train, car, plane, taxi! It was well worth the travel though, to spend the week getting to know all the workers in our organization and hearing about all that God is doing in, through, and around them. The kids enjoyed hanging out with a bunch of new friends in a kid's program, complete with lots of crafts for our creative girls and games for our bouncy boy. It wasn't so much of a refreshing week, though, as the schedule was a pretty full daily 8-6! Still, there was plenty of space for prayer with a prayer corner and a few times of prayer stations and reflections.
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| Jasmin was bored during our long travels so decorating odd photos! |
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| Sunrise from the train |
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| prayer corner |
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| lunchtime free play |
Turtle Return
Just before we left for conference, one of our turtles escaped - right out of the house and we couldn't find her in the time we had. But, a day after we returned, a neighbour showed up at our door calling for Aiden and handed him a bucket with our turtle in it! As Aiden answered the door, we don't know the whole story, but the unexpected return of a mourned turtle had us laughing with delight and praising God.
Friday, November 02, 2018
Pet Peculiars
We have fun discovering our turtles' antics....
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| turtle pilates? |
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| Undaunted by the impossible |
And not caught on camera were the times one got his head stuck in another's shell trying to nip a flipper, how they climb on top of each other to sun themselves or use each other as stepping stones to get up the step into the house.
Sunday, October 28, 2018
Fun Biking Home
On our way home from church yesterday, Jasmin composed a seasonal poem with mom...
January snows
February blows
Make March mad
April showers
May flowers
Bring June lazy days
July sun
August fun
Make September to remember
October leaves
November freeze
Leave December asleep in snow
Then we attempted to make on for Penang. It proved a much greater challenge with so little weather variation!
January, February, March
Is very much parched
April, May, June
Maybe a monsoon
July, August, September
Definitely rain - remember!
October, November, December
Weather with cooler temper
January snows
February blows
Make March mad
April showers
May flowers
Bring June lazy days
July sun
August fun
Make September to remember
October leaves
November freeze
Leave December asleep in snow
Then we attempted to make on for Penang. It proved a much greater challenge with so little weather variation!
January, February, March
Is very much parched
April, May, June
Maybe a monsoon
July, August, September
Definitely rain - remember!
October, November, December
Weather with cooler temper
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Life's Like That
Odds and Ends from the last month or so...
Unpredictable Science
Mom brought out a molecule building set for science class, but like all learning manipulatives, it first became a toy...
Pet Problems
Jasmin's sugar glider escaped :o( In a hurry one evening, a cage door latch got left undone, and when we got home the door was open and cage was empty. We tried again with a hamster - which promptly escaped :o( And again with robo hamsters - one of which escaped :o( At this point we understood the cages we had were unreliable - mysteriously as we never did figure out how the hamster got out. We bought some big plastic containers for a substitute cage. And Jasmin promptly cut her finger open cutting a hole for a tunnel. She's told that story already. The end of that story is that despite our super careful care, the glue didn't hold and the wound edges had pulled apart. But since we didn't discover this until a week after, it was too late to get stitches. But, a super long afternoon swim softened the wound edges so we could get them back together and the final scar is acceptably insignificant. Not as clean as mom's, but nothing messy either. As for hamsters, we do still have two robo hamsters!
The Table on the Wall and Chinese Characters
In Canada before we left, Aiden was all about astronomy, learning and spouting space facts. When we first arrived, he left aside astronomy and was pretty intensely learning world geography on his own initiative, kick started by the world puzzle he did over and over again. Then we started Chinese classes. Once he got over the shock of learning this strange language, he's dug in and is voraciously learning - copying out his workbook on his own, snagging anyone who will listen to "teach" them what he knows, and demanding to be tested for what he knows. When the periodic table came up in the science course we're doing this year, Mom thought perhaps this would take his fancy and give us a break from Chinese... so we printed out flash cards and made a periodic table of the elements on the wall. You'd think we'd just given him a roomful of Lego, he was so excited. A few things didn't work though: we're missing some elements (and we get to hear this complaint over and over cuz it's on the wall reminding him!), we ran out of sticky tack so they keep falling down; and now it's on the wall, it doesn't hold a candle to the attraction Chinese has on Aiden.
Lego in the Living room
Aiden started saving found change to by a lego kit. Mom was puzzled as he rarely played with Lego... but a hunch had us move the lego box into the living room under the coffee table. Now? We have constant Lego play -- all over the house :o)
Tiresome Tires
Dad was gone away. His back bike tire was flat. The 3rd one in the last 5 months! And we need his bike because it has the seat on the back for taking Aiden places. Rather than wrestle with the hassle of getting the bike to the bike store to get fixed, Mom decided to fix it herself. Only she couldn't get the wheel nut to loosen to get the wheel off the bike to change the tube - we didn't have the right wrench. She wanted to then try patch it, but couldn't find the hole. With prayer, she put it back together and pumped it up. And it held. And is still holding, as if it never did have a hole. Sweet! Thank you Lord Jesus.
And then, this week, Grace had a flat tire. Again mom couldn't find the hole, but this time, pumping it up didn't fix it - it was flat again in the morning. Thankfully, though, it was a front tire and Mom could get it off to replace the inner tube. We'll go through inner tubes pretty quickly here, it seems. The total number of flats among our 5 bikes in 5 months: 10!!!
Local Lunch
A "let's go out for coffee sometime" suggestion by a new friend turned into an afternoon of exploring one of the lesser known local tourist sites and a very late lunch of nasi lemak - a signature meal of Penang.
Truant Turtles
One day, the kids discovered the one of our turtles wasn't on the balcony where they usually spend the day. They scoured the apartment, but didn't find her. So they started looking out in the hall. They were approached by a stranger asking, "Is this your turtle?" - and it was! He told the story of walking down his hall (one floor below us) and hearing something bouncing down the stairs. He turned around saw one of our turtles! In the one hour the kids were out, this turtle had found its way off the balcony (up a step), through our apartment, out into the hall (down a step and through a metal grid gate), about 100 meters to the staircase, and, for what ever reason, attempted to go down! We've had no more escapees manage to get that far, but our three turtles are attempting to leave the balcony more regularly now. Apparently, our balcony is no longer interesting enough?
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| Microphone Stand |
Mom brought out a molecule building set for science class, but like all learning manipulatives, it first became a toy...
Pet Problems
Jasmin's sugar glider escaped :o( In a hurry one evening, a cage door latch got left undone, and when we got home the door was open and cage was empty. We tried again with a hamster - which promptly escaped :o( And again with robo hamsters - one of which escaped :o( At this point we understood the cages we had were unreliable - mysteriously as we never did figure out how the hamster got out. We bought some big plastic containers for a substitute cage. And Jasmin promptly cut her finger open cutting a hole for a tunnel. She's told that story already. The end of that story is that despite our super careful care, the glue didn't hold and the wound edges had pulled apart. But since we didn't discover this until a week after, it was too late to get stitches. But, a super long afternoon swim softened the wound edges so we could get them back together and the final scar is acceptably insignificant. Not as clean as mom's, but nothing messy either. As for hamsters, we do still have two robo hamsters!The Table on the Wall and Chinese Characters
In Canada before we left, Aiden was all about astronomy, learning and spouting space facts. When we first arrived, he left aside astronomy and was pretty intensely learning world geography on his own initiative, kick started by the world puzzle he did over and over again. Then we started Chinese classes. Once he got over the shock of learning this strange language, he's dug in and is voraciously learning - copying out his workbook on his own, snagging anyone who will listen to "teach" them what he knows, and demanding to be tested for what he knows. When the periodic table came up in the science course we're doing this year, Mom thought perhaps this would take his fancy and give us a break from Chinese... so we printed out flash cards and made a periodic table of the elements on the wall. You'd think we'd just given him a roomful of Lego, he was so excited. A few things didn't work though: we're missing some elements (and we get to hear this complaint over and over cuz it's on the wall reminding him!), we ran out of sticky tack so they keep falling down; and now it's on the wall, it doesn't hold a candle to the attraction Chinese has on Aiden.
Lego in the Living room
Aiden started saving found change to by a lego kit. Mom was puzzled as he rarely played with Lego... but a hunch had us move the lego box into the living room under the coffee table. Now? We have constant Lego play -- all over the house :o)
Tiresome Tires
Dad was gone away. His back bike tire was flat. The 3rd one in the last 5 months! And we need his bike because it has the seat on the back for taking Aiden places. Rather than wrestle with the hassle of getting the bike to the bike store to get fixed, Mom decided to fix it herself. Only she couldn't get the wheel nut to loosen to get the wheel off the bike to change the tube - we didn't have the right wrench. She wanted to then try patch it, but couldn't find the hole. With prayer, she put it back together and pumped it up. And it held. And is still holding, as if it never did have a hole. Sweet! Thank you Lord Jesus.
And then, this week, Grace had a flat tire. Again mom couldn't find the hole, but this time, pumping it up didn't fix it - it was flat again in the morning. Thankfully, though, it was a front tire and Mom could get it off to replace the inner tube. We'll go through inner tubes pretty quickly here, it seems. The total number of flats among our 5 bikes in 5 months: 10!!!
Local LunchA "let's go out for coffee sometime" suggestion by a new friend turned into an afternoon of exploring one of the lesser known local tourist sites and a very late lunch of nasi lemak - a signature meal of Penang.
Truant Turtles
One day, the kids discovered the one of our turtles wasn't on the balcony where they usually spend the day. They scoured the apartment, but didn't find her. So they started looking out in the hall. They were approached by a stranger asking, "Is this your turtle?" - and it was! He told the story of walking down his hall (one floor below us) and hearing something bouncing down the stairs. He turned around saw one of our turtles! In the one hour the kids were out, this turtle had found its way off the balcony (up a step), through our apartment, out into the hall (down a step and through a metal grid gate), about 100 meters to the staircase, and, for what ever reason, attempted to go down! We've had no more escapees manage to get that far, but our three turtles are attempting to leave the balcony more regularly now. Apparently, our balcony is no longer interesting enough?
Monday, September 24, 2018
Jasmin's adventure, by Jasmin
Guess what?
I had to go to the ER. (I'm fine now)
So the story is I was upgrading the hamsters cage and I was cutting a hole in the bottom of the plastic box with a craft knife and the knife slipped and I cut my ring finger (It didn't hurt that much) so I had some experience with cuts and new to put pressure on the cut to stop the bleeding. I ran/ walked to the bathroom and washed the cut and it didn't stop bleeding. So eventually I showed the cut to mom. She took one look and said "WE ARE GOING TO THE HOSPITAL" and that shocked me because it really didn't hurt... so then we went to the hospital but the funny thing is the Grab driver got lost! By then my finger hurt from pressing hard for a long time. Anyway, we got there and the hospital was pretty much empty because it was night time. Anyway, we found the ER. So we checked in waited for a while then a nurse called us over to a semi-closed off area, she checked my cut and wrapped up my finger then led us to corridor into a more closed of area. I sat on the bed and the nurse went off to do something. While she was gone I noticed a shelf in front of me filled with medical stuff. And the funny thing is there was a sign that read "SKIN STAPLER" -- that is the number one way to terrify your patients especially when they are expecting to get stitches! Which by chance I was. Then a different nurse came in and checked my finger (taking off the bandage) asked me how I got it, then wrapped up my finger again! He left than a different nurse looked again at my finger and left then the 2nd nurse came back and said he needs to get a doc to see if they need to get a specialist to do the stitches. He left and came back with a doctor. The doctor looked at my cut and cleaned it to get a better look. He decided to glue my finger together. I was very relieved because I did not want my finger get sewn together. He glued it, wrapped it up in a waterproof bandage and said don't straighten the finger out, and sent us home. When we got home it was 11:00pm so we went straight to bed.
I had to go to the ER. (I'm fine now)
So the story is I was upgrading the hamsters cage and I was cutting a hole in the bottom of the plastic box with a craft knife and the knife slipped and I cut my ring finger (It didn't hurt that much) so I had some experience with cuts and new to put pressure on the cut to stop the bleeding. I ran/ walked to the bathroom and washed the cut and it didn't stop bleeding. So eventually I showed the cut to mom. She took one look and said "WE ARE GOING TO THE HOSPITAL" and that shocked me because it really didn't hurt... so then we went to the hospital but the funny thing is the Grab driver got lost! By then my finger hurt from pressing hard for a long time. Anyway, we got there and the hospital was pretty much empty because it was night time. Anyway, we found the ER. So we checked in waited for a while then a nurse called us over to a semi-closed off area, she checked my cut and wrapped up my finger then led us to corridor into a more closed of area. I sat on the bed and the nurse went off to do something. While she was gone I noticed a shelf in front of me filled with medical stuff. And the funny thing is there was a sign that read "SKIN STAPLER" -- that is the number one way to terrify your patients especially when they are expecting to get stitches! Which by chance I was. Then a different nurse came in and checked my finger (taking off the bandage) asked me how I got it, then wrapped up my finger again! He left than a different nurse looked again at my finger and left then the 2nd nurse came back and said he needs to get a doc to see if they need to get a specialist to do the stitches. He left and came back with a doctor. The doctor looked at my cut and cleaned it to get a better look. He decided to glue my finger together. I was very relieved because I did not want my finger get sewn together. He glued it, wrapped it up in a waterproof bandage and said don't straighten the finger out, and sent us home. When we got home it was 11:00pm so we went straight to bed.
Saturday, September 15, 2018
A friend, some dogs, and a huge garden
Yesterday we were blessed with a special afternoon. A friend that the girls made taking Ultimate Frisbee at Dalat led to our families connecting in a special way as they have a boy Aiden's age and a girl that fits right in with ours. So they invited us to spend the day with them learning of a few places in Penang not usually discovered.
So we had lunch at a dog cafe... guess who was thrilled with that idea?! Apparently, though, we managed to get pictures at the very moment faces don't show how pleased they were! The food was really good too. If it were closer to us, we might visit more often - even Dad pretty well with asthma being in a room full of dogs.
After that, we went to the Botanical Garden. We did a simple stroll around the main path... well, the adults did. The kids must have doubled the distance with all their side tracking and doubling back!
The first thing discovered was the cannon ball trees. Aiden went bug-eyed, "Cannon balls grow on trees!!?!!"
No, but they were fun to discover: hard shelled, just-the-right-sized for smashing... But they're smelly :(
We found a lot of places we'd like to explore more fully another day, and enjoyed discovering a number of rain forest beauties big and small and tiny.
We definitely have to go back some time when we don't have to to leave for Chinese classes as there are a number of trails to explore, beautiful places to enjoys, and myriads of monkeys (so we're told - we didn't really get to see many in the middle of the afternoon).Friday, August 31, 2018
Fall Schedule has arrived...
... at least a week early and definitely before we were ready! Last week we returned from KL where we had spent an unexpected 5 days (and 2 extra bus trips) working on our visas. We were successful so now we can really get down to business on life here. This week we spent trying to catch up with all the things we were supposed to do last week but couldn't. It looked something like this:
Saturday:
Mom and Dad at an all day counselling seminar.
Grace & Jasmin off to youth group at 4, Aiden to a friend's until Mom and Dad get home.
Only, when we arrive home after they've all left, we realize we have no keys so Dad has to chase down the girls to get a key... so we get home properly around 6:30 instead of 4:30.
Sunday:
Because Jasmin's bike tires exploded yesterday (before she rode it anywhere thankfully!), we attempt to get Grab to church but there are no drivers so we scramble for rides and bikes.
Mom and Aiden get a ride and the rest bike.
Dad has a meeting after church, the girls hang out with a friend at church before coming home.
We all go to a welcome supper party for a recently arrived family. Grace's bike tire pops on the way.
Monday:
Dad goes back to work, we attempt some schoolwork, but it kind of gets lots in the mess of trying to get the household back on track.
Dad attempts to get the bikes fixed but the store isn't open on Mondays!
We go to Dalat school to register for the Distance Learning Resource Centre and discover a homeschool craft hour happening. The girls join in, Mom meets some other homeschoolers, and Aiden plays with school kids on the playground.
Tuesday:
A little bit of school work happens.
Mom works on some graphics work we picked up in KL (it's due Thursday night).
Jasmin and Dad are out most of the afternoon fixing the bikes.
We clean house extra well as we have supper guests.
Wednesday:
Market shopping morning for mom and Jasmin.
More time on the graphics job for mom.
(Thankfully the morning of in home voice and violin lessons didn't happen this week)
First after school club sessions of lego for Aiden and Ultimate frisbee for the girls.
Then on to Chinese class for Grace and Aiden.
Thursday:
Final rush to get graphics job done.
A sprinkling of school tasks.
Second after school club sessions of gymnastics for Aiden and calligraphy for Jasmin.
A make up Chinese class for Grace and Aiden (we missed one while in KL last week).
Friday:
It's a local holiday today so we took the day off -
So Mom can prepare the start of Fall schooling for next week, catch up on letter writing, blog posts, etc. and catch up on household tasks that have been languishing.
But first, Mom had breakfast with some other long term guest ladies for sharing and praying.
The kids got to go swimming instead of the usual Chinese class.
Tomorrow?
Mom and Dad have another ½ day seminar to attend.
Aiden has AWANA.
A possible make up Chinese class for the one missed today.
The girls have youth group.
Yep. Busy life has arrived! And there is also small group meetings, a possible choir commitment for Grace, and who knows what else is waiting... But it kinda feels good after so much waiting, uncertainty, and inability to commit to things.
Saturday:
Mom and Dad at an all day counselling seminar.
Grace & Jasmin off to youth group at 4, Aiden to a friend's until Mom and Dad get home.
Only, when we arrive home after they've all left, we realize we have no keys so Dad has to chase down the girls to get a key... so we get home properly around 6:30 instead of 4:30.
Sunday:
Because Jasmin's bike tires exploded yesterday (before she rode it anywhere thankfully!), we attempt to get Grab to church but there are no drivers so we scramble for rides and bikes.
Mom and Aiden get a ride and the rest bike.
Dad has a meeting after church, the girls hang out with a friend at church before coming home.
We all go to a welcome supper party for a recently arrived family. Grace's bike tire pops on the way.
Monday:
Dad goes back to work, we attempt some schoolwork, but it kind of gets lots in the mess of trying to get the household back on track.
Dad attempts to get the bikes fixed but the store isn't open on Mondays!
We go to Dalat school to register for the Distance Learning Resource Centre and discover a homeschool craft hour happening. The girls join in, Mom meets some other homeschoolers, and Aiden plays with school kids on the playground.
Tuesday:
A little bit of school work happens.
Mom works on some graphics work we picked up in KL (it's due Thursday night).
Jasmin and Dad are out most of the afternoon fixing the bikes.
We clean house extra well as we have supper guests.
Wednesday:
Market shopping morning for mom and Jasmin.
More time on the graphics job for mom.
(Thankfully the morning of in home voice and violin lessons didn't happen this week)
First after school club sessions of lego for Aiden and Ultimate frisbee for the girls.
Then on to Chinese class for Grace and Aiden.
Thursday:
Final rush to get graphics job done.
A sprinkling of school tasks.
Second after school club sessions of gymnastics for Aiden and calligraphy for Jasmin.
A make up Chinese class for Grace and Aiden (we missed one while in KL last week).
Friday:
It's a local holiday today so we took the day off -
So Mom can prepare the start of Fall schooling for next week, catch up on letter writing, blog posts, etc. and catch up on household tasks that have been languishing.
But first, Mom had breakfast with some other long term guest ladies for sharing and praying.
The kids got to go swimming instead of the usual Chinese class.
Tomorrow?
Mom and Dad have another ½ day seminar to attend.
Aiden has AWANA.
A possible make up Chinese class for the one missed today.
The girls have youth group.
Yep. Busy life has arrived! And there is also small group meetings, a possible choir commitment for Grace, and who knows what else is waiting... But it kinda feels good after so much waiting, uncertainty, and inability to commit to things.
Tuesday, August 07, 2018
What Shall We Say On The Blog?
What shall we put in a blog post?
Aiden: Geography game
Mom found me an iPad game to practice my geography. I've been learning lots of countries and capitals by making our world puzzle over and over. Now I can practice in a new way. Surprisingly, I know African countries the best. Then Asia. Europe is the hardest because of all the tiny countries. We watched a video that told us Armenia facts. We learned that Armenia have fountains all over for people to drink from so they don't have any bottled water. They also teach all their school children to play chess. It's the land of free water.
Jasmin: Turtle renovations on the balcony
We decided to try a new arrangement on the balcony for the turtles to have an outdoor space with water. I started before supper, cleaning the drain area and partitioning off the part the plants are in. I hope the plug will work so we can keep it full of water and still be able to drain it when it gets too dirty. I don't know if it will work, but this would give the turtles more space to swim around and be able to get the sunshine too.
Grace: Marshmallow cake experiments
Mom wanted a cake this evening, so Jasmin and I made one. I experimented, making my usual chocolate cake in the rice cooker, but with orange and marshmallow bits too. But first, I microwaved a marshmallow to test. It exploded! Since I was cleaning up supper and the exploded marshmallow, it was mostly me telling Jasmin what to put in, but I got to do some too. It cooked really fast - only two rice cooker cycles! It was very yummy. Sadly, you can't taste the orange or marshmallow all that much - except for the melted marshmallow pockets - you could taste some there. Still, it was really good - we ate it all already!
Mom: KL Trip
Next week we're on the move again. Dad is going to KL on Sunday for four days of classes. We will join him on Thursday after Mom gets the needed letter from the bank. On Friday we will hopefully - finally! - get our long term verses and we'll come home on Saturday. If it doesn't quite work that way, we'll stay the weekend and try again on Monday. So, we're working with some pretty flexible travel plans and a lot of travel in a few days. But hopefully it will be all done and we can truly settle in to life here.
Aiden: Geography game
Mom found me an iPad game to practice my geography. I've been learning lots of countries and capitals by making our world puzzle over and over. Now I can practice in a new way. Surprisingly, I know African countries the best. Then Asia. Europe is the hardest because of all the tiny countries. We watched a video that told us Armenia facts. We learned that Armenia have fountains all over for people to drink from so they don't have any bottled water. They also teach all their school children to play chess. It's the land of free water.
Jasmin: Turtle renovations on the balcony
We decided to try a new arrangement on the balcony for the turtles to have an outdoor space with water. I started before supper, cleaning the drain area and partitioning off the part the plants are in. I hope the plug will work so we can keep it full of water and still be able to drain it when it gets too dirty. I don't know if it will work, but this would give the turtles more space to swim around and be able to get the sunshine too.
Grace: Marshmallow cake experiments
Mom wanted a cake this evening, so Jasmin and I made one. I experimented, making my usual chocolate cake in the rice cooker, but with orange and marshmallow bits too. But first, I microwaved a marshmallow to test. It exploded! Since I was cleaning up supper and the exploded marshmallow, it was mostly me telling Jasmin what to put in, but I got to do some too. It cooked really fast - only two rice cooker cycles! It was very yummy. Sadly, you can't taste the orange or marshmallow all that much - except for the melted marshmallow pockets - you could taste some there. Still, it was really good - we ate it all already!
Mom: KL Trip
Next week we're on the move again. Dad is going to KL on Sunday for four days of classes. We will join him on Thursday after Mom gets the needed letter from the bank. On Friday we will hopefully - finally! - get our long term verses and we'll come home on Saturday. If it doesn't quite work that way, we'll stay the weekend and try again on Monday. So, we're working with some pretty flexible travel plans and a lot of travel in a few days. But hopefully it will be all done and we can truly settle in to life here.
Monday, July 16, 2018
A Tumble through the last month part 2
Thoughts on Pets by Jasmin
My history of pet's is not the best (like in numbers) My first pets was somewhere, we had a fish called Jace ('Ja' for Jasmin and 'ce' for Grace). Second pets was Turtles, we had Fauna and Emerald. I had the girl and Grace had the boy, thats all really that I remember of them, since it was so long ago. The third pet were Fancy rats. Before you go ew, didn't they gave us the black plague? well no. Blame the fleas, rats did nothing. and other weird reasons like that, they were the best pets I had. Smart and Athy. lovely little things. but they are gone now......=;( moving on.. after they passed away, we got my fourth pet. ("pets" to be specific ) Fish. Bo, Do, Mo, So, Fo, No, Go, Co and Quo the water snail ( the clean up guy (or girl idk which one ) ). We first got Mo for my birthday soon after that we got Bo, a powder blue dwarf gourami (yep!) Do, Fo, No All neon tetras. then the very sad legacy of why do all our neons dye? Fo and No died first. =( then we got new ones Go and Co to keep Do company but then she died and we got So, a sunshine molly of some kind of fish any way then we went a way for a while and when we came back we found Mo died =;( Bo amazingly surveyed the saga of why do all our neons die? then we got Quo. he lived and all the other fish lived on. my fifth pet. well more like fifth and sixth pet but I'm off the point. the point is we got three pet turtles and a Suger Glider. let's talk bout the turtles first. we got three of them. Seashell, Dimond and Kibby. Kibby is the only boy, in the group. a little bit of there personalty, Kibby is the runner. Dimond is the lap turtle. and Seashell is the mountain climber weirdly. Good climber for a turtle, But.....not so good on our standers. For example, a ledge the we can just step over easy peasy lemon squeezy. It's not so easy for a turtle - she usually ends up turned over on her back.
My seventh pet (actually just one this time) - Zedda, a sugar glider. She is so cute and soft, but is a master at escaping. This makes taming her rather harder. She eats fruit and veggies, likes yogurt. In the wild she would eat insects and bugs, but I have to give her protein pellets instead. So far I can massage her in her sleeping pouch, pet her, and she will climb on my head. She likes to be high up so she can glide. She is a marsupial, and is like a flying squirrel - she has "wings" between her front and back legs. She is greyish black on the back and white creamy underbelly, and has black stripes. Her tail looks like she dipped it in ink. She has a very long tail. She can curl it around things, but doesn't hang on it like a monkey. She 'crabs' and squeaks and I have read that they can bark. She is the most difficult pet to tame, but I think she will be worth it. When she is tame, she won't need to be in the cage much hopefully.
Family Fun Day
At the beginning of July was our church's family fun day. It certainly was fun! It was the best organized fun day we've ever seen. The Young Adults group prepared 8 game stations, 3 riddles, and 3 scavenger hunts all aver the church building for different teams to cycle through. Each game gave your team points. At the end of the morning the score cards were handed in and the winners announced over lunch. There were 10 teams - we were given different coloured wrist bands to mark the teams. There about 10 people per team, so our family was half a team!
The first thing was all together in the sanctuary where we did Zoomba altogether. We weren't all that impressed to start with this as we had gotten up early on a Saturday and biked the 9 km to church so we didn't need warming or loosening up! But it got fun by the end - more like doing actions to VBS songs.
Then the teams split up to different stations to start the games. We did "beer bowling" first which was bouncing pingpong balls into half filled cups of water on the table top. This was the only game we didn't get full points for. Other games were: telephone charades, knocking stacked cups down with elastic bands and paper, bottle fishing, card ninja, guiding your team blindfolded around the auditorium picking up stuffed toys, balloon juggling... The scavenger hunts and riddles were finding things around the church and taking group pictures with them (like something red, a mural, a certain symbol). Some of them were not easy to find, but we found them all.
Swimming
The kids are doing a lot of swimming. Today they stayed down at the pool for 3 hours or so! First they played alone, then some friends came and another kid joined in later, and when they left the new friend stayed to play...
Aiden:
We played Leeches and Sharks. The island is Pelican Palace. The waterslide is the Shark Shaft. The leeches live on the blue stripe - Leech Lane. Sharks chase the pelicans, the pelicans chase the leeches, and the leeches chase the sharks. You win by a predator catching hold of its prey and holding on for 10 seconds. For example, the shark catches a pelican and holds onto it for 10 seconds without the pelican escaping. Then the shark lets it go and get 1 point. You need to get 5 points. Always running for your life.
Sounds like fun mayhem :o) They are hungry and happy for supper for sure.
Visa Run
Now this Friday we leave for Bangkok to do a visa run. We didn't want to have to, but we don't have our long term visa yet and our social visa is running out so we must renew it. Apart from the disruption of already having to travel out of the country, the trip is good: the kids all enjoy the train trip, we will be busy with friends in Bangkok, and we'll get to check out the free museum and butterfly park we just learned about.
My history of pet's is not the best (like in numbers) My first pets was somewhere, we had a fish called Jace ('Ja' for Jasmin and 'ce' for Grace). Second pets was Turtles, we had Fauna and Emerald. I had the girl and Grace had the boy, thats all really that I remember of them, since it was so long ago. The third pet were Fancy rats. Before you go ew, didn't they gave us the black plague? well no. Blame the fleas, rats did nothing. and other weird reasons like that, they were the best pets I had. Smart and Athy. lovely little things. but they are gone now......=;( moving on.. after they passed away, we got my fourth pet. ("pets" to be specific ) Fish. Bo, Do, Mo, So, Fo, No, Go, Co and Quo the water snail ( the clean up guy (or girl idk which one ) ). We first got Mo for my birthday soon after that we got Bo, a powder blue dwarf gourami (yep!) Do, Fo, No All neon tetras. then the very sad legacy of why do all our neons dye? Fo and No died first. =( then we got new ones Go and Co to keep Do company but then she died and we got So, a sunshine molly of some kind of fish any way then we went a way for a while and when we came back we found Mo died =;( Bo amazingly surveyed the saga of why do all our neons die? then we got Quo. he lived and all the other fish lived on. my fifth pet. well more like fifth and sixth pet but I'm off the point. the point is we got three pet turtles and a Suger Glider. let's talk bout the turtles first. we got three of them. Seashell, Dimond and Kibby. Kibby is the only boy, in the group. a little bit of there personalty, Kibby is the runner. Dimond is the lap turtle. and Seashell is the mountain climber weirdly. Good climber for a turtle, But.....not so good on our standers. For example, a ledge the we can just step over easy peasy lemon squeezy. It's not so easy for a turtle - she usually ends up turned over on her back.
My seventh pet (actually just one this time) - Zedda, a sugar glider. She is so cute and soft, but is a master at escaping. This makes taming her rather harder. She eats fruit and veggies, likes yogurt. In the wild she would eat insects and bugs, but I have to give her protein pellets instead. So far I can massage her in her sleeping pouch, pet her, and she will climb on my head. She likes to be high up so she can glide. She is a marsupial, and is like a flying squirrel - she has "wings" between her front and back legs. She is greyish black on the back and white creamy underbelly, and has black stripes. Her tail looks like she dipped it in ink. She has a very long tail. She can curl it around things, but doesn't hang on it like a monkey. She 'crabs' and squeaks and I have read that they can bark. She is the most difficult pet to tame, but I think she will be worth it. When she is tame, she won't need to be in the cage much hopefully.
Family Fun Day
At the beginning of July was our church's family fun day. It certainly was fun! It was the best organized fun day we've ever seen. The Young Adults group prepared 8 game stations, 3 riddles, and 3 scavenger hunts all aver the church building for different teams to cycle through. Each game gave your team points. At the end of the morning the score cards were handed in and the winners announced over lunch. There were 10 teams - we were given different coloured wrist bands to mark the teams. There about 10 people per team, so our family was half a team!
The first thing was all together in the sanctuary where we did Zoomba altogether. We weren't all that impressed to start with this as we had gotten up early on a Saturday and biked the 9 km to church so we didn't need warming or loosening up! But it got fun by the end - more like doing actions to VBS songs.
Then the teams split up to different stations to start the games. We did "beer bowling" first which was bouncing pingpong balls into half filled cups of water on the table top. This was the only game we didn't get full points for. Other games were: telephone charades, knocking stacked cups down with elastic bands and paper, bottle fishing, card ninja, guiding your team blindfolded around the auditorium picking up stuffed toys, balloon juggling... The scavenger hunts and riddles were finding things around the church and taking group pictures with them (like something red, a mural, a certain symbol). Some of them were not easy to find, but we found them all.
Swimming
The kids are doing a lot of swimming. Today they stayed down at the pool for 3 hours or so! First they played alone, then some friends came and another kid joined in later, and when they left the new friend stayed to play...
Aiden:
We played Leeches and Sharks. The island is Pelican Palace. The waterslide is the Shark Shaft. The leeches live on the blue stripe - Leech Lane. Sharks chase the pelicans, the pelicans chase the leeches, and the leeches chase the sharks. You win by a predator catching hold of its prey and holding on for 10 seconds. For example, the shark catches a pelican and holds onto it for 10 seconds without the pelican escaping. Then the shark lets it go and get 1 point. You need to get 5 points. Always running for your life.
Sounds like fun mayhem :o) They are hungry and happy for supper for sure.
Visa Run
Now this Friday we leave for Bangkok to do a visa run. We didn't want to have to, but we don't have our long term visa yet and our social visa is running out so we must renew it. Apart from the disruption of already having to travel out of the country, the trip is good: the kids all enjoy the train trip, we will be busy with friends in Bangkok, and we'll get to check out the free museum and butterfly park we just learned about.
Friday, July 13, 2018
A tumble through the last month part 1
Youth Camp
Mom: June started with Grace and Jasmin going to Youth Camp with the church youth group. It was an odd experience to have them both gone for most of the week, although Aiden enjoyed having mom and dad to himself.
Grace: It was GREAT! At each meal/makan time we had one spicy dish, which wasn't really spicy.
We were separated into 3 groups: Faith (Jasmin's), Hope (me!), and Love. We had 6 dorms, two for each team, divided into boys and girls. We get up at 6:30 and go to bed at 11! The last night they even persuaded the pastor to let them go to bed at 1!!
On the first day, we played a ten-layer cake game with ten activities to get information. When you got all the information, you had to find Allison, who could be anywhere(!) and show it to her to win. Hope divided into pairs who would do two or more activities (some were left over) and then meet together again. I was with Ashling and we did word scramble and calligraphy.
Calligraphy was writing the theme verses with your foot! That took us ages (Ashling did the writing). Then we had to do word scramble - take our names and make them into five five-letter words! We did this very fast - our words were Grace, Ashes, Lines, Chain, and Chair.
The other game was a water fight! Your king/queen got sugar paper as your armour/life and everyone else got newspaper. If your paper ripped half or more, you're dead, and if your ruler dies, the kingdom falls. We did icebreakers to earn points to buy guns and balloons.
Icebreakers
The first one was to get two coins out of two cups of ice without using your hands, throwing it, or using hot water. Hope did it first by using friction and physics! Then we had to answer questions about the 'sermons' - hope you remember! Also some boys did something but I don't know what it was because we had to go away so that they could concentrate.
The water fight was good - but the other teams ganged up on us! After the water fight we played a fun game called cannonball - like a mix between European handball and Idiot ball. It was in matches - Love vs Faith, Love vs Hope, Faith vs Hope. Love had a very good team, but still lost both matches. Faith won one and lost the other, but Hope won both! That was a hot day.
We also had to come up with a group cheer - Love had a crazy silly one - it started with one guy going 'lo lo lo lo, lo lo lo lo lo...', and then progressed into a cheer I couldn't understand (a room with really bad echo so you can't hear it well), and had seemingly random "King king! King king!" interspersed, and ended with people going "Hello Hello Hello?"
Faith I think had the best cheer - I'll let Jasmin tell it.
Hope - we had a goodish cheer, but we thought it had to be short.
We also had to make skits, centred around the theme of giving your life to God 100% in about 8 minutes- I'll just tell Hope's skit.
Scene 1
Sunday at Church
The preacher reads Romans 12:1-2
Allison listens, as she listens, she has a flashback of the past events of that week
Scene 2
Monday(?)
Allison walks along the street, and sees a beggar, who asks for money. Allison gives her some money, and gets a white paper (white represents a good deed, black represents bad).
Scene 3
Later that week, at school
Allison and her friends come into the classroom - It's test day. Allison's friend begs her to cheat and show the answers to them - Allison's sitting beside the top guy in class.
Before Allison can answer, the teacher comes in and the test starts. Allison decides to cheat, and gets caught. Her friends betray her and blame her. The teacher calls Allison's parents and Allison gets a black paper.
Scene 4
At home
Allison's parents are waiting for her, and Allison sneaks in. Her father calls her, and starts to scold her. Her mother asks if she really did it, and Allison lies. Her mother apologizes for wrongly accusing her. She gets a black paper.
Scene 5
Back to present
The preacher wraps up his sermon, telling them to live their lives 100%. (Allison recommits her life 100%, but this is implied and isn't actually in the play.)
Starting Chinese classes
Aiden: We have multiple teachers and 4 other students in our classroom. I have 2 books now that I can read pinyin. I haven't learned many words to say because they want me to learn to read first.
Grace: I don't mind other kids in the same room, but it means that sometimes (rarely) I have to wait while my is trying to teach me and one or two other kids at the same time! It's pretty much a different teacher every time, but over the weeks you get the same kids again. They us SO MANY materials! I currently have one finished storybook with flashcards (I'm going to get another), a sentence workbook, a word writing book, two 'Mei Ri Hua Wen' books, a '1a' book, a folder for papers, AND a test paper! Phew!
We almost always get there 5-20 minutes early, which is a good time to talk with the receptionist, review Chinese, or just cool down from biking in the heat. When in class, we have to talk as much as possible in Chinese, but I don't think they really stick to that. Sometimes I have to write so much that my hand hurts - every new word I learn I write down in my word book!
Mom: It took awhile to settle on a time that would work for all of us, but we found it and got started. I bike them there 2 times a week. As with most Asian schools we know about, the focus is heavy on reading and writing first, but Aiden is coming home with a new phrase or two. After about 2 weeks, Grace is already hitting more new material than review, so they are moving pretty fast! Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a class for myself at the same time as theirs, so I go out yet again on Saturday for my own class. The pace is impressive, so I'm glad for the two times a week I can devote to review while I'm waiting for Grace and Aiden. The other student in my class has already dropped out, so I have a private tutor!
Day of Praise
June 29-30 was a 24hour worship service with teams from all over Malaysia leading an hour of worship and prayer for Malaysia each. Our church's slot was 7am.
Grace: My favourite team was a Tamil team! They were pretty much all wearing colourful traditional clothes. They managed to go into their songs one after the other without stopping - eventually you just realize that they're in another song! Once they finished the 'song' and moved into another very different set. I think they might've had the most singers, and they had an all-girl traditionally dressed Tamil dance team with tambourines dancing in front (there were two girls dancing in there too).
We sang in English, Chinese, Malay, tribal Malay, Tamil, and Swahili! Swahili - Siahu--mba kukanyanwenkoh...
I had to eat breakfast there - granola, an apple, and some yoghurt I poured over the granola. I probably ate breakfast at 10 maybe.
Mom:
I almost gave up on this and didn't go as it came after a busy week and I really didn't want to get up to be there at 7 am, but it was well worth the effort. We ended up staying for 5 ½ hours and not wanting to come home! Our attention broke about 1pm, as yet another group sang song after song in Malay. By then we had already enjoyed singing in 6 different languages, but song after song not knowing what you're singing looses its appeal and tummies call for lunch. If it happens in Penang again, I think I'd try and arrange to be there the whole time.
Pets
Grace: We have the most pets we've ever had! A friend gave us three turtles, and Jasmin got a sugar glider for her birthday! She's called Zeda, or Zedda, but you say it Ze-da. She (yes, it's a she) lives in two cages on top of each other with furry slippers for pouches and a little house and some balls to play with. She's nocturnal and makes quite a few crashes and bangs in the night. Jasmin's currently taming her.
Zeda isn't afraid of Jasmin (or me, I don't think), so when Jasmin takes her out - like the master escape artists sugar gliders are - she escapes. So far she's only gotten out of our room once - and not very far at that. So we Zeda-proofed the room and let her run around yesterday - she definitely liked, if not loved it! She loves yoghurt! We bought some treats called yoghurt drops, but at first she didn't like them. Then she found out about... YOGHURT! Now she loves them and even steals them from Jasmin.
As for our three turtles...
My turtle is called Seashell, is a female, and she is the biggest. She is a fighter, and loves climbing!
Jasmin's turtle is called Kibby, who is the only male, and he's the smallest. Kibby loves racing, eating, and is the energetic runner. We sometimes call him Clean-Up Kibby.
Aiden's turtle is called Diamond for the shape on her back, is a female, and is in the middle. Aiden has dropped her before, which might be why she is the lap turtle who likes hiding and almost never wins races - to Aiden's disappointment.
I guess I should leave something others to tell, so I'll stop here.
Mom: June started with Grace and Jasmin going to Youth Camp with the church youth group. It was an odd experience to have them both gone for most of the week, although Aiden enjoyed having mom and dad to himself.
Grace: It was GREAT! At each meal/makan time we had one spicy dish, which wasn't really spicy.
We were separated into 3 groups: Faith (Jasmin's), Hope (me!), and Love. We had 6 dorms, two for each team, divided into boys and girls. We get up at 6:30 and go to bed at 11! The last night they even persuaded the pastor to let them go to bed at 1!!
On the first day, we played a ten-layer cake game with ten activities to get information. When you got all the information, you had to find Allison, who could be anywhere(!) and show it to her to win. Hope divided into pairs who would do two or more activities (some were left over) and then meet together again. I was with Ashling and we did word scramble and calligraphy.
Calligraphy was writing the theme verses with your foot! That took us ages (Ashling did the writing). Then we had to do word scramble - take our names and make them into five five-letter words! We did this very fast - our words were Grace, Ashes, Lines, Chain, and Chair.
The other game was a water fight! Your king/queen got sugar paper as your armour/life and everyone else got newspaper. If your paper ripped half or more, you're dead, and if your ruler dies, the kingdom falls. We did icebreakers to earn points to buy guns and balloons.
Icebreakers
The first one was to get two coins out of two cups of ice without using your hands, throwing it, or using hot water. Hope did it first by using friction and physics! Then we had to answer questions about the 'sermons' - hope you remember! Also some boys did something but I don't know what it was because we had to go away so that they could concentrate.
The water fight was good - but the other teams ganged up on us! After the water fight we played a fun game called cannonball - like a mix between European handball and Idiot ball. It was in matches - Love vs Faith, Love vs Hope, Faith vs Hope. Love had a very good team, but still lost both matches. Faith won one and lost the other, but Hope won both! That was a hot day.
We also had to come up with a group cheer - Love had a crazy silly one - it started with one guy going 'lo lo lo lo, lo lo lo lo lo...', and then progressed into a cheer I couldn't understand (a room with really bad echo so you can't hear it well), and had seemingly random "King king! King king!" interspersed, and ended with people going "Hello Hello Hello?"
Faith I think had the best cheer - I'll let Jasmin tell it.
Hope - we had a goodish cheer, but we thought it had to be short.
We also had to make skits, centred around the theme of giving your life to God 100% in about 8 minutes- I'll just tell Hope's skit.
Scene 1
Sunday at Church
The preacher reads Romans 12:1-2
Allison listens, as she listens, she has a flashback of the past events of that week
Scene 2
Monday(?)
Allison walks along the street, and sees a beggar, who asks for money. Allison gives her some money, and gets a white paper (white represents a good deed, black represents bad).
Scene 3
Later that week, at school
Allison and her friends come into the classroom - It's test day. Allison's friend begs her to cheat and show the answers to them - Allison's sitting beside the top guy in class.
Before Allison can answer, the teacher comes in and the test starts. Allison decides to cheat, and gets caught. Her friends betray her and blame her. The teacher calls Allison's parents and Allison gets a black paper.
Scene 4
At home
Allison's parents are waiting for her, and Allison sneaks in. Her father calls her, and starts to scold her. Her mother asks if she really did it, and Allison lies. Her mother apologizes for wrongly accusing her. She gets a black paper.
Scene 5
Back to present
The preacher wraps up his sermon, telling them to live their lives 100%. (Allison recommits her life 100%, but this is implied and isn't actually in the play.)
Starting Chinese classes
Aiden: We have multiple teachers and 4 other students in our classroom. I have 2 books now that I can read pinyin. I haven't learned many words to say because they want me to learn to read first.
Grace: I don't mind other kids in the same room, but it means that sometimes (rarely) I have to wait while my is trying to teach me and one or two other kids at the same time! It's pretty much a different teacher every time, but over the weeks you get the same kids again. They us SO MANY materials! I currently have one finished storybook with flashcards (I'm going to get another), a sentence workbook, a word writing book, two 'Mei Ri Hua Wen' books, a '1a' book, a folder for papers, AND a test paper! Phew!
We almost always get there 5-20 minutes early, which is a good time to talk with the receptionist, review Chinese, or just cool down from biking in the heat. When in class, we have to talk as much as possible in Chinese, but I don't think they really stick to that. Sometimes I have to write so much that my hand hurts - every new word I learn I write down in my word book!
Mom: It took awhile to settle on a time that would work for all of us, but we found it and got started. I bike them there 2 times a week. As with most Asian schools we know about, the focus is heavy on reading and writing first, but Aiden is coming home with a new phrase or two. After about 2 weeks, Grace is already hitting more new material than review, so they are moving pretty fast! Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a class for myself at the same time as theirs, so I go out yet again on Saturday for my own class. The pace is impressive, so I'm glad for the two times a week I can devote to review while I'm waiting for Grace and Aiden. The other student in my class has already dropped out, so I have a private tutor!
Day of Praise
June 29-30 was a 24hour worship service with teams from all over Malaysia leading an hour of worship and prayer for Malaysia each. Our church's slot was 7am.
Grace: My favourite team was a Tamil team! They were pretty much all wearing colourful traditional clothes. They managed to go into their songs one after the other without stopping - eventually you just realize that they're in another song! Once they finished the 'song' and moved into another very different set. I think they might've had the most singers, and they had an all-girl traditionally dressed Tamil dance team with tambourines dancing in front (there were two girls dancing in there too).
We sang in English, Chinese, Malay, tribal Malay, Tamil, and Swahili! Swahili - Siahu--mba kukanyanwenkoh...
I had to eat breakfast there - granola, an apple, and some yoghurt I poured over the granola. I probably ate breakfast at 10 maybe.
Mom:
I almost gave up on this and didn't go as it came after a busy week and I really didn't want to get up to be there at 7 am, but it was well worth the effort. We ended up staying for 5 ½ hours and not wanting to come home! Our attention broke about 1pm, as yet another group sang song after song in Malay. By then we had already enjoyed singing in 6 different languages, but song after song not knowing what you're singing looses its appeal and tummies call for lunch. If it happens in Penang again, I think I'd try and arrange to be there the whole time.
Pets
Grace: We have the most pets we've ever had! A friend gave us three turtles, and Jasmin got a sugar glider for her birthday! She's called Zeda, or Zedda, but you say it Ze-da. She (yes, it's a she) lives in two cages on top of each other with furry slippers for pouches and a little house and some balls to play with. She's nocturnal and makes quite a few crashes and bangs in the night. Jasmin's currently taming her.
| Shh! I'm hiding! |
As for our three turtles...
My turtle is called Seashell, is a female, and she is the biggest. She is a fighter, and loves climbing!
Jasmin's turtle is called Kibby, who is the only male, and he's the smallest. Kibby loves racing, eating, and is the energetic runner. We sometimes call him Clean-Up Kibby.
Aiden's turtle is called Diamond for the shape on her back, is a female, and is in the middle. Aiden has dropped her before, which might be why she is the lap turtle who likes hiding and almost never wins races - to Aiden's disappointment.
I guess I should leave something others to tell, so I'll stop here.
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Way to Go Jasmin!
A many month project completed all on her own time by her own initiative with no parental input at all. The only incentive/help she had was through JAM.
Way to go, Jasmin!
Wondering what's next to come from her "pen"...
Friday, June 08, 2018
Aiden's Birthday by Aiden
I wake up and reach out to read my Bible
I come out the the living room and I listen to My Side of the Mountain until Mom woke up
I at cereal for breakfast on my own
And did some morning list things
Mom says, "Happy Birthday"
I do some world puzzle and wait on the couches.
Jasmin wakes up. Soon after Grace gets up.
I do some music practice
Then it is time - I call Imma on Skype
We have a talk a bit first, we see Selah do some tricks.
Then we add NiNi and Yea Yea to the call.
Mom gets the cake ready and Dad fixes Skype so we can see everyone.
Birthday cake "breakfast" on Skype with NiNi and YeaYea and Imma.
Imma had her cake too - apple cake with ice-cream "o)
We had Chocolate cake with a layer of cheesecake in it - yum!
Then I open presents and got:
New Lego, 2 puzzles, 2 foam swords, and the promise of a fixed iPad
After we finished on Skype, I did puzzles with Grace, and some Lego building all together
Then lunch time and Mom and the girls had to go out.
Jasmin had a tooth pulled out, and then a trial violin lesson
Grace had a trial voice lesson
While they were gone,
I waited
I worked on the puzzles
Played with Lego
I waited
Had a sword fight with dad
I waited
And then - the beach!
Dad and I took the water in the bike basket
When we got to the beach and helped Grace and Jasmin collect firework
I went down and dug a little hole
Collected things with Grace
We all were digging the hole and we asked Dad to be the fence to stop the water
When Mom came, she and Dad went for a cool down swim
We kept digging and playing and swimming
We had to work hard because the water kept making our hole fall in.
Mom called us to eat supper
It was meat bombs, hot dogs, and s'mores, marshmallows... yum!
By the time we finished supper, our hole was all gone! The waves had washed it all away.
So we began again, making it a game.
We made it so deep we were getting water coming up from inside.
By that time it was getting dark.
Mom had to make us come home even though we wanted to finish
We got home after 9pm, and had to take a shower to get rid of all the sand.
I was so tired but happy.
When Mom put me to bed she said I still had sand in my hair.
What a good birthday day it was!
I come out the the living room and I listen to My Side of the Mountain until Mom woke up
I at cereal for breakfast on my own
And did some morning list things
Mom says, "Happy Birthday"
I do some world puzzle and wait on the couches.
Jasmin wakes up. Soon after Grace gets up.
I do some music practice
Then it is time - I call Imma on Skype
We have a talk a bit first, we see Selah do some tricks.
Then we add NiNi and Yea Yea to the call.
Mom gets the cake ready and Dad fixes Skype so we can see everyone.
Birthday cake "breakfast" on Skype with NiNi and YeaYea and Imma.Imma had her cake too - apple cake with ice-cream "o)
We had Chocolate cake with a layer of cheesecake in it - yum!
Then I open presents and got:
New Lego, 2 puzzles, 2 foam swords, and the promise of a fixed iPad
After we finished on Skype, I did puzzles with Grace, and some Lego building all together
Then lunch time and Mom and the girls had to go out.
Jasmin had a tooth pulled out, and then a trial violin lesson
Grace had a trial voice lesson
While they were gone,
I waited
I worked on the puzzles
Played with Lego
I waited
Had a sword fight with dad
I waited
And then - the beach!
Dad and I took the water in the bike basket
When we got to the beach and helped Grace and Jasmin collect firework
I went down and dug a little hole
Collected things with Grace
We all were digging the hole and we asked Dad to be the fence to stop the water
When Mom came, she and Dad went for a cool down swim
We kept digging and playing and swimmingWe had to work hard because the water kept making our hole fall in.
Mom called us to eat supper
It was meat bombs, hot dogs, and s'mores, marshmallows... yum!
By the time we finished supper, our hole was all gone! The waves had washed it all away.
So we began again, making it a game.
We made it so deep we were getting water coming up from inside.
By that time it was getting dark.
Mom had to make us come home even though we wanted to finish
We got home after 9pm, and had to take a shower to get rid of all the sand.
I was so tired but happy.
When Mom put me to bed she said I still had sand in my hair.What a good birthday day it was!
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Holding Pattern Days
As we wait for our money to arrive
What are our days like?
Mom writes a daily list so we're not kicking around bored
Things like math review, a JAM hour, sweep the floor
JAM means working on animation for Jasmin
Sweeping the floor should happen every day if we don't want black feet
Music for everyone: piano and violin
And now beginning explorations in flute and guitar
A fend-for-yourself breakfast when ever we wake up
Early for Aiden and Mom; late for Jasmin and Grace
Tidying and cleaning in the morning
Maybe a world-wide "earthquake" and repair on our coffee table world map puzzle
Eager electronic message checking for news from Canada
Normal morning list routines beginning to fall into place
A somewhat late lunch
Cool, fresh fruit and veg - or supper leftovers
Computer hour, these days a server "game" of Minecraft
While Mom and/or Dad nap
An afternoon outing to Dalat school to spend time in their new library
An aircon cooled treat time, and time for Aiden to play with others on the playground
Or An afternoon swim, or a precarious indoor soccer game
Or maybe a shared lego city scenario played
Or maybe an exploratory outing
Trying out Chinese classes or music teachers
An early evening run for mom, and maybe Grace too
We all might go - Aiden to learn to ride a bike, Jasmin to be our biking water station
A later supper, experiments in Asian cooking with a ½ set up kitchen
Showers and prep for the night, darkness falls fast
Bedtime Bible time, goodnights
A sing-song time Grace and Mom, reviving choir songs or trying guitar-easy songs
Late-night conversations: jiggering things around to suit our waiting for money status
Or cross-world calls chasing our money down
It's the weekends that are more interesting:
Friday night we go to cell group
Saturday morning Aiden has AWANA
Saturday afternoon will come Chinese lessons
Saturday evening is Youth Group for the girls
Sunday has Sunday School, Chinese church, English church, lunch at church...
And then we need a rest!
Today Dad is at his school getting ready to start next month
Friday Dad is teaching at our cell group
Saturday we have to shop for Aiden's birthday beach party
Monday we go to try out violin and voice teachers
Tuesday hopefully is special with our money arriving
Thursday is Aiden's birthday
We'll have a Skype party with NiNi and YeaYea and Imma and go to the beach too
That doesn't sound like holding pattern any more
We hope not - we're quite ready to start this new life
Rather than sit waiting and preparing some more
What are our days like?
Mom writes a daily list so we're not kicking around bored
Things like math review, a JAM hour, sweep the floor
JAM means working on animation for Jasmin
Sweeping the floor should happen every day if we don't want black feet
Music for everyone: piano and violin
And now beginning explorations in flute and guitar
A fend-for-yourself breakfast when ever we wake up
Early for Aiden and Mom; late for Jasmin and Grace
Tidying and cleaning in the morning
Maybe a world-wide "earthquake" and repair on our coffee table world map puzzle
Eager electronic message checking for news from Canada
Normal morning list routines beginning to fall into place
A somewhat late lunch
Cool, fresh fruit and veg - or supper leftovers
Computer hour, these days a server "game" of Minecraft
While Mom and/or Dad nap
An afternoon outing to Dalat school to spend time in their new library
An aircon cooled treat time, and time for Aiden to play with others on the playground
Or An afternoon swim, or a precarious indoor soccer game
Or maybe a shared lego city scenario played
Or maybe an exploratory outing
Trying out Chinese classes or music teachers
An early evening run for mom, and maybe Grace too
We all might go - Aiden to learn to ride a bike, Jasmin to be our biking water station
A later supper, experiments in Asian cooking with a ½ set up kitchen
Showers and prep for the night, darkness falls fast
Bedtime Bible time, goodnights
A sing-song time Grace and Mom, reviving choir songs or trying guitar-easy songs
Late-night conversations: jiggering things around to suit our waiting for money status
Or cross-world calls chasing our money down
It's the weekends that are more interesting:
Friday night we go to cell group
Saturday morning Aiden has AWANA
Saturday afternoon will come Chinese lessons
Saturday evening is Youth Group for the girls
Sunday has Sunday School, Chinese church, English church, lunch at church...
And then we need a rest!
Today Dad is at his school getting ready to start next month
Friday Dad is teaching at our cell group
Saturday we have to shop for Aiden's birthday beach party
Monday we go to try out violin and voice teachers
Tuesday hopefully is special with our money arriving
Thursday is Aiden's birthday
We'll have a Skype party with NiNi and YeaYea and Imma and go to the beach too
That doesn't sound like holding pattern any more
We hope not - we're quite ready to start this new life
Rather than sit waiting and preparing some more
Saturday, May 26, 2018
Remarkably Unremarkable - yet
Normally considered a special day to mark
A 40th birthday
This is what it looked like for Mom so far:
Barely begun (as in just after 12 midnight)
We learn our visa application has been approved !!
Very big news, indeed
And sets in motion a string of must do's
To get those precious passport stamps
Rather awkward, as we still don't have access to our money to do anything yet...
A "sleep in"
Meaning the inevitable 7:30 sunrise waking is followed by more snoozing
(even two sets of curtains on the window doesn't seem to dampen the dawn sun much)
And Aiden not getting up until nearly 9
(he was up to 11 last night too)
And the girls don't stir until noon
(such is the result of Friday night small groups here)
A slow morning spent with the week's laundry and housecleaning
(can't be lax here if you don't want black feet and permanently smelly clothes)
Aiden and Dad off to AWANA by bike
A Skype call with NiNi
A brief lunch interlude of a full house
Dad and Aiden back from AWANA
The girls finally up and around
Tuna cracker lunch
And exchanges of arrangements
Then Mom is off with the kids via Grab
A trial Chinese class lesson for Grace and Aiden
A discovery of a local pet store for Jasmin
Sugar gliders, gerbils, and hamsters are on the short list of wanted pets
Though both of us would like to rescue birds, puppies, and fish from their crowded, noisy environment
The girls are picked up for Youth Group from there
A careful count of money means a purchase returned
Money needed for Youth Camp final registration tomorrow
A bus ride and walk home for Aiden and Mom
And creative thinking for the meals of the next few days
Come on, money, get here soon!
The girls'll get home about 8 tonight from Youth Group
We'll have supper together - an attempt at Koay Teow soup
Maybe Mom'll share her one slice of cheesecake Daddy bought her
And maybe she won't :o)
We'll celebrate better later, maybe joint with Aiden in two weeks
A 40th birthday
This is what it looked like for Mom so far:
Barely begun (as in just after 12 midnight)
We learn our visa application has been approved !!
Very big news, indeed
And sets in motion a string of must do's
To get those precious passport stamps
Rather awkward, as we still don't have access to our money to do anything yet...
A "sleep in"
Meaning the inevitable 7:30 sunrise waking is followed by more snoozing
(even two sets of curtains on the window doesn't seem to dampen the dawn sun much)
And Aiden not getting up until nearly 9
(he was up to 11 last night too)
And the girls don't stir until noon
(such is the result of Friday night small groups here)
A slow morning spent with the week's laundry and housecleaning
(can't be lax here if you don't want black feet and permanently smelly clothes)
Aiden and Dad off to AWANA by bike
A Skype call with NiNi
A brief lunch interlude of a full house
Dad and Aiden back from AWANA
The girls finally up and around
Tuna cracker lunch
And exchanges of arrangements
Then Mom is off with the kids via Grab
A trial Chinese class lesson for Grace and Aiden
A discovery of a local pet store for Jasmin
Sugar gliders, gerbils, and hamsters are on the short list of wanted pets
Though both of us would like to rescue birds, puppies, and fish from their crowded, noisy environment
The girls are picked up for Youth Group from there
A careful count of money means a purchase returned
Money needed for Youth Camp final registration tomorrow
A bus ride and walk home for Aiden and Mom
And creative thinking for the meals of the next few days
Come on, money, get here soon!
The girls'll get home about 8 tonight from Youth Group
We'll have supper together - an attempt at Koay Teow soup
Maybe Mom'll share her one slice of cheesecake Daddy bought her
And maybe she won't :o)
We'll celebrate better later, maybe joint with Aiden in two weeks
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Running Contrasts
Last year in Canada This year in Malaysia
40-50% humidity average 80-90% humidity average
Temperature mild spring/early summer Temperature hovering near 30C
Between 6-7am start to beat the heat 5:30pm or later start time, once the day is cooling
(and to make sure it gets done!) (can't do the mornings as I often have to go to market)
Usually alone With Grace
Don't usually meet anyone Share the road with fair number of walkers and runners
Run in one big loop of 5 km Run laps on a bit of dead end road behind our apartment
Listen to morning bird song Listen to evening monkey chatter
Less than ½ my run uphill More than ½ my run is uphill (much steeper too!)
5km came pretty easily 5km comes with complaining hamstrings from the uphill
I was reasonably aiming for 30min I'm a loonngg way from 5k in 30 min right now...
I end with a completely red face I'm completely red-faced by the 1km mark
A time to sort the day out A time to review the day
40-50% humidity average 80-90% humidity average
Temperature mild spring/early summer Temperature hovering near 30C
Between 6-7am start to beat the heat 5:30pm or later start time, once the day is cooling
(and to make sure it gets done!) (can't do the mornings as I often have to go to market)
Usually alone With Grace
Don't usually meet anyone Share the road with fair number of walkers and runners
Run in one big loop of 5 km Run laps on a bit of dead end road behind our apartment
Listen to morning bird song Listen to evening monkey chatter
Less than ½ my run uphill More than ½ my run is uphill (much steeper too!)
5km came pretty easily 5km comes with complaining hamstrings from the uphill
I was reasonably aiming for 30min I'm a loonngg way from 5k in 30 min right now...
I end with a completely red face I'm completely red-faced by the 1km mark
A time to sort the day out A time to review the day
I miss the cooler running environment and the morning starts.
I'm happy to have the weather consistency to run regularly.
I miss having a long route to run - more interesting.
I'm intrigued to be able to observe monkey family habits and new birds.
I miss running alone with my thoughts.
I'm happy that Grace is interested and wanting to run with me.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Aiden's Unfortunately - Fortunately
Fortunately, today is the day we move to our new house
Unfortunately, we woke up to a new government and an unexpected national holiday so all the deliveries were canceled and we can't get the keys.
Fortunately, this meant Mom and Dad took me to market for a breakfast date
Unfortunately, many stalls were closed and we couldn't get everything we wanted.
Fortunately, we still got yummy fish ball soup
Unfortunately, Dad put hot peppers in his big bowl so I had to share mom's small bowl.
Fortunately, we got to play a family game of Forbidden Island
Unfortunately, Mom and Dad had an operation to do in the afternoon so I didn't see them a long time.
Fortunately, we went swimming when they were done.
Unfortunately, only Dad came, Mom had to sleep.
Fortunately, I almost know how to swim
Unfortunately, my tooth fell out and it hurts there now.
Fortunately, Dad taught me to swim the front crawl
Unfortunately, it made me very hungry.
Fortunately, Mom was awake and had supper all ready for us
Unfortunately, Dad decided to go for curry and Grace takes a long time in the shower so we have to wait to eat anyhow.
Even though it started with a big disappointment, today was a pretty good day - medium for me.
Unfortunately, we woke up to a new government and an unexpected national holiday so all the deliveries were canceled and we can't get the keys.
Fortunately, this meant Mom and Dad took me to market for a breakfast date
Unfortunately, many stalls were closed and we couldn't get everything we wanted.
Fortunately, we still got yummy fish ball soup
Unfortunately, Dad put hot peppers in his big bowl so I had to share mom's small bowl.
Fortunately, we got to play a family game of Forbidden Island
Unfortunately, Mom and Dad had an operation to do in the afternoon so I didn't see them a long time.
Fortunately, we went swimming when they were done.
Unfortunately, only Dad came, Mom had to sleep.
Fortunately, I almost know how to swimUnfortunately, my tooth fell out and it hurts there now.
Fortunately, Dad taught me to swim the front crawl
Unfortunately, it made me very hungry.
Fortunately, Mom was awake and had supper all ready for us
Unfortunately, Dad decided to go for curry and Grace takes a long time in the shower so we have to wait to eat anyhow.
Even though it started with a big disappointment, today was a pretty good day - medium for me.
Monday, May 07, 2018
Today's a Special Day By Grace
Today (May 5th) is a special dayGrace's birthday!
Get up in the morning
And bike to the market
Today is a special day
A special breakfast today
Chicken rice and roti
Teh and Ice lime tea
Today is a special day
With a few mishaps
Roti onion instead of bom
Good thing the bom is small
Today is a special day
With iced tea and lime
Biking home after shopping
Up the long, hard hill
Today is a special day
First time biking up the long hill
The extra part is brutal
Can't even drink, because I'm panting too hard
Today is a special day
Back home and play
While Mom and Dad have
A late birthday talk
Today is a special day
Back on our bikes
But everyone this time
Off to the beach!
Today is a special dayInaugural beach visit
Taking the same old spot
Delighting in the bouncy tree
Today is a special day
Build a huge sandcastle
To stand against the tide
But the tide is going out
Swimming at the beach
But farther from our camp
Because of the new drain
Today is a special day
Crow mating season
Stealing firewood
Loud conversations
Today is a special day
We spotted a crow's nest
Orioles, too, and Jasmin
Tries to quiet the crows
Today is a special dayHurry from the sea to supper
Self-cooking hotdogs,
Dough, and marshmallow
Today is a special day
Making s'mores and eating roll cakeBut the roll cake is a pack of small
Individually wrapped ones- whoops
Today is a special day
Honey glazed marshmallows?
Birthday present time
The fire burns low
A great cooking fire
Today is a special day
Aiden and Jasmin's gift
Buying Minecraft for me
And all the Android phones
Today is a special dayTwelve goals to complete
By next year to celebrate
My coming of age
Today is a special day
Playing on bouncy tree
Teaching Aiden to climb
Sitting on the expert climber's branch
For the first time
Today is a special dayResting in the hammocks
Lightning threatens a storm
Packing for home
Today is a special day
Mom and Jas will stop for ice cream
As we start off, Dad's bike breaks
Mom fixes it
Today is a special day
Biking up THE HILL again
I take the longer way
Dad takes the harder way
Today is a special day
THE HILL was much easier this time
I arrive home
In a much better shape than Dad
Today is a special day
My 12th birthday
The kids eat their ice cream
I remember the taste
Today was a special day
Time to go to bed
Tired and happy
Tomorrow is coming
What a special day!
Wednesday, May 02, 2018
A Fortunately-Unfortunately Day
Fortunately...
Dad found a copy of his old passport so we can fully reinstate our bank account.
Unfortunately...
The bank said Mom had to be there too. (Away from the kids most of the day...again)
Fortunately...
Mom was free to go join him.
Unfortunately...
Grab had no cars, so she had to take a bus.
Fortunately...
Mom didn't too lost.
Unfortunately...
It took a long time to get there. (She had to walk quite far)
Fortunately...
We had time to spare, so we went to buy a bike.
Unfortunately...
It took a long time to assemble, so we went to eat lunch.
Fortunately...
We had time to buy running shoes.
Unfortunately...
Mom's bike was too small and making her back hurt.
Fortunately...
We found a shoe store close by and got some good shoes on sale.
Unfortunately...
We got lost and had to keep stopping and backtracking.
Fortunately...
We were not far from the bike shop to exchange bike for Mom.
Unfortunately...
It would take too long so we had to take the small bike to the bank.
Fortunately...
We were in time - just before the bank closed for the day.
Unfortunately...
Dad's extra seat fell off.
Fortunately...
We were finally able to fully reactivate our bank account.
Unfortunately...
The money we thought we'd have immediately will take 3 more days.
Fortunately...
Mom had the new SIM card to get the verification code for online banking.
Unfortunately...
We did not know which SIM card had the correct phone number.
Fortunately...
We could call Jasmin on WhatsApp and get that from her.
Unfortunately...
WhatsApp was not working to connect with Jasmin.
Fortunately...
We could call her on the phone.
Unfortunately...
The photos were not clear enough to read the numbers.
Fortunately...
Jasmin could tell Dad the correct numbers.
Unfortunately...
It was not yet activated to receive Texts.
Fortunately...
We could put it in Mom's phone which has 4G to activate it.
Unfortunately...
The new password we put in didn't work first time we tried.
Fortunately...
Mom remembered the correct password and we got in.
Unfortunately...
We kept the bank worker ½ an hour over closing time to finish everything.
Fortunately...
We were not far from the bike store so we could go back to fix Dad's bike - just before it closed.
Unfortunately...
We got lost and Mom's bike lost a pedal.
Fortunately...
We passed a furniture store and priced out a good mattress for our new place.
Unfortunately...
It was now beginning to rain.
Fortunately...
We got to pick up Mom's now big enough bike
Unfortunately...
It was now rush hour and raining.
Fortunately...
We were near a place to eat so we stopped for supper.
Unfortunately...
It was rather pricey and not so good as other places.
Fortunately...
It gave us energy to bike the 8 kms home.
Unfortunately...
Google's way home was nearly all the wrong way down one way streets.
Fortunately...
We were on bikes, so it didn't matter.
Unfortunately...
We still got lost a few times.
Fortunately...
We finally began to recognize the streets.
Unfortunately...
We were so late that the kids were waiting at home so hungry for supper.
Fortunately...
We found an appliance store on the way and found a fridge and fan for our new place.
Unfortunately...
We couldn't buy them because we don't yet have the correct money available.
Fortunately...
We could now bike fast because we knew the way home.
Unfortunately...
It was now dark and mostly uphill.
Fortunately...
Our bikes have gears, so the hills weren't so bad.
Unfortunately...
Dad's chain fell off on the steep hill in the dark.
Fortunately...
Mom could fix it.
Unfortunately...
Now we had to start up hill with no momentum.
Fortunately...
All the running we did in Canada gave us strong legs.
Unfortunately...
We still got home very red, hot & tired.
Fortunately...
We got home!
Unfortunately...
We didn't get to rest right away but rather cook supper for HUNGRY kids.
Fortunately...
After it got started, Grace could cook the chicken while Mom took a shower.
Unfortunately...
The kids hadn't cooked rice, so we had to wait for that to cook too.
Fortunately...
There were fireworks close by to occupy hungry people.
Unfortunately...
There was a building in the way.
Fortunately...
There are windows in the hall way to see them.
Unfortunately...
We were locked into our apartment because the lock was broken.
Fortunately...
It was a grill gate door and we could reach through and unlock form the other side.
Unfortunately...
It took a long time and the fireworks were ending.
Fortunately...
We got to see a little bit before it stopped - and God gave us his own display with lightening.
Unfortunately...
It was all sheet lightening so not so impressive.
Fortunately...
We are all at home and fed and ready for bed.
Unfortunately...
We have to go out again tomorrow.
Dad found a copy of his old passport so we can fully reinstate our bank account.
Unfortunately...
The bank said Mom had to be there too. (Away from the kids most of the day...again)
Fortunately...
Mom was free to go join him.
Unfortunately...
Grab had no cars, so she had to take a bus.
Fortunately...
Mom didn't too lost.
Unfortunately...
It took a long time to get there. (She had to walk quite far)
Fortunately...
We had time to spare, so we went to buy a bike.
Unfortunately...
It took a long time to assemble, so we went to eat lunch.
Fortunately...
We had time to buy running shoes.
Unfortunately...
Mom's bike was too small and making her back hurt.
Fortunately...
We found a shoe store close by and got some good shoes on sale.
Unfortunately...
We got lost and had to keep stopping and backtracking.
Fortunately...
We were not far from the bike shop to exchange bike for Mom.
Unfortunately...
It would take too long so we had to take the small bike to the bank.
Fortunately...
We were in time - just before the bank closed for the day.
Unfortunately...
Dad's extra seat fell off.
Fortunately...
We were finally able to fully reactivate our bank account.
Unfortunately...
The money we thought we'd have immediately will take 3 more days.
Fortunately...
Mom had the new SIM card to get the verification code for online banking.
Unfortunately...
We did not know which SIM card had the correct phone number.
Fortunately...
We could call Jasmin on WhatsApp and get that from her.
Unfortunately...
WhatsApp was not working to connect with Jasmin.
Fortunately...
We could call her on the phone.
Unfortunately...
The photos were not clear enough to read the numbers.
Fortunately...
Jasmin could tell Dad the correct numbers.
Unfortunately...
It was not yet activated to receive Texts.
Fortunately...
We could put it in Mom's phone which has 4G to activate it.
Unfortunately...
The new password we put in didn't work first time we tried.
Fortunately...
Mom remembered the correct password and we got in.
Unfortunately...
We kept the bank worker ½ an hour over closing time to finish everything.
Fortunately...
We were not far from the bike store so we could go back to fix Dad's bike - just before it closed.
Unfortunately...
We got lost and Mom's bike lost a pedal.
Fortunately...
We passed a furniture store and priced out a good mattress for our new place.
Unfortunately...
It was now beginning to rain.
Fortunately...
We got to pick up Mom's now big enough bike
Unfortunately...
It was now rush hour and raining.
Fortunately...
We were near a place to eat so we stopped for supper.
Unfortunately...
It was rather pricey and not so good as other places.
Fortunately...
It gave us energy to bike the 8 kms home.
Unfortunately...
Google's way home was nearly all the wrong way down one way streets.
Fortunately...
We were on bikes, so it didn't matter.
Unfortunately...
We still got lost a few times.
Fortunately...
We finally began to recognize the streets.
Unfortunately...
We were so late that the kids were waiting at home so hungry for supper.
Fortunately...
We found an appliance store on the way and found a fridge and fan for our new place.
Unfortunately...
We couldn't buy them because we don't yet have the correct money available.
Fortunately...
We could now bike fast because we knew the way home.
Unfortunately...
It was now dark and mostly uphill.
Fortunately...
Our bikes have gears, so the hills weren't so bad.
Unfortunately...
Dad's chain fell off on the steep hill in the dark.
Fortunately...
Mom could fix it.
Unfortunately...
Now we had to start up hill with no momentum.
Fortunately...
All the running we did in Canada gave us strong legs.
Unfortunately...
We still got home very red, hot & tired.
Fortunately...
We got home!
Unfortunately...
We didn't get to rest right away but rather cook supper for HUNGRY kids.
Fortunately...
After it got started, Grace could cook the chicken while Mom took a shower.
Unfortunately...
The kids hadn't cooked rice, so we had to wait for that to cook too.
Fortunately...
There were fireworks close by to occupy hungry people.
Unfortunately...
There was a building in the way.
Fortunately...
There are windows in the hall way to see them.
Unfortunately...
We were locked into our apartment because the lock was broken.
Fortunately...
It was a grill gate door and we could reach through and unlock form the other side.
Unfortunately...
It took a long time and the fireworks were ending.
Fortunately...
We got to see a little bit before it stopped - and God gave us his own display with lightening.
Unfortunately...
It was all sheet lightening so not so impressive.
Fortunately...
We are all at home and fed and ready for bed.
Unfortunately...
We have to go out again tomorrow.
Monday, April 30, 2018
A Day in the Life of...Cross-cultural Setup
Last night we planned out the day carefully:
Go to the bank to reinstate our account
Go pick up permanent SIM cards for our phones (currently we only have temporary tourist ones)
Attempt to recover a deposit reimbursement from our previous stay here
Come back to look at a few more apartments
Woke this morning to a dreadful downpour
Which complicated things a little
Took longer than expected to gather everything we might need for the bank
Finally ready to go at least 2 hours behind schedule
Out the door, only to discover Grab (Uber for Asia) has no available drivers for us
So, back up to borrow umbrellas and sus out the bus schedule and route
A wet walk and wait then on a crowded bus
To hear the driver say, "Where? Don't know" in response to our declaration of which stop we wanted
(You have to tell when getting on for them to set the fare)
So we watch carefully for road signs
Using precious phone data minutes to follow the route on GPS
And get off - at least two stops too early
Still, we find the bank, chosen for its proximity to our other downtown destination
After a 1km walk dodging puddles, drains, cars - parked ones and driving ones
Only to be told we have to go to the branch where we originally got our account
So after a break for lunch, we set out for the TMPoint to get our SIMs
Between a flaky GPS signal and Michael navigating, we walk an extra 2 km maybe
At least it is not raining anymore and is still cool from the rain...
We eventually do find the place
Scramble for Google's reminders of how to count here
So we can answer the summons by ticket number to the correct counter
This task we complete - Score! We have permanent phone numbers!
Second task of deposit reimbursement...
Seems pretty far out, we are talking about a 3 year old refund statement...
It seems to go through; yes! we'll have a bit more cash to tide us over until we can fix our banking
Wait - we're told it will happen in about a month!?!
Next stop, the correct bank
Thankfully Grab finds us a car this time
At the bank, right off, we are told we still are not at the right place!
This time we ask for the right address
And back with Grab we go to the right place
Finally in the right place; we can get this done and go home
Well, no. We're faced with a request for our old passports
To match the numbers given for the account originally
That was not a request we anticipated at all!
Some fast thinking - and praying!
We actually did bring our old passports - not to the bank, of course, but
Jasmin can take a photo and send it through WhatsApp
Will that do? Ok, can do.
But Jasmin can't find Michael's, only mom's
Because Michael's was renewed here in Asia, and did not receive his old passport back
Can we please access our account only through Liz's credentials then?
Bending the rules, but, yes, can do.
New picture please, with no background
And email it instead
A faff for Jasmin, working with her phone's water damaged camera
Using the front camera, to get a photo with no fingers and no blurriness!
Can we get online access again?
No, not until Michael's access is also reinstated
Can we move our money and use it just through Liz's card?
Not at the machines, only in a branch
Ok, can we do it now? Ok.
We sign the papers. When will the money be useable?
Not for a few days - tomorrow's a holiday. Ok...
So. We follow directions to a money changer not too far away
More walking, dodging and minding where the feet go
Sore feet and a lagging leg for me
We're averaging between 5-7km walking a day!
Thankful for friends who've given us money
We change enough to see us through the week
Then a GrabTaxi (more expensive than Grab) because Grab has no drivers for us
To home? No, to see the apartment after having moved the viewing over an hour later
Because of all the banking snafus
Now inching through the end of day traffic, will we make it on time?
We do. We see two apartments, not the one we requested
And discover that this agent believes we've taken her on and should pay her commission
Umm, no?
Then, finally, about 5:30, we reunite with our kids
Take them out for supper roti (more walking!)
And an evening swim
Such patience for them to wait for us all day!
So, we set out to do 3 jobs today
Spent 6 ½ hours out
Walked 7.6 km
And completed one and incrementally moved the other two along
Let's rest tomorrow?
Go to the bank to reinstate our account
Go pick up permanent SIM cards for our phones (currently we only have temporary tourist ones)
Attempt to recover a deposit reimbursement from our previous stay here
Come back to look at a few more apartments
Woke this morning to a dreadful downpour
Which complicated things a little
Took longer than expected to gather everything we might need for the bank
Finally ready to go at least 2 hours behind schedule
Out the door, only to discover Grab (Uber for Asia) has no available drivers for us
So, back up to borrow umbrellas and sus out the bus schedule and route
A wet walk and wait then on a crowded bus
To hear the driver say, "Where? Don't know" in response to our declaration of which stop we wanted
(You have to tell when getting on for them to set the fare)
So we watch carefully for road signs
Using precious phone data minutes to follow the route on GPS
And get off - at least two stops too early
Still, we find the bank, chosen for its proximity to our other downtown destination
After a 1km walk dodging puddles, drains, cars - parked ones and driving ones
Only to be told we have to go to the branch where we originally got our account
So after a break for lunch, we set out for the TMPoint to get our SIMs
Between a flaky GPS signal and Michael navigating, we walk an extra 2 km maybe
At least it is not raining anymore and is still cool from the rain...
We eventually do find the place
Scramble for Google's reminders of how to count here
So we can answer the summons by ticket number to the correct counter
This task we complete - Score! We have permanent phone numbers!
Second task of deposit reimbursement...
Seems pretty far out, we are talking about a 3 year old refund statement...
It seems to go through; yes! we'll have a bit more cash to tide us over until we can fix our banking
Wait - we're told it will happen in about a month!?!
Next stop, the correct bank
Thankfully Grab finds us a car this time
At the bank, right off, we are told we still are not at the right place!
This time we ask for the right address
And back with Grab we go to the right place
Finally in the right place; we can get this done and go home
Well, no. We're faced with a request for our old passports
To match the numbers given for the account originally
That was not a request we anticipated at all!
Some fast thinking - and praying!
We actually did bring our old passports - not to the bank, of course, but
Jasmin can take a photo and send it through WhatsApp
Will that do? Ok, can do.
But Jasmin can't find Michael's, only mom's
Because Michael's was renewed here in Asia, and did not receive his old passport back
Can we please access our account only through Liz's credentials then?
Bending the rules, but, yes, can do.
New picture please, with no background
And email it instead
A faff for Jasmin, working with her phone's water damaged camera
Using the front camera, to get a photo with no fingers and no blurriness!
Can we get online access again?
No, not until Michael's access is also reinstated
Can we move our money and use it just through Liz's card?
Not at the machines, only in a branch
Ok, can we do it now? Ok.
We sign the papers. When will the money be useable?
Not for a few days - tomorrow's a holiday. Ok...
So. We follow directions to a money changer not too far away
More walking, dodging and minding where the feet go
Sore feet and a lagging leg for me
We're averaging between 5-7km walking a day!
Thankful for friends who've given us money
We change enough to see us through the week
Then a GrabTaxi (more expensive than Grab) because Grab has no drivers for us
To home? No, to see the apartment after having moved the viewing over an hour later
Because of all the banking snafus
Now inching through the end of day traffic, will we make it on time?
We do. We see two apartments, not the one we requested
And discover that this agent believes we've taken her on and should pay her commission
Umm, no?
Then, finally, about 5:30, we reunite with our kids
Take them out for supper roti (more walking!)
And an evening swim
Such patience for them to wait for us all day!
So, we set out to do 3 jobs today
Spent 6 ½ hours out
Walked 7.6 km
And completed one and incrementally moved the other two along
Let's rest tomorrow?
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Just about ready - to leave again
Tomorrow we're on our way again. As a parting gift, we were given a few hours in another hotel's pool and supper in the attached restaurant. It was nice - a rooftop pool that we had mostly to ourselves. We realized we'd not been swimming for so long that Grace had grown out of her swim wear... so she wore Dad's swim shorts and an extra swim top we had just in case. Aiden wore himself out attempting to swim back and forth across the pool without any help from any floats. He did pretty well, but not well enough to play in the pool without floatation when Mom gets out. The available lifejackets were a tad bit too big, so it didn't last long.
The supper was fun too. We got club sandwiches and burgers. Aiden hit upon a unique way of eating a too big burger: Use the skewer as handles on either side and eat sidewise on!
Tomorrow afternoon we get on the train to Penang
We'll arrive there Friday afternoon
It has been a good week in Bangkok
Reconnecting with friends, helping them out as we can
Doing some admin tasks related to starting life in Asia
Walking a whole lot more than we do in Canada
(I think nearly 10km all told this week!)
Finally getting Jasmin to the dentist who pulled a stubborn baby molar
But we're ready to get to a proper resting place - a home
One more temporary set up
While we find our own place
Hopefully we find it quickly
And the visa allowing us to stay longer
Finds us soon too
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Days in Transition
After arrival we have:
Slept a day away (after two nights of in transit more-or-less-no-sleep)
Spent a night awake (waiting for reunification of the family then catching each other up)
Gone out into the city on public transport
(carefully teaching Aiden every moment how to work this life)
Had a late supper and fun evening at a friend's house
(the kids really enjoyed the reintroduction to tropical fruit)
Took a morning to repack our luggage now that there are no weight limits to worry about
(fixing the myriad scattering of last minute stuff it in packing)
Scrambled with barely remembered Thai to buy meals on the street (arguably the cheapest and best)
Spent a day in the hotel room while Michael continued the out and about errands
Playing unpacked board games, imagination games
(and discovering new things in the we've-been-in-here-too-long restless phase resulting in this video...)
Slept a day away (after two nights of in transit more-or-less-no-sleep)
Spent a night awake (waiting for reunification of the family then catching each other up)
Gone out into the city on public transport
(carefully teaching Aiden every moment how to work this life)
Had a late supper and fun evening at a friend's house
(the kids really enjoyed the reintroduction to tropical fruit)
Took a morning to repack our luggage now that there are no weight limits to worry about
(fixing the myriad scattering of last minute stuff it in packing)
Scrambled with barely remembered Thai to buy meals on the street (arguably the cheapest and best)
Spent a day in the hotel room while Michael continued the out and about errands
Playing unpacked board games, imagination games
(and discovering new things in the we've-been-in-here-too-long restless phase resulting in this video...)
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Getting Ready to Journey On
Jasmin's friend went back to school today
And we are leaving this afternoon for London by bus
Then by plane this evening for Helsinki
On our way to Bangkok, and then on to our new home in Penang
So this morning has been clothes washing
Rejigging the packing to include souvenirs and not the cold weather clothes
Printing new boarding passes
Charging electronics
Turning thoughts to this next stage of the journey
Reflecting on the week past
Such a lovely oasis of rest in this major cross-world transition
How blessed we are to have come!
Over the weekend we got to explore a different piece of England
We hired a narrow boat
Joined the slow, off-grid life
Crossing over an aqueduct
High above river and rail
Fantastic valley views after the rain cleared
A tiny little wood stove for fending off spring chill
Picking a night's mooring based on fancy
Making beds from builtin benches and tables just like the train
What a wonderful way to end our stay
Slowed and rested
Ready for what's next
I wonder what adventures we'll find
This next week in Bangkok?
And we are leaving this afternoon for London by bus
Then by plane this evening for Helsinki
On our way to Bangkok, and then on to our new home in Penang
So this morning has been clothes washing
Rejigging the packing to include souvenirs and not the cold weather clothes
Printing new boarding passes
Charging electronics
Turning thoughts to this next stage of the journey
Reflecting on the week past
Such a lovely oasis of rest in this major cross-world transition
How blessed we are to have come!
Over the weekend we got to explore a different piece of EnglandWe hired a narrow boat
Joined the slow, off-grid life
Through locks and swing bridges
The girls eager to be off boat and helpful
Learning to swing bridges and work locks
Tow path walks, racing the boat
Wonderful meals
from a tiny galley kitchen
A stop for lunch, a tree climb, an explore
iPhone and mommy read audio books
Bird watching wonders: swans, moor hens
A rat in a squirrel proof bird feeder cage
Lots of dogs to try identify
Crossing over an aqueduct
High above river and rail
Fantastic valley views after the rain cleared
A tiny little wood stove for fending off spring chill
Picking a night's mooring based on fancy
Making beds from builtin benches and tables just like the train
What a wonderful way to end our stay
Slowed and rested
Ready for what's next
I wonder what adventures we'll find
This next week in Bangkok?
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