Summer's End

Dear Friends and Family.
I imagine you are celebrating the last weekend of summer at the beach, lake, poolside or taking in one last get-away. Knowing many of you, I bet your children have had their back-to-school haircuts already and an outfit picked out. I am trying to remember the cooler temperatures, the crispness in the air. Oh, the beauty of fall, I am missing it for sure. Picking peaches and apples and the fall raspberry crop...

I am thinking of all my teacher friends and family, my little neighborhood buddies and special friends of my children heading off to school in a few days. I am sure you are eager and excited. Maybe a little nervous too? I wish you all a great school year! And I would love to know how school is going for all of you. Many changes in the Newburyport system this year...I hope they are positive, for you teachers, the kiddo's and our community.

Our children have just completed three weeks of school. They are in full swing with homework, tests and school trips. They ride one of 70+ buses to school. They wear a uniform, which I love, and they don't seem to mind, but need to complain about anyway. We leave our flat at 6:57 a.m. to take a slooow elevator ride from the 20th floor, to meet the bus right outside for a 7:03 pickup. The bus ride lasts about 25 minutes. Their school day is 8-3. After school activities end at 4:15, but not everyday, and they return home around 5 pm on those days. The classrooms are airconditioned, and the open air hallways, of course, are not. It seems to rain very hard everyday where they are, which is north and in the rain forest. Fortunately the halls are covered, but the rain comes down hard into the courtyards. I love that!

Leah has adjusted quite well. She loves her teachers, and has made new friends easily. She is learning to play the flute, which she happily practices daily, and is taking, and really enjoying, Mandarin. She will meet her new Orton-Gillingham tutor next week, finally. Of course, no one will compare to Teresa, her tutor in Newburyport.

Jane and Evan continue to struggle. They miss home, and their schools, so much. The biggest hole in their lives right now are the friends they left behind. The Singapore American School is huge. Evan's 10th grade class is larger than the entire GDA student body. Jane and Leah certainly come from even smaller schools. I imagine that is overwhelming! It is not easy to make a connection with another student. Jane is the only new student in her home base, and is the only American, actually, the only Westerner in that class. It is heartbreaking for Jed and I to see these two children so lonely.

Jed is great at getting photos onto the blog. He likes to write about little trips and outings, but not so much about the emotions that are challenging us. We have seen some beautiful places, eaten delicious new foods, and continue to explore our surroundings with new families we have met. The children are not even aware of how much they are coping with and how well they have done so far, but they are still so angry at us. I still believe they will "figure it out" and will grow strong and happy through this experience. Please keep your fingers crossed!

With lots of love-
Lauren

Hungry Ghost Festival

This weekend we went on a tour to learn about the hungry ghost festival. It is a local festival that is celebrated annually during the 7th lunar month. It is believed by many Chinese people that the spirits of deceased persons roam the earth during this time. Spirits with no family members on earth have no where to go and no one to provide for them. The emphasis of this ancient festival is on respecting and remembering the dead.

Neighborhood events entertain and feed the hungry ghosts. Roadside offerings, incense sticks and paper money can be seen. There are large stages set up for Chinese Opera (wayang) and pop concerts (getai). The front row is always left empty for the special guests! We went out to a couple of these and were clearly the only non-locals among the crowd. Nonetheless, we were invited to stay for dinner and welcomed into the temples.

National Day

Hi all,

We hope everyone is doing well and thanks for checking the blog! We have not updated much since we seem to be quite busy. School has been in session for two weeks. Along with school come many activities - baseball, swimming, music lessons, girlscouts, community service clubs, etc.

Singapore recently celebrated their National Day. There was a parade on the largest floating stage in the world. You needed tickets to sit in the stands for the best view so we watched it poolside at the American Club. Here are a few snaps.

Bauer Pics.

Here is Bauer sleeping with Mom, and one of him awake. He is quite the troublemaker but also loves to cuddle up with you and take a snooze. He looks so much like Navio we have called him that a few times....lets hope he does grow to be bigger so we can tell them apart!
Miss you all.
Jane

More Pics.

Hi Again. The first picture is of a place called Chijmes (Chimes) which used to be a convent but now is a shopping/eating area. That night, we met up with Evan and Dad at he East Seacoast Parkway. There is a walk along the ocean that leads to famous seafood restaurants. Here is a picture of the ocean and of Mom and Evan eating Chilli Crab (very messy). At the place where we ate, Leah took the camera and took pictures of the lobsters (different from here) and a beautiful fish.
Miss you all....Jane

Raffles City

A few days ago, us girls took a trip to Raffles City. We can't figure out how to get a caption next to each photo, so I will tell you what they are now. First is a picture of the inside of St. Andrews Cathedral. It is stuck right in the middle of all the high rises and shopping centers, so it looks out of place. Right near Raffles City is the Swiss Hotel, the highest hotel in the world. The Equinox is open to the public and has big windows, a restaurant and a bar. We didn't eat, but I took a few pictures from the top. The next picture is of the Raffles Hotel which is very old and where they created the Singapore Sling. We went and got an ice cream mixed with toppings on a cold stone. Expensive but very good. The next photo is of the Raffles City shopping mall, which is also reffered to as the "Tin Can". Hopefully you can see that the building does look like a tin can from this picture.
Only 5 pics. per entry...so more on the way. Hope you like them.