Studley

Who is that stud behind those Foster Grants??

December in Singapore and Singapore Wedding

Singapore gets very excited about Christmas. Given how much shopping is a way of life around here, you can understand why. Orchard Road is the famous shopping street in Singapore and the lights are everywhere! You will see a couple of pictures here taken at Orchard Road. Another hilarious sight is at Tanlin mall where they make it "snow" everynight with a bubble machine shooting foam. At first glance, it actually looks like a snow scene and the little kids love it!

Lauren and I also were able to attend a traditional Chinese wedding dinner. In Singapore, the couples get married in a small ceremony similiar to a justice of the peace type ceremony. They often do this before they are actually going to live as a married couple because they have to be officially married to get on the list for government sponsored housing (known as HDB housing). In this case, an Administrative Assistant from our office had been married previously, but had her traditional wedding dinner for 400 guests on a Sunday night at the Orchard Hotel. It was a 10 course Chinese meal that included such items at jelly fish, shark's fin soup, and yam paste for dessert. It was not nearly as bad as you might think and it was a great experience for us.

We will be home in a few days. Can't wait...

Best,
Jed

Hello from West Brookfield!!
We are loving looking at the pictures and reading all about your life and trips there!
So amazing!! We talk about you often. Hannah tells me she misses you guys and she always
wants to know what time it is where you are!!
Thanks for including us in your blog -- it's amazing!!
The Niemiecs

Ammas

Most families here in Singapore have live-in domestic helpers known as Ammas. The Ammas tend to be from countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. We are fortunate to have a wonderful Amma named Alona. She is from the Philippines and is a wonderful cook and person. Our apartment has a bedroom for her and she has her own entrance and bathroom. Alona has worked in Singapore for 6 years. She has good english (although sometimes it is hard to understand) and also knows Korean (she worked for a Korean family). She does most of the cooking, cleaning and laundry. Many Ammas take care of children, but, of course, ours are old enough to fend for themselves now.

Alona's situation is better than many. Some of the apartments we looked at had terrible rooms (closets) for the Ammas. It is also our understanding the many of the Ammas are mistreated - working 7 days a week and maybe getting one day off a month. When you register to be an employer of an Amma, you must take a test and learn about the regulations. However, some people ignore the issues. Witness this picture we took from our apartment of the building next door. This helper is washing windows from the ledge of the building about 20 floors up! We were horrified and could not believe what we saw.

Another Visitor!

Mike Cyros came to Singapore on business and we were excited to get together with him. Fortunately, he had a free Saturday afternoon and evening and we got a chance to catch up. He came on over to our place and we spent the afternoon and evening relaxing at home. Our helper, Alona, made a nice dinner including the spring rolls which was a group effort!

Thanks for coming by Mike! For the rest of you out there, feel free to come on over!

Finally, we joined!

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jason

Hello Petty Family!

We loved the pics of Cambodia -- and the beautiful journal of Jane's. Such eloquence!

We will be busy this rainy Saturday getting the Halloween costumes finished. Still trying to figure out how to attache Darth Maul's (Ryan) horns. Harry Potter (Jason) is much easier.

Love to al. Looking forward to Christmas.

Jodi.

Are you cheering on your Red Sox?

Tremendous pictures from the other side of the world. Big win last night for the hometown team. I hope you are getting up early (or staying up late, not sure on the time difference) to cheer on the local nine.



Thanks for inviting me to read your blog.



Ken Carpenter