Cancer Research Run: We dedicate it to Uncle Peter's Recovery

October 22, 2010

The kids' school organized a cancer research fundraiser run for all the kids and families to do on a school day. It's called the Terry Fox Run, dedicated to a cancer survivor who ran across Canada even after losing a leg to cancer. The kids' Uncle Peter is struggling with cancer now too, just having gone through a couple surgeries. We were thinking of him during his post-op recovery, and we dedicated our run to him. We hope it helps him heal.

Each time the kids ran the circuit, they would get a stripe on their arm. I ran with Griffin, then Abraham, then Alice, so I proudly sported my many stripes by the end. By the way, the stripe reward totally works! I was dying to get more stripes. In fact, I found myself pushing Griffin to get one more stripe after he was clearly exhausted from having run like a thoroughbred out of the gate, not having paced himself at all. Actually, none of the 3rd grade boys paced themselves, after all the smack talk beforehand.

Alice, on the other hand, sped ahead at a logical pace but still managed to look like a long-legged gazelle as she ran. I had to cut to keep up with her. No, I wasn't just trying to beat the 6 year olds, but I didn't buy it when they called it a "fun run" rather than the race it really was.

I joke but let me be honest...When my running group friends joined me for the first run with the 3rd grade kids, I ran fast, showing off to the parents on the sidelines. I even convinced one of my mom friends to run "tempo," meaning sprinting a bit, then running, then sprinting past the 8 year olds again. When I heard her yell to an exhausted 3rd grade runner, "Get to the left, passing on your right! Stay left when running to let the faster ones through!", I knew I was officially reaching middle age, crisis and all.

Imbi Sunday Market: Where do chickens come from?

October 24, 2010

Abraham and I woke up before sunrise and snuck out to the early morning market in a part of Kuala Lumpur called Imbi. As we left, we promised to bring back treats for Alice and Griffin.

Imbi's famous for its chickens, and Abraham had never seen where his Dad's sauteed chicken breast actually comes from. Neither did Alice and Griffin. In the back of the market were rows of chicken cages. I was ambivalent about showing Abraham the gory process of killing a chicken, but was propelled to do it after hearing the call from Omnivore's Dilemma to know where our food comes from to be responsible, healthier eaters.

So, Boom watched from afar (not quite so bloody) as men slit the chicken's throats them dropped them into a huge, bloody bin to bleed to death. Then, they'd dump them into a tumbler that seemed to remove the feathers. Then, into a big vat of boiling water, then onto be chopped up. We ordered chicken breasts and watched them cut the chicken off the bone, removing the skin to produce a chicken breast that could have come straight from a Costco package. I promptly bought it and left, only realizing when I got home that I left the breast behind on the counter, after all that. I highly recommend 3rd world market shopping, without a hangover.

Boom was not traumatized. Just fascinated. Although, when we got home he did say "They slit chicken's necks to kill them, but they don't slit our necks because we're not chickens, right?"

Then, we watched a man chop our salmon off the bone, removing the skin. And, Boom ground up some unknown white fish in a grinder, and they added water chestnut and herbs to it. They gave us the ground fish mix and some handmade dumpling wraps so I could fill the wraps with the ground fish to make dumplings for soup and more. Mmmm, Dinner!

Boom's job was to buy the treats for Alice and Griffin. He chose mini-crepes, later filled with nutella, donuts, and nut/butter pancakes. And, he insisted on getting flowers for Alice. Breakfast is served!

Singapore!

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October 10, 2010

Singapore is the anti-Kuala Lumpur. It is a well-planned, functioning, and competent city and citizenry. Everyone, including the cab drivers, seem so well-educated. The public transport system is extensive and works beautifully. I never worried about our getting hit by a car or purse-snatched. When someone signs a contract, they stick to the contract without graft or corruption involved. Some might say caning someone for dropping illegal gum on the sidewalk is an overreaction. Some might say it's a sanitized, artificial utopia. After a weekend there, I'll take sanitized, safer Singapore as a break anytime. I'd probably miss the laid-back, warm and welcoming way here after a while. Maybe.

We hit the botanic garden, the children's garden, and it was like our kids had been caged up for months. They ran wild and free, loving having the open space and stimulating nature. They climbed trees, saw the biggest lily pads in the world, and spun around on exotic playground equipment.

That first night we went on the famous night safari at the zoo. There was a big Halloween celebration, with uniquely Asian ghouls who'd jump out from behind bushes, but the kids seemed used to it after the first few jumps. They say 80% of the Southeast asian jungle animals are nocturnal so you can only see them active at night. And, we sure did. Even the tapirs, normally shy and hidden, wandered near our safari tram so I could almost reach out and touch them in a magical, once in a lifetime intimate moment with an animal I've tried to court for years, after trying to see some in Costa Rica years ago and last summer I tried to see them in the jungle here.

And, yes, we did go to Universal Studios in Singapore despite, as my brother reminded me sardonically, Universal Studios Hollywood being 10 minutes from his home in Los Angeles. It was new and had enough rides and characters to make a 6 year old's jaw drop and a 41 year old's brain shrink.

On the way there, though, Abraham did get his toe sucked into an escalator, as Griffin posted. His croc was sliced right thru by the escalator and it seemed to slice right thru his toenail and maybe worse. We couldn't tell how bad the cut was since it was pretty bloody. But, that didn't stop us from freaking out and running far, dripping blood, to the first aid office at Universal. There, the escalator oil was painstakingly and painfully removed from Boom's foot and we uncovered that he still had a fat little baby toe intact, not needing stitches. It still hurts often, especially during the nightly bandaid changes and cleanings, but he's much better - thanks for your good wishes for his recovery!

We rallied that night to Chinatown which was DELICIOUS with dim sum and more. When we returned to our sweet Swissotel, drummers played outside and Boom insisted we sit and watch them for what seemed like hours into the nite. He fancies himself a drummer.

Our last morning, we went on down to the Singapore Zoo and they all aksed for you...They even inquired about 'cha! Sorry, couldn't resist an Audubon Zoo song reference. It's one of the best zoos we've seen. Swimming jaguars, elephants moving logs, feeding giraffes ourselves (never done that at any other zoo!), and orangutans using "tools" like twigs to pull in keeper-designed food challenges like pulling in fruit to himself. And, we're now officially obsessed with Komodo Dragons whose spit has enough bacteria to kill you slowly and painfully, not the way to go, dying from saliva. I'm now dying to go to the Komodo dragon islands in Indonesia.

Ken was happier the moment we hit the bus for Singapore. He'd been feeling beleaguered and demoralized by his role as the stay-at-home dad (or as his New Zealand stay at home dads call themselves - a "man-mum"). We're trying to get a sitter to help him out a couple afternoons as a reprieve but, in the meantime, a trip away seemed to do the trick to bring back his adventurous, fun, more free side. It was a delight (and relief) to see again...

Griffin's Singapore

Griffin blog:

October 9, 2010

We went to Singapore! It is a 5hour bus ride to get there. Singapore is the most arcutectural place you have ever seen . There is a casino with a boat that is held up by three huge buildings. We went to an amusement park on an island called Sentosa. There are these cable cars that are like trams but these things go for like 50 miles in the air. Mama got scared. Boom Boom got his croc caught in the escalator. The escalator ripped his croc in half. One of his toes got really badly injured. Luckily they had a first aid room at Universal Studios Amusement Park where we were going. We stayed there for about a half an hour before finally getting out. The first ride I went on was Jurassic Park water rapids. There were these boats that took you on really fast rivers. It wasn’t too scary. There was also an Egyptian Ride. There was a roller coaster in the dark dark dark involving super fast downhill where you couldn’t see where you were about to go. Violent backward movements. And, fire. Then we saw this 4D Shrek Movie. Then we went on a dragon roller coaster. It was so fun. I had to go on it 3 times before I could stop.

A day in the life of an international school student

September 30, 2010

I visited the kids at school for a parent coffee-get-together, one of many the school hosts. Class parents often make their own homemade food for these events, so I go as often as I can. This time didn't disappoint with homemade egg rolls for breakfast. Clearly, I have ulterior motives for visiting my kids at school.

I paired the coffee event with my reading a book to Boom's class and having lunch with Alice and Griffin. One nice thing about the school is they encourage parents to join their kids at lunch sometimes, and it's a secret pleasure of mine to go. But, first, I read to Boom's class. This school is so loaded with expat oil money and more that they even have smart boards in the class for the 3 year olds. It's kind of over the top. Instead of my holding a book up and reading it to them, as I guess only dinosaurs do, the teacher held the book under an electronic overhead projector so that each page was projected up on the smart board screen. She turned the pages for me while I read. With the lights off and the book so distant from me, it felt almost as if the kids were watching a movie in the dark rather than having an intimate moment with me, getting lost in a book together. But, Abraham seemed proud to have his favorite pirate book and his Mommy projected on screen, holding my hand tightly the entire time.

Then, he and his adorable classmates raced tricycles, ran a lap around their age-appropriate soccer field on a track, and did ring-around-the-rosie with a haphazard, rambunctious style that seemed to be throwing off his task-oriented teacher who had the best-laid plans, until they were met by a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds tired of tasks.

I was surprised to see how rough Boom got with some of the other kids. In his old school he would never hit or shove roughly (he'd save it for his siblings) but in this class the first thing I saw was his shoving a younger, upset girl down on the ground. He continued to be rough the rest of the morning. And, I think some of the other boys were similar. I spoke with the teacher about it later, when our parents had coffee with her, but I'm not sure she has a system down that's working to manage it yet. It's honestly hard for me to watch Boom hurting anyone else, especially when it seems like if the environment were to improve, then he would too.

At lunch with Alice and Griffin, it was just plain exhilarating for me to see how well-liked they were. Alice had a close, close friend named Valeria, who rides on her bus and lives next door to us. And, Griffin was begged by 2 boys from his class to be goalie for the much anticipated, post-lunch soccer match. One of the boys asked Griffin if he'd come have a playdate at his house. In Brooklyn, I'd taken for granted how well-loved they were by their long-time best friends, and I didn't realize how much I missed seeing them adored by their friends, and vice-versa. Although, I must say, Griffin is both expanding his friendships (usually he only has one, isolated friendship in his class) and holding back his passion for his new friends somewhat. Maybe he feels disloyal to his best friends in Brooklyn, otherwise.