Posted 10:35 PM by Anne Wilhoit

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had a very quiet family celebration. Since Thanksgiving is not a holiday here (go figure!) David took the day off. He actually took both Thursday and Friday off. Thursday morning we ran a few errands and after Amanda's nap we went for a Bum Boat ride on the Singapore River. You should just hear Amanda say "Bum Boat". She was so proud of herself...she kept pointing at all the boats..."Bum Boat", "Bum Boat", "Bum Boat". After the boat ride we ventured back to the apartment and it was just about time to eat. As I have already told a few of you, I prepared the tiniest turkey you have ever seen...see picture (it should be posted soon so check back in the next day or so if it is not up yet). Now, for those of you who are saying: ”That looks like a chicken"...I confess, it is a chicken. I did make homemade stuffing and mashed potatoes and we also had rolls, cranberry, corn, and apple pie. David and I also opened up a nice bottle of white wine. After dinner we decorated our Christmas tree. I have dubbed the tree "Liberty". It is all decked with red, white, and blue ornaments - mostly stars but some "liberty" bells, beads, and white lights. Some of the lights have these little star coverings. I just love it. We were able to find a 5 foot artificial tree and the ornaments all relatively inexpensively. Yesterday Katie and I decorated a garland and hung that up too, so "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas". If you are wondering why we do not have our holiday decorations here, we just ran out of time when sorting. On moving day we grabbed the stockings and a nutcracker but sent the rest of the bins to storage for later shipment to Germany. It is kind of a shame but also a blessing because I would not have anywhere to store them all here. This tree will be difficult enough. For the 19 Singapore dollars it set us back, it might get stored right in the recycle bin. We will have to see.

Other long weekend activities included: a trip to the Science center (very much like the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose), a "bubble" show at Tanglin Mall which is all decorated for Christmas, swimming, mass, errands...well...the usual family stuff. The highlight was the Night Safari. We took Katie on Friday night. For those of you who have been to the San Diego Wild Animal Park it is very similar to the tram ride but at night. You can also get off the tram and take little hikes through night exhibits. Really great...but look out for snakes and bats. The bats were actually really fascinating. And here is something funny (and little crude)…we saw one pee. So here are all these bats hanging upside down and then this one right in front of us pops right side up, pees, and then hangs upside down again. Are you laughing yet? We were hysterical. That damn bat knew that if it peed hanging upside down it would wet itself. From the looks of some of the public bathrooms here in Singapore, several people could learn a lesson about bathroom hygiene just by watching those bats. At the “Creatures of the Night” show they pulled a monstrous reticulated python right out of the audience. It was hidden under the bench. You should have seen me sitting through the rest of that show with my feet up on the bench instead of on the ground. Later that night when I told Katie that we had to bring my parents to the Night Safari she said: “YES! But, oh-no, we cannot bring mama Gin to that show because she will not like that snake.” Good thinking Katie.

Today Katie was so excited when she returned from school because she received a certificate from the principal. The PTA recently sponsored a bookmark contest for the upcoming book fair. I thought every child would be so excited to join but apparently not so many did. Katie was the only one in her class of 18 to enter a bookmark drawing. She did not win the overall contest but was called up to stage in front of all the kindergarten classes (8 classes) by the Principal to receive her certificate of appreciation. We took it downstairs to the photo shop and had it laminated tonight. She even made a few copies to send to some of you back in the United States. It really made me smile to see her so excited about the recognition.

David left for Taiwan again today and will be gone until Thursday. Amanda has thrown us for a loop again by waking up the past few nights. Last night David and I were up with her almost every hour on the hour. I got a short nap today but will hope for the best tonight. I have volunteer day at school this week and am starting to work on Christmas cards so they can reach you all in time! Also, if it's not raining I'd like to get out for a few walks with Amanda; my exercise days have been dwindling. My saving grace is that without a car I still walk much more than I used to but I still need some "power walks". I will try to go to the Botanical Gardens to get these in as the paths are very inviting for nice walks. Lots of people walk and run there.
Oh - I almost forgot...Franklin the stuffed turtle visited our home all weekend long. Franklin is Katie's class' mascot and each weekend one of the kids gets to bring him home. The children take care of him and he joins the family on outings. He has been allover Singapore and even to Malaysia. The children enter writings and pictures in a diary. It's really a cute project. Franklin comes home in his own backpack with book and a mini turtle flashlight as well as the journal from last year's class and this year's class. Katie had fun with it and we did too!

In closing, if any of you are thinking of visiting Singapore…come on over. It’s worth it just to see a bat…well, you know.

Posted 7:34 AM by Anne Wilhoit
Well, good morning everyone. I realized that it has been a few days since I "blogged" so I had better get to it!

Yesterday afternoon I joined Katie and her Daisy troop for a field trip to a chocolate factory. I was surprised to learn of a chocolate factory in Singapore. This was a small operation - only 12 employees. They mostly make specialty chocolate forms for 2 major hotels here. They also make the Merlion chocolates and the chocolates sold at the Duty Free Shops here. The girls had a good time and so did the moms - lots of samples!

This past weekend we were invited to a BBQ at the home of a work associate of David's. Josef and his family were very hospitable. They are from Germany and will live just outside of Burghausen when they move "home" next spring. They have 3 children so it was a nice connection to make. That was Sunday - on Saturday we hung around the apartment a bit. Some napped, some swam, and then we all ventured out in the afternoon to the Singapore History Museum. The girls enjoyed a couple of exhibits but then Katie announced it was "boring". Really not quite suited for children her age - I will go back so I can re-view some of the exhibits. We then tried out a certain eating area David has been wanting to check out. It was great - we had some really good satay (skewered meat with peanut sauce). Then we took a nice walk along the Singapore River's edge and saw lots of bum boats and people just hanging out on a Saturday evening.

This past weekend we also purchased a 5 foot artificial Christmas tree and some red-white-blue themed decorations for it. I had previously purchased some star ornaments so we will have lots of stars and red-white-blue ornaments (mostly stars). We were surprised to find the artificial trees but they are really the only way to go...no fresh ones to speak of. We will also have a mini tree which is on its way from California. Even though we don’t have all the decorations from home we will have enough to really help us get in the Christmas mood. Our Thanksgiving Day activity will be decorating our tree. We will have a quite celebration here at home. David is taking the day off (it is not a Holiday here in Singapore). I have yet to do the shopping so I’ll join all the last minute American shoppers tomorrow at the market. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Posted 11:37 PM by Anne Wilhoit
Deepavali has come and gone here in Singapore (well, just about). It is an Indian Holiday - a festival of lights. Katie could actually tell you more about it..."the god 'Dia' visits your house, but only if you light candles and have flour designs on your walk-ways". (Supposedly the flour mosaic patterns created in the homes are gorgeous). We celebrated the Holiday at the zoo with about a gagillion other Singaporeans and our friends the Horns. Today we took in the feeding of the polar bears (spectacular!) and a few other exhibits before getting caught in a MAJOR downpour. It definitely caught us by surprise...one minute sunny, the next a little overcast and then it just poured. We were drenched. Soaking wet but still warm.

David arrived home this evening after a short trip to Taiwan. He missed going to the zoo but we are "Friends of the Zoo" (members) so we will go back several times. It's quite late for me to be up right now (11:25)...I was up late a few nights this week especially glued to the T.V. watching the first tragic reports of the plane crash in New York. I was so frightened...it was an awful feeling being here alone with the girls and not knowing if it was a terroist attack/bomb and if there would be more momentarily. After a few hours and a few prayers I was finally able to feel settled enough to crawl into bed. Speaking of...I better go crawl in bed now too. Good night from Singapore and Happy Deepavali!

Posted 6:32 AM by David Wilhoit
So the pressure is on. I thought we had a pretty good system, Anne the roving reporter and me as the field photographer.

The father daughter dance was spectacular. As you can see Katie and her troup of daisies (girl scouts in training) all had matching outfits and looked adorable. Prior to the dance I got Katie a corsage. She only wore it for a few pictures as it was "itchy". We got a babysitter to watch Amanda as Anne went with us to help out (and spy on us)

We got there early (imagine that, me early) and strolled around. The decorations were overboard with the dining hall decorated with boots as flower pots and country music piped in. We started dancing at 6:00 and didn't slow down until 7:00. The dancing controlled anarchy. If I had to describe what was going on it was comprised of 30% jumping in place, 20% doing spins, 20% running in circles, 20% lifts, 10% conga lines. I am not sure how many times I heard, "Daddy, I want to do that". Many Airplane rides, lifts, and at one point all 8 of the daisy fathers had their girls standing on their shoulders dancing around. (Dad my back is fine). Every 5 minutes on of the daisy girls would run over and grab another daisy, and so on until they were all running around the gym.

While this was going on, one troup at a time was having their special father/daughter dance. This ranged from "achy-breaky heart" to "Home on the range". At 7 o'clock the time came, a break!!! We mosied on over to the dining hall and we ate a special box lunch prepared by eat girl. We had pringles, and a triple decker sandwich with extra kisses (Hersheys that is). Good Grub. Our break only lasted 30 minutes before "Daddy, Daddy, let's dance some more".

Back at the dance floor we started again. I tried to get Katie to dance a slow song with me, but the tempo in her head must have been playing quadruple time. I guess some Dad's were getting wiped out. As I was dancing with Katie (doing some spins) I looked up to see four daisies waiting in line to dance with me. I went through the line a few times and then that was enough. The comment I heard was"MY, DADDY!" and a strong tug told the girls that was enough of that.

It was finally time, 8:09 it was time for our special father daughter dance. Troup 33 (the youngest) lined up in front with their daddies. Spontaneously, all of the dad's got on their knees and we started to dance as the music started. Our song was "Butterfly Kisses" for those who don't know this song it must have been written by the Kleenex corporation to stimulate demand for tissues. It is about a dad whose little girl grows up becomes a woman and get's married. But he says she was sent from god to be his little girl and he thanks god for her butteryfly kisses". As a gift to all of the daddies, the girls who wouldn't stop for a momment danced slowly the whole song with their arms tightly wrapped around their daddies.

"For all that I've done wrong, I must have done something right. To deserve love every morning and butterfly kisses at night"

Posted 10:16 PM by Anne Wilhoit
David promises to submit a journal entry to tell you all about the Father/Daughter Dance and Banquet he attended with Katie this weekend. If you are reading this, you have undoubtly seen the pictures! And, how about that "streaming video" of Amanda? That's it for me...check back to see if David comes through! Yes, really...that's it...my shortest entry to date as I'm off to bed. (David leaves for Taiwan tomorrow - my first 3 days alone with the kids since arriving in Singapore). OK, that is really it.

Posted 8:46 AM by Anne Wilhoit
Yesterday David and I finally tried a "Singapore Sling" - the drink made famous at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel. We had a very pleasant lunch with Bill and Connie Chambers (David’s godparents) who were just in Singapore for the day. Singapore for the day? They have been on an adventurous cruise which originated in China and will be ending soon in Thailand. They have been to some amazing port-o-calls here in Asia. We enjoyed a few hours with them and then sent them in a taxi back to the ship. Bill and Connie told us about the "Flight for Freedom" they took a part in as well which originated from Portland (Oregon) and went to New York City in order to show support for New York. Bill and his daughter were on CNN and the flight was featured on all the major network morning shows...maybe some of you saw the coverage?

Amanda was up last night a few times. She seems to have developed a cold so the congestion was making it hard for her to sleep. We were supposed to have a play date here at our place this morning, but I have cancelled and will keep Amanda in all day. She is sneezing and has quite a runny nose and just looks a little "out of it". Good news though - we have been invited to join a playgroup through the American Women's Association which meets every Thursday morning. This is exactly what I was hoping for as all the children are right around the same age as Amanda. Our first date is next Thursday.

I had 2 interesting taxi rides this week - both in the same day! The first driver drove sooooooooo slow that he almost stopped to shift gears. This happened while we were on the main highway. Also, he had no clue where I wanted to go and then turned right in front of oncoming traffic. I was so nauseated when I got out of that cab I almost threw up. The second ride really scared me. I exchanged the usual greetings with the driver - where I needed to go...how was he doing, etc. Then he asked me if I was American. He said..."Are you American? You sound American." I said "Yes, I am" (I never deny that I am although I know people here who say they are Australian). Then he said "Sad" and I did not know if he meant that it was "sad" that I was an American, or that it was "sad" what had happened in America. It really scared me though and neither one of us said another word. I was afraid to ask him for clarification but was thinking in my mind what I would say if he said or did anything. I checked to make sure he was going exactly where I had requested. It was short ride in the heart of downtown. He was right on the main streets so I hung in until we got to the destination. Had we been going farther or on the highway, I would have demanded that he let me out of the cab. I want to think the best of people so I keep thinking that he meant it was sad what happened in the U.S., not sad that I was American.

We are looking forward to the Father-Daughter dance tomorrow evening. I'll fill you in on the details soon! Katie’s outfit is just precious.

Posted 8:50 AM by Anne Wilhoit
We enjoyed a pleasant Sunday afternoon sharing dessert/coffee and a swim with some friends. We met Boris, Christine, and their son Max here at Fraser Suites but they have sinced moved into another apartment. The nice thing is that they are so close to us we can see their complex from our balcony. We made the 5 minute walk over about 4:00 PM and enjoyed a tour of their spacious apartment, coffee and dessert, and then a nice swim in the pool. Max is just about Amanda's age and very easy going even with our two girls going through all of his toys and Amanda borrowing his high chair while he patiently sat in his stroller to eat. Boris and Christine call "home" Munich, but have recently moved to Singapore after living in Shangai. We hope to spend more time with them.

Katie's Monday afternoon Daisies was filled with preparations for the upcoming Father/Daughter banquet. It is this Saturday evening. She brought home an adorable skirt, top, and hat for her and a matching bandana for daddy to wear. Some of the moms sewed all of these outfits! The theme is Western. Katie will prepare a boxed supper to bring along for her and David. Ii just could not stay away so I volunteered to help out so I can get a glimpse of them together. I'll definitely bring the camera!

Have a nice week everyone! I'm off with Amanda for a quick shopping trip (one stop) this morning. Amanda is doing much better with her sleeping...thank goodness. Last night our "wake-up call" was literally that...some bozo called the wrong number (ours) after we had all gone to sleep. You just have to laugh at these things.

Posted 9:02 PM by Anne Wilhoit
Things we brought that we don't need or cannot use:
-Amanda's car seat (although we do use it in the house a little- she sometimes sits in it and looks at books)
-Hats (When the sun is blaring it is too hot to wear one; you just sweat too much with it on)
-Sweatshirts, jackets, and sweaters (What were we thinking?)
-Family picture, bulletin board for Katie, calendar (we cannot put holes in the wall)

Things we wish we brought or brought more of:
-Pampers diapers (same brands here but different quality)
-Water Babies sunscreen
-Spaghetti Sauce mix
-Kraft mac-n-cheese
-A Large sauce or stock pot
-"Storage" stuff of all types - tupperware, rubbermaid, Longaberger, shelves, and drawers
-Computer Paper (8.5 x 11 size is hard to find)
-Other food items like Cheerios, mixes, and anything produced in America (you can get it here but imports are expensive)
-File Cabinet
-Holiday decorations
-Toilet Seat covers (non-exsistent)
-Anti-bacterial wipes
-Dictionary
-Bible
-craft supplies
-Large vase
-Family and Friends (of course!)

Posted 7:34 AM by Anne Wilhoit
As the California children are getting ready for trick-or-treating, we are waking up to a post-Halloween morning here in Singapore. Katie had a great party in her classroom yesterday. I went up and helped out. We had crafts for the kids, a "Hide the Cat" game *, a scavenger hunt, and fun snacks including "slime swamp" (which I made), and Frankenstein cup-cakes. The children also paraded around school in their costumes - Katie was dressed up as the tooth fairy. We should have some pictures posted soon.

* You don't use a REAL cat for the game although it would be easy to do...there are TONS of stray kittens all over Singapore. It seems to be a real problem; very sad.

We had prepared Katie that there wouldn't be any trick-or-treating this year. Well, did that go out the window! We were invited to our friend's up in the Woodlands area of Singapore right near the American School. I'm estimating that 75% of this newer neighborhood is ex-pats. It was insane! It is an organized event from 6-8. There was a flyer distributed to all the houses by an American mom who said that if you were participating you had to turn on all your lights and put this special Halloween balloon out. Also, it was recommended that you have enough candy for 700 children. So, if you had friends coming from outside the area, they should bring some candy too. My friend Sabine had a very large basket filled to the brim and we contributed 4 bags as well. By the time we got back to the Horn's house at 7:10, Sabine’s maid was already inside with the lights out - the candy had run out. I'm not surprised...it was CRAZY! Katie received some fun stuff too - a key chain that doubles as a ruler, Oreo cookies, and even a pack of Juicy Fruit gum! God Bless America - some lady was giving out full packs of gum to the American kids. (For those of you who don't know, gum is illegal in Singapore!) Katie could not believe her eyes when she got it...it was such a prized possession that her friend Emily could only bargain her out of 1/2 of a piece. The highlight of my evening was not the gum but a Longaberger sighting! It was a medium market basket, decked out in a 2000 Halloween liner and tie-on. When I mentioned that I was a consultant back in the states, the women's husband told me I was not allowed to talk to his wife. I peered in the home's window and saw why...lots of Longaberger! AHHHHH, home sweet home.

Katie and I were fortunate to get a taxi home (we walked a couple blocks out of the neighborhood) and made it home by 8:45. Katie was really hungry after all the festivities so she ate 3 bowls of macaroni and cheese (no kidding) and than went to bed. Amanda doesn't know what she missed but was glad to have a little bonding time with Daddy last night. She has a hard time sleeping in the morning when we get Katie up so she is already up too but is laying on the couch holding her blanket, a bit zoned, glaring at "Ba-Ba" (Barney). She looks like she went trick-or-treating last night!

Katie will get to leave school early tomorrow. She wants to go in the morning because it is her last day of swim in P.E. but, we promised her if she behaved all week, she could take a day off from school and that we would go to Sentosa Island with our friend's who are here from Germany. I'll let you know how it goes! Happy Halloween everyone!