The Wisdom of a Calendar

Three hours to the New Year here in Singapore. Since this is the time of year when everyone shops for calendars, here are some photos that should be in calendars with inspirational sayings written by me.

"If you don't start in the first place, you never have to give up."

"Keep your hair messy on purpose so it'll never get messy accidentally"

"It actually only takes half of a village to raise a child. Everyone else can sleep in."

"There is a point to it all, but I'm not going to tell you what it is."

"Since you never know which mile is the extra one, just use the metric system"

Update from the Other Side

Welcome to the strange world that is Singapore.

The YMCA is preparing for a new paint job, so the sign looks like a work of art.

Last night we drove out to Malaysia for dinner on a restaurant perched over the mangrove swamp. Micronesia flashback!

Some new "tourist" farms have opened up a month ago in northwest Singapore, so we went and checked them out today. They advertise it as "agri-tainment", so how could we resist?

Talk about convenience, churches in Singapore have been replaced by these machines. Brilliance!

A Journey of a Thousand Miles...

I arrived in Singapore at 8:00am on Christmas morning. Ahh ... the land of good weather, great food and ROHAIZAD!

Since I arrived here via London, I have now circumnavigated the globe since last August. I feel like Magellan, except without the unfortunate incident in the Philippines.

In order to fight off jet leg by staying active, and to continue our tradition, Rohaizad and I went to Pulau Ubin for the day. Here we are on the boat going there:

We rented bikes and went around the island. One stop we made was at the German Girl Shrine. After World War II, the British came to Ubin to arrest a German couple who were living there. Their daughter ran off and fell into a quarry and died. Over the years the area where she lived and died has been turned into a shrine where people make offerings to get good luck. She didn't seem like a very lucky person to me, though.

Rohaizad on his bike.

Me in front of a kampong house.

Today - the day after Christmas - we went off to eat breakfast with friends at Tekka Market, shopped at Mustafa's, cruised through the Thieves Market and went to the Singapore Art Museum. Here is Rohaizad eating with some friends outside of the museum:

We took this picture seven times until Rohaizad could sit there with a straight face.

Building Decorations

Look at what Paul has done to my hearth!!

And while I was walking around downtown yesterday, I snapped a shot of a favorite sculpture of mine. And the clock is a half-hour slow!

I also strolled past this building that someone had painted.

Surprise!

I bought a three-pack of boxer shorts this past weekend.

When you buy a three-pack, you can't see the color of the middle pair.

Well, my middle pair of shorts were pink! Not hot, sexy pink, but I-stole-gramma's-girdle pink!

I'm scared to wear them in case I get in a auto accident.

A Solstice Miracle

People go a little crazy during the holidays. Even me. See, I cooked!

Tuna casserole! With peas! And tuna! I strayed from the recipe that Rohaizad sent me three times:
1. I don't have potato chips to sprinkle on top, so I used peanuts.
2. The recipe never told me when to add the tuna, so I put it in when I felt like it.
3. I'm supposed to be taking a shower now while it cools and solidifies, but I'm blogging instead.

And, on another topic, I took this picture of Lake Montebello covered with seagulls as I was walking home from the bus stop this afternoon.

Tablecloth Shopping

I spent the last three days shopping around for a tablecloth for the in-laws. How difficult can that be?

I just want a nice hand-crafted one. Of all the cities on the eastern seaboard, Baltimore has so many artisans, there MUST be a tablecloth maker somewhere!

But no, I've been to the shops at the Inner Harbor, Hampden and Parkville as well as The Women's Industrial Exchange and even some vintage stores, all in vain.

I walked into one store and asked if they had tablecloths, and the woman said "yes!"

I was so excited, and the woman walked me to the shelf and pulled out a bed spread. When I pointed this out to her, she assured me that it was a table cloth.

Hmm.

I asked where it was made and she told me Nepal. I said that I was giving it as a gift to someone in Singapore and she told me that this "tablecloth" is not available in Singapore.

Hmm, hmm!

Then I asked her if it was Hindu, since it had elephants and cows all over it. She said yes. I asked her if that might be offensive to the people I was giving it to, since they are Muslims.

No, she replied, because Muslims worship cows.

Hmm?!?!

Perhaps she sensed my suspicion, because she said in a confidential tone of voice that she would give it to me for $100 if I bought it right away.

It was tempting. I have a lot of respect for a woman who is willing to rewrite Islamic theology in order to make a sale.

But I didn't buy it.

???

Fruit? Vegetable? Terrestrial? Alien? Dangerous?

The Writing on the Wall

The things that come out of kids' minds! This was written on the whiteboard in my classroom recently.

This student was drawing examples of complaining and hung it on the wall. "Too much oxygen"? Ha ha!

In a Fog

A foggy, rainy night on the street on which I live.