Singapore day 4

 

Another super long amazing day!

We started out our morning with French toast at home. We rode to the MRT and took 2 trains to see where Grandpa & Grandma work.

A monk standing in front of Jo.

Their office is in a super cute historic building. It’s a 3^rd floor walk up with REALLY steep stairs. It used to be the living quarters above the retail area on the ground floor so it has a kitchen and restroom, but because of the age of the building, both are outdoors on the backside of the building. It was really fun architecture.

After the office, we walked over to the Singapore National Museum.

They are revamping most of it to celebrate the country’s 50^th anniversary next year, but the exhibit about the history of Singapore that was open was very informative and interesting.

 They started with folklore about the founding and naming of Singapura in the 14^th century then moved through the British colonial period in the 1800s, the Japanese occupation during WWII, and finally to the history of the independent city-state.

 Random: This bell was given to a local church by Paul Revere's daughter. Interesting to us Americans.  

Not much is known about the period before the British were here and the colonial period was similar to what I’ve read about elsewhere in the British Empire. But the Japanese invasion and occupation was really interesting and complimented what we learned this past summer when we stopped at Manzanar, a Japanese Internment camp in Northern California.

After Japan left, Singapore came into its own and much of what is here today is the product of a master plan that began in the 1960s. More about that in a later post.

After our historical tour, we headed to… the local mall (#6) to grab lunch in the food court. Eating at the food court is much cheaper than a restaurant, but more expensive than the hawker stalls. But we were downtown and there were no hawker stalls to be found, so to the mall we went. Jo & Ky & I had chicken & rice. Sy had chicken nuggets – who knew we could find those?! Scott & Kik had chicken & pork with rice from the “Vegetarian” section. I still maintain they were eating tofu, and Scott doesn’t actually argue it wasn’t, but we’re not entirely sure what they ate. (:

After lunch we jumped on the train to head over to the Marina Bay Sands. This amazing spot has become an icon of Singapore. About 4 years ago, we watched a “Build It Bigger” episode of the construction of this hotel and more. Then, just before the trip we looked for that episode and found instead a National Geographic episode instead. It was so fun to see in real life something we watched being constructed on TV.

We had to take 2 trains to get there and you’ll notice that Kik & Ky are not in this picture. That’s because when we changed trains, they got on and then the doors closed on the rest of us! So my 2 dear middle children were swept away by train in a foreign country with no adult. Thankfully, we were only going 1 stop and we were able to communicate to them by signing through the window to get off and wait at the next stop. So when we got there 7 minutes later, they were sitting nicely on a bench just waiting for us. Phew! And thank you, Lord.

Weird: a tall candy cane and reindeer wanted me to take a photo of them with my son.

Once reunited, we went to check out this landmark which includes: a 1000-room, 3-tower hotel, a science and art museum, a casino, a super-upscale mall (think Chanel, Dior, Gucci, etc), and a ton of beautiful architecture and finishes. It began to rain shortly after we arrived so we walked through the mall. We were waiting to meet a couple other people from the OM office because mom had arranged a personal tour for our family and 2 others with one of the architects who worked on the project and his wife!!!

Jason, the architect, met with us and walked us through the hotel, then the mall, and an overlook of the casino and gave us a ton of inside info about the structure.

Views from the top! (Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay - where every building has a bank's name on it.)

This was such an incredible opportunity! Even the kids really enjoyed it, though Sy was a bit tired and hungry by the end. We watched the evening laser light show together at 8pm, then headed to the food court (mall #7, by the way) to have dinner. We had yummy Chinese dishes and our tour host even bought us a traditional dessert with shaved ice and longan fruit.

We were exhausted by the end of the meal, but there was more fun to come because we still had 2 train rides and a bike ride before we could rest at home. (:

Seriously. Incredible. Day.

Singapore day 3

Today was a rainy day. We woke knowing we planned to do a bike ride whenever it wasn’t raining, but then checked the weather to see that there was rain forecasted all day long. So we had a leisurely breakfast, played in the pool for a bit in the rain, then got ready to head out. Our pool play was a big game of get all the balls on the other team’s side: Jo & Mom vs. Ky, Sy, and Grandma. The littles won several times, but I must say that they had the high pool and Jo & I were below, so we had a much more difficult job!

I'm swimming in the rain, just swimming in the rain! What a glorious feeling...

We headed out by bike to the MRT and went just one station over. When we exited the train, it deposited us straight into… the mall! (#5)

This is just like at home... the children's play area of the 21st century! Enter store with mommy... mommy shops, kids play...with electronics while daddy and mommy got SIM cards so we can use our phones about. We had lunch at Pizza Hut. The sauce tasted surprisingly similar to home. 2 large pizzas and 8 drinks cost $85 – which is actually a good deal for a restaurant that’s not just a take-out stall.

After lunch, we visited the Lego store, then caught the shuttle bus over to another shopping area

to visit 3 big box stores: Giant (like a giant Walmart), Courts (like a giant Best Buy), and Ikea (like Ikea).

We had dinner at Ikea, but the menu choices were different. There was also a separate line for halal foods and a prayer room in the hallway with the phones, changing room, and restrooms. The little mock-houses at Ikea were totally catered to the homes here and items shown being used one way in the US are shown being used in different, more useful ways here. In the US, you just have to see what they fit in a 500sq.ft. home and imagine how that could apply to your house. But in Singapore, 80% of the population lives in HDB housing, so Ikea can use their exact floorplan to show what their house could look like – no need to imagine where you could use their ideas in your home – it is your home they’ve mocked up. Interesting…

We had quite an experience grocery shopping and then based on our purchases decided a taxi was in order because we had too much to manage a shuttle to the MRT to bicycles. Thankfully, we’d only taken 5 bikes to the MRT this morning, so 3 of us rode home in the taxi with the groceries and the others rode public transport and returned by bike.

 

I remember when we moved to Cypress, we had to add 10minutes to every drive because it took that long just to get to the freeway which in my mind was before the drive even started. Living with bikes and public transport would definitely take some getting used to and learning to gauge time (and adding time in case we missed a bus or something). But living in Singapore almost requires this because to purchase a car is a minimum of $250,000 and you have to bid for a lottery to even have the option.

We are so enjoying learning so many interesting things about the world outside our “normal”. 

Singapore day 2

We woke up at 6am, which did not feel early at all as we are still adjusting to the change in time. (After all it was 2pm at home. Felt like we slept in way too long!) (: we got everyone ready to go – each person had a camelbak topped off in preparation for the extreme hydration need, cleats packed for a game later, tissues prepared for restrooms that are unequipped, an MRT card to use public transit, and a sheet of paper with instructions for where to go if lost.

 

adding some money to our MRT cards

our home station - Kembangan

riding the rails - NOT at rush hour = plenty of space

We walked about 15 minutes to catch the MRT (train), then rode for about 30minutes to our stop. We made good time, so we had the opportunity to stop at a shopping mall to exchange money and get a sim card for scott’s phone, BUT the shops were not open until 10. We were too early.

We checked out some of the different produce available here - so many varieties of onions on this aisle.

We looked around a bit at our first mall of many then began a 25minute walk to the International Community School. Some friends of mom & dad’s from Georgia now live here and are working at the school. They gave us a tour and chatted about employment opportunities available at the school. The admissions counselor met all the kids and asked when we’d be moving over. They are ready for us. (:

waiting in the lobby while scott was chatting

Flags on the wall from all the countries represented by the students here - how many can you name? Jonas totally impressed the admissions gal because he knew the location of Latvia. Thank you Challenge A! Can you pick out their flag?

After the school tour, we walked to the bus stop (next to mall #2). On the way, Terry (the friend from GA) pointed out one of the traditional houses on the block. Most have been replaced with more than one house that makes better use of the land space – a precious commodity on this tiny island. This one still stands on its raised stilt foundation and metal roof.

Our bus took us to the MRT station where we had a familiar lunch at Wendy’s.

We had rushed to get there, eat, and be ready to meet some others. But as missionaries so often need to be flexible, so did we. The meeting was postponed. And we were meeting at 4 instead of 1, so now we had time to kill which we spent at the mall (#3) cross the street.

This mall was 8 stories tall. There were 3 basements and 5 floors above ground – 2 levels of parking, a food court, a “fashion” level, an IT level, an ice rink, a cinema, and a theatre. In the food court, we tried red dragon fruit.

It was lightly flavored, sweet, and the texture of a kiwi. Another OM-er we met up with pondered that the dragon fruit and kiwi may be related as they both originated in China. Hmm…

We made our way back across the street to the MRT and rode a couple stops North. We caught a bus, then walked 10minutes to the futsal fields.  Here we would play soccer alongside Malay kids who were part of a soccer camp being put on by some of the ship’s crew (staying here while the ship is in drydock for repairs). Not surprisingly, it began to rain while they were playing. Then it began to pour. You could not see from one end of the field to the other! Then, there was thunder and lightning right on top of us. There was an announcement, “Please exit the pitch!” Sy and a couple other little guys were plugging their ears because the thunder was sooo loud!

The rain lasted for almost an hour. We decided to catch a cab home, but at this point it was just after 5pm, the work day was ending, and we spent over 30 minutes on hold trying to call for a cab. We were able to get one, but needed 2 to accommodate the 8 of us. So Mom took the younger 3 in the cab and the rest of us took a bus for 25 minutes to the MRT. After a 50 minute train ride, we had successfully crossed the entire island, west to east, and arrived at our stop. We walked 5 minutes to pick up dinner and another 5 minutes home. We ate and retired after a great, but exhausting day.

Sadly, I was super sick at night. But after much pain and finally my body rejecting the food I had just enjoyed, I was able to rest. I woke up refreshed and ready to go! Hopefully, this is the only sickness we must endure on the trip. (:

Singapore day 1

We slept in til about 8:30, then had a delicious breakfast of pancakes (from USA) and bacon with milk (from Australia) and juice (from Malaysia). Almost everything in Singapore is imported because there is no room to farm on this little island. The main industries are tourism, shipping, IT, and finance. (anything that doesn’t require too much real estate!)

 

 

Mom gave us an orientation to the house. They rent a 4^th floor 3-bedroom apartment slightly larger than ours at home that would cost just over $1million to purchase! We had to know how to get in and out with elevators and levers and fobs to allow entrance and exit. She also shared some of the behaviors we’d need to modify to be polite here. It is impolite to show your mouth open, and to wear your backpack or talk or touch anyone on the MRT (though it’s crazy crowded!).

Grandpa took the kids swimming, then we had a quick lunch before we biked to the beach! We all have rented bikes and we rode them just south to the local beach. By the time we got there it had just started raining, so we sought shelter to wait out the storm.

It really is pouring behind us in this pic.
All along the beach, people were gathered in the various shelters just hanging out til the downpour was done. About 30 minutes later, the rain lightened and we continued our ride. On the way home, we located a restaurant to have dinner. We ordered drinks separately with choices of “lemon, chestnut, or barley” (we think, there was a strong Chinese accent going on). All the kids and men got lemon, which was a lemon-lime-ade but with a sweet and sour taste. Mom got “chestnut” which we never really identified the flavor of. I got “barley” which was actually just like horchata. Grandpa & Scott ordered for us by pictures and with a language barrier. The only thing we knew for sure was that one dish would be chicken. We ended up being able to identify (we think), chicken, pork, tofu, mince meat, prawns, noodles, “greens” (some vegetable), green beans and a familiar white rice. It was yummy and almost everyone was happy to eat and enjoyed the food. Sy did eat, but was hesitant to try new things. We kept telling him it was panda express (though it was not much like that at all). Everyone left with a full belly.

On the way home, it was dark, so we put lights on our bikes. There was significantly more traffic than when we left in the middle of the afternoon. Between the dark, the cars driving on the “wrong” side of the road, the wet, and cars not watching for cyclists, it was a bit of a dangerous ride. In fact, Kik hit a slick spot and bruised his tailbone. Then, 5 minutes later, he was almost hit by a car which was turning left – which he didn’t see coming from the “wrong” side. Thankfully, the driver saw him soon enough to slam on her brakes and stop about a foot from him. Then, 5minutes later, dear Sy hit a slick spot in the parking garage where we park the bikes and landed hard on his tailbone just before getting off. Ouch! I learned we need to pray before mounting these bikes. It was a super fun first day. Can’t wait to see what comes next!

Travel days 1-2

Our day began at 5:45am - too early by traditional Grubb standards, but manageable. I baked scones to last a couple days and decided to try making ¼ with chocolate chips instead of cranberries so dear Scott would have something to eat too. The chocolate turned out wonderfully delicious.

My dad came to drive us to LAX at 6:45 and after enduring Monday morning traffic, we arrived at 8:45. We waited in line and checked our bags. We waited in line and got Jo’s boarding pass. We waited in line and screened our luggage. Then we waited in line and boarded our first plane.

 

For Sy, this was his first time on a plane. For Jo & Kik, this was their first time on a large commercial plane – quite a different experience from the Cessnas they’ve flown before! Ky was the expert among them, having flown to Georgia with Grandma in the summer of 2012. She was telling her brothers all about what to expect. (:

We had brought along lots to do and even eat, but Delta took good care of us and we were not lacking for food or entertainment. The kids enjoyed the meals and ice cream. They all were able to watch Frozen for the first time, which was a treat.

 

I overheard the flight attendants talking about “extreme turbulence” ahead, which was then announced as “rough air ahead” and we had to remain seated for a little over an hour at the end of the flight. Poor Sy’s stomach did not like the rollercoaster-like conditions and so after an enjoyable first-plane-ride-ever, he was a bit sick the last 10 minutes. ): Thankfully, it was only 10minutes.

It took our family forever to clear security at Narita. Each child had a workbook with colored pencils and small scissors and a glue stick. Each pair of scissors required examining, measuring, and then a second time through the xray machine. (But it really was worth it for them to have stuff to do in the plane.)

In the airport at Tokyo, we found a deserted corner and allowed the kids to play a much needed game of soccer to run off energy from sitting still from 11am-11pm our time! Some pilots came down and were entertained by the soccer game and after chatting with them, we found out they would be flying us to Singapore. They invited all the kids up to the cockpit before the flight. (I remember doing that as a child, but never thought my kids would be able to in our post-9/11 world.)

After enjoying the cockpit tour, we had a pleasant 2^nd flight. We were scheduled to take off at almost 1am our time, which would have worked well for our kids to board and sleep, but the flight was slightly delayed and we didn’t take off until after 2am Pacific, by which time our children were all very tired and irritable. Fortunately, before anything got too crazy, we were seated and 3 were asleep before we ever left the tarmac. (: Everyone did get a good amount of sleep on that flight and were ready to meet the grandparents cheerfully upon landing. (Poor Sy got sick again just as the wheels touched down. So we almost made it this time.)

We cleared customs easily in Singapore and were excited to see the grandparents on the other side of the glass. But before we would hug them, we had to collect our luggage. After the fun of figuring out which black suitcases were ours among the sea of black suitcases, (I only had pretty ribbons on 2 of 3), we moved to the other side of the glass to greet the grandparents. And by “we” I mean 5 of us. (: Sy was not satisfied with having made it through 2 airports and over 24 hours of travel without getting lost, and this was his last chance! Consequently, when we exited and gave hugs, we realized Sy wasn’t there and we were not allowed back in to retrieve him. Thankfully, the wall separating us was made of glass and we were able to locate him among the other passengers fairly quickly and then we had no choice but to yell his name through the echoing airport at 3am. Finally (meaning not immediately) he heard his name and proceeded to meander over to the exit where he was reunited with the family.

The now 8 of us were able to quickly hop into 2 taxis, drive “home”, and, after a few short greetings,  sleep.

Christmas choir

Thanksgiving at home