Chinese New Year and Misc.

Well, I think the Percells haven't been very adventurous lately.  I'm not sure whether that's good or bad.  Are we TOO settled in?!?  Maybe.  Here are some things that I've been meaning to write down and just haven't yet....

1)  THE GREAT JERSEY SNAFU:  This started on my birthday when Erin bought me an authentic Tennessee football jersey with Peyton Manning's name and number.  AND he got me a Colt's one, too.  Woo-hoo!  He got them partly because I LOVE TN football (it was August, we hadn't stunk it up at that point), Peyton Manning is my favorite player, and his number (18) is the same as our upcoming anniversary -18th as of Dec. 18.  Erin claimed the jerseys were an anniversary present because he knew he wouldn't be able to find them once we got to Singapore.    Fast Forward to our anniversary.  The whole family went out to eat and we got some gelato afterwards at a stand on Orchard Rd. (major tourist area).  While we were eating I spotted some polo jerseys in a store window and the idea came to me - I should get Erin some sort of jersey for our anniversary.  "Since soccer is soooo big over here I'll get him a Singapore national team jersey."   So I went out shopping the next day.  Now, I know next to nothing about soccer teams.  But I know that Singapore's colors are red and white.  I saw an article in the paper with a list of which players should stay and which should go.  They were all wearing red and white "Standard Chartered" uniforms (Standard Chartered is a bank.).  I didn't READ the article......So anyway, I found the Standard Chartered uniforms and bought one.  I did notice that there was a crest on there that said something about Liverpool, but that could be the name of the league - right?  I mean, Singapore's probably not in the English Premier League  - but it IS a former British colony, so it could be in the Liverpool league -right?  That could be like AA baseball.  Well, it COULD!  But it isn't.  Erin promptly looked it up and sure enough, I'd bought the jersey for the Liverpool team which is part of the English Premier League.  We enjoyed a good laugh at my expense.  Oh well.  Back to the store to return it.  Cannot.  Exchanges only.  Grrrrrr.  So then it hits me - he bought ME 2 jerseys - why not?!?  So I tracked down the actual Singapore National Team jersey.  It's 2-tone red with a small Singapore flag.  Not very pretty, actually.  They should've just chosen which red they liked better and stuck with that.  So now Erin has 2 red soccer jerseys, and since the English Premier League is so big here, he's decided that he's going to be a Liverpool fan.  For those of you who don't follow the EPL, Liverpool is normally pretty good, but is stinking it up this year about like Tennessee.  They've fired their manager and traded one of their big name players in an effort to shake things up.  ANYWAY......  Erin wore his Liverpool jersey the day we were touring the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, and out of the blue a fellow (British accent) came up and tapped him on the shoulder and said, "I just want to shake your hand seein' as your a Liverpool fan."  We cracked up!!  Erin knew enough (barely) at that point to know that the team was having a rough year and replied, "Better times ahead."  To which the man made some comment about some name that we were unfamiliar with and went on.  The jerseys have also been handy for Chinese New Year since red is THE 'auspicious' color.   Erin has since kept better track of the team and is planning to record the Liverpool/Chelsea match tonight.  So he's taking the fan thing seriously.

2) Expats here:    I don't know how expats are in other countries, but I have to say that the majority of expats I've met here are almost intolerable.  Please, friends, don't get me wrong - there are many expats who are not intolerable, but let me explain the typical expat encounter here:

"Hello"
"Hello.  How long have you been in Singapore?"
"Oh, about 2 months."
"What do you think about it?"
"Oh, I like it fine.  It's nice here."
"oh."
<long pause>

This last "oh" is because they really were not expecting me to say that I like it here.  They were expecting me to say something about how miserable it is here or something.  You can tell they are genuinely DISAPPOINTED that I like it here.  They don't know what to say!  I've found this to be true especially with Americans.  (British and Australians second.)  It's also a conversation stopper because they were planning to get to vent about how they hate it here, too.   I feel so sorry for these people because they're miserable in a wonderful place.  No, it's not 'home', and yes, there's a lot of things that are different here, and some of them are frustrating.  But honestly, people!  There are a whole LOT of places that are worse places to live!!!  In fact, Singapore is more westerner friendly and tolerant than just about any other place in Asia (at least from what I hear).  Other than it being different from the U.S., I really don't see what there is to complain about.  The people are friendly, the weather is great (o.k., it's humid and warm, but cooler than a Texas summer!  I guess people from up north would think it's miserable hot.), it's much cleaner and safer than the U.S., Yes, there's no Mexican food, and there are a lot of laws/rules, but it's a pretty free and stable place.
I guess Americans just have the "If it's not America, it's not good." mentality, and that's SAD!!!  It's also snobby and closed-minded, and embarrassing.

These are no doubt the same people that I met in America who said, "OH!! Singapore!!  We lived there for X years and LOVED it!!  You'll love it there!!"  Because that's what every single former ex-pat in the States said.   Maybe once they get home they realize that there were things in the States they didn't miss.

 PART TWO:
School snobs:  There is a great school here called the Singapore American School.  I heard the other day that it was ranked the 3rd best school in the world.  Now I don't know if that is true, or if it means 'among ex-pat schools' or 'among American schools' or what.  But it IS a good school.  The tuition is $20,000 per year, and there's a waiting list to get in.  Private schools in Singapore in general are very expensive.  [I heard of a pre-K that cost $14,000.  To learn colors and numbers!!!!!]
Now remember that we homeschool.  We love homeschooling.  Wouldn't change if you tried to pay me $20,000 a year to not homeschool.  :-)  In fact, Erin's company was willing to pay the tuition for our 3 kids to go there.  We turned them down because we'd rather homeschool.  The kids didn't want to spend 40 hours a week in a school building and then come home to do more homework.  (And the work load is heavy there!  The kids are more mature for their age and the expectations are high.) So my opinion is very biased.
Anyway, while I can respect the choice of people to send their kids to this school, many of the parents from this school really look down their noses at anyone who doesn't send their kids there.  And homeschoolers are just a step above whack-o's!  Maybe not a full step.  Maybe they have to feel that way because they're spending all that money.  I mean, if my kids are doing as well as theirs, they're wasting 20k per year, right?  This is NOT indicative of 100% of the parents there, it's more like 50%.  The other 50% of the parents are completely normal/non-snoby.  But I'm starting to get prejudiced.  When I hear 'my kids go to SAS' I think, 'oh.'   Maybe I have an inferiority complex.  Maybe they're just snobby.  Maybe it's all in the point of view.

Anyway, ex-pats are not always fun to be around.  That being said, we made friends with a great homeschooling family from the States.  Their kids and ours are about the same ages and we've had a blast with them!  We're secretly hoping that they DON'T leave in June like they think they might.  Together we've visited the Zoo and Botanic Garden and National Museum.  They've been over for a play date, and their son spent the night with A on his birthday.  And they are enjoying Singapore as much as we do.  Also, the families in the boys scout groups are mostly from the Singapore American School, and they are very nice people.  So there ARE some wonderful ex-pats to be found!  :-)

3) That youngest kid: ..... is learning to play Cricket with his ex-pat friends down on the 'putting green'.  The 'putting green' is supposed to be used for putting practice I guess.  I've seen it used for everything but.  :-)  It is right under our balcony, so our kids can go down there to play and we can still hear them, or go out and call them in for dinner, etc.  Usually they play soccer.  But O. came back up one day asking if we could get a 'cricket set'.  LOL.  So this morning we watched cricket on t.v. to see if we could figure it out.  We got most of it (with a little help from wikipedia).  Not a bad game, just a little different - see above.  ;-)
  One Chinese New Year tradition is that the kids wake up on New Year's Day and bow to their parents (perhaps offering them an orange) and wish them a Happy New Year.  The parents then give the kids a 'hong bao' or red packet.  The red packet contains money.  So this year, H. brought me an orange and bowed and said the magic words and got her money.  A. was embarrassed to do the bow, and had to be talked into it, but eventually he got his money.  O.  said he wasn't going to do it "because we should only bow to God."   Now you've got to respect a 7 y.o. kid who is willing to give up 5x his weekly allowance on religious principle!  I waited 1/2 a day to see if he'd change his mind.  He held firm.  I tried to explain that it wasn't worship, just a tradition to show respect.  He wasn't budging.  So I made a deal with him.  I said, "If you'll say, 'Mom, I respect you, and thanks for all you do for me.' I'll give you the envelope."  This he quickly did.  Good for him!

4) Chinese New Year!  This (as you might expect from a country that is 75% ethnically Chinese) is a HUGE deal here.  It's a 15 day holiday.  Bigger than Christmas.  Since it's our first real Chinese New Year (I'm not counting going to the Lion Dance at the Chinese restaurant in Baton Rouge), we've tried to incorporate some of the traditions (see above).  We bought new clothes for everyone. We bought the traditional New Years foods.  We cleaned the whole house.  Erin got a haircut (well, he needed one....)

http://www.holidays-in-singapore.com/chinese-new-year.html

We tried the Bakkwa from Bee Cheng Hiang (yum!), and pineapple tarts (also yum!),  we've given and received lots of oranges, and we bought a small tangerine (??)/kumquat (???) type tree.  H. eats the fruit, but says it's very very sour.
We also bought Yu Sheng and had fun tossing it with our chopsticks while saying our wishes.  Erin wished, "I hope this doesn't bounce" which cracked us all up!  We skipped on the Black moss with oyster (just not brave enough) and the prawns (O. likes them, but it seems silly to buy very many if he's the only one to eat them).  Our Yu Sheng had raw salmon in it, so we counted that as our fish.

We decorated the apartment with red and yellow decorations.  Several of the decorations have chinese writing on them.  I really hope they are nice sayings!  :-D  The words of the month are:  prosperity and auspicious.  If you want to sell anything here this month just add one of those two words at random.  For example:  "Treat your family to this auspicious laundry detergent.  For a prosperous New Year with clean clothes!"  Yeah, I made that up.  But it's close to reality.

We've enjoyed the Chinese New Year traditions.  Erin got 2 days off from work.  Most of the businesses have been closed since Wed. afternoon and won't open again 'till Monday or Tuesday.

But it's not all good..... Last Saturday we went to a Cub Scout gathering out on Sentosa. [Sentosa is an island that belongs to Singapore.  It is mostly a tourist place with beaches and Pigeon Forge type attractions, including Universal Studios.]  One of O's fellow Cub Scouts lives out there in the residential area.  We had a great party and they had a lot of fun.  It was decided that we'd all go over to the touristy part of the island and ride the luge.  Our family did the luge before and came really close to buying a season pass to it.

http://www.sentosa.com.sg/en/attractions/imbiah-lookout/sentosa-luge-skyride/

So we were happy to head that way.  As it turns out, everybody and their brother had the same idea.  We drove around the parking garage for 30 min. looking for a spot.  Then we went to a different garage and waited in line outside the garage for 10 min. before we gave up and came home.  We were disappointed to give up, but we figured that if the parking was this bad, the line for the luge would be horrible.  (Few people drive to Sentosa - most take the monorail or ski lift, or cable car, or the new boardwalk that just opened - so we knew there were a LOT more people than cars there.)

Lesson learned - don't try Sentosa on CNY!  We promised the kids we'd take them back on a weekday.  Hooray for homeschooling!  :-)

Another CNY bonus:  the local cable provider, StarHub, is having a CNY promotion:  all of their channels are free 'till Monday noon.  So that means we can watch the Superbowl!  Yea.  I guess we could have a Superbowl party, but all the foods would have to be breakfast foods since it comes on at 7:30 a.m. Mon.  Maybe I'll make french toast.....  Erin leaves for work at 7.  :-(   But we'll record it for him.  Star Hub is awesome - especially compared to Comcast (BOOOO HISSSS!!!!!!!!).  But the sports channel that carries American sports is $23/month, which is about equal to what we pay for all the other channels we get, so.... we couldn't justify it.

Well, like I said, not very adventurous this month.....  but that doesn't mean I can't be long winded!!  :-D