Australia Day/Libby's Birthday/Test week

In the 4th week of every term all our classes undertake tests, which I think are designed to test us as much as the kids. Most of the questions are in multiple choice style and one of the questions in year 4 was: 
The _____________daughter resigned from her job to take care of her ailing father.

a. filial
b. pious
c. grateful
d. indebted


It has been rather cool here in the mornings so I took the opportunity on Friday to take a solitary walk over to Robert and Maria's new abode. It was very pleasant strolling by the river and I spotted, and later identified via the internet,  a Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker. It was much smaller than I had envisaged but its pecking habit was just like Woody Woodpecker! Obviously this is not my photo! 
 A little further along the path I passed a shrine set up by some workers who are on the construction site next door to us. They visit these shrines to honour their ancestors and to leave offerings to them especially at certain times of the year.

 

Riverside Shrine

As I wandered through Punggol Park I was struck by the many and varied uses people make of outdoor spaces here...from a guy practicing his flute to tiny 3 year olds, all in uniform, doing exercises. The park is a delightful patch of green, with a lake in the centre and there is a restaurant at one end...in fact we are planning to finish our week there this Sunday night.
Another pastime in the park is the game of Woodball. No-one was playing today but I have seen it in operation before. It appears to be a cross between golf and croquet with a wooden ball being struck with a mallet, which is made of a plastic coke bottle filled with sand, on the end of a long handle. The ball is maneuvered around a track marked out with pipes, with different 'pars'.

Woodball Course

There were preparations all around for Chinese New Year, which happens on February 19th. There are red lanterns everywhere and I walked past this large statue about to be hoisted into an upright position at a nearby neighbourhood precinct. As I got closer to my destination I was taken by the way an effort is made to brighten up the areas of high rise buildings know as HDBs, by painting some of the facades.
My one hour walk certainly brought home the diversity of this interesting island country, especially when you get away from the central area, which unfortunately, is all most tourists see.

After a reasonably easy weekend administering and marking tests it was pleasant to relax by the lake in Punggol Park with the usual diehards and as it is close to home for me it was not a late night.

It is amazing that you can do the same walk several times but going around a different path you see things not seen before. As we walked out of Hort Park on Monday's walk we were able to read our horoscopes for the Year of the Goat...mine was not overly cheerful, but things are supposed to get better by the end of the year!

We also passed a colourful mural made of ceramic tiles. We had a different perspective of the Henderson Waves as it was closed for maintenance and we had to go under it for a change. 

Monday night it was time for the double celebration of Australia Day and, more importantly, Libbys birthday. It was a very pleasant night with great food and drink, and friends, at Plonk in Serangoon Gardens. Peter did his usual stint of singing, with a touching song for Libby and a couple of people really got in to the Oz theme.

Peter serenades Libby

Reunion Week

On our recent trip to Morocco, Michael and I did a cooking class with the lovely Karima. We cooked a Lemon Chicken tagine and one of the ingredients was preserved lemons. Since our return to Singapore we have been trying to find some, without success...until this week. After trying the area around Bugis as well as a number of different supermarkets I finally found them in Mustafas...you have to love that place even if the prospect of going in there is something akin to entering a maze that you hope you will be able to find your way out of. Hopefully this jar should last me through until I leave Singapore as I'm not sure that I would be able to find the right shelf in Mustafas again!

I

I had got in to the habit of doing a walk with Libby on Fridays but due to her knee injury we have not been able to do this, so when Peter texted his intentions to walk on Friday I decided to join him, along with June and Jo. I hadn't been to Bukit Timah for a while and after an hour and a quarter on the bus I think I remember why! Still it was a pleasant walk from there and for a change we finished up at Thompson Plaza, a new experience for me. It gave me the opportunity to buy some genuine Portugese tarts which my colleagues and I enjoyed for morning tea.

3 Wise Monkeys at Macritchie Ranger Station

After work on Saturday night many of the continuing staff converged at Clark Quay to meet up with Caroline. She had been a MAE colleague who finished up at the end of 2014, and has been travelling in Europe, and is now on her way back to Oz. It was good to share travel stories as she toured Morocco 2 weeks after us and as it turned out had the same tour guide, Samir. She also did the same cooking class with Karima in Marrakech so I guess she'll be on the hunt for preserved lemons too! 

catching up with Caroline at Sque bar

After the closure of our regular Sunday night haunt late last year, Libby has been on the lookout for alternatives, so on Sunday it was Grapevine halfway between Kovan and Serangoon. It was a reasonable price and the food wasn't bad so it could become a regular fixture on our end of week drinks roster. Instead of a beer tower, they have a beer bubble which Melisa soon had under control.

Melisa in charge of the beer bubble.

Mondays walk was a new one for me, although the others had done it towards the end of 2014. It was a long haul to get to the starting point in Choa Chu Kang, involving a bus and 4 different rail lines, but I was there on time. As we walked through the park we passed along an avenue of Chinese horoscopes so were able to confirm it is the Year of the Goat (rather than sheep) so it is supposed to be my year...along with Michael and many of our friends so ...

It was amazing to see quite a few community vegetable gardens with their garden tools nearby and obviously no fear of theft or vandalism. 

We finished the walk at the Rail Mall 3 hours later, hot, very weary and ready for a healthy lunch.

well-kept veggie gardens

Lake area undergoing rejuvenation near Bukit Panjang

The girls of the "Lady Cave" (name of our new abode) spent a quiet night in, completing the smallest jigsaw puzzle I have ever seen ( it came with a pair of plastic tweezers to pick the pieces up with) and playing cards. Kathy cooked us a very tasty pork stir fry as well.

On Tuesday night it was time to meet up with Deb and Michael Canaway, more ex MAE colleagues who finished up at the end of 2014. We travelled to Portugal with them in 2013 and they have been touring Sri Lanka, Italy and Thailand before returning to their "real"lives back in Australia.

Michael with Libby

Deb with Sid and Kim

Michael heads home

I said farewell to Michael when I left for work on Wednesday as he was due to leave about the time I finished work. Peter met him at the airport and had dinner with him so he didn't feel as though no-one had noticed he was leaving...and also to celebrate the arrival of Peter's first grandchild. He is one very excited Grandpa, although the distance to Ireland is quite a hurdle.
Before work on Thursday I met Libby for a coffee, as she is suffering a painful knee injury which is keeping her outings limited.
After work on Saturday night Kathy and I caught up with Peter in Kovan to 'wet the baby's head'. He is full of excitement about his first grand child and also investigating a variety of avenues for a future in Singapore. We are all hopeful that he will find something soon as he is not a person who is happy to be idle.
After work on Sunday I went to Joe's in Kovan with the Smiths and Robert and Maria. It was a while since my last visit there so it was nice to be welcomed back with a smile. Hopefully future weekends will see some of our new staff members join us for end of week drinks, but at this point most of them are still settling in to their new roles.
This weeks walk was from Bishan to Ang Mo Kio, an oldie but a goodie. We had a good size group of 12 with a number of the new staff joining us for what they thought was going to be a gentle stroll. One poor girl was rather warm by the end of it as she was wearing long track pants...not great attire for midday in Singapore!

lotus flower in Bishan Park

After an earlyish swim on Tuesday Helen took me in to the Albert Centre at Bugis to do some shopping. On ground level there is a comprehensive hawkers centre but we headed up to the third floor which sells dried food and nuts. Helen was originally sent here by an EA at her workplace, as the place the locals buy their dried fruit and nuts...and I can see why. Apart from some rather 'unusual' varieties of dried seafood there are many choices of dried fruit and nut so we had fun deciding what to buy for our scroggin packs!

we by-passed the dried sea creatures

lots to choose from

I met up with Libby and Bev for drinks at Sque Bar where we were studiously ignored by the social committee members having their first meeting of the year at a distant table. After the meeting finished we were invited to join them over dinner. It was good to see some new faces amongst the old, with Craig and Melisa from Kovan staying on to eat with us.

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Back to work

We spent the early part of New Years Day recovering from our late night before having lunch with Robert and Maria. Unfortunately later in the day Robert became rather ill and subsequently did not return to work with the rest of us on Friday.
It was interesting to meet our new staff, Sally and Neil, both young and keen to get in to their new adventures in Singapore. A breath of fresh air!
On Saturday we celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary with dinner at Firenze on the river. When we returned home Kathy and Helen had bought a bottle of red for us so we had to try that. I was very grateful that my first class on Sunday morning had no enrolments yet so I was able to get off to a slow start. Being the first Sunday there was drinks at Penny Black on Clark Quay after work to meet the new recruits and catch up with old friends.
On Monday morning we set off on our first walk of the year, a gentle stroll around the Botanic Gardens ending with lunch at Tanglin Mall.

First walk for 2015. Botanic Gardens

Everyone then headed home for an afternoon nap in preparation for a small gathering at Wine Mansions, to say farewell (for the time being) to Michael as he heads back to Australia on Wednesday. It was a great night with the highlight being Peter serenading Michael with a complete rendition of the Beatles song "I Will"...not sure if we should be worried about this pair!

Peter serenades Michael

Unfortunately the next morning Michael was barely able to lift his head off the pillow (due to the flu, he said) and in fact did not get out of bed until around 5.30pm, so the suggested hawkers meal at Chomp Chomp followed by a whisky tasting had to be postponed until his first visit back.

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Christmas in Langkawi

Arriving home in Singapore after a long flight we were greeted by the welcome sight of Duncan...I am sure he is taller than the last time I saw him. We spent the weekend catching up on his news, doing the washing and packing for the next trip to Langkawi. We caught up with Libby and Eric over dinner on Saturday night and heard their stories of the latest trek to Nepal and probably drank too much as well. On Sunday Michael and Duncan headed over to Macritchie Reservoir for a walk while I stayed home and caught up on the domestics.
Monday morning we were at the airport by 9 for our flight to Langkawi for Xmas. Our resort is comfortable enough although a little worn around the edges, but we had a walk along the beach and a swim in the pool before dinner at Cactus across the road.

On Tuesday I joined Libby and Eric on a bird watching tour, while Michael and Duncan went on a jet ski tour of the islands. They thoroughly enjoyed their day out as did I. Our guide, Wendy, was very knowledgable and we spotted 32 different birds, including 4 different kinds of Kingfishers. Unfortunately it was overcast, with intermittent showers so their colours were not as visible as they would have been in bright sunshine.

Xmas tree, Langkawi style

We had a very tasty meal at the Istanbul Restaurant, although Duncan was having trouble getting rid of his ' Vietnam bellyache' ...hopefully he will be fit for Christmas Eve dinner.
Christmas Eve dawned wet and wetter! After a slow start we left Duncan resting some more and strolled uptown to get some money and a light lunch. Michael returned to the hotel for a foot/leg massage as he has been a bit tight after the jet ski tour. Libby and Eric went for a wander to the end of the road and we went for a stroll along the beach. Then it was time to prepare for Christmas Dinner. There were plenty of choices at the buffet and a variety of entertainments. The highlight was the Smiths winning one of the lucky draws!

Christmas morning dawned with some sunshine at last. We celebrated the event with champagne and OJ accompanied by some very tasty french pastries, before heading over to Cactus for breakfast. The Munros indulged in a swim while the Smiths had a rest. We left Eric catching up on sleep while the rest of us had a tasty lunch at the French Patisserie up the road. Then it was time for another swim.

Note: Eric has 2 glasses of champagne!

We hired a car on Boxing Day and visited the Cable Car...with every other person on Langkawi. To avoid standing in a VERY long queue we took the express option which included a nature trail walk as well as the very vertical cable car ride.

Mid-point of the cable car.

We then visited the nearby waterfalls before dropping Duncan back home while we headed over to Kuah, the main town on the island. Libby managed to find some new shoes while we sat out the tropical storm...we got tired of waiting for it to end and drove home through some very heavy rain.

This is NOT meant to be a pond!

Finally on our last day we managed an entire day without rain, so we spent time in the pool and laying around on deck chairs on the beach.

Finally a chance to use the deckchairs.

We had arranged a late checkout so we just relaxed. When we got back to Singapore the rain had caught up with us again. We woke on Sunday morning to news of another missing plane, Air Asia this time, the carrier we had travelled with the night before.
After a slow start we headed over to NEWater at Bedok, one of 4 processing plants on the island, where they clean used water for re-use. Over 95% of the production is used by industry and the rest is added to the reservoirs which provide Singapore's water.

On Sunday night I gave my new tagine a tryout and produced a delicious lemon chicken, not quite the same as our cooking class one as I still have to source some preserved lemons, but no-one complained!
After a quiet day on Monday we went to Shishmahal for a last dinner with Duncan, then up to Level 33, where Bev and the Smiths joined us for a nightcap.

We were pleased to hear from Duncan that he was safely back in Brisbane so we relaxed in front of the TV. Michael could finally watch Love Actually, his Xmas time must-watch movie.
Robert and Maria arrived back late Tuesday so on Wednesday we met them at their new apartment to help them with a bit of furniture rearrangement, before heading in to the Boomerang Bar at Robinson Quay to celebrate New Years Eve with friends. We ended up at the Crazy Elephant at Clarke Quay before making our way home about 2.30...fortunately the public transport system was operating later than usual as the taxi queues were rather daunting!

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