Ke-ko-ke-le

Lucas has been going to Mandarin now for a year, but I must admit we rarely hear him say anything or practice what they have learned, at home.
When we were in Europe though, it seemed to be very important to mention that he spoke three languages, when that came up. Those conversations usually went something like this:
- So Lucas, you speak both Swedish and English?
- Yes! AND Chinese!

He does have three words he will tell you though, when you ask him to say something in Chinese: 'Hello', 'chocolate' and 'Coca-Cola'... Will get him through any situation, right!


(Picture borrowed from www.coca-cola.com.cn)

The Chinese characters of Coca-Cola apparently translate literally to "delicious happiness", and it's pronounced [ke-ko-ke-le].

The Harvest Moon Festival

"The Harvest Moon Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar (the exact date in the Western calendar changes yearly, but this year it falls on the 14th of September). On this day, the Chinese community all over the world celebrate by gathering with their loved ones, to enjoy the full moon, a symbol of promise for abundance, harmony and luck.
This festival is also known as the Moon Cake festival because of a special kind of sweet cake prepared in the shape of the moon and filled with different sweet fillings." (Taken from the school information sheet)





The children in school have been participating in the celebration of this festival this week through a variety of activities. They have been going to school in Chinese clothing, Linnea yesterday, and Lucas today (here is how he looked last year, we are reusing the same outfit as you can see). Some parents have volunteered to talk to the children about the Moon Cake festival and they have enjoyed some home baked Moon Cakes.


(Picture borrowed from www.chinesefooddiy.com)

Our pets

In this house we have a lot of geckos. I don't mind them at all, they eat insects and stuff, so that's ok. They are harmless to us, and even though they make loud noises when they talk - hence they are also sometimes called "chit-chats" - I kind of like them. They become company, almost like having pets.


(Picture borrowed from lemondesigns.com)

I sure like them a lot better than the cockroaches we had as "pets" at our other house...

My first award!

What a nice surprise I got this morning doing my blog roll, my blog has received an award! My first one, thank you very much Cissi!

Well, there are a few things you have to do when you receive this award, so I better follow the rules:
1. Upon receiving the award, copy the picture and put it in your blog - check.
2. Link to the person who gave you the award - check.
3. Pass it on to seven of your own favourite blogs, and link to them - check, kind of (see below).
4. Leave a message to your choosen bloggers, that they have recieved an award - hm... will try!

I will give this award to all the blogs in my blog roll. I have a hard time picking just seven favourites. Check out this previous post on my blog roll read though, where I mention a few of them. There are so many interesting, funny, entertaining and inspiring blogs out there!
I always try to comment on the blogs I like, so that the blog owners will know that what they are writing is appreciated, it's always nice to receive a comment.

I drive

This post could also be called "What do you do all day? Part 2", because I know have the universal answer to that question - I drive.

I spend a lot of time every day in the car, a lot. You can't walk anywhere here really, apart from to your neighbours. So you drive, and since mostly it's me taking the kids to school etc, it means I drive a lot. Today more than other days though, because it has been a bit of a crazy day.

I just made it to school this morning when Anne called and said she couldn't get her car to start. As a good friend, I went to drop off my kids, then drove over to her house to pick her and her boys up to bring them to school, slightly late; and then we went for coffee with one of the other Mum's.
It was a short coffee break though, because they all of a sudden called from the school nurse's office and said I had to come and pick Lucas up, cause he had hurt himself in PE (he had fallen over and his foot was swollen, he has spent the rest of the day on the sofa with an ice pack...) - so back to school again, and then home with Lucas.

Then it was time to pick up Linnea (and Daniel, since Anne hadn't managed to fix her car just yet) but as I'm about to leave Anne calls again and says that now school had called her to pick Malthe up! (Because he was tired (?), but that's another story...)
So I had to take a detour, go pass Anne's to pick her up on the way, back to school (for the 4th time today!) to get the kids, then bring Anne and her little monsters back to theirs, and then home.

I was exhausted when I got home, sick of driving, and my back actually hurt. All this was before 12 o'clock, what a shitty morning!

(One of their friends later came and fixed the car for Anne, turned out the battery had no more to give, now it's working nicely again! Women and machines...)

Week 3

So, you might ask - how has it gone now, when we are well passed the warm up week? Very good, thank you! I'm back in the gym, at the Hash and doing the hills in Bukit Shabandar twice a week. Today, I also tried something new, yoga.

I had never done yoga before, and I must say, it was a lot harder and a lot tougher than I had expected. It didn't really help I'm not the bendy type, some things I could physically just not do.
But, I will be back next Tuesday, cause it felt really nice afterwards! I'm sure it will get easier with time, once I get the breathing under control and all the different positions down: the cobra, the tower, the plank, the warrior, the cat, the seat etc...


(Picture borrowed from sarahbrumgart.com)

Expat parties

I was talking a bit today with some of the other party participants, about birthday parties here and back at home. It seems to be a bit different in every country of course, but one thing we agreed on was that back home (wherever that is) they are generally smaller than here!

Today's party was no exception, it was huge, they were expecting about 100 people! It was great fun!



There was kids and parents absolutely everywhere. They had not one, but two bouncy castles, one normal, and one "wet":



Lucas really liked the slide, and I couldn't get him off it for the whole afternoon. He only took a break for having a piece of cake, then he was back on it again! He had an absolute blast!



Linnea was more happy paddling around in their pool:



I think (and this is the conclusion we came to today), that the reason parties tend to get so big out here, is that none of us have our families around. So our friends will replace family. Sometimes you will invite certain kids because you are friends with their parents; then your kids invite all their school mates - and if you invite this friend, you have to invite that one and leave no one out etc.
Also, at this age (the girls today turned 5 and 7) you can't just let the parents drop off their kids, especially not at a "wet" party - so you have to count and cater for the parents as well. Numbers get high very quickly.

Linnea's birthday is coming up next month, and I have realized I have to start planning it soon to be on top of things! Hmmm, better find out where they rented that water-slide-bouncy-thing...

Is this how it's going to be?

The reality of having two kids in school has hit hard already. We started out already last weekend with the first birthday party of the year; this weekend we had one yesterday, one today and even one tomorrow Monday! Next weekend there is yet another one...

Gosh, I do nothing but run around and buy birthday presents and try to get time (so far with no luck) to scrap birthday cards! Also I have to organize costumes - cause most of these parties have themes to them. At this stage the most popular theme is still Superheroes though, which is good, cause Lucas always wants to wear either his Batman or Spiderman costume anyway, no matter the theme!


(Picture borrowed from invisibleman.com)

I'm trying to find "the perfect birthday present", that will suit every body and I can stock up with for all the birthday parties to come. A fail safe gift that works for boy or girl - any ideas?

The magnetic Mum

I saw this article in a Swedish newspaper yesterday. It's about this Polish guy, who apparently in some strange way is magnetic, so everything sticks to him - VCRs, coins and even a drill!

I feel magnetic sometimes too, especially at night. Since we moved here, and Linnea has gone into a big bed, she keeps coming in to our bed in the middle of the night, nearly every night. It's really annoying because she doesn't just climb up and fall asleep again, but kicks and wriggles and takes up all the space.
If I try to sneak out and goes to sleep in her bed, she shortly after comes back in there! And so we keep at it, all night long, wandering back and forth. I sure must be magnetic?

Fina grejer det där med tjejer!

When I was born, my parents got a telex saying "Fina grejer det där med tjejer!" (=Girls are good stuff [freely]) I remember, cause it's glued into my baby book.
Lately, two of my very best friends in the UK have had baby girls - a little Savannah was born in July and a Maya just a couple of weeks ago in August. My kids have always been surrounded by a lot of other little boys, but now there are some new chicks on the block!

My Danish friend Anne here in Brunei, is also pregnant, with nr 3 (she has two boys already) - and today at the scanning she found out that this time they are having a girl! They were so excited!
I am very happy for them too, Fina grejer det där med tjejer! - and now I will have someone to hand all Linnea's pretty clothes down to!

Just have to...

I heard this song on the radio while driving around the other day, and I haven't been able to shake it since. I know I have heard it before, but this time for some reason it's just stuck - it's so beautiful, the melody, the reggae beat, the sound and the lyrics... I just have to share it with you:

Dedicated school mum

This year I got persuaded to take part in the school's Parent-Liason-Group (PLG) as a parent coordinator.
As one other mum already had offered to be the coordinator for the Reception year group, I became the PLG coordinator for the Nursery class (Linneas class).

The PLG is mainly there to put parents in contact with each other, welcome newcomers to the school and also provide an informal infrastructure at the school.
Today we had our first meeting of the year where we discussed some of the future events this term.

It feels good to take part and be active at the kids school! I'm actually really happy I said yes to this commitment!

Sweden presentation

At the beginning of term, Anna and I were asked by the Swedish Consulate if we might be interested in doing a presentation about Sweden at one of the Montessori Pre-Schools here. Apparently they are having Europe as a theme this term, and for some reason they had chosen Sweden as their main feature.
We said yes, of course, and prepared a very basic presentation about Sweden, since the kids were quite young.



Today we went there and did it twice, once for the morning kids and once for the afternoon kids. We told them about our King and Queen, about how cold it gets, about ABBA and the ice hotel; and that we have reindeers, bears and moose in Sweden. We told them how to say "Hej" (=Hello) and "Hejdå" (=Goodbye) and gave them each a little Swedish flag and a Daim-chocolate (Swedish candy).



It was a success, but I think next time it would be nice if our audience were slightly older, the attention span didn't quite last the whole 20 minutes... :)

More perks with Brunei

Before you start saying "We do have good things here too!", I would like to start by saying, yes - obviously, every place has it's perks and advantages, some more than others, and all depending on what's important to you and what you prioritize.

But, it's all about remembering to appreciate those advantages. Sometimes when you are around or in the middle of something all the time, you don't see them or think about them. (I miss the big selection of different foods in the supermarkets f.e, the Swedish TV, the nature and the fresh, cool air among other things).
Also, there will be some things in your life that you can't change, even though you might want to (like the weather, can't do much about that!) - so you will just have to deal with it, best you can. But just because you might not have a choice about those certain things, there still might be another place where those things are not an issue!

Denmark and Sweden has a lot of perks, but the weather sure isn't one of them. Scandinavian summer is the loveliest time, but unfortunately, it's also very short. Summer is already over by now back home, a short but glorious one (we timed it right on the good weeks, so we were lucky!) this year. Yes, there might still be a few beautiful days left, but they will be easily counted.

I find it a challenge how to dress every time I'm back home, even in the summer. You never know if the sun that is out in the morning will still be there by the afternoon, will you be ok in your shorts all day, or will you need to bring a pair of jeans for later? If you put the jeans on already now, will you be too hot? Is a short-sleeved t-shirt ok, or should you put on a long-sleeved one? Will we be needing a fleece, or maybe a rain jacket, how many layers of clothing..?
It goes on and on. Even in the summer, if you will be out all day, you better be on the safe side and just pack a little bit of everything to bring in a backpack; and that's really annoying.

Here, you get up, dress in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, or a dress/skirt - and you are done! Every day. All year around. No thinking. Easy life.

Us on Google Earth

Here is our house on Google Earth!



The two houses to the left of us, and the one in front of us are all occupied by RBA families (the one to the right of us, next to the big road, houses a Malaysian family, and the last one I'm not sure about). There are RBA people in the four houses with the green roofs and swimming pools too, in the next simpang. We really have nice neighbours (apart from the frogs mentioned earlier!) and this is a super area to be living in!
We are so happy here!

Rowdy neighbours

Our house is situated so that we have another house quite close in front of us, and two houses to the left of us, in a row. Behind us is a gravel road that goes to those two houses, and just on the other side of the gravel road, is the jungle.

Every evening, especially when it has rained, our "neighbours" get really noisy! I mean really noisy! I didn't know frogs could make sounds that loud, or even the kind of sounds they are making! Sometimes, it sounds like it's a whole flock of sheep out there!
Luckily, we don't have our bedroom on that side of the house... Linnea does, but she doesn't seem to mind too much - or rather, she mostly sleeps with us the little "darling"...

I have been trying to spy them in the dark with my flash light, to see what kind of frogs they are. If they are giant super frogs or something, judging by their sounds - but no luck. I found this picture on www.frogsofborneo.org, they could be this kind:

No stress

Brunei is a lovely place to be, for many reasons. Since I got back from our Europe-trip, I have noticed that I enjoy one of those reasons a little bit extra: there is no stress here.

I mean that in the sense of, no overall stress, life here generally has a lower pulse than back home.

Being in Denmark and Sweden, even though I was there on holiday, made me feel stressed - because everybody else was. Walking on the streets you could feel everybody's inner stress, it kind of vibrated out through their whole beings.
They were walking fast, always trying to get past you on the sidewalk, always pushing to get first in the queues, never taking time to hold the doors after themselves or lend a hand to someone who might need help; talking fast, not paying attention, not really caring, definitely not small-talking; in general everybody lived their life in the fast lane, always on the go.

Back home, there is also the ever present pressure that you need to BE someone, preferably through your work, have an identity. You need to (as a women) be a good mother and wife and at the same time you should have this fantastic job, amazing social life, creative hobbies and don't forget time to go away on fabulous holidays... No wonder people get stressed!!!

We all have busy everyday lives here as well, with school runs (3 times a day!), work, house chores and other things; but - I don't feel any stress, at all. I never really see anyone else being in a hurry or stressing either.
People just get on with life, and remember to take time to enjoy it along the way. It's kind of nice.

First homework

Today has been a day off from school, since it's the first day of Ramadan here in Brunei. We have been a little bit busy with school things anyway, cause Lucas actually had some homework to do!

Throughout Reception the kids will be taking part in the Jolly Phonics, a British phonics program designed to learn children how to read. They each have got a "Sound Book", that will contain all the sounds they will be going through and they will be learning one new sound a day.

Monday's sound was 's', and we spent some time today revising that sound. We had to look through magazines to try and find things that started with 's', cut them out and glue them into the Sound Book.



Lucas found some 'sko' (=shoes, so we wrote down 'sneakers' to get the right sound), sunglasses, sandals and a sun. Please note he wrote the word 'sun' all by himself! Even in Swedish, 'sol'! Go Lucas!

The office

The carpenter was here yesterday and fixed Nathan's desk, that by some strange mistake (mine apparently) had been made far too short. Now, it's a proper corner desk and the office is really starting to look good.
I thought I would show you some pictures, although it's not all quite done yet. Some of the pictures are up, and most of the cables are hidden away under the desk. We are still waiting for three Helmer (from IKEA of course, what else?) drawer units in white - to keep all our little office things, cables and technical toys in. They should be coming in a months time, so until then we have to live with the mess...

This is my scrapbooking desk, its over 2 m long, it's fantastic!



I had it made in a height so I can stand up and scrapbook cause I really like that. But I did buy a bar stool, so I have the option to sit. I tend to sit if I'm on the computer, but stand when I'm busy creating something. The art print is going up on the wall tomorrow (I hope). It's bought from this web shop, she has a lot of lovely things!
I keep most of my tools and scrapbook supplies in the shelf on the desk, but also some in a big black bookshelf you can't see on this photo, it's on the opposite wall; and my papers are stored in the IKEA file unit under the desk. It works brilliantly! I'm very, very happy with it!

Here is Nathan's corner of the office:



He has the big corner desk. It's not all sorted yet, most of his stuff will go in the Helmer units. It's really quite nice to be able to sit and work together; and since the office is just next to the play room, we can keep an eye on the kids too!

Happy 1st Year!

Today, this blog is turning ONE!



I can't believe it's already been a year... A year since that day I sat in the airport hotel at Heathrow... and just waited to get to Brunei. Not knowing whenever that was going to be, and started this blog to have something to do. A whole year! Unbelievable, we have been in Brunei a year already! And what a year it has been! :)

I am really enjoying writing this blog, and I am happy that I have you, who read and enjoy checking in every now and then too. You make my day!
I'm also looking forward to this next year in Brunei, I hope it will be just as exciting as our first one!