The meat dealer

Today I got introduced to "the meat shop" for the first time. I have been wanting to go for a long time, and today it finally happened. The things is, you have to get someone to show you where it is, since it doesn't look like your regular shop, and Anna took me today. This is how it looks like on the outside:



Apparently, it's some sort of wholesale. When you get in, it doesn't look like a shop at all, but more like an office, with four ladies behind each their desk. You "order" things from a little plastic book that has lists of all the different kind of meat, fish and cheese they supply. The lady then puts on a hard hat (?) and goes out the back, and comes back with all your meat on a trolley and loads it into your car.



It almost feels a bit like you are dealing with illegal goods, which is not at all the case of course! It's just that you have to buy quite big quantities, so lucky we have a big freezer. It's a LOT cheaper than at the supermarket, so well worth the extra trip. For example, the cheddar cheese it $9/kilo there, at the supermarket it's $16/kilo! Only thing is, you have to buy it in a 5 kg chunk..! But considering we are both Swedes, we will share it and get through it in no time!

Today I got 8 nicely sized lamb chops, 600 gr of lamb fillet, 1 kg mince, 800 gr chicken breast and 1 kg of tiger prawns - and it cost me $49 in total! (=176DKK, 226SEK, €23, £18)

Our Friday lunch date

The last few Fridays we have gone for lunch after picking Linnea up from school, instead of going home - while waiting for Lucas to finish.

Usually if we go for lunch in town, we go for sushi. Nathan and I have both always loved sushi (trivia: our first date was actually in a sushi restaurant in Copenhagen) and down here it's really cheap so we can have it as much as we want!

To my fascination, Linnea has grown quite a liking to sushi! In the beginning, we used to order the fried chicken for the kids when they came along, but more and more she started eating the maki rolls and even the other things; so now she gets her own plate and she really enjoys dipping it in the soya sauce and diggin' in!



I think we are going to have to make this Friday sushi lunch a tradition!

Ahoy!!!

Finally, after months and months of waiting and waiting (for people to build, mount and fix "stuff") - we were all out on OUR boat today, for the first trip with both the families! (We co-own it with another NZ family).
Only for about half an hour (cause there was still some kind of engine-issue...), but we got out, and it was absolutely lovely!

Proud boat owners:



Linnea, Ben, Hannah and Lucas:



Speeding up a little:



Waiting for the trailer, to get towed out of the water:



I am now looking forward to many great weekends of boating, getting around out at sea and discover the islands and other surroundings off our coast; having picnics on remote beaches, go bisquiting and just have fun! Ahoy, ahoy!

World Peace Day

This Sunday, the 21st of September, it's International World Peace Day - so today they celebrated Peace Day at school.



It was casual clothes day, so the kids were allowed to wear their own clothes - as long as they were in peaceful colours (i.e no Spiderman t-shirts etc...). White of course should have been the obvious choice, but not so practical on the young ones... Instead I put them in calm blues and browns. I did spot a few cool hippies though, with peace symbols on their cheeks!
For this, they contributed (voluntarily) $1 each, that will get put together and sent off to a landmine charity in Cambodia.

The older kids have sold the white "Peace ribbons" around school all week. In Kindy they have been creating beautiful pinwheels, as part of an international project "Pinwheels for Peace"; and in Reception they have each made a felt hand print - to be put together to make a Peace banner.

New links for school

If you have a look in the side bar of this blog, you will notice that I have put up a few new links, that will take you straight in to each kid's school page.
Unicorn is Linnea, and Reception is Lucas (he is an Alligator).
If you click on "photographs", you can see photos every now and then from all the events and different things they do at school.
They are really good at updating this pages and it's nice to see what they do, when we are not around! :)

Exciting fauna

On Tuesday we had a really good hash in an area here called Lucky Gardens. It was so long (and well laid, took us a while to find the checks) that most of us actually came out in the dark, or dusk. That's was a first for me, the longest hash I've done so far!

In the words (the story about the previous hash) it said that when they had laid it, they had encountered a sun bear (!) that their dogs had scared off.
We didn't have any dogs with us, so we were all on lookout, talking loudly and stomping through - afraid we might get some exciting faunistic experiences too!
Luckily not, since the sun bears apparently are the most aggressive (even though the smallest) of all bears. *Phew*...

Feel-good evening

Yesterday I went to the movies, together with 19 (!) other chicks to watch "MammaMia!". It was SO good! A real feel-good movie!
I have unfortunately not seen the musical (yet) so I didn't quite know what to expect. I knew the story and of course most of the actors - but it was really surprising to hear how well they all sang, and super to see the on screen chemistry they had.
The movie felt like one big party that you really would have liked to be invited to! The girls immediately decided we need to have an ABBA-party, soon!



Apart from another family of four, it was just us in the theatre, so we could have a good old sing-along, it was super fun!
If you haven't seen it yet - go now!

ASAs

Now that Lucas is in Reception, he is supposed to go to After School Activities (ASA) at least once a week. At least, that's how they worded the information that came out in the beginning of the term. They can choose from a long list of things, from rugby and cooking to gymnastics and ECOclub; and everything in between.
First I wasn't going to sign him up for anything, cause I think his days are long enough; but then I heard all the other boys in his gang were going to do this one ASA on Wednesday afternoons, so I signed him up too for:
"Bugs and Microscopes"!

Colouring in bugs, waiting for his turn at the microscope:



I thought that it could be nice for them to do this ASA together, since they are in different classes all of them this year. They don't see much of each other. Yesterday was Lucas' first time (since last week I had to come and pick him up early because of his hurt foot) and he seemed to think this was pretty cool!



-"Look!!! They are REALLY BIG!!"

Half time

We are half the way through Ramadan now, only two weeks to go until Hari Raya, and Brunei is buzzing.
It's like their Christmas, it's their biggest Celebration of the year, and they are preparing in every way possible: decorating their houses, putting up lights, buying new furniture, new curtains, baking and cooking to be ready for the Open Houses, having new clothes made etc. Nothing can be done at the moment here in Brunei, it's all "After Hari Raya, after Hari Raya".

The holy month of Ramadan is the month in which the Holy Quran was revealed by Allah to the prophet Muhammad. The 9th month of the Islamic calendar.
So how do they celebrate Ramadan?
All Muslims must fast, from sunrise to sunset it's forbidden to eat, drink (even water), smoke, curse, lie, loose your temper or have sexual relations. (The only ones exempted are women who have their period, or those who are sick - but they will have to make it up at a later time.) Fasting is one of the 5 pillars of Islam.

Many people spend their time reading the Quran, or in prayer. Here in Brunei, the Royal Palace is open every evening for people to sit and recite the Quran.

The fasting is broken here at about 18.15-18.30 every night. All Muslims listen to the radio or listen out for the sound of the drum, to announce the end of the fast, then they pray and have their evening meals.

For us expats, Ramadan doesn't affect us much. Things get done a little bit slower, and as I said, everybody are busy so you can't get anything done (I tried today f.e to order curtains... "after Hari Raya" lah) - so you just have to wait. Hari Raya will come around soon enough!

The 15th

In a month's time from today, our first guests will be arriving! YAY!
I'm really looking forward to sharing our daily life with them, welcoming guests in our new home and show off what Brunei's got to offer.

Feel the pressure, the rest of you - feel the pressure to book your trips and come and see us in our life, it's about time!

Brunei Street Directory

At the end of last month, they launched a new Street Directory here in Brunei. You might not think that's news worth a whole blog post, but it really is! Consider this: it's only the 2nd ever Street Directory published in this country - and the last one came out 12 years ago!

It really would have been nice when we first got here, to have an up-to-date directory, but we learned our ways around the hard way!
This new directory is really accurate, and it shows of course a big development of the country since the last edition!

It's a 144-page book filled not only with maps, but also information for tourists who wish to travel around Brunei, such as a profile of the country, places of interest, tourist attractions, locations of hotels, shopping complexes etc. Actually it's quite a good read as a bonus to the maps!

A Rambo kind of morning

Anna and I are hares at the Hash in two weeks time. That means that we will be the ones who lay out the trail for that week.
We do the Hash in different sites every week and even if you are in a familiar site - the trails vary and there are so many to choose from in the jungle here, you will never do the same Hash twice. All the members of the Hash takes turns to lay it and you are usually two or three people doing it together.

Laying the Hash involves laying out a trail of paper all along the route. Every now and then, 3-4 times, you will lay a "check". It means, that the trail of paper will all of a sudden stop with a big pile of paper, and the runners will have to walk about in different directions to try and find where it continues. There is allowed to be a gap of 150-200m, so could take a while to find the "on paper" route again. These checks are designed to keep the pack together, since some are running and some are walking.
The Hash for us women should take about 45 min - 1 hour for the runners, and a maximum of 1 1/2 hours for the walkers. If it's any longer than that, they risk coming out in the dark, which is ok, but not preferable.

Today we went for a 'rekkie'. We have chosen our site, and this morning we went in to see which trails we were going to use. Equipped with some phone book paper that we laid out so we will remember next week, when we are doing a 2nd 'rekkie', where to go; and machetes, to hack our way through the more jungly bits. We really had to channel our inner Rambo!
Since I am a "virgin hare" (= it's the first time I lay a Hash), we will do another 'rekkie' next week. Then we will time it properly and make sure we have all the checks in place etc. Then on the day of the Hash, we will be laying it properly just a few hours before the Hash horn goes (in case it rains, you can't lay it too far in advance, the paper will dissolve and you don't want anyone getting lost in the jungle in search of paper!).
It was a bit different to be in the bush all by yourself, instead of together with about 40 other hashers. Little bit scary, but at least we found our way out again!

When you are a hare, you also provide the food for afterwards. Anna and I will of course be having a bit of a Swedish theme to our hash but I wont reveal what yet, in case any of the other hashers are reading this! It should be a great hash though!

Supers & Princesses Party

Today the kids were invited to yet another birthday party, this time with a "Superheroes & Princesses" theme. Lucas was pleased he was able to wear his new Superman costume we bought him just the other day - and Linnea wore a little cape over a pretty dress. (Hm, have realized we really need a tiara or a crown or something, to be able to glam the dresses up with, for all the princess-parties I'm sure will come in the future...).

Superman:


Superman & Spiderman (Malthe) having their party food in the tower:


Another crazy whirlwind party, following the normal program with playtime (this time there was a pool again, so demanded a bit more attention from the parents), yummy food, pass-the-parcel-game, piñata-bashing, singing and cake and last but not least (and for Linnea the most important part) the party bags!

Linnea and friends:


Singing & cake cutting:


Piñata time, Linnea giving it her all:


The next two parties in the calendar are grown-up parties, yay! But don't think for a minute that we will be excluded from wearing costumes, oh no! Quite the opposite, seems like it's an ongoing trend here to have themed parties.
I'm going to a ladies Cocktail Night with a Baju (= the traditional dress they wear here, we have to have a dress on that is made from baju material) theme; and in a few weeks time we are invited to a 40th birthday bash themed "A night at the Playboy Mansion"... Could be interesting, I will bring my big camera to that one, for sure!

Playroom improvement

I have noticed that when Nathan is not here, I usually to go upstairs with the kids straight after dinner - for them to have a play, or watch some TV for a while. I might spend some time in the scraproom or prepare everything for the next day.
Then, after bath, teeth, story and bedtime; I tend to stay upstairs and watch TV there, so that I can hear the kids, or just be close.

So, for this reason we have bought a sofa for the playroom - a good old "Klippan" from IKEA! The bean bags are cool, but not comfortable enough for an adult a whole evening. It's great, the playroom is getting super cosy, and both the kids and I love spending time there.

The dining area

We have now got our dining room table with eight chairs, that we ordered a while back. It smells really nice and both the table and the chairs are super heavy. It looks really nice, it's a great size - and it suits the house perfectly. We are still waiting for the cushions, they should be being made this week. They will be made in plain white, which will look sleek and nice.

Before:


After:


We will have to have a little bit taken off the legs of the table though, cause Nathan didn't trust me when I had researched how high dining tables normally are, and had it made about 5 cm too high... His argument being "Well, we can always take something off, if it's too high" - and so we will!

You might also have noticed that our Georg Jensen weather station has now been mounted on the wall here in the new house! It's really nice to see things again, that has been packed away for so long. It feels great creating a home. Bit by bit people, bit by bit!

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...)