Kids Hash October

On Sunday it was time for the kids hash again. I thought that would be about the right amount of jungle walking for my parents so we all went along!
Unfortunately this time, the toddler trail wasn't really a proper one. Actually, it wasn't even in the jungle but out over an open field - just out and back the same way, for 20 minutes. So, not only did they miss out on the proper hashing experience, but it was also really hot since we were in plain sun. Ah well.

We got some nice views though, over Bandar City, the main mosque and even the palace (you can spot it to the left in this photo):





Walking along, in the heat:



Here is Lucas and Nathan, who had done the longer run, coming down from the big hill at Subok:



This hill:



Lucas and Nathan coming back:



After the run, eating hot dogs and having a rest:

Our cute Pippi Långstrump

One of the presents Linnea got was a full dress-up costume with wig and shoes and everything, to look like Pippi Långstrump (=Pippi Longstocking).



She wasn't too impressed, and has only worn it once so far, for these photos. I'm sure it will come to good use eventually though, the kids love to dress up. (It was mostly the Mummy who wanted it for her...) Maybe there will be a Halloween party, or else she will wear it for International Day at school this year! She looks so very cute though! Especially in this 2nd photo, just like Pippi with big steps on her way somewhere!

Miri mini break

We have been away for a few days, in Malaysia. We thought we better show my parents something else than just Brunei, so we took them to Miri in Malaysia, a 2 1/2h car drive south. Miri town is located just on the other side of the border.


We stayed for two nights at the Marriott Resort in Miri, quite nice. A lot of the kids' friends from school were down there too, so they had plenty of play mates in the pool. (Miri is the perfect "get-away-a-bit-from-Brunei"-place, just a few hours away, especially for the teachers who doesn't get the privileged travel we do).







The restaurant served excellent food, so we had most of our meals there - apart from the first night when we ventured out and had some chinese in town.

While in Miri we went to see a Crocodile Park, just outside town. It was like a mini zoo, with a huge amount of different salt- and fresh water crocodile species, monkeys, sun bears, bats, snakes and other tropical animals. It was quite impressive to see that many crocs in the same place, apparently over a thousand (some just held back by chicken wire, yikes!) - but rather disheartening to see the appalling living conditions they had...

Hm, wasn't going to anyway but glad they cleared that up!



Overviewing the nesting pit:



Crocs:



Checking out the crocs:



Group photo (except Mormor):



Flying foxes:



Sun bears:

Niah Caves

On Tuesday we did a long drive (109 km) even further south in Sarawak, to go and see the Niah Caves. These caves are located within a National Park, some 3 km's walk along a wooden plank walk, straight into the jungle.
The main claim to fame of these caves is their role as one of the birthplaces of civilisation in the region. The oldest modern human remains discovered in Southeast Asia were found here at Niah, making this park one of the most important archaeological sites in the world.

We took off along the plank walk into the jungle, the kids actually walked most of it themselves! We didn't spot any exciting animals, apart from a lizard or two, and some colourful caterpillars; but we could hear the monkeys in the far and we were admiring all the huge trees, and funny shaped branches:







It took us a little over an hour to reach the West Mouth of the Great Cave, where we stopped and the kids had some noodles (that we had brought in the backpack..!) for lunch.



At over 60m high and 250m wide, it's one of the world's most spectacular cave entrances, leading to an even larger chamber within. It wasn't hard to see how this cave deserve it's name.
In the cave, we could see the tall constructions used by the locals to harvest the bird nests. These are the nests used for the Chinese bird nest soup, a delicacy for which the Chinese pay a lot of money. Another thing they earn money off, is to collect the bat and swiftlet dung (guano) which is sold as fertilizer.

We decided not to go any further in than this, for two reasons; one because to go further into the cave system, you would have needed a torch each as it gets completely dark (we could have gone and seen the "Painted Cave" with intact cave paintings rendered in red hematite that date back at least 1,000 years!) and it was too far to go for the kids, two - because I fell over and rolled my ankle quite badly...





It also started to rain pretty heavily at this point, so we turned and went back instead, or in my case, limped back. We really looked like we had been on a huge trek by the time we had made our way back to the car, soaking wet and super dirty all of us...



Even though we didn't get the full experience, it was still very impressive and spectacular - and the jungle walk was really exciting too!

Cry of the Wild

We went to see this dance concert yesterday night, at the big Jerudong Amphitheater (where Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston once have performed, among others). It was Studio scene, a dance school here in Brunei that put on the show. The theme of the concert seeked to raise awareness among people to appreciate the world we live in and to respect the environment and animals around us.
A lot of the kid's little friends were performing in it so it was nice to come along and support them. They have been practising so hard the last many weeks, and put a lot of time and effort into the preparations for this show.

It was really great! The kids performed various dances based on animal themes - their costumes had been specially made depicting lions, penguins, fish, panthers, cats, swans, Kung-Fu pandas (!) and many more.

Linnea was eagerly awaiting some elephants (that never showed up), so she was a bit disappointed. She then fell asleep in the end; it got very late for the little ones, especially after having celebrated birthday all day.



Lucas liked the "Nemo"-, the "Kung-Fu panda" and the "Madagascar"-number best - and we all were very impressed by the hip-hoppers, they were so cool!

I'm considering signing Lucas and Linnea up for joining the dance school, I think they would enjoy that a lot!

Thank you!

After her nap, Linnea was ready to open her birthday presents. There was so many of them, she hardly knew where to start - but once she got going, there was no stopping her!
Lucas opened the cards, Daddy read them and Linnea ripped open the presents!



She got so many lovely things; everything from books and hair accessories to Barbie dolls and games, and much, much more!
A big Thank you to everybody for the wonderful presents, and for coming and making her birthday so great!

Linnea 3 years

Since we will be away for Linnea's birthday, and we were having her party today for all her little friends, we decided to do the whole celebration today, from early morning on.

Linnea slept in our bed last night (well, like every night...), but this morning we told her to go in and "sleep" in her own bed for a little while. We then sang for her, and she got to open all her presents in bed, just like tradition.



She got lots of lovely presents, both from Mormor and Morfar who are here at the moment and from us of course - but she also had packets to open that had been sent all the way from NZ (Grandma & Granddad) and Oz (the cousins) and even Denmark (the Godmother).



"Lucas" had bought her a scooter:



We then got ready for the party, decorated the house and put balloons up everywhere, it got very festive; the main piece was the new birthday banner that Mormor had made:





We had also booked a bouncy-water-slide, which was really popular!



The lunch was popular too, our amah had done a fab job! We had pasta salad, vegetable noodles, really tasty home made spring rolls, cheese sausages, Swedish meatballs and of course fresh fruit and snacks. Mmm!





Again, we had ordered a box of individual cupcakes instead of a cake, from Kitchen of Jasmine (super yum, reasonably priced, nice people) - and they looked amazing! They spelled out: "Linnea 3 years"





Everybody got to choose one, some even got two! ;)





All our guests made the morning into a great party and the birthday girl was very happy, but worn out in the end... She went to have a rest on the sofa (with her party bag, of course!) and fell asleep before the last guests had even left... bless...

Happy Birthday in school

Yesterday was the last day before the midterm holiday, so we promised Linnea she could bring a cake in to celebrate with all her little friends at school - since her birthday will happen during the holidays.
We all went in a few minutes before pick-up, and they all sat down to get some cake. We had ordered beautiful cupcakes from two sisters who run a home based business here (Kitchen of Jasmine), so all the kids got one each, after Linnea had blown out the candles of course!



They had also made her a birthday crown, so she was really happy and pleased to be the center of attention!

Monkey mart

There are tons of supermarkets and little "haji marts" here in Brunei, so it's easy in a way to pop down and get your groceries. The only thing is, if you want fresh milk (and I do!) and any other normal dairy products, there is just one choice, the SupaSave supermarket. The others only sell long-life milk, and very limited selections of dairy products.

There are two SupaSaves, and I used to go to a different SupaSave before when we lived in Rimba, than I do now - and in fact it's still my favourite. I actually try to still go to that one, when it's not too much out of my way. For two reasons: I find my way around a lot better in that one and it doesn't have any monkeys outside!





Yes, because at the one that is closest to me now, there is a big troupe of monkeys living in the jungle just outside!
Some days there are more than others, the other day there must have been at least 50 of them - and it was actually a bit scary. They sit on the cars, around them, all very close to where you have to go in and out of the shop; and I've heard that they are not afraid of stealing things out of the carts!
Not mine though, I was super quick loading my car and away I went, after having snapped a few shots of them of course!

Happy pre-birthday!

We will celebrate Linnea's birthday on Saturday (her actual birthday is on Tuesday the 21st), since we will be in Miri (Malaysia) on her real birthday.
We will sing to her in the morning, let her open her presents, and we have a party planned for her and her little friends over lunch time. She is very excited and is so much looking forward to it all, she can't wait!

Today her first birthday present got revealed though (because I wanted it here in time for the party) - a play house that we have had built by our trusty carpenter. He mounted it this morning, and we are so pleased, it turned out really well!



I had found a picture I liked, and some measurements on the internet, and that was all he had to go by - the idea with the slide was my own. It came off this old climbing frame that the previous tenants had left in the garden.
Tomorrow we just need to go and find some little furniture for it, and maybe make some nice curtains and decorate it a bit to make it "homely". The kids (and I!) already love it, I'm sure they will have lots of fun playing in it!

They are here!

Yesterday just before midnight, I went to the airport to pick up our first visitors here in Brunei - my parents. They looked pretty good despite the 30 hr trip they had just done!
They will stay here for three weeks, and we have a whole program planned. The kids are very excited and it's so nice to have someone to come and stay, finally!

Very proud parents

I remember my "kvartsamtal" (=parent-teacher consultation) vividly from when I was a child. My parents were always told in every consultation without failure, that I was a very bright child but I needed to slow down, cause I was doing to many mistakes due to carelessness.
I had started school a year earlier than everybody else though, because I could read and write very early. I must say I did manage to keep up pretty well all through my schooling and always got good grades. I was a bit of a geek though, who always did my homework, and really liked school. (You wouldn't believe that now, since my education ground into a halt ages ago...)

The other day, we went for parent-teacher consultations for both our kids. (Lots of grown-up points!)
Linnea's teacher didn't really have much to say, obviously it's not about any big academic issues at her age. She really loves coming to school, she thrives and enjoys everything they do. She seems to play with most of the other kids and apparently is often the leader of the games (...); and can be a bit possessive of "her" Daniel if someone else tries to play with him! :)
She likes the "small play", getting messy and she shows early signs of literacy, likes to pretend read and write.

Lucas' teacher also told us that he seems to like school a lot, he enjoys playing with his friends and being silly - but he is also able to concentrate on the school work when needed. He has cracked the code of their Jolly Phonics, and is apparently "quick as a flash" when it comes to the blending of the sounds, and the reading.

So, it was all well and good! We are happy as long as the kids are happy at school; if they do well, that is just a plus and we do hope that they will keep being motivated enough to enjoy school just at much in the future as they seem to do now.

Ben & Linnea

Linnea has two favourite friends at school, "Ben-and-Daniel". It's actually almost said like that, in one word - whenever I ask her who she has been playing with at school, always: "Ben-and-Daniel".

Daniel has featured quite a bit on the blog lately, so today I'm giving you: Ben.



They were so cute walking over to their classroom this morning, after having dropped the big kids off. Good friends!

Lucas ready for Hari Raya

Ok, in Reception they didn't celebrate Hari Raya until today. But the well prepared mother had already bought an outfit ages ago (at the same time I got the Chinese outfit...) so we were ready!
He looked like a proper little prince when he set off for school this morning:



With some of his friends, Daniel & Hannah:



After school he had to come with me to do the groceries. He actually didn't mind, but I still told him he could spend his $2 that the Tooth Fairy had given him. We went through and did the food shopping first, and then he was allowed to go into the little shop outside and choose something.
It was a bit tricky, $2 doesn't really get you far - but he asked nicely how much everything was and had a good look around, before he decided on, a green pen:



The pen was $1 and first he decided to save the other dollar, but on the way out we passed the delicacy counter, and he saw their chocolates... So he had another thought, and asked if he could get some chocolates... Sure he could. So, all in all, he got a nice, new pen - and two delicacy chocolates (and a tooth brush) from the Tooth Fairy, not bad!