The International Restaurant

International Week is over us again and we kicked it off today with getting invited to visit the 'Year 2 International Restaurant'. (Yes, this mamarazzi gets to work hard these days!! So much going on all the time and so many photos to show you guys..!)

Lucas had been excited about this all weekend and could hardly wait until Monday. He had picked out and planned his outfit himself, and knew exactly how he wanted to be dressed as he was a waiter.
We all had been asked to bring a plate of food from our home country to be served in the restaurant, and were invited for 11.00 for lunch.

It was absolutely brilliant! They had all put so much effort into this project of theirs, decorating the tables and restaurant area; making menues etc. They were all super excited to see all of us parents there this morning, it was lovely!

First you got met and greeted, and asked how many people you needed a table for:



Then we got sat at beautifully decorated tables, and got served drinks. Here you can see a bit of the very extensive menu:



And then of course, the waiters came and took your order:





We got to try many different things, it was fab! Food from all over the world, and so much of it! Here are some of the "chefs" that helped serving it up for the waiters:



More food:



Desserts:



It was really busy at the 'restaurant', nearly full - many guests today!



Chef Guilliamo with my Swedish Meatballs:



Here's our personal waiter, taking a break:





Of course, as soon as you had finished your meal, someone was appointed to clear the table too! Luckily no one never came with a bill though! ;)
Really well done Year Two!

JIS vs ISB

Today was a big day for our little footballer. The Y1 & Y2 football ASA boys received teams from the other international school, ISB, to play some friendly games.
They played some 5-on-5 and it was actually really impressive to see how their play has grown this year already! They were keeping their positions, knew their tactics; they were focused and also very good sportsmen. It was a pleasure to watch!

Play is on! (Lucas in blue team-shirt, black shorts and socks and green cap)





Yay - they scored the first goal!



Team tactics being discussed:



Not so fun being a sub on the sideline:



Laying a corner:





Here is the part of the cheering squad that was not so interested in cheering at all...





It was hot out there!



Shaking hands saying thank you for the game:



Today's results in the games Lucas participated in were: 2-1, 1-0 and 1-2 to JIS! Yay!

Wishful thinking

As I've mentioned before, shopping isn't great here in Brunei. There is hardly any of the big chains here at all. If you're not lucky to get away on holiday to stock up on your shopping, the nearest place to go for some serious shopping would be Singapore.
I tend to go over there just for the day every now and then, to browse around and get what I need. There is only one major flaw with Singapore - they don't have H&M! (Closest H&M is in Hong Kong.)

So guess if I was surprised when I discovered these in the budget supermarket Giant today:



L.O.G.G t-shirts!? From H&M!? (For the fab price of $5.99 each!)

I wonder if it was all my wishful thinking that made them materialize here in Brunei..?

Halloween 2010 ✔

Ok, we can now officially put a tick next to 'Halloween 2010' - it's been thoroughly celebrated this weekend!
Today it was the Kids Hash, in Halloween theme of course! We did the run first, Linnea and I the shorter and Lucas and Nathan the longer; then it was time to change into the Halloween outfits and they both opted for this years costumes, again.





They had set up so you could try some apple bobbing, Lucas was a bit hesitant at first, but then he gave it a go:



Succeeded on first try!



And with the wet face, he went to try and find jelly babies in the flour..:



Jemimah kindly gave him a helping hand!



The dusty result:



There was also prizes for nice costumes and luckily both kids got a prize, a big spooky goodie bag each!



Another great afternoon!

An award!

I got an email today that I'd received an award from a website called Expat Focus. I went to check it out, and it seems to be a really useful page for expats anywhere in the world - but so far, I'm sort of the only source of information listed regarding Brunei..!

I'm still happy about my award though! I've put it in my right column to enjoy. Thank You Expat Focus - Nice to be noticed!

Here is the info about the award taken from the web page:

The Expat Focus Recommended Website Award is given to outstanding expat websites which meet the following criteria:
- Usefulness: Whether it's a fact packed, well known expat portal or a small personal blog, the website provides information which others moving to or living in a foreign country would find useful.
- Integrity: We only recommend honest, responsible sites.
- Activity: Sites which are updated frequently.
- Free: We do not recommend sites which require paid subscriptions or membership fees.

Halloween Party 2010

We had a busy day today, there was sleepovers going on from last night, and Lucas had a birthday party to go to in the afternoon, before the Halloween Party! This birthday party was a "Hawaiian Pool Party", but Lucas came straight in his swimmers so wasn't really wearing any dress-up. When I came to pick him up, they were busy doing the limbo! :)

Linnea had got ready at home, this year she was a little Devil Princess in a glossy red dress and with horns and a spear and everything. She was most happy she was allowed some of my make-up though, we tried to make her look extra scary!



I ended up leaving the birthday party with one extra child. One of Linnea's little friends, Judie, wanted to come with us rather than stay at the Hawaiian party (not so many girls there...). She wasn't too bothered she didn't really have the right dress-up on, ha ha - I guess luau girls can be scary too?



There was lots of great costumes, this was one of my favourites:



Lucas was a werewolf:



At the Yacht Club the Halloween Party was in full swing. The kids were separated in year groups, and went around to different "stations" and did lots of scary stuff. Here the 5-7 year group is in the Crazy Professor's Laboratory:



Linnea wasn't convinced, she dug into her 'trick or treat' stash instead:



Lucas and the Crazy Professor "Igor":



Trying touching different gooey stuff: assorted eyeballs, guts, finger jelly, ear soup etc... Iach!



The pumpkin carving competition:



Costume parade:





They also went treasure hunting, looking for clues all over the Yacht Club - great fun! Here they are in full pursuit, from one clue to another:



And when they finally found the treasure - it was a big bag of goodies for each child, yum!



It was a great afternoon, a fabulously well organized event! The kids had a great time and really got into the Halloween feeling!

Busted

We are probably on our last few Christmases trying to keep the illusion of Santa going for the kids. It's hard work making up believable stories and it's not really helping either when you give yourself away without thinking about it...
We had the following conversation with Linnea the other day when she was thinking about her list for Santa:

- I'm writing I want a kitten for Christmas! *Thinking*... No! Actually I want a dragon!
- That's nice Linnea, but where is Mummy and Daddy going to get a dragon from?
- Aaaahhh silly, you're not - Santa will bring it!

Hm. Yes. Of course he will... or maybe not.

Booo!

It's Halloween tomorrow and the kids and I are gearing up for the festivities at the Yacht Club later this afternoon.
I've got them some scary new outfits and of course decorated the house with the few Halloween decorations I have. The other day I got some lovely orchids in autumny colours, dark purple and orange, and the Cult is changed to Halloween colours too.



As you know, I like changing things around in the house and decorating for the different holidays. This becomes even more important here, where the climate is the same every single day of the year and you get no natural feel of the different seasons.

Athletics Day 2010/2011

Us parents got the short straw today. The program for the Athletics Day had been changed a bit, all for the better for the kids - but it meant that us parents (who had kids in more than one year group) had to spend 3 hours watching the same thing... Well, it didn't actually matter, it was so much more pleasant than last year.
They had separated the classes so that just Kindy and Reception went together first, and then the Year 1 and Year 2 classes. It meant there was half as many kids in the gym at once, and also half as many parents. Not so much noise, and not so much waiting around for the poor kids.

Nathan and I were a bit tense, considering last year's fiasco when both Lucas and Linnea were in tears and refused to participate, but there was no need to worry! This time they were both right into it and gave it their all! They had such a blast!
Lucas did tell us afterwards that he had been a bit worried about the sack-jumping. But he did it anyway, even while being worried, so big gold star for that!

It was the usual events, running (all the photos are mixed, they actually weren't in the gym at the same time):





Throwing a ball through a hoop:



Cheering on their friends:





Being happy!



Sack-jumping:





Outside the gym was the Geckos (the JIS toddler group) bake sale, popular as ever! The sold all sorts of goodies:



I managed to get two of the popular gingerbread men for the kids. They were Halloween ones, really cool! Here's Linnea with hers, afterwards:



And Lucas, with his ribbons:



This was the last year Lucas will be inside the cool gym. Next year he will be participating outside, in the 'normal' events: long jump, 100m, high jump, javelin etc. That will be different - and exciting!