The big picture

After two months here, I had to surrender and do this: stick a map of Brunei up on the wall.
There actually aren't many maps to get hold of here since the country officially is in a state of emergency (since 1962, in a response to a pro-independence rebellion) but we have found a book with some very old maps in it.
It has proven quite difficult though, to follow where I am whilst driving, having to flip pages all the time - so today I scanned it all in and printed it out, so I could tape it together to get my bearings a bit better.
Now I have the big picture!

More Halloween

Of course they celebrated Halloween at Kindy as well, on Wednesday. All the kids were supposed to come in dress up. Lucas chose to be a pirate for this occasion. Here is his best "aarrggh"-face:



And if you click here you can see all the Kindy kids in their outfits basch the Halloween-pinata, stir the hex brew and show off some of their Halloween creations.

Dear Santa

On talking to Lucas about my trip to the Doctor, and my pains in my tummy, he looked at me and said happily:

- Maybe there is a baby in there!?
- Hm, no Sweety, Mummy doesn't think so. Would you like one?
- Yes!! A baby sister!

I don't know where he has got this from, but I can tell you that it is perfectly enough with the baby sister we have already in this family. No more babies.

A not so fun first

We had our first visit to the Doctor today. It was a double-whammy actually, both me and Linnea.

Linnea has had some blisters on her legs, after having fallen over, and being bitten - that she has scratched, and they now don't look very good at all.
We had planned to take her in to the Doctor to see if we could get some better cream for it, than the ones we have at home.

But then, I started having stomach cramps in the middle of the night. Thought it might have been the prawns we had for dinner last night, but neither Nathan or our dinner guests felt any different, so probably not.
This morning it just got increasingly worse, I had to stay in bed, whining from the pain and the cramps. I threw up several times, every time I tried to have just the slightest mouthfull of water - it just came back up.

So we went to the Doctor, all of us.
Linnea got antibiotics, and cream for her leg. She has got a skin infection the poor thing.
I got stop-vomitting-tablets, stop-belly-ache-tablets and some rehydration-sachets. It seems like I have stomach flu, cause it has been going around.

Not so fun. Linnea is ok, apart from the fact that she wasn't too impressed with the medicin, at all.
I have litteraly been in bed all that (thank God for the amah!), with my hot wheat pillow and my bowl next to the bed, cause when it came, I didn't have time to make it to the toilet.
It seems to have calmed down now. On the second attempt, I got to keep the pills, and I have had some water and rehydration mixture.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day...

Aren't we pretty?

First posh pedicure

Went to the Zen Spa yesterday, together with a friend, to get pampered for a bit. We had the most wonderful foot scrub, and then I got a French pedicure.
(Might be hard to see on the photo, but it's very light pink, with a pearly white on the nail tips.) I have never had this done before, so I feel very posh at the moment!

Tuesday Theme 30 October - Trasig

Todays Tuesday Theme is trasig (=broken). I have chosen to upload an old favorite, which was the first "trasig" that came to mind.
This is Lucas in August 2005, 19 months old, - after I left him home alone with Daddy...



He had fallen over on the corner of the sofa table, straight on his eyebrow. It was bleeding so much, that Nathan thought it was best to take him to the doctor. He was such a brave little man, not a tear or anything.
He got a couple of butterfly stitches and a big plaster, and got sent home again.
His face says it all though..!

First bread baking moment

We have bought a bread maker. "Everybody else" seems to have one down here, and to be honest - it is kind of hard to get hold of healthy bread.
So, we are going to make our own from now on!
I started out today by making a "light wholemeal loaf". Here it is in the making:



And here is the finished result:



At least it looks like bread, and smells like bread! I will let it cool down a bit, then I will taste it, hopefully it tastes like bread too - yummy bread!

Kindy schedule 29 October - 2 November

Term 1 week 9
Imaginary Beings – Focus activities:
Letter of the week Hh – please send items beginning with Hh
Focus story: The Hungry Giant
Comparative mathematical language – tall/short & taller/shorter
Opposites - up/down, in/out etc.
Halloween activities and dress up day
Discuss bees and honey. Where does honey come from?
Visit to the DST tower.


Monday
Sound of the week Hh please bring something beginning with Hh for sharing time.
Music with Mr Instone
Extra perceptual motor lesson with Mrs Carter

Tuesday
ICT – Interactive whiteboard activities
PE with Mrs Carter
Assembly Halloween with Mrs Lewis
H - wear a hat day, can be funny, homemade or dress up hat, any hat that you child likes!

Wednesday
H for Halloween - dress up as make believe/imaginary characters, or favourite dress ups.
Mandarin

Thursday
Mandarin
Library with Mrs Mann
Visit to the DST tower, details to follow

Friday
Swimming 10.00 – 10.30.
FRESH FRUIT FRIDAY – PLEASE SEND A PIECE OF FRUIT TO MAKE INTO A FRUIT SALAD

Happy Halloween!

Today the kids went to a Halloween Party arranged by the Loan Services. Lucas was Batman, and Linnea was a green monster:





It was great fun at the party, there were a lot of their little friends there; a lot of Spidermen, pumpkins, witches, ghosts, Power Rangers, a dragon, a Harry Potter, a bat, a hula-hula girl and more.
They had a great time, with yummy food and a few party games. Our team won 3rd price in "wrap-up-a-mumie-competition"!

-"Whosda?"

I think we have bread a "why-child"... and it's not "like father like son" in this case - no, it's the daughter!

Linneas speech is really taking off at the moment, she talks all the time. Non stop. And about every second statement is: -"Whosda?", which comes out sort of in one word.
Sometimes it actually means "who is that?", but mostly it means "what is that?", and she is asking about everything...

If my ears are about to fall off already now, imagine how it will be eventually when she will be able to talk properly - someone, give me some earplugs!

First swimming lesson

I had my first swimming lesson today!
Yes, I do know how to swim, but I still wanted some coaching, to make my swimming more efficient - and maybe finally learn how to do it all properly. I especially want to learn how to do freestyle, so I can get rid of my "old-lady-with-head-high-over-surface"-style I use now...

This is how the pool looked when I came:


No one there! Perfect!

I really enjoyed my hour of privat coaching today. We will keep on it once a week for a couple of weeks, until I have got the techniques working properly. Then my swim coach will work out a routine for me to follow, in order to get a proper workout out of it.
I was so proud of myself today, after I "got it" - felt like a little kid who just wanted to show someone "look what I can do!".

I love fueling!

Fueling the car has always been a pet hate of mine ever since I took my driving licence 15 (!) years ago, and wasn't allowed to borrow the car if I didn't fuel it...

Here - it's a breeze! You just drive up to the tank station, and there is a little man who fuels it for you! You don't even have to get out of your car, just give him the money through the window!

And check out how much (or should I say little?) money too:



This was when the Fortuner was not quite empty, but it´s about $18 for a full tank (= £6.30 / €9 / 84SEK / 68DKK / 17NZD!)

Off we go!

Linnea seems to like her new bike! She hasn't quite figured out how to pedal just yet, but Lucas is often helping out by pushing her around.


Most of all she enjoys loading the bike up with all her little bags and dolls and toys!

Todays shopping

Thought you might be interested in such a normal thing, as a weekly shopping list!
We try to only shop once a week, at the big supermarket, and then supply during the week with milk (if there is any more by then) and bread (but now that we have the bread maker, that wont be necessary!).
Today we had a BIG shop, my amah and I, apparently lots of things that needed stocking up!
Here are today's currency conversions: $1 = £0.35 / €0.50 / 4.50 SEK / 3.60 DKK / 0.90 NZD



Maggi Light Soya 1.70
Rice Vinegar 1.40
Pesto 6.70 (imported, hence the hefty price)
Can of pineapple 1.20
3 cobs of corn 0.90
Jar of black olives 3.90
Tomato Paste 1.00
Tomato Sauce 1.00
Thai plum sauce 2.95
Green capsicum 3 pcs 2.05
Broccoli 3.55
French beans 1.00
Pak Choi 1.00
Chye Sim 1.00
Parsley 0.80
Chives 1.15
Asparagus 1.50
Celery 2.90
Packet of carrots 2.20
Cauliflower 2.70
Fresh Ginger 1.75
6xSchweppes Soda cans 4.20
6xSprite cans 3.90
6xTonicwater cans 4.20
6xCokelight cans 3.95
4xBitterlemon cans 3.20
Mee 1.35 (A kind of noodles)
Lemon chili powder 0.80
Wholemeal flour 1.60
Breadcrumbs 2.25
Bread flour 1.90
Ribena 3.95
2 ltr Apple Juice 3.50
1 ltr Longlife milk 1.60
1 ltr Cranberry Juice 3.95
1 ltr Mango Juice 1.95
10 pkt Capri Sonne 4.50
Lemons 2.25
Lime 1.35
Softlan 2.70
Dettol Bathroom 4.20
Toilet Duck 2.90
Müeslibars (12 pcs) 8.15
K-time bars (6 pcs) 6.80
Müesli 14.80
Bread yeast 3.90
Tic Tac 0.75
Can of chickpeas 0.90
Toastbread 1.80
Minced beef 750 gr 9.20
12 egg 2.70
Plums 1.75
Grapes 6.95
1/2 Melon 2.50
6 Apples 2.40
Cut up Star fruit 1.00
4 ltr Fresh Milk 13.00 (Imported from Australia)
Butter 2.15
Cheese Dippers 4.50
Babybel 4.90

GRAND TOTAL: $243.90 (= £82/€118/1083SEK/887DKK/225NZD9

Not bad for two trolleys full of yummy food!!

Tuesday Theme 23 October - Saknad

Saknad (= to miss, missing)
This is on my "miss-list" constantly, together with a feeling of missing lots of other places, and people too...
I guess you have to live with that, moving about as we do.

Kindy schedule 22-26 October

Term 1 week 8
Imaginary Beings – Focus activities:
Letter of the week Gg – please send items beginning with Gg
Focus story: Jack & the beanstalk
Comparative mathematical language – tall / short & taller / shorter
Making beanstalks, magic beans and castle shapes
Little Cloud, cloud watching – what is up in the sky?
Hari Raya Festival and activities – dress up day on Wednesday
Growing and planting seeds
Days of the week – today is... yesterday was...


Monday
Sound of the week Gg please bring something beginning with Gg for sharing time.
Music with Mr. Instone
Extra perceptual motor lesson with Mrs. Carter

Tuesday
ICT – Interactive whiteboard activities
PE

Wednesday
Hari Raya celebration day – Assembly with Mrs. Wei at 8am. Please wear traditional Malay clothes. Please send any Malay foods for children to taste. We will be joining with Panda class for some special celebratory activities
Mandarin

Thursday
Mandarin
Library with Mrs. Mann
Pirate ship play

Friday
Swimming 10.00 – 10.30.
FRESH FRUIT FRIDAY – PLEASE SEND A PIECE OF FRUIT TO MAKE INTO A FRUIT SALAD

This thing with languages...

The following conversation took place in the jaccuzzi at the Country Club the other day, Lucas and Nathan were in it - and so was some other people (who we didn't know) who sounded suspiciously Scandi.

-Dad (Lucas whispering) they speak Spanish!!
-Oh (confused) do they? Really?
-Yes. (Very proudly) I speak Spanish!
-No pal, you speak S w e d i s h.
-Do I ?!?

Then he thought a bit more:

-No Daddy, I speak svenska! (=Swedish)

Happy Birthday dear Linnea!

Today it is Linneas birthday, our little girl is turning 2 years old! (Even though she herself insists she is turning three...)

It has been a very good day so far. The day started already at 05.20 when the birthday-girl woke up and refused to go back to sleep, so we had the singing and present-opening in bed then. She had quite a few presents to open, that had been turning up from here and there:


Lucas was very helpful too!


A pair of cool sunglasses from our family in Oz, with the Wiggles, of course!






She got new bedding for her dolls-bed, a Schleich reindeer family and a soft rabbit from Mormor & Morfar in Sweden; and a "Bamse og Kylling"-DVD from her godmother Kamilla in DK.


A Dora-outfit, the sunglasses, a cute little doll in a bag and a UV-suit from the cousins in Australia; some LittlePeople figures from Grandma and Grandad in NZ and a dancing doll from our amah.
We had got her some Schleich animals as well, and a hen house in wood to add to the farm.


Then she came downstairs, and there were even more presents! She got a sink (in wood, to match her Mikki-stove), and a microwave (again, in wood) and there was also a trike waiting for her! (In this picture is ALL the presents though!)


She immediatly took Pooh-bear for a spin!



At 10.00 we had arranged a birthday party at the Yacht Club, with our friends. Kids of all ages had fun, swam and played and had yummy lunch.
The grown-ups had coffees and gin&tonic, and later we all tucked into the yummy chocolate fudge Dora-cake!

We spent about six hours there today (not all our guests stayed that long), and it was absolutely gorgeous! It's a bit weird though, to have a autumn-birthday in over +30 degrees heat!
Linnea recieved some lovely wooden sorting toys from the Sparrows, some wooden biscuits for her kitchen from the Scotts, a LittleTikes fishing rod from the Cummings and a book about fairies with some fairy wings from the Turners.

Here is a little slideshow from the party:

From Lucas perspective

We gave Lucas one of our old cameras to play with today and let him run around take pictures as he pleased with it. He took some both this afternoon, and some now tonight.
At first he was very concentrated...



Then he started directing us, as you will see in some of the photos - and thought it was absolutely hilarious!

The evening photos unfortunately, are not as good, as there was no natural light, but I'm putting some of them up here anyway. So here it goes, a little slideshow for you to see how the world looks like, from Lucas perspective (be patient, it uploads slowly):