Divali Celebrations

Today they celebrated Divali in school. As they now celebrate the different holidays with "Colour Days" it was done by asking all the kids in Junior School to wear yellow clothes (or traditional Indian outfits) to school instead of school uniform today.

So Oliver, Linnea and Lucas wore their house t-shirts and fit right in!



Divali is the most well known of Hindu festivals. It is known as the ‘Festival of Light’, and this five day festival honours Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.

This year the school was also holding the yearly 'Coin Collection' in conjunction with this Divali colour day. The kids brought coins to school and took all their coins to the playground where there was a very large Rangoli pattern marked out on the ground. They then filled the pattern with the thousands of coins collected. I bet it looked amazing!

School excursion to the Royal Hangars

Linnea has been to the Sultan's Flight, again (she saw the big planes in February 2009 and the helicopters on another trip later the same month).
But... as her year group currently studies 'Travel' in their IPC unit, they went back to the Royal Hangars for another visit, on Monday.

This time, no parents were allowed to come along. The teachers told us they had all behaved really well, they had seen the big jet engines and got to sit in the helicopters; had lunch and ice cream (!) and an all together fantastic day.

And - they made it into the Borneo Bulletin (the newspaper), again again, of course!

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck...

It's no secret I'm married to Mr Gadget...
Nathan got his new iPhone 4S this Sunday (yes, it was only released last Friday!), and where as it might not have all that many interesting new things - at least one has been amusing us, lots - Siri.

The other night we couldn't stop asking her questions, and were amazed and impressed by the apparently friendly and humble but slightly edgy personality of this new "assistant".



She made us laugh so much because she gives some quirky answers sometimes. For example we tried her with:

Us: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Siri: That depends entirely if it's European or American wood.

Us: Will you marry me?
Siri: Aaahh, that's sweet!

Us: What's the best phone?
Siri: The one you are holding in your hand.

Of course, there is already an abundance of websites (f.e this one) on the internet where people post their conversations with Siri. Here are a few of my favourite ones:

Q: Blah blah blah
Siri: I don't know what that means. But at least it rhymes.

Q: What is the meaning of life?
Siri: All evidence to date suggests it's chocolate.

Q: Beam me up.
Siri: Ok. Stand still.

Q: I love you Siri.
Siri: Oh, I bet you say that to all your Apple products.

:D I love it! Humour!

Tartan 307

Grandma came with full suitcases of course, with lots of presents for everybody!
Lucas was lucky to get one of these:


The Watson tartan, tartan nr 307.

In the Scottish Register of Tartans you can read the following about this tartan:
"Now in general production as a Watson tartan. Watson website (Nov. 2004) says designed in 1932 by Rev. Mhuir Watson, minister at Glamis Church [...] for family use. [...] The design is based on the Gordon and Hunting MacRae tartans. The name is associated in part with the Aberdeenshire area. The Clan Watson Society no longer appears to be active (2002)."

At the packaging of this tie, you can read the following about the Watson name:
"This name, which means the Son of Walter, comes through the diminutive Wat or Watt. The full form, Walterson, which has almost died out, was at one time common."

Quite cool! Now we just need the right occasion for Lucas to wear it!

First Football Funday

Yesterday was a big event at JIS - the yearly 'Football Funday', the biggest football tournament in Brunei.

Where as I was actually at last years Football Funday at JIS, we hadn't yet taken the kids to one, for the simple reason that none of them have ever been properly participating. (Lucas was actually offered to be part of one of the teams JIS put in this year, but decided not to.)
But this year they had promoted it really well in school, plus a few of my very good friends has been working really hard at organizing it so we thought we'd go, for support!

The 'Football Funday' is actually a great day!
Apart from all the football matches going on on the fields outside, there was also a ton of activities in the big sports hall - everything from airbrush face painting, henna painting, a kids' fun zone and lots of food stalls to lots of different sale stalls selling books, jewelery, model airplanes, sock puppets etc etc.
It can easily be a very expensive day though, because everything costs money of course - a couple of dollars here and a couple of dollars there later...
We bought a few books, a foam plane, some snacks and Linnea got a henna painting done on her hand:

Hashing with friends

As most of the family prioritized the TV and the very important RWC semi-final this afternoon (which we won, yay!), Linnea still wanted to go to the Kids Halloween Hash.
Luckily one of my new friends, who has a little girl in Linnea's class, offered to take her along. So she went "on her own", and had a fab afternoon!

Mallory & Linnea, before they went in the jungle, on the long run this time!



As it was Halloween run, of course they wore costumes, played lots of games and won prizes. Fun, fun, fun!

Cool present

Nathan got his birthday present from the Whites today, this book by 'The Stig' (from 'Top Gear').



But it wasn't just any copy, it was a signed one, with a very special and personal greeting from the man itself!
Cool!

Smurftastic!

In the wake of the new 'Smurf'-movie, Linnea was invited to a Smurfy birthday party today by one of her little friends.
I didn't stay, but Linnea came home full of stories and told us all about it. How they had got their faces painted blue, how they had made their own Smurf-hats and made Smurfs out of blue play-doh and how the food had been blue (!).



She also had some fantastic Smurf-cookies with her in her party bag - sounds like a great party!
Next week it's time for her birthday, and we better get on with the party planning!

Mouthwatering marbled meat

Our favourite sushi restaurant Excapade has got a new dish on their menu - Wagyū Beef. We tried it the other night for the first time, and again today for lunch. I'm officially hooked, yum!
They serve it with a little "hot plate" so you cook it yourself on the table, just to your tasting.



The Wagyū beef is known for it's marbling characteristics and has a very high market value, it's by many seen as the finest beef in the world.
Different breeding and feeding techniques are used on the animals, such as massaging them or adding beer, wine or sake to their feeding regimen.
Well, all I know is that it's very tasty!

The dark side

I've gone over to the dark side.



It was time for a change.
I like it. (Nathan not so much...) Do you?

It goes both ways

No, I have no high hopes I'll actually get Nathan to a Zumba class anytime soon (he hardly even dances when he's drunk!) - but I thought he still needed some cool Zumba gear, in case he'll come and support on another Zumba event or something!

So, I can give presents too!

There somewhere

Most mornings when I go in to wake Lucas up, I find his bed like this, or very similar - with the duvet all piled up in one corner.



The first few times I thought he had already gone downstairs for breakfast, but then I realized - no he's still under there somewhere!
He apparently likes to curl up and sleep under this whole mountain of duvet, it looks very funny!

Zumba on the beach

Yes, another post about Zumba! It's been a lot of Zumba going on this week, but I guess it's a bit special when a ZES comes by! Plus, as you know, not that much happen in Brunei ordinarily, so you better jump on every possibility to do something different - and have fun!

Tonight we had a special Zumba session down at the beach, during the sunset. It was great, what better setting can you have?

Vania and me:



Enrique, the ZES, and me:



There was some slight technical issues that delayed the start a bit...



But nobody stressed much about that, we just relaxed and took in the wonderful view!



Then we started, I think we were over 100 people who had gathered to Zumba into the sunset.













Misuzu:



In the beautiful sunset:







And then the sun set... and it became all dark... :)





I feel all "exercised out" after this week! I took 3 (!) Zumba classes on Monday, hashed Tuesday, took a Zumba class Wednesday, did Bukit Shabandar Thursday, Master Class yesterday and this today!
Tomorrow - REST...

Let's have a real good time!

On stage with Enrique Salomao during the Master Class!

1st Zumba Brunei Master Class

I have woken up full of energy and happy feelings today! Oaaaahhh!

Last night I spent with about 300 other Zumba crazy people at the first ever Masterclass (=a class that is maybe extra long, taken by a ZES (=Zumba Education Specialist), or for a special cause - in our case we ticked all three!) here in Brunei.





It was organized for the charity Pusat Ehsan and taken by one of the ZES from Australia, Enrique Salomao, who's originally from Brazil. It was 90 mins of cool music, wide smiles and great Zumba routines! So inspirational!
It was a whole evening event, we got goodie-bags, left our hand prints, mingled, did the class and even got food afterward; what a fab night!

The evening was MC'd by our favourite radio DJ here in Brunei, DJ Izan. Here she is with Susan before it all kicks off:



Can you see the Swedish flag I drew?



I was asked up on stage to do some of the warmup together with some of the other people from the Studio, and it was so cool to look out over the sea of people - all with big smiles on!
Here's Arlene and I getting our groove on:





A little break in between the warm-up and the main event:



I was also up on stage with the main man himself a few times during the Master Class! He pulled people up out of the crowd, it was very cool!



Here's some of my friends groovin' it, Benaal, Nicole, Misuzu and - can you spot Anna?



The Zumba crowd, so much energy! People had come from all over the place, from KB, Seria etc etc. So many Zumba crazy peeps!


(Photo: Jonathan Yap Soon Lee)

We did a cool "battle" all over the hall!


(Photo: Jonathan Yap Soon Lee)

The ZES, Enrique:


(Photo: Jonathan Yap Soon Lee)

DJ Izan and me afterwards:



It's really not often events of this proportion gets organized here in Brunei as it's a whole lot of work involved, and lots of admin (...) too. I'm so happy to have been part of this event, it was a super-duper evening and it was great to see how big Zumba is getting here in our small country!

I've made so many new friends thanks to Zumba, and I feel better than I've done in a long time. All thanks to Zumba! Zumba love!

New & Old

Yesterday Misuzu and I went for breakfast at this new place in "Little Gadong" we had heard about called 'The Old Cottage'. Well, we thought it was new, turned out it has been there for nearly a year! (Or so the waitress told us anyway...). A year!! How have we missed this!?

It was great, decorated totally and 100% in the same style throughout, old country cottage. Very English to me, but with some American little details too. Patchwork on the walls, wooden ornaments, very cute.

They had great (and cheap!) breakfast too! I had all this, for only $5!



We will be back many more times, that's for sure! Now that we know it's there. Nice with a new place to go to, and since it's the closest one to school, it'll be a given on days when you need somewhere to hang for a while before you go to school, for Assembly or such. Thumbs up!

Lucas' Y3 Assembly

Yesterday we went to our first Assembly this year (probably out of many!).
It was actually Lucas' class, class 3W, who were the hosts of the first class Assembly of 2011!
They did a fab Assembly about Tutankhamun, the boy pharaoh, and how his tomb was made for him. Really cool! (They also danced to "Walked like an Egyptian, totally cool!)

Lucas was a doctor who explained to Tutankhamun how he was going to take his brains out through his nostrils with a big hook, after his death of course... Eeuw...



Here's Lucas and his mates Daniel and Gilbert, after the performance:



Well done Lucas! Great Assembly!

Auf Wiedersehen

Today another good friend of mine left Brunei, for good. It was my German friend Claudia; her daughter has been in Linnea's class while they've been here; whose time was now up.
It's always so sad to say goodbye... My least favourite thing about the constant exchange of people here.
On Wednesday a few of us school mums had a farewell lunch for her at one of the new Italian restaurants in town. It was really, really lovely!





We had all got together and got her a card (that she couldn't read cause it got all the water work going..!) and a beautiful pair of very sleak, just-her-style, white gold earrings. Only thing was, it had been a while since she's used earrings so they were a bit hard to put on!



Claudia - I will miss you. Take care, good luck with the next chapter of your life and stay in touch!