April (month 3) - Shaun's belated bday party, I got to name a Chinese lady!!!
Three months in Singapore!!! I can't believe its been 3 months but it has. I don't know if that means that time is going really fast or really slow? The boys are pretty settled in and have made friends at both school and at the condo. We are still struggling with Lino and his behavior at school but that is not a new thing so we can't really blame that on the move. Speaking of his behavior...because of his little stunt before Easter break the school changed their going home policy and sent out a couple of emails notifying the parents of the change in procedure. I guess its a good thing because they do need to tighten up a little but its also a bad thing because it was our kids that caused it. I know he is a good kid because he is so kind and nice to the other kids at school and at the condo but sometimes he is just so full of impulse that he can't control himself...it gets him into a lot of trouble. We don't want to completely stop his impulses but there must be a way to manage it? Hopefully time and patience will do it. Shaun on the other hand has settled down a lot in class and seems to be a lot more gentle with the kids which is good...because they didn't like the rough Shaun. He seems to have 2 good friends in class, Travis and Bella which they are both really sweet kids so I am happy that he has made good friends with them. His teachers seems to be happy with him calming down and there haven't been any more complaints about his behavior...thank God!!!! Mike is still working hard but enjoying all the chaos in his office. He loves to come in and fix stuff so that is what he is doing. I'm still looking for a job with no luck...I'm almost at the point of giving up because the summer is coming and my mom & niece want to come for a visit so it would be easier if I wasn't working...but lets see.
So lets do a quick update of the past month....
Week 13 (April 9) - back from Japan and everyone is exhausted.
Boys have finally made it onto the bus so that is super excited. I didn't tell them until we were leaving the house and they thought I was joking. This changes things so much. It is so much easier but not what do I do with my time?? Anyway, I'm happy for them because they don't have to trek all across all the stations to get to school and they will make friends so that is nice. After they got onto the bus I met up with one of my Ireland friends friend which was nice. I had a really good coffee date with her...I wish I had more mornings like that...that is one thing I miss most about Ireland. After coffee it was off to shopping for some party bag stuff for Shaun's party. During the week I decided to make a cake for Shaun...I was nervous because I didn't think I would be able to find all the stuff that I needed or it would be super expensive but I found this bakery outlet store that had everything I needed and more. I was like in baking heaven when I found it. So I was able to get the few things I needed for the cake so there was no excuse to not making his cake. That is actually not true...I should have not been tempted by the cake supply store because making the cake isn't the hard part keeping the cake in good condition in this crazy hot and humid weather is the real hard part. I made the cake and icing like normal...almost like normal (cake was from a box because I just needed to go easy this time). When I went to put on the fondant the cake started to melt! I knew it would a little but I didn't think it would happen so fast. I was able to get the fondant on and put it int he fridge before it completely melted on me. I started working on the cake early enough that I was able to let it sit in the fridge for a day before I started putting on the other decorations. That was a bitch!!!!! As soon as the cake came out of the fridge it was sweating/melting. I put on as much decorations as I could and put it back in the fridge but then I was really worried about how I was going to finish it and transport the cake to the party. On top of that there was only 2 kids from the class going to the party and I had sent out a few invitations to my 2 friends and I wasn't sure if they were going or not so I was worried it was going to be a complete bust. By the end of the week we were able to gather 9 kids for the party which was awesome. It wasn't big but it wasn't 2 kids either so I was happy. Next issue was the cake so I spent an hour sending messages back and forth to my to my cake expert friend in Ireland trying to get some advice on how to deal with the cake. I had tried to put the cake into a cool room with the AC on and descants in the room to 'dry' up the extra moisture but that didn't work...I couldn't exactly just leave it out because the ants would attack in no time. Eventually I started messaging my cake expert in Ireland and got a few tips and a lot of slack from her but it helped to give me ideas how to fix the cake. So back in the fridge it went to try and get it firm and see if I can save it. I am not sure I want to try this ever again here...what a mess.
Saturday after soccer and swimming we went to check out a new place in Sentosa...it took us over 2hrs to get there because we didn't know how to get there but eventually we made it and realized all the errors that we had made. It was a nice place, the owner is from NY and started making bagels in his house because he couldn't find a good bagel in Singapore. The place is right on the docks with all the yahts and there was a yaht show that day so it was a special treat for the boys. The food was pretty good...we were very happy with the doneness of our burger...can't get this in Ireland.
On Sunday the 15th we finally had a bday party for Shaun...almost 1 month late.
It was hard to find a time and place for the party because of the Easter break and there another birthday party the week before school was out. Anyway, it doesn't matter really right...a party is a party. The morning of the party I had to do rescue 911 for the cake and I think I recovered it pretty good. It took pretty much all of my brain sells but We had a good afternoon actually and even though there was only 10 kids (which included Shaun & Lino) it was nice. The kids really enjoyed making the pizza's which I was happy about. Some of them really got into it and wanted to make sure that the crust was nice and flat and even.
Others didn't care as long as they got to play in the dough. There was a play ground right outside of the restaurant which was one of the reasons that I picked that place but unfortunately it started raining just as the party started so I was worried we wouldn't be able to use it but it cleared up and by the time the pizzas were ready to go into the oven the playground was dry enough for the kids to play. It was funny because we almost picked up some extra kids in the party because my social boys made friends with some kids that were at the restaurant and the kids wanted to make pizza's with them so they kind of just joined.
But I had to kick them out and keep them away from the group because they kept trying to get Lino to leave the party and play with them which wasn't cool. It worked out but it was just funny. After the party we ended up staying around for a while talking to Murchelle & Deanna and their husbands. It was actually really nice. At some point we had been there almost 5hrs and decided to sit down for dinner and beers...we just made an evening of it...I love it. It reminds me of how it use to be with Ha Eun and the family...so relaxed and no one in a rush to do anything and no one really picky about what we do either...what a great bday!
Week 14 (April 16th) - Nothing major to report this week. We have become very boring and redundant in our routines which I guess is good but it is also very boring for me. I spent the week searching for jobs and applying to jobs and reaching out to old collage classmates to see if I could get them to pass my resume on to the hiring departments in their organizations...and still nothing. At some point I'm going to have to make a decision if I am going to keep searching, not search, really try to do this selling stuff for Aspira or go back to school. So many choices...its a good thing I know but seriously I feel like I just did this a year ago and now I'm doing it again!!!!!! Besides the stress of job searching I did make a new friend today at the school. The mom of one of Shaun's classmates...I see her a lot for pick-up after school but she doesn't really talk to me and I figured it was because she didn't speak much English or didn't want to speak English. I know that they only just moved to Singapore from China around the same time as us and their son didn't know any English but has pretty much picked it up completely in the last 3 months. I've talked to her husband before and he was nice but she always seemed to give me a funny look or look a little mad. Anyway, we were in the library together while Lino was at his after school activity and we started talking. Well talking is kind of a very general term for what we were doing. We were trying to talk but she doesn't speak much English and I don't speak any Chinese so she understood about 10% of what I was saying and I understood about 20% of her broken English.
It was funny. This is a prime example of when making pre-judgments about people go wrong...she is actually really nice and funny and I think if we could understand each other a little better we could be friends. So we talked for a while and she was telling me that she had wanted to talk to me but here English wasn't good so she was nervous. Then she told me that she was looking for a English name and she tried to tell me a few. The first one that she really liked was Emily but I told her I didn't like it...so she was like OK, no Emily. I was trying to tell her not to listen to what I was saying because I am only saying what I like and if she likes it she should pick it. Well I'm not sure if she didn't understand or she did understand and she just didn't want to pick it because as a Native English speaker I didn't like it so she didn't like it...who knows. So she said another one and I didn't say anything and then she said Ava and I told her it was nice. So she picked Ava! Just like that! I was so shocked and tickled. I asked if she needed to check with her husband first and she was like 'No'. So Ava it was. We exchanged numbers and a few days later we were talking more on the phone and I was asking her again about her name and had her tell me what her Chinese name meant and she said it was something about beautiful so I told her maybe to think about a flower name.
I couldn't explain any flower names and she didn't know any of them so that was a dead end. Then by the end of the week we were back on the name subject because she was telling her Chinese friends that I helped to name her, how proud I was, and she told them her name and they were not impressed. So after I thought a little more about her name I told her not to change it so much from what it really is which is Wan Ting, so I suggested Tina. Apparently there was a small time in her life when she went by Tina when she was younger so she said Tina was nice.
And apparently her husband and her son also have English names that start with T so they are now the T family. I think she was the most satisfied with this name and I didn't come up with it on my own so I felt relieved. But at the end of the day I got to help name a Chinese lady...I think that is pretty darn cool! On Thursday I went up to the school to help with the last Open Minds tour which was the kids making their on vegetable gardens in the school discovery garden. I am pretty sure they didn't really need parents help but we were there.
It was hot as hell too but thankfully the open minds leader had us under the shade for most of it. These kids are too funny...I really enjoy just being around them and watching all the different dynamics but I couldn't imagine being their teachers. Lino of course was trying to dictate every step of what his group was doing abut thankfully they were not all just following his orders blindly so that was nice. Oh, I also was helping in the class on Monday...the kids were making some sort of 3D representation of a plant and all the different parts and what they do. Another fun activity with the kids. I shouldn't be bored with all this stuff but I still am.
On Saturday we went over to Deanna's house and got to hang out with them for the evening. Eric is such a good cook and he really likes cooking and we really like eating his food. He makes these really really good home made pretzel dogs that are so good and then he make home made pita bread that was amazing. We had a great evening and by the end of it we were playing heads up charades and spoons! I think we have found our couple family...they are a winner, the kids really get along good together and they don't mind our craziness so it is a great combination. We event met up on Sunday for dinner with them...I mean 2 nights in a row with the Cutaia group is a lot for most people to handle but they invited us so it must have been not to bad for them. It made for a good weekend. Oh, I almost forgot...before the Charades popped out we started talking about TV series and I was going on and on about This is Us because it is so good and so sad and so real and so addictive. I've been watching it here and there since our flight to Singapore in October and lately Mike has been watching it but pretending like he isn't interested. But I know that he's watching it because when it gets sad he looks up from his book and is like "why are you watching this sad stuff?" then a few minutes later when its really sad hes like "why is it so sad" then at the end of it hes like "why are they all so sad? how do you keep watching them when they are like this?" He says this with watery eyes mind you. So I'm telling my story to them about me and Mike and it seems like Deanna & Eric have a similar situation going on and the other lady there has no idea what we are talking about because she hasn't watched it so of course that means that we need to watch it so we all agree to watch the first episode. At that point Mike wasn't actually invested in watching the series and he hadn't seen any of the first season so it was good for him to see. It wasn't too sad but its interesting enough that you can see how people get hooked and since he has seen some of the later episodes it was guaranteed that he was going to be hooked and he was. He wasn't right out balling at the end of the first episode but we were all sad and that is when I had to pull out the Charades to try and lighten up the mood. But from that point forward Mike was committed which means I have to wait to finish the series until he has caught up...great.
Week 15 (April 23rd) - This was a rough week for me. I was so bored and stressed/frustrated about the job search. Poor Mike tried to help me but when I get to this point there is not much than can help me except food and gin. I think my problem is that I had it in my head that it would be much easier for me to find a job here compared to Ireland but that is not the case at all. Well maybe a little bit but not enough to make a difference. I'm slowing starting to find out the the number of visa's that the government has been giving out has been drastically cut so it is hard and harder for people to get them. Most companies have to hire permanent residences because of the visa restrictions. Well we are not interested in becoming PR's at least not yet so that isn't really an option for me right now. And it is getting so close to the end of the school year I am wondering if it is even worth it to find something or should I just enjoy the summer with the boys or back in the states or traveling and pick up on the job search at the end of the summer?? I know this is a good situation to be in but I really want to work and I am so bored that I need something to do (other than clean, cook and apply for jobs). So I was so bored this week that one day I even went to see Mike for lunch to have him entertain me! I am pretty sure that in our 10yrs of marriage that this has only happened a handful of times. When we were living in Granbury yes, I needed him to entertain me because there was nothing for my black butt to do but since then I don't think I have needed entertaining but this week I did...Mike was like a kid in a candy store. I picked up some sushi for us and headed to his office and we had a nice, quick take out sushi lunch in the Pepsi canteen.
On Friday it was me and Lino in the morning. He wanted to go to school but since he had a fever the day before he had to stay home 24hrs. He tried to eat something and we started to play battle ship but half way through he was getting sick and ended up throwing up a couple times. I guess he has a little stomach bug...so I sent him back to bed to rest. He was better by the time Shaun got home which was good because he was getting stir crazy in the house. When Shaun got home we actually got to catch up with our friends in Ireland which was nice. We haven't talked to them in a while because of the time difference. Lino was so happy to see Donovan and Donovan was so happy to see him. They had this little mini conversation that was so cute...well Donovan was doing all the talking and Lino was listening but he was really listening so I consider that a good conversation. There is so much that can change yet stay the same in 3 months. Of course after about 5min of the conversation Lino and Shaun were done with talking but that worked too because the boys wanted to see our place so Shaun did a tour of the place. I am not sure how they could see much because he was going so fast and his view point is a little low but there were a lot of comments on the other side that sounded like they were getting what he was showing so I guess it was good. Oh and while they were on the phone earlier Lino was taking a bunch of pictures of the conversation...I asked him why and he said that he wanted to make sure that Mrs Cara had pictures to remember this moment by...well that was pretty thoughtful of him and nice for me too!! I didn't actually get to talk to Cara until later and we had a nice catch up over text. Its so hard to find time for yourself when your kids are all over you but the few minutes that we had no kids on us at the same time we had a good catch up. Saturday we tried a new place again, a Spanish Tapas bar that has a hangover brunch buffet...it was OK. We didn't go for the hangover but went to check out the Spanish offerings which were a little disappointing. After that we got talked into doing this Luge ride in Sentosa...the boys always want to do something there and they really want to do the iFly thing but I think Shaun is too small so we keep avoiding it but we couldn't really avoid this Luge thing and we didn't have any other plans so we did it. It was fun too...a lot of fun. Lino wiped out at the first curve but he didn't complain too much and he was fine the second time around. This ride is one of the few that daddy is actually the fastest at because it is gravity fed. I just knew that he would be complaining about how slow his luge was compared to ours but he wasn't complaining and he was zooming! The only issue we had was this lady behind us in line who was trying to get in front of me because there was about 1inch of space between us and the group in front of us. There was along line to actually get onto your boat and it was hot out side and I didn't feel the need to fill every inch of space between us and the group ahead of us but she was insistent on us scooting in closer and she couldn't understand why she couldn't get in front of me when there was clearly space for her and her partner. I was not in the mood for his ladies pestering and I tried to be friendly about it but after she kept at it I had to get nasty too. Her partner just kept saying "its ok...its ok...we understand...thats fine...its ok" but she wouldn't stop. I thought I was going to have to seriously get black on her but she finally gave in...I think after I gave her the Doris eyes and staredown she figured she better back up because she wasn't sure what I was going to do...anyway she joined my bitch list and Mike even got her picture to add it to the wall of shame. Other than her trying to bother us we had a good evening...the day went so fast. Oh the other good thing was that we got to chat a bunch with Ha Eun & Gernot...they were actually on vacation in West Cork but it just happen that we started texting and didn't stop. It was like we were there with them. Lino kept asking about Hami and it was funny because Gernot was having none of it...but apparently Hami is now willing to change her name when she marries Lino...she wasn't willing to do that when we lived there so a lot has changed. Lino still thinks he is going to marry her but while he is in Singapore he said he is just seeing what happens with the other girls. That didn't go over very well with the future father-in-law and a few threats even came from it (too funny) so I think we need to have some more talks with Lino and explain loyalty and commitment to him. These are very important lessons to learn...I didn't know we needed to start so early but better early than never I guess. It was a great day and then on Sunday we did pretty much nothing and Mike made meatballs and we had a relaxing Sunday at home.
So lets do a quick update of the past month....
Week 13 (April 9) - back from Japan and everyone is exhausted.
Boys have finally made it onto the bus so that is super excited. I didn't tell them until we were leaving the house and they thought I was joking. This changes things so much. It is so much easier but not what do I do with my time?? Anyway, I'm happy for them because they don't have to trek all across all the stations to get to school and they will make friends so that is nice. After they got onto the bus I met up with one of my Ireland friends friend which was nice. I had a really good coffee date with her...I wish I had more mornings like that...that is one thing I miss most about Ireland. After coffee it was off to shopping for some party bag stuff for Shaun's party. During the week I decided to make a cake for Shaun...I was nervous because I didn't think I would be able to find all the stuff that I needed or it would be super expensive but I found this bakery outlet store that had everything I needed and more. I was like in baking heaven when I found it. So I was able to get the few things I needed for the cake so there was no excuse to not making his cake. That is actually not true...I should have not been tempted by the cake supply store because making the cake isn't the hard part keeping the cake in good condition in this crazy hot and humid weather is the real hard part. I made the cake and icing like normal...almost like normal (cake was from a box because I just needed to go easy this time). When I went to put on the fondant the cake started to melt! I knew it would a little but I didn't think it would happen so fast. I was able to get the fondant on and put it int he fridge before it completely melted on me. I started working on the cake early enough that I was able to let it sit in the fridge for a day before I started putting on the other decorations. That was a bitch!!!!! As soon as the cake came out of the fridge it was sweating/melting. I put on as much decorations as I could and put it back in the fridge but then I was really worried about how I was going to finish it and transport the cake to the party. On top of that there was only 2 kids from the class going to the party and I had sent out a few invitations to my 2 friends and I wasn't sure if they were going or not so I was worried it was going to be a complete bust. By the end of the week we were able to gather 9 kids for the party which was awesome. It wasn't big but it wasn't 2 kids either so I was happy. Next issue was the cake so I spent an hour sending messages back and forth to my to my cake expert friend in Ireland trying to get some advice on how to deal with the cake. I had tried to put the cake into a cool room with the AC on and descants in the room to 'dry' up the extra moisture but that didn't work...I couldn't exactly just leave it out because the ants would attack in no time. Eventually I started messaging my cake expert in Ireland and got a few tips and a lot of slack from her but it helped to give me ideas how to fix the cake. So back in the fridge it went to try and get it firm and see if I can save it. I am not sure I want to try this ever again here...what a mess.
Shaun showing me his Chinese skills...
Saturday after soccer and swimming we went to check out a new place in Sentosa...it took us over 2hrs to get there because we didn't know how to get there but eventually we made it and realized all the errors that we had made. It was a nice place, the owner is from NY and started making bagels in his house because he couldn't find a good bagel in Singapore. The place is right on the docks with all the yahts and there was a yaht show that day so it was a special treat for the boys. The food was pretty good...we were very happy with the doneness of our burger...can't get this in Ireland.
On Sunday the 15th we finally had a bday party for Shaun...almost 1 month late.
It was hard to find a time and place for the party because of the Easter break and there another birthday party the week before school was out. Anyway, it doesn't matter really right...a party is a party. The morning of the party I had to do rescue 911 for the cake and I think I recovered it pretty good. It took pretty much all of my brain sells but We had a good afternoon actually and even though there was only 10 kids (which included Shaun & Lino) it was nice. The kids really enjoyed making the pizza's which I was happy about. Some of them really got into it and wanted to make sure that the crust was nice and flat and even. 
But I had to kick them out and keep them away from the group because they kept trying to get Lino to leave the party and play with them which wasn't cool. It worked out but it was just funny. After the party we ended up staying around for a while talking to Murchelle & Deanna and their husbands. It was actually really nice. At some point we had been there almost 5hrs and decided to sit down for dinner and beers...we just made an evening of it...I love it. It reminds me of how it use to be with Ha Eun and the family...so relaxed and no one in a rush to do anything and no one really picky about what we do either...what a great bday!
Week 14 (April 16th) - Nothing major to report this week. We have become very boring and redundant in our routines which I guess is good but it is also very boring for me. I spent the week searching for jobs and applying to jobs and reaching out to old collage classmates to see if I could get them to pass my resume on to the hiring departments in their organizations...and still nothing. At some point I'm going to have to make a decision if I am going to keep searching, not search, really try to do this selling stuff for Aspira or go back to school. So many choices...its a good thing I know but seriously I feel like I just did this a year ago and now I'm doing it again!!!!!! Besides the stress of job searching I did make a new friend today at the school. The mom of one of Shaun's classmates...I see her a lot for pick-up after school but she doesn't really talk to me and I figured it was because she didn't speak much English or didn't want to speak English. I know that they only just moved to Singapore from China around the same time as us and their son didn't know any English but has pretty much picked it up completely in the last 3 months. I've talked to her husband before and he was nice but she always seemed to give me a funny look or look a little mad. Anyway, we were in the library together while Lino was at his after school activity and we started talking. Well talking is kind of a very general term for what we were doing. We were trying to talk but she doesn't speak much English and I don't speak any Chinese so she understood about 10% of what I was saying and I understood about 20% of her broken English.
On Saturday we went over to Deanna's house and got to hang out with them for the evening. Eric is such a good cook and he really likes cooking and we really like eating his food. He makes these really really good home made pretzel dogs that are so good and then he make home made pita bread that was amazing. We had a great evening and by the end of it we were playing heads up charades and spoons! I think we have found our couple family...they are a winner, the kids really get along good together and they don't mind our craziness so it is a great combination. We event met up on Sunday for dinner with them...I mean 2 nights in a row with the Cutaia group is a lot for most people to handle but they invited us so it must have been not to bad for them. It made for a good weekend. Oh, I almost forgot...before the Charades popped out we started talking about TV series and I was going on and on about This is Us because it is so good and so sad and so real and so addictive. I've been watching it here and there since our flight to Singapore in October and lately Mike has been watching it but pretending like he isn't interested. But I know that he's watching it because when it gets sad he looks up from his book and is like "why are you watching this sad stuff?" then a few minutes later when its really sad hes like "why is it so sad" then at the end of it hes like "why are they all so sad? how do you keep watching them when they are like this?" He says this with watery eyes mind you. So I'm telling my story to them about me and Mike and it seems like Deanna & Eric have a similar situation going on and the other lady there has no idea what we are talking about because she hasn't watched it so of course that means that we need to watch it so we all agree to watch the first episode. At that point Mike wasn't actually invested in watching the series and he hadn't seen any of the first season so it was good for him to see. It wasn't too sad but its interesting enough that you can see how people get hooked and since he has seen some of the later episodes it was guaranteed that he was going to be hooked and he was. He wasn't right out balling at the end of the first episode but we were all sad and that is when I had to pull out the Charades to try and lighten up the mood. But from that point forward Mike was committed which means I have to wait to finish the series until he has caught up...great.
Week 15 (April 23rd) - This was a rough week for me. I was so bored and stressed/frustrated about the job search. Poor Mike tried to help me but when I get to this point there is not much than can help me except food and gin. I think my problem is that I had it in my head that it would be much easier for me to find a job here compared to Ireland but that is not the case at all. Well maybe a little bit but not enough to make a difference. I'm slowing starting to find out the the number of visa's that the government has been giving out has been drastically cut so it is hard and harder for people to get them. Most companies have to hire permanent residences because of the visa restrictions. Well we are not interested in becoming PR's at least not yet so that isn't really an option for me right now. And it is getting so close to the end of the school year I am wondering if it is even worth it to find something or should I just enjoy the summer with the boys or back in the states or traveling and pick up on the job search at the end of the summer?? I know this is a good situation to be in but I really want to work and I am so bored that I need something to do (other than clean, cook and apply for jobs). So I was so bored this week that one day I even went to see Mike for lunch to have him entertain me! I am pretty sure that in our 10yrs of marriage that this has only happened a handful of times. When we were living in Granbury yes, I needed him to entertain me because there was nothing for my black butt to do but since then I don't think I have needed entertaining but this week I did...Mike was like a kid in a candy store. I picked up some sushi for us and headed to his office and we had a nice, quick take out sushi lunch in the Pepsi canteen.
Mike could see that the week was getting to me, it was only Wednesday, and he gave me the green light to plan some trips for us or for the summer so that is something to do. This week I also got my hair braided for the first time and the lady did a pretty good job and didn't keep me for a long time so I was happy with that. Its just super expensive to get it braided...like 3x as much as I paid in Ireland...but this is Singapore so I shouldn't be so surprised. I also went to another PMI event. I was not in the best of moods so I didn't do as much networking as I should have. It was pretty boring too but I had planned to network and I wanted to get the credits but I just couldn't pull it together. I was so out of it after the event that once I made it on my bus I rode the bus until it went to the end of the line. I was so out of the way from our condo it wasn't even funny. I thought that maybe the bus would just keep going in a circle so I could catch the condo on the way back but no the bus stopped at the bus stop and I had to get out in the middle of I don't know where and try and pretend like I was lost. I knew what I had done, I was so deep into my book and so out of it that I never looked up to see my stop pass me by...which was over 20min ago. About 1.5hrs after the event ended I finally made it home, it should have taken me 30min. The good news is that I finished my book series...which in its self is crazy for me. I am pretty sure that I have read about 12 books since we have been in Singapore. I'm sure that I haven't read 12 books over the past 2yrs! That is just another indication of how bored I am. If only I had the motivation to work out all the time and only drink water I would be doing really good...but that is not the case. Enough about me...the boys...well I actually can't say to much about them. Lino is so up and down its hard to figure out. Mrs. Brooks is still sending me a daily email with status updates on Lino..."This morning Lino was good with me but he didn't share the ipad in the afternoon"... "Today started out not good for Lino and I had him spend some time reflecting on his behavior, the afternoon was better"... "Lino was good in the morning but was yelling in the hallway after going to the toilet so he had a time out"... "Lino was caught using his fist in the playground with another kids and has been talked to by the teacher on duty" .... "Lino was good with me today but his Chinese teacher did catch me in the hall and told me that he wasn't listening during her class". The list goes on and on. I don't know how she has so much time to send me these emails...I know they are quick and short but still every day I get at least one if not 2 of them. On Thursday we had a meeting with Mrs Brooks and the school councilor because Mrs Brooks is worried that he needs some help managing his emotions. The talk was...I'm not sure how to express how the talk went actually. Mike was not feeling it and I was only half way convinced that it was needed so we both came away feeling like 'blah'. Basically the councilor said that he was worried about Lino's physical/emotional management. Lino pushed a kid once maybe twice and the councilor was making it out that it was a very serious issue that needed to be addressed right away. He asked if we gave Lino physical discipline (spankings) and I said yes but not all the time which is true but not true. The guy looked like I slapped his mother and basically told me that because Lino gets a spanking that he is use to using physical methods to deal with problems. I said...in my head...bullshit! But who knows I'm not doctor but I know my parents would beat the shit out of me (they put me to complete shame) and I didn't have any problems knowing when to hit and when not to. But like I said, I'm no doctor so who knows. Anyway, he suggested that we not spank and I just nodded my head and let him keep talking. The moral of the story is that they want to talk to Lino weekly to see if that helps...I said go for it...we pay enough money for the school so why not. Lets see how it goes...I'm not even sure how we are going to get feedback from these meetings. When we first got to the school Lino was looking sick and we sent him to the nurse to check his eye while we talked to the councilor...after our meeting we found him and he didn't look well so I took him home. I was worried it was pink eye but the nurse said it wasn't. He rested most of the afternoon.
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