May - Job interview, baby talk with Lino, Mother's Day, durian, student led conferences, 10yr Anniversary

Month 4

April 30- May 6
On Tuesday was the Labor Day holiday which was weird because I only thought that happened in the US and also weird because it was celebrated on a Tuesday.  Most of the US holidays they just move to Monday so that people have the long weekend but here they stick to the actual date so sometimes the holiday happens on a Tuesday...not sure if that is good or bad...just a statement of fact.  So for this holiday we really didn't have any plans..we thought about going away but with the holiday being on a Tuesday and with us not planning properly it didn't happen.  Instead we decided to go with Shaun's class to the park for a picnic.  The picnic was early enough to give us the rest of the day but too early for us to really enjoy the day off.  By the time we pulled ourselves together and got our picnic bag together and got into the taxi we could see it was about to rain.  But a little rain here isn't a show stopper (very similar to Ireland) so we kept going.  But once we made it 1/2 way to the park it was like a mini tropical rain storm...it was a serious down pour!!!  We got so soaked just going from the taxi to the shelter at the park, not even 30 meters away.  There was no back-up/rain plan so the class coordinator was in a jam trying to calm parents down and come up with a plan B which turned into a plan C. 

We eventually ended up at Vivo City which worked for us because it was close but in the process half of the other parents went somewhere else and some just went home.  The few of us that did got Vivo ended up staying for quite a while.  The kids played in the little water structure for a while then we had McD's...the kids did.  It rained the whole day...it wasn't the best bank holiday we've ever had. 

Thursday evening we went up to the school for an appreciate dinner for the parents.  It was actually kind of nice and the food was pretty good.  The boys had a great time eating all the sweets and playing with their friends.  It was a simple thing but very thoughtful.  On Friday as we were coming home from school the boys were asking me all kind of questions...random questions...and some how we got on names.  They wanted to know why I was called Renee and why they had their names.  I tried to explain as best as I could but it is kind of hard when your name doesn't really mean anything and you were just given/gave a name because you liked it.  At some point Lino was like "When I have kids maybe I'm going to name my daughter Renee."  I was like "Really? Why would you do that?"  Lino "Because I like the name and its your name so its good."  Well I couldn't argue with his logic...but I do hope he doesn't name his daughter Renee that would be a little weird.  That evening I got a little shock/surprise... I have been submitting my resume to a lot of companies and haven't heard anything back from them.  I have even reached out to old college classmates and asked them to submit my resume if they could.  One of my old classmates has really gone out of his way and on Friday evening I got an email from his company asking me to do a phone interview on Monday!  I was so excited and nervous all at the same time.  He said that they would be calling me but I didn't believe it for some reason.  Then this email comes late on Friday and the phone interview is 11am on Monday morning...talk about no time to prepare really.  But I was excited and had some work to do on the weekend to prepare.  On Saturday it was Cinco de Mayo!!!  Of course all over the internet everyone is posting how this isn't really a Mexican holiday but I didn't care.  We made plans to get together with one of Mike's colleagues that's from Mexico and Deanna for dinner. 

But before that it was a split afternoon between the boys...Lino wanted to go to the water park and Shaun wanted to go to the aquarium.  I didn't want to go to the water park and Mike had never been so it kind of worked out.  I took Shaun to the aquarium and the 2 fishes went to the pool.  Shaun and I of course finished first so Shaun actually got to do both things.  I really didn't want to get into the water and Shaun was determined to go in without me so I ended up letting him do the lazy river and the wave pool by his self (because we couldn't find Mike & Lino).  He did pretty well until he tried to race me and got lost...I was looking for him for about 15min before I found him.  What is it about us loosing our kids???  So for dinner we went to this cool Mexican restaurant in the Chimes area...pretty trendy.  Well it was cool at first but the experience that we had there was pretty terrible.  Maybe it was because it was "so busy" but it didn't seem that busy to us but the service was crap.  It took us over 2hrs to get our food and eat then another 40 min to get and pay the bill.  It was crazy.  And on top of that there was a poor guy who got salsa dumped on him only 10 min after he arrived with his party!!!!  The waiters were not even very helpful to the poor guy.  They just seemed to be totally lost as to what to do for him.  Someone did give him a few wet napkins but there wasn't much else that they did for him.  I don't think it was the waiters fault exactly because some guy bumped her and she dropped the salsa on him but they didn't make any attempt at trying to make the situation right.  I hear that it is like that in Singapore and it seems true...if that was in the states I think it would have been a lot more drama on both sides but there was none...crazy.  So crazy slow service, the risk of getting salsa dumped on your fresh khaki shorts and then so-so food.  Some of the food was good but most of it was just so-so and for the price and wait you would have expected it to be much better.  The funny part is that Mikes co-worker is the one who suggested the place because he got a good recommendation from someone.  This is our first time having Mexican in Singapore and it was way better than Ireland so we couldn't complain to much.  Regardless we had a good time out and we had a few shots/not shots of tequila that were actually not bad.  I got to full rundown on how to drink tequila and how not to do shots of it and that the lime and salt is all made up by Americans...so funny.  But I couldn't argue because I had 2 shots/not shots of tequila and I didn't throw up so he was right.  After that a few of us went to this horrible Cuban club to listen to music and "dance".  Of course it was super crowded because it was Cinco de Mayo and we were in a Cuban bar that was celebrating Cinco de Mayo...it was bound to be bad.  It wasn't completely awful but it wasn't good either...but it was entertaining so we stayed for a while.  It was a fun night!  Mike and I went for more drinks after and met a strange group of guys from India...one of the guys lives in Singapore and was seriously trying to kill himself with shots of tequila!!!  We apparently had sat at their table, even though the National Singapore sign for a taken table was not there (no napkin, cell phone or bag) so I am not sure how they claimed the table but they were nice enough to let us stay.  When they came over to the table with 6 shots of tequila Mike and I just looked at each other and nearly threw up.  Of course because I'm who I am I had to ask them about themselves, where they were from, how long, where they were heading and most importantly why they wanted to die of tequila!!!!!  The guy nearest to me was telling us the sad story about how he hates his job and how he works so hard all week and on Saturday he just wants to die so he comes to the bar and drinks as much tequila as he can, dies, gets up on Monday and does it all over again.  I didn't understand it at all and I kept questioning his actions and his friends thought I was very funny.  One of the guys was not partaking in this death by tequila event, I named him the smart one, but the other 2 were all about it.  The non-Singaporean guy actually seemed to be handling his tequila fairly well but the other guy who hated his job was barely standing.  Then he went and got 10 more shots!!!!  He wanted to share with Mike and I and neither one of us were interested in dying via tequila so that was our sign to head home...what a way to end the night.  Sunday Mike & I were out cold in the morning and of course our amazing son Lino was prepared for his parents Sunday lie-in.  He got up and made fried eggs and hot chocolate for hi we finally got a chance to look at the boys scholastic book club order forms.  For some reason I was really excited about it so that meant they were excited about it too.  I wanted Lino to get some Goosebumps books because I thought he would like that sort of thing but he wasn't that interested.  We did get a couple chapter books so I hope this summer he really gets into reading.  I told him all about how when I was younger they did the summer book club and every 3 books you read you could go to Pizza Hut and get a free personal pizza.  Man the memories of those summers are still clear in my head.  I didn't really like reading but I would read at least 6 books (not big of course) so that I could get my personal pizza.  So me & Lino kind of came up with a plan do do something like that for him in order to encourage him to read and reward him.  I think it will be fun and he will hopefully enjoy it.  The biggest issue is going to be trusting him that he is reading the book and not just skimming over it...I'll have to figure that out.  I spent most of the afternoon studying up on the company so that I would know what they did, their beliefs and things like that.  I did a little stalking on LinkedIn too and tried to find as much info as I could so that I wouldn't be so nervous on Monday...its only a phone interview right???

May 7-13th
This was a pretty busy week.  I got the boys out of the house, sent them with their first Scholastic book club orders, did a quick workout, then a little more research then got myself ready for the interview.  My career coach suggested that I dress up for the interview so that I can get fully into the moment.  I was getting a little nervous because the email suggested that I was interested in a Process Engineer role but I wasn't, I was interested the Product Development Mngr or Project Manager role so I had to make sure to mention that during the interview.  The interview was short and painless...although the HR lady did seem a little annoyed or impatient or something but otherwise it only lasted for about 10 min.  She confirmed which position I was interested in so that was great and it is a contract role for 1yr so it is perfect for me.  At the end she said she would see about getting an on-site interview scheduled for later in the week...wow...that is awesome!  After that I met up with one of the moms from the school and had lunch.  She is joining the PTA as the Primary School Chair and she is trying to convince me to join as co-chair.  I am not sure I want to do it but if I'm not working I guess there isn't any reason not to since I spend a lot of time up at the school anyway.  Lunch was nice and we had good chats about our experience at the school and Singapore and stuff...so nice to have a lunch date.  Then we did a little shopping for the kids before heading out.  On Tuesday I went to the PTA AGM and by the end of the day I was named co-chair for the Primary School...I never said that I would take the role only that Sonja suggested that I co-chair with her but I guess that suggestion was enough to be agreement.  So now I'm co-chair...great...this is going to be fun.  As a result of me now having a real position on the PTA I feel obligated to help out with the PTA events and they were having a book fair all week so on Thursday I ended up spending the 1/2 the day at the book fair helping out and trying to get the kids to buy books.  It was fun but the mom who was putting on the book fair was there all day for the whole week which is just too much and way to much dedication for me.  None the less I was back up there helping out on Thursday.  At the same time there is this event that me & Sonja have to coordinate.  So busy and I've only just joined.  On Thursday evening I went to a new networking event, it was for the Singapore Irish Chamber of Commerce.  I was nervous of course to go but it turned out good...it actually made me feel a little home sick :-(  The people where so nice and it seems like they might be a little more helpful with my marketing Aspira so I am glad that I went.  The crazy thing about Irish people is that no matter where you are in the world you are always Irish and even though I'm not Irish I am a little.  One of the people there even took me home which was way more than I could have asked for.  They were so helpful with trying to help me get connected and giving me ideas on how to find jobs and things it was incredible.  On Saturday Mike & I were suppose to meet up with our Cinco de Mayo group to go out but no one was able to go so it was just me & Mike having a night out on the town...well not in the town...outside the town but who cares.  Sunday was Mothers Day and the boys took me to a nice little cafe that I picked out for them and we had brunch.  The boys barely stayed at the table 10min...they were out playing with all the kids for most of the time we were there.  At one point Mike & I were reminiscing about the old days when we use to play this game called "This or That".  Its a simple game where someone gives you 2 options and you have to choice one.  There is no explanation as to the context of the 2 options you just have to pick one.  It usually starts out from some weird encounter and you wonder how the other person would react like..."Putting you hand in the toilet to fish out your wedding ring or sifting through your kids poop to find all the pieces to the board game they swallowed the other day?"  Most likely one of those things has happen to you or someone you know which is why you are asking the question.  Anyway, it is a fun game and we have been playing it for years but haven't played it in a while but today Mike picked 2 really really hard and hilarious scenarios and he had me dying laughing.  One of them I had to phone a friend which is not allowed in the rules but I couldn't pick...I had to have TT help me.  The other I started crying as soon as he mentioned it because it was so sad...so bare with me as I give you the background story.  We have been watching the series This is Us and it is so sad.  The other day we watched an episode that completely shattered us both...I mean completely...we were both snotting and crying like little babies during this episode...it was bad.  Then there is this other movie that does the same thing to me, John Q, where Denzel Washington is about to shoot his self in the head so that the doctor takes his heart to give to his son.  I mean even typing it out I'm crying...so anyway...Mike ask me to pick between the 2 and I couldn't.  I couldn't even look at him.  I was crying instantly...and he was crying too just telling me the 2 scenarios.  We were a hot mess up in that restaurant.  I got so hysterical with my crying I started laughing...then he started laughing then we were both laughing and crying our heads off.  This went on for a solid 30min.  I am not joking!  It was the best Mothers Day ever!!!!  I haven't laughed/cried like that in forever...well at least since I last saw those 2 shows but otherwise never.  The boys thought Mike was being mean to me because I was crying and they were like "Don't be mean to mommy!!!  Its Mothers Day!"  So sweet when they want to be.  We scared off a table in front of us...I think they thought we were on drugs.  And the waiters never came back to our table...it was classic.  


May 14th-20th

So this week I spent most of my time stressing about my first on-site job interview!!!!  I can't believe that I am finally getting a job interview.  I am so happy and blessed its crazy.  But at the same time I am so nervous its crazy.  The position that I applied for was a product developer manager but the HR lady said in her email that I was interviewing for a process engineer role.  I didn't want to ask to many questions so I just tried to prepare myself for the product development role.  On Monday and Tuesday I spent most of the time preparing and Wednesday was the big day.  In my preparations I found out that one of the guys interviewing me went to Penn State like me so at least we would have something in common which could be helpful for me.  So Wednesday was the interview and it went good...it could have been better.  I found out that the HR lady who had did the phone screen had left on Friday so that document that I sent to her on Monday never got delivered.  The appears to be a lot of attrition at the moment due to the recent acquisition which is understandable.  I was super nervous but that wasn't even the problem.  The guy who when to Penn State spent more than 1/3 of the interview chatting to me about random stuff and asking me if I was interested in other positions within the company (I was technically interviewing for the PD manager role).  I don't know if he was just trying to make me feel more comfortable or if that was his style or if he was generally interested in reminiscing about Penn State and my issues with ants in Singapore.  I really don't know what he was thinking but by the end of their questions I only had about 5min to ask my own questions and when I finally did ask I found out that I was not interested in the position at all!!!  If I had asked my few questions up front I could have told them that the role was not for me but at this point I was already committed.  So I walked out of there feeling like I had a good interview but didn't want that exact position.  It is a horrible feeling because I had my collage classmate help me to get the interview so if I get the job offer I am in a little bit of a bind that I can't turn it down because my friend helped me to get the interview but if I'm not going to be happy why would I take the job???  Such a unique situation for me so the rest of the week I talked to as many people as I could to get some perspective on the situation and the main conclusion is that it is more important to just get into the door and then figure it out from there.  This is very true so I relaxed again...anyway I didn't even know if I got the job or not so why stress.  On top of that we had to make a decision about the boys going over to the states for the summer and finally just said book the tickets.  There was no guarantee that I would get the job and only God knows how long it would take to sort out my visa since the HR lady was gone (she was only a contract worker but still) so anyway we just booked it.  I mean we didn't just book it...its a bit more complicated than that but after about 2.5hrs on the phone with American Airlines we got all of our flights booked to the US and back.  Pop Pop volunteered to bring the boys back from NY which was very very nice of him.  So that means I didn't have to go back to get the or spend the whole summer in the states and that we get our first visitor in July!!!  Very exciting!  The guy who we were working with on AA was very patient with us but I think if the call would have lasted another 30min he was going to loose his shit...thankfully we got it worked out.  It isn't easy to book these crazy flights.  The domestic flights were easier because I was able to book one way flights for the boys and mom so I didn't even need to call to book them.  So we are all set for the summer!!  I am only staying one week because I want to be back in case I get the job but I did book a flexible fare so that if I don't hear anything in the next few weeks I can change it without too much penalty.  Friday I had lunch with my Chinese friends and made a plan for next week to have a Durian date...I'm super nervous about this but it should be fun either way.  On Saturday we met up with Deanna, Eric and one of their couple friends at the East Cost Hawker center.  We have heard that this was a cool place to go so we were excited to go hangout.  You can bring your own drinks, not beer, so that was even better.  Mike & I didn't have any small containers of alcohol so we ended up taking our big bottle of Gin...everyone thought we were crazy.  We had a good time and the food was super good...I don't remember the last part of the night but we made it home safely which was good.  I ended up on the floor in the doorway in a pile of my own vomit!  Mike was in bed but he doesn't remember how he got there.  Sunday was a little rough but not as bad as it could have been and not as bad as the night we had at the bar down the road.  The boys thought that we were crazy because we were walking around in a daze and finally I decided to we should pull it together and go get some food and that we should ride bikes there.  After the boys pulled themselves away from the ipads they were excited about riding bikes to the hawker but as we got closer and closer to leaving (it took a while) the sky got darker and darker and I knew it was going to rain.  Lino & Mike had did a similar trip in the rain to get KFC and they came back soaked!!!!  Lino was complaining like crazy but secretly I think he enjoyed it.  But this wasn't the time for this type of move...Shaun is still a little shaky on the bike and Mike & I were completely hung over so we only made it down to the end of the block and aborted mission!  Even though we were only out for about 5 min in the rain we were all pretty much soaked.  The boys had their heavy rain coats on so at least their tops weren't wet but we had to change clothes and then we just took the shuttle bus to Vivocity and got dinner there.  Such fun. 

May 21st- June 2nd
This week was kind of busy and as with all Mondays started out slow...the boys got up early...like 5am, and were watching the ipad!  I heard them get up and after I finally convinced myself that they were up I went to look for them and found them in their room in the beds in the dark watching the ipads...they just know how to test my nerves.  They did go back to sleep after I took the ipads but of course they were tired which means that no one wanted to listen.  Lino especially didn't want to listen and when I told him to tie his shoes he was completely against it!  He has been trying to tie his shoe more and more lately...not because he wanted to but because I made him and I told him to tie his shoe today because he was walking all over the laces but he refused.  He was making such a fuss about it I told Shaun to go down to the bus with Mariza and I would wait with Lino, I told them not to make the bus wait for him.  In true Lino form he took a good 10min to tie his shoes and when I told him he didn't have a lot of time to make it to the bus before it left he didn't seem to care and just stomped off and walked slowly to the bus stop.  I knew before he even made it downstairs that he had missed the bus so when he came back up stairs to tell me I was already prepared to go.  I didn't lecture him I just got my stuff and we headed out.  I did ask him if that is what he wanted, to just use the MRT to go to school and not go on the bus, he said no but I couldn't tell.  After all that I had to give myself a little treat so on the way home I went to the hawker that we were trying to go to on Sunday, ABC Brickworks is suppose to be pretty famous apparently and I saw on Facebook that they had a good char siew steam bun so I wanted to try it out.  I ended up getting a few steam buns for me and the boys and Mike and some muffins...everything was good!  I had a nice relaxing mid morning on the balcony with my steam bun, muffin and coffee...this is the life!!!  While I was making a mess with my muffin the ants started to come out to pick up the little pieces so I got some of my ant gel that I bought the other day and used it.  The ants went to the gel like it was honey!  I tried it on a couple other spots in the kitchen and the same thing happened.  Man this stuff really works.  I was sure that I was going to have to call the exterminators but if this gel actually kills them I will be happy.  I know that we will not be 100% ant free but if the majority are taken care of that would be great...lets see what happens in a few days.  Before I picked the boys up from school I went looking for some shirts for Mike.  Its not easy to find shirts that fit him outside of the US and trying in Asia is even harder.  I went to M&S because I heard they had large sizes and I got a few that might work.  When I picked the boys up they were tired but in a better mental place which was good...I didn't have to kill them.  On Tuesday I tried the Queenstown shopping center to see if they had a better variety of large shirts and found this guy selling fancy button up shirts and he convinced me that his shirts would fit Mike so I got a couple.  It isn't the normal style that Mike would get but they were nice.  Another shop had some shirts that I was sure would fit so I got those too...better to have more options that not enough.  I had to return the shirts from Monday, because they were to small then met up with my Chinese friends for a Durian eating date. 

This was my first time trying Durian and I was not excited about it...the smell is so strong and if you are not use to it the smell is super super gross but the people who like it love the smell and apparently want the Durian that has the stronger smell (better quality supposedly). 

Let me tell you, the stuff isn't that bad but I couldn't see myself just going out and buying it to enjoy.  I had a lot of fun with the girls trying it and we made a lot of jokes about it because it was my first time but man that stuff was strong. 

Once you get past the smell which takes about 3 mouthfuls then you can start to try and appreciate the texture and sweetness.  I think its related to jack fruit and people go crazy over that here too but I'm not a fan of that either.  The best way to explain it is like a good stinky cheese...you either really like them or you don't.  It is an acquired taste for sure but once you acquire it you can actually enjoy it and appreciate the richness of it.  The one thing I learned that it was still debated about between the girls was that it is thought that the Durian has a lot of nutritional value.  One lady said one Durian fruit has the nutritional value of 10 chickens!  I can't imagine that but maybe its possible.  I was trying to figure out if it was because its so sweet or if its high in fat like an avocado but I couldn't get a straight answer...I don't think they know either.  The other thing was that you can't have Durian and drink alcohol or you could die!!!!!  Apparently there was a case where some guy was eating Durian with his friends and drinking and he died because of some interaction between the two.  Talk about scary!  So if you have Durian make sure you wait at least 2-4hrs before enjoying even a glass a wine or beer.  Serious stuff!!!!  After school I had a few nasty Durain burps to remind me of my lunch time activities then I took the boys to get their hair cut.  The people at the mall are starting to get use to us so it was much easier...and I am keeping their hair short so it makes it easier for them all together.  I even let Shaun get his hair trimmed up because I cut it a week or so ago but couldn't get it even around the sides so the lady just cleaned him up...he was happy.  On Wednesday I had my first PTA meeting which was a spectacle to say the least.  Those ladies have way to much time on their hands.  The meeting lasted for 2hrs and there was nothing accomplished.  It was similar to the Cuidiu group but these ladies are a lot more vocal so a lot more drama...this will be fun. 

The boys had student led conferences on Thursday and Friday and no school on Friday so that was fun.  We did Lino's conference first and it was kind of cool because he got to show us all the things that he has been doing in class.  Mrs Brooks is a huge micro-manager so Lino had to do what she said but he was good a being the boss too.  Thursday was also our 10th anniversary and we celebrated by having dinner at the school that I had packed and re-heated in the lunch cafeteria microwave...What a celebration. 

On Friday was Shaun's conference and that was a lot longer because we had to go to the 2 classes, English & Chinese.  It was crazy to see how much Chinese Shaun has learned these last few months and to realize that we have been in Singapore for almost 5 months...where has the time gone.  After Shaun's conference I took the boys to KidZone with the other moms...they had a blast and didn't want to leave!  So I ended up staying with them while the other moms went to lunch.  We eventually caught up and the boys had a second lunch at their favoirte dim sum place, mind you that Shaun hates this place but he was excited to go because he knew his friends would be there. The boys and I were exhausted at the end of it and it was only 3pm when we left.  Mike & I had a one night staycation planned and I was suppose to be get the boys sorted at home with Mariza and get to the hotel at 3pm to check us in but I was late. 

We eventually made it and we were both pooped!  I had plans for us to do a few things that evening but the only thing we managed was happy hour at the hotel and dinner.  Dinner was super super good! 

We both really enjoyed it.  After that we came back to the hotel and were going to 'rest' for a minute and change clothes and head out to the jazz bar...that didn't happen!  It was like our wedding night all over again.  We passed out at 10:30pm!  So lame! 

On Saturday we did kind of make up for it.  We didn't get up early which was nice and we found a place to have brunch which was ok.  Then we went to the Long Bar to have an official Singapore Sling which cost us $33/drink...what a rip off!  After that we went to the Tiger brewery for a tour.  I thought the brewery was near to Chinatown and Mike was trying to convince me that it wasn't and that it was very close to Malaysia's boarder...I didn't believe him but after I spent a good 20min trying to find how I had convinced myself it was in Chinatown I realized he was right.  It happens sometimes.  The tour was fine, nothing fancy and its so far out I'm not sure I would put it on the list of things to do if you visit Singapore but we did it.  We found out that Tiger is part of Heineken which I think we kind of knew but never confirmed.  After that back home to get ready for our mini vacation.

Sunday - Wednesday was family anniversary vacation in Phuket!!!!  We wanted to visit Thailand and everyone always says to go to Phuket so that is where we went.  We found a nice resort that had everything the kids would need and an endless supply of drinks for us and we were set. 

There is not much to say other than we ate, drank, swam got burned and repeated this for 3 days.  I'm not sure if it was glorious or not but it was nice.  I wish we would have saw some of Phuket but literally we just stayed in the resort the whole time.  It was great for the boys because they had an awesome kids club that the boys were able to join all day. 

They had shows with the kids at night that were super cute and the kids could even learn how to do some of the stunts that the team did for the performances.  We only sent them in the afternoons and we were going to do some Thai massages while they were gone but we just napped by the pool instead.  Not a typical Cutaia vacation at all but it was nice and the weather was nice because we went during low season so it wasn't as hot as it normally is.   One night they had a beauty contest which was basically a drag queen show...it was totally unexpected and I think that poor Lino was traumatized by it at the end.  They only advertised it as the most beautiful women in Thailand and when the first person came out we knew it was going to be a comedy show.  It was funny because on our way to Thailand Gernot warned us to watch out for the lady men and we had no idea that it was a real thing...but it was apparently.  Well the lady men in the show were only workers who had volunteered to dress as ladies.  A couple of the lady men were actually partially convincing while the other ones you could tell they were just making a show of it.  Funny but probably not the best show for a 7yr old to see.  Lino asked us the next day why the guys were dressed up like girls???  I told him it was because it was a joke, they were just trying to be funny and make people laugh.  He nodded like he understood but you could see in his eyes that he was completely unsure.  Then he told me which one was his favorite and why and I had a silent chuckle inside.  Besides the crazy lady man beauty pagent the rest of the time there was pretty uneventful.  We did meet a nice couple that had recently moved to Singapore from Brazil.  Their son was playing with our boys for the last 2 days and we even met up with them at the airport which was funny.  We will have to go back to do some actual sightseeing but honestly it was a very good family anniversary trip.

Thursday was back to business as usual.  I was up at the school for most of the day helping with the Energy Explosion Day that the PTA sponsors lollipops for kids for after their activities.  I was in charge of recruiting a bunch of moms to help distribute the lollies but the reality was that we didn't need much help at all and me & Sonja did the distribution for the 2 of the 3 events. 

Friday I woke up and knew I was sick...actually in the middle of the night I knew I was getting sick but when I woke up I confirmed it.  I had set my alarm to wake me up early because I was going to the First Friday Breakfast with Irish Chamber of Commerce but Mike shut my alarm off because he knew I was sick and thought I wanted to rest.  I did want to rest but I needed to go to the event for networking so I had to fuss at him for turning my alarm off.  I made it to the event about 15min later than I wanted but I made it.  I didn't actually do much networking because I wasn't feeling good but I made a couple of connections which is what it was all about.  I had a busy day planned and being sick was not on the agenda so I had to keep pushing through.  For the next couple of hours I was searching around Singapore trying to find a Harvey Norman shop to exchange my fitbit watch at.  Sometime during our East Coast Hawker night out my watch had got wet (maybe it was when I jumped into the shower fully clothed to wash off after waking up in my own vomit...I haven't been able to confirm or deny this event yet) and the store was alluding me then when I found it the guy sent me to a replacement/fix-it store because they don't deal with warrenties in the store.  So I had to back track almost to where I started to go to this repair place and they took one look at my reciept that was not from Singapore and told me that I needed to call the Fitbit hotline to get my watch replaced by the US.  What a waste of 2hrs!!!!  But at least I know I can get a replacement when I am in the states.  Next was to get my hair braided...thankfully that didn't require a lot of effort so I was able to get some rest.  After that I was completely done and in full blown sick mode so as soon as I got home I crashed and didn't really get out of the bed until Sunday afternoon.  I mean I did get out to go pee and to make myself some tea and eat a little soup but for the most part I slept about 24hrs between Friday at 3:30PM and Sunday at noon.  I knew I had an interview on Monday and I didn't want to be sick during the interview so it was important to get better quick.  While I thought that I was having it bad Mike was having a tough time being Mr Mom for the weekend.  By the time I peeled myself off of the bed he was shrivled up on the couch exhausted from his 24hrs with the boys.  I had asked him to take the boys to the field day that the SIS group was having on Saturday but he wasn't feeling it.  He took them to the sea aquarium instead which I think was just as much work.  I am sad I missed it because he said they had a new exhibit that was talking about the growing issue of plastic in the ocean.  This is something for some reason that has recently gotten my attention and I am very interested in, this floating island of plastic.  I found a bunch of videos online talking about the problem and it just blew my mind.  It is such a huge issue and I can't see how the governments around the world haven't been able to put laws in place to address this.  In Scandinavia they have banned single use plastics and recycling is mandatory.  They have come up with so many ways to reuse and reduce plastic that it is almost not a problem at all for them. 

I know that that is a relatively small area but why couldn't a country like Singapore do something like that?  I mean the plastic use here is unbelievable!!!!!  If you get a milk tea (very common) from shop you will get it in a plastic cup with a plastic lid and straw and if you are taking it to go they put it in either a small plastic bag or a partial plastic sleeve that has a handle at the top for you to walk and hold it.  I mean do you really need all this plastic?  I am pretty sure straws are banned in Norway because they are so easy to toss onto the ground and end up in the sea/ocean.  So anyway I missed it and since I've already started down the road of ranting about the plastic waste issue I have to share the video that I thought was very eye opening.  I know there are lots of other videos out there that are probably better but this one I showed to the boys and to Mike who thought I was a nut job tree hugger (he seriously is a Republican and doesn't think any of this is an issue) but its important to me and I think awareness is key so I am making anyone who is brave enough to read my blog aware of the growing issue with plastic.  This video tells how it is impacting birds and while it may not seem like an issue for us because we don't eat these birds the same thing is happening to fish and other birds/animals that we would consider sources of food.  This plastic that we think nothing about when we toss it on the ground, goes into the ocean and is silently killing animals of starvation.  The animals that don't die of plastic induced starvation end up on our dinner plate with bits and pieces of plastic distributed throughout their body from ingesting plastic mistaken as food.  Regardless of if you want to believe it or not this is a problem and we will all be hit with it full on sooner than later.  More than a few dying whales washing up on shores with bellies full of plastic bags, eventually it will be something more close to home...