Sunday, February 21, was the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. We had our last CNY over the weekend at our dear friend's house. When we entered the house we had to present tow Mandarin oranges to the host and wish her an abundance of prosperity in the new year. Plus during the new year it is important that you carry little red packets filled with money and give them to all unmarried people that you visit. So Cosette and Henry received packets too! We partook in the CNY salad, which is unique to Singapore. Other South East Asian countries are starting to adopt the tradition, but it started in Singapore. Our hostess went through all the ingredients that she added to the noodles and green leaf salad. Then when she was done everyone helped toss the salad. Then we feasted! My Singaporean friend told me that this is the time of year that they tend to indulge. All the grocery stores carried a bunch of different traditional CNY treats and snacks. Our favorites were pineapple tarts, sesame crackers, prawn straws, and bak kwa (pork jerky). A friend at the party was helping us sample all the different traditional snacks that were there. She kept saying "today calories don't count". She made me laugh. All the grocery stores at this time carried different kinds of Mandarin oranges to take to family, friends, and anyone else you meet during the holiday. All the CNY goodies and Mandarin stands made the grocery aisles already smaller than they were, but it was so festive. The whole country was decorated. There was red and gold everywhere. It was like NYC at Christmas! CNY is the biggest holiday of the year in SG. We enjoyed Cosette and Lyndon getting time off from school and work. It is also the biggest migration of people in the world. Everyone is going to visit family. We loved it! Our favorite part of the CNY was seeing all the lion dances. The kids even passed up a play date to see a lion dance at our local mall. In total we saw four, and the one at our local mall was the best. The lion dance troop put on a fantastic lion dance as well as a dragon dance, drum demonstration, another lion dance. The show went on forever. We watched for a long while then went grocery shopping (grocery stores are in basement of malls here) came back up and it was STILL going on. The kids loved it. We would see lion dance troops traveling around the country as we would be out and about. It was really fun to hear the drums as we would be walking. I heard that there is a lion dance competition, and I have to go to it next year. Chinatown has a special CNY market that opens in the afternoon and goes throughout the evening. Lyndon and I took turns going. I went with a friend one night. She helped me pick out all of our traditional Chinese outfits. I got Cosette two: one Chinese and one Korean. The Korean outfits were so beautiful I could not resist. The next night Lyndon took the kids to see the lights and the market down there. The kids wore their traditional outfits and Lyndon said they were a hit with everyone. He said people would stop and say how cute they were in their outfits. They brought home some lanterns, a monkey to hang on a door, and a bag full of assorted flavored mochi treats. Mango is currently my favorite.
A video we made of our CNY experience in SG. Lion dances galore!
A few more pictures from our day at the zoo on CNY and other activities.
Our favorite friend! Marissa has been our angel here in Singapore. She served her mission in NYC around the time Henry was born. She came over all the time in NYC and we became good friends. She has shown us all around Singapore and introduced us to all the local cuisine. She came over our second day in the country and took us out and showed us around. We love her so much!
All the malls had CNY displays and decorations set up. I believe this one was at Gardens down by the Bay.
Henry likes to see how long he can hold his breath under the water.
Henry made friends with some of the zoo employees. These girls were so nice to him and let him play in the end of one of the slides where he wasn't supposed to. They watched over him and helped him whenever he needed it.
The kids new friends.
Happy year of the monkey!
Me and my mini Lyndon. He looks just like Lyndon did as a baby in this photo.
We wore our traditional Chinese clothing to church the Sunday over CNY. We had a combined meeting with three other wards and only one hour of church that Sunday. Lyndon gave an excellent talk, I wish I could have heard more of it. He practiced it with me so I knew the subject matter. Even with friends sitting with us to help out with the kids I still ended up in the hallway with the boys. It's the time of life.
Chinatown!
We really enjoyed participating in this cultural experience. Gong xi fa cai!
We made it to Manila! We flew over the US and the Pacific Ocean to get here. Our total travel time was 55 hours. It was long but surprisingly not bad at all. Cosette was an angel and the Haneda Airport in Tokyo was like a hotel. If those two things had been any different attitude in writing would not be so positive. This odessy of a journey begun way before our first flight. Packing up our apartment for our subletters took a lot longer than we supposed it would. So instead of being refreshed and ready for the long trip over we were tried and I did not want to get out of bed. We got enough sleep to keep on going till our flight from NYC to San Fransicso where we tried to rest. That flight for me was the worst. Cosette did sleep but was up for a lot of it. The plane was cramped and Lyndon and I were seperated by the aile. Thankgoodness for kind and patient people who sat next to us. Playing at the San Fransico airport. Our flight to Japan was awesome. We had a
Remote learning is over for now, thank goodness. We have been doing remote learning since March 20. We are experts at google classroom, zoom meetings, and google meets. It's been rough, but we did it! This post is long and detailed about what each kid had to do everyday for school. It was intense. The kids did wonderfully. Their teachers are amazing! They worked around the clock to learn all the new technology, meeting with students individually. I received personal phone calls from them asking what they could do to help and also talking to my kids. I am so grateful for the teachers they had this year. All three kids participated in remote learning. Each grade/teacher did something different. What they all had to do was answer and attendance question by noon, read for thirty minutes a day, and I-ready (an assessment program that helped determine where they were in math and reading). Third Grade: Cosette's assignments were what she was doing in school. She completed two huge
Happy Valentine's Day! This has become one of my favorite holidays in the last few years. This year especially I am really into it. It probably has to do with my sweet Lyndon who proposed to me on V-Day four years ago. Since then he has made Valentine's Day a fun and special day. He always surprises me with something fun. Usually we go eat some where fabulous and go see a ballet or opera. He likes to do something cultural on this speical day. This year I am getting into the spirit more. Cosette can do a lot more things. We made special Valentine's for our families and made yummy cookies. She kept sneaking cookie dough and eating it. She is my daughter. The finished product waiting for Lyndon. I went to the Cake Boss Bakery last year to get Lyndon something for V-day and was inspired to make the dark chocolate bowls filled with chocolate covered strawberries. It was a lot easier that I anticipated. Oh, and that cloth on the table are the pajama pants
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It all looks so amazing!
ReplyDeleteIt was really fun. You will have to go to a lion dance sometime. They are awesome. I'm sure the boys would love it too.
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