Our Trip Home

We arrived back in Singapore early last Monday morning after a whirlwind 5 week trip to Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois and then back to Oklahoma. A Singapore neighbor and I were comparing notes and I counted that I relocated my huge suitcase 12 times during this trip (I won our little contest hands down). We had a wonderful time catching up with all of our friends and family and really appreciate everyone who fed us and let us stay with them. We also enjoyed eating all of our favorite foods, shopping at Target and other stores, driving through drive-thrus, and my personal favorite - pulling into nice wide parking spaces forwards.

Here are a few highlights from our trip:

OKLAHOMA

One of the highlights was loving on our favorite dog, Mr. Red, whom we adopted in Kansas. He was too elderly to make the move all of the way to Singapore. He is currently being totally pampered and spoiled by my mother in our absence, but he definitely remembered me and girls and was happy to see us. He has had some health problems, so we were thrilled that he was still around for our visit.

Two favorite pastimes at Grandma and Grandpa's house include feeding the ducks and geese and fishing in the pond behind their house. Anna was a very dedicated fisherperson, spending several hours fishing and she was rewarded for her patience by catching a bass as long as her forearm.

KANSAS

Anna and Megan had fun catching up with their Kansas friends during our visit to Manhattan. Here is Anna with Megan and Anna Keenan. Their parents were kind enough to host us for several days while we were there.

Another highlight of the trip was visiting our good friend, Ashley Foster, who gave Megan horseback lessons and taught her to jump while we lived in Kansas. Ashley was very kind to let us come and ride in her barn for a week and then took Megan and Anna's favorite horse Reba to a horse show in Topeka so they could both ride in the show. Ashley's mare Cosmo had recently given birth to a colt and here we are visiting with 3 week old "Durbin."

A rare moment of cooperation as big sister Megan helps Anna with her collar before her class (and Anna actually lets Megan help her).

Here are Anna and Reba before their flat class.

Here is Megan on Reba in one of their jumping classes and then after the class. Megan and Reba had a great day and won the medal in the their jumping division.

Here is fearless Anna having a great time riding Reba bareback. I thought that she would be frightened as she had never ridden bareback before, but she took off on Reba and trotted her around like a pro.

After the show, Megan and Anna were busy plotting how they could abduct Reba from K-State (who owns her) next summer. Steady and reliable Reba has been greatly missed since our relocation to Singapore, where the ponies continually buck, bolt, and refuse fences.

PEORIA

Hanging out with Garrett and Danielle Dominy at their house in Metamora.













An early birthday party for Opa's 70th.

Who are these stiff looking guys?

More fishing with the cousins at a pond near Oma and Opa's house.






Our trip to Peoria included visiting one of our favorite places there - Wildlife Prairie Park.




For the first time in all of our visits, these two badgers were out of their burrows and actively digging in the dirt.

Black bear at Wildlife Prairie Park.

One afternoon was spent happily playing with the cousins at Sommer park.

Another great day was spent reconnecting with Jenni Schuck and her kids at the newly expanded Peoria zoo. Jenni went out of her way to help us get settled in Singapore and is a wonderful friend. Her family relocated to Decatur in January and are greatly missed in Singapore! (The zoo expansion was pretty impressive too!)


The lions in Peoria have a new habitat over- looking the other Africa exhibits.

Anna and Morgan climbing on a statue of an animal instead of looking at the real animals!





The new giraffe exhibit.

Megan and Adam goofing around.


Another evening at the Dominys' house which included our friends the Polonuses and a quick drive to Roanoke to see their fireworks display.

CHICAGO

Our trip to the U.S. wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago and, more importantly, spending time with our good friends the Daverns in nearby New Lenox. Here are my beloved college friends Lisa, Kim, and Amy (who I can only think of as "Sned").

Cailey, Sara, and Megan take a break from swimming to pose for the camera.

Anna hamming it up with Lauren and Rachel at the Daverns' pool.

OKLAHOMA (again)

As our trip neared its end, we headed back down to Oklahoma to spend a little more time with my side of the family, return our truck to my parents for safekeeping, and, ultimately, begin our very long journey back to Singapore.

We took my grandmother out for a barbecue lunch (something we don't get in Singapore). My grandmother Pearl recently turned 100 on May 1. She has a 98 year-old sister and they both are in amazing health for their ages.


Here is my grand- mother's beautiful backyard garden. Her favorite hobby keeps her young!



Four gen- erations.

Megan and Anna in grand- mother's backyard. Looking at this sweet picture, it's hard to believe how much they fight.

Grandpa Gale had the brilliant idea of pulling the girls behind his fishing boat on a tube. Needless to say, this was a very popular activity!

Even dad got on the tube! Grandpa may have created some monsters!

And then we had to pack up everything we had accumulated and prepare to journey back to the other side of the world for at least another year. All in all, we had a great visit and look forward to seeing everyone again very soon. In the meantime, you can see what we're up to here on the blog. I promise to be more diligent about updating!

Facebook | Videos Posted by Andy Knight: Pearl's 100th Birthday

Facebook Videos Posted by Andy Knight: Pearl's 100th Birthday

Megan's 11th Birthday

On March 25th, our Megan turned eleven. As a bonus, her birthday was during SAS' spring break, so she didn't have to go to school on her birthday. She celebrated the night before with a few friends from school. They started off the evening at the local pizza hut. (Megan's favorite food hasn't changed with her age, although lately her tastes have matured somewhat as she now favors her pizza with ham topping instead just of plain cheese.) Mom was dismayed that Dad suggested we let the girls sit at a separate table from the family, but I guess she is a big middle schooler these days. After enjoying our pizza dinner, we all headed upstairs in the mall to the movie theater to see Pet Hotel, a cute kids' movie about some foster kids who start rescuing homeless animals and keeping them in an abandoned hotel. The kids all seemed to really like the movie. Anna said it was "awesome!" and one of the older girls was actually sniffling during one scene. Then we headed back home for birthday cupcakes (good birthday cakes are hard and very expensive to come by in Singapore) and ice cream and gift opening. Megan struggled somewhat to blow out all of those candles, but finally got it accomplished after several tries. The girls finished off the night playing some wii before they headed for home. A very fun night!

Darrell Visits China

Last week, Darrell took a business trip to Beijing and Tianjin, China. Since it seems unlikely that he will actually write up a post for the family blog, I thought I would go ahead and post a few of his pictures. I think you will recognize a few landmarks.

Horseback Riding in Singapore

As most of you know, my favorite pastime in the world is riding a horse. Lucky for me, this has become Megan's favorite hobby as well. Currently, Anna likes it only when the horse or pony is cooperative (which isn't very often in Singapore), but I have great hopes for her.

One reason I liked living in Kansas so much was that for the first time since college, I was again privileged to own a horse and be able to spend time with them. I read somewhere that Kansas has the most horses per person of any state in the nation and I believe it. Manhattan, KS hosted the K-State Equestrian team, the K-State Large Animal Veterinary Hospital, and numerous stables at which to board. Megan was taking lessons from Ashley Foster, the K-State coach and loving every minute of learning how to jump. Thanks to Grandpa Gale, we acquired a horse trailer, and Megan and I (and sometimes Anna) enjoyed using it to attend local horse shows, sometimes with our horse, Nina, and sometimes with Megan's favorite K-State jumping horse, Reba. I had found myself living in horse country and loving it!

Of course, all great things must come to an end. So, when my dear husband told me about his offer to work in Singapore, I was less than a little enthusiastic because this would definitely put a dent in our horseback riding. He assured me that there were "riding clubs" in Singapore and that he would check them out on his house hunting trip. Given all of the other advantages to moving abroad, I could hardly refuse for this reason alone. So we are now members of the Singapore Polo Club, one of two riding clubs on the island and spend the majority of our weekends there as both girls take 2 lessons per weekend.

Here are some of the key differences between riding here in Singapore compared to Kansas:

1. Have to join a private club, similar to a country club, to even take lessons. Several thousand dollar membership fee just to join plus a monthly fee of about USD$100. This is before paying for the lessons themselves, which range from about $40-$60 USD, depending on class size and instructor. All of this is just to take some lessons. In Kansas, we paid $20-30 per lesson.

In Kansas, we were also able to own a horse, which is never cheap, but in Singapore it really isn't even in the realm of possibility.

2. Club does offer numerous amenities not found in Kansas barns, such as swimming pool, restaurant, clean bathrooms, work out facility, but as we already belong to the American Club, this is something I'd rather not have to pay for.

3. In the U.S., when taking a riding lesson, in my experience, this always includes grooming and tacking up your horse. This is just part of the learning experience. In Singapore, they employee at least a dozen or more "syces" or grooms to do this for you. You arrive 5 minutes before your lesson and hop on the horse. If you are lucky, they will let you rinse off your horse at the end of your lesson, but insist on helping you remove the tack. And there is absolutely no way they would ever let you use your own saddle! As a result, there are lots of riders there who do not know anything about handling a horse on the ground.

4. In the U.S., horses generally get some turn-out time in a paddock or pasture. This is good for their mental health to be able to stretch their legs and get out of the confinement of their stalls. In Singapore, due to the lack of land, the horses do not get any turn-out and remain in their stalls except during their lessons. As a result, most of them (especially the ponies) are extremely naughty and it is a typical for them to be bucking and spooking during the lessons. Both of the girls have fallen off at least 4 or 5 times now. Megan had to go to the emergency room once for a slight concussion. I experienced this for the first time myself yesterday when I was thrown off into a wall by a particulary obnoxious mare named Mimo. I am definitely missing my trustworthy and sweet horse, Nina, whom I would regularly ride bareback in Kansas.

5. And probably the most important difference, at least to Megan, is the teaching style. Megan's instructor in Kansas, Ashley, is one of the most positive and enthusiastic people I have ever met and a great role model for my girls to be around. I have never heard Ashley say anything negative to anyone. She is always a cheerleader, always smiling and boosting her students' self-confidence, and making riding fun. To contrast, Megan's instructor here in Singapore, could not be more polar opposite. While very knowledgeable and competent in his skill, he prefers to belittle and insult his students and to teach by intimidation. If they can't perform to his liking, sometimes he'll just make them get off in the middle of class and walk the horse on foot. He sees nothing wrong with spooking a student's pony on purpose (this is how Megan ended up in the emergency room). The standards he sets for his students are very high. Compliments are rarely given by him and truly treasured if received. Basically they need to "toughen up" to ride with him. And Megan has definitely toughened up but also shed many tears as a result of this new approach. I have seen her riding improve immensely. And how could it not when riding bucking ponies twice a week? But I am saddened that riding can no longer be such a fun and positive experience for my daughter. (Thankfully Anna takes from a different instructor who is great with the little ones).

6. There are also lots of little differences to numerous to list. For example, red ribbons are given for first place and blue for second. In one arena you pass "left to left" (polo player style) and "right to right" in the other arena. This switching back and forth confuses me no end. Halters are called "head collars," braids are called "plaits" and "bubbles", to change leads is to "change the rein," etc.

7. And last but not least, no one rides western in Singapore. I'm not sure they've even heard of it. Nor are there any quarter horses or paint horses. (Or for that matter even any country music on the radio.) So, I am now taking dressage lessons in order to keep riding and perhaps learn something new.

Orchestra Concert

Here are a couple of photos of Megan performing in the Middle School Orchestra concert last Friday night. This is her second year playing violin and she is progressing well. After spring break she is being promoted from the intermediate to advanced 6th grade orchestra. She also continues to take piano lessons.

The Last Few Weeks

I was surprised to see that my last post was over a month ago in February. Time flies when you're having fun and not doing much that is noteworthy. Unfortunately, we have not been to any more exotic destinations lately. Most of our focus as of late has revolved around Caterpillar and it's recent reactions to the worldwide economic recession and a pessimistic sales forecast for 2009. Caterpillar's reaction to a dismal outlook has been to cut every penny possible in every nook and cranny of the company. Sadly, this has meant indefinite layoffs for many Cat employees. As an expat family, we are definitely a target for cost cutting measures because it is very expensive to cover our children's tuition, very high rent and utilities, cost of living adjustment, home leave trips, etc. As a result, Cat has pulled as many expat families (not just in Singapore) back to the US as possible. Many Cat families in Singapore just recently learned they would be relocating back to Peoria. So, we were holding our breath for the past few weeks, but it would appear fairly certain now that we are staying put for at least the short term as the deposit for our girls' tuition next year has been paid by the company. Obviously, there are no guarantees and the situation could change at any time. Due to this uncertainty, as well as taking a pay cut (another cost cutting measure) we did not plan a trip for the girls' upcoming spring break. Instead we will be exploring Singapore some more (there's plenty we haven't seen or done yet) and letting the girls take some extra riding lessons at the polo club. But I have good intentions to start planning some more expeditions very soon. Unfortunately, the planning is not nearly as fun as the trip itself!