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!

Our First Visitor!

On Wednesday, we were very excited to have our first visitor in Singapore! My cousin Beth's son Dougal stopped in Singapore for a day on his way to study for a semester in Nepal. He is currently a sophomore at Swarthmore College in PA. Since he was only here for one day, we weren't sure exactly what we should show him. Singapore doesn't really have any major architectural/historical "must-see" places since so much of it is relatively new. Singapore in general believes in tearing down the old (or even the 10-15 years old) and building new government apartment buildings and shopping malls.


After Dougal (and Darrell b/c he got up so early to pick him up at the airport!) took a much needed nap, we took him to the American Club for his last "American" meal for a few months. We then drove him around a little bit before the girls got out of school. After picking up the girls, we headed downtown for a boat ride down the Singapore river on a traditional Singapore bumboat and got a good view of Singapore's historical buildings as well as the new skyscrapers and the merlion. And then for dinner, we went to a revolving restaurant with great views of the city and in particular the huge shipyard it overlooked. We also had a very nice Chinese meal there, which I considered an absolute success since the girls actually ate quite a bit without complaining. Since none of us had done either of these things before, we felt like tourists instead of residents.

We all first met Dougal at a celebration for my grandmother Pearl's 99th birthday last year in Rhode Island. Both girls, but especially Anna, took a liking to him and have been waiting anxiously for his visit ever since we found out he was coming about a month ago. Anna was sad he couldn't stay longer and even got up early to accompany him to the airport before school started yesterday morning. We very much enjoyed his visit and wish him the best during his adventures in Nepal!

If anyone else would like to venture over to this side of the world, we would love to host you as well! Just think - it is warm and tropical here!!!

More Monkey Business

Last week, Darrell and the girls had two days off for Chinese New Year. While Anna was at a friend's house, Darrell and Megan and I went for a little hike at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve here in Singapore. This was a nice escape from the "concrete jungle." Located in the center of the island, the reserve is an undisturbed area of primary rainforest. The trees and other foliage are so thick, you forget that you are in the middle of a highly populated urban area. The reserve is well known for its monkey population, and it didn't disappoint. We saw a few in the trees on our hike (and thankfully no snakes!). However, the majority of the monkeys we saw were in the street leading to the reserve's parking lot. Despite many large signs instructing you NOT to feed the monkeys, there were, of course, people feeding the monkeys here, so there must have been at least 20 hanging around, including a momma monkey and her little baby. And yesterday I saw two more monkeys climbing in the trees by the riding arena at the polo club!

The Foreign Domestic Helper

One of the primary differences between the lifestyle in Singapore and the U.S. is the common practice of employing a "foreign domestic helper" or amah. Amahs are full-time live-in maids generally from the Phillipines, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. About one in seven households in Singapore employ an amah, although I would estimate this percentage to be much higher (at least one-half to two-thirds) among expatriate families. These women come to Singapore to support their families in their home country. Many have husbands and children back home as well as extended family they are supporting. Part of their appeal in Singapore is their affordability by our standards, yet they earn much more here than they could at home. It is not uncommon to hear that someone's amah has a college degree or was a teacher in the Phillipines, but earns more money here as a maid.

As these jobs are undesirable to Singaporeans, the Singapore government allows these women to work in Singapore under very strict guidelines. They are only allowed to work for their employer, may not marry a Singaporean, are subject to periodic pregnancy tests and may not get pregnant while in Singapore (if they do they are immediately deported), and must leave Singapore as soon as their employment is terminated. Their employer is held responsible if they break any laws and must post a $5000 deposit (or buy insurance) that is lost if the maid goes missing. As such, most helpers are given strict curfews by their employers.

It is also not uncommon to hear of maid abuse. And while most expatriate families give their maids every Sunday off, the law doesn't require this and I have read that many Singaporean families give their maids no time off whatsoever, which is hard for me to imagine. You also hear of employers not giving them enough to eat. There was even a rumor recently of an American family in the neighborhood who allegedly locked their amah in their house after she broke curfew. Asia is much more a "class" society than the US, so I am still getting used to the attitude toward foreign workers here as second class citizens. It still seems strange to see a woman dressed to the nines shopping downtown while trailing behind her is a poorly dressed Phillipino girl with long hair and flip flops pushing her baby in a stroller.

For our first 5 months in Singapore, I resisted hiring an amah. While affordable, they are not free. (About $600USD per month - the govt gets 1/3). There are also privacy issues. Wouldn't it be strange to have someone in my home 24/7? I wasn't sure I would like this. However, with Christmas behind us, we started to plan for our home leave back to the U.S. this summer. As you know, we chose to bring our golden retriever, Chance, with us here to Singapore. I also let the girls adopt a kitten back in October. To board both of them at the local kennel costs about $35USD per day. For five weeks, this would be quite a bill when we got back. Also, I really don't want to subject them to a kennel for 5+ weeks and it would be nice for someone to watch over/take care of the house while we're gone. So I seriously started thinking about hiring a "dog sitter"/maid and watching the ads.

Unfortunately, the failing economy has forced many expats to leave Singapore and return back to the US. It is incredibly expensive for companies to pay for families to live here, so families seem to be leaving our neighborhood in droves. One such family recently posted an ad for their helper, Julieta. She has 18 years experience and loves kids and dogs, so I decided to interview her. Julieta is a very sweet and mature 50 year-old Phillipino lady who is friendly and outgoing. Some people have their maids on strict schedules regarding what chores they should be doing when. But when I asked Julieta if she was on a schedule, she assured me that "I know what to do, ma'am." (They all call us "ma'am" and "sir".) Her employer also assured me that Julieta needed no instruction and my house would reach "a whole new level of clean." Julieta also didn't seem intimidated of our crazy dog, Chance, who was trying to jump all over her. We all liked her very much, so I decided that we would hire her and see how it goes.

Julieta officially moved in 2 weeks ago. As our maids' quarters are tiny and Julieta already had her own furniture that wouldn't fit in the maids' quarters, we decided to put her in one of our extra bedrooms (remember that we have 7 not including the maids' quarters). Although this is in our house, unlike the maids quarters, which are off of the back of the house, she is very good about keeping to herself and staying out of our space and it hasn't affected our privacy. And since Julieta has moved in, I must say that my life has gotten much easier. It is truly a wonderful feeling to have been out all day running around and to walk in the door into a spotless home. In the past, I would come running in the door and be confronted by the mess that I had left behind me all day and now had to tackle. I do not feel like I am carrying around a big to-do list in my head anymore. My laundry is always done (and ironed!), the dishes are always done, my dog is walked, the plants are watered, the porch is swept, the cars are clean, Anna's lunch is made, etc. In addition, if I need for her to pick up Anna from school, she can. If I need for her to go to the store, she can. If I want her to make dinner, she can. If I need her to make muffins for the daisy meeting, she can. If we want to go out to eat without the kids, we can! If I want to read my book, I can! We definitely are more relaxed and have more free time to play with the kids, explore Singapore on the weekends, etc. I am looking forward to actually organizing my photos and to volunteering more here. And I realize that this is not reality and will not last forever, but it is definitely a nice perk to make up for some of the sacrifices associated with moving so far from home.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbIEeBM4pzM

Today is the first day of Chinese New Year, which is based on the Chinese lunar calendar and is celebrated for 15 days. This is the most important of the Chinese holidays. The traditions include giving 2 mandarin oranges, giving red envelopes containing $2 to children, decorating pussy willows, and decorating and dressing in the color red. To celebrate, my neighbor, Vicki Rooney (also a Cat wife from Peoria) arranged for a lion dance in her driveway last night. Here is a video clip of the dancers. It was very lively, festive and fun!

Happy New Year!