Back to Singapore!

Yesterday was a Thai holiday, which meant a 3-day weekend and a trip to Singapore for me.  It was a much needed reprieve from the chaos of Bangkok and day to day life.  I can escape into an organized English-speaking world for a few days, rest at my aunt and uncle's house and enjoy a few days with family.

After flying in on Friday night I spent Saturday shopping (and eating along the way) with my aunt.  We had a family dinner at a seafood restaurant where I got to eat chilli crab, slipper lobster, shrimp, chicken, steak, and probably something else I am forgetting... it was fantastic!

On Sunday, I got to hear my uncle speak at the youth service at their church and then we had a traditional chicken rice Singaporean lunch.  In the afternoon I visited Gardens by the Bay, which in addition to outdoor walking trails and gardens, has two enormous domes.  One dome is a cloud forest ecosystem and the other is full of flowers from mediteranean climates around the world (California, S. Africa, Chile, Australia, etc.)  I loved the cloud forest especially- the cool wet air made you feel healthy just walking around in it.  It was a beautiful and relaxing place to wander and think and enjoy. 

Waterfall at the entrance to the Cloud Forest dome.

Trying to capture the entire 'mountain' in the dome, unsuccessfully.

Flower Dome

Chinese New Year decorations in the garden

Singapore Flyer, from one of the paths at the gardens.

Sunday night I was able to go to a Chinese New Year hotpot dinner with my uncle's family- a very cool experience that merits (and will get) an entire blog post of its own.  I tried lots of new foods, some of them before learning what they were, which was for the best. 

On Monday I went to the aquarium, which is the world's largest oceanarium. It was so peaceful, and almost made me want to get an aquarium at my house, except that we had one growing up and I've seen how much work they are.  But it was amazing- all the different fish, corals, sharks, rays, jelly fish and other ocean creatures.  There were several places you could just sit down and stare and try to take it all in.  Then, after a late lunch (my favorite noodles and egg fried rice in Singapore) and ice cream, it was time to fly back.

This week is one of the busiest of the year at school, but at least I got to start it out rested and rejuvenated! 

Ten Great Things About Living in the Tropics

In no particular order:

1. Never being late for work because it took 20 minutes to scrape my car. 
2. Always being able to feel my nose.
3. Being able to pack for a weekend in a purse-sized bag (warm weather = smaller clothes)
4. The world is always green.
5. Never having leg warmers stick out at the bottom of my cute work pants, ruining the look. 
6. Skirts/dresses year round. (and sandals!)
7. Vitamin D
8. Going to the beach. For Thanksgiving. Or Christmas. Or hey, why not both?
9. Not needing to look at weather.com before getting dressed in the morning.
10. Better curls.

I don't make the menu, it makes me: dinner planning in Thailand

Dinner planning takes on a whole new twist in my outlet-less Thai kitchen.  I not only have to work around what I know how to make and what I can get here, but also what my kitchen can cook.  My new food (produce and meat) delivery service has good salmon, so I started out with that menu item.  How to cook it- grill or bake?  I decided on baking- less clean up.

Then I thought of asparagus- but that would require the grill (which shares a plug with the toaster oven, so it's one or the other) or the stove top burner (which blows a fuse if run with the toaster).  What veggie could I make without a heat source?  Salad!  So salad it is. 

Carb dish?  Bread lady is on vacation, so that eliminates bread, which would have been convenient since it doesn't require heat to cook.  How about potatoes? Great!  Usually I broil/roast them (oven is in use for the salmon though, too small for both).  Can't bake them for the same reason. No microwave to nuke them (this is just my thing, not a Thailand thing). So... mashed? Sure. I've never made mashed potatoes before, but how hard can it be, right?  I can boil them before the salmon goes in, so timing wise they work.  

My friend is coming over with butter since I'm out (she's coming for dinner, not just to deliver butter) and then we'll see how the taters turn out.  And the salmon, which I kind of sort of followed a recipe for.  The salad I think I can count on... 

Here and Now: thoughts on today and tomorrow

One aspect of life at an international school, Christian or otherwise, is the constant question/obsession of the future- how long you will stay, what you will do next, what you want to do/dream to do/feel called to do with "the rest of your life" (The rest of my life? I can't even decide what I want for breakfast).  Not being a big picture person, I am not a fan of this aspect of life here, and I think even for those who are more big picture oriented it can be quite distracting. Yes, the future is important to think about, and certainly having goals and dreams is not a bad thing. But when we become so concerned with tomorrow that we miss today, it can be a problem. 

And I don't want to miss out on today.  Because today my students are using data to investigate 'the mysterious disappearance of a Mr. Gerald Orkney' or today I am holding a precious four month old who is growing like a weed or today I am talking with a friend who will live thousands of miles away in just a few months time or today I am watching a child smile and play rugby even while their tomorrows remain uncertain.  We only get to hold on to today once.

When Jesus called his disciples to follow him, he didn't lay out a master plan and he didn't tell them where they'd be in 10 years- if he had, would they have followed?  Jesus didn't ask them to pray a 'sinner's prayer' before coming along and they didn't ask him if they could chat it over with their families before they committed.  Jesus asked them to follow him, and they did.  They didn't have to clean their lives up first, and then follow.  They followed, and then Jesus cleaned their lives up.

Today Jesus asks me to follow him.  Today he asks you the same thing. Some of us, he leads to Thailand.  Others he leads within the context in which they already live.  Everyday Jesus asks us to follow, and everyday we have a choice. Here and now.  For me, that following has brought me to Thailand, where I live until he leads me elsewhere.  But it is so much more than that.  Following Jesus takes all our heart, all our soul, all our mind.  Yesterday for me, following him meant an awesome day supporting a rugby tournament- watching our Nak Suu kids get a chance to play, helping with selling beer coupons (for the mens teams, haha, not the Nak Suu kids), and whatever else I could do that was helpful.  Today following him means rest for my heart, for my spirit, for my body, serving with the usher team at church, and dinner with a friend.  Tomorrow, it will likely mean teaching with patience, joy, and grace.  15 years from now?  Who knows what that following will look like. But I do know one thing.

I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.  

Wealth in the midst of poverty

In the past couple of days I've had several conversations with people surrounding the topics of poverty, children at risk, and ways to respond to people and kids who live in poverty.  It has been great to see so many people with a heart to really live justice and mercy and love in action with these communities.  It's not an easy task, especially not for those who work full time with children and families that lack structure and so many of the basic resources that we take for granted.  But it was also neat to witness at Nak Suu today some of the ways that these communities are rich and alive and full of resources of ingenuity and creativity.  It doesn't mean that we don't continue to work with them, to help them with the emotional, spiritual, or physical resources that are lacking, but it does mean we approach them looking for ways we can learn from them, respecting who they are and how they live, no matter how basic it seems to us. 

One simple way I saw their resources today was during craft time when the creativity of the kids came out in what they were drawing. I loved seeing what the kids created when given a bucket of colored pencils and the freedom to just be kids and use these materials that they don't have much access to. What would have bored other kids quickly held their attention for quite some time. 

Before Nak Suu even started I saw talents that knocked my socks off. Some of the teenage girls had this long rope/string made out of small rubber bands strung together. Two people held the rope- at first just waist or chest high, later on over their heads- while the others jumped over it. And landed on their feet.  Seriously. I held this thing 6 inches above my head and they got both feet over.  Bare footed on the grass.  Their concentration and skill amazed me. And they loved it.  Towards the end they tried to get me to do it, but I knew I'd be the one to land on my back or head at the worst and just pull some serious muscles at best. 

Nothing fancy, just simple technology-free fun all around.