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What's new this week ?
Writing stories here is much like a journal and recounts some of the events that mark my daily life overseas. It is very theraputic for me since it gets me to put words to experiences and emotions and share these with family and friends. Hopefully, this will also be interesting to you and shed some light into what life can be like living and working overseas...
July 29, 2010
A much needed vacation home ...
We have been back now for almost 2 weeks, and it has been wonderful. Both Rémi and I needed a break so this vacation will do us lots of good. We have spent most of our time with my sister, her niece and my parents hanging out and eating meals together. It is blueberry and rasberry season, so we have been eating those like hungry wolves! And cherries too! I also went to Violaine's house for dinner last week, met with my friend Marc last Tuesday, Louise and her son Ludovic last Sunday. During the day, Rémi goes to summer camp where he can play with kids his age, go swimming everyday and forget all about math, reading, writing and yes, Chinese - for at least one month. The only thing on our program is to relax and have fun! While he is at camp, I do some shopping to make sure we have all we need by the time we leave. Vive le Québec!
July 11, 2010
Rémi dances off the end of the school year...
Saturday July 10th was the year-end ceremony for Singapore International School and they rented the National Arts Centre. A few speeches, trophies to academic students and each grade doing a song and dance. It was lots of fun and Rémi's group was very colorful but not so coordinated. We went with Julian, his cousin Fela and Julian's grand-mother. Then we came home with Julian who stayed overnight again. It's great seeing the 2 of them develop a nice friendship and play together. Funny enough, even tho they both speak French, they usually use English with each other. I guess they are used to it by now at school. Now they only have 3 more days of school, and then they break for the summer. We just got the school's class and individual photos which are nice souvenirs of Rémi's Grade 1 year. Now all we need is his final report card, and he is done until he starts Grade 2 at the end of August. Rémi worked so hard this year that he really needs a break. Let's hope we can make it to Canada so he can have fun at the summer camp...
July 3, 2010
A busy weekend...
On Saturday evening I invited Rémi's school friend Julian to come over for dinner. I had ordered delivery of Indian food from our favorite restaurant Foodshop 45 and tried to get non-spicy things for the kids. Julian's mom is away so his "uncle" Fela came as well. The kids played video games on the Internet for a couple of hours, taking turns. Then I simply proposed that Julian stay for the night, and Fela went out to meet some friends. In the morning, after breakfast and showers, we headed to Jafa pool and restaurant to chill and enjoy the day. Fela met us there later, then our friends from Quebec joined us, so it was all good fun with 37 C. The kids went next door to their schoolmate's house Thanh and played for awhile, then we returned home.
This week I toyed with the idea of sending Rémi to Quebec with our friends who are leaving this Wednesday. Much to my surprise, Mum said she was willing to take care of him for 2 weeks until I arrived. But in the end our Quebec friends with their 4 kids were not willing to take Rémi with them. And I think it is for the best. When Simon comes home hopefully in about 1 week, I would like for Rémi to be here to help with the transition. So we keep praying and hoping that soon the adoption will finally be done and over with and we can move on with our lives...We just need 1 final signature from the big guy, then we are home free and they will set the date for the adoption ceremony. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
June 27, 2010
Rémi, the computer wizard!
Yep, now Rémi just goes to my computer, opens a browser, goes to Google and off he goes - to YouTube to watch cartoon videos and to video game web sites. He is quite good at figuring things out and can handle himself with no supervision at all. Which is a good alternative to TV since it is getting him to become computer savy. So when I get home from work and him from school, he goes on the computer while I work out ont the treadmill to run a few km. It has now been 2 months and even tho I run everyday and we eat lighter and better, I still don't see any weight loss. At first I could barely run 10 minutes, then I was able to do 30 but had to break it into 3 parts, with walking in between. Last week I started running the whole 30 min. non-stop, but was tired at the end. This week, I ran 45 min. non-stop, and still felt like I could have continued. So this is good. Hopefully we will see results on my body soon!
Re the adoption, the dossier of Simon was finally completed and sent to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) last week after a month of waiting for the final police report. But now many key staff at MOJ are on vacation, so not sure how long it will take. But our plane ticket for Canada leaves in 3 weeks, and it would be nothing short of a miracle to get things sorted in time - we would need to have the adoption ceremony for Simon in 2 weeks, to have 1 week left to get his passport and visa for Canada. Most likely scenario is that we'll have to delay our trip to Canada by a couple of weeks. So cross your fingers for us and say a prayer, light a candle, send positive energies...anything as long as it works!
June 20, 2010
What a fantabulous weekend!
I decided to throw Rémi a slumber party and invite his boy friends from school Saturday night. His class has 18 girls and only 8 boys whom I invited, and 3 of them were able to make it. So together we made some incredibly yummy cookies (no sense in trying to be on a diet), had pizza, watched a move and had the boys running around screaming Ben10 calls like "I am Humungosor!" at each other. I also organized a treasure hunt with 10 clues which they were all able to read on their own and find, all the way to the treasure full of candy and of course, Ben10 special war weapons!
It was a blast! At times like these I have no doubt that I want another kid for more group dynamics. We even had Julian come down with severe nose bleed and a stomach ache, but I managed to handle both no problem. Louis went home at 9 pm but the other 2 stayed overnight. I had enough mattresses to put on the floor and all 3 wore their Ben10 pajamas and eventually, they fell asleep. They woke up at 6:30 and I managed to stay in bed till 7 am before one cried out that he was hungry. Once we had all eaten and I had my coffee, then showers all around, we all got on my tiny electric motorcycle and made it to the Water Park. Today was a bit cloudy tho still 34 C, so perfect weather for this. They went down slides over and over, and the go-around river on tubes which they loved. We had sausages and chips for lunch, then rode back home to wait for the parents to come. This has been an awesome weekend, really wonderful and full of kid's fun. Just the way I like it...
June 14, 2010
Rémi has final exams this week...
Dear oh dear. I got a note from the school informing me that all student will be writing final exams next week and this is serious business - the marks will count for 70% of the final mark for each subject, be it science, math, English understanding and writing. On Wednesday, he has 3 exams, which is ridiculous! I am shocked that so much weight is put on exams and so little on year-round classroom work. I would much prefer that he be tested on school projects and other more interactive means. This week he had a practice test which he brought home - he got a mere 30% mark but it is understandable because the test was so hard. I couldn't believe how hard it was, and he's just 6 years old! I worry that this super-structured and academic methodology will make him dislike school and not provide him with the education that I want for him. Again more reasons not to keep him at this school and hope that other schools are more progressive. For now I will write a letter to the teacher and the principal, knowing full well that they cannot do anything since the curriculum is developed in Singapore and centralized.
Sunday we went to our Quebec friend's house for lunch, chatted and caught up on news while the kids tore the house apart. Then we went swimming and had a lovely time chilling in the pool. In the evening we had our friends Duong and Thang come for dinner for a kind of farewell. Thang is returning to his home town of Hai Phong 3 hours away. He just got a job there and prefers it to living in the big metropolis of Hanoi. Who can blame him? We had pizza for dinner and also had lovely chats. Roxy was so happy to see Duong again so they had nice girl moments ouing and ahing at each other.
May 30, 2010
Big potato is doing exercise!
Yep, a little while ago i bought a treadmill and started running 30 min. every day. At first it was really tough but now 3 weeks later, it is going good. I don't always feel like doing it but... the machine which I bought used broke down 3 days later. I got a repair guy from one of the exercise equipment shop here to come and have a look, and was able to fix it. And we have started to eat less and better. Thank God Rémi likes salad, because we've been eating lots of it lately, with a piece of chicken, or a piece of bread, or soup. I am getting away from the heavy dishes like pasta, rice, etc. tho we still have it from time to time. But no more cakes... And during the week, no beer or alcohol. So far so good. But when I get to the weekend, the rules of engagement are off. So not sure you'll see me slim down, but I hope so.
Last weekend we went to the amusement park with Zach and had fun, yet again. It was cloudy and so we decided not to go swimming, but it was still 30 C and very humid, so I was really hot. Steve could not resist the kid in him and jumped in the ball pool after Zach. Big kid, little kid! So after we left Zach and his dad Steve, we went for a quick for a quick dip in the pool. This weekend was International Children's Day so we thought of going for some kids' activities. It was boring and hot, so in the end we couldn't wait to get home, pack our bags and go swimming. We stayed in the water for 3 hours non-stop, playing ball with other kids and just cooling. Very cool. Now back home on Sunday evening and getting ready for the new and hectic week ahead of us. No news on the adoption but apparently things are moving forward...
