Week 6: 22 to 28 Jan

GONG XI FA CAI! Happy Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year

 I can’t believe we have been here 6 weeks! We STILL have no internet, phone or tv in our apartment but are getting them on Feb 2^nd. But we have bought 20 dvds since we got here, so cheap!, so are watching those at night.

We had a relaxing Chinese New Year long weekend with Monday and Tuesday being public holidays. Sunday night we watched fireworks all around and all night from our apartment, at midnight we counted 14 different ones at once. Monday we went to Chinese New Year bbq at the Chinese course instuctors place. Lachlan and Danae got quite a few ang pow (the little red envelopes that are given to children on CNY) and came home with 25 ringit to add to the 8 we gave them earlier that morning. The food was amazing and Steve enjoyed his wild boar ribs!

Tuesday we went to IKEA to get desks for the kids, but they didn’t have the ones we wanted. We went to Bubba Gumps for lunch.

On Wednesday the kids and I went to have a look around Bangsar, a trendy suburb with a lot of homewear shops and great cafes and eating places, with Toni, the other Australian here.

Thursday was Australia Day and after spending most of the day shopping for school shoes the kids met two other Aussie kids and we went swimming at their place. They go to the Australian school as well and their Dad works for the federal police at the High Comm. In the evening we went and had dinner with all the defence people from the High Comm for Australia Day.

Australia Day and School Orientation Day

Friday was Orientation Day at school. Even though the school runs on the nsw curriculum, it is very different from what we are used to. Lachlan is in middle school and will be choosing an instrument to play this year. They both have lots of classes with specialist teachers for PE, music, and drama. They have a swimming pool at the school and the facilities are fantastic. I drove to the school and back, it was the first time I had driven, except for a quick trip to the supermarket. Steve played golf Friday afternoon, it was compulsory. And I spent the afternoon by the pool with the kids and the New Zealanders, then went to Toni’s for dinner but we ended up waiting until after 9 for the guys to get home from playing golf.

Saturday was mostly spent shopping for joggers, school bags and a combination lock for school, then for groceries.

Next weekend we have another long weekend, so we are going to Singapore and staying on Sentosa Island.
We would really love to see some comments!!