It's been another fairly quiet week and busy weekend.
The kids are getting ready and excited about camp coming up. Lachlan will be going to the Swiss Garden Resort in Lumut from Tuesday 27th till Friday 30th.
Some of the activities in the itinerary include golf, fishing, rope course, swimming, beach volleyball, disco, tshirt painting, night walk, archery.
Danae is going to Puteri Resort in Melaka for a night on the Thursday 29th.
This week I had a pedicure, hung out with Toni and Kyla, picked up my shoes and started going to Zumba class. Steve has been studying hard and doing hockey and futsal at the college. We did manage a late lunch together on Thursady at Delicious, one of the restaurants at the front of our building. Danae also got her haircut on Thursday evening.
Catching the bus; Upwordsis our new favourite family game; pedicured toes; Lachlan's harem...I mean friends, Eve is on the left and Miyo is on the right (the other two are ring ins)
Saturday was a big day! I had Zumba in the morning, then we caught the tram to the Putra World Trade Centre for a travel fair. We are still trying to decide where to go for the one week holiday we get in August. It was huge and packed! On our way back we stopped at Suria to have lunch and pick up some nibblies for the evening. Then we went down to the school for a get together picnic at 5:30. We thought it would be good to go and meet some other parents, but there weren't a lot of people there. We did catch up with Michelle, an aqaintance and her husband who works for the Federal Police at the High Comm. Then we came home around 8 and Lacksmi babysat the kids and Steve and I went out for St Patricks Day. We went to Changkat Butik Bintang, which is a street with lots of bars and restaurants (including El Cerdo, the pork place we went to a few weeks ago). They had blocked off the street and set up tables, it was a great night and apparently the biggest St Pats celebration in Asia (not bad for a Muslim country!)
Sunday we went to IKEA and the shopping centre next door and spent the late afternoon by the pool.
St Patricks Day; new shoes; my favourite lunch (Gong Cha Signature Earl Grey tea and a handroll); Danae at the travel fair)
Last week I mentioned Lachlan
and Danae’s school routines. The school runs on a two week schedule, and it can
be difficult remembering what each child needs to take to school each day and
each week. When they have PE they have to take their PE uniform and change into
it, unless they have PE in the morning. So here is their schedule:
Week A:
Monday: Danae- library
Tuesday: Danae- PE (take
uniform)
Lachlan- music (take clarinet)
PE (wear
uniform)
ASAs- take golf clubs
Wednesday: Lachlan- music (take clarinet)
ASAs
Thursday: Danae- swimming
(take PE uniform and swimming stuff)
Friday:Danae- assembly
Lachlan- swimming (wear PE take
swimming stuff)
Week B:
Monday: Danae- library
PE (take PE
uniform)
Lachlan- PE (wear PE uniform)
Tuesday: Danae- PE (take
uniform)
ASAs- take golf clubs
Wednesday: Lachlan- music (take clarinet)
ASAs
Thursday: Lachlan- PE (take
uniform)
Friday: Lachlan- music (take
clarinet)
This week started off pretty
quiet. I went to brunch and shopping with a friend on Wednesday. Steve had
hockey training Monday and Tuesday night and played on Wednesday night. I also
drove down to the school on Wed afternoon for an information session on their
school camps which are coming up in two weeks. Lachlan is going to Lumut for
three nights and Danae is going to Malacca for a night. They are both really
excited about camp and it looks like they will both have a great time!
On Thusday I went on a trip
to Malacca with some other ladies. Malacca is a UNESCO world heritage listed
city about 2 hours from KL. It is where Malaysia was founded and was very
interesting.
Friday I got my haircut, it
was well overdue and I decided to treat myself to one of KL’s top stylists. He
was very good and I really like my cut. Friday night was spent by the pool and
there were a few more friends there than usual. Lachlan seems to be a hit with
the girls here and Friday night he spent most of the night playing with three
girls around his age; Eve who is from Scotland buy has spent a lot of her
childhood in the US, Mio who is in Lachlan’s grade at school and catches the
bus with him, and Ella who also goes to the Australian school but is a year
younger.. and Danae who spent half her time joining in with Lachlan and the
other half playing with Mio’s brother or the New Zealand girls.
Saturday was a busy day! We
had to get up early because Danae had made the soccer team for the under 9
girls gala day at one of the international schools. It started at 8 and was a
bit tricky to find. When we got there we found out that the girls team had been
cancelled and we somehow hadn’t been told. But the boys team was 3 players
down, so Lachlan stayed to play goalie and had to pretend he was only 9 years
old. At lunchtime we went to another international school as they were having
an international fair and one of the auskick co-ordinators was going to be
there and wanted kids to play a little demo scratch match of football. But when
we got there we couldn’t find him or we got there too late. We did see a few
other people we knew there and had some food. Then we came home and had a swim
and a game of pool tag. After that we went out and had dinner and wanted to do
some shopping at Low Yat, a 5 floor shopping centre just for techy stuff. We
needed to get a GPS and an IPad cover for Steve.
Sunday was very low key,
Steve did some study and we got groceries for the week because I won’t have the
car this week as it’s Steve’s turn to drive to the college. And we watched some
NAB cup and swam in the afternoon.
The children are fully in their
school routines, and they are both doing after school activities on Tuesdays
and Wednesdays. Lachlan does golf and ten pin bowling and Danae does cooking
and creative design. Lachlan is learning an instrument this year and is playing
the clarinet (though that wasn’t his first choice, Steve is happy!) and he
bought it home this week.
I was told by one of the other Mum’s here at
Dua that Lachlan’s photo is on the homepage of the school website. It’s http://www.aism.edu.my/ and he is in the
second photo.
Steve has been doing well
with his studies and had a quiet week this week, especially toward the end of
the week and was home in time for us to have lunch together Thursday and
Friday.
I had a few activities on
this week as well. On Tuesday a few of us went to visit some organisations that
help Burmese women refugees. Here is some of the article I wrote about our
visit for the High Comm families newsletter:
On Tuesday 28th Feb four of us went to visit Mang
Tha and Kaoprise in Pudu.
Mang Tha is an organisation created to help improve living
conditions of Chin refugee women and their families. Chin is an independent state
of Myanmar (Burma). An estimated 50 000 chins have fled from persecution and
come to Malaysia, where they are recognised by the UN as refugees, but not by
Malaysia. They can wait up to 5 years, or even longer for their applications to
be processed.
Mang Tha help empower Chin women by teaching them to sew,
learn English and use computers. They make lovely hand woven products on a loom
that took over a year to assemble.One
of their best selling products (and the one that has the biggest profit) is
their Ring Sling for babies and children.
Kaoprise is a Bath and Spa just across the road from Mang Tha
set up to provide shelter, income and skills training for Mon women refugees. The
Mon are another ethnic minority from Myanmar. They make beautiful soaps and
oils using traditional recipes and natural ingredients.
While we were visiting both places I heard many personal
stories about not only the financial help and skills the women had received,
but also the way they have been empowered. It was a very humbling experience
and one I will remember long after I return to Australia.
Wednesday I went to Chinatown with Kyla to have a look around Central Market, Peter Hoe and get some fresh flowers.
On Thursday I went to a
morning tea shoe party at Gail’s, just around the corner. I had heard about
Jackson the shoe man from some other women, he makes custom shoes for $50. You
can show him shoes you already have to replicate, or pictures of shoes you
like, or choose from shoes he has already made. Shoes in Malaysia are quite cheap
and there are plenty to choose from! They generally cost between $10 and $35
for your everyday shoe store type shoes. But finding size 10s here is rare, so
I ordered 3 pairs from Jackson and I get to pick them up in 2 weeks.
Soap making at Kaoprise; antique store in Chinatown; suckling pig; clarinet lesson from Dad; weaving at Mang Tha
We had a busier weekend this
weekend. On Friday Lackshmi, our cleaner and babysitter looked after the kids
and Steve and I went out for dinner. We went to a restaurant called El Cerdo,
which is Spanish for “pig”. As Malaysia is 60% Muslim, most restaurants are
non-halal and don’t serve any pork products. We ordered half a suckling pig,
watermelon and tomato salad and a half carafe of pear sangria. It was one of
the best meals I have ever had!! When they bring out the pig, they show you how
to cut it with a plate, and then you have to smash the plate for good luck! It
was very cool and the whole meal was under $100, amazing!!
Saturday we went to the
Elephant Sanctuary about 100km out of KL. It is home to orphan elephants. They
give out 100 tickets a day to ride and help wash the elephants. It took us a
little longer to get there that we had thought, but Lachlan and Danae got
tickets (Steve and I didn’t, but that was ok as we had ridden elephants in
Thailand before). So after registering, we had a picnic lunch and got to feed
the elephants. Then the elephants had a swim with the staff riding them (the
water was way too high to allow people to help wash them and that was a little
disappointing, but we might go back later in the year). They did a little show,
then Lachlan and Danae got to ride on one. It was a great day, and although
Lachlan wasn’t convinced that it was worth the two hour trip there, Danae
thought it was great!
Sunday we went shopping at
one of the biggest malls in KL, Mid Valley Mall. Then we came home and the kids
had a swim. Lachlan spent the whole time with his “friend” Eve and Danae played
with the New Zealand girls. Then we went out for sushi for dinner at Times Square.
It has been a quieter week this week.
I had a morning tea with some High Comm wives on Wednesday. Lachlan had his hair cut on Thursday afternoon, then we had Japanese afterwards and frozen yoghurt for dessert.
Friday I went to IKEA with some other ladies who live here at Dua, then went out with Steve for tapas and sangria for lunch. Friday night we had drinks with the New Zealand family by the pool and a snail came to visit us (check out the size of it in the photo!! that is an adult man's foot beside it)
We had a quiet weekend as Steve had some work to do and went to Times Square Shopping Centre with the kids in the afternoon on Saturday. Sunday Lachlan's friend Ryan and his two sisters came over for a play for most of the day.
I am going to do posts on the week from Mon to Sun from now on, instead of splitting the weekend. So this one will be for the last 8 days.
Sunday we went to Chinatown again, my sunglasses broke last week and I wanted to get a pair from the markets. We met the New Zealand family there.
As I mentioned last week I had Bakat course this week. For the Malaysian wives it is compulsary, but we (international wives) are still expected to attend most of it. Monday was fairly boring and we left mid morning as it wasn't really relevant to us for the rest of the day. Tuesday was team building excercies and was actually fun. We did strategy, planning and team building games and get to know you kind of games. And some public speaking in the afternoon. Wednesday was mostly for the Malays, but we had ladies night Wednesday night. It was a masquerade with the theme 'red and black'. It was a fun night. Thursday was etiquette and event planning which would have been interesting, but the thought of getting dressed up in formal attire at 7:30 in the morning was not that appealing so Toni and I decded to skip that one too. Friday was just the morning with feedback and closing ceremony and was boring. In case anyone missed it on facebook I encountered a snake in a tree walking home from the shopping centre on Friday afternoon.
Friday night we had a cultural night for the course and all the international students and wives were guests of honour. On the course there are about 130 students and about 40 of those are international. Most of the international students are from Asia, and there are only 4 westerners, so we stand out a bit. It was a great night with lots of great entertainment. We also got to try some local delicasies like durian and local rice wine (nothing like sake).
Saturday Lachlan went to play with a friend he has made at school who lives close by. Danae ended up staying as well because he has a sister in the same year as Danae and another younger sister. Steve and I took the opportunity to have lunch together and we checked out a mall that we hadn't been to yet. It has a theme park inside and we wanted to sus it out without the kids. I think we will go back there soon, but we are keeping it up our sleeves as a bit of a surprise.
Sunday we went and had breakfast with the NZers at a cafe really close that has recently opened. The food was great! Then we went grocery shopping at BIG, a fantastic supermarket about 20 minutes away that has a lot of expat groceries. We have been meaning to go to Ampang Lookout for dinner (it is a few restaurants on a hill about 20 minutes away with great views over the city) but it has been really hazy here lately. Late Sunday afternoon the weather was perfect and I googled to show the kids where we were going, I found out it was closed last week. So we went for a swim and found the NZers at the pool, ended up having a few drinks and ordered pizza.
Here are a couple of videos from Ladies Night and the Cultural Night:
Phew what a huge week we have had!
Sunday we were still having a fabulous time in Singapore. We got on the cable car from Sentose across to Singapore and caught the hop on hop off buses around the city. We went to Orchard Road, Marina Bay Sands and the Titanic Exhibition next door at the ArtScience Museum, we saw lots of old and new buildings and the Merlion, we did a river cruise and walked around Clark Quay, we went to a microbrewery and thai restaurant for an afternoon snack. Then we caught the bus back to Sentosa and had dinner at a drink at a restaurant right on the beach.
Monday we spent the day at Universal Studios. The highlight was definately the Transformers ride, we all loved it most (except Danae, who liked a flying ride over Jurasic Park best). Then we went back to Marina Bay Sands and went to Todai for dinner (it is my favourite restaurant and we went a couple of times in the US when we lived there). yummy
Tuesday we had a swim in the morning then breakfast, and started heading home. Just across the Malaysian border we stopped at the newly opened outlets at Johor Baru, the first ones in Malaysia. Then we got home a few hours later in time to attend a High Comm get together with some of the out stationed people around Malaysia.
Wednesday everyone was back at school/work and I had a quiet day at home.
Thursday I had a morning tea at the home of the Defence Attache's wife with some of the other ladies, then went at got beautified for that night. At 6 Steve and I went to a big Australia Day function at the Convention Centre. (yes I know Australia Day was two weeks ago, but it was during CNY so the function was held later). There were lots of VIPs and it was a great night. Steve hosted the very first Chief of Navy for Malaysia, and he was very interesting!
Friday I got my iPhone!! woohoo and Steve was home early so we had lunch together at the Pavillion. Friday night we had our regular drinks and pizza by the pool to catch up with what the others had done over the long weekend.
Saturday was pretty quiet. We went into Suria shopping centre (under the Petronus towers) in the morning to get my sim and did a little grocery shopping in the late afternoon, with swimming in between.
This week I have Bakat, classes all day all week on how to be a good defence wife. It will be interesting, but I am still not entirely thrilled, especially as I have to be covered from neck to feet all week in 35 degree heat..
Sorry this post is a little
late because we have been away for an extra long weekend, due to Prophet
Muhammad’s Birthday which was on the weekend, but the public holiday was
Monday, and Thaipusam on Tuesday. One of the great things about living in a
culturally diverse place is all the holidays!
Another exciting week in KL.
On Sunday, we did the tourist
thing around KL, we caught the hop-on bus around the city and went to the Bird
Park.
The kids started school on
Monday and caught the bus. We met two other Australian girls who live here and
also catch the bus.
Tuesday night we had drinks
by the pool, while Lachlan and Danae swam and played with some new friends (I
think Lachlan has a couple of admirers ;)
Thursday we got ASTRO and
internet connected!! Astro is the pay tv, here you have a choice between Astro
or nothing. Lachlan and Danae were very excited to watch kids tv again.
Thursday night was very quiet as everyone went off and did their own thing.
Friday evening was again,
drinks and pizza by the pool.
Bird Park, getting ready for school, Bangsar, Lachlan & Danae @ the Bird Park, lunch @ Delicious
Then Saturday we drove to Singapore. It took us 5
hours to get there with a lunch stop and we got a bit lost in Singapore trying
to find the bridge to Sentosa. We stayed on Sentosa island at the Movenpick
Hotel. It was very nice. We spent the rest of Saturday looking around Sentosa
and going on a few of the attractions. More of our Singapore trip to follow
next week…
Saturday afternoon and evening at Sentosa
Now that I have proper internet connection, here is a video of a lion dance we saw last week for Chinese New Year.
