Stuff

Here are a few of the random things happening around here I thought were cute, fun, or just worth mentioning.


First off, we have Abigail displaying her earthquake project that she recently made for her science unit in 3rd grade. One half has the before the earthquake and the other demonstrates what the little "city" looks like afterwards. She was very proud of it and worked really hard, enjoying every minute.





















New pets! Nine of them to be exact. Joseph and I went on our weekly date to try something called claypot rice at a little hawker joint in the middle of an HDB development (HDB is the government affordable housing and they are also community centers with shops, food stalls, exercise stations, etc.) A Singaporean co-worker of his said it was the best claypot rice in Singapore so we had to try it. After an interesting dinner, we were walking to the car and saw this aquarium store. To make a long story short, we ended up bringing home this aquarium and 9 fish. The kids were feeling bad about being pet-less. Keeping fish is a popular pastime here. It is part of the Asian mentality of keeping balance and calm in your life--Feng Sui concept (I might not have spelled that right.) Fish are easy to come by here and very cheap. Anyway I am glad we got it because the kids love the fish and we set the aquarium up right in the family room in their play area. They are quite easy pets I must say and pretty to look at.

This one is funny. These shoes only reinforce why I think every 72 hour kit should have a roll of duck tape in it (ours does.) Who knew you could make some stylish shoes out of it? Abigail came up with this on her own one day and she and Maggie spent a good part of the afternoon working on them. Then this morning I found Maggie's shoes sitting by her bed with socks and ready to put on for school. I told her that probably wasn't going to work out.

Last but not least, our little climber. I find her on top of and in all kinds of things: the top bunk in the girls room is a favorite, tables and chairs, in the dishwasher (literally) are just a few. She is such a cutie and a little clone of her dad.

Happy Birthday Abigail

We recently celebrated Abigail's 9th birthday on January 18. The day was much anticipated by all involved, and in our family that isn't just the birthday girl. We have made it a tradition to do a fun family activity for each child's birthday (in lieu of a party.) This year, we went to the East Coast (an area in Singapore kind of like Balboa in California). First we went bowling which was successful albeit there were no bumpers and Joseph had to team up with everyone to minimize the frustration and/or tears. Then we decided to rent roller blades for the children and blade along the trail that follows the coast in the park. That was the plan anyway. Little did we know that Maggie and Xan's total lack of experience would necessitate a revision. After spending 30 minutes just getting all the gear on 3 kids, I walked along with Ella in the stroller while Abigail, who has experience on roller blades, kept up with me. Joseph, who was practically dragging Maggie and Xan on either side of him, spotted a practice rink with nice railings and quickly took the opportunity to relieve his arms. Maggie started to get the hang of things after an hour and ventured away from the bar. I think we'll give Xander another year or two before we attempt rollerblading with him again.



























































All of that fun happened on Saturday while Abigail's real birthday was on Sunday. We also have another tradition involving the cake. One year I was trying to think of how I was going to make a creative birthday cake for Abigail, not particularly looking forward to it, when it dawned on me that she would love making and decorating the cake. That was 3 years ago and it has become one of the highlights of birthdays in our home. Abigail picked a white cake with white frosting. She helped me make it and then I provided a buffet of candy, frosting and sprinkles for her to use. And you can see that anytime there is sugar around, Xander isn't far away.

We had cake a presents in the evening and celebrated another successful and eventful year in the life of our oldest daughter.

Ella on Abigail's birthday with two of her favorite things.

Abigail at a school assembly that her 3rd grade class was in charge of. She was in a skit and did a great job.

Happy Lunar New Year

Chinese New Year is in full swing here, which means that the roads are empty, the food stalls, local shops, and even major malls are closed, and everything is somewhat still. (Our first year here, I thought there would be parades and crowds. Not so. I guess there is one parade downtown several weeks prior to the actual New Year.) Red lanterns hang from all the street lights and little mandarin trees are set up like Christmas trees in the malls and outside doorways. Because we live close to a major road, we are fortunate enough to hear the trucks carrying dragon dancers pounding their drums as they move on to their next gig. It is loud too, especially after 10:00pm. This year we were invited to another Chinese New Year party hosted by a colleague of Joseph's from Cargill. Mostly it is a huge family day, like Thanksgiving in a way, with lots of food and sitting around talking. Then you go and make rounds, visiting all your friends and bringing them 2 oranges and red envelopes with money for the children. Last year Abigail and Maggie each earned $30 without doing much more than smiling and saying "xie xie." Even Xan and Ella came home with several of these red envelopes . I would have loved a holiday like that when I was a kid!

So this last Saturday we all got dressed for the party and made our way to this home for the festivities. We were about 25 minutes late and when we pulled up there were no other cars. I thought, "oh, that's sad. No one came to their party. Looks like we are going to be the only ones here." Then I pointed out the lack of cars to Joseph and he looked puzzled for a minute then pulled over and checked the email (I hate Blackberries and I'll save my ranting for another blog, but this was one instance where it was really useful to have access to email in a random place.) Apparently we were invited to attend a party to take place the following Saturday. Fortunately, we were saved from an embarrassing moment showing up with our oranges one week early. This turned out to be a good trial run and I'm sure we will make it to enjoy another successful Chinese New Year celebration next weekend. I pulled that picture of dragon dancers off the internet. The only dragon dancers I've seen are at the girls' school and it is pretty fun (and loud).

By the way, it is the year of the Ox. We don't have any oxes in our family, but maybe you do. Here are the birth years for the Ox: 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 2009

Creative Tubbing

We don't have a bathtub in our house so I created a few small ones in my shower. You can see Ella has her own small tub sitting next to Xander's large tub, but the minute I get Xan's all filled up, she scoots her buns right on over and into his. I guess she feels cozier alongside her brother.

Hong Kong

There is so much I could go through and post to cover our week long trip to Hong Kong over New Year's that the task almost seems too daunting. I have hundreds of pictures to sort though and so many of them good it is hard to choose. We had a great time and learned once again that traveling with 4 younger children is no easy task. We were exhausted upon our arrival home but the trip was definitely worthwhile. Hong Kong is a fascinating place and I learned so much while we were there.

To start off our trip, we headed to the central of the city--the heart of Hong Kong. It was New Year's Day and it was unusually deserted when we arrived, but as the day went along people woke up and started trickling into the streets. We eventually experienced the full force of the population and I have never seen so many people in my life. Hong Kong is made up of Hong Kong island (where the city center is) separated from Kowloon and the New Territories (which is part of mainland China) by the Victoria Harbor. We stayed on the Kowloon side and so the first sight of Hong Kong central was crossing the harbor on the star ferry. It is quite a skyline which is unfortunately obscured somewhat with haze and smog. At night, however, it is most striking with the lights reflecting off the water. We explored downtown, riding the mid-levels escalators through the city, riding a tram to the top of Victoria Peak for a great view, and sitting atop an open double decker bus. We stopped by the oldest Buddhist temple in Hong Kong--the Man Mo Temple. We even ate a popular dim sum place frequented by the locals. The dim sum (or dumplings) are on trolleys and they stop and your table so you can pick out what you want right there. We've grown quite fond of dim sum living over here in Asia and most of us, kids included, are pretty good with chop sticks now. We didn't even have a fork or spoon option here. Pictured below is the Hong Kong city skyline during the laser show that we stayed to watch one night. You also see Abigail and Maggie by the incense burners in the temple. The kids are pictured on the top of the bus, and another picture is of a typical street in Hong Kong. The final picture in this section is the escalators that run though the city center for blocks with "exits" down to major streets below.

On the second day of our trip we stayed on the Kowloon side and spent most of the day at the History of Hong Kong museum. It was so interesting learning about the Opium Wars and the British acquisition of Hong Kong. We also learned a lot about Chinese culture in Hong Kong. Mostly, I learned how little I knew about Hong Kong in the first place.

We also had the opportunity to go the temple of our church which is located in Kowloon. Of course we couldn't go together because one of us had to stay with the kids at the hotel. I went to the last session in the evening and Joseph went to the first session in the morning. Our hotel was 2k away from the temple, within walking distance, but it was dark and so I took a taxi. What should have taken 5 minutes, stretched to 30 and I was only about half way there. The traffic was unbelievable. I kept telling the driver I was going to get out, but we were in the 3rd lane over from the sidewalk and he was really uptight about that. It wasn't like the cars were moving anyway to hit me. He finally managed to pull onto a side street and I jumped out and had to almost run the rest of the way to the temple. I thought for sure I would miss the session and that would be really disappointing, not to mention I only had a basic google map of where to go and it was dark. I was really counting on the taxi driver to know how to get me there. When I finally turned the corner onto the street and saw the temple all lit up beautifully, I felt like crying. It was such a welcome sight. I made it and had a wonderful experience with the few other people there.

We went to church there as well (the temple is a separate part of the same building housing offices and a chapel) on Sunday with a really sweet Cantonese local ward. Several people offered to translate the testimonies for us. After the meeting we walked around the grounds of the temple with the kids. The gardens were small but immaculately cared for with flowers and trees and even a little water fountain. Going to the temple was actually the impetus to the entire trip. It is amazing how being near the temple and in the temple is the same no matter what corner or the world you are in. The comforting feeling of peace and tranquility and safety transcends language and culture. I think when we go to heaven someday, it will feel the same and we will recognize it because we have experienced it here on earth in the Lord's house.

We took the metro to Lantau Island, one of several outlying islands part of Hong Kong, to see the biggest sitting Buddha in the world. We rode the metro to the island and then it was about 35 minutes drive from the metro station through winding, narrow roads and hills--something I didn't expect to see in Hong Kong. There were about 300 stairs leading up to the Buddha and magnificent views from the top looking out to the mountain peaks and the coast. It was windy and cold, another foreign thing to us lately. I was able to scrounge up some warm clothes but not enough. The kids were shivering in their one fleece sweatshirt I brought for each of them. The winters are mild too in Hong Kong; it's just that we aren't used to anything colder than 75 degrees. We ate at an old monastery at the base of the Buddha--some good local Chinese vegetables, spring rolls, and rice.

After visiting the Buddha we stopped by a little fishing village, Tai O. It was tucked away on the coast at the base of the hills and is apparently what Hong Kong was hundreds of years ago. I really enjoyed it there, walking along the narrow streets where the day's catch were out in buckets for sale. The kids were mesmerized with all the sea creatures in buckets, on tarps, dried and hanging at the street side stalls. When someone would stop to buy a fish, the person selling it would weigh it on an old hand scale right there, then chop of the head and clean it all out right on the tarp. Joseph bought the kids some smoked little fishes from a street vendor and they gobbled them right up. They are much more gastronomically adventuresome than their mom. Pictured below are the shacks on stilts, peoples homes right in the water. Also you see the street with all the fish for sale.

With one final day left in H0ng Kong, I presented several options for the children to choose from: Disneyland (which I kind of discouraged because we are going in CA this summer), Ocean Park (a seaworld type park with sea animals and rides) or a really cool hike called "The Dragon Back Hike" where we climb to the top of a mountain, up and down the ridges like the humps on the back of a dragon. The vote was unanimous: the dragon back hike. I was so proud of the kids. It turned out to be an ambitious undertaking with the children and not a hike for the faint at heart. We headed back to Hong Kong island, to the southernmost tip to begin. We couldn't have felt further from a major metropolis. The hike was amazing and all the kids would tell you it was their favorite part of the whole trip. It was long and steep, arduous at times. We would switchback for awhile and then just go straight up the mountain to the top. Joseph carried Ella on his back but Xander walked the whole way. He kept asking, "are we going back to the hotel yet?" I would answer, "no," and he would say, "I don't want to go back. I want to keep hiking on the dragon." Once we reached the top we hiked along the ridge with sweeping views of the South China Sea and the coastline of Hong Kong below. What a finale to a fabulous trip!

Christmas Memories

We had a wonderful Christmas here in Singapore. This was our second Christmas abroad and we had to improvise a little without family around, keeping old traditions and starting some new ones.

One fun thing we did this year was volunteer to do a table at the ward Christmas party. The theme was "Christmas Around the World" and we put together a table about Christmas in Norway. We picked Norway because the Gordhamer's ancestry is Norwegian and I thought it would be a good opportunity to help the children learn a little bit more about their heritage. We had a lot of fun and learned some interesting things as we prepared our little display. We figured out how to make those heart baskets you see on the tree--they are filled with candy and nuts and hang on the trees as ornaments in Norway. We learned about the nissen (or gnomes) that are part of the Christmas fun on the farms in Norway and they also live in the little gingerbread houses. The kids were very excited about and proud of our table.

We also had the annual school concert that the primary division (grades K-2) does at the the girls' school. It is quite a production and again as was the case last year, I was very impressed by the whole thing--the stage, costumes, songs, and preparation that goes into the program. Maggie loves music at school and it was such fun to see her sing her heart out in the show. Here she is pictured (in the very center of the photo) with her class--they did a Singaporean version of Rudolph called "Ling Ling the Red Nosed Reindeer."

We have made it a tradition now as long as we are here to go and see the lights on Orchard Road downtown. Orchard Road is the main shopping road in the heart of downtown (I have referred to it as Singapore's 5th Ave). Each year Singapore picks a theme and decorates elaborately with lights and displays that go for at least a couple of miles. It is beyond anything I have ever seen in terms of extravagance and a lot of fun to see. We go early and get ice cream cones at a Dairy Queen stand, eat them while we wait for it to get dark, and then make our way through the huge mass of people along the sidewalk. It is hard to even imagine how crowded it is--and we even went on a Monday (as opposed to a weekend). This year the theme was "Sweet Shoppe" or something like that and all the decorations had to do with candy and sweets. There were candies hanging from all the trees along the road and giant cupcakes and things displayed at different stops.

Another new thing we did this year was a quiet Bethlehem dinner on Christmas Eve. I must give credit to a friend from Minnesota who first gave me the idea. When I presented it to the kids, they responded with great enthusiasm and helped plan the evening. We dressed up as shepherds looking for Bethlehem, stopping at an "inn" during our journey to sup before making our way to a "grassy field" in Bethlehem where we could learn more about Christ's birth. Pictured below is our dinner at the inn, which consisted our pita bread, hummus, leg of lamb with mint sauce, olives, grape juice, and goat's cheese. Joseph insisted on the lamb even though I was skeptical. The kids loved it--Maggie asked for fourths! I managed to swallow a few bites while feigning to enjoy it. The kids had remarkably insightful answers to Joseph's questions about why lamb is significant in the scriptures and why Heavenly Father sent Jesus to a humble stable and home. After dinner we had desert which consisted of almonds and dried apricots while we read the nativity story from the scriptures, singing hymns throughout. It was a really nice way to bring the focus of Christmas back to Christ and his birth, turning out to be a very special night. And I think we will keep this tradition always.

Santa Claus found us again this year--and boy does he work hard! Look at all those nicely wrapped and arranged presents! And apparently, all 4 of the children were good this year. Of course they all had to wait anxiously on the stairs while Joseph got the camera ready and the lights turned on (no fires here). Ella got a new trolley (that's what they call a shopping cart here) to push her toys around the house. Maggie was very excited about her new American Girl doll Samantha and her Christmas dress. Abigail got Kit, another American Girl doll, for Christmas. Xander was very happy about his new airplane. He spends a lot of time on airplanes for a 3 year old so we thought he would enjoy one of his own to fly.

All in all, we had a fantastic Christmas. I am often overwhelmed as I stop and contemplate during the holidays just how much we have and all the blessings we enjoy.