Kampong is the life for us!

Today, everyone was feeling better and we went to Palau Ubin for our adventure. We called a London taxi and all of us piled in, Vince sitting in the jump seat. Palau Ubin is an island about 10 minutes from Singapore by bum boat. We chartered a boat for S24 and went to the island. We went to lunch at this non-airconditioned place, and the lunch was really, really good. Lots of choice for the vegetarians and then afterwards we went biking on the island in rented bikes. Then we went to Raffles City to have ice cream and buy some clothes for Edda. We met up with Donald who came back from Malaysia this afternoon and had dinner together. Tonight we tried to go out on a date, but Edda and Vince thwarted it and instead we bought some Korean soap opera.

Another quiet post-Xmas day here in Singapore. Vince is still running a fever and Edda is still fussy and Katherine is dripping from her nose. Donald spent the day out and about with a friend of his. Jeremy and Bob went downtown to shop for pants/books/ravioli.

Happy birthday Dad!

Your personal ruling planets are Saturn and Neptune.

You are ruled by the mythical God, Neptune, which describes your nature most adequately. Just like the vast ocean you are restless, moody and fond of change and travel. You love the water and places connected with the sea. You possess unusual and original ideas on religion and philosophy. It means your compassion has risen to sublime heights and you will do anything for a person in need. In this respect, you must learn to balance your own needs lest you become a victim of the people you are trying to help.

You have strong psychic abilities that relate to the water element and you can use this talent, not only to your own advantage, but helping others as well. All of the healing and helping professions are well suited to your nature.

Your main lessons are to learn to take better care of your material life so as to enjoy your future fully.

Your lucky colours are the darker green shades.

Your lucky gems are turquoise, cats eye chrysoberyl, tigers eye.

Your lucky days of the week are Mondays and Thursdays.

Your lucky numbers and years of important change are 7 , 16, 25, 34, 43, 52, 61, 70, 79.

Famous people born on your birthday include Clara Barton, Rod Sterling, Helena Christensen, Dido Armstrong and Mariama Goodman.

Lovely week continues…

On Friday, we rented a car and went down to the National University of Singapore where recently there was a music conservatory established in association with Peabody. We drove to the university and since everyone was on vacation, we figured that Bob wouldn’t get to meet anybody. But he met students who were playing in a string quartet and also we persuaded the associate director to come out of her office and talk with Bob about practice rooms and such things.

Then we had lunch at the school canteen. Someplace called “The Deck”, it was so cheap, I think all of us ate for less than 15 US dollars.

Then we drove to the Jalita Cold Storage, my favorite supermarket because the isles are wide and they stock arugula and Paul Newman’s spaghetti sauce. I left the party to head to Woodlands and I visited Kate and Abby and Joyce, Kate’s mom. Chris was also there working from home. The baby is adorable! And they seem well.

Then Bob and Katherine were kind enough to watch the kids. Donald headed downtown to meet a friend, we went on a date and ate pizza at a wine bar a few bus stops away from us.

Today I went rowing and then met up with the rest of the family in Little India. Dakshi was kind enough to show us around and talk about the temples and all the various gods and the stories behind all the figures. We also saw some Buddhist temples.

It was pouring rain on the way home and we had a nice spaghetti dinner and then got ready for Santa!