Driving In Malaysia

We've really enjoyed taking the subway around Singapore. It's clean, fast, cheap and for the most part, it takes us to within feet of where we want to go. When we've traveled to and from the different countries we've had to hire drivers and got to experience the commute that so many Malay and Singaporeans experience everyday.

The picture is our driver. He gave us a lot of advice on where to visit both in Malaysia and Singapore, taught us several phrases in Malay and even ended up giving Troy his number for the next time we're in town and want to go up to K.L.

They drive on the left side of the road so their cars all seemed backwards at first. It took me a while to figure out how that affects people walking around in the mall (I find myself swimming upstream in a sea of people far too often).

As we've traveled around the U.S. each state has a unique font and style to their road signs and it always strikes me as one of those things we take for granted until it's suddenly different. Thus, I took lots of sign pictures as we raced down the highway. These are all taken through the windshield at 100 kph so forgive me if they're blurry. I still find them fascinating.

News From Home

Well it looks like the kids are having a blast. I was getting a little worried about them since I hadn't heard anything since Saturday. I figured either they were having so much fun that no one had time to email me OR they had torn down the house, ran everyone ragged and drove them insane with all their chatter. I should have known my mom and my sister Emily were made of tougher stuff!

My mom took them to Toys R Us and Michael's to pick up some activities for them to do. What a great Grandma. On her blog she mentioned not wanting them to be able to sum up their entire visit by saying they "watched tv and played on the trampoline." I have the same feelings about their summer vacation while we're at home. I dread getting their "summer journal" paper back with a little stamped smiley face on it proving that the teacher knows as well as I do that it was a good day if we all got dressed...let alone brushed our hair.

I actually laughed out loud when I saw that Scout had picked a Chuck E Cheese's Birthday Party Picnic set. Her birthday is on the 8th of August and she's been doing nothing but planning her party since Rand's was over back in May. If that set had a mini skee ball set I think I would have picked that too...I just can't get enough skee ball in my life.

As I looked as these pictures I realized that I know my kids pretty well. If left to their own devices (and given a wad of cash) I knew that Scout would have inevitably chosen something that had to do with birthdays, Random would have gravitated toward legos and Savannah would have gone totally native (she's the one I keep taking pictures of crazy Malay bugs for).

I'm so happy to see their smiling faces and I'll be glad to be reunited soon. It'll be great to get back to Oregon with all the familiar sights, smells, foods but most of all to give those cute kids some long awaited hugs.

Malaysia

Troy works with a company in Senai, Malaysia and so on Sunday evening we took a hotel shuttle to our new hotel: The Sofitel Palm Resort Golf & Country Club. The hotel is full of character and surrounded by amazing life...plant, animal and insect.

I've never knew palm trees could be so diverse. I feel like a horticultural noob as I keep looking up trying to find the coconuts. The trees to the left are directly outside of our hotel room. On the way to the hotel we passed fields of palm tree farms. The area here is known for their palm oils.

The hallways all have wall sconces that not only light the way but also heat up and provide a warm and bug filled nest for geckos to hunt in at night. Almost every wall sconce has a gecko or two hiding inside.

Troy goes off to work during the day so I'm at the hotel free to lounge by the pool, go to the spa, play pool, bowl, commit archery, snooker, racquetball, ping pong or golf. They have bicycles to rent, boardgames, squash courts, fitness rooms and an entire room dedicated to Majong. Of course it's 70,000 bajillion degrees with 493% humidity outside and I've yet to wrangle up enough people to put together a decent squash team. I also think everyone in the hotel is here on business so the fall-over-themselves-with-politeness-staff who won't make eye contact with me, let alone pick up a ping pong paddle and hit something at me, are the only people around during the day.

I've gone on lots of walks around the grounds and tried to enjoy the beauty of such a diverse ecology. My favorite view is seeing the roofs of the hotel rising out of the jungle.

Every path I've taken has been paved differently. I wonder what the story is with that. Did they run out of stones? Is it art? It's definitely interesting and adds to the tactile beauty of my daily jaunts.

The paths through the grass have railroad ties embedded in them so the earth doesn't slide away in the rain. There are deep canals crisscrossing the property. The freeway overpasses have signs indicating which side of the road has rain shelters for motorcyclists. So much evidence of a dramatic rainy season.

The inky green pools have thousands of coy living in them. They're difficult to see through the murky water but they'll suddenly begin jumping and the water comes alive. I have to admit, that's a little creepy.

Here are some more of the pictures that I took on my trip around the resort:

Paths:

Plants:

Random things that struck my fancy:

Singapore: Cultural Differences

English is one of the official languages of Singapore. The children go to a school that teaches in both their parent's language and English so most people are bi or tri-lingual. We learned that some words are used differently there than they are in America however. Here are some of the finds that made us giggle:

Singapore: Our Hotel

In Singapore we stayed at the Swissotel on Stamford Road.

The location couldn't have been better. We were just steps away from the subway so we had great access to the whole city for just a few cents.

We were on the 56th floor of the hotel so the view was fabulous. We could see the famed Merlion, the Esplanade (theaters that look like bug eyes), the Parlament buildings, the National Museum of Singapore, part of Sentosa Island and tons of sky scrapers, apartment buildings and churches.

We were so high up in the hotel and the elevator traveled so fast that our ears popped as we rode up to our floor.

We could see our hotel from far all over the city and actually took this picture from over 2 kilometers away.

Here are some pictures we took from our hotel balcony.

Customs in Singapore

When I arrived in Singapore the first thing I did was to choose a line to stand in while I waited to go through customs. I picked what looked like a small line behind a group of about 8 short, well dressed young men. I was at least a head taller than most of them. Their bright pastel colored button up shirts contrasted pleasantly with their dark skin. They looked like they were getting back from an insurance salesman convention and had coordinated their outfits for the trip. I immediately thought of what Scout would have said were she with me... "Hello tiny men. Why are you so tiny?"

After 5 minutes with the customs officer the first man was sent back. I watched him pass his friends whispering what had happened, the looks of worry reflected in all their faces, and join a line of about 20 short insurance salesmen waiting to enter an unmarked door. They were being watched over and yelled at ("Form 1 line! Stay in line!") by two taller, fairer men in uniforms standing on a platform so that they towered over the men in line.

I quickly realized that as far as quickly moving lines go, I had chosen poorly. Each of the men took at least 5 minutes and I watched as people with US, European, Japanese and Singapore passports flew through the lines next to me. After about 3 of the men had been sent back to the mysterious angry line, one was finally let through. He looked back at his friends and lifted a piece of paper, showing it to them surreptitiously. They all began to frantically dig through their backpacks and satchels to find the magical paper that would let them through. After that only one was sent back to the line that had now reached the end of the room and was wrapping back on itself.

It turns out this was a group of Malaysians and unfortunately Singapore is as suspicious of its neighbors as we are of ours. In their political landscape I'm sure it all makes sense just as we've convinced ourselves that how we treat Mexicans makes sense. It's definitely made me reconsider some things though.

When I got to the customs officer I handed him my passport and disembarkment form. He stamped it, scanned it and I was on my way. Having a United States passport was like having the golden ticket. No questions asked, no strip searching or strange lines to stand in at the back of the hall. I was all ready to explain why I was in Singapore, declare my leftover granola bars or demand to see the consul but I didn't have to say a word. I'm glad to be an American and have the opportunity to travel. I hope I live to see the day that everyone has the same rights.

World Travelers

Troy has been in Singapore for the last week working on Xerox's latest supa-sweet solid ink printer. On Tuesday I dropped the kids off with family in Washington and right now I'm blogging from the Tokyo Narito airport. Crazy.

I got a picture of the kids having a great time with my sister. They look happy and I really hope that right now they're sleeping (it's 1:41 am in Puyallup right now).

I miss them but I'm sure they're going to have a really great time playing with cousins and their grandparents.

The first leg of my flight was 10 1/2 hours and now my neck is killing me. I'm hoping that I'm on the other side of the plane for the Japan to Singapore jump so I can even out this kink!

So what do you think about during a 10 1/2 hour flight? I'll tell you. You worry about whether or not you flushed up or down when you went number 1 back at good ol' PDX.

Hehehe, anyway, there's a flurry at the gate so I think I better pack up. Wish me luck!

Coastal Camping

We've had a really busy summer. Between house guests, road trips and projects, we've been on the go almost the whole time. When we got back from visiting Boise and realized we only had one weekend before Troy would head out to Singapore for work, we decided that we needed some quality family time before he left.

We got online and reserved a camping spot at a KOA in Newport, dug through the storage unit to try to find some gear, crammed the Focus till it nearly burst and took off Friday morning. We took the longer route so we could enjoy the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway. Instead of using the portable dvd player to zombie the kids we listened to a radio drama so we could all look out the windows and appreciate the gorgeous scenery.

It was about this time that things started to go a little crazy. I had been struggling with that mysterious joint pain for a few days and by the time we reached Lincoln City for a pit stop I couldn't so much walk as I could waddle...picture walking without moving any joints including all the tiny joints in your feet. Now that I'm no longer in excruciating pain I can totally see the humor in the situation. I was wandering around this tiny bargain grocery store (where the discards of real grocery stores go to die) trying my best not to be a whiner and find the mini-marshmellows I needed for the banana boats I had planned. I was dottering along on my quest while Troy and the kids ran around getting snacks from all around the store. I think they did 7 laps before I got to the other side of the store. I felt like the old lady in her house coat trying to remember where she put her glasses. "Where are the marshmellows?" "OK honey it's time for you to sit back down." "But I need the marshmellows." "Kids, take your mother to the car, she's lost her mind again and she's walking like a penguin that had a flipperectomy." "But the marshmellows..." Of course in the bargain grocery store all there actually was by way of marshmellow were the pink and green tree shaped ones left over from Christmas.

We also noticed that Lincoln City isn't the Kite Capital of the World for nothing. The wind was refreshing and invigorating in the bright summer sun, but also should have been a little bit of a clue as to what the weather was going to be like a few miles down the road at our campsite.

Our campsite was called the Waldport/Newport KOA and is between two tiny resort towns that exist solely to make and sell Salt Water Taffy to tourists. We had printed out our google maps directions and followed them to the letter. Of course once we got to the alleged location we were in the middle of a row of weathered vacation homes with BMWs in the driveways and glorious ocean views...not exactly your typical KOA. Google maps had failed us! We booted up our computer with its trusty GPS and finally found our campground.

We got out of the car, checked out our tiny campsite and nearly froze our buns right off. The wind was whipping so fiercely that we were chilled to the bone. At this point I turned to Troy and asked if, when he was checking out the weather and it said the highs would be 95-100 and lows in the mid 50s, was he actually checking the weather for where we would be or for where he was at the time (sitting on the couch in Wilsonville). He said something like, "ummm heh heh." So we loaded up the kids and drove back to Newport to find some jackets.

An hour later, ten degrees colder but a few layers warmer, we made it back to the campsite. I started setting up the tent while Troy and Scout went off to buy firewood. Rand, Savannah and I had part of one tent partially emptied out of its bag by the time he got back (I couldn't close my fingers tightly enough to grip...I'm really not THAT bad at setting up tents :-P). Troy took over the tents while I started the fire.

I don't know about your experiences with campground firewood but we've always noticed that it's dry and eager to light with only the slightest coaxing. Not so with the Fancy Campwood from the Waldport/Newport KOA. It's the new-fangled slow-burning soggy wood that all the kids are raving about this season. It took forever to get it dried out enough to burn and then even longer to get it down to coals so we could cook the foil dinners we had brought. The foil dinners ended up being the best thing I've ever eaten from a campfire though so it was worth the wait.

The night was cold and I kept worrying that the kids were freezing in their little tent. They did all right and Random even took Scout to the bathroom in the middle of the night. What a good kid.

Breakfast was an egg/potato/sausage foil concoction that I found the recipe for online. Troy was pretty anti-fire in the morning though so I poured it into a frying pan and cooked it on the propane stove. That worked out great, tasted good and gave us lots of greazy fuel for a fun day at the beach.

We followed the signs in the campground to the "trail" to the beach. We found the trail...it was actually a sand cliff that you just sort of banzai down. Tough to do when you can't bend your knees but I made it! The kids found some shells, dead crabs and lots of smelly seaweed. The water was exceptionally cold and the beach was rocky so we decided to drive up the coast and find another beach that wasn't so smelly. Getting back up the "trail" was a feat and by the time we got up all of our thighs were burning and we were pretty sweaty. Gratefully, the wind was still a bajillion knots so we dried off quickly.

We went up the coast and pulled off when we saw some awesome rock outcroppings. We climbed around on those for a while and got back in the car.

Arctic Circle for lunch (Yay for Lime Rickies!) and then off to the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. First of all, I think that's a hilarious name. It should go in our scrapbook right next to pictures of Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp. It seems like some eager beavers should take a breath and let people add their own adjectives but you know, whatever.

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse on the Oregon coast and we climbed all the way to the top. The last time I climbed a tower on Oregon's coast it was the Astoria Column. I was 16 and had an undiagnosed case of mono so at least we stuck to the tradition of mysterious illnesses and tall buildings near highway 101.

Next we were off to the tidal pools which were great but we all suffered from a little Lime Ricky revenge and had to hustle back up up up up and up the trail to get to the bathroom...and FAST. We all made it but it was touch and go there for a while for poor Scoutie.

We got back to camp exhausted and found that our tents were nearly on their side being blustered at by that unrelenting wind. Our tent stakes were not up to the task of the cement-like soil of the campsite. We bought the camp store out of stakes and were able to get the tent secured and make dinner.

That night was much warmer so everyone was very comfortable. There was free wifi access (I know...what has camping come to?) at the KOA so Troy and I got online and bought some t-shirts. That was probably my favorite part. Laying on a nice full air mattress and laughing at how geeky I am to have just ordered a Bassoon Hero t-shirt.

The next morning we made pancakes, cleaned up, broke camp and headed home. It was a great camp and I'm glad we didn't let our crazy summer, my crazy broken body or our crazy-small car stand in the way of the memories we made.

Here are more pics from our trip:

Gomm Reunion 2008: Boise Edition

Here are some pictures of what went down at the reunion.

Tyler's daughter Angie came up with a genius relay race. We had to dress up and do a funky walk to the fence then turn around and run back. Gomms are good sports and crazy dressers.



Playing with cousins:



We got to go swimming at Tom & Kim's pool and at Tyler & Ann's pool. Sunburns for all!



We ate a lot. Troy and I made fresh squeezed lemonade which was super-duper if I do say so myself.



But mostly we just sat around:



Thanks to Tyler and his fancy camera work and to the Boise Gommses for letting us invade. We had a lot of fun.

Fifth Disease

A few weeks ago the kids and I went up to visit my family. In the evening the adults were sitting around chatting when out of nowhere Scout ran downstairs clutching her head and crying that she had a headache. I picked her up...she was on fire...and held her while my sister ran into the kitchen to get her some tylenol. Before Emily got back, less than a minute later, Scout had fallen asleep in my arms.

A while later she woke up and threw up. She and I had a fitful night's sleep and ended up watching The Wonder Pets at 3am until she finally fell into a deep sleep around 7. She was crabby and sleepy the rest of the day with a little bit of a clear runny nose but by the time we got back home she was perky and just fine. I figured it was the flu.

About a week later we were visiting Troy's family when out of nowhere I felt like I was hit by a bus. I had a runny nose that I attributed to my allergies...to Idaho, not to Troy's family. My fever was 103.8 and so I laid down, took all the meds I could think of and got it under control. After a couple days of fighting the fever it finally went away, the runny nose cleared up and I was fine.

The day after I got that mysterious fever Scout produced another mysterious symptom of her own. She had a rash on both arms that was just red...not raised. We assumed she also had my allergies...to Idaho, not to Troy's family. It didn't look like hives and it was a little odd that Savannah hadn't reacted since she's our human litmus for allergens and hives-up at the drop of a hat. We all had sunburns at this point but this was definitely not part of the sunburn.

About 5 days ago I woke up with arthritis....or at least I thought I had. My fingers were swollen and painful, my knees screamed in agony when I went up or down the stairs or heaven forbid I squatted for a moment. My feet were swollen and itchy and I thought I saw a faint rash on my legs...but I convinced myself it was a trick of the light.

My shoulders, my elbows, my back...oh my back. Everything was so stiff and hurt so badly. I was certain I had some terrifying but undiagnosable disease that would do me in. Or maybe some weird case of athelete's foot that infected my joints....AAHHH! Turns out I just had a common childhood illness that I had somehow bypassed.

Fifth disease is common in children between the ages of 5 and 15. When kids get it often they don't even notice. It starts with a fever and flu like symptoms, a few days later you develop a lacey non-raised rash and in adults or older teens the rash can be accompanied by joint pain and arthritic symptoms. 40-60% of adults worldwide have already had it.

Our sunburns and Scout and my naturally rosy cheeks probably helped to mask the appearance of the rash and the excitement from all of our world travels distracted me from making the connection.

So suddenly I went from thinking I was dying to realizing that I just have a fun temporary all-over pain thing. It has given me an appreciation for people who live with chronic pain. I whined so much in just 4 days that I even annoyed myself. I think I crossed a line when Troy offered to hold my fudgesicle for me because it hurt to hold it myself!

It was difficult to find information about this so I thought I'd post it so at least my friends and family could know what's going on if I inadvertently infected you! (P.S. Sorry!!)

The research I've found says the painful stage can last for a couple of weeks. Here's to milking it for all it's worth!

UPDATE: As of Tuesday afternoon Random is now covered in a lovely lacey rash. 3 Gomms down...2 to go!

Survey Says!

In April I posted a request for all the lovely ladies I know to fill out a survey (Calling All Women). I was reminded in a comment that I hadn't posted the results so here they are:

Survey Results

It was interesting to me to realize how universal certain struggles are like maintaining energy throughout the day, keeping the house clean, getting the kids to eat vegetables. The question that really got me thinking was number 7. By noon, I feel best if I've a. exercised; b. showered and dressed; c. run my errands; or d. cleaned my house/done laundry.

Around the time of the survey I also read a provocative blog entry by a friend of mine about What Good Looks Like. Everyone at her work received a poster that showed What Good Looked Like for them. It was intended to help define what success meant in each position. She carried it over to being a mom and really got me thinking about What Good Looks Like in my life.

I've come to realize that success must be defined on an individual level (I couldn't care less that it's noon and I haven't run my errands) but we all have the same general targets so it's nice to know we're not alone!