Singapore in Seven: Hainanese Chicken Rice

Perhaps one of our biggest regrets after leaving Singapore is why we cooked at home so much. Local food was delicious and cheap. We figured out that plan our last year there. By then we were eating local food at a hawker center almost every single night (this was especially helpful since my little girls were 1, 2, and 3 years old). What we don't regret, however, is that we tried nearly everything while we lived there. Even chicken feet.....once.

We knew during our "Singapore in Seven" we wanted to eat as much local food as we could. There was no decision for me for my first local meal: Hainanese Chicken Rice.

I have made chicken rice many years after leaving Singapore. I buy the spice packets, and we all enjoy this dish at home. But it's not the same. It's good (Firstborn requests it for her birthday meal every year), but served up local in the food stall is the best.

I had forgotten that the full dish came with a bowl of broth with dumplings and bak choy. It's soooo good. That's all I can say. If you go to Singapore, order Singapore Chicken Rice!

Singapore in Seven: The Singapore River

That night we headed down to the Singapore River. They had just finished this esplanade when we left Singapore in 2003. Some call it the Giant Durian. Some call it Fly Eyes. CC took me to see the musical "Singing in the Rain" there a long time ago.

There were hints of how it used to look, but mostly, the downtown area had changed. It was always beautiful and striking, but even more so now.

This part perhaps looked the most similar. How many times that first year did we get to the end of a long work week, then hop on a bus downtown to eat dinner out together? 

Thankfully the Merlion remained!!! The Merlion is Singapore's mascot!

Singapore in Seven: Roti Prata and Nature Reserve

Our friends, KH and LC, were actually our former landlords. We discovered within minutes of meeting them to see their rental apartment so long ago that they were also believers. (Interesting how brothers and sisters find each other.) We grew to be very good friends and have stayed in touch. (You might remember many years ago they visited us in Turkey.)  They were so happy to host us during our week in Singapore. Our first morning, we headed out to a local place for the breakfast we had missed so very much: Roti Prata. What is roti prata? It's Indian flat fried bread that is dipped in spicy sauces. How can I describe how much we loved it?! And how could I not sit there and remember my little Twinkle Toes at two years old, dipping her bread and not flinching at the hottest curries on the island?

We couldn't have our roti prata without teh halia, the local ginger tea with sweet milk.

They live near the Diary Farm Nature Reserve, so we went for a little walk. Singapore is a thoroughly modern city, but the tendency to be a jungle is forever etching in. So when land is left alone, the most beautiful tropical flora presents itself.

We saw a little field trip. I was reminded of how my little people were always wearing hats there to keep the sun off.

As we exited, we heard a familiar chatter overhead. Up in the trees were families of monkeys.

My good friend LC.

I felt so much better that next morning and just kept thinking how happy I was to be back in Singapore with my groom.

2018

1997

Singapore in Seven: Back to Blogging (aka All My Excuses)

My last blog post was May 18. I just looked. As I sit here listening to life as it sounds on a front porch in Middle Tennessee, laptop balanced on my lap, I am reminded of all of the reasons I blog. I love to write. This forum helps me process life and share how God is good to me. Why haven't I blogged for 2 months? My excuses: after returning from Singapore to Turkey, I began grading the 50 research papers I had assigned to the kids to write while I was gone. On the heels of that, Firstborn landed back on our continent for the first time since she left in June. Right about the time I felt like I had everything squared away, my laptop crashed. We were just about to fly out to the USA, so we brought it with us to the USA to have it checked. It's so much easier to understand a computer repair in English. My laptop is up and running, and life is too. So, I'm back! And I missed you.

It's summer now, but I'm jumping back to Singapore so that I can stay in order. As I said in my post form oh, so long ago in May, the school in Singapore where we worked from 1997-2003 was set to celebrate their 25th anniversary. They graciously bought us plane tickets and asked us to come back and share what God did in the early years of the school's existence. CC had been back two times for administrative conferences, but I had never returned since we left 15 years ago.

Board a plane together? to Singapore? Without our kids? A few wrinkles and gray hairs more, but it was just like when we were newlyweds setting off on this big overseas adventure for the first time! We were pretty excited. Our kids are amazing at taking care of each other. I put together some food in the fridge, lined up some help getting them to and from school, and asked a couple of friends to take my two younger ones when the older girls would be at their youth retreat. All set.

The day was so busy with a staff olympics day and picnic, and our flight was a late night red eye. By the time we got to the airport, I had a mild headache. We flew to Istanbul and then on to Singapore. We did get some sleep, but my headache just lingered. Then it turned to migraine. (I've only had a few of these in my lifetime.) I ended up so sick that I threw up most of the way to Singapore. :( The last time I threw up all the way to Singapore I was pregnant with my first baby and had no idea!

We landed in the beautiful city we grew to love, and our dear Singaporean friends were there to meet us.

We grabbed quick bite at a cute Vietnamese dive, then headed home. My friend knew how sick I was, so she invited me to have a Chinese head massage by her. The smell of her essential oils floating in the air, lying on a bamboo mat, having my head massaged by her reduced the headache, and soon I was sound asleep for the night. We had seven days ahead of us, and each day would prove to be a blessing!

New Do, Old Friends, and a Volleyball Tournament

I decided to get my hair cut, so there you go! I think I like this length and will keep it.

I had a wonderful surprise one afternoon just before last period of the day. A friend came and said, "You have to come. Come right now. You have to see this." I turned to my class and said, "Behave. I'll be right back!" I turned the corner and in front of me stood the first Turkish friend I ever made. I can't really even begin to list the experiences we shared together or how much she has meant to me. She adopted my little girl as her own, and they sat together morning after morning at the front desk, when I was working, and had Turkish breakfast. She even kept her for me when Big Ben was born. She's just got a spunk and a depth in her relationship with the Lord and is the kind of friend everyone needs to have. She and her Kenyan husband (who I also love and who taught for us) won the Green Card Lottery and immigrated to America. There her family of three grew to five, and she continues to serve the Lord mightily. I have not seen her since she left, which has been eight years. And I didn't know she was coming. I simple could not hold the tears back, nor could she. I kept thinking this is like heaven. So many reunions. So much joy. She turned to me and spoke a word from the Lord, from her perspective of being away for so long, that God had blessed us. Faithfulness when things were small and hard has turned to fruit and blessing. I will say this year has been very hard for me. Hard to have my family on two different continents. Hard to take on a teaching load (which I suggested! no blame!) in order to help the school, but which required so much of me. Hard to not know the future. But her timely words to me and seeing her sweet face was a gift. Her girls took to Sweet Cheeks like they were sisters. She's doing such a good job as a mama and raising them so well. 

Here she is with CC and her beautiful family. 

I had another wonderful quick visit from an old friend. She was flying into the country, just as I was leaving, but we had about a 1/2 a day that overlapped. She came out and had lunch with me at school. She lived in this country many years and has been an encouragement to me! 

Right smack dab in the middle of all of this was our Istanbul volleyball tournament. We had only just begun practices, because basketball ran a bit longer this year. But it was time to go, so we did our best to square things away at home and school and took them. I think we were not expected to do as well as we did, as these teams come from mega-schools and generally play the sport year round. But our girls played their hearts out and took 3rd place overall. We were super proud of them! Their attitudes and spirit and encouragement to each other stand out to other teams and coaches everywhere we go. 

We are hardly at our hotel at all, but we did manage to pull in one night just at sunset, so we walked over to the Sea of Marmara to let them walk on the beach.

And after three days of making sure everyone has uniforms and knee pads and charging cords and filled water bottles, it was time for the 6 hour bus ride back home. I snapped a stadium picture for Big Ben, of a national team. 

The bus ride doesn't bother me at all. It's beautiful scenery and this year I had my buddy with me, our school nurse.

And just after all this wonderful-ness, it would be time to travel AGAIN. I've never travelled as much as I have this year! But it was a special year! Circumstances such as not being able to get Firstborn into the country dictated some of former plans to change. This year happens to be a very special year for a special place. Our sister school in Singapore, where CC and I went as newlyweds and where our first three girls were born, is celebrating 25 years! They contacted us early in the year and asked to pay for us to fly to the celebration event and asked CC to speak about the history of the school and God's faithfulness. And so, we decided to accept their kind offer. I had not been back to Singapore since we left 14 years ago. And we have never left our kids in Turkey without one of us being here....but we decided to go for it! Singapore posts to follow.....

A Sad Goodbye to Cappy

Just after we arrived home, our sweet Cappadocia kitty Cappy was so excited to see us. Extra love, extra meows. She just wouldn't stop. It was as if she had something important to tell us. She begged to go out and ran right out and caught us a mouse and brought it to us. I snapped this picture of her at the window, so proud of her hunting skills. She finally stored her mouse away, so we would let her back inside. Then she evidently decided to run across to the field to catch another, but was hit by a car, in front of both Miss Middler and Twinkle. It was awful, just one hour after we came home. We live on a main street and don't have AC in our house, so windows stay open this time of year and our cats have always gone outside for part of the day. I suppose this was inevitable, but this was a devastating loss to all of us, as our sweet little kitty came at a time when we all needed a big dose of joy. She was by far the sweetest cat we've ever owned. She came to us pregnant, unbeknownst to us, and allowed my children to see the birth of an animal. It's actually been about a month since this happened, but every single morning when I curl up on the couch with my coffee, Bible, and computer, I miss my little friend still. I recently read a poem that a friend sent about grieving the loss of our little furry friends. It said that they live their short lives with intensity, and to not be sad, as we gave them all that love and care for the time they had here. And I think that summed up Cappy. She was so needy, sick, unhealthy, needing shots, and pregnant when she "adopted" us, which is basically how it happened. She targeted my kids for love every time we would pass her on the cobblestone street. She knew she needed a houseful of kids to love her as her babies came into the world. And she knew I needed her as a lovely distraction, as only a pregnant cat can be, to a mom about to let my first bird fly from the nest. The sadness has lingered, but all I can say is that we are so happy to have had this memory of her in our family.

Mid-Spring in the Mediterranean: Morning Walk and Goodbye

While the kids hit the beach one last time, CC and I took a morning walk, greeting the goats as we went!

This was our walk back from the beach to where we stayed.

We packed up and loaded up, enjoying one last big breakfast after our four days at the beach.