Singapore is as magnificent as ever! I arrived at midnight, but Di and I managed to chat until 2:30 AM. We are both early risers, so 5 hours of sleep found us up and drinking coffee and chatting away. Our very first stop was the Singapore American School via the MRT. We headed straight to the Alumni Office as I wanted help getting data at our expatriate family survey website. The new acting director, Lauri Coulter, was most gracious. She grew up in India, and now has a daughter at SAS. I think she and Junia Baker will be able to get my survey address online and in the semi-annual newsletter. Lauri took us to the primary area so we could surprise Kathy Tan, one of Kevin's first teachers at SAS. She was clearly surprised to see us, and arranged to meet for breakfast at the American Club Friday morning, Vesak Day in Singapore. We left to find the cafeteria and the ever-smiling Mr. Ho. His digs are sure different...think uptown!...and he wears a white chef coat now. It was Wednesday, and much to my delight, it was still curry day in Mr. Ho's cafeteria! What a treat! We wandered around and found the clothing store, and bought Ch an SAS t-shirt. Ch clearly belongs at SAS. Everywhere we went, the students were extremely polite and helpful...what a great campus! We said our "good-byes" and were handed an SAS alumni bag with a copy of the book written by Coach Jim Baker. It was terribly heavy, but you can bet the book made it all the way back to the K's house in Taiwan.
Di and I wandered off to Holland Village, my favorite shopping center in the old Singapore days. It is still thriving...I shopped three floors and had a pedicure before heading home on the bus, thanks to Di's great directions. Di went off to pick up Ning, her adorable granddaughter at school. They headed to the American Club to buy Garth a birthday cake. Ning spent all her time at her "desk" making a birthday card, and Di could hardly pry her off the chair and out the door. They enjoyed a hot pot dinner, and I jumped a bus to the Esplanade. Singapore has built 2 theatres, fondly referred to as the twin durians, as the double roofs do look like that smelly fruit! It was Singapore Arts Festival time, and I was privileged to see the Twin Clouds performance group from Taiwan, a very avant garde dance/gymnastics group with incredible staging effects. I got to meet Rosemary, an Aussie resident of Singapore for over 18 years, and her visiting Aussie friend, Nickolai. We enjoyed the show together, and they made sure I got on a bus going in the right direction. Di and I arrived home about the same time to end our day with a glass of wine together.
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