Underwater World / Sentosa

Saturday 30/04: Well the morning began, less than stellar, no chance at a run today as I did not pack for Rain and it was pouring this morning, so Sunday will work just as well for a 6 mile jaunt. We went to breakfast and then headed out via Taxi to Sentosa, a small island off of mainland Singapore. It was still raining rather hard when we left the hotel, as we approached Sentosa however it stopped, and although it was overcast, it was rather nice. We started our adventure at the aforementioned "Underwater World". this place was great, in fact the whole Island of Sentosa was theme park like in its presentation.

 

We had a great time at "Underwater World" their touch tank included Archer fish, Puffer fish, some small rays, and starfish, it was very cool. We saw some big turtles, and got to see quite a few things that we would never see in one of our aquarium based parks, including some "Japanese Spider Crabs" that were HUGE!!. We also got a chance to see the "Pink Dolphin" perform in a show that was remedial in comparison to anything at "Sea World" but was still impressive for a small park that is relatively new.

We moved on by bus to the "Butterfly and Insect" park, which was right up Roxanne and Brenna's alley! We got to see some butterfly species that we would never get to see in the states, and then Brenna got to feed some Conures, she was eventually overwhelmed by birds and gave up the food to daddy. (we have some great shots, but will post them after we get home on Monday, we don't have that much space on Rox's computer for the shots from her camera, so if you are following the blog, check back on this post on Tuesday, and we will have some additional shots on there)

We moved down to Merlion walk, where a huge replica of the Merlion that is a fixture in Singapore is. We had a great time walking around there and shot some pretty god pictures, again they have really done a great job with this whole island of /Sentosa.

We decided to take the cable car back to the mainland. It offered some great views of the city of Singapore, Brenna was a little

nervous, being up that high.

We walked around the waterfront/harbor area, and got to see some really great sites, Raffles Hotel, The Marina Sands Hotel and casino, which looks like it has a huge ship parked on top of it. It is really just astounding to me that I am standing on the waterfront in Singapore...We are really blessed to have this opportunity.

We continued to wander a bit, and then took the subway, back to the hotel. the subway system here in Singapore is just as good as in any US city, very clean, very easy to navigate and fairly inexpensive to ride. So we crashed early, it was along day. i am going to try and post a video of the downtown of Singapore to Facebook for any of the facebookers following. cant seem to get that stuff up on here, but i will try!! Tomorrow it is the Singapore Zoo, which is supposed to be one of the top zoos on the planet...cant wait!! come on along with us!! Until tomorrow, goodnight all!!

Sorry we missed you 29/04...

So we arrived in Singapore without incident, but we have to pay for Internet at the hotel, so we decided to let our Friday of travel go without comment, and comment on it today (Saturday) along with our adventures today.

Friday 29/04: A really uneventful day, other than the near monsoon conditions for most of the day, Brenna and I got soaked waiting for the bus, and she reported that she got even wetter on the bus. She got to wear her princess dress in honor of the royal wedding, and looked so very grown up.

We ran into more rain on the way down to the airport, which made me glad that I left a bit early. The flight to Singapore was uneventful. We arrived at the hotel and met Roxanne in the lobby, It was very good to see her!! We got some dinner at "The Hard Rock Cafe", and wandered a bit, and then got a good night sleep. so we were well prepared for our adventure on Saturday down to the "Underwater Park/Sentosa

"Does this bus stop at 82nd Street?"

Gotta love "The Boss"! Also gotta love that after only two full weeks of school Brenna had the courage to get on the School Bus (and I had the courage to put her on it!) . There will be a time when I will photograph the school bus, perhaps tomorrow. For your thinking pleasure though, imagine the oldest possible yellow school bus, that in the US would have been retired when Gerald Ford was president, remove the AC, and you would have "Bas Sekolah" #A-16, (there is so much more to tell you about but no sense freaking out the grandparents more than they may be already) which picks up my little girl right in front of our condo! Brenna jumped right on with her friend Katie, and off she went! at 3:00pm she was right there waiting to get off, two pieces of Black Currant candy in hand, Thank you Mr. Heng! So what did I do all day, well my hour run this morning, then a little window shopping at Gurney, I have yet to walk the whole mall, there are stores that Brenna likes, so i have not been able to work much past those. Huge Electronics expo at Gurney...Samsung, HP, Sony. Prices are still not that great. Spent a good part of the day at "The Bean" sipping on a jasmine tea, and people watching, that was pretty cool!

When Brenna got home, she did her homework, and then went and spent time with Katie, they had a good time playing, and then we had an at home dinner of spaghetti, relaxing and watching Megamind, getting stuff together for our big trip tomorrow. Brenna has another dress up day tomorrow, she has to go to school as if she were attending the royal wedding, so she is going to wear one of her dresses and fancy shoes. I will be picking her up at around noon time, and our neighbor offered to give me a ride as she had to pick up her youngest around that time.I will take pictures of her in her dress, and try to get pictures of the first day on the bus as the neighbor did take a few. Good day in Penang!! Goodnight all!!

The days are becoming more routine.

Today was a very routine day, other than Brenna having her party at school. When I dropped her off, i made sure that PB&J would be ok, and that her outfit of Jeans and a T-Shirt was ok, she said that it was all fine.When I got back home, I called the bus driver, to make sure he knew about Brenna for the morning, she still seems committed to taking the bus in the morning, she is a brave kid! Pickup was early today, and while I was waiting to get her, I spoke to one of the other Dads that is non working, and he gave me a flyer for a fire walking ceremony at one of the temples next week, we will be going to that!! Brenna had a good day, and talked about all the food she had today, Dim Sum, Haggis, Kim Chee...she at least tried everything! The PB&J on the other hand was not touched, I guess it is an acquired taste! We ended the day with a swim, and I got in a few laps, which felt good. We are both looking forward to our trip to Singapore on Friday. So Brenna takes the bus to school tomorrow, something she has never done, had a bunch of those experiences here!! Good day in Penang!! Goodnight all!!

Back to School!!

Brenna went back to school today after the two week spring break, we caught a cab this morning, and she seemed to transition right back into the classroom with no problem.It helped i think that she had a bunch of play dates with the kids from her class during the break. I was going to run back from her school today, but decided not to deal with the traffic, it was really bad this morning. so I waited till we got back to the house and then went out, but that is a story for another blog. I found today that taking a run, makes the day go really fast, before i knew it it was 1:00pm and Brenna gets out of school at 2:15...not much time, got some cleaning done. Then it was back in the cab to get the Boo, she had a good day, at least from what she came home with, no notes of concern from the teacher and some homework. We worked on her homework when we got home, and she did well on the assignments. At that time Rita, one of the women that we are deciding on for our domestic help came by, we spoke and she got to meet Brenna, i got some of her references (not many, which is a concern). She seemed very kind, she also seemed very bright. I told her to come back again next week so she can meet Roxanne. at the time she was leaving the electrician and the refrigerator repairman were coming in to look at the chiller cabinet, they spent some time on it, but could not fix it...good thing the refrigerator works! Brenna was really wanting to see Katie and finally found them at home, she went over there for a few hours, and i made dinner, hamburgers!! Aussie beef is a bit different, very lean, and very good! We had a nice dinner and a relaxing night. Brenna has a special day in school tomorrow, it is a celebration of the children's communities and cultures, they are required to wear the clothing that is representative of where they come from, this is tough, as I said already other than cowboy/cowgirl....how do we dress that makes us distinctive, other than the baggy pants, underwear showing thing...not exactly a social norm to be proud of. This got me thinking, I have yet to see one guy with his pants down below his ass, the young people here dress very well, usually. the women dress trendy. I often wonder what their impression of us is. i have been asked a lot of questions about the US since i have arrived, all of them respectful, but I am finding that we are often defined by some rather odd things. So anyway, dressing Brenna like an American is not easy. But she has found an outfit that might work, jean shorts and a tee-shirt...we will bring her uniform just in case it does not go over well. Another interesting thing today was at after school pickup, the parents were all talking about the vacations they took during break...Hong Kong. Borneo, Puket, Cambodia/Vietnam. That is just so cool!! We are all looking forward to our long weekend in Singapore.
Goodnight all!! Another great day in Penang!!

Adventure Zone 2!

Well the day began with Roxanne setting off for her week in Singapore, We will be joining her on Friday! Brenna and I ate some Breakfast, and then headed down to catch a cab to Adventure zone, for her class play date. We arrived to find Ruby already there, Brenna and she headed off to play, then as the other kids in the class, Oliver and Aerin primarily, showed up, Brenna had lots of play friends to choose and spent time running around and sliding with them all. About half way through the day Aerin ran up to me to say that Brenna was crying, because she was homesick. I told her to bring Brenna to me. We talked about how it is ok for her to be happy here, playing with her new friends, but she was insistent on going "home NOW. i want back my buddy boy (hamster)" she eventually calmed down and went back to play. I think for her it finally became reality that we are here, and here for 2 years, not just a long vacation. I think another part of it is that she is having fun with her new friends and likes them, but is dealing with the fact that some of them will be gone at the end of this school year and she will have to make all new friends. I think for her the friends she has back in St. Pete have been consistent for a period of time, so change like she will experience here is not familiar to her, i think that in the end it will make her a stronger and more self confident young lady, for now though....it just makes her sad....and that's ok! We were offered a ride by Kirsten (Aerin's mom) which was great, as it gave Brenna more time with her friends, and saved us some $$ on cab fare, tried to offer gas $$ but Aerin would not hear of it. Such really really good people we have gotten to know here so far, that is truly a blessing, from Jo, Olivers mom, to Kirsten and her husband, and the few parents of Brenna's classmates we have met, all of them have been so helpful! After we said our goodbyes to Aerin her mam and her brother and sister, we headed home to get some lunch. then we headed back to Gurney plaza, to look for a few things, a simple point and shoot camera, high on the list. Brenna also needed some sneakers, I man she has her keds like glitzy petz, but needed some shoes she could use at the soccer field and run around in. We scored on both, i ended up with a Panasonic Lumix camera, very nice at a good price and Brenna got some Adidas sneakers that should fit the bill nicely. We headed home, I made dinner and we worked on an assignment that Brenna has for school, about her "community", since we are so very new to this one, there was not much to say, so we spent a little bit of time on St. Petersburg, which is much more Brenna's community. She also has to dress in traditional garb from her country, we are at a loss, there are no "western" shops here, and we figured a cowgirl outfit would be perfect, she has her USF cheerleader outfit, we may just stick her in a pair of jean shorts and let her wear her USA themed butterfly shirt (the butterfly is in red/white/ blue sequins). We also have to cook a meal that is indicative of her country of origin, so we figured PB&J?? We thought about apple pie, but we have no idea where to get the ingredients. we thought strawberry shortcake...no shortcake....so PB&J it is!! hopefully there are no kids allergic to nuts!! So Brenna is back to school tomorrow and I will need to get my A$$ in gear to get some stuff to do!! I will be volunteering at the school on Tuesdays for "Guided reading", and the Soccer experience will take up some of my time...I think I will be ok!! Anyway, Another great day in Penang!! Goodnight all!!

Happy Easter!

Well, Happy Easter everyone, somehow the Easter Bunny found Brenna here and left her some little Easter gifts...pretty smart Bunny!! Our day began with a walk down to the Penang Soccer Experience for another day of Football madness!! It is so much fun being with the kids, and i am looking forward to being a help to Martin as he continues to build this wonderful business here in Penang. he has also said that I can toss a sign up for my massage services...I cant accept payment, but I can accept "Gifts". honestly just continuing to get the hands on practice is worth quite a bit, not sitting in a Malaysian prison for tax fraud is pretty cool also. Brenna actually joined in and played today, there is a girls team on the pickup game Sundays, and all of the girls go to her school, with one of them in her year. They all convinced her to play and although she got a soccer ball in the face and a hard kick to the shins, she was a trooper and played the entire time. I am so proud of her, she acts out the shy girl at times and like to play at the drama of it, but when she lets go of all of that she often finds that some things are just a lot of fun, like today!! After a few hours on the pitch, we headed home to get some grocery's and have some lunch. Relaxed for a bit as Brenna played with Katie next door and we made plans with Nina (Katie's mom) to get with her the weekend after we get back from Singapore and go to the "wet market". We have heard it is the best place in Penang to get Fruit and Fish, and get pick pocketed, so It will be fun!! We ate at Chili's, AGAIN!! I guess we all just have that western food craving now and again...expensive though!! Relaxing night at home watching movies, as Roxanne readies for her trip to Singapore tomorrow, and Brenna and i go to "Adventure Zone" again for a play date with her class. We will be meeting up with Rox in Singapore on Friday!! Cant wait!! Well goodnight you guys!! Have a Happy Easter everyone!!!

Trishaw Treasure hunt!!

The day began early with rise and shine around 7:30 so we could get to the "Blue Mansion" at 9:00 to begin our Trishaw treasure hunt. It turned out to be a really good time. We began by getting our Treasure Maps (list of questions having to do with different sites around Georgetown. We saw the Cathay hotel and got to tour the Chocolate Factory, Brenna loved the free samples, especially the Tiramisu flavored chocolate.

 

  

We stopped off for a cold drink after boarding our Trishaws for the next part of our hunt. We passed by some of the nicer temples and sites in Georgetown.

We also got to see what folks consider one of Penang's national treasures, one of its original artisans who still continues to practice the old standards. This man makes the incense for the Shrines and Temples, all by hand, he was working in sandalwood today and demonstrated for us the different consistency's in the clay that he uses.

We continued on down the artisan area of town and saw quite a few shops that we would defiantly go back into, at another time. We finished our tour and Trishaw ride, at the Chocolate Factory and got some more free samples. I also lost our small digital camera, I thought I had it in the backpack, but I must have left it in the Trishaw, not a good way to end the trip, but I won the camera in a contest...still sucks to lose it!! Anyway, we went onto a nice lunch at the "soul cafe" a tucked away treasure in Penang, off the beaten path, one of those places where the menu changes every day, and it is a nice quiet spot for a bit to eat. Food Porn alert!!

Rox and I had a great Melon Chicken salad with a curry dressing, that was really good, and Brenna had a really good pizza, and got to pet the owners dog.

 

We got home from our worthwhile adventure and Brenna took a short nap before meeting our friends at the movies to go and see "Rio", in 3D which was pretty cool. We had a nice dinner at a Chinese place on the upper level of the mall, not too bad, and had chicken that Brenna would eat. We are all relaxing with a bit of Football on the TV, and it will be an early night to bed. Rox took a bunch of shots today, it was not easy as we were always moving, or moving with the group. One of her last shots of the day I love, and I am going to replace the header we have on the blog with it, it defines for me what Penang is in a way. Another good day in Penang!! Goodnight all!!

Kapitans!!

So its Friday...Duh right! Anyway, Brenna slept in late, I got to run this morning and there was not much to do today. I did some further cleaning of this huge condo, we have not as of yet done the maid thing, terrified I will hire the wrong person. Brenna and I went to lunch at DOME' a little bistro next to the Gurney Plaza, western food mostly, which is good for her. I had a mango juice, which is good for me. We followed that up with a long swim at the pool, I got in a few laps to try out my new goggles. It was not long after we showered and changed that Rox got home. We were all pretty hungry by that time and the call went out for Kapitans, our favorite Indian place. so we walked down to the restaurant and who should be there but Kirsten her husband, she had the kids with her and  Aerin who is one of Brenna's best school friends, we had gone with them to Adventure Zone last week. Brenna was thrilled, I thought it was cool to finally meet her husband, he is a runner and a mountain biker, so that will be good!! they just got back from Thailand, and shared their vacation stories, as we all ate together. Kapitans is sooooo good!!

 

Really enjoyable time with them, and getting out together. We had to get some money for tomorrows adventure, a Trishaw Treasure hunt, it should be a blast!! That happens at 9:00AM tomorrow, so we need to get off to bed early!! That was it for the night mostly, Brenna wanted some Gelato also, and although it is called gelato, it is no Pachugo!! Until tomorrow you all!! goodnight!!

Felt like HOME today.

Today was really the first day for me that this place felt like home. Let me tell you why....First off, i did not feel like a slacker sleeping in, and figured i could get in my run tonight or tomorrow, and just go a bit longer. i never felt pressure at home to stay on schedule, i could always "make it up". I have felt a bit pressured here, mostly because I don't have any weight training yet (coming soon), I have no scale to monitor my weight (really affecting my OCD),and I cannot maintain a good diet as of yet, as the food is still a work in progress. Today though the pressure was not there, I know i can go out early before Roxanne leaves for work, I know the gym membership is next on the list, and i really have to get over the stepping on the scale thing every 3 hours (which i have been forced to do). Second, I had stuff to do today and really did not feel that anxiety that comes with doing something new...Today it was paying our phone bill, now this is for the house phone, which i have no idea why we even have. Everyone that we do know calls us on our hand phones. Anyway, so the bill was 1096.50 Ringgit, about $300 US, I had to get the money together in cash as we don't have a local bank account and they don't take credit cards. So after breakfast and a little cleanup time, Brenna and headed out via Taxi for the post office. I had been warned that you can wait for hours sometimes so be prepared, so I told the Taxi guy to move on, and we would call when we were done. It took 5 min, we barely sat down before they called our number, I handed the guy the cash, he did his computer thing and handed me a receipt...DONE. there was a Taxi waiting right outside! no problem! The Taxi guy was cool, and he gave me quite an insight into the local culture, he was a middle aged man (he said 58, but he looked not a day over 40) he talked with great reverence about his kids, then asked questions, mostly about material things, where i lived, how much it cost, what i drove, that kind of thing...it seemed very important for him to know these things and I had no problem talking to him about them, his English was very good. He dropped us off back at the mall, Brenna wanted to get a "Sand Art" done (6 ringgit, $2US) She really had a good time doing it and it came out great!! We also stopped by the Cold Storage (we are there everyday now). Mostly because there are very few preservatives used in things here, bread is fresh baked, fruit is fresh picked, meats are often freshly cut and locally killed, so things HAVE to be eaten, which means you go through things like fruits and veggies quickly, and since we have been trying to maintain our fruits and veg, we go back to the grocery often. Next week I am going to the "Wet Market" though, especially for Fish, Fruit and Veg. This is my last reason, I am finally "Getting it" not attempting to put my fingers in my ears close my eyes and say "Its not this way, its not this way!" Its this way...pure and simple! Brenna and I got to swim for about 2 hours, she found some new friends and had her first experience with kids NOT wanting to play with her, that was new for her but she worked at it and eventually they no longer ignored her...much. We took a walk back over to the mall, I am doing more swimming and so is she so we both needed a goggles update...took care of that, came home. Rox got home not long after that, driving for her is getting easier, another reason why this is feeling like home, once the car gets easy, all bets are off, we can go anywhere!! We had a nice home cooked meal of fresh steamed broccoli, Salmon, and rice...Good!! Skyped with Rox's mom for a good period of time, and now Brenna is off to bed, I am not far behind, and Rox has a meeting online at midnight...Yep it is starting to feel just like home!!! Well goodnight you guys!! Another great day in Penang!!

Cleaning day.

After our big adventure on Tuesday we were both a bit tired today, so we got some extra rest and cleaned the condo a bit, it needed it. A cleaning lady is a need however, this is a big place, and having a full day to clean will hopefully not always be on the agenda. Brenna and I finished her Leggo Harry Potter, and had some lunch. We walked over to cold storage and got some provisions we had run out of. I tried to take money out of our Citi Banc account, with no luck, stupid pin  numbers. We have our phone bill to pay be next week, not as easy as in the US. have to go to the post office to do it, and bring cash. Not sure as to why we even have a land line, no one uses it, everyone we do know has our hand phone numbers, so we are considering negating that cost. Cable bill also has to be paid, we have some time on that, but same thing, cash in hand and we have to go to the office. Ate at Kim Gary in gurney, not bad but a disappointment after the Hawker food last night. Some noodle and rice dishes, all fairly small in portion, but good, we actually found another thing on the menu that Brenna will eat, so all in all it was a win. We had a chance to Skype with Aunt Rachelle and Uncle Ben, and little River who is so VERY cute, and getting so big. Good day today. Tomorrow we have to wait in the morning for the electrician, who will be coming in to fix the "wine chiller" and take a look at the range hood, I think the fan control is broken...Anyway, goodnight all!! See you all tomorrow!

Welcome to Orang-Utan Island!!

Brenna and I had a great time today at Bukit Merah, Orang-Utan Island. The Luxury bus (with really bad suspension) left this morning at 8:30AM, we got to go over the Penang Bridge where the marathon will be held in November. We arrived, in a place that looked like the Penang version of "Johns Pass" only toned down quite a bit. Brenna found a huge stuffed Pikatchu, that she promptly could not live without, mean daddy said no. We got on the boat for a short ride onto the island, when we arrived we were greeted by the infant Orang-Utans, who were in the Nursery...Brenna fell in love, and saw the sign to adopt them...I had to explain that did not mean we got to take them home.

We toured around the facility and got to see the different stages for the care of the Orang, they are progressively released back into the rain forest. Each step of the process they get less and less human contact, until they finally end up on another island all on their own, just before they go back to the wild. Below is Carlos, he was cool!!

The main group hung out on this little platform on the water, as you can see there was a mom with her baby, and a little spider monkey showed up to raid the fruit pile, until one of the males chased him off and he swam back to shore.

we were all astounded by how human like they are, it was truly an amazing trip to an amazing place. Our boat ride back was really pretty, and I have so many more pictures to share.

We got home and found out that our major leak is fixed and only cost us $50US, so it was a good day on both accounts. We relaxed for few hours and Brenna grabbed a nap (daddy did too). We went out for Hawker Stall food tonight, and it was so good and VERY inexpensive!!

We both ate very well for $10US!! Another great day in Penang!! Goodnight all!!

Water, Water everywhere!!

Well the day began innocently enough, after a rather hairy night, i have not been exposed to a Malay thunderstorm as of yet, and last night was a dozy, at one point i thought someone was dropping bombs on the island. There was no rumble buildup like our thunder it was just silence and then BOOM!!! Brenna was terrified and mommy slept with her until it passed. I honestly have to agree with her, my heart was racing as well after a couple of the big ones!! After we woke and had breakfast, Brenna spent most of the day with our neighbor and her new friend Katie. They played at our house, had some lunch, made a craft project, a stuffed monster doll that they decorated themselves. Then they went and played at Katie's, then they went to the store with Katie's mom and her younger sister, where Brenna got to make a Pikatchu window sticker for her room. When they got back i took the two girls down to the pool and they played in the pool for an hour and a half, they had a blast, and so did I. Lets go back a few hours, Rox had noticed some water near/under the refrigerator, she figured and passed onto me that the girls must have been playing with the water dispenser on the fridge and had gotten it on the floor. Rox had mopped up the water. Now when we got back from the pool we decided to head down to Cold Storage grocery to get some more fruit, we were out of it and some other essentials. When we got back, the puddle was in front of and under the fridge again, so I said, "we have a leak" I moved the refrigerator to check behind it to see where the leak was coming from, and all hell broke loose. It seems the copper pipe that was connected from the main water line to the ice and water dispenser nozzle on the back of the refrigerator had decided to go bad, but it had not gone all the way bad, it went all the way bad though, when i moved the refrigerator. We had water pouring all of the floor. In a panic we called Peggy our relocation specialist, and Rox emailed the owner of the property. We also had to get the security guards from the front desk to show us where to turn off the main water supply before the whole house was flooded. So Rox asked them to call for the plumber, and somehow between emails, phone calls, and the security guys, we got the main water supply turned off, the plumber arrived and got it shut down the rest of the way, and will be back tomorrow afternoon to finish the fix job...whew what a few hours that was. I swear sometimes I miss lowes/home depot. Anyway, we got dinner cooked, a recipe from home "Root Beer Ribs" which turned out pretty good. So Rox is going to go into work super early tomorrow which cuts out my running for the day, I may be able to go tomorrow afternoon though when Brenna and i get back from Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island Foundation. This is an island preserve that takes in a cares for... rather than have me stumble through an explanation here is an excerpt from their website "within the nurturing borders of this island  the Orang Utan Island Research and Development Programme was born in an effort to study, breed, monitor, train and rehabilitate the increasingly endangered orang utan." the website Brenna and I will be leaving via motor coach at 8:30 tomorrow morning, off on what should be a rewarding and educational adventure. We both promise to take lots of pictures!! So despite our momentary bout of chaos we are doing ok, and we had a good day!! Well goodnight you guys!!

Knocking down some pins.

It was a very calm morning, nice to have Rox back from her trip to KL, which she has blogged about as well. Went out for my run, Rox and Brenna ate breakfast, So nice to have some Kombucha with breakfast. We were going to spend the afternoon at a bowling alley, to watch Roxanne's team compete in a Jabil bowling tournament. It was also the first chance we had to drive any distance since we got the car. Roxanne did really well driving down, no problems and managed the traffic like a champ. The bowling was fun, and we learned that these Penang folks are SERIOUS about their bowling!! Roxanne's team did well, and was given the responsibility of "opening" her session, by bowling the first frame. she almost bowled a strike!! The team did very well and we had a good time cheering everyone on, and the people that Roxanne works with seem very nice!!The ride home was much more stressful. there was more traffic and we could not spend as much time on the highways. Roxanne did really well the whole time, but had a small problem getting out of the parking lot of the bowling alley. She got a little close to a car parked along the side and hit side mirror to side mirror, no real damage as we were not going very fast. All she could say to the lady was "sorry" and all the lady could say to her was "you want pay me??" until the ladies son chimed in, saying not to worry, it was too small a scratch to be overly concerned about. It did make us both quite tense the rest of the way home, we both still have a great deal to get used to with the whole driving thing. We had a nice relaxing night at home...home cooked dinner and watermelon and pineapple for dessert! Until tomorrow, goodnight all!!

Kuala Lumpur a/k/a "KL"

Extra post today so Rox can tell you about her first visit to KL...  Kuala Lumpur or "KL" as the locals call it is the capital city of Malaysia and is the home of the two beautiful Petronas Towers, which were once the tallest buildings in the world.  It's a big city and, not being a "city person", is a bit scary for me.  I met three of the Jabil HR recruiting team members at the airport on Thursday night for a 9:45 PM flight.  The flight was uneventful and quick...only 50 minutes!!  We landed and proceeded to buy tickets for the express train into the city center, where we then took a taxi to the hotel, finally arriving at about 12:30 AM.  The career fair was being held just next door in the Mid-Valley Megamall Exposition Center.  I was told that the crowds would be large and it would be hard to move around much once the doors were open.  So, we made our way over to the Jabil booth at about 9 AM the next morning.  It was really cool to see all the big companies there - Dell, Intel, HSBC, Nestle and many more.  Jabil had a large double booth and we had to set up all our "stuff".  I've never been part of anything like this and was very nervous about how professional we would (or would not) look.  In the end, our booth looked great and plenty of people stopped to ask about us.  "What does your company do?" was the most popular question.  Jabil has no manufacturing in KL, so folks there were not as familiar with it.  Those that did know what we did tended to be engineers looking for engineering jobs...too bad we were promoting IT and Finance:-)  I never imagined I would represent Jabil to an entire community of people, let alone in another country, so it was pretty cool.  We found a few good candidates for Finance and I even got to interview a couple of people on the spot using one of the little temporary interview rooms - these were tiny rooms with plastic walls, a door and a window.  As I was interviewing, people were walking by looking in at us...very distracting!  After about 8 hours, the HR team shooed me out as I looked really tired to them.  We never did connect for dinner, so after wandering through the mall for 2 hours on my own, I headed back to the hotel.  I was very excited to find several nice shops with interesting housewares, Asian-style rugs and even clothes that would fit me!  Malaysians really do love to shop.  Saturday dawned early, but I was first to arrive at the booth and proceeded to set up.  10 minutes prior to doors opening, the rest of our team showed up....I was stressing!  However, it was an early day for me as they advised me to leave by 1 PM to make my 4 PM flight back to Penang.  So, one interview later, I was on my way for a quick stop at Toys R Us (better selection there) and even had a minute to nab two blouses from Marks & Spencer for me!  Then on to the hotel to pick up my bag and settle in for the one hour taxi ride to the airport.  Happy to be back in Penang with my family and hopefully, a good night's sleep!  We will definitely visit KL again - people were very friendly and the transit system was very straightforward.  Driving is still crazy, so planes, trains and taxis will probably be the way we go...until next time...

Easy Day!!

Brenna and I slept in today, she had a tough time getting to bed last night, after skyping her classmates back in Florida, she was very excited. She also has been "scared" of her room, not sure why, but it may be that there are different sounds, and it is still a very new space for her. We had Breakfast and lunch at home, and then walked down to the open market in the outdoor atrium of Gurney Plaza. There is a young lady there who sews these little animals, Brenna loves them, we bought her a set of hamster/rabbits for her birthday, and she promised to make Brenna a special gift for her birthday and have them today. It was beautiful, a little sewn hamster key chain, a few sewn hair bows in different flowers, all in a beautifully decorated box...I am astounded by the kindness of the people here...it is really wonderful to see people treat complete strangers with that much kindness. She gave us her email, and Brenna will write her a thank you. We hung out the rest of the afternoon, with a little nap around 3, and then Roxanne got home from KL around 6pm, we had some dinner...best one yet in my humble opinion, we are getting used to the oven and appliances. I bottled my Kombucha today, its GOOD!! I also began my new batch with the same mother and child culture...hopefully the Kombucha gods will be kind!! Not much involved today gang, tomorrow is bowling and our first day driving for real!Goodnight you guys!!

While Roxanne is away Brenna will PLAY!!

So, Roxanne is in KL until Saturday night, and today we woke up to a text from one of Brenna's school friends (Aerin) mom, Kirsten. It seems that they were planning to go to "Adventure Zone" in Batu Ferengi. It is a great big indoor playground with slides and ball pits and a big maze like thing with a rope bridge and stuff, Brenna was totally psyched. We spent an easy morning, cleaning up, bring recycling down, (lowest floor of the basement) VERY cool that they at least make an effort to recycle. Cooked Brenna some pancakes for breakfast, they have "Hungry Jack" pancake mix here. She liked em!! We also ate lunch at home, which is good for both the pocketbook and the waistline. Kirsten came by and picked us up at around 2:45, and we made our way to the Awesomeness that is "Adventure Zone." the kids had a blast, played on the slides and everything for 2 hours, they had a huge slide there that Brenna was too scared to go on, she did go on the medium slide though and really seemed to enjoy herself. she is making lots of new friends and has no fear of opening up to them, which is very cool , and makes me proud....shes just a great kid!!

We got home, both hungry and tired and since Friday is our normal go out night, we went to Nandos chicken, good, but a chain restaurant...We also walked up to Parkson the department store, I needed a storage bottle for my Kombucha, because it is DONE!! at least I hope it is, I got a real nice culture to form on top and it smells like my kombucha at home, it is a bit sweeter than the store bought stuff. I want drink any till Rox is home, that way if I die, she can care for Brenna, and get me a nice casket. Brenna should also have a chance tonight to Skype with her class at school, that should be very cool if all goes well!! Another good day in Penang, Next big step is to hire a maid/cleaning lady/cook. This will be huge as there is no real way to determine if they are any good, unless they come recommended. So we will make some call backs and see what happens, usually you just hire them on temporary to see if it is a good fit. 6 months is a good time to see if everything is working. So that is next for the Neilson clan, and then our first trip from Penang is up at the end of the month (we think) a long weekend in Singapore!! Should be fun!! Until tomorrow...Goodnight!!

"What do we have for her Rod Roddy...A NEW CAR!" well new for us anyway.

Yep the car arrived today as promised, really nice Hundyai Sonata, automatic with leather interior, looks about new. The damn steering wheel is on the wrong side though, the ladies from Hertz said there was nothing that they could do about that. We will now begin to drive in this craziness...should be fun!! After the car was delivered, Rox had some work stuff to do here locally (there was a Jabil meeting at the G-Hotel, next door) so she went and did her thing, while we did ours. Our thing involved a walk down to the local "Fitness Studio" (Gym). there are two gyms within walking distance and the one here at the condo is not worth the time. The closest one is called "Celebrity Fitness" and it seems more like a night club than a gym. super loud house music, neon lights...not for me. The "Fitness Studio" is a bit farther than next door, but still within a mile of here. Much simpler, much more what I was looking for. the yearly rates are very reasonable also about $300 us for full access. I will be joining within the next week. On the way back we stopped by the Soccer Experience, so of the kids and Martin's wife was there, Brenna got to see her friend Oliver, and I spoke with Melissa (I think, god I am so bad with names!), she gave me some additional advice about being an expat, and advised that she would tell Martin I came by. Brenna and I stopped at The Bean, got a tea and a fruit smoothie, cooled off from our walk, and headed into the mall. I had not been in the Quicksilver store here as of yet, so I went to check it out, pretty nice. Brenna wanted to see "Hop" which was playing at around 2:00pm, we had some time, so we stopped home, dropped off our packages (cant go into quicksilver and not buy stuff, it sacrilegious!). Onto the movies...another strange experience...So you buy a ticket, which by the way for both of us was like $4.00US. You are assigned a seat, you get to pick. You are not let into the theater until the time on the ticket 1:50pm. It is also different as far as the previews, most of the time in kids movies, you get kids movie previews...not here, we saw previews for Scream 4, Priest. Scream 4 has Brenna not wanting to go to her room by herself tonight, poor kid! Anyway, "Hop" was totally for kids, not an adult/kid movie, but for $2.00 a piece who cares. Brenna was happy she got to see it. We got home after the movie, Rox was home. We went and did some grocery shopping, and planned an at home menu as the eating out is getting a bit much for the wallet and the waistline. Cooked a type of Grouper tonight, with a crunchy potato chip topping, some awful corn, that I think I burned in the microwave. It was not too bad. We have to start to think about getting a maid, we are getting little notes from women dropped at our doorstep, we have some recommendations from friend, but we will have to make a decision soon, that may help with the meal planning, because most of them can and do cook! Rox is off to KL until Saturday night, so it is just Boo and I tonight. Brenna's friend Katie is back from China, and she will be excited to see her tomorrow! Until then, goodnight all!!

Brenna turns 8!!

Today is Brenna's birthday, and she is a big grown up 8 years old. We planned on going to the mall and getting her some of her very favorite pokemon figures, from the little kiosk that sells anime and cartoon figures, which we did, then we had designs on lunch, she of course wanted McDonald's, which i flat out refused, we compromised on pizza at "Spagettiman". It was actually pretty good for a chain restaurant. We also tried to get in to see a movie, Brenna had her mind set on "Hop" I felt that "Rio" would be better...both did not start until 15:00hrs or so...we still had to go to the cable office so we decided on the movies for another day. We came back to the house, got some stuff together for our long wait at the cable office. We took a cab to the office as Brenna was just complaining about the walk. We arrived talked to our contact Issac, and actually got a second TV added to our account in less than an hour, that was really good as I had heard horror stories. We stopped at Hagen Das, who can pass up a Hagen Das visit. I got an espresso, Brenna got a two scoop chocolate cone. We decided to walk back as i wanted to check out this sports store that advertised carrying "Brooks" shoes...we also walked by the Sleeping Buddha Water Festival and Thai Street party. It was awesome!!

Well, we checked out the "Brooks" shoes, and I did not recognize any of them, everyone in the store ignored us, so...we moved on to home, and awaited Roxanne, while Brenna napped. When Roxanne got home, we decided to go down to "Straits Quay" a new restaurant and shopping complex, we had read that they had a "Charlie Brown" restaurant, a theme restaurant around the Peanuts characters. We thought this would be great for Brenna's Birthday. It was not, it was very disappointing as half they menu was not available. So we decided to go to one of the Irish Pubs, Finnegan's. We had a nice meal, some Burgers, Irish Stew, and again ran into the differences between Asia and the US. My meal came first, and Brenna and Roxanne were served about 5 or 10 min after I was. The waiter and the Chef were Extremely Apologetic. To the point where Brenna got a special birthday platter of fries. and we got a picture with our waiter who was great.

His name was Daniel, and he was cool!! We caught a cab home and had some cake, from "Secret Recipe" which was not too bad, not publix, but not bad!! She got her hand sewn hamsters, and she seemed really happy. Rox is now on a work call as I blog today. All in all another great day in Penang. We will get our car tomorrow, which means cab rides are over and the scariest part of this experience for us is about to begin...ignore the rear view mirror is what we have been told. We may go to "Adventure Zone" on Friday with another of Brenna's School mates. Goodnight you guys!!

A playdate for Brenna.

Morning began in its usual way, run for me, breakfast with Rox and Brenna, then Rox off to to work. Brenna had a play date this afternoon, with Oliver from her class. He and his family live in Gurney Beach, one of the condos we looked at when Rox and I came for our visit. He and his family are from England and has been here for three years. We had most of the morning together, so I did some cleaning, and then we walked over to gurney plaza to change money (US $ - Malaysian Ringgit =3/1) and look for some black sneakers for Brenna, she has grown out of her old ones. She found some Vans that she liked, so we got them. They are just a little big for her, as fast as she is growing though, she will fit into them in no time. There are no half sizes here, so...We made our way down to the "Coffee Bean" for lunch with Oliver and his mom. On our way down we spotted this guy along the water front.

We had a nice lunch at "the Bean". Then Brenna got a chance to see Oliver's home, and then they went for a swim. Brenna had a blast, but did have a small accident. She tried to get down from Oliver's bunk bed and missed a step. she fell on her wrist, and for a minute I thought it might be broken. It was fine, but she hammed it up for all it is worth. We walked back home, enjoying the entertainment along the way. Rox was home from work, and we decided to have a quiet dinner at home. We spent the rest of the night watching movies that we borrowed from Oliver. Rox has two work related calls to make tonight so I need to clear the office. Another good day here in Penang, tomorrow might end that streak as I need to go over to the Astro Cable office to try and get out cable ironed out, I have been told to bring a book as it can take an hour or more. Good night!!

Cars, Cable and Crepes.

The morning was spent looking at and driving cars. Yes both Roxanne and i test drove an automobile, sitting on the wrong side of the car, driving on the wrong side of the road, and in traffic like neither of us has ever seen. It was really weird. I found myself looking the wrong way for traffic, Roxanne did that also, and we both turned on the windshield wipers instead of the directional signal (more than once). Roxanne almost ran into the back of a trishaw driver, I scared the car lady by driving too much to the left...had to correct that a few times. We finally decided on a Hyundai Sonata. They will deliver it on Thursday morning and the scariest part of our adventure will begin, driving!! The first purchase following that was a GPS, the last thing we need to do is get lost! Well we finally got our cable installed today, only to find that Japan is still getting rocked by earthquakes, those poor people, I don't know how much more they can handle. We discovered that half of the cable package we ordered we don't have, so we will continue to fight with Astro to get a second line, and HD service. It has been nice without TV  though, it is just nice to be able to see what is happening in the world. English premier league football is not too bad either!! dealing with Cable guys, new TV's and all that took up most of the afternoon. Brenna and I went and picked out her birthday cake also, she is very excited to be having her Birthday, but disappointed that all of her friends wont be here. Brenna wanted to swim so badly, but after the car this morning and the cable this afternoon, it was getting late and dinner was next on the list. We were going to walk down to Kapitans, our favorite Indian food place, but when we saw that Crepe Cottage was open, we decided to go there. It is usually packed, and we caught it just as it was opening. the food there is all prepared to order and you can watch the ladies cook it right outside. It was so good!! Brenna loved this place and actually ate everything she was given. inexpensive too, $30 US for the three of us to have dinner and dessert. We walked home along the water, and got off to bed early.

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!!

Today began with an 8 mile run, while Brenna and Rox woke up and had some Breakfast. Upon my (Chris) return, we readied for our morning at the football pitch (soccer). There is a Scottish man who with his wife has begun a soccer program here in Penang. It is basically a covered, netted in, piece of AstroTurf, that he runs Sunday pickup games for the local kids. He also has adult and kids league play during the week. I had hoped to make contact with him so that I could find something to do while I was here, the fact that it would be sports related was a bonus (its also within walking distance of Il Palazzo). We met Martin, and I could not be happier or more pleased to make this mans acquaintance. He was genuine and welcoming, and let me jump right in to supervise a team, its not really coaching, because its pickup. You are cheerleader and psychologist all at the same time. It was a blast, even though the kids on "Team USA" did not win a match, hell, we did not even score a goal. Martin spoke about the fact that he has just begun this Malaysian project and he is hoping it takes off, with the turnout he had today...it seems like a guarantee. So anyway, he could use all the help he can get, and said that there are always soccer guys coming into town looking for sports massage work, and he would be more than happy to pass my name along. He and his wife also have 3 daughters, and he invited Brenna and I over this week, so he could sit to discuss some of the areas the he could use a hand. I am in with both feet and I could not be happier!! Please check out his web site: http://www.soccerexperience.com/penang_home.html. After our two hours or so on the pitch, we were famished, and found ourselves again at Chili's....ok, so here is the problem I have with that, I have been to Chili's may be 10 times in my whole adult life. Since we moved to Penang, I have been there three times!!!! We are getting better at making and buying our own food, but sometimes, especially now when we are still adjusting the convenience of the restaurants at Gurney Plaza is just way TOO convenient. So there is always a little local craft fair in the gurney plaza courtyard outside on the weekend. there are sewn crafts and clothing, local artists and stuff. Brenna is in LOVE with these two little knitted bunnies that this one lady has, every time she has walked passed them we get the puppy dog eyes. With her Birthday coming up though we wanted something to get her that was not a pre birthday gift, these seemed like the perfect choice. So I used the excuse of a forgotten cell phone to wait at the stand while rox and Brenna went along to Chili's, and i bought them...there is more to the story though, the young artist who makes them was so enamored with Brenna that she did not want me to buy them, she said that they will be back next weekend, and when they come back, she is going to have two bunnies for Brenna that she has made special, and at no charge!! How awesome is that!! So I bought the two she had anyway and she agreed that she would still bring the ones for Brenna next week, but they would be special "Just for her, never make one like again." I do love the people here, it is a very special place. Post lunchtime brought another trip to cold storage market, and without a list both rox and I were lost, and we forgot some major provisions, like lunch meat and extra water. So Brenna and I will be dropping by old "CS" this coming week. Home we went to have a dip in the pool and then dinner of BBQ chicken (little burned, not used to the oven yet) baked potatoes and salad, NICE!! Winding down the day now, looking forward to a big day tomorrow when we will get to pick out our car...We are both praying that they do not want us driving off the lot right then and there...Driving = Terror. Well good night you guys!! Have a great Sunday!!

A simple saturday...

Today was a sleep in late do kinda nothing day for us. Rox and i started the morning by finishing up some unpacking and getting stuff put away in Brenna's room, and getting the third bedroom clean. Just in case anyone decided to visit us (hint hint). We had a nice lunch at home, and then headed down to the Queensbay mall, a bit further away, but has a much bigger department store that we had been too before. We were on a mission to secure the ever elusive "Trash Can". Yes, "Trashicus Canistium" is an elusive beast, often being found in smaller neon versions (Trashicus Canistium minimus neonicus), which are only good for a small bit of rubbish. We needed the much larger version, and in more subdued color patterns, the "Trashicus Canistium maximus". OK that's enough of that, so we needed a trash bin for the bathrooms and the office. We were able to secure...not going there again, we got some damn trash cans. We also spent some time at Borders books, and bought some books, real ones, with paper and everything. It seems that the E-Book graze has not caught on here as of yet, and people still read like we did in the old days. There were lots of books for Brenna, so she was happy. We returned home with our treasures and had a nice quiet dinner at home. Brenna an Katie got together once more before Katie and her family left for Hong Kong in the morning. Katie had drawn Brenna a picture, very sweet!! A nice slow, simple Saturday here in Penang. Still no cable....Tomorrow it is off to the Soccer place to see about coaching on the weekends and letting the owners put me to work during the week, it may be an in for some massage work also...I can hope!! Goodnight all!!

Of Kombucha and playdates.

Today was a very early day for Brenna, she was out by 11:00 which did not leave much time between my morning run and picking her up. Thanks to the traffic it did not matter I was late anyway. (She only panicked a little). I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our cab driver Mr. Zaini, he does things in an automobile that I could not even think to do and seems unafraid of the whole business. So now Brenna is on break fro the next two weeks, and we will have to plan accordingly. We have already planned a prospective play date with one class mate and we have fully met the neighbors on our floor. Brenna decided that she was going to go over there today and ask if Katie wanted to come over, we found out that Katie was at the movies with her grandmother. as this was being explained to Brenna, Katie came home, and was more than happy to entertain Brenna for the next two hours. They seem to get along very well at this time, and have some of the same interests. Nina and her husband seem like very nice people, and they will be traveling to Hong Kong for part of the break. Brenna has made quite a few friends in fact, one of the boys in school, Oliver, acctually got her a little birthday present, so very sweet! I was able to get my Kombucha culture brewing today...not sure what will happen, but I have prayed long and hard to the kombucha gods, so PLEASE let it work!!. Brenna got some McDonald's today, which kills me, to come half way around the world just to get a double cheeseburger a fries and a drink, and the place was PACKED, I mean standing room only. The Asians really seem to love their McDonald's, and full on fat burger McDonald's, not the nambi pambi salad and oatmeal McDonald's...I mean they have the McRib on the menu, in two varieties, and they have a triple burger, triple chicken and triple fish sandwich!! Rox got home and we eventually pried Brenna from the neighbors home, with promises of a short play date tomorrow. We decided to walk down Gurney, and go to the "Crepe Cottage" a small mom and pop kind of place that serves all kinds of Crepe dishes, the woman who owns it is also the chef (I think) and cooks everything right outside the house, there is very limited seating and it takes some time to get your food since everything is made to order. We were there just a bit too early, so we moved on to a new place on gurney that specializes in craft beer and pub food with a Penang twist. It was good, but smoking is still allowed in many of the restaurants here and we got overwhelmed as it got more crowded. On our walk down Gurney to get food, we kept a sharp eye to the shore line to see if there were any interesting creatures about (the rocky shoreline is infested with small brown rats, Brenna thinks they are cute) we discovered a moderately sized and extremely poisonous sea snake on a wooden dock, and a very large Monitor Lizard lumbering up the shoreline, he was very cool!! We returned from our gastronomic delights, to partake in Penangs version of Gelato...it was good, but I am sorry to say it has nothing on Paciugo in downtown St. Pete, which in my humble opinion comes as close to real Italian Gelato as I have tasted. We have now returned to our humble abode. Still without Cable, you all think Brighthouse is bad...it has nothing on Astro, three weeks to get us an extra box and flick a switch, they don't even have to come in and install it, it is already installed!! We will go and pick a car on Monday, that should make for some interesting stories. Happy Weekend everyone. Oh and here is some cultural knowledge...shoes are not worn into the home in Asian society, they are left in the door way ...cool huh.

Special Delivery

So today is the day that our "Air" shipment is to arrive, so after a cab ride to St. Christopher's to drop Brenna off, and then back home. I waited for our relocation specialist to arrive, in the meantime I did a bit more cleaning, the Kitchen is especially dirty, and there is no AC in there so it is better to work in there early or late. The relocation specialist arrived early, went through some paperwork, and then brought in our boxes and crates. Not allot of stuff, the rest of our clothing, some Kitchen items, a few pictures, and some items that got packed that I have NO IDEA why they ended up in the shipment.The items were as follows:
Two of our old Florida license plates
One rock
junk mail
an old hockey autograph
One dirty plastic cup (looks like it had soda in it).
NICE!!
I began to unpack our boxes, hang up clothes, get the kitchen stuff put away or loaded into the dishwasher. generally just got the stuff out of the boxes and organized. Our Wii came in this shipment, and that made both Brenna and Daddy excited. Once I finished with the organizing, I decided to try and hook up the Wii. This is where the day got interesting. I thought that the Wii cable was a transformer, big brick, just like our computer cables...Its not...and it blew up....BIG Time!! My ears were ringing for an hour. I also popped the breaker in that room of the house (good thing I knew where the circuit box was). I am hoping I just blew up the cable and not the Wii itself...not sure of that yet. I am also very thankful that I was not near the thing when it blew up. lesson learned!! The rest of the day was uneventful, thank god. Picked Brenna up from school, met another American parent (Oregon/Intel) who has a girl in Brenna's class, they are friends, and she invited Brenna over during the break, which ROCKS!! We really need to get her hanging out with kids regular, and we need some adult friends also, so it works both ways. Another of the parents has given my hand phone (cellular) number to a guy and his wife that run a weekend soccer camp, they need coaches and I need something to do, so that is cool. Ate out again tonight, really need to do less of that, but we are still adjusting. OK so here is something that catches you off guard. Brenna needs to bring in a dish to share for school tomorrow. Rox and i are clueless, what do we do?? I mean we hardly know what to get for ourselves much less a class full of kids, we thought about a fruit tray, then bakery stuff, and eventually on small individual puddings....still not sure...Our night out ended with a trip to cold storage for those puddings and another trip to the Parkmore for glass jars so I can start my Kombucha brewing tomorrow!! Psyched!! Looks like Monday I will go and see the two cars that we are interested in buying, choice 1 is a Ford Escape, choice 2 is the Hyundai Sonata...I can honestly tell you I have never been more scared to do anything in my whole life, than I am to drive here. Wrong side of the road, wrong side of the car, and it is just crazy....oh well, gotta do it!! good night everyone!!