transposable element

a few days before we were set to fly to thailand for a week’s holiday, i was so close to canceling the trip. not only is thailand included in the list of countries with community spread of swine flu, it was also jan’s last week of school holidays, so if he does fall sick, he would have to miss the first few days of classes, which i consider very important in setting students off to a good start. i was chastising myself for not having considered these before i made the bookings, but then, at the time, there wasn’t a single case of swine flu in southeast asia. how was i supposed to know it will spread like fire, and from zero, the number of cases here in singapore has ballooned to about 700 in a span of just a month!

and although we were armed with hand sanitizers and N95 face masks, i felt so heavy about the decision to push thru with the trip, knowingly putting my children at risk, for a reason as frivolous as having a vacation. it was an unnecessary travel we could have easily skipped.

it’s been a week since we’re back, and i think i can now safely say that we have made it unscathed. both hubby and jan have been ordered to stay away from the office and school though, as a form of quarantine. jan has been receiving lessons and worksheets from school which we work on at home. it helps to at least keep him busy, instead of just whiling away the week.

we are scheduled to fly to the philippines in september. but if the swine flu alert does not ease up until then, we might just have to skip it altogether. good thing we got those flight tickets dirt cheap, so it’s not a lot of money thrown away!

two years ago today, we arrived in singapore. and, what a colorful and eventful couple of years it has been. somehow, i have found it to be fairly easier to integrate here than in germany — no language barrier, easier to make friends, easier to navigate even for a novice expat, and being an asian myself, the culture shock hasn’t been too much. although we still sometimes feel like tourists, and there are still a lot of places in this little island that we haven’t explored, i think we’ve come to the point of calling singapore home, however temporary we might feel it to be. in fact, living among the locals and jan going to a local school make us feel like we’ve successfully integrated ourselves into the local society.

naturally, the past two years did not pass without any challenges or misgivings, but nothing that probably wouldn’t have happened were we living elsewhere.

two years. not that long, actually, but so far it’s proving to be an educational and entertaining experience.

the last couple of months have been hard on our bank account, what with birthday parties, holidays, tax payments, and other unplanned purchases coming one after another. it didn’t help that the great singapore sale was on, and that even the smallest shops are equipped with POS systems, making oh so easy to part with your money. arrggh.

buti na lang i have a high EQ, hehe, and have a heightened understanding of delayed gratification. i’m the one managing our accounts and bills, so even if i’ve saved up for it, i can’t bring myself to get me a camera or new laptop until our balance is healthier. ahhh…. priorities, priorities.

sure, there are times it makes feel a little bit bitter, not being able to afford everything i want, when i want it. perhaps, my EQ is not that high after all, hehe. but honestly, who wouldn’t? but then i think of others who have more money than they could ever need, and the lives they lead… and realize that i wouldn’t exchange places even for a moment.

i have everything i need, after all.

jan’s school holidays come to a close (er… somewhat, but more on that later). i can’t believe this blog has been neglected for two weeks! time flies by fast when you’re having a great time. although it has been busy, it’s been fun having jan at home. sure, he got on my nerves at times, but fortunately my younger brother has decided to extend his stay and spend the rest of the month with us. he and jan kept each other company in jaunts to the cinema, parks, and hikes. otherwise, if i had to look after both jan and mia, by the end of the month, i probably would have looked like i was taking Liporexall!

he came to singapore to look for a job. well, he found one… yayo, hehe.

with jan on school holidays and my younger brother with us for the last couple of weeks, it’s no wonder that posts on this blog has been few and far between recently. i barely have time to sit down, and when i do, mia knots her eyebrows at me, and chooses to take that opportunity to raise her arms (and voice) to be carried, aaargh!

jan’s first two weeks at home have been relatively relaxed, and i intentionally planned it to be that way. what vacation would it be if it would still be packed with activities, eh? the school holidays is a break from work, and given the rigorous schoolwork they have here, it’s really the only opportunity to veg out for days on end and enjoy doing nothing for a change. well it wasn’t really nothing; with his grandmother and uncle around, he had enough to spice up his days.

the next two weeks, though, are quite packed. this week, jan goes in the afternoons to a theatre workshop that will culminate into a stage presentation on saturday. we’ll see if the boy’s theatrics has better use than just wheedling himself out of trouble, hehe…

i also just remembered that my brother is a seasoned tennis player and i’ve asked him to teach jan tennis in the mornings. alarms are set a bit earlier this week, as they need to hit the courts and be able to play a bit before the sun gets too fierce. i wish it had occurred to me to ask my brother to give jan lessons as soon as he arrived, because unfortunately, there are just a few days left to practice. because…

next week, we’re off to phuket for a beach break. though i’ve been to bangkok and northern thailand many years ago for work-related travel, it will be my first time visiting the much talked about holiday island. let’s see if it holds up to its reputation. and more importantly, hopefully it remains H1N1-free, ack!

when we return, there’ll just be enough days left to get jan back on school mode. i hope that by then, he’ll not only be re-energised for the second school term but also have fond memories of his first real school holidays.

i think baby gap has the most gorgeous pieces especially for toddler girls, but frankly, i’m too much of a cheapskate to shop at gap. old navy, yes, but gap is just a tad bit over my price range. fortunately, mia has a constant supplier of gap baby clothes: my sister, hehe.

this is one of my latest favorites. the outfit c/o my sister, the photo c/o my brother.

ain’t mia the sweetest?

but then, pictures don’t tell the whole story, bwahaha.

we’ve made an appointment for jan to see a dentist this week. a permanent tooth is growing behind his front milk tooth, the milk tooth that has been predicted by his german dentist to fall off um, around 5 years ago. see, when jan was just a bit more than a year old, he had an accident in day care, knocking face front onto some corner. that knock not only chipped his front tooth, but also pushed it back into his gums. well the tooth grew back out eventually, was functional, even if a bit discolored. his dentist then warned us that the tooth might fall off within a couple of years.

well, good that she was earning her living being a dentist and not as a fortune teller. seems like the tooth has no plans of falling off, even in the presence of the permanent tooth that’s supposed to take its place now. it’s not even wiggling!

it might just be a simple job of pulling that obstinate tooth out, but if there are other damages, jan is covered by a kind of disability insurance paid for by the daycare he used to attend. because the accident happened within their facilities, jan is covered for his entire lifetime for any medical consequences arising from that fall.

i may have said many things i dislike about germs land, but if there’s anything i find topnotch, it’s their healthcare system.

the may madness has spilled into june. my younger brother has stayed on to see if there are possibilities for him here in singapore, and my mother in law arrived and is in town til the end of the week. we’re not exactly always on the go (my brother wanders on his own most of the time and my mother in law doesn’t stay with us), but of course, there’s more happening with us these days. jan is also on semestral break, so yes, even though the tv stands been receiving more attention than usual, it’s been a tiring start into june, trying to come up with ideas that will peel him off his electronic babysitters (tv, leapster, and psp c/o my brother). ironically, it seems that at the end of each day, he’s still ready for action and it’s me whose energy levels are dipping low. haaay…

often we find ourselves facing paths that fork, unable to decide which way to take. we agonize, lose sleep over it, turn the situation every which way possible to come up with a decision. in some situations, though, if you wait long enough, decision making is taken out of your hands. decisions will be made for you by the circumstances.

profound? nah, i’m talking about the dslr vs laptop dilemma i blogged before. my bro-in law bought a new dslr during their visit here, and though i’m green with envy, a pc that works to my pace is getting more urgent, and with each day, more apparent. i’m starting to favor working on my tiny asus than my dell pc because at least the tiny one doesn’t need eons to do what i tell it to! arrrgh.

can’t believe the month of may is over! birthday parties, school exams, immunizations, tae kwon do gradings, planning vacations and visiting relatives made for a very hectic month! looking back, it was a quite a stressful month, but in a positive and productive way. i’ve missed a couple of yoga classes, nevertheless i think i’ve lost a few pounds. yay! a bit of positive stress and being on your toes — those are the best diet pills ever!