We've been thinking that maybe we should put the kids in school while we're here. At first, we thought traveling and adventuring would be enough of an education, but it's very hard to fill their days. More so, they need friends! I think they're a bit lonely though they really enjoy each other. Plus, with them in school, I can do a few more types of adult exploring.
Today, we took a quick tour of a place called WeeCare which is where Mason goes. I've heard about it from several people. They also have a program for kids with special needs like Maisie who has sensory integration disorder. The school was very nice and they even have a rooftop playground. A lot of the preschools are in malls wihtout any outdoor space! Both kids would have instruction in Mandarin, too! Ha! The only thing is they already have 3 special needs kids in the 4s so the principal wanted to talk to the teachers first to see if they'd agree to take Maisie. Fingers crossed. I've also contacted several other schools. It's hard to find a good program that will take us for just a couple of months, but that also has special needs knowledge is next to impossible to find.
This week, they're doing a special unit on firefighters and they had different areas set up: a place for dressing up, triage area, a building where they can pretend to fight fires as well as a craft table for making firefighter hats.
I need to look at all schools though - just in case we come back for good. I think it might be best to put Maisie into a preschool if we come back rather than one of the expensive private schools even though she's old enough to attend. The private schools generally won't take special needs kids. Getting into the American School and some of the others is very, very competitive. Afterall, the schools here are considered the best in the world. She'll probably test out of therapy by the end of next year which means she can then attend any of the private schools.
After we looked at WeeCare, we took a taxi to Holland Village, an area where lots of expats live. I had high hopes for it as the houses are larger and it's not all that far from the center of town, but there's only one street with shops and the subway station is kind of far from the homes. Oh well... we'll keep looking.
Tonight we had quite an adventure without the kids!
We met Penny and Mike at a place called Din Tai Fung. The New York Times called it "one of the best 10 restaurants in the world." I wouldn't go that far - not even close, but it was pretty special. It's a Taiwanese cafeteria for lack of a better description. There are lots of them around the city. In fact, I think there are some in the US even. Surprisingly, the restaurant was not filled with tourists, but rather locals - a sure sign of yumminess!
Din Tai Fung is famous for its pork dumplings. No wonder! They are spectacular! Truly! They are unlike any dumplings I've ever had. On the outside, they are gorgeous, twisted into little works of art. Inside, they have tiny pork balls suspended in a broth. When you bite into them, the liquid squirts into your mouth.
As you wait for your table, you can watch them making the dumplings. It takes 5 guys! One makes the dough, one cuts it, one rolls it, one stuffs it, one twists it. Amazing!
We had other things, too... all equally yummy.
After dinner, the real adventure began! We took a taxi to Night Safari!!! The Singapore Zoo was the first in the world to open a special section featuring nocturnal animals. Being in the zoo at night was really cool! I felt like quite the explorer, walking down the torchlit trails peeking in on animals you normally don't get to see active all while sipping my first Singapore Sling in the country.
I took a couple of pictures before I realized that you're not supposed to use your flash! In fact, the flash can blind the animals! I felt TERRIBLE once I realized that! Oh dear God. I couldn't figure out how to turn off my flash so there aren't a lot of photos.
We saw "The Creatures of the Night" show, took the tram and hiked all the trails. The best part of the show was the reaction of the two audience participants: a little boy with a critter sniffing his hands for a grape and a full grown man wrapped against his will in a giant boa! They also pretended an animal was loose in the audience! Such fun for the kids!
My favorite exhibit was perhaps the bat area. I've got a soft spot for bats since I did a story on them at CBS. These were giant fruit bats hanging maybe - oh I don't know - two feet away from us?!
Yup - the Night Safari is definitely a cool thing to do here - maybe my favoriate thing yet!