Ever since we got here, I've wanted to stroll around the super trees at night. Well, tonight I got my chance - not just to look at them, but to go INSIDE one! Glenn scored us an invite the opening of Indochine, a restaurant at the very top of the tallest tree!
Well, opening is a little generous. The restaurant just opened, but we were pretty much the only ones there. Glen is friends with the man who owns all the indochines in Asia. We went to one near the Asian Civilizations Museum when we first got here. Yum! Anyway, Glenn and his wife Kat invited three of their friends and us to hang out at the restaurant. We sat outside on the "deck" looking out at the fabulous view of the Singapore Flyer (ferris wheel), Marina Bay Sands and other super trees.
Walking around the Garden by the Bay at night really was magical. The trees look all the more spectacular at night, each lit with a different color. I'm so glad we went. We got to say goodbye to Glenn and Kat and see the trees. Although it was on my bucket list here, I'm not sure we would have made the effort before leaving.
We ate a little food there, but we were still starving when we got home well after midnight so we hit the local hawker stand. No idea what we ordered, but the noodles were pretty good! Two meals for SG$6! Hard to beat!
Speaking of food, I went into Isetan today, a Japanese department store with a grocery store in the basement. It reminded me of the old Macy's in New York - except that it was nothing like it at all.
Vendor after vendor was lined up offering free tastes, Tom's idea of heaven. He LOVES Costco because the store gives away samples. The only thing is, the food was downright weird. You know the stuff - slimy seaweed concoctions and seafood you've never seen before. Japanese food is my least favorite Asian food. Why couldn't they be handing out Thai food or Vietnamese food? Oh well - it was still cool. I love unexpected finds.
And this wasn't the only find of the day. After trying to book a taxi by phone for 75 minutes (taxis disappear in the rain!), we finally got one to take the kids to school - an hour late! Afterwards, I made my way over to a school called Little Hands, a place that has come highly recommended by therapists and doctors here.
I have to admit, at first glance, I was more than a little skeptical. The school is on the first floor or the headmistress' house. It's a very nice house in a very nice neighborhood, but it's still a house. The good news is that the 18-year-old school is moving by the end of the year into an old Colonial with one acre. I didn't take any pictures because it didn't seem to make sense to do so.
What makes the school so special is that the whole kit and kaboodle is sensory-based teaching. The entire curriculum is based on developing skills by using sensory tools. For example, today's two-year-olds worked on counting to three by scooping beans and pouring them into three cans. In the process, they focused on motor skills, counting, processes and sounds.
The headmistress used all the buzz words that nobody here seems to know: sensory diet, self-regulation, visual cues, transitional issues and the like. She works in tandem with the families to make sure everybody knows what to do. My favorite thing she said? She is very concerned about each child's dignity.
At most schools, when a sensory kid has a meltdown, all the other kids stare and eventually begin to treat the kid like a freak. At this school, it's par for the course. Nobody is taken out of class to receive therapy. Everything they do is therapy.
I told her I was worried that the international schools would look at a kid coming from there and say, "Uh no." She says it's just the opposite. After 18 years, she's built up a very good relationship with places like the American School so when she says, "This kid is ready for you," the school listens.
The school also has a lot of gifted students because of the way they teach so it'd probably be right for Hudson, too. In truth, I see Maisie as very gifted - just in ways most don't appreciate. Her memory is like nothing you can imagine. She hears sounds others can't register. She is musical and is already memorizing books I read to her. She makes up scenes with her ponies and even gives them different accents. My favorite is Applejack with a Texas drawl!
So there is another option. Now I just have to decide which is best - a school like Little Hands or a school like Odyssey. Both are great options for our kids. I'm guessing the sensory-based school is more than Maisie needs - though it's not a special needs school by any means. Thank God we have really good options now! The school situation was really getting me down.
Also today, Connie and Joe had us all over to celebrate Michael's Bob-the-Builder-themed, third birthday. Clever Connie found this cool kit and we built a robot with all this cardboard stuff we each brought. Brilliant! We all had a ball. That's her second party in one week. Wow.
We said goodbye today to some of our other best friends here tonight. We probably won't be seeing Glenn & Kat, Joy & Zee, Connie & Joe nor Heather & Mitch again before we leave.
Heather, Mitch and Mason are heading back to Utah to be with Heather's older kids on Friday. She's been our ambassador and I will really miss how she makes me laugh. It's very likely they'll be repatriating in March. Connie has also included me in so many of her plans. She and Joe are definitely returning to Houston in March. I'm going to miss hanging out with these gals.
Hopefully, we'll be back (IF we come back) before they all leave. Even then, we won't get to spend much time together before everybody heads back to the States. That's the nature of friendship here, I guess. It's easy to make friends, but many of those friendships are short-lived. Bummer.
Hudson left a "crappy" last impression, bowing out of the party with a bout of diarrhea. My stomach is still not right. What I thought was food poisoning may actually be a bug. Lucky us.