About in Amsterdam

I had the good luck this week of attending two days of meetings in Amsterdam, a new destination for me.  I arrived very early on Sunday morning and without a room available at the hotel I dumped my bags and set off for a day of sightseeing.  I covered a lot of ground around central Amsterdam which has canals, curving streets and buildings that are over 400 years old.  It was very beautiful, even though the sun didn't burn off the fog until 4pm.  At that time I was doing a canal tour by boat and afterwards I pounded the pavements again to take more photos in the sunlight.  Also during the day I visited the Van Gogh Museum (great art), ate pancakes and poffertjies, visited the flower market (wrong time of year for tulips) and dodged the crowds on their bicycles.

A couple of "features" of Amsterdam were eye-opening (and eye-closing).  First were the "Coffeeshops" which are different to the Cafes and have a minimum age limit of 18 (because they sell cannabis, as well as coffee).  Walking past them one was treated to a sickly sweet smell and the sight of various stoned-looking individuals.  No mum, I didn't stop inside.  Next was the Red Light District which brought a different slant to the idea of window shopping. Both from the sex shops with all their wares on display in the window (no discrete stairways down to basements or blocked out windows here) and then there were the...um...young ladies...standing behind the glass windows in their bikinis...   And before you ask, mum, it is literally one of the tourist sites to see in Amsterdam, marked on the tourist maps, and I walked around on Sunday afternoon passing tour groups on bicycles or on foot also doing the sights!

 

Goodbye Girls and hello holidays

We had to say farewell to our young guests on Monday. (Matt left for Amsterdam on Saturday so he said his goodbyes earlier). Before Greta and Brittany left we managed to fit in a few more experiences including an Avondale Grammar Family Concert, learnt how to play Ticket to Ride Europe (cool board game), Sentosa Island Luge and Songs of the Sea show, AFL Grand Final on TV at Newton Gems, dinner at Clarke Quay and Wild Wild Wet. We are missing them. Come back anytime Bee and Min.

Now its school holidays and for the first time I am working during the holidays. It takes a fair bit of organising and swapping play dates to make it work. I admire all those mums who have done it for years..and without a maid.

Trouble in Paradise

With Greta and Brittany here and also Matt's birthday we thought it was good excuse to head to Sibu in Malaysia for some tropical island time again (that is a smaller tropical island than the one we already live on which might be more correctly called a tropical city). The island appeared to be its beautiful self but we were shocked to discover on day two that Greta's camera, Brit and Greta's phone and Felicity's mostly empty backpack had gone missing. First ever-reported theft from Sea Gypsy in 18 years. So sad because no locks on the door was part of the beauty. Slightly scary because the theft occurred while Felicity and Alice were asleep in the cabin. They probably stirred and startled the thief. Greta handled theft of her camera with maturity far exceeding her 15 years. She seemed more concerned that the theft means management is considering changing their policy regarding no locks.

Apart from that and a few too many sand fly bites (last time I got one bite from the six days I was here - this time I got six bites per day which adds up to about 24 in total) it was a lovely few relaxing days playing in the water, building sand castles, snorkelling, sailing, mangrove- exploring, playing games and reading.

Bright Brit and Great Greta

Whoever says teenagers were obnoxious and hard to live with hasn't met our latest visitors. Our 16 year old niece, Brittany and her friend Greta arrived on Monday and they are positively delightful. The girls are happy to take their train passes and explore the island by themselves while we've been working. Matt took them to Marina Bay and Arab Street last night and today I met up with them in Chinatown and we did a tea ceremony. Tonight it was the Night Safari and we had amazing displays from the giant flying squirrels who were truly showing off as they flew across the enclosure several times. Felicity fell asleep on the tram ride so missed half of the animals but then she has been a few times. Tomorrow we head back to Sea Gypsy on Sibu Island for a few days of rest and play. The little girls are excited to be having two days off school and are loving the attention from the older girls.

Bikes of Beijing

Last week I was in Beijing for internal meetings.  It was good to catch up with colleagues from around the region and to see a little bit more of the city.  Our team building activity was to shoot a 5 minute travel documentary which was pretty fun and involved taking the subway to Tianamen Square as well as a fair bit of walking. 

While walking around the streets I was taken by both the number and variety of bikes - old, new, powered, unpowered, two wheels and three wheels.  A lot of men were out with their tricycles selling fresh canteloupe on the streets.  The pizza place next to the hotel did its deliveries by bicycle.  Along the main roads they have bike lanes that are as wide as a car lane, with barriers stopping cars from entering.

Some work and some play

So I've survived my first week at work. So far so good, nice people, learning lots and finding many things to amuse myself. Perhaps the highlight was discovering it is my job to watch the cleaners clean the toilet because nobody without the appropriate security clearance can be left unattended on the floor. This was not in the original job description funnily enough, however I think I can handle the responsibility.

Had a lovely Happy Birthday lunch for my friend Joanna on Friday with a bunch of other friends. Saturday was the Avondale School picnic.We went back to West Coast Park for kite-flying and playground adventures.

Today was Father's Day, but not in Singapore (Father's Day is celebrated in June), however we went out to brunch with a few families from the condo to celebrate anyway. Matt kind of misses out on Father's Day because I can't really work out which one I should do so I have remained uncommitted and chosen neither. The one in June this year was the day after my birthday.

Birthdays trump Father's Day. All agreed? The kids did give him things at the one in June and school did a Father's Day Breakfast. Probably enough, right? The one in September is quite close to his birthday so I will run out of ideas if I have to buy two gift in September. Anyway he's already got an iPad - what else can I get him? How am I doing justifying my guilty complex?

This week is school camp week. Felicity goes to the Bird Park for a sleep over on Wednesday and Alice goes to Malaysia for a few days. Matt's in China for the week so it will be more quiet than usual around here for a few days. Well at least for the time Tee is as the bird park.

I have also included pictures of the kids in the adventure course which is currently set up in the middle of our nearest shopping centre. Spend $60 in any shop and you get a ticket on the course. Our kids were applauded by the staff when they dashed up the climbing wall in a matter of seconds. The kids around them seem to struggle a lot - obviously having spent too much time indoors with their homework and not enough on the monkeys bars getting massive blisters. I always knew that one day all that time on the monkeys bars would come in handy..