Well the last three weeks been very much an experience in it self. Starting of with the UN-day at the kids school. It was amazing to see, meet and hear about 52 different nationalities. Seeing all kids dressed up representing their own country was fantastic and my two boys did this really well with the two wonderful girls Ebba and Lilly. Their mother comes from Sweden and they have a Australian father. It was just wonderful and educational to be involved in this day. I got to borrow the Swedish national dressfrom the Swedish Embassy for my self as I was going to stand at the Swedish table and “sell” Sweden. The Swedish church and Embassy helped me a lot with promotional stuff so we could let people find out about Sweden. I owe them a great Thank you for the help, and off course IKEA as we bought the Swedish meatballs, Kalles kaviar, Hardbread (crispbread), Lingon sylt and saft/juice (Lingon & Fläder flavors) from them so the rest of the world could taste a bit of Sweden also.
Some of the national dresses was amazing. I let the pictures talk for them self. The kids had also been issued with a “passport” so when they visited a country they got a stamp to proof that they had been there. I felt like I was working at the airport at times. The day included a parade where all nationalities was presented, a show where different performances was held from different cultures and students and off course the popular part when you walk around visiting the different countries.
Tim with his Japanees school friends :-)
After this day it was the mid term break and the whole family went off to the very much needed holiday. We went to Malaysia to a small Island called Tioman. This is a beautiful small Island with wonderful snorkeling, beaches, rainforest and sunsets. We stayed at the Berjaya resort hotel. We had a wonderful room 20 m from the beach and 50 m from the pool, bar and restaurants.
When we got in place it felt like we where in paradise. And for us it was, we believe that we would never have discovered this place on earth if we had not moved to Singapore, and we would never have had the money to go there from Sweden. We felt like kings and queens. We went snorkeling twice during our time there and we discovered a whole new world....If you ever get the chance to do snorkeling in your life, please promise you'll try it. Swimming amongst hundreds of fish, the colors, shapes and landscape is fantastic. It is impossible to describe I have discovered I believe one has to experience it to know what I am talking about. We did get an under water camera too and we will develop the photos this week....
Well I'll let the photos from our holiday speak for themselves.
The rainforast..
Going snorkeling and in a singing mood.....
Solnedgång på Tioman.....love it!
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Back from our holiday and back to work we discovered that we got red spots that was itching a lot and Tim got a really upset stomach, in fact it is still going on. So he has got antibiotics, I feel so sorry fro him as he also have had fever during this time. The doctors don't really know what the itchy spots are. I think it is something called “badklåda” in Swedish, which is harmless and goes away in a week. However, we haven't been sick since we got here (if you don't count my broken leg) so I think we have done really well. Touch wood now but we have not had any colds at all.
Well one thing has improved since I got here and that is my social life, I have been out for dinners, films, nights out so many times here that they would last for two years at home. I am not complaining, but it can be tiring, I don't think I could keep up with the “Hollywood Wifes” I almost understand their “hard” life.....;-) I went and so all 3 Steig Larssons films within 5 days. Film 3 was a little bit disappointing, I remember the book so much better. I know books are never easy to make into good films, but it started out so well with the first film. However, it will be interesting to see what the Americans will do with it all.
Guess what I realized watching the films over here, that the film was no tourist propaganda for Sweden. I don't think it was one sunny day, it was mostly gray, cold and dark. I also hope people will not think we swedes are all that bad....
HALLOWEEN........came too, we dressed up, the kids as vampires, grim reaper and the mothers as the “nice and wicked” witch, who was who, you have to guess from the photos, we all had a great time however.
I'm back at work and I love it, and I have been given the go ahead about riding again now. It is so fun to teach riders to ride, and I admire the school horses all over the world. My god they work for their money and they are so patient, they do their best all the time to give us the riders, beginners and experienced riders a fun and wonderful time. They are my heroes, and I wish more people could understand them for the kind of animal they really are.
I am amazed to see how they adapt to their situation where ever they are in the world. I sometimes think back to the new Swedish horse keeping laws that it has been so much discussion about and been thinking if they where applied to places like Singapore, Hong Kong and more places like that, these places would not be able to have horses. Is that good or not, well I am not the person to decide on that. But I believe that with good knowledge about horse welfare, then any place in the world can be a good place for a horse. I still believe in my theory that if the horse, humans don't get hurt or suffers from the way they are kept and trained and that no laws are broken and the environment is not damaged then it can't be a bad way of doing it.
The BHS exams are getting closer, it will be good fun to see how they do them here in Asia and I hope I have given the students some knowledge that will help them. I only wished we had some more time.
I almost forgot Tim has started to take tennis lessons and so will I.....YES you read it right, well I can't be here and not try something new also. And the tennis court is 50m from the flat, free to use I might as well try it out. So this Friday will be our first lesson, I'll let you all know how that went next time.
So until next time, take care out there and don't do anything I would not do...
/Mrs Marie “Borg” McIntyre
