long hot days and long cool nights
So much for thinking that I would update more often while J was away. He got back this evening, and I haven't written since last weekend. What did I do all week? Beyond the usual child-wrangling and chore-mongering, not all that much. I enjoyed plenty of quiet time on my own in the evenings and caught up on reading and watching some movies that I had lying around for too long.
Friday was Speech Day and the last day of school. No more dragging a reluctant Bun out of bed for the next two months! No more school runs and lunch boxes! I'm not quite sure what exactly we're going to do to fill up a month before we head to Singapore for our long trip back, but we'll take it week by week and see what happens. Speech Day was nice although I don't think I properly listened to any of the speeches because I was trying to keep Bao from being disruptive. She kept walking up and down the row of chairs to play tap-and-run-away games with strangers or otherwise offering them bits of dried leaves and grass. In the end I just stood at the back while she played in the grass with one of her friends.
The Bun and his class performed a funny Happy Days dance which was too cute, and later on the entire school got up to sing and dance the French-Algerian dance hit C'est La Vie. A rather strange choice, I thought, with all the techno-disco bits (watch the video and you'll see what I mean). The refrain goes 'on va s'aimer, on va danser, on va chanter, oui c'est la vie' (we're going to love, we're going to dance, we're going to sing, yes that's life) which I guess fits the whole summer holiday feel of it, but still! Very strange.
C'est la vie!
Later that afternoon J's colleague E texted me to ask if I wanted to have dinner. She's actually our neighbour and so we have been chatting with each other a little, and sometimes sharing food, since she moved here last winter. I told her that she was free to come over and have dinner with the kids and me if she didn't mind the madness at home. I always try not to inflict my children on other people unless they genuinely want to see them; I'm under no illusions that they're cute or fun to other adults not directly related to them.
But to my surprise she not only got along with both kids, but stayed on through the bath/book/bed routine, and once the kids were properly in bed we finished a bottle of wine, ate ice-cream, and talked until it was nearly 1am. Fabulous - can't remember the last time I did that, and it's good that the bedrooms in our apartment can be shut off from the living and dining spaces so that the kids can sleep in relative quiet. I enjoyed talking with E - she's a bit younger than me but we have a lot in common, and I generally don't socialise with the other Singaporeans here beyond the big sort of National Day events so it was quite satisfying to be able to talk to another Singaporean.
How funny it was, then, that on Saturday we made impromptu plans to meet up in Paquis for more of that Manu Gelato that I was raving about in my last post. All of us had ice-cream, then took a leisurely walk to the lakeside where there was a beach volleyball competition going on, so we watched that before slowly winding our way back to the car. In the end E had dinner over at our place again, the kids were bundled off to bed again, and we talked late into the night again.
Vying for Aunty E's attention.
Bao has really taken to E and will ask for her first thing in the morning instead of her father, traitorous thing. When we were out on Saturday afternoon the kids kept fighting over who got to hold her hand.
J returned today in the late afternoon, having endured a bus ride that started at 8am and ended at 5pm. Why he ended up on a bus instead of a plane is a long story involving bureaucratic red tape, but at least he's back! He returned with a haul consisting mostly of food - olive oil, pasta, tapenade, the works. The kids got some fun limited edition tictacs (including one for the World Expo) and a customised apron each.
Waiting for Daddy's bus; tictacs for some summer bribery.
Over the next few days we're set to have a heat wave, hitting a high of 35°C mid-week. I know it's nothing compared to what Singapore is experiencing, but boy that will be hot. J is set to disappear into major work mode from tomorrow onwards so it's going to be another round of (mostly) solo-parenting for me this week.
Friday was Speech Day and the last day of school. No more dragging a reluctant Bun out of bed for the next two months! No more school runs and lunch boxes! I'm not quite sure what exactly we're going to do to fill up a month before we head to Singapore for our long trip back, but we'll take it week by week and see what happens. Speech Day was nice although I don't think I properly listened to any of the speeches because I was trying to keep Bao from being disruptive. She kept walking up and down the row of chairs to play tap-and-run-away games with strangers or otherwise offering them bits of dried leaves and grass. In the end I just stood at the back while she played in the grass with one of her friends.
The Bun and his class performed a funny Happy Days dance which was too cute, and later on the entire school got up to sing and dance the French-Algerian dance hit C'est La Vie. A rather strange choice, I thought, with all the techno-disco bits (watch the video and you'll see what I mean). The refrain goes 'on va s'aimer, on va danser, on va chanter, oui c'est la vie' (we're going to love, we're going to dance, we're going to sing, yes that's life) which I guess fits the whole summer holiday feel of it, but still! Very strange.
C'est la vie!
Later that afternoon J's colleague E texted me to ask if I wanted to have dinner. She's actually our neighbour and so we have been chatting with each other a little, and sometimes sharing food, since she moved here last winter. I told her that she was free to come over and have dinner with the kids and me if she didn't mind the madness at home. I always try not to inflict my children on other people unless they genuinely want to see them; I'm under no illusions that they're cute or fun to other adults not directly related to them.
But to my surprise she not only got along with both kids, but stayed on through the bath/book/bed routine, and once the kids were properly in bed we finished a bottle of wine, ate ice-cream, and talked until it was nearly 1am. Fabulous - can't remember the last time I did that, and it's good that the bedrooms in our apartment can be shut off from the living and dining spaces so that the kids can sleep in relative quiet. I enjoyed talking with E - she's a bit younger than me but we have a lot in common, and I generally don't socialise with the other Singaporeans here beyond the big sort of National Day events so it was quite satisfying to be able to talk to another Singaporean.
How funny it was, then, that on Saturday we made impromptu plans to meet up in Paquis for more of that Manu Gelato that I was raving about in my last post. All of us had ice-cream, then took a leisurely walk to the lakeside where there was a beach volleyball competition going on, so we watched that before slowly winding our way back to the car. In the end E had dinner over at our place again, the kids were bundled off to bed again, and we talked late into the night again.
Vying for Aunty E's attention.
Bao has really taken to E and will ask for her first thing in the morning instead of her father, traitorous thing. When we were out on Saturday afternoon the kids kept fighting over who got to hold her hand.
J returned today in the late afternoon, having endured a bus ride that started at 8am and ended at 5pm. Why he ended up on a bus instead of a plane is a long story involving bureaucratic red tape, but at least he's back! He returned with a haul consisting mostly of food - olive oil, pasta, tapenade, the works. The kids got some fun limited edition tictacs (including one for the World Expo) and a customised apron each.
Waiting for Daddy's bus; tictacs for some summer bribery.
Over the next few days we're set to have a heat wave, hitting a high of 35°C mid-week. I know it's nothing compared to what Singapore is experiencing, but boy that will be hot. J is set to disappear into major work mode from tomorrow onwards so it's going to be another round of (mostly) solo-parenting for me this week.