Kevin has been extremely busy with project planning at his work. He's gone out to lunch and dinner a few times with his managers and team to unload some of the stress. He's been asked to face new eating adventures head on, like fish head soup. He hasn't tried it yet, but was told that he needs to eat the eyeballs. Nothing goes to waste. That's disgusting!!! But people seem to like it. One company lunch outing celebrated the Chinese New Year salad toss. There were many large round tables with about 12 people each. Ten courses were served, and the first course was a large salad which everyone tossed together. They all reached into the bowl using over sized chopsticks tossing all the ingredients into the air, over and over again. The salad tossing ritual is only done during Chinese New Year to "gather prosperity" for the upcoming year.
Salad bowl before the tossing action
Some salad tossing action
I've been going to Pilates reformer classes twice a week since December and I really enjoy it. I would love to train at a Pilates school somewhere and become a certified instructor when I return home someday. My Mom loves that idea. Private lessons! The Pilates studio is located in the central business district close to Kevin's office. I walk by some interesting buildings near the studio. There is a Chinese temple that people place burning incense sticks by the entrance. The incense has a really strong smell that's a little too much for me. I have discovered that you miss a lot if you don't look up. I was waiting for my bus one day to go home, and looked up across the street and noticed an unusual, massive apartment building that looked like a Borg space ship. (OK...so I'm a Star Trek fan)
Inside the studio
Seng Wong Beo Temple
Massive apartment building (center platforms are walkways with gardens)
I was recently invited to join someone for an hour long aerobics outdoor class. I thought no problem. I've done aerobic exercise before. (oh boy) There were about 100 people in an outdoor pavilion overlooking the Singapore River. I thought this looked like fun. I knew I was in trouble when I was already feeling the heat and humidity before we started. The workout was intense choreographed aerobics and kickboxing to loud, upbeat music. Tourists were walking by taking our pictures and watching. I never sweated so much in my life! I should have been given a T shirt saying, "I survived the aerobics/kickboxing insane boot camp!" It was a great heart pounding workout, but I think I'll stick with Pilates for now.
I have also been busy with weekly Bible study and ESL (English as a Second Language) ministry for women at our church. I have been helping with interviewing new students by testing their English comprehension and placing them in the appropriate English level. Over 200 women are taught English and Bible stories each week. There is no cost for the English classes and childcare, and no advertising is done. They seem to hear about it by word of mouth, and new ladies join every week. There are long waiting lists for almost all the levels. I just started to teach my own class of 19 ladies who are mostly from Japan, Malaysia, China, and Korea. It's a new and exciting challenge for me, since I've never been an ESL teacher before.
Adorable pictures of our pampered pooch
