GONG XI FA CAI!
Thursday I went on the kindergarten field trip to Chinatown. I'm sure you're asking yourself, "You live in Singapore...isn't every town Chinatown?" That's sort of true. However, there is a specified area of Singapore for each of the main cultures who live here...Little India, Chinatown, Arab Street and some even refer to our neighborhood as "Little America!" (That would be true if we actually had some good American restaurants in our neighborhood!)
Here we are starting out at the Buddhist temple. We were on a scavenger hunt so we had to look for things like: incense, oranges, pineapples; all things that are special for the Chinese during this big holiday.
Each parent had to send in $10 for their kid to buy some souvenirs and get lunch. So, here's Carson's big purchase that he was so excited to buy and couldn't be persuaded to buy anything else as a memory of this day. It's a big blue jewel. Boy are his girlfriends going to be lucky ladies...a man who likes "jewry."
Here we are in front of a nice display of pomelos. Pomelos are really good! They are kinda like grapefruit but not so sour.
Lunchtime in Chinatown is every pregnant American woman's dream! The sights, sounds and smells are just so....indescribable. You really have to be pregnant to know how truly disgusting it is. However, we found some comfort in Singapore's most famous dish, Chicken Rice. It's Carson's favorite lunch actually so it wasn't too bad. Here we are with our $4 spread of chicken rice and complimentary chicken broth.
Another highlight of this field trip was looking for all the items on the Scavenger hunt. One of the items the kids were supposed to find was shrimp. Since I've been on this field trip before I knew that shrimp could only be found in one place in Chinatown...the wet market! The smells of the food stalls are bad but the smells of the wet market are every pregnant woman's worst nightmare. Whoever is reading this would be very proud of me for surviving it. This is how I did it. I just didn't breathe. I was also the leader of the group. I went in like a Military Commander on an important mission. I went quickly past the raw meat sitting out, unrefrigerated, I went serpentine past the raw fish display, oh so careful not to slip while my flip-flops tried desperately to cling to hints of cement instead of the wet fish-gut remains that had made a fish-slick all over the ground below. I went commando toward the dried cuttlefish and other dried fish assortment and didn't stop until I found some small pieces of dried shrimp. We paused here long enough to put our stickers on our sheet. Dried shrimp is still shrimp. At this point I took a breath. A deep breath that would last me until we got back out into the sweet sunshine again. We made it out of the wet market alive, with a sticker on our shrimp section and so proud of myself for not even puking. Mission accomplished!
You know sometimes during this pregnancy I've been like a girl lost in the desert looking for water. I think of happy thoughts like walking into Cinnabon and I can actually smell the cinnamon rolls baking. I've also found myself dreaming of In-N-Out Burger, Rubio's or Cafe Rio and all my favorite smells of my home country and I can almost reach out and touch them. Then I wake-up from my dilusions and realize that a piece of toast with peanut butter and jelly will just have to hold me over until June.
Carson and I are at the end of our scavenger hunt here and just wasting time shopping around until time to get on the buses and head back to school. We had a very memorable day together and I loved the time with just me and one of my most favorite boys on the planet. This guy is the ultimate dude and we have a great time together! He is one tough guy but he's the most excited about his new baby sister of anyone in our family. He hugs my tummy and kisses it many times per day and has told me many times how happy he is that the baby's a girl because he already has a little brother but he doesn't have a little sister yet. He is so much fun and I had a great day bonding in Chinatown with him. Now that's a mission accomplished!
