Profession

Last night as we left his mom's birthday dinner, JE said, "I'm going to hold Sawajoy's hand." His mom said, "you love SJ, don't you?" Very gravely he said,

"I weely do, mommy. I weely do love Sawajoy."

Ah, the love of a three-year-old. Nothing like it to warm the heart and boost the self-esteem. :)

Incidentally, the very next bit of conversation went like this:

JE's mom : "Do you want to marry her?"
JE (with equal seriousness as before): "No, I don't want to mawwy Sawajoy."

Reminiscing

Looking back at my pictures from vacation and wanted to post some memories (as always, be sure to click on picture collages for a better view--then you'll be able to read the signs, too)....

Moving day. I arrived at midnight and we moved apartments the next morning.
I hadn’t planned my wardrobe too well, so borrowed some pants and didn’t have a belt. Why spend money when you can improvise?


In case you didn't know, it's all about food in this family.... :) Sushi to celebrate mom's birthday, steak at Swenson's to celebrate Father's Day; you already saw the dinner cruise buffet for anniversary; Ikea just because you can; Indian vegetarian because it's AWESOME.

















Charis was taking photos of different signs she saw around the city. Talk about an efficient place! They think of everything. Laundry goes on a pole that you stick into a slot outside your window, 11 storeys up (or however high you may be). That’s a long way down to lose your knickers! The mailboxes have a trench for your junkmail—you get that instant pleasure of tossing it on the floor, only it is orderly tossing! I forgot to get a picture of the trash chute—Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not mind taking the garbage out in Singapore. Open up your kitchen cupboard door, and there is a special trap door where you toss your garbage—right down the trash chute! Wow. And when you’re talking about the beauty of this city, you can’t forget transportation. It is lovely! Tried to take a family shot from our reflection on the subway doors while waiting for our train.


Fun at the botanical gardens after church on Sunday.
Mom and dad look like a welcoming statue! :)



That was a great Sunday. After a yummy lunch at the botanical gardens, we went home and crashed. After naptime Charis gave us a class on water painting. I had no idea all that went into water coloring! Here are my samples of the techniques she showed us. Vanilla ice cream with home-made hot-fudge topping plus nuts afterwards, and I think we watched A Knight’s Tale after that. Family not as entertained by it as I am. :)

Twenty minutes before I needed to leave for the airport, we tried to cram in a family photo. Lighting and angles were tricky with no one to help; improvising with multiple stools and someone’s outdoor coffee table. Charis posed for test runs.

Good times!

Python!

Yesterday morning while warm and snuggled in my bed I could hear the kids next door saying, "Ular! Ada ular!" Hmmm, I wondered, There's a snake? Should I get up? I do love seeing snakes, but what if it's just a small black one? It's probably not worth it.

Later that day, as I began asking around, I quickly wished I hadn't stayed in bed. The kids said it was about the length of our porch, and they couldn't find a stick big enough to show how big around it was. I asked another neighbor if it was as big as my calf, and he said, "Bigger. Like your thigh. It was probably 3 and a half meters long and weighed like 30 kilos."

"It can kill people."
"That kind can swallow a whole baby goat. They unlock their jaw and swallow their food whole."
"Sometimes they wrap around their prey and squeeze it to death."

A little chant began to stir up from the cobwebs of my memory:

Oh, I'm being eaten
By a boa constrictor,
A boa constrictor,
A boa constrictor,
I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor,
And I don't like it--one bit.
Well, what do you know?
It's nibblin' my toe.
Oh, gee,
It's up to my knee.
Oh my,
It's up to my thigh.
Oh, fiddle,
It's up to my middle.
Oh, heck,
It's up to my neck.
Oh, dread,
It's upmmmmmmmmmmffffffffff

Apparently at 11 pm, 3 doors down, Di's dad discovered the snake after it had eaten one of their chickens. He hacked it up and disposed of it in the morning.

"Where is it???" I asked.
"He threw it away."
"Where???"
"Far away over there," they motioned to the ocean.
"Is it still there? Can I go see it?"
"The ocean might have taken it away. But if not, it smells!!!"
"I'll follow my nose then," I joked.


So as the sun was setting, I trotted off down the beach to see if I could find the thing. I didn't know how far or close to the water to look--it's a bunch of exposed coral. At first I did see a trail that might have been where a snake had been drug along, but I soon lost it with the coral. Then I actually prayed. I wanted to see that snake so bad! And would you believe it? God answered my prayer. Who says He doesn't care about the little things in our lives that give us pleasure?



He wasn't quite as big as my thigh, nor 3.5 meters long (at least 2, maybe even 3), but he was well worth hunting down. I ran home and got my camera and found C, and we had fun taking shots of him. We could even see the chicken feathers (check it out in the photo)! I haven't been able to get Shel Silverstein out of my head since. After looking online today, C determined it was probably a Python reticulatus. Welcome home to the jungle.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog

I am just about to close my computer and head back to the island. Feeling a bit panicky, as the internet is not working out there, so I don't know when I'll be on again. I have lived without internet before; surely I will survive? :) Didn't get to do more posts as planned, but oh well.