baking, history and life in transit

When I had the ingredients of the carrot cake recipe (thanks to Monica) in my mixing bowl, I had no idea that it was gonna be the last time I was baking. In our cosy nest while we were bACk in Germany. This was the weekend before we moved into the service apartment. 

Instead of a 65 sq m apartment (one sleeping room, one living area, a nice dining table with chairs and a complete kitchen with an oven and a dishwasher), the hotel manager made us an even better offer. We got two stand alone apartments (40 sq m each) for the same price! 

I don't know why he suddenly made us that offer.

Perhaps the 65 sq m place was too new. And we have two very young kids who might start doodling on their brand new leather couches. (Not that I condone that kind of activities in my family). 

Or maybe this manager took pity on us. With the 65 sq m, it would mean the kids get to sleep in the bedroom, while Alan and I have to sleep in the living area on our own air-mattress. 

Anyhow, the kids welcome the idea of two stand alone apartments too. I think Bryan was thrilled to have his own room. Well, not exactly his own, he's got to share it with his sister. 

I was voted out... although I thought an oven and a dishwasher were more important than a decent place for me to sleep! And that's so true. I don't know how much time/energy/water I've wasted ever since I started to hand-wash my dishes again. Time/energy/water that could have been better utilized. The skin on my hands wouldn't be dry as prunes, I could do better with resting, blogging and catching my US series online. 

What am I gonna do in Singapore without a dishwasher? 

How's baking gonna be like without a dishwasher? 

One good news though: I will be working only two days a week, starting from Feb 2009. 

a whirlwind of sort...

It's been quite hectic since I last posted anything on the blog. 

The stress started on the 10th of this month. As if it wasn't stressful enough, the kids had the first two days of that week off! So packing was reduced to the minimal, only the essentials were to leave for the service apartment by Wednesday evening. After the 12th, I was deep in packing, going back and forth between the service apartment and our flat in Westend. It had been a terrible 1.5 weeks for the kids too. I put them in daycare everyday till 5.30 pm. Thank God there was no hiccups, though Kristin was already having a little runny nose just one day before the movers arrived, on the 18th. 

It was quite an ordeal... with the packing during the day and the caring of the kids at the end of the day. I can't tell you how much I resented them every time I picked them up 5.30 pm. They were cranky, hungry and tired. Still, Alan and I gritted our teeth, pressed on and fell right into bed every night. So if anyone of you has insomnia, try moving house and caring for young kids all at once. You'll sleep like a babe every night, I promise! 

The big day finally came - November the 18th. The men arrived at 9 am. One German, one Ghanian and two Italians. Definitely happy with the combination. In fact, I was secretly happy coz I had good faith that all our things would fit into one 20 ft container. Coz anything above that volume wasn't within our entitlement anymore, and that would mean we would have to dig into our pockets to ship boxes back to Singapore. 

The Italians were the best, esp this guy Toni. I think he's a genius. He's like a puzzle wizard. Anything from dismantling to packing and stacking, he used up every inch of space available. That all our things fit into one container, we definitely had Toni to thank for! 

Prior to our big day, I heard lots of horror stories about movers. So other than herding our things together, I packed some, bagged some, and even took pictures of the bigger items. Yep... lots of preparation work. And perhaps I overdid a little. In the end, the movers spent 6 hours the 1st day packing at our place and 2.5 hours on the 2nd day. And another 1.5 hours to reload our things onto an actual 20 ft container. They were out of Frankfurt by 1 pm on Nov 19th! 

The kids weren't sentimental at all when I showed them the empty apartment that afternoon. Al wasn't at all sad either... I was the only one grieving over the end of my Westend days! 

 

The kitchen - the place where I spent most part of the day in... other than the time I spent at the desk online.

This kitchen was brand new... and I think I left it pretty brand new too after 3 years! :) It doesn't mean I didn't cook. It just meant I maintained it well. And I have my Putzfrau to thank for such a wonderful condition. 

The dining area - our family area, where we ate, talked, did homework, craftwork, painted, drew, playdoh-ed, played games, baked, cut cookies, decorated cupcakes, read, wrote, sang, drank etc. Oh... how not to miss this place? 

More pics to follow when I find time and space to breathe from this whirlwind... 

missing germany #10

It was a good friend's birthday today. I was invited to a great brunch, and an even greater company of moms. 

These days I've been asked pretty often how I feel towards returning to Singapore. 

My standard answer: a mixed feeling of happy and sad. 

The happy's: 

1) I'll have help... lots of help from grandparents. 

2) I don't have to worry about my kids catching a cold. No more thick winter clothes. 

3) My kids will finally learn how to read and write! Yay! No need to pretend that I pseudo-homeschool. which I don't anyway. 

4) I can go for affordable spa treatments! 

5) No need to cook every day if I don't feel up to. Food is everywhere! 

The sad's: 

1) No more Own Time Own Target mentality. Gotta return to the workforce. 

2) No more suka-suka lunch with this mom or that mom, or extended birthday brunches. 

3) No more shopping in the quiet morning hours, e.g. 9.30 am at supermarket, or 10 am at shopping malls, trying on shoes and clothes! 

4) No more quiet moments... Frankfurt is after all a small place, compared with the over-crowded Singapore. 

5) No more cool, dry weather... back to the steam-bath Singapore, perspiring all day long! 

6) No more fun picnics with my kids in our backyard Botanical Gdns. 

7) No more bake sales in the preschool to occupy a couple of my mornings. 

8) No more lack of homework from the preschool. 

9) No more sledding in winter. 

10) No more strawberry picking in the summer. 

11) No more no more no more no more no more... 

Aiyoh... so many the sad's???!!! 

Ok... I know you moms in Singapore will cheer me up. Yeah, give me more happy's to look forward to... 

At the very least, there's always the FREE beach! 

travelling around the world...

 I got my new lens today! Yeah, Alan's back. 

Haven't got much time to test it out though... 

So here are some buses going places! 

I'll be MIA for the next couple of weeks... together with these couple of buses, sort of. In reality, these buses will be en route to Singapore soon. Aiyah...  don't know where I need to start packing! I hate packing, I hate moving, I hate it I hate it I hate it! 

I've been changing my address so often since I was 19... This will, ermmm, be my 13th time getting another postal code! But that doesn't make me a seasoned packer/mover... In fact, I've accumulated some boxes in my parents', brother's and our own home in Singapore, they are still unpacked. 

By far, I've kept this present address the longest... Sure am gonna miss our place here, especially those fun times with my kids here... 

appointments on Monday again... note to self

SCHOOL IS CLOSED ON MONDAY! 

Yep, just when I need the kids to be out of my way to pack! Arrrggh, this is an extremely long weekend! 4 days!!! If this was last year, we would be taking a mini vacation in some exciting spot in Central Europe! 

8 am - Floor guy will come to check our floor.

11 am - Parent-Teacher-Conference with Kristin's teacher

11.40am - Parent-Teacher-Conference with Bryan's teacher

Rest of the day - PACK AWAY BOOKS AND TOYS! 

Also to note: SCHOOL IS CLOSED ON TUESDAY too!!! 

what I've been up to...

putting my dslr to good use! 

Can you forgive me: I am ditching blogging to sell furniture!

Pur-lease... we'll be moving back to Singapore soon... have some sympathy on me, sniff! I just realised we could have sold our extra bed a few weeks earlier, i.e. as soon as we knew we could move out of our apartment at the end of November... So stupid... 

Actually it was quite crucial... the timeline was more or less set by when we could move out of our present apartment. For the past 6 months, we thought we could live in our present place until the very last week. Then all of a sudden in September, my husband decided we couldn't since we would be without most of our furniture: no beds, TV, toys and books for the kids... how can??? No kitchen wares for cooking too! So it's a more practical solution for us to stay in a serviced apartment in our last six weeks here in Frankfurt. 

Yes, this needs to be done. Otherwise the movers couldn't come six weeks before our departure. And we wouldn't be able to get our stuff back in Singapore in time to start up our household. 

ken lee, anyone?

This was one of our most hilarious moments when we were in London. You see, Alan and his friends were talking about the funniest videos on youtube ever. And this one can be considered the most viewed clip in the past 8 months. So why don't we up the count some more here... 

Enjoy! 

k for kristin

I had an opportunity to chat with Kristin's teacher yesterday. 

Surprisingly, I heard so many good things about my daughter - things that I wouldn't have imagined, e.g. she could get her letters, numbers, colours and shapes right for her assessment. 

The parent-teacher-conference is next Monday, and the teachers in the preschool have been assessing the children for the past couple of weeks. 

She's apparently considered advance for her age. 

Hmmm, I thought, really? Coz I know she'll get a cultural shock when she gets back to a Singaporean kindergarten. 

Last night, it's been interesting to see how much she wanted to do "work". Thus I handed her a workbook of letters to trace. 

Apparently, doing work helps sleep!!! She went to bed without any protest by 9.15 pm, and that's after her 2 hours nap in the afternoon. Usually, she waltzes in and out of the bedroom. But I can tell she's sleep deprived. Cranky, most of the time when I pick her up in the preschool and she falls asleep as soon as she's in the car. Especially terrible during dinner time. 

I wish I could restart my routine training... sigh, no discipline now, no time, no energy and lots of packing to do. 

Here are a couple of clips of a happy Kristin: 

sonja and bryan

  

Bryan enjoys being with Sonja, even though the age difference is 8 years. Bryan speaks really little German, while Sonja is too shy to use her English. 

My son was just being freaking irritating with the "Laterne" song, in preparation of St Martin's Day here. That much of German he knows. 

"Laterne, Laterne

Sonne, Mond und Sterne

Brenne auf mein Licht, brenne auf mein Licht

Nur meine liebe Laterne nicht." 

just for laughs...

That's my cutesy sweetie pie at Tower Hill, London with her silly facial expressions and some shortbread crumbs. Mmmmmh butter! She said. 

appointments on Monday... note to self

8.45 am - Send the kids to kindergarten.

10 am - The painter/floor guy will come and survey our apartment and give a cost estimate for the reno work after we vacate our place. 

While waiting for the other appointment, I need to set up an appointment with the pediatrician and another with the orthopedist. 

12.30 nn - Some guy will come in to replace the reading gadgets on the radiators in our apartment.

3.45 pm Pick the kids up from the kindergarten. 

5 pm - The guy from the movers company will come to drop off special boxes for books, bubble wraps and tapes. 

Where's my gym time??? I should have terminated my gym membership even earlier! 

-----------------------------

Note change of appointment: Painter coming in at 6 pm instead of 10.30am! 

@#&*!!! Like I have all day free! 

school photos in fall...

This is what I'll miss when I go back to Sg. 

The preschool here arranges with a professional photographer to come in to take pictures of the kids twice a year, once in autumn and once in spring. It's so great to be able to look back at how our kids have grown over our three years here. Kristin only has three of these shots taken, while Bryan has five different ones. 

Kristin, looking frumpy despite her haircut at the hair-dresser's. Look at her unbuttoned shirt! 

We gave Bryan a nice shirt underneath his blazer and in the end, he wore only his thermal underwear under the blazer! 

He looks almost the same as he did 2 years ago in this post, minus the baby fat and chubby cheeks. 

Kristin is certainly looking chubby. Check out those chunky arms! And I complain she doesn't eat...? Erb... good thing she doesn't eat much! Maybe it's all the Pocky sticks! 

back in Sg...

yes, but just Daddy only. He's back for some work. 

This is his third flight this week. Really siong... You have my sympathy. I think my struggle to put the kids to bed by 9 pm isn't half as bad as your deal. 

addition...

Nothing about PSLE nor Singapore Math... 

We are way behind those schedules here.

While waiting for Daddy to clear up some work at the office this afternoon, Bryan was gamely entertained by sums! How rare! 

Single digit addition isn't too difficult for him anymore... so I decided to give him a double digit and a single digit to add each time e.g. 13+4 or 17+2 or 15+3 etc... very simple and basic stuff still. 

After a while, my son told me it was again too easy for him! 

Why? 

That's because he's been using a manipulative - a ruler! 

He showed me, "You see Mom, the number 13 here. Then just count forward four times, and you get 17! So easy!" 

Cheater-bug! 

He's lucky that the ruler measures up to 30 cm for this time. 

Ok... I have to admit that I've been given some hope that there might just be a chance for him to catch up with Sg Math... slowly, of course, if he continues to add with a ruler! 

16 more days...

to the move! 

Omigosh omigosh omigosh omigosh omigosh omigosh omigosh...