Fogging

Take a look at this....

This is called 'fogging'. People 'fog' as often as weekly, but our condo fogs every 2 months. The 'fog' is insecticide to kill mosquito lavae. Singapore is one of the few countries in Asia not to have Malaria or other mosquito-borne killer diseases - although Dengue fever is around.

I can't believe that the men that do this, have no protective clothing or masks! It can't be good for you. There are no 'laws' governing how frequently you fog, however the Environmental agency does regular spot checks and it's a $200 fine if they find a mosquito larvae on your property. (We have an inspection of our apartment due this week).

Heaven on Earth

I've always thought of Stradbroke Island as 'Heaven on Earth'. It's an island off the coast of Brisbane, in Moreton Bay. It's only accessible by water taxi for people, and a barge for your car. It's a large island (about 80kms long) but has only 3 small settlements. As a family, we have been visiting Stradbroke Island since I was about 12 yrs old. Everytime I come back I am flooded with memories.

This trip to Australia, we got to visit Straddie for 3 days. Our last visit was about 4 years ago, when Zoe was 3 yrs old. Everytime I come here, I re-live my childhood. It was great to show Zoe some of my favourite places on the island - the walk around the headland and look for marine life, to sit and listen to the blow-hole and watch for turtles and walk from Frenchman's beach to home along the beach and rocky headlands. The Island didn't disappoint - we watched some large rays off the headland, and saw some turtles around the blow-hole. It was low tide when we walked along the beach, and Zoe and her cousin Tess collected shells and discovered small fish and crabs in the rock pools. Zoe got to swim in the Ocean for the first time in her life! Waves!!! She was very funny to watch - trying to hold her footing against the breaking waves and squealing the whole time with a grin on her face. With her cousins, and a loan of a surf-mat, she surfed the waves like a real Aussie.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to everyone!! I hope you all had a great Christmas and had fun welcoming in the new year.
We had a nice Xmas in Aus. Everyone grouped in Brisbane, with Craig's sister and her two teenage boys and Craig's parents driving up from NSW. 4 families living under one roof for 5 days was 'interesting'.... no really, it was ok. There were 10 of us - luckily mum and dad's house is big!
Christmas day was fun with the entire two familys for lunch - 16 in all.
It was an early start, with Zoe discovering Santa had left something at the end of her bed - at 5.30am! A record awakening time. So, we all sat in our bed discovering what Santa had left in Zoe's Santa sack. It was lovely. So, by 6am - the whole house was awake, with Zoe visiting each bedroom, waking the occupants to look what Santa had brought her.

Craig cooked Christmas lunch - with a hot meal. He cooked Martha Stewart recipe of honey glazed ham with pears and cranberries, a large potato gratin, and steamed veges. It was delicious.
After lunch we gathered around the tree and gave each other our Christmas presents, which was followed by all the kids swimming in the pool.
It was a relaxed and fun day.

New Year's Eve was a very low key event.... after dinner Zoe lit some sparklers to celebrate the coming of the new year but was in bed by around 10pm. Dad also didn't make it past 10pm. Mum, Craig and I saw the New Year in, quite by accident. We were watching Lord of the rings - the return of the kings which finished aroun 1am!!

Christmas carols?

Just before the end of school, the parents were invited to a musical concert to see the children sing and partake in some munchies afterwards. It's a little strange to say this was only my 2nd formal visit to the school so I had to study the school plan on the website to figure out where the auditorium was!
Any preconceived ideas I had about a cute group of children singing quaint christmas carols was completely blown away when the 7 classes of CE1 filed into the auditorium with large drums, decorated plastic milk containers and objects resembling pogo sticks with tennis balls on the end. Conducting the children were two men - both in their mid 50's, one with a bongo drum between his legs.
And so the concert began with the children thumping, banging and singing to the beat of the drums. They sang 4 or 5 songs, each one with more gusto and tempo than the previous - the kids were moving to the beat, and the teachers, one without the bongo drum had a whistle firmly planted in his mouth driving the kids on. The bongo drum beat out a rythym and the children would echo the beat. The parents were brought into the fray echoing the drum beat by clapping their hands. For a moment I thought I was in Brazil! It was certainly entertaining. They were very hip music teachers.

Afterwards in the class I got talking with some of the mums and Zoe's teacher. It was nice. The children's work was scattered around the walls, and I easily found the letter Zoe had written to Santa. It was hilarous. She told Pere Noel that she had been very, very good this year. She wanted a Barbie and a DS Lite and she thought she deserved them because she had been helping mum around the house, and because she said hello to her papa when he came home from work. I had a good laugh.