Adventures of Ernie, Elliott and Patrice: November 2011

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Sometime in November? 2011

I'm really not sure what the date is. First of all they confuse me by putting the day first, then the month. How am I ever going to know what the date is. Second, it has been so busy around here in the past few weeks. My calender on my iphone has something on it everyday.

Let's start back a couple of weeks ago with Food Fest. What an event !! Two gyms and some outside are are packed full of booths with food at them. All kinds of food. There were 12 country booths. Country booths make their own food from their countries to sell. Then we had over 50 high school clubs participate with topics of food of their own. If I had a favorite, it would have been the mac and cheese from one of the high school clubs. There was entertainment and they love their loud music over here. My part in all this was to help Chris C. with the equipment. When we say equipment, we mean tables, chairs, tableclothes, plates, napkins, bowls, forks, spoons, ice, bouncy castle and tons of other stuff that we had to order and divy out to each booth and set up the gyms as well with tables for people to sit at. Next year, I have volunteered my services to lead this whole thing. Luckily I have a great group of people that we can rely on to do their jobs and get everything done. It will be hectic, but it will make time go faster. Here's a few pictures of Food Fest 2011

High School Gym Food Fest

Middle School Gym Food Fest

High School Gym crowd

India Booth

Korean Booth

Phillipines Booth

China booth

Korean Dress

Somewhere in the midst of Food Fest, we went to Renaissance Festival performance. Below is a picture of an Exxon co-worker's daughter. The girls were jesters of course. The Festival had singers and instrumental entertainment. At the intermission, they served little hors'derves (sp)

Thank goodness that we had off Monday after Food Fest. Another holiday!! No wonder these people take so many 3-4 day trips. They're off all the time.

I went on a shopping trip all over the island with the Exxon ladies. We rented a big bus and stopped at about 6 major spots. I even won a "Lucky Draw." It was a tassel that you hang on cabinets, or lamps. I've seen them even in people's cars. We went to a place called Pottery Jungle. Yes, it was in a jungle area. There were so many pots of all kinds everywhere. I heard that the government is shutting them down because they need to sell their land to some kind of tech business. Isn't that said. For years, your family is doing well and then all of a sudden the government takes it all away.

Saturday, we went to the high school dance teams show of Romeo and Juliet. It was fabulous. There were about 100 in the high school dance class. I'm sure that you are wondering why we go to all these productions. Well, Elliott is either doing lighting, backstage or videoing.

Monday, I took a trip down to Marina Bay to play Mah Jongg with the Exxon ladies again. I'm not any good at it, but I keep going and I'm learning. The view was absolutely amazing. You could look out one side of their apartment and see Marina Bay, the Marina Bay Sands and all the ships off shore. I have never seen so many ships in all my life. Out the other side of the apartment, you could see the loading docks with all the cargo containters. It was really interesting to watch the day to day work at the docks. So many containers.

Antique Chinese Piece- I want two

Looking at Marina Bay Sands from Mah Jongg game

Marina Bay from Connie and Joe's apartment

So Many Ships !!

During the week of the 15th, my new friend Chris packed up her house to ship it to Japan. She is leaving in January and I am extremely sad. She has been such a big help and a great friend to me even before I left Houston. I will truly miss her. While she was packing up the house, we babysat their dog. Treasure. She is such a good dog. I swear that she was on doggie downers. Here's a picture of she and Ernie. She's watching him cut the grass with scissors. Right after he finished, she went and pottied on it.

Ernie and Treasure

Well, I guess that's all for now. Got to get some flyers and other paperwork formated for Trivia Night at the school tomorrow night. I need to come home to Houston to rest. Not long.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

October 2011

Well it's been a busy month and it seems to be getting busier with Food Fest, Thanksgiving, several performances for Elliott to light, and of course getting ready to come home. Only 45 more days (I think) This week has been busy with Food Fest which is huge. There are 12 Country booths that serve food and 40 or 20 High School Club booths that also do food. Chris and I are in charge of ordering and setting up chairs, tables, electricity, plates, bowls, forks, spoon, ice, bouncy castles and much, much more. It is going to be a fabulous day. I'll send pictures if I get any. I may be running around trying to eat everything in site.

Elliott is all signed up for his Interim Semester Trip in February to Bhutan which is north of the Himalayas. He's really excited. Luckily, he doesn't have to buy much more than clothes because he has all his Phimont stuff with him. I hope he remembers to take some decent pictures. I think he's got a camera on his Christmas list.

I have another computer on my Christmas list. I'm so excited that we now have American TV 2 Go. Although I am watching everything at the wrong time. It is now available. We usually dvr things to watch at night. Just looking at the commercials makes us sometimes forget where we are. Sonic ice !! So much more to put on our list.

Melanie Leary Huges and her daughter Grace blessed us with a visit. We had a great time. It was a little trying sometimes. This town is just not friendly to strollers. Too many escalators. Not enough elevators. We did get to go to the zoo and eat with the Orangatans. This zoo is really nice. Even a Komodo Dragon !! Scarey !! I must say that we need to try the Nigh Safari at the zoo next time when it is cooler. By the time we got to the end, we were looking at pictures on the trail and saying how nice those animals look and kept walking. It was very hot and humid. You could just stand there and sweat.

We also got to go the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Mall. Ernie was off for yet another holiday, (They have so many) so he was able to drive us there and we didn't have to take a cab. It was kind of overcast, so you couldn't see too far. But you could see other countries in the area.

We did eat more than our fair share of Chili's. Melanie doesn't get american food too often either. None of us were complaining. 3 times in a week. Is that too much?

On her last day, we drove out to the west side of the island. It was empty. It was true country side. We drove through the huge cemetary and looked at the grave stones. While we were there, a funeral was going on. there is a picture of a modern hearse at the bottom. It is gold and looks like a pagoda. When we were leaving, another bus and hearse were coming in for another funeral. This hearse was a little different. It looked like a glass pagoda with red top and corners and stuff hanging off the sides. It looked like something that you would see in a carnival. Quite amusing to see.

I will try not to wait so long to post pictures and notes. Before you know it we will be home. We're aren't going anywhere for Thanksgiving, so give us a call. We're only off Thursday and Friday, but that's okay, we were off Wed, Thurs. and Fri of last week for Fall Break. Hope to plan a trip somewhere around here or Australia for Spring Break. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Ernie doesn't complain too much.
Better Go for now,

Love to all,
Trece