Influenza B virus

Ashley and I were hit by this virus very badly last week. High fever for almost 3 days and strong body ache. It was so hard to look after Ashley while I had the same flu. She was very demanding and needed care all the time. Luckily Matthew was home a lot, but I must say it was one of the worse flus we got. We don't normally get sick but this virus was SO strong!

According to the Dr. this virus has been going around Singapore since December. We do get this every year in Japan during winter but I never thought I would get it here.

If you would like to know more about it here is the Wikipedia link.

Brand new school bag

I ordered Oliver's school backpack on Amazon UK. Hamish kindly brought it over the other day.

Now we have a very happy and super ready for school boy!

Sunwolves vs Cheetahs

Unfortunately Ashley and I weren't well enough to go and watch the game at the stadium. The rest of the Bayshore gang enjoyed it though!

This was the first time a Super Rugby game was played here in Singapore. As you can see there wasn't that huge a crowd. But still lovely to enjoy international sports live!

It was a very close game with lots of action. Sunwolves had 4 tries but lost the game 31-32. Another game in two weeks time and I am going this time!

Sunwolves kids rugby training

Super Rugby is here in Singapore! From this year Japan has a team in Super Rugby and will have 3 games here. To celebrate the first game there was a kid's rugby training session with the Sunwolves on Saturday.

Unfortunately Oliver had to attend his school trial at the same time so only Luca got to go and meet some professional rugby players. I know they don't look Japanese but they are a part of the Japanese team :)

James Stewart - Fijian winger:

Faatiga Lemalu - Samoan/Kiwi number 8:

Luca had an amazing time. He couldn't stop talking about it all day. It was extra special as ONLY he got to go!! Such a cool event.

School trial day for Oliver

Finally Oliver got to experience the Japanese School. There was a trial day which was only for an hour and a half but it was a very important experience for him. The kids were separated into 7 different classrooms. They did some exercises, made a dog using origami paper and learned how to write their own name etc.

The Japanese School in Singapore is unique. It is a private school and covers 100% of the Japanese Government school curriculum. It offers extra English lessons and has an emphasis on swimming and music learnt in English (I am not sure why...).

The school is ginormous. There is a great gymnasium, library, swimming pool and a huge outdoor space for PE. Oliver's grade will have over 200 new students and there will be 8 classes. I think the student/teacher ratio is very good.

One of the strange things for me is not having a school uniform though. When I was a kid we always had a uniform and we used the famous Japanese leather backpack called randoseru. Not here, you can wear anything you want.

Ayaka and Oliver are hoping to be in the same class. 

Well, the most important thing was that Oliver really enjoyed his trial day. There were lots of mixed kids too, which made him somehow more comfortable. Only one more month before his new adventure starts!

Luca's tiny friend

Luca was very happy to find a new friend.

Balcony life is back!

Finally, the never ending crazy WINDY season has finished! We had bad haze for three months since we moved to this apartment. Then since December it has been so super duper windy at this part of Singapore. The wind has been exceptionally bad at our side of the tower. It has been incredibly strong and blows all day and night forever and ever!
We have been very anxious not being able to use our big balcony :(

At last we can play swingball without being blown away, ride scooters & bikes and enjoy coffee and relax!

Japanese Soccer morning

It is just so nice to have such a lovely community here in Bayshore Park. Living overseas it is definitely one of the most important things we need to have. We are extremely lucky to have so many close friends here. We have lots of playdates, fun dinner parties, coffee mornings, movie nights for the kids etc etc.

A new activity came up with one of the daddys who is keen to teach kids soccer. It started the other week but Oliver was in KL playing rugby so this was his first time. There is a futsal court we can book downstairs. It was a very hot morning but all the kids had a great time.

This little lady stayed with me and ran around like a maniac!!!

It was a 2 hour practice session. Oliver definitely needs more practice handling the ball but he really enjoyed it a lot. Towards the end some other daddies showed up and joined in for a quick game. They played kids vs daddies. Great to see everyone smiling while exercising! 

Oliver is already looking forward to the next practice.  

Girl's Day 2016

I almost forgot but managed to make the day slightly more special than every other day for our little princess! March the 3rd is Girl's Day in Japan and we celebrate it by displaying some special dolls and having some traditional food.

I only managed to follow a part of the tradition. Here is Ashley's Hinaninngyo - the dolls.

Some of the common food and drinks for the festival is 1) shirozake (yes sake!) 2) hina-arare - small flavoured rice crackers 3) hishimochi - diamond-shaped coloured rice cake 4) chirashizuki - not rolled but open version of sushi 5) ushiojiru - clam soup. 

Well, mine are not really traditional but I made some sushi dolls garnished with some cheese and rose shaped smoked salmon. I also made the boys some tamago sushi and rolls. 

When they are happy the dinner finishes quite smoothly. We had some time to play with Ashley's hina-ningyo before heading to bed. She can kind of sing the song for this special day in Japanese now which makes me smile a lot too :)

Lovely to have a girl in the family to enjoy another Japanese tradition! Happy Girls Day Ashley, we love you so so so much xxx

Farewell brunch

The Japanese calendar for school and work normally starts in April and ends in March. School finishes in March and often people get transferred in March then start fresh in April at their new office etc. So there are lots and lots of goodbye parties and coffees in March unfortunately.

One of our lovely Japanese friends' family is moving back to Nagoya at the end of this month.
My kids are in a local kindy so we didn't see each other that often but living in the same tower and meeting at a number of fun coffee mornings I got to know Chieri.

We had a very relaxing fondu lunch party the other day for her. Lots of laughs over delicious food and drinks. I hope we can keep in contact and one day meet up in Nagoya. My grandma is now living in Nagoya so its very likely we will be visiting there sometime this year. 

Good luck with the move and all the best for the new start! We will miss you Chieri-san!