Flat Stanley Made It!

Dear Nicole and Amanda:

I finally made it to Singapore! That sure was a long flight from Everett to Singapore, and talk about cold in the baggage compartment with all of those letters! I arrived at the Singapore Post and was put on a "Post" motor bike (in the states we call it Post Office) that brought me here to Riveredge.

After I climbed out of the mail box, which is in the basement, I had to climb up 10 flights of stairs because I was too short to push the buttons on the lift (that is what they call an elevator here).

That is a lot of stairs for a little guy to have to climb!

Aunt eb and Uncle Steve didn’t hear me knocking on the door, so I had to crawl under it. When I got through, guess who was taking my picture? Nope, not mom :-(

After all of the introductions and handshakes and hugs and stuff, I sat down to rest for a while. They have a really neat Expat (whatever that is) Living magazine here that I started reading.

It has really neat places to go see around Singapore. Maybe I will ask to go to Bali if I get a chance - it sure does look pretty in the magazine.

After I rested a while, Uncle Steve showed me the view from their balcony. They do have a great view, but it sure is a long way down.

Uncle Steve suggested we go on a hike. Man, I was a bit tired, but I wanted to see the island!

On the way out, I stopped to meet and talk to the guards. Shankar is from Malaysia, which is just North of Singapore and very close - less than 30 miles! He is Aunt eb and Uncle Steve's favorite guard - he has been here since they moved here! Pssst! Look at the 'cup' he has in his hand. Everyone here drinks out of plastic bags with a plastic string tying it closed and a straw coming out. The string makes a handle.

We went to a place called Mount Faber Park.

We wouldn’t call this hill a mountain in Washington, but I guess it is one here.

I saw a statue of a strange animal at Mount Faber; it is part lion and part fish. They call it a Merlion and it is a symbol of Singapore.

Also at Mount Faber we saw a dinning cable car.

People can reserve a private dinning cable car for a romantic round trip ride to Sentosa Island. Wouldn’t that be neat?

I could see Sentosa Island from the lookout at Mount Faber.

We went to a foot bridge called The Henderson Wave.

As you can see from the pictures, it is pretty neat.

We had a great time on our walk, but now I am awfully tired. I think I will go to sleep soon. Aunt eb and Uncle Steve said you will just be waking up, is that really true?

Love,

Stanley Flat (that is how the Asians say their names: The family name is first and the given name is last).

Goodbye Smith Nicole, Smith Amanda, and Smith Nathan :-)

Good Friday

Today is Good Friday. I was thinking today about Easter and how in America it is like so many other holidays - too commercialized.

I went shopping 2 days ago, and I wanted to share all the Easter decorations I saw:



One end cap.

I know the country is not a predominately Christian country, but there are a lot of expats here - and a lot of Americans. Maybe Easter is not all about Easter egg hunts and Easter candy.

We should rethink the whole Easter holiday - and Christmas as well. It is not about candy, gifts and cute stuff. It is not about Santa or a Christmas tree. It is not about your kids. It is about Jesus; His birth, His death, His resurrection - and Him loving us enough to give His life for us.

It is not a commercial - it is our history and what the history book (the Bible) says. It is about love. And it is about God. And it is a Christian holiday. Please meditate about it, thank God for his sacrifices and enjoy it as such.

Happy Easter.

Progress

We have been here 9 months so far. As I look out at the scene around me from our balcony, I realize how far we have come since we 'moved' to Singapore. Our lives have changed by leaps and bounds in such a short amount of time. We have gotten wiser to the ways of the world, we have grown fonder of what we have back home, and we have seen other growth in many ways.

Singapore is growing with every breath - making progress they say. We have never seen the speed at which buildings are built as we have here. Construction phases are amazingly fast; no lallygagging in Singapore. I had a taxi driver explain it in short order yesterday; they work 36 hours a day to make progress :-)

Looking through my pictures that I have taken since I came, I decided to share the changes in our balcony view. The first picture in each set is from June- August 2008; the second was taken today or within the last couple of days:

Condo Construction:






School addition:






School Lot (sports field):






Tg Rhu Bridge (middle section of the picture where cranes are):






The Casino:

Where?




Here it is :-)



A closer view:




It is amazing what the world accomplishes in such a short time, and amazing how we grow with it. Are we making progress? I hope so.

This Poor Little Doggy

During our stay in Korea, this poor little doggy was every where we went in Okpo. We walked the streets and the doggy seemed to be on every street we were on. I started taking notice the second day we were out - the poor little doggy was soaking wet, looked terribly sad with its head hung down in dejection; it seemed to be wandering aimlessly in the streets. Little did I know.

The more I paid attention, the funnier this vision became. This little doggy walked nice and proud most of the time - at least until it came up to the street 'vendors', then it hung its head low and cautiously approached. The doggy was offered a bit of food to keep it alive. As it walked away, the further it got from the vendor, the bouncier it got - until it spied another culprit. Immediately, it hung its head, tucked its tail and repeated the previous process. I *know* in one day I saw it eat over a half a dozen handouts; rain, cold, or sunny it was out begging. Some people sat plates down for it, some had feasts and others just a small treat.

The final straw came though when we were again walking 'to Michael Jackson's'. There I saw it happily sitting on a porch with a bowl of food and water nearby - its very own porch I am sure. 'Our' poor little doggy was well groomed, nice and clean with a nice padded bed right inside the door.

This is the 'poor little doggy' on his very own porch... lol...



... and waiting for tomorrow, I am sure. I bet you can see why I did not feel so bad leaving this poor little doggy in Korea. It is well trained and well cared for ;-)

Little did I know.