From Singapore...

Singapore in a few words: Good food, great weather, fast subway, lots of shopping, small room.

We're starting our 3rd full day in Singapore, with plans today to check out another ethnic neighborhood (Malay, perhaps?) and go to the Night Safari with our old Singaporean friend, Chye.

So why don't we just get to some pictures.

Rachel had few goals for this trip: her only expectations were to eat lots of food, including "at least one good dessert every day." Well, thankfully this island is full of all different types of food. We've had Indian, American, Japanese (see above: conveyor-belt sushi!), and will find some room for Singaporean and Malay and maybe Thai and Korean before we leave. Yummmmmy!

The weather is great - the sun is hot, but it has been windy so it has been downright gorgeous to spend time outside. Right now, I am sitting in shorts on a bench swing outside the hostel, typing away as I look at the tropical flowers in bloom across from me and feel the ocean breeze on my neck. It's a wonderful thing. Speaking of hostel - the place is nice. Our room is tiny, and I feel like I am back in college because of the communal bathrooms, but considering it is half the price of most of the hotels we looked at, I think it is a good choice.

It is Chinese New Year, so the first couple days were strange because this majority-Chinese city was largely shut down for the first day we were in town because of the holidays. Orchard Road, which is a tropical version of the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, was a ghost town when we went on Tuesday. But we will be able to see some special sights because of the holiday. We went to Sentosa ("Asia's favorite island resort") yesterday to see the flower show. Paths full of thousands of flowers of all types, and particularly lots of orchids (Singapore's national flower).

On Sentosa, we also took a walk on the beach. (Confession time: in Malaysia, we never went on the beach. Even though our resort had a private beach. Seems strange, in retrospect. But we're just not "ocean people." We did, however, go swimming in the pool.)

And to prove that we went in the ocean...

The strange thing about this beach is the view. This has to be the only famous beach spot where you look out on a harbor full of freighters and oil refineries. So just think - if America's oil addiction continues and certain congressmen get their way, here's what the coast of Florida could look like before too long...

And though we are married and no longer deserving of a hongbao (the red envelope full of money that is given to unmarried Chinese children/young adults each new year), we have seen a lot around. Here's Rachel in front of Singapore "largest ever hongbao lantern," which is made entirely of red envelopes. I wonder how many people made their living this year building it...

Gong xi fa cai!

-alan

Pictures from KK

We have checked out of our hotel, but we have a few hours before we leave for the airport. So we are waiting around the lobby now - Rachel engrossed in "Amazing Race: Asia" while I upload pictures.

It was a wonderful morning - blue skies, in the 80s with an ocean breeze. We slept in, but woke up in time for the Chinese New Year parade through the hotel. There were lion dancers - pretty cool! So xi nian kuai le to all lunar-calendar-followers out there in blog land!

As I said in the previous post, we are staying in Kota Kinabalu (KK) for a few days to begin our vacation. Our hotel is on the beach - which, honestly, we haven't spent too much time at, but it's still nice to see the water and hear the surf.


We travelled to Mount Kinabalu National Park, which is one of the World Heritage Sites for its array of unique animal and plant life. It is also home to Mount Kinabalu, the "tallest mountain in southeast Asia." I didn't double check their claim, but it is tall so I will believe them.

We made a pit stop to see the world's biggest flower - rafflesia - in bloom. It's rare and elusive, and blooms at most once a year. And it's in my students' 7th grade science book, so I figured I should have a look. In this picture though, it looks kinda ugly! It also smells, to attract black flies as pollinators. To give you an idea of size, this one was about 2 feet in diameter.

The highlight of the trip was to the Poring Hot Springs, even deeper into the forest and up the mountains. We saw some huge bamboo - as big as small trees!

And took a walk through the forest canopy, forcing me to abandon any latent fears of heights as I walked across the little planks.

But the view was definitely worth the 2+ hours drive and climb up into the mountains.

Up next: Singapore!

-alan

In Kota Kinabalu!!

Greeting all from Malaysia!

We are on the island of Borneo, which is a good stop for both of us (for Rachel the geographer, it is the 3rd largest island in the world....for Alan the biologist, it is home to a rapidly diminishing array of tropical rainforest flora and fauna)

[Check that. As I was typing, Rachel was trying to figure out the largest island in the world. She said "#1 is Australia, and #2 is Madagascar..." Those of you who watched Carmen Sandiego along with me as a child, can you please sympathize with my feelings right now??]

We've been here for a little over a day. We went into town today to book a tour and shop a bit. We didn't actually buy anything - things are actually more expensive here than China, though less expensive than the US, so we are all confused. If you're looking for a job, come to Borneo - all the stores have signs posting "Sales Girl Wanted." There seems to be a good market for all the Americans reading this who want a "second start" on life. :)

Here's the plan for our time here -
Sunday: Trip to the rainforest and Mount Kinabalu National Park
Monday: Bum around the beach until we fly to Singapore in the afternoon


It's great to be free from long underwear!

-alan

Is this worth a post or not?

As you can see in the picture, Rachel was quite excited last night. Colby, now that he is 4ish months old, just lost a tooth.

Which brings up the question - to post or not to post? On the one hand, certain people have expressed interest in the dog and this is simply a case of giving the people what they want. On the other hand, it brings us one step closer to being "that couple" who treats their pet like a child...

-alan

Trip to the Earthquake Zone

On Saturday, as Rachel took a trip to the orphanage, I went with another group from the international school to visit an elementary school in Dujiangyan. This small city is an hour west of here, and was hit hard by the earthquake last May.

[For those of you are visual people and would like to see a map, look at this link to a Google map - you should be able to see Dujiangyan and Chengdu. As you can see, this is a city literally at the foothills of the mountains. We were only a few kilometers from the mountains, but thanks to the dreary gray of the Sichuan basin, we could only see a few little hills. The horizon was obscured. One of these days, I'll see 'em....]

Over the course of the past 8 months since the earthquake hit, representatives from our school have been going to various schools throughout the province, to deliver supplies and encouragements to children who were affected by it (losing classmates, losing relatives, losing homes, losing a school, losing hope, etc.) The biggest role we have taken is to deliver coats for kids purchased with funds donated by some of other affiliated schools. Being mountainous, it has surely been a cold winter for these people to live in poorly-heated temporary housing.

The purpose of our specific trip was to encourage the students and teachers at a school we had previously delivered coats to. (I use the royal "we" to refer to our school - I personally have not been here before) The original school was destroyed in the earthquake. When it hit, the students evacuated the building safely onto a field nearby - where the watched the whole thing collapse a few minutes later. Until a new school is built, they will meet in temporary housing. It consists of a handful of those buildings, with a common area in the middle:


Which is what just about everything in this city is now made out of. Other than a few housing developments that have already been built, most everything in the city was completely leveled. Only a few damaged buildings remain now, because the rest of the rubble has been cleared away. The city looks empty - there are many empty fields where buildings once stood, now awaiting to be re-developed. So the temporary housing put up by the government serves many functions - as homes, offices, hospitals, schools, and stores. It is sturdy but crude - better than a tent but not as nice as most pre-fab units in the US. Here's a look at one classroom:


When we first arrived, the Chinese teachers of the school were taken away to do some activities apart from the kids. These teachers have likely worked long and difficult hours the past months, and could probably use a break! I stayed with the kids, who were split into small groups for some opening games. I played the games, smiled a lot, tried to talk to the kids a little, and listened a lot. It is easier to follow along to the conversation of a 5th grader in Chinese, as compared to an adult!! Thankfully, I was able to rely on Charlie, a Chinese friend who led the games. Here is a picture of him with the kids:
Then we played some big group games. One fun one involved jumping into or out of "the pond" based on the directions being given (in Chinese). I did okay, but my friend Zack represented the foreigners the best, as you can see in this video -

We also played a Chinese version of red rover (at least that is the closest thing I can think of in America...)

But the big finish, and what the kids were asking about all morning, was tug-o-war. ALL the kids and teachers, and most of the foreigners participated - maybe 80 or 90 altogether. They had fun.
In the end, we passed out some gifts - school supplies and fruit, mostly. It was a short but memorable trip. Personally, it was very easy thanks to the work of my school's Chinese staff, who organized all the logistics and planned the games. Though I wish that we had more opportunities to help (the need is certainly great) I learned through this experience that amazing things are being done as the Chinese reach out to help each other. I appreciate all the hard work I see my Chinese coworkers doing. God is good!

-alan

a saturday well spent-rachel's version

Today, I went to the Deyang Orphanage and helped put on a Christmas/Chinese New Year party for the children there. Our school visits this orphanage almost monthly, but this was my first opportunity to go. We took a 1.5 hour bus ride out of Chengdu to the small industrial town of Deyang.

We were dropped off on the main road and had to walk through an alley, carrying all our party supplies and gifts, back to the orphanage. The party was to take place in a tent that everyone stayed in after the earthquake. We started getting things set up and the teenagers from the orphanage helped us. I tried to talk to one girl and she looked at me blankly. I was happy to see that later she was talking to someone else and looked like she was having fun. Slowly the kids started coming down for the party...

We handed out ornaments to the kids (mostly New Year's decorations) and they hung them on the Christmas tree. It was touching to see one of the men holding up the kids so they could reach the higher branches. Will they ever have a dad to do that for them?

I spent the bulk of my time in the handicapped room. I volunteered to go up with the kids that couldn't come down to the general party, and I'm glad I did. There were 9 kids in the room either in beds, on stools, or in a wheel chair. When I first entered I was immediately drawn to the boy in the wheel chair because he was soooo smiley and started laughing. He was one of the only kids in the room who could speak and was a joy to play with. Three of the children were completely bed-ridden and could barely move. They reminded me a lot of my sister Leah, but were somewhat more responsive. I tried to spend time with each kid touching their face or giving them a high five.

I was really impressed with the worker who took care of these kids. She was very loving and patient but also firm with the rowdy child who had motor skills. It was hard to see them and I even teared up a bit, but it was good to know that someone is caring for them. I hope someday they will be able to live in a home that will be able to fully love them.

Please keep these children in your hearts and hope that they will someday find a special family. All of the kids at the Deyang orphanage have some level of special needs. Most suffer or have suffered from cleft palette, yet those faces are so beautiful. I'm looking forward to going back and seeing them again!

Our life in commercial form...

**Disclaimer: I am making a concerted effort to stop my whining and belly-aching about the cold. So please excuse this post, I just could not resist.**


I came across this on the Slingbox a few days ago: http://mediacenter.fedex.designcdt.com/node/274

Here, you will find a new Fedex commercial which I believe captures the spirit of my life at work. Though we DO have heat at school our rooms open up to exposed hallways. So with students entering and exiting all day, the un-insulated classrooms never quite warm up. So, like these characters, my daily work attire consists of long underwear, a shirt or two, sweater, jacket, and cut-off gloves. Once you get used to the extra pounds of clothing, it actually isn't that bad...

-alan

Tuesday morning tears

We've had 7 days of school since returning from Christmas vacation, and some of them haven't started so well. On 3 of those days, we have missed the school van for the morning pick-up, meaning we had to take a taxi. (we have been taking the van as opposed to the electric scooters because of the cold in the mornings) Now, a taxi is only around $1.40 USD to take to school, but it the principle that makes it frustrating - each day we were no more than 5 minutes late.

This morning, I was late getting up, so it is my fault for slowing Rachel down. (Sorry Rachel!) We left and we only 2 minutes late! We took a taxi and got to school...BEFORE the van arrived. Oh geez. To make matters worse, Rachel forgot our lunch bag, which had our tupperware and her Sigg bottle inside. So that's what caused the Tuesday morning tears. We'll see if they turn up, if the driver brings them back to school at any point...

-alan

Obama trying to have it both ways?

Sorry to get political, but one interesting news bit crossed my computer this morning. It was an article from US News and World Report about Obama picking gay episcopal bishop Gene Robinson to give another high-profile invocation during the inauguration this month. That was supposedly done to placate the gay community, who dislike Rick Warren (the first pick to give an invocation) for being anti-homosexual. Here's a quote from Robinson...

"I'm all for Rick Warren being at the table," Robinson told the New York Times. "But we're not talking about a discussion; we're talking about putting someone up front and center at what will be the most watched inauguration in history, and asking his blessing on the nation. And the God that he's praying to is not the God that I know." (emphasis mine)

Now, I can understand Obama for picking a variety of clergy as he is trying not to upset too many people. But I must say I was surprised to hear Robinson speak out so strongly against Warren. I didn't realize how far apart the Episcopals and Evangelicals are in the US!

-alan

Alan's happiness meter

Today, it was on the uptick because the sun has been out the last few days! That brings a little extra warmth and allows for some nice walks with the dog in the late afternoon. And now, I'm sitting on my heated blanket with a space heater at my feet. It's nice!

However, my local ISP is on notice for reducing my bandwidth as of Saturday. The last few days, it has been near impossible to use Slingbox. That's a no-no during the NFL playoffs!

-alan

Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) troubles

In China, Christmas is a mere blip on the screen. Because our school is international, we had vacation - but no one else in China was off. Spring Festival (known more as "Chinese New Year" back in the US) is the big holiday - a two week extravaganza in which most everybody is off work and visiting with family. Because our international school happens to be in China, we get this time off school as well :)

Back in November, we booked airline flights for our upcoming 2-week holiday to southeast Asia. In case you missed that post, here's our itinerary:

Jan 23-26 Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (on the island of Borneo)
Jan 26-31 Singapore
Jan 31-Feb 3 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Airfare was cheap (thanks to AirAsia), as was the lodging in Kuala Lumpur. The problem was Singapore. That little island is expensive! We looked and looked and looked at hotels, and didn't find much in our price range. And all the "budget" hotels we found were in the red light district - and Singapore has legalized prostitution. I vetoed staying there. (though I could never quite tell if Rachel agreed with me or not on that...)

Then, the perfect place offered a sale - a really nice hotel, downtown near the shopping district. I saw it at 10am. Rachel also thought it was a good place. But by the time we got home to buy it, the price was up by $25 a night. (a couple days later, it went up another $20 per night. We really missed a good deal!)

So we looked and looked and looked some more. We started looking at hostels as well. Rachel began staying up past bed time reading the endless reviews available online...so I "took her off the case" for awhile.

I looked and looked and looked a little more.

Finally, on Friday, we decided to go the hostel route and found a nice-looking "boutique homestay" for the price we originally wanted to pay. It's no 5-star hotel, but it should be comfortable. We'll let you know if it was the right decision!

But it is wonderful to be able to say that the major planning details are DONE and I don't have to look at expedia again anytime soon!

-alan

more Taiwan pictures...

So in Taiwan, the family took one side trip to a city on the other side of the island called Hualien. It's halfway up the island, on the east coast. Squint, and you can see it on the map...


We took a train there, which was more convenient and comfy than driving, from what I've heard of the prior trips made there in the Miller-mobile. Here some of the crew at the train station:
The purpose of coming here was to visit Toroko Gorge National Park - kind of a subtropical Grand Canyon, so to speak. The park follows the winding path of a river than has cut some deep canyons through the mountains.

It was quite beautiful - we are supposedly surrounded by mountains in Chengdu, but I've never seen them. Maybe its a myth. But here, the mountains were tall, green, and quite wonderful to walk through.
We "hiked" a few kilometers across one trail that took us through a few tunnels and a bridge or two. Here's the Millers outside one of the tunnels, sans Mom.
And of course, there was fun to be had in picture-taking. This one took a few tries, but the effort was worth it in seeing the look on my wife's face!
Another highlight was biking through town along the ocean. Now, I appreciate the city's efforts to encourage biking - but it was a bit strange for much of the trip, because it was a bit like biking through Gary, Indiana. Sure, the ocean is beautiful, but it's hard to appreciate when a railroad and huge factory is blocking your view of it!

[Taking that video is about as death-defying a stunt as I am willing to try]

It looked like rain, but a stiff wind blowing off the ocean kept the clouds away long enough for us.

Another in an endless series of group shots that occurred during the trip. (side note: the one group shot we DIDN'T get was a nice studio-style shot of the family. uh oh! Sorry Mom II!)

As happens in many other circumstances, the biking had a larger-than-expected impact on Rachel's appearance. The hair, I can understand. It was windy. But why is she all wet?

And because no trip with the Millers would be complete without some kind of lodging complication, we came to our hotel to find this in the LOBBY:

Apparently the first floor was under renovation. We walked in and out of construction zones during our stay. Thankfully, the rooms were in much better condition...

Back in Kaohsiung, we didn't have time to do much more than pack, watch NU lose a close game to Missouri in the Alamo Bowl, and pack. It was tough trying to fit our Costco spoils, but we got it all here!

So byebye Kaohsiung, until next time!

(Here's Rachel on the ferris wheel on top of the Dream Mall)

-alan

Long time no see...

I know it is shocking but this post is actually coming from Rachel. Contrary to popular belief, I have not left Alan and Colby to pursue my career as a Chinese acrobat. I have been here all along reading Alan's narrative of our lives and I've enjoyed it quite a bit.

Anyways, I will share a few highlights from my break and from this first week back (I will have to dig deep for the latter). Christmas was really fun, relaxing, and warm.

There were many material blessings to be had from pretzels to cheese to 6 new pairs of shoes. It is amazing to me how quickly your perspective can change about places and things. Taiwan was always a really fun place to serve and visit but I was never it awe of all the things they had there. I would bring suitcases of foodstuffs and toiletries to my poor parents who were deprived the comforts of western living. Now I come from a place that has much less and can't believe how good my parents have it. (We really do have a lot here in Chengdu, but it is hard to compete with the Costco stocked from floor to warehouse ceiling with American delights) Now if my parents visit here we will be making a list for them to bring :-)

Aside from the food and SHOES, I really liked being all together with my side of the family this Christmas. We played a lot of games and had fun just being together. I'm still trying to figure out how to be an adult but it isn't easy to leave teen mode when there are still teens in the house. Becca and Stephen are incredibly mature and it is really fun to see them growing up. Sarah endured some hardships on the trip (a massive bruise from paintball and falling in the water inside a dark cave) but she took things in stride. It is sad to think of her all alone in North America, but I'm proud of all the things she is doing to serve her kids in Chicago.

We came back to Chengdu dreading the cold that would await us, but we have bundled up and survived! We had a few days to hang out with Chengdu friends before school started. I admit it has been hard to come back from vacation particularly as we will be off for another 2 weeks in 2 weeks. The biggest bright spot has been Model UN. Alan and I are helping lead the club and we had 14 at the first meeting. Although never did MUN it is a nice cross between debate and speech and schmoozing with strangers. We have an interesting cross section of kids who came out so I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone works together.

In other news, we took Colby for his first walk today around our complex. But I don't want to talk about him too much, we're fighting right now. He thinks my hands are his chew toys and he can't convince me of his point of view.

-rachel

Happy new year!

We're back in Chengdu now, enjoying the last few days of vacation. It's cold, but it's good to be back. More pictures from Taiwan will come soon.

We came home to our orphaned puppy - Colby has grown a little and has been behaving better! Here he is in his new favorite place - on the futon, lounging on our electric blanket. He loves to curl up and soak in the heat. So in many ways, we are no different than him!

I wanted to share one exciting technological feat since we have been back - our first ever on-line Skype Catan game! Sharon (my sister) recently got both Catan and a webcam, and wanted to try and play with us. We set up mirror boards in Michigan and China, and used Skype to communicate back and forth. We took turns, traded cards, built roads and settlements without any need to make adjustments to the gameplay. It turned out to be much easier and faster than we predicted! It was a lot of fun. Here's what the setup looked like on our end:

The laptop webcam took a picture of our board, which was on the table. The TV in the background projected the webcam image of what was going on in Michigan. Pretty nifty, eh?


Even the sound quality was better than normal, which helped. The voice in the background of the video is actually Matt, my brother-in-law, being piped into our speakers via Skype.



So hopefully we'll do it again!

-alan