New Kids on the Block

Life is not always easy as the new kid in school. Jacob is slowly adjusting to life on the bus. His first day he told us that kids were using "bad words" and yelling on the bus. A few hours later, Jacob admits that he started to yell at the other kids, "telling them to be quite because people were trying to sleep." Needless to say, in that moment I knew as a parent, that Jacob had just painted a huge target on himself. The next day he relates how bothered he was becasue the kid behind him kept kicking his seat the entire way home from school. (Oh, and the other kids were still using bad words). That night, Scott and I decided to invest in an ipod shuffle so we could at least protect Jacob's ears. He now has a list of songs from the "Chipmunks Movie" and "High School Musical" to keep him entertained. I could only bear to put about 4 of the Chipmunk songs on the ipod....downloading them started to give me a headache quite rapidly.

Wednesday morning, Andrew and I headed to the Canadian school to meet with the admissions advisor. I thought I was going to be handed some paperwork and sent on my way. Instead, Andrew and I were given an hour and a half long tour of the campus. I must say, I am very impressed! I think Andrew will have a great time at that school. My favorite part is that he will have French and Mandarin classes (not together) two times a week. Monday and Wednesday is French, Tuesday and Thursday is Mandarin. For some reason I find that funny. Andrew is already somewhat difficult to understand...I can't imagine how it will be after mixing two new languages there. Watch, he will probably become more proficient in one of those two new languages than he is in his native tongue. 

Wednesday evening, I realized we had a small problem with Jacob's uniform. On PE days, he is supposed to wear the PE uniform to school. As I was laying out his clothes for the next day, I realized we had four pairs of PE shorts, rather than two shirts and two shorts. When I informed Jacob he did not have a PE shirt for school that morning, he was pretty sad (not wanting to stand out as the new kid). I told him I would go up to his school after he left and get him a PE shirt (I needed to go up there anyway because the uniform sweater I had bought him was so large it fit me perfectly. When he came home his first day wearing the sweater, he said he looked like a girl). 

Again, in order to save money, Andrew and I shared a cab with Scott to his work (which is right smack next to an MRT station). We said good-bye to Scott, and spent about 45 minutes making our way up to the Woodlands. (I was smart and brought the Nintendo Gameboy this time). I was proud of myself, I arrived at Jacob's classroom exactly 1 minute before recess ended; thus I did not disrupt class. The nice thing was that I had a moment to talk to Jacob's teacher for a while. She is extremely nice and told me that Jacob is settling in very well. Jacob was excited about the shirt and immediately headed to the bathroom to change. After that he had no more use for me.

Andrew and I decided to walk back to the MRT. He happily gathered leaves and sticks as we made our way to the station. He was not as happy when I told them he could not take them on the train.

Friday , Scott was to attend a training meeting in Holland Village. As he was walking out door he said, "Something is weird with this address; it looks like a residence." Scott hops in a cab and gives the man the address. Fifteen minutes later he is dropped off in front of a Cold Storage (Singapore's equivalent to Safeway). He cannot figure out what is going on, so he calls a co-worker who is currently in South Africa. The co-worker asks Scott if he can see the gas station across the street. Scott said he did. Then the guy tells him the meeting is underneath the gas station. I told Scott is sounded like some type of secret society. With the way people feel about gas prices, I don't think it looks to good when the employees are disappearing underground to discuss business. 

While Scott was making his way to the depths of the station, I was in search of a doctor to fill out Andrew's medical forms (so he can commence school on  Monday). I called about 3 people in the ward (which took over and hour) only to find out that most people just go to the clinics for any medical issues. I was informed that they were really inexpensive (about $20) and fast. I decide on a clinic near our current housing and headed over. As I am about half way through the visit, I notice a sign on the wall. It looks like the kind of sign one would see in a nail salon (pedicure: $35, manicure: $20, full set: $45), except this one read: standard visit: $55, emergency/long: $80, x-rays: $60. Not only I am shocked that it is more expensive than I expected, but I quickly realize I am in some sort of Emergency type clinic. As I am processing this very thought, the doctor calls my name. We head into the room and he asks me to describe Andrew's symptoms. I sheepishly hand him Andrew's school medial form and tell the doctor I just need him to vouch that Andrew is healthy. I then hand him Andrew's immunization records to show he is up to date. The doctor sits down and starts to hand write every immunization onto the form. I try to tell him that the school already has these records, but he says the form states he needs to fill them out. So here I am, feeling like a complete idiot, while I am having an emergency room doctor fill out my child's medical forms. I am sure he felt extremely satisfied as a doctor writing four different dates for Andrew's chickenpox vaccinations, rather than saving someone's life. 

I pay my $80 bill, and get in line to wait for a taxi. I am already bothered by how much our visit has cost, and am extremely disappointed when the taxi that pulls up for my turn is a Mercedes (meaning it's an extra $2 just to sit in their cab). I would have asked for another taxi, but I am sure the 15 locals behind me would have been rather annoyed. 

Last night, we as a family, were extremely excited for the weekend to arrive. We got ice-cream to celebrate the end of the school week, and then had frozen pizza for dinner. What party animals!