So, Monday morning I sent Andrew off on his bus, then immediately changed into my hiking gear (exercise shorts, an old BYU shirt, gross sneakers, no make-up, and crazy hair). Jacob and I drove to our starting point and were on our way. The hike was very fun and it was great having some one on one time with Jacob. Because of the extreme humidity, I was sweating profusely within a matter of minutes. It took us a little less than one hour to cover the first 4 kilometers. The last half kilometer was straight uphill, but we were too excited to care about the extra exertion. We had to take a series of flights of stairs to get to the bridge. We came up to the bridge after making a blind 90 degree turn, and are faced with an empty shed (the only way to get onto the bridge). I reached out my hand out to open the door to the shed and it is locked! What!? There must be some mistake. I look at the sign posted next to the shed, "Welcome to Treetop Walk. Open daily, except Mondays." (CRAAAAAAAAP!) Jacob was staring at me with a questioning, imploring look when I had to tell him that the bridge was closed. I felt awful! We gave each other a big hug and I told Jacob how proud I was of him for hiking so far. We craned to look through the windows of the shed to see the mysterious suspension bridge. Jacob got even more bummed out when he realized there were monkeys all along the sides of the bridge. We took one last look at the bridge, and then turned around for the trek home.
After covering another half a kilometer, I noticed a park ranger go into a shed. I followed her to the door and tentatively opened it. I could not see anyone so I said, "Um, excuse me?" A nice young man came around the corner. He tried to hide the look of shock on his face at my "rugged" appearance, but was not very successful. I asked if there was any way he could let us on to the bridge. He informed me that it was closed. (Really! It is!?) I told him that we had just hiked five kilometers to get there. I showed him Jacob in hopes that it would soften his heart. After negotiating for a few minutes, he went into his office to "check with his boss". A couple of minutes later he came out with a huge smile and said, "Alright, let's go!" I seriously wanted to hug him.
We hoofed it back up the hill to get to the bridge. The ranger had to unlock about three doors to get us all the way across the bridge. When we reached the other side, I started to head back the way we had come. The ranger told me to continue on to the other side to get the "full experience" of the Treetop Walk. (Forty-five minutes later I realized the "full experience meant a 2 kilometer detour). As we were walking on our Treetop Detour, Jacob said, "The bridge was kind of boring." (Great.)
When we arrived back at the starting point of the Treetop Walk, I had to choose between one of two ways to get back to our car....go back the way we had come, or continue around the other side of the reserve. On the map it appeared as if going the full circle would be the fastest way. More than twice I was honestly concerned that we were lost in the jungles of Singapore. We also encountered quite a bit of animal life (which thrilled Jacob); Jacob spotted about three monitors (extremely large lizards). I, on the other hand, was scared out of my wits by some large animal that ran across the path right in front of me. It was too fast for me to get a good look - but it was about 2 1/2 feet long, black, had four legs, a tail, and ran right into a muddy pond. That was the one and only time I screamed during our walk.
An hour into our return trip, we came across an observation tower that was about 5 stories high. Jacob really wanted to go to the top...so up we went. (Bye, bye to that reserve of energy).
We walked and walked and walked....
And walked some more.........
And some more.........
I was getting a bit worried that we had gone off on the wrong trail when we suddenly emerged on a gorgeous, pristine golf course. Okay, this is a bit awkward. It was obviously a high-end golf course with a dress code and I was convinced had we asked for a ride on someone's cart, we would have been hauled back to the jungle from which we had just come. At this point the sun was baring down on us (it's high noon) and Jacob was getting worn out. We finally came across another trail marker. I was thrilled to realize we had gone the right way, but was "un"thrilled when I saw we had 4 kilometers until our destination. Obviously we had selected the longer of the routes back. I noticed a small path off to the side that has the name "Lornie Road" written on it (Lornie Road is next to our apartment). I made the executive decision to head to the road. We came out on the road to find ourselves about one a half kilometers from our apartment. Problem: our car is 2 kilometers in the oppostie direction.
The moral of the story: it would have been a shorter distance to and from the Treetop Walk had we walked from our house.
Even though he was very tired (and as mentioned, very disappointed) Jacob wanted to run to the car when it came into sight. So we finished strong, and very sore.
We had just enough time to get home, shower, have some lunch, and then had to head directly to Andrew's end of the year party (even though he has four more days of school). Andrew had a classic Andrew Moment when they were singing their farewell song to all the parents. The song was that, "Skin-a-mer-inka-dinky-di, Skin-a-merinky-do. I...Love...You! Skin-a-mer-inky-dinky-di, Skin-a-merinky-do. Yes...I....Do" (I am sure you know the song if you have young kids). Well, Andrew grabed another little girl by both her hands and started to dance with her while they sang. As the song drew to its finale, Andrew went in for a major kiss. In horror, I jumped into the midst of children to stop my son from full on smooching in front of everyone. The second I turned to head back to my seat, I heard everyone start to laugh...I spun around to catch Andrew making a second attempt on his dance partner! Heaven help me when this boy reaches high school.
Alright, one last story.
Yesterday, Jacob and I decided to meet Scott for lunch. We decided it would be easiest to take the MRT to meet Scott. As Jacob and I were descending to the platform, I realized that the train we wanted was already there with its doors open. I told Jacob, "Run!" and took off for the train. I jumped on board and turned around to see the doors closing with my son, standing wide-eyed, on the platform looking as me. I immediately jumped back out of the closing doors while everyone on board gasped in horror. My actions caused the doors to re-open (and thus delay the train a few more seconds). I sheepishly boarded the train, trying to ignore everyone's stares.
Not only was Jacob terrified of what had just happened (his potentially being left behind by a psychotic mother) but he was faced with a total weirdo on the train. Standing next to Jacob was some guy who had, at most, one tooth in his whole mouth and was just bizarre in every sense of the word. He kept asking about Jacob, telling him how handsome he was, and giving him high fives. The second a seat opened up, I moved Jacob in hopes of getting him away. The guy wound up siting right across from us and kept giving Jacob peace signs and stuff. The guy then stood up and walked over to us. He put his hand right in between Jacob and myself, and then leaned right into my face. I felt like I was on a bad date where the guy goes in for the unwanted kiss at the end of the night. The guy then started to mumble something that was completely inaudible. After a few attempts he came out with, "I....needa....a....English girlfriend."
My response, "All my friends are married."
Him, "No. I really need....English girlfriend."
He then reached into his pocket and I started to break out in a cold sweat. (What is he goind to pull out of there!) Luckily his jeans were too tight to get his hand all the way into his pocket...and even more luckily his stop was coming up, so he started to prattle off some numbers. (The guy was giving me his freaking cell phone number). While walking backwards he said, "English girlfriend, plea...." as the train doors mercifully closed. At this point, all eyes shifted from the one-toothed man behind the glass door back to his potential pimp (me). I smiled, shrugged my shoulders, and then acted deeply engrossed in the "I Can Read: Ironman" book Jacob had brought along for the trip.
Least you think I am a semi-decent mother, this next portion will prove you wrong. One would think I had learned my lesson on the first MRT ride when we tried to rush the train. Well, after eating with Scott we headed back to the MRT. Again, the train we needed was already at the station as we came down the stairs. This time I was at least cognizant enough to grab Jacob's hand as I started to run. I jumped on the train to have the door completely close on my wrist (yes, Jacob was on the other side of the door...again). Jacob started to yell, "No! NO!" and I was frantically trying to get the doors to open (I guess this train didn't have a censor on its doors). Luckily two men ran over and pried the doors open. Total moment of humiliation and regret as I realized that I had just traumatized my son for a second time in one afternoon.
Today I went to a friend's house to learn how to make spring rolls. (I could not return to the US before learning how to make at least one Asian dish.) After my lesson, Scott and I met the woman who will be taking my place when I leave this summer. Yes, Scott is getting a "helper" to take care of the domestic needs of the apartment while I am gone. At least I know I will return to a clean home...and hopefully empty laundry bins!
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