Singapore Day 9: Water world and a Sunday sabbath

The Merlion, mythical mascot of Singapore

Kirsten arrives in the middle of the night, safe and sound. She was blessed to have Economy Comfort on the 19 hour flight from Minn. She reports: "The seat didn't seem to recline much - but I was happy about the extra leg room!"

Needless to say we are all awake for hours. (W took the bus to the airport and came back by taxi with K.) K unpacks into her cabinets: oh daughter of her mother. It's the first thing I do upon arrival = empty the suitcases into dressers and onto hangers.

We wake very late. W and I walk to get breakfast and it starts to drip. Soon there are big splashes of water. Wide splats landing on the sidewalk.

By the time we get under cover at the mini-mall, it's seriously raining. Vendors pull their movable displays under cover into the walkways, and rush to pull down tarps. The splash-up from the pavement is 6-10". We end up eating inside in the main cafeteria.

Glutenous rice in its leaf package

Unwrapped, a delicious mix
of sauce, seasoning, and meat

W has glutenous rice (a dim sum standard). I choose noodles, broth and veges, but the selection is skimpy. For S$4.20 ($3.50US), we can choose 6 items and noodles. I put in my bowl: 2 ladyfingers (okra), two kinds of mushroom, an egg, and broccoli. The chef submerges it in boiling broth. (Better to come in the afternoon for tastier broth!) Bags of fresh vegetables lie on the table beside us: they'll be washing and cutting those up for another hour or two. They keep bringing out greens until I'm nearly done.

Splashes and puddles form quickly!

After breakfast, W buys an umbrella: we have 3 in the flat where they're doing us no good. The rain has slowed from a deluge to a downpour by the time we stop by a bakery for some pastries to share with Kirsten.

We slog home, my flip-flops shedding water. W's Keens keep the water off until we're nearly home and the puddles are deep. Water rushes off the paved surfaces through metal grates, forming turbulent rivers in the concrete drainage canals. Every few days during dry season (now), God washes the leaves and removes smells of drainage and garbage, refreshing the air and the ground as water rushes to the sea.

K sleeps until noon. W and I are going through the Bible (he in big chunks; I listening on my IPad), but it's strange not to get to morning service. I sat through a wonderful sermon yesterday at the wedding, and I think that was my sabbath. W's been teaching theology all week in his classroom community. Our church routines are jumbled, and we miss Creekside Church (where we are members.) However, we sense God's presence in the preparation and interactions with others. We are thankful to be in ministry at home and here.

By the time we're ready to leave the flat, it's 3pm. We spend the afternoon in Singapore, letting Kirsten get acclimated to the weather. She's walking well and her arthritis is pretty quiet, even after a 4 hour flight to Minneapolis and 19 hours to Singapore. We are so grateful to God for his mercy on her.

Puri putra steamer

In the neighborhood mall a few nights ago, we tried puri putra. A gal scoops rice flour onto a 2" metal plate. She sprinkles it with brown sugar and covers the sugar with more rice flour. She spins another plate over to remove excess flour, making each "cookie" the same size. She uses rice flour and brown sugar, nothing more, nothing less.

"I learned how to do this from my sister. It is traditional Malay dessert," she explains.

The contraption to steam it is interesting (see photo). The gal shows us how she covers the rice powder with a 5" piece of fabric, slips a little metal "hat" over, and flips it over to cook on metal plates resting on the steam pot. It takes 5 minutes to steam: a serving is five 2" cookies, plenty between W and me.

 Thank you for your prayers for our time of ministry. I usually write about things I think will interest the reader: however, this is a serious time of ministry and prayer for us. We appreciate your support and partnership! Much love from Singapore from all the K's.

Singapore Day 5: Food. And more food.

The day starts up with two small pastries I picked up from a bakery last night. I share, but still ... I'm eating before I'm hungry. Cheryl takes me along to Mr. Prata, but I can only tolerate a TeeO (black tea and sugar). When the gals head back to work after 10, I look for W, who's on breakfast break with his students. I order a plate of noodles and long (green) beans. They're cold and greasy but I eat most of them.

The students remark on the way I hold my chopsticks. "You know how to hold properly," they exclaim. "We never teach our children so they hold any way. How did you learn?"

From the pictures on the back of chopstick wrappers, of course.

I ask the younger students for a demonstration. "Why do the elders say you don't know how to hold?" They show me how they cross the sticks and randomly stab at food. It's funny to watch. They weren't taught so they just pick up the food however they can. Most Singaporean Chinese alternate chopsticks with a fork and spoon.

"We have to start teaching children to use chopsticks," sighs one of the women. "And you from USA can use it?" The young gal beside me asks how I do it, and with a quick demo tries it out. "I drop food lah." Oh well. You can hardly starve to death here. With spoon. Fork. Or chopsticks.

A food stall in a hawker marker

Cheryl knocks on the office door at noon and invites me along to an official luncheon. They're saying goodbye to a coworker on her last day. However, nothing is mentioned "because she might be emotional about the farewell." Goodbyes will be said privately to this greatly appreciated helper.

Where do we go? To a buffet. Our options:

• Chinese stir-fry and rice (snow crab and noodles; scallops and tofu...)
• Japanese sushi (beautiful. Lots of variety)
• Curries and meats in sauce (mutton curry; Indian beef, etc.)
• Tempura (shrimp, beef, taro, tofu)
• Laksa (coconut and meat soup)
• Satay (beef, chicken, squid, etc.) For this you clip the table number to a stake of the type of meat you want and the chef cooks it up, clips your table number to the skewer, and servers bring it to you.
• Dim sum (5 enormous steamers of buns and assorted offerings)
• Pizza and other western foods
• Ben and Jerry ice-cream bar
• A pudding and fruit bar: the guava slices with plum sugar are fantastic. I spoon a bit of mango puree into a little cup and put a half-scoop of "B&J Chocolate Therapy" on top.
• Cake desserts (brownies, squares, etc.) I skipped these entirely.
• Drink bar: assorted teas and coffees (hot and cold), pop, fruit drinks, water

The variety of food is staggering

A small Malay motions me forward at the ice cream bar. His feet are injured so I wave him ahead. The longest line is at that counter. Everyone grabs the same ice cream scoops and plunges them into the cold water pot when they're done. (That can't be good for us.)

I try to limit my portions but we eat for an hour and a half, between laughing about our common love of Korean drama, miming Bollywood-style motions, and chatting about kids and school and recipes. It's delightful, but we're all so full we just want to sleep when we get back to the office.

Typical neighborhood: looming housing

After work, W and I walk from the flat to the nearby neighborhood center. There are skyscrapers on every side. Once we explore, I have wonton soup and W gets dim sum. We snag a few mini Magnum ice cream bars, stuff them in a freezer bag, and head home. Pistachio ice cream. Groan. Even if it's a little bar, I'm stuffed from lunch, never mind from supper.

We have emails to catch up on and a bit more work to do before bed. I watch an hour of KBS (Korean TV). Cheryl and her kids have a supper appointment before she comes home to pack. They fly out in the early morning hours. (Jay flew home Sunday night. That was a close call: he'd though his flight was Monday until they checked the ticket Sunday evening. Oh my!)

We'll be in the flat on our own until Kirsten arrives early Saturday. I have a pile of research to finish before the weekend. Can't believe it's going to be Thursday when we wake up. It's nearly the end of June. Is anyone else feeling like summer is rushing by?