Nate and his China trip buddy

Here are two pictures, there was another one of nate eating dinner at their home with chopsticks!! Looks like he had a great weekend. I had a dream that he came home and asked to be sent to boarding school cos it was so much more fun!

This is his buddy whom he shared a dorm room with and got to go stay at their home over the weekend. His parents were nice enough to send pictures and videos.

Kids at this school go to boarding on sunday and leave back to their families on friday. Sounds similar to the british boarding schools. Anyway, 5 more days till they get home!!

Ike misses him but refuses to admit it.

Nate on weekend homestay

Here is the video of one of his activities. Am not sure why blogger is not allowing me to upload photos. Will upload them on another post.

This is what one of the teacher's wrote on an email to us...

"I was able to spend a little time with Nate last night after he arrived back at school. He was very happy! and had a great time. I am so proud of him as the home stay didn't seem to be an issue for him - didn't show any fear. :-) Yes, they treated him very well and took him out to the Aquarium, and another place(sorry, can't remember right now) :-) that we will not visit this trip. They also bought him some gifts that he is enjoying."

Nate away for a week

We managed to speak to the homestay parent that nate is with and they were visiting the aquarium when we called, he said he was happy and having a great time. The homestay mom said they like him alot and he has been quite manja with them or close with them but won't hold their hand or let her bathe him. They said they took lots of pictures so they will send that on to me soon. Nate did want to speak to ike but ike was at jonas' house.

Having ike as a single child is quite easy to manage, it really is that 2 kids are more than double the work. Ike has also been so well behaved. Today at his brain class, the teacher said he can't tell between trip, tripping and tripped, not the meaning but just catching the sound, so they will be training his ears to hear better. This not catching of different tones may explain why he can't tell the difference and as such affects his sentence formation.

Am chugging along with the art project. Our exhibition date in Shanghai is now fixed for August 13 where we will debut my granddad's "return" and his artworks. On the August 26 we will debut the digital cartoon exhibition of Huang Yao and a few of his 1930s friends, if all goes well here we will roll it out to several other animation festivals in China then outside of China. So its busy busy busy. I keep another blog on www.huangyao.org, but you'll have to find the english button and its not that updated as it needs to go through translation before uploading.

Nate & Ike update

Sorry no pictures this posting.... just an update on Nate and his trip and ike's day without nate....

So I could not get a hold of the 2 teachers nor the parent I know on the trip, so I call the dorm mom to check if he's there, she says oh he is so happy l and playing so nicely and passing out all the gifts he brought... when I said hello, his first sentence was so cheerful then he broke up crying and sobbing till he couldn't breathe nor talk! I guess his emotions took over and he realised how far he was from home and wanted me to go to BJ (well one other sentence among all that sobbing). He did wake up early this morning (at 5 am and once at 2 am thinking it was 5 am), so he was over tired and probably so much adrenaline from all the excitement.

Nate also dropped another tooth yesterday and the tooth fairy brought him some RMB before his trip.

Ike... well his teachers said he likes having long chats with them and debates! They say his speech is equivalent to the girls in his class, there are other boys that are way behind him. I asked the teacher for an update to see whether any of the neuroscience training he has been getting is working.... it could just be maturation as well.... here's what his teacher wrote...

"Ike's development for the last 5 weeks, we noticed improvement in his fine motor skills, such as cutting, colouring, writing, drawing etc. He is beginning to find it a joy to do drawing with his peers. However, his favorite activity is still to chat or debate with others. From our interaction, Ike's is always very logical and reflective in his thoughts and ideas. He is always able to make connection and recall events to such details. We did not find any problem with his speech and expression."

So I asked Ike how come he doesn't talk to his friends, why always talking to adults... and he says... well his friends can't explain where wind comes from and "I always have so many questions!". Today, his chinese tutor took him out for an outing and she said they had a great time, he slept in her arms in the MRT, she took him to a place where they could look at arts and crafts and also clothes and toys, he got more animal kaiser cards and wanted a shirt with a certain print, it was only in adult size though. He then apparently had long conversations in Chinese and impressed shop owners as well. I think I need a secret camera following him.

The kids are booked for chinese summer school in Shanghai for 3 weeks in July with YK Pao and I think I found a nice service 2BR apartment with pool and kids area and tennis, about 1.3km from their school (apparently 15 min walk thru the shortcuts) and close to the french concession with a Cantonese restaurant, a pizza restaurant and a japanese restaurant downstairs!

Now to book the flights and visa's......

Greenschool Bali

This school was on our way to our next destination, so we thought we would drop in and take their tour. Its been featured on TED and the structures of the school is entirely made of bamboo, its quite impressive that their toilets are also built to have the waste recycled...

Its really worth a tour this place! We may send the kids for a week on their next break...

Desa Seni

Am a bit frustrated with blogger, it doesn't allow me to upload pictures unless I create a post and then view it and then edit it, then I can upload images... grrr.

Anyway here is a really special place in Bali... highly recommended. The owners have created a slice of what my heaven would look like, the rooms are old indonesian homes of various designs refurbished, then clustered to be like a little kampung (village). They then have edible plots of land everywhere and a full yoga schedule and an art gallery. They also have two very friendly dogs that came to stay in our room...

They were very creative in using coconuts to line the beds (from the heavy rains) and did not do companion planting as their chilli oil to deter pests would burn the herbs... Bali sure has a sophisticated eco system of plant eating bugs.

We didn't stay in this 2 storey house but when we come back with the kids and grandparents... doesn't it just look like a malay version of hansel and gretel? even the approach to the house, one wanders and then suddenly there is this place...

A busy month

It has been a crazy month, starting with the Shanghai Art Museum curators in town, then a week's break and then I headed to China for 2 weeks and then a week back before a nice week with loren in Bali. Hopefully now, I will be in town for some time as we are entering the last leg of renovations at VDR. Hopefully we get the place before the kids break for summer. it is scheduled that we can move in by mid June.

I got some good news that Ike has also been accepted into YK Pao for summer school and so that will make my life alot easier, now to find a service apartment. Tomorrow is Wesak day and its a public holiday, I plan to take the boys to the National Museum as they have a large interactive exhibit for kids.

Nate is off to a 2 week trip to China with his friends. I went for the briefing today, he will be assigned a buddy and as the school is so large, every class is assigned one friend from Singapore. His best friend, Makoh will be going too and he seems excited about it. He will have to do alot of things for himself though.

They get to visit a number of places in the mornings and in the afternoons, they join in the classes and then the activities as well and stay in the dorm, though the dorm is a room with 2 beds, so he and his assigned buddy are in the room. On the weekend he goes home with his assigned buddy as well. I have a standby China visa, incase I have to fly up there!