Eric spent Thursday 31st Dec at work with the new recruits. He has a Canadian couple joining the staff at Punggol. First impressions are good. Then we joined other NYE revellers at Sque Bar in Clarke Quay with about a dozen other workmates to see in the new year amid lots of noise and colour.
We began classes on Sat 2nd and by Sun night it felt like we had the place ship-shape again after the painting. We had many happy students who were keen to return to reconnect with classmates, share their news with us and find out where we had been. Can't say the staff were as enthusiastic to be back. We returned to Penny Black at Boat Quay for the 'End of First Week Back' drinks with all the branches. It was interesting to hear all the travel stories as always. I was glad the first week was only 2 days long, it is hard to get back into the routine.
On Monday the walking group reassembled at the Botanic Gardens which we ambled through, then Dempsey Hill and finished at Tanglin Mall. A lovely walk in the fresh air after lots of recent rain and good to see some unfamiliar faces among the group. Apparently exercise has been mentioned in many recent NY Resolutions. We will see how long it lasts. Something new we learnt was that the pool at the bottom of the Dempsey Hill fountain is home to two giant fish. We haven't seen anything like this since the giant grouper we found off Seguntan Is when we used to scuba dive there years ago from Butterworth. These fish are called Arapaima and according to Wiki they are “a South American tropical freshwater fish… and one of the largest freshwater fish in the world.” Whatever the case, these fish are huge and pretty amazing. No picture can do them justice so you will have to go and see for yourself. Peter joined us, he is just back from Christmas in Aust but Bev has left after 6 years.
That night we joined a few other Nepal trekkers at Godhil Sanjh, Martin's Nepalese restaurant to see his new wall panels. Check these out! Eric's pics in montages. His place is called Godhuli Sanjh which translates to something like evening twilight so he has adopted the top pic as his own.
Peter took these shots below.
On Wednesday I began my new role as Curriculum Coordinator. I met with Renee and she stepped me through the current resources. I am a little alarmed at the way they are managed and one of my aims is to streamline, standardise and back-up. I will be doing this on a Wednesday afternoon now instead of teaching the three classes I used to have then. Something of a challenge to keep it interesting.
We had a walk through Wessex Estate on Friday to scope out a walking trail for the Monday group later in the term, We discovered this enclave of colonial black-and-white bungalows and small blocks of flats last year. Check out 'Sleeping Dragons' Post 13/10/15. We began at Buona Vista where there always seems to be a new piece of public art to be discovered. This time we found 'Oh Yeah' (below left) by Gao Xiaowu, a Chinese sculptor who has a number of pieces installed in Singapore, all human figures. Outside the Ministry of Education was another piece, this one a boy taking a leap of faith from an adult hand, into an uncharted realm. The sculpture named 'My Way' was designed in 2000 by a talented secondary school student, Tan Wei Keong.
We walked through One North Park which runs the entire length of One-north, forming a continuous green corridor between the very modern, surrounding buildings. One-north was designed as a business park and a high-tech research and development hub. It is home to shiny skyscrapers with "sci-fi" names such as Chronos, Genome, Galaxis and Solaris. Buildings are placed in various clusters named '-polises' (from the Greek word for cities), including Biopolis, Fusionopolis and Mediapolis. Companies with similar businesses, such as healthcare, media or biomedical science, are usually grouped in the same cluster. Even the shopping mall at Buona Vista is called Metrololis.
We found a sundial and sign denoting a landmark for Saturn. Reading on we discovered that if the sun was depicted as being located in the gardens of the Science Centre, then keeping distances proportionally correct, all the planets can be found in different parks on the island. This has given us the idea to locate them all before the year is out.
Cresting the hill we were very impressed by a building in the distance which has a continuous spiral landscaped terrace that winds its way 15 floors up to roof gardens. Now that looks like something that needs further investigation in case we can include it in the group walk. The building is called Solaris@fusionopilos and the ramp is 1.5kms long. So much of interest already and we hadn't even got to Wessex Estate
So much of interest already and we hadn't even got to Wessex Estate. Built in the 1940s by the British, they were homes for non-commissioned British officers and soldiers up to the 1970s, with the iconic COLBAR known to be the unofficial mess. Each block of flats was also given a name (e.g. Tangiers, Gallipoli, Blenheim) that corresponded to military sites of British engagement. The Wessex estate is now managed by the Jurong Town Corporation which over time has transformed it into a shady enclave that includes studio space for local artists and a few restaurants in the village-square. Our walk will have us enjoying lunch at Coldbar.
After work on Sunday, with lots of others, we caught up with Syd for his birthday at Wine Connection in Robertson Quay. Peter came along and once again provided the lyrics for a song adapted from 'Lily the Pink'. Syd's surname is Pink.
We hosted a Spanish night at our place that evening for some friends who previously have hosted Moroccan or Sri Lankan nights for us, inspired by recent travel. We began with a few simple tapas ideas then Eric tried out his new paella pan on them, which was a great success, and Heather provided the salad. Maria brought along a smashing creme caramel to share for dessert. My only contribution was filling up glasses and teaching all the women to tie their heads in Berber scarves (sort of Moorish).
We spent Tuesday morning at the Australian High Commission having signatures witnessed on documents regarding Luke and Tahlia's recent home purchase, then sent it off in readiness for settlement next week. We are so happy we are in a position to help.
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