Back to work and warmth

We returned to work on Thursday where I found my colleagues had been very thoughtful, providing great support while we were away and it continued through the week. Most of my lessons for the rest of the term are already printed off for me. I would never have been so organised. We have a great team at Kovan.
Met up with Peter on Thursday night and heard all about his new class at the Overseas Family School which uses the International Bacculaureate curriculum. He is still getting to know his little class of Year 2 EFL students and has a parent information night this week to get to know some of the parents. 
It was the opening night of the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the souls of the dead are believed to roam the earth. After closing time, some of the locals set up an alter, laid out offerings and lit candles. Besides “money”, people have been known to burn paper replicas of anything they believe their deceased relatives might be craving in the afterlife – watches, jewelry, cars, luxury villas, sports cars, servants – even condoms and Viagra. We will need to watch our step in the next few weeks to avoid trampling on food left out in the open. Although many observers place their food offerings (oranges, rice, cake or even suckling pig) and joss sticks on proper altars, others tuck them at the side of footpaths or beside tree trunks. 

On Friday I walked through Bidadari on my own as Eric has come down with a cold. I met a local playing frisbee golf or disc golf as it is known here. Apparently there has been an 18 hole course there since 2009 but only recently the holes were marked with proper posts rather than tree branches. The course is on the grounds of the Muslim and Hindu section of the cemetery, exhumed in 2001. It is the first and only semi-permanent course in Singapore. The layout follows the natural rise and fall of the landscape, utilizing materials found on the grounds (broken tiles and stones etc) and taking advantage of the shady, sprawling trees. Tees are marked with sticks or stones (often remnants of tombs) and targets are now white PVC pipes. Like the walkers, birdwatchers and training Gurkhas who enjoy this area, the disc throwers urge everyone to maintain the pristine and sacred beauty of this space as they try to establish a foothold for disc golf in Singapore. At left is the narrow fairway between obstacles to the 5th hole. At the bottom you see one of the new holes. 

Eric struggled through Saturday but stayed home on Sunday so it was a quiet weekend. I caught up with a few social minded colleagues on Sunday night at Joe's then he left it to me to lead the walk on Monday. Negotiating my way through the Botanic Gardens was more difficult than I expected, I usually just follow along and talk and don't take a lot of notice of which path we choose. Anyway, with a few false leads we eventually got to the Tanglin Gate. From there we were heading to Dempsey Hill but June offered to take us to the abandoned Woodneuk House, one of the town residences of an earlier Sultan of Johore that was badly damaged by fire. Eric, Peter and I went looking for it last year but found entry prohibited. Later June found a way in and she tried to lead our group in but.....

We found ourselves struggling through jungle, scrambling up steep slopes and battling our way through long grass all in vain, there was no sign of the mansion. Amazingly a path was obvious, with ropes to assist on the steepest sections but we can't figure out who uses it or for what purpose. I gave up first, knowing my knees were going to suffer, and headed back to the road and everyone followed which was just as well as it soon started to rain. Two of the group quit after that, but the rest of us crossed the road into Dempsey Hill and we found our way to the Museum of Contemporary Art where they are currently hosting a retrospective of Chinese Contemporary Art, featuring a number of artists. I was pleased to find even more of the works of Jiang Shuo and her husband Wu Shaoxiang which I really enjoy. Below you can see the colourful flying Chinese Cats of fortune, the celestial characters in red guard uniform as Mao's People's Liberation Army and in the foreground the lotus flower rider. 

We finished the walk at Casa Verde, the cafe in the middle of the Botanic Gardens which is about to close for renovations. 
Eric was still feeling pretty flat so I cooked dinner. Yes, I heard that gasp of surprise, but I can still do a fine stir fry. Tuesday was spent mostly doing housework in which we had got quite behind. In the afternoon I attended the MAE Trivia Afternoon and without Eric's help my table only came second. It was held in Hougand so a number of us enjoyed dinner at Wild Oats afterwards. 
Jude and Col have been terrific keeping me in the loop with news of Mum and I have spoken to her a few times. She seems to be enjoying the short breaks at each of their places but also looking forward to a few days back out at Yarra Glen if we can manage it when we return at the end of term. Today she has an assessment to determine the level of care she now requires so that will help direct the next round of choices and decisions to be made.