Well Wednesday had to be a bit slower after that Tuesday. We rose late then wandered out the back gate and down Paya Lebar to Prata King for their breakfast of champions; rotis and curry sauce.
Adrian spent the afternoon at home and after work in the evening we met up across the road for dinner under the HDB.
On Thursday we took him in to Marina Bay Sands and left him to enjoy the Escher Exhibition at the ArtScience Museum. As we anticipated, he really enjoyed the symmetry and infinite detail of his work. Adrian was a talented artist himself at school, but has turned his creative talents to music and crafting instruments more recently. Peter joined the three of us after work then came back home to collect some further pictures and a Nepalese topi hat for a presentation he was to do at school the next day on establishing a charity. Unfortunately I realised too late that said hat is already on its way to Tiwi.
We just enjoyed Adrian's company at home on Friday. He took some extra baggage on the flight with him, including our robotic vacuum. I had anticipated he would take the guitar, but when we didn't have a hard case for it he was not enthusiastic. Instead it is still here with us, so I have decided to turn my attention to it and begin practicing all over again. The tips of the fingers on my left hand are actually numb as I type. I have sent all my sheet music home so am just using apps on the ipad which is ok, wish I could read tabs like Adrian can. For now I can only search the ones that are written in chords. Maybe it will make sense in time. When we came home to a house with no house guest and no one on the waiting list it was quite depressing.
We finished the week at Joe's then on Monday joined the walkers for a lap of the Tiong Bahru area. This is a small and rather chic housing estate. The low-rise art deco buildings were constructed in the 1930's under a colonial plan to reduce overcrowding in nearby Chinatown. Walking along the laneways your find yourself surrounded by repeated geometric designs that make you feel like you are in an Escher painting.
The area also boasts some lovely street are murals by Yip Yew Chong. An accountant by day, YC has been commissioned by small businesses and resident communities to bring life to their streets. We have seen some of his work before near Outram.
This first one is called 'Pasar' which means 'market' in Malay. The fortune teller depicted did sit outside the old market before it was pulled down. Apparently he died recently so didn't get a chance to see himself immortalised.
The next one June lead us to was 'Bird Corner'. I have discovered that all his paintings have a cat in them. In this one it is looking hungrily at one of the cages.
I liked them all but if I had to choose a favourite it would probably be the last one here, he called this one 'Home'. It shows a typical livingroom, back in the day with rattan chair, family portrait and coffee thermos.
So, did you find the cat in them all? Now I will have to go and check the others we saw at Outram.
I left the group to shop in Chinatown towards the end. We needed just the finishing touches to our outfits for the MAE Annual Dinner later that day. An evening clutch ($2) and an orange scarf ($8). If you can't get it in Chinatown.....
The dinner was a red carpet affair held at The Peninsula Excelsior, the hotel where we stayed when we first arrived. As we arrived it felt like we had come full circle. Everyone looked amazing. Eric and I both received a watch as recognition of our 5 years of service to the company. These were presented by Mr Cheng, the Director. Below is a group photo of our combined staff at Kovan and Punggol.
Adrian spent the afternoon at home and after work in the evening we met up across the road for dinner under the HDB.
On Thursday we took him in to Marina Bay Sands and left him to enjoy the Escher Exhibition at the ArtScience Museum. As we anticipated, he really enjoyed the symmetry and infinite detail of his work. Adrian was a talented artist himself at school, but has turned his creative talents to music and crafting instruments more recently. Peter joined the three of us after work then came back home to collect some further pictures and a Nepalese topi hat for a presentation he was to do at school the next day on establishing a charity. Unfortunately I realised too late that said hat is already on its way to Tiwi.
We just enjoyed Adrian's company at home on Friday. He took some extra baggage on the flight with him, including our robotic vacuum. I had anticipated he would take the guitar, but when we didn't have a hard case for it he was not enthusiastic. Instead it is still here with us, so I have decided to turn my attention to it and begin practicing all over again. The tips of the fingers on my left hand are actually numb as I type. I have sent all my sheet music home so am just using apps on the ipad which is ok, wish I could read tabs like Adrian can. For now I can only search the ones that are written in chords. Maybe it will make sense in time. When we came home to a house with no house guest and no one on the waiting list it was quite depressing.
We finished the week at Joe's then on Monday joined the walkers for a lap of the Tiong Bahru area. This is a small and rather chic housing estate. The low-rise art deco buildings were constructed in the 1930's under a colonial plan to reduce overcrowding in nearby Chinatown. Walking along the laneways your find yourself surrounded by repeated geometric designs that make you feel like you are in an Escher painting.
This first one is called 'Pasar' which means 'market' in Malay. The fortune teller depicted did sit outside the old market before it was pulled down. Apparently he died recently so didn't get a chance to see himself immortalised.
The next one June lead us to was 'Bird Corner'. I have discovered that all his paintings have a cat in them. In this one it is looking hungrily at one of the cages.
I left the group to shop in Chinatown towards the end. We needed just the finishing touches to our outfits for the MAE Annual Dinner later that day. An evening clutch ($2) and an orange scarf ($8). If you can't get it in Chinatown.....
The dinner was a red carpet affair held at The Peninsula Excelsior, the hotel where we stayed when we first arrived. As we arrived it felt like we had come full circle. Everyone looked amazing. Eric and I both received a watch as recognition of our 5 years of service to the company. These were presented by Mr Cheng, the Director. Below is a group photo of our combined staff at Kovan and Punggol.
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