Last night I dreamt that I was in Chicago. I woke up in Singapore. Such a vivid dream. Such a strange feeling. In my dream, I was hanging out with many of my ETHS friends back home. They were all busy trying to finish up school work for the end of the school year, so they didn't have much time for conversation with me.At the end of the dream, I jogged home in the dark. Kind of a sad dream.
I'm sure there are lots of reasons for my dream. Homesickness, missing my friends, the end of another school year, my upcoming visit to the Singapore American School (SAS). Who knows?
My friend, Neetu, picked me up this morning, and we drove out to Kristie's house. The three of us met through the AWA playgroup. Kristie lives in the Woodlands, which is where the Singapore American School is located. Kristie has three older children who go to SAS. It was about a thirty minute drive out to the Woodlands. It definitely felt more suburban there compared to where we live.
Kristie has a lovely home! She and her family brought most of their belongings from home when they moved here from Texas over a year ago. So, their house felt very much like a home. Comforting. Unfortunately for me, Kristie and her family are relocating to Madrid in a couple of weeks. That's how things go here though. People come, and then they go...
We let Brandon, Zayden, and Michael play for a bit at Kristie's house before walking to SAS. Kristie's house is located in a neighborhood just behind the school.
I was very impressed by the building and facilities at SAS. SAS is the largest international school in the world. It currently has 3,800 students (pre-K to 12) and is located on 37 acres. There are 343 professional staff members at SAS. An amazing fact is that the school started in a private home in 1956 with just 105 students.
We walked around the grounds for a bit, but we weren't able to visit any classes. One, we had our children with us. Two, the high school students were taking final exams. This is the last week of classes before summer vacation.
I plan to go back in the fall when classes resume. I'd like to go back for a full day without Brandon, so I can observe some math classes. I did speak with one woman who was the head of the preschool and kindergarten. She mentioned the emphasis that they put on creativity and building with blocks. She commented that they work on this to improve children's math skills later. I was very impressed by this comment.
We grabbed some Subway sandwiches at the school and took them back to Kristie's house for lunch.
I was pleased that we made it home from Kristie's without Brandon falling asleep in the car. We brought Brandon's infant carrier car seat to Singapore with us, and today was the first day we have used it. It was so wonderful to sit in the front seat of a car and not have to hold Brandon on my lap. I was also thrilled that Brandon tolerated the car seat without a fuss. After more than two months with no car seat, I expected him to fight it. He didn't though. We did face the car seat forward which I'm sure helped.
This afternoon, Laura and Tabitha came over for a playdate. As seen in the picture, Brandon loved to cuddle Tabitha!
Jo, Jessie, and Jake also stopped by tonight. Brandon and I both love having company!
And, by the way, Jo had already stopped by early in the afternoon to bring Brandon four Singapore t-shirts and a magnadoodle. She is unbelievable!!!
I also forgot to mention that yesterday Brandon said "fish". Sounded like "ish". Cool. :) Brandon loves animals right now!
