Our honeymoon

We arrived back from Thailand late last night. It felt good coming home. Singapore really is our home now. Our time in Phuket was amazing. How lucky am I that I arrived home from a fieldtrip to Malaysia to be told that I am being whisked away to a beach in Phuket for an entire week!! Life is great!!! Love you Mr McCarthy!!


One thing that Andrew and I love doing is cooking so of course we had to take part in a Thai cooking class. We signed ourselves up for a day long cooking experience. We were picked up at our hotel early in the morning having no idea what to expect. We drove for over an hour in the mini bus with a couple from Estonia of all places. It was well worth the drive. The Thai cooking school was built on a private beach where we were going to be spending the day cooking on the beach front looking out to sea. This place was paradise. The best thing was that there were no other people. Where we were staying in Kata beach it is full of tourists everywhere people, people and more people. Heaps of Australians. The hillbilly type Aussies.


Andrew was very competitive while we were cooking he wanted his dishes to be the very best. This is of course win win for me. “Yes Andrew that looks and tastes fantastic I can’t wait until you cook it for us as home”. (see what I mean) To be totally truthful he was the best in the class, he really did make the best tomato lotus garnish. ( I can hire him out for all of your dinner parties) We made 6 different dishes finishing with sticky rice with fresh mango. Yum!!


It really was a relaxing break away we read books, walked lots, ate out for every meal, swam and we even visited Phi Phi Island on a day boat trip. All this for probably the same amount that we would have spent in Singapore. Travel around Asia is so very cheap, we are trying to do our bit of spending to help the recession. We really are counting our blessings at the moment. We are not taking anything for granted.


On the last day of our dream honeymoon (I called it that because we may never get around to having a ‘real’ honeymoon) I got a head cold that is making my nose run non stop. There is nothing worse that having a cold when it is 35 degrees out. If that is my payment for a great trip then that is cool with me. Thank again Andrew!!!!!!

International Schools

We have been thinking a lot about the contrast between teaching back home in NZ and our new environment in the ‘international’ schools system.

Our school ISS, (International School of Singapore) tends to be classified like many other schools in Singapore as international, because it offers a curriculum that is foreign to the local Singapore national curriculum and that it draws students from a range of nationalities. Our school offers a curriculum called the International Baccalaureate, which includes a Diploma programme in the last two years. Students study six subjects for two years and sit one final exam in May. This is the largest contrast from the NZ system, which I perceived as too heavily focused and potentially driven by external examinations and assessment specifications. The curriculum is global in nature and prescribed by a group that originated in France in the 1970’s from memory. The benefit of the International Baccalaureate is that students can easily change schools and fit into new classes with ease. This is important for some of the transient students who follow their parent’s careers around the world. One Malaysian student arrived in my class in January. He was born in Malaysia but has since travelled the world, and arrived at our school from Stockholm in Sweden last year. He still had the same Economics textbook I use and slotted into class with ease.

Other bigger schools in Singapore such as United World College of South Asia (UWC) offer the British IGSE and A Levels, the Australian School of Singapore offers the New South Wales Curriculum, and is beginning to introduce the International Baccalaureate over the next couple of years. The size of schools here are far larger than most in NZ and perhaps something more similar to the US system. UWC has around 2700, and the Australian School is about 3000. Tanglin Trust, The American School and Overseas Family School all have over 2000 students, from Grade 1 – Grade 13. Our school has around 700 students and is perhaps slightly smaller than our old schools Queen Margaret and St Mary’s College in Wellington.

Our school is a very multicultural place with students from around forty different countries and staff from nearly every continent. This is a large and significant point of difference from the other, so called international schools in Singapore. The Canadian School is nearly exclusively for Canadian nationals and the American passport holders gain priority but not guaranteed access to the American School. I think most of our student’s parents value the multicultural aspects of our school. If you life in a foreign country, wouldn’t you like your sons or daughters to mix with students from other nations? It seems that many foreigners spend their lives in the expat enclaves of Singapore’s condominiums.

The pressure on quality education here is amazing. All of the big schools, UWC, OFS and the American School have long waiting lists, despite the recession. Maybe the scene will be different in 2010 but at the moment, the Straits Times still publishes articles deploring people who pay the SDG $250,000 for a guaranteed place at any of these schools. For around $80,000 you will get a place on the waiting list.

The education of people, is perhaps Singapore’s most important process. The county has no natural resources and still imports water from Malaysia and yet it can place itself among the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world. The change for Rach and me has been fun so far. We have probably learnt and gleaned more experience than we would have in New Zealand in another 5 years at our old jobs. In a while we will look forward to coming home and working in New Zealand schools but at the moment change is as good as a holiday.

Finally a nice place to run

We finally ventured out to one of the reserves on the edge of town this morning for a run and walk. MacRitchie Reservoir is a large lake in the centre of the island. It is surrounded by some nice rain forest, plenty of off road trails and the odd family of monkeys. Anything off road is a bit of novelty here, so I was keen to explore.


I managed to loop the lake in about 65 mins, which was about 11km with a few ups and downs. Rachel left at the same time and did a nice out and back walk along the boardwalks and tracks. In hindsight, we should have been a little more organised instead of our leisurely 10.30 departure. We both felt really cooked at the end from the heat and spent the rest of the day recovering. One stretch of about a kilometre in the open sun alongside a golf course knocked a bit out of my legs and once you get hot it seems to take ages to cool the thermometers back down again. A bit like running in winter, when you get progressively colder and cant warm up.

Anyway, it was nice to explore somewhere new and to enjoy a longer run. I am thinking of doing a few more triathlons here as the scene seems pretty competitive. Running is a bit hard with the climate and I can't yet manage the same miles I did back home. Hopefully I can substitute some of the running, for miles on the bike and make good use of the pool downstairs for training.

When the novetly factor ends

Last weekend I headed back to NZ for the wedding of my two close friends, Chris and Emma. As a groomsman I had long promised be around for the wedding but intervening events such as getting a job in Singapore made a promise a little harder to keep.

Nevertheless I managed to get some cheap flights back to Wellington so I headed off late on a Wednesday night Singapore time and returned five days later on the following Monday. The beauty of Singapore is its close proximity to most things. I arrived in Sydney after seven hours of flying then was back in Wellington after another small three hour flight. I do remember that somewhere on the first flight; probably after a neck cranking sleep, that the novetly of jet setting is not that glamourous. I remember those first few flights when you read every detail of the safety handout and watch the video and animated air hostesses perform the drill. The highlight of this flight was the dinner, a few glasses of red wine and five hours of deep sleep.

I expected coming home to feel a bit weird. In hindsight I hadn't been away very long to actually to realise the change. The roadworks on the motorway out to the Hutt seemed unfinished and the shops still had sales signs up in the windows. I turned up back at work to surprise a few past collegues and to grab a lunch and a nice coffee, plus enjoyed a stunning run around the hills with some orienteering mates.

The wedding was great and a very happy affair. I felt a bit dwanted at all of the details that Chris and Emma had remembered for their wedding and the numerous nice touches. I have made a list of things for our wedding and now Rachel is excitied and thinking about our plans for the day. A quick catch up with friends, and a game of cricket at the staduim made for a cool few days. Sunday was family day and we headed over the hill to Martinborough to see out our wedding venue again. Everything seemed great and we look forward to sorting out our invitations in the next month. It has a nice outdoor area and relaxed feel which fits our plans for the day.

Coming back to Singapore and meeting Rach at the gate felt very good. Singapore after two months no longer seems so foreign and busy. It is still one large concrete jungle, which is the largest contrast from Wellington but we could happily make Sinagpore home for the next few years..... as long as the economy holds up :)

Three tourist jaunts

So far we have spent most of our time at work but have made an effort most weekends to head out and do something a bit touristy and the see a bit of the place. So here are three favourites so far in case any one ever visits.

Night Safari @ Singapore Zoo
During Chinese New Year break Rachel arranged for us to visit the Night Safari part of the zoo. It is a long way out of town by Singapore standards towards the causeway to Malaysia. The zoo is apparently one of the best in Asia and the night safari shows off the animals at dusk and in the early night. We arrived to the complex which is akin to what I reckon Jurassic Park would look like, lots of themed buildings and cafes. The tour itself involves jumping on a chain of golf cart contraptions and then being driven around by a guide. I was skeptical about the zoo thing to begin with, which is probably a reflection of the fact that my only previous zoo experiences are in Wellington and at Marineland in Napier. Anyway the tour proceeds through different areas such as the Tibetan Highlands, the African Savanna, Jungles of South East Asia and in each region you see a different collection of animals. The anteater was a highlight but perhaps the most exotic were the elephants, hippopotamus, tigers, rhino, flamingos, hyenas that were all out and about. The tour finishes with a night animals show were the otters do tricks. For $23 each it was a good night out.

Biking along East Coast Parkway
Over the same weekend we meet up with some school friends who were doing a bike ride from the centre of town out towards Changi Village which is near the airport. We managed to meet them halfway along their journey with our rented bikes. The ride went along a long coastline of reclaimed land and artificial beaches with a very wide bike path. Its akin to the feeling of running along Mission Bay and St Helleirs in Auckland, We even saw a New Zealand Icecream shop along the way. Its a popular place to be seen in your gears and exercising but we reckon we will be back to ride along it again. The city itself is very hustle and bustle so the low rise East Coast is nice contrast.


Mt Faber Park and Henderson Waves:
Between home and school is a series of interconnected parks which is called the Southern Ridges. This has become a nice place to run, explore and also get lost. From school a new path links up with a few hills and after 10 minutes to new bridge called Henderson Waves. In Singaporean fashion they have a bridge between two previously inaccessible parks which stretches 100 metres above a motorway below. I stumbled across it and will be back to take some photos. The rest of the run home is along concrete paths but it feels a little like Mt Victoria. The final part is a drag through suburbia and big roads back home. Finding home is easy as I can spot the skyscrapers next door from a few kilometres away.















http://www.flickr.com/photos/weesen/3155127947/

There is plenty of other things to do and keep us occupied but the local pastime is still shopping and eating food.

A day in the life of Rachel in Singapore

Andrew told me that people may find this interesting. I may have to jazz it up a bit to make it so. Here goes.... Every day the alarm goes off at 5.45. We then go and hang in our own bathrooms. How fantastic is it that we have a boy and a girls bathroom. Andrew then makes me my breakfast which is usually pancakes with seasonal fruit or eggs benny with freshly squeezed orange juice. Yeah right! We leave the house at 6.30 then we walk through a big housing complex to catch the bus. The bus is an experience in its self. Most of the people on the bus are asleep. I don't mean resting their eyes, they are full on out to it. We often wonder how they know when to get off??? I love the bus because it has TV. So in the 15 mins it takes us to get to school I am up to date with the worlds news.

The bus drops us right to the bottom gate of the school. Note that I said bottom, we then have to climb the mountain of stairs to get up to school. It is so steep that Andew has decided to give up running because he thinks that that is enough exercise for the day. Ok so I may have exaggerated that a little. But it is fun watching the students climb the stairs everyday. Lets just say there are not many over weight students at ISS. Apart from the ones that Taxi all the way to the top gate of the school. I am in my office by 7. My office is pretty cool because it has like a McDonalds drive through window. Every morning most staff stop by and chat. I guess I am the counsellor so I am just doing my job.

School starts at 8 so that is when Andrew gets really busy teaching and stuff. I just sit waiting in my office waiting for people to come see me. I wish. I am really busy now I am doing all sorts of crazy stuff. In fact this week I signed a 2 year contract to stay with ISS. I am going to be the new Special educational needs teacher. I will start that role in August. Andrew is thrilled because I think that he thought i was serious when I said I was giving up teaching to work in starbucks after my 6 month contract ended. I am currently teaching two classes. The students are really great. I even have a kiwi boy from Napier in my Grade 10 Geography class, so I have at least one student that laughs at my jokes. The next highlight of the day is 3pm when the school day ends. Mon and tues we have staff meetings, Wed I go to Yoga, Thurs I am taking a hip/hop dance class and Fri we go to the Bali Hawker center for a few beers.

When it rains

After a month of living in Singapore it finally decides to rain. The anticipation of a large thunderstorm had been building for weeks. Colleagues from all corners were willing to share their stories about the wicked torrential monsoon rains. We had even seen the umbrella vending machines lying in waiting.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/manuel69/ - CC Commons

The actual rain storm wasn't quite so exciting but it was still interesting watching people behave in the rain. I was half way through running home on an urban bash through the roads and overpasses. It began with a few heavy drops and then eventually rose to a crescendo. The massive metre deep road side ditches, which are a danger for any tired runner were full of gushing water. A mass of umbrellas appear from peoples bags, as some kind of insurance policy. The workers stand beside the road waiting for the buses which unleash a depressing splash as they dive through the roadside puddles to wet a bus stop of innocent bystanders. The rain seems to soak the life away from people wandering the street, heads down, trudging off with wet pants and shirts. I was pretty happy running along at least the rain dropped the temperature a bit.

The rain for Singapore is like the wind of Wellington or the smog of Santiago. Just an element of a city which makes it just a little bit quirky.