Raffles Place, Singapore

It was bring-your-kids to work day, otherwise known as Junior Day at Verizon! We all got up early and took the MRT from Newton to Raffles Place right where Daddy works. When we came up out of the metro, I had a huge shock. I felt that I was in downtown Toronto. It looks to me exactly like being downtown. Really uncanny. Except here and there you can see a palm tree!

We met the secretary and some other colleagues and before we knew it, were having fun! Frunty and Pit made some new friends, twins Joshua and Joseph and their sister. Some kids did a little talent show and Shetty won first prize for dancing to "The Hokey Pokey!" He is only three and tiny. Very adorable. Another girl, named Summer Tan, sang. We just thought her name was so cool. Frunty and Pit felt too shy to perform and that was okay. I thought it was really brave of them to meet so many new people all at once. One highlight was the live telecast during which we talked to and sang for colleagues in the Philippines and Hong Kong. One guy did some magic. It was really neat.

Later we wanted to get some pass holders for our metro cards so Wiu Lee took us to a little shop where the kids each chose a holder. Ben 10 and Doraemon. Daddy had stayed at the office to finish up some work. When we got back, the four of us went for a special drink at Fullerton Hotel, one of Singapore's finest. Daddy had a special coffee with chocolate (yes, we still need our fix!), I had a Singapore Sling and the kids had a freshly squeezed orange juice.

If a party at Verizon and special cocktails at a fancy hotel were not enough, we decided to visit Singapore's famous symbol, Merlion and take a bumboat to Clarke's Quay. We eventually had a Japanese meal before heading home!

It's 8:15pm, the kids are in bed. We turn on the air-con for them a little at night because I can't stand the idea of opening their windows which have no protection, 13 stories up. Daddy's work day in Singapore finished around 3pm but his work day in the States has just begun with conference calls now with Washington from 8pm onwards. Hopefully he'll be done by midnight. There will be several weeks if not months until that launch is done and other business wrapped up before he can work fully as a Singapore local. In the meantime, we are grateful that he has time during the day to sightsee with us!

Tomorrow we'll visit some more apartments and find a nice place to live. That's it for now. Hope all is well with our loved ones around the world!