Ok, I baked Titus the banana cake he requested on Sat and after it cooled we decorated it, using the icing and frosting he chose. We bought those at Walmart, quite cheaply.
I also made the braised eggs for potluck on Sunday afternoon. Hey Xizzy, tianhan, pam etc who told me about Asian marts, I found one nearby, called Oriental Saigon. So I was able to get dark soy sauce and some other ingredients there! Indeed there was Milo, but it was soooo expensive, so I didn't buy. Anyway I'll make myself get used to hot choc.
Then on Sunday morning, Titus celebrated his birthday with his Sunday school class. His two teachers are pictured partially here too. One of them is a Vietnamese lady (left) who married an American, and she also told me about the Oriental Saigon store. She, and the Korean I mentioned earlier, are the only 2 Asians in the church. No, I haven't met any Singaporeans yet... still haven't...
Titus does miss his friends back home. Esp the birthday parties he had, all the friends, cousins. Even I miss all the excitement. Somehow, I don't know why, singing the birthday song just once in English is not so fun. It seems too short! There must be a MAndarin one following, and maybe even the Cantonese version, bahasa Indonesia one (my prev maid taught us), and the "you are born in the zoo" one. haha. that's our tradition...
There will be something coming up very soon that will make us miss home VERY MUCH.... guess you all know...
The potluck was fun and there was the chance to try food others made. All were delicious, mostly lasgane, pasta of various kinds, salads, baked rice, and a lot of desserts! So many experts in cake baking and jelly and pudding-making there. I forgot to take pics, cos Justus was napping too... Next time I'll remember to do so, let you all have a look.
I had a good time getting to know more people better too. It was enjoyable.
and oh yes, i faced several misconceptions today about Singaporeans again. It is prevalent here, because they meet very few Singaporeans. They are surprised when they hear us speak English.
They also automatically assume we take English as second lang back home. Someone even asked me did I have to take private lessons outside school back home to speak like I do now... And another church friend asked me how did Titus manage to learn to speak English cos he has a wider vocab than her daughter of the same age.
And then another kind lady just made a passing remark, but I can't help feeling a bit funny.. She told me, since we are here, if my kids attend school here, they'll learn a lot of English and be the best English speakers in the whole family when they return to Singapore. As in my and dh's whole family clan, I guess... hmm... I'm not so sure, since back home, our whole family speaks English so much too...
Initially I tried to explain about Singapore having English as first lang, but they find it hard to understand, so I don't now. I just smile. Also, if they feel we speak differently, it is cos of our accent. We stress different syllables differently and we use different terms. Like lift or elevator... Australians speak very differently from the Americans and so do the British or Irish. But I guess that doesn't mean they take English as their second language?!?
I'll just leave that as food for thought for today... Need to go now, kids running wild. :-)
