Finding a New Normal

So a week has gone by. It strikes me that it's kind of been a normal week, or at least what I think is becoming a new normal. Or at least our new normal until school starts. We've had a great deal of fun, but also we were not on the go as much.

So let's see... With our household goods in port in Colombo and heading to Port Suez (yes - your recollection of 7th grade geography class is correct, that is away from Malaysia), I broke down and bought a bunch of art supplies for the kids. We ended up finding a great 100 yen store -- a Japanese dollar store equivalent -- in our local shopping center. I pretty much love every Japanese store I walk into. I get a kick out of all the little gadgets and hyper organizational boxes, bins, etc. Stocked with new art supplies, the kids have worked on art creations everyday this week. Yes, even Tyler. He did some great drawings and crafted little figures out of modeling clay. Unfortunately since it's so hot here, the clay was simply a nasty glob of shapeless goo. So Tyler decided he must store his artwork in the freezer. Now our freezer has three things in it: (1) Tesco brand chicken nuggets, (2) 4 frosty pint glasses, and (3) Tyler's clay art creations. The funny part is, he goes over and opens the freezer every couple of hours to "check on my art."

In addition to art and a good deal of reading (Violet just tore through a book called "Floors" - thank you, J, for loaning it to us), the kids and I played badminton and swam. The kids also had their first swim lessons with HapiiSwim's Michelle. So back on like our second day in KL I was determined to find the kids swim lessons. There were some folks giving lessons by the pool -- I went down and got their card, but man, it was like crazy swim drill instruction with stern faces and harsh words. So I didn't call them. (I also didn't have a phone back them, so that facilitated the delay.) Right before Hari Raya, I saw Michelle giving lessons in the pool and knew we'd found our teacher. She's EXCELLENT. And I can see progress after only one lesson. Yeah!

Ethan's mom has been visiting from the States (DC) - she is super wonderful and a total trooper for doing Taman Negara with us. For her last evening in KL, we went to Jalan Alor to eat at Lillian's. Yum. I wanted to share with her the local fruits, so we picked up a bunch on Jalan Alor. It's also my opportunity to share a fruit picture with you! Check out the longans (not potatoes), rambutons ("hairy fruit" as ty calls them), and mangosteens (mutant mini eggplants) on our drying rack.

Now while Brian entertained Japanese executives at Hospital KL, Camp WienerPohl headed to the Tower KL. Unfortunately an impending storm forced us to ditch that plan and we ended up at -- a mall. Midvalley Megamall has a kids play area. Since it was a public school holiday, the play place had a drop off deal, so Robin and I ditched the kids and headed to the Japanese department stores where we both confessed our love of hyper organizational home products and both purchased divine jewelry boxes.

Kids are trapped, let's go shopping.

Look how happy my box is at home!

Today was great. After taking the kids to get fitted for school uniforms, Robin and the kids had us up to their pool in Desa Park City. They are members at a really wonderful club. The pools are fantastic, the cafe is great, and there are FOUR badminton courts. We ate, swam, played badminton, swam again, and met another really nice family that just relocated here. Brian, Toby, and Nicole came up to Desa Park City and we all went out for dinner at the Kepong hawker stalls. The place is huge compared to the hawker stalls in Desa Sri Hartamas (near our house).

Stand of hotdogs.

The table with dinner.

In case that dinner table doesn't look good to you (Kathy Garibaldi),
here's a pic of the "western" food stall is for you!

Well, that was the week. The kids and I have no plans this weekend. Brian is going to see Modest Mouse and Smashing Pumpkins in KL. Should be interesting.

The toaster is our cornballer. (Shout out to Mike Pohl and Arrested Development!)
Thing cooks great toast, but inadvertently touch the scalding hot metal sides
and a slew of cruse words erupts from your lips.