The St. Andrew's Ball

This weekend we had planned for quite sometime to go to the St. Andrew's Ball in Miri, Malaysia. The ball is organized by the Scottish community who are living here in KB. It was a great night. I was a formal dinner and it was lovely to have a place to get dressed up. We had a yummy 3 course dinner consisting of stuffed jalapenoes, prime rib with all the trimmings, followed a berry crisp and coffee. After dinner there were some speeches followed by Scottish Dancing. The dancing was quite fun. It reminded me a bit like square dancing. They had a couple of dances that were a little simpler, and some that took some time to master. Both of the boys had some friends there. They had a great time hanging out with there friends. Kieran was wandering the hotel until after midnight. We are all a little sleepy today and are having a quiet afternoon home before the week starts.

A New Look...

Normally I count the days until I can head to the salon for a cut and colour. However, as bad as my roots were looking I was dreading trying out a new hairdresser in a foreign country. The salon did not have the usual decor or atmosphere you would expect back home. However, she came recommended and that is all that mattered to me. As the colour was being applied I prayed the entire time that my hair would not turn green or break off. Five hours later came the unveiling... I was pleasantly surprised and quite relieved! She wasn't used to cutting curly hair, so after she straightened it she gave it a quick trim. I came home a new woman. Both of the boys had looks of shock on their face when they saw my straight hair. I assured them it would be back to normal after a shower in the morning! Now I am ready for the ball! More on that to come...

Thanksgiving

Today we went to our American friends home to celebrate American Thanksgiving. I was amazed that she was able to fit 14 kids and 14 adults for a sit down dinner! We had a delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings. One of the turkeys was roasted in the oven and the other was deep fried. Both versions were absolutely delicious and super moist. After dinner we had a huge spread of desserts including pumpkin pie, key lime pie, trifle, and berry crisp. I had a taste of each of them as if the turkey wasn't filling enough!

I also wanted to introduce you to a few of the friends we've met that I'm sure you heard me talking about. In the top left picture is Evan's friend Zack. He lives right next door to us and we happen to like his parents quite a bit as well. Below that photo is Elaine on the left. Elaine has lived here the longest and has been a huge help to me adjusting to life in Brunei. In the same photo is Angie on the right. Angie is Zack's mom and she is expecting her third baby any day now. On the bottom right picture is Cactus. She hosted this wonderful dinner and it has been great getting to know her. This group of girls are the wives of the guys who work for Weatherford. We all tend to meet on a Friday morning at the club for coffee. I'm thankful that they have welcomed me and have shown me the ropes to adjusting to life in Brunei.

New Spa Treatment??

I can't believe I am putting this on my blog for the whole world to see! Today for Social Studies Kieran had to make a replica of King Tut's mask. So guess who got to be the model? So after I covered my hair in a plastic bag and saran wrapped my eyes I lay on the floor at my son's delight waiting for the layers of paper mache to be applied. The feeling for me was much like being buried alive. I had a small air space around my nose and I felt quite clautraphobic the entire two hours I waited for the mixture to dry. It really gave you an insite into living life blind. After baking my face in the sun in hopes of the mixture drying faster I was finally able to unveil the masterpiece! Stay tuned for the final results...

Waterfall Walk

Today after a leisurely start to the morning we decided to drive to the waterfall that is nestled deep in the rainforest. Kieran has met a new friend named William. He spent the previous night at our house, so he joined us for our walk. We attempted to drive to the waterfall last weekend but we ran out of time before we reached it. The drive is about an hour from our house. Once you leave the highway you drive about 45 minutes deep into the jungle.

At the beginning of the trail head we ran into a troop of gherka's. The gherka's are specialized soldiers and they were doing a week long training session in the jungle. Evan was so pleased to get his picture taken with them.

It had just finished raining as we arrived, so the jungle was damp and steamy. There is a lovely creek that follows you up the trail. The vegetation is so thick but quite beautiful. I tried very hard not to consume my thoughts with snakes and scary bugs, but to enjoyed the scenery around me.

The hike in was about 15 minutes. I was aware that the water was not crystal clear but more of a coffee colour. So I had decided ahead of time that I was not swimming. However, I don't think the water was dirty, but just murky from the fine sand beneath it. I had just last night watched the movie Eat, Pray, Love. So in the spirit of adventure I decided to forego all vanity and swim in my clothes. OK, I didn't go all the way in, but I did wade in all the way to my waist! The water was suprisingly cool. The boys loved it. They swam out to the waterfall and played around on the rope swing. We arrived back to our car just in time as the rains came again. It still amazes me the amount of water that can fall so quickly.

Friday Night...

Last night Evan was invited to go to the cinema (as it is called here). Where we live there is not much in way of entertainment. But about an hour away is the Empire hotel which was originally built by the sultan's brother Prince Jeffrey. It is a lavish place dripping in gold and marble. It is the place we celebrated Kieran's birthday if you recall from an earlier post. Anyway, within the hotel is a movie theater. So Evan and his friend went there to see the new Harry Potter movie.

Our regular Friday night consists of having dinner at the club as the Youth Club meets on a Friday night there and the boys usually have a hub of friends to hang out with. Kieran who has been on the waiting list for the youth club since we arrived was finally given a spot. So he was quite excited to go with his new cell phone in hand. We dropped him off and Rob and I decided to try a Thai restaurant that we heard was good. After dinner we still had time before picking up Kieran so we headed to the massage parlour. I think I've told you about the foot massages they offer here. An hour long foot reflexology massage is about $20. It was an great way to end the week.

:: Friends ::

A friend is someone who fills our lives with beauty, joy, and grace.

And makes the whole world we live in a better and happier place.

A friend is someone we turn to when our spirits need a lift.

A friend is someone we treasure for our friendship is a gift.

Before I left a very special friend gave me this bracelet with these words cascading around it. I've worn it many times and have reread the words so much that I thought I'd share it with you. As much as I miss my home, it is the people that I shared life with that I miss the most. I have made some new friends but the friends I have left behind are never far from my thoughts. I don't need an armload of friends, but I feel very blessed for the handful of friends I have back home!

Miri Crocodile Farm

Yesterday was a holiday here in Brunei. So with no school or work keeping us home we headed over the border to Malaysia to visit the Miri Crocodile Farm. I'm not a real fan of zoos, nor am I ready to become an activist, but it was quite hard to look at the way these animals have to spend their remaining days. There was at least 1000 crocodile at the farm. Most were confined in overcrowded pens where territory was regularily being fought over. My boys did however love it. We saw many animals up close which were quite neat. We saw several poisonous snakes, sun bears, monkeys, turtles, deer, and of course crocodiles. The neatest bird we saw was in the top right picture. It would repeat what you said to it, and could also meow like a cat, and had a superb cat calling whistle. We talked to it for quite some time. The monkeys were also hilarious to watch. There was a family of about 6. They even gave us a candid display of reproduction where my boys were asking "What are they doing??" We ended the tour while watching the crocodiles being fed. It was another lesson in a healthy fear of these great animals. We headed home with one quick stop at the duty free. It seems you can never pass picking up booze when out of the country as it is unavailable in Brunei. Once home we finished up the day with dinner at our friends, also our new neighbours.

Kampong Ayer

Today we went to drove to the capitol city of Bandar. We wanted to visit the water village called Kampong Ayer. Kampong Ayer is made up of 28 water villages and housing an estimated 20,000 people. This jumble of wooden planks and shacks is considered to be the biggest water village in the world. We boarded our boat with our tour guide in tow ready to explore the village and the proboscis monkeys.

As we cruised along the river in our long boat we came upon some monkeys. I didn't think we would really see them as they are said to come out more at dusk. But we did! I think there were about 10 monkeys swinging from tree to tree. It was amazing to see them up close. As we were heading back to the village our guide spotted a crocodile sunning itself on the beach.

Near the end of our tour, our guide brought into the actual village. It was neat to see how life on the water made no impact to their lifestyle. The top picture with the blue building is the village's elementary school. The picture below it is the high school. Finally the picture below the high school is the fire station. The families were living life just like you and I with no thought to the waves lapping at their doorsteps. I even saw a little boy riding a toy car on the boardwalk with no railings. The river was a hub of river taxi's running from here to there. It was pretty neat to see how each of us who lives on this planet lives in such different ways.

More Exploring...

Today we had a couple of things to do in the morning. I had to get my Brunei license and we had to get some fresh fruit from the market. Evan was invited to a birthday party in the afternoon. So as a last minute thought we decided to take a drive to the waterfall we had heard so much about. While on the road we realized that the waterfall was a lot further than we had anticipated. So we stopped the drive short and pulled into this park along the road. It was a lovely setting of boardwalks spanning the river. We originally thought this was the spot that we had heard about that let you observe crocodiles from a safe distance. We didn't see any crocs, but there were quite a few tell tale signs of bubbles in the water. One the way home there were some beautiful viewpoints of the vast rainforest that we are in. We arrive back in KB just in time for Evan's party. We are having a few hours of downtime until we need to be at the pool for Kieran's first swimming lesson. We're hoping with weather permitting to drive to Bandar to see the floating village. More on that to come...

Leche Flan

Today Lisa made our family a delicious dessert. I watched in the background hoping to recreate it myself in the future. Here is the recipe...

Leche Flan

2 whole eggs

4 egg yolks

1 can of condensed milk (sweetened I think)

1 can of evaporated milk

She mixed all the ingredients until the mixture was quite smooth

Melt some brown sugar and water to make the caramel topping and pour into an aluminum pie plate that fits into your double boiler

Pour egg mixture on top of caramel

Cover pie plate with aluminum foil pierced with a few holes

Place in your double boiler with the lid on

Cook in the double boiler for about an hour and a half or until egg mixture has set

Once finished cooking, place in the fridge to cool

Loosen the edges of the flan and turn flan over onto a serving tray

Recipe should make 2 leche flans

Enjoy:) I think this recipe is similar to Creme Brule

A Touch of Home

A couple of weeks ago, the boys and I went to a market in a town near us called Seria. I wanted to pick up some pots to make our front entrance a little more homey. Well the pots sat there empty ever since. Yesterday we decided to head to our local fruit and veg market as I had heard there is a great plant selection there. Sure enough we came home with some greenery to liven up our doorstep. The funny thing is, the plants we bought are plants that are indoor plants in Canada. It definately is a change from the plants I would normally be planting in Canada at this time!

Guy Fawkes Night

Last night the boys and I went to an event called Guy Fawkes Day or also known in England as Bonfire night. Guy Fawkes is a widely known traitor from English history. He was among 13 men who conspired to bring down the entire parliament by igniting barrels of gunpowder under the House of Parliament. His attempt failed, so now the tradition is to burn a replica of Guy Fawkes on the bonfire to show how traitors should be treated.

We arrived at around 5pm, and the boys enjoyed playing in the waves as the sun set.
The event was really well done. There is a beach shelter which was constructed in the past for such events. There was even a bar to toast the event. As you can see in the top picture, several of the kids made Guy Fawkes dolls. There was a judging of them prior to setting them ablaze on the bonfire. After the dolls were lit the fireworks started. We had roasted pig on buns for dinner. It was delicious. We came home full of sand and probably a few sand fly bites, but it was a great night!

Evan's Rainforest Tour

Today Evan's class gave all the parents a tour of all the things they have been working on for their rainforest topic. There was a basket weaving station, a smoothie making station, face painting, and bead making. Evan and his friend were in charge of tallying who were for or against cutting down the rainforest. Each parent was given a card with a scenario on it and were asked if given the circumstances written on the card were they for or against cutting down the rainforest. He manned his station very well and gave all the relevant information needed. He seems to have settled very well into school here. He has made several friends and loves going to class each day.

The Days Events...

This morning after dropping Evan off at school, Kieran and I went to the club for a swim. After doing a few laps we headed to the restaurant for some breakfast. Kieran's favorite breakfast at the club is called Roti Pratha. It is an East Indian dish that comes with a fried egg, a huge roti, and some curry sauce for dipping. I had a Mozzerella Fritatta. After breakfast we headed back home to get some schooling done. Kieran sent in his science assignment he had been working on, read some of novel, and finished up some homework. I had a lovely chat with my mom and sister. Then Kieran and I went to do some exploring of the town. We picked Evan up at 3:00 today as he had after school activites where he is learning basketball. We had a quick dinner at home and then dropped Evan off at his Math course. Evan has been taking an extra math class called Math Monkey. It follows the ancient philosophies of Indian mental math called Vedic Math. It is really quite interesting the formulas they teach in order to be able to do math mentally and with speed. Evan seems to like it and his math has greatly improved. So while he was at his class, Kieran and I headed to the massage parlour which is conveniently located just around the corner. Normally I get the hour long foot and leg massage, but today I went for the hour long body massage. It was heavenly! Not a bad way to end the day!