TGIF

Wed and Thurs passed by quickly... attached to the nurses on Wed, and to the Drs on Thurs. ok.. I am not cut out to be a nurse.. got really tired out, more used to the Drs round. I like the way they work.. enjoyed it.
My dinner on wed.. from the supermarket downstairs... and slack in the hotel..

Meanwhile I missed this critical week of activities.
Meet the parents session for Brian. ON Skype, Brian told me that his teacher said "come with your Daddy and Mummy tomolo", and he sounded as if he was expecting me to be there.. and if only I could. Anyway, according to Daddy, teacher said Brian is above average, but could improve in his level of spontaneous participation. As expected...
Also missed out on Brandon's open day. HE had been practicing at home for a while.. and it really tickles me when I see him do that.. and I really like it!

He told me he would be a green frog and he is. He was memorizing the sequence of the colours at home and would repeat when he got it wrong, and corrected himself! "self rehearsal"
Daddy said Brandon was amazing.. and I was hoping I could see it for myself...
I remember him teaching me: "when I sing "mummy mummy what do u see", u must sing "I see beautiful children in front of me".. and I was somehow touched by this.. cos he is really a beautiful gift to me..

And I missed out on the fairy tale party
Look at my handsome king there.. wahaha...
When his teacher asked him what he wanted to dress as.. he told them shark..
Teacher said there is no shark in the fairy tale..haha
Then he told me he wanted to be a clown, cos all the children will then come to him..
Interesting thought from a 4 yr old child....
We spent some time looking for costumes before I left for IOWA, in the ended decided that it is easier to be a king.. and so here is our KING BRANDON!!!

 

And here I am in IOWA while these things happened.
Met up with the pple here for a nice dinner
They are really great pple!
Both the NM's hd does renovation...interesting, and she has 2 young boys abt 1 yr apart.
So we had many things to share, and I was told boys are better as they are less moody.. I reflected and I sort of agree with that.. hmm.. I like this new positive perspective!
TGIF, everyone here is very happy on a Friday, our schedule also ends earlier!
Gotta plan for the weekend!

First day of Attachment

All ready for work...

With the NM of the medical psychiatric unit

Toured the hospital after an introduction of the place
Met quite a few pple, then we had lunch of Tandoori chicken at the staff eating area
There is an outdoor dining space with such a view!
Then we ended our programme for the day by maybe 2pm! Made our way back to hotel and then my colleagues wanted to rush to the grocery store to buy things to store up?! I convinced them to relax and have a walk around!!!

Randomly walked into a coffee place which sells things

It is the white rabbit coffee place.

a typical walkway in this area...



My colleague was excited to find a Chinese eating place.. but this is only the first day of attachment!

Nice shop selling nice household stuff

More nice little shops



Finally ended up here where they stocked up their food supply..

I wonder what is there to fear as this is right below our hotel.. with lots of grocery and food...

My friend was just excited to see rice...
what a large portion... my dinner of chicken with mushroom.. way too salty

Stocked up for my breakfast for the next few days...
That is the end of the very boring first day of attachment.
We wanted to buy different local brands of snacks and gather in my fren's room to eat, but he refused...
How boring... It is only 6.30pm ...

Memorial Day 2013

Sumptous breakfast at the same café
pancake, classic mocha and pancake

Then off to Tanger OUtlet again!!!
I love Memorial Day Discount! It is crazy... it is storewide 40% or 50% discount on top of the already discounted price!
Bought good quality dresses for about 20-60 sing dollars
Bought Tommy Hilfigher shirt for Daddy for about 21 sing dollars
Shopping has never been this good...

Went back to our hotel early as gotta work tomolo
walked ard the area looking for food
look at the streets..seriously what do their pple do here..

Where are the pple...

Where are the cars..
There are no toy shops here..and what am I supposed to tell the boys on Skype??
I told Brandon yesterday that it is at night here in US and it is very dark outside..
I saw him lift his head to look out of his window then frowned and look back at me..
He must be confused...haha

Settled down at a random restaurant for an early dinner

All the restaurants here are some kind of pub or bars

Salmon which was gone before we remembered that we had not taken a photo of it!

Funghi pizza
Nice food again... and then back to the hotel to snooze...
HAd enough of shopping and good food
back to serious work tomolo...

First Sunday at IOWA

Had breakfast at the café right next to the hotel

My breakfast.. classic mocha and choc muffin

As we booked our hotel late, we had to shift hotel, shifted out of Sheraton Hotel after the first night, and in we move into the much anticipated Vetro Hotel! No other rooms left, hence this room with 2 beds!

View from my work table

Bathtub.. I showed Brian this on Skype and he seems delighted!

washroom

 

Subsequently went to Tanger Outlet at Williamsburg for shopping
Too busy shopping hence no photos.
Usually outlet shopping means no time for lunch and toilet break
THis time we had loads of time cos we are going both days!
Could take photos to show pple I am buying things for so they can choose and I will go back tomolo to buy!
First time I am so relaxed shopping at outlet!!!Went back to hotel area for dinner at The Brown Bottle..

 Our dinner...



Nice pasta and pizza at good prices..



Finally went to supermarket right next to our hotel to top up some supply
Instant noodles and snacks...
It might end up being my breakfast one of these days..

Arrived at IOWA US

Finally arrived at IOWA after the really long flight
IOWA city as expected.. not many pple.. no activities
This is the city and we finished combing it in maybe 1 hour?
The surroundings are mainly fields of corn and cows and goats...

Had countless meals on the plane.. could not make out whether it is breakfast/lunch/dinner after a while
hence, settled for a light and relaxing dinner..

Our dinner...

lemonade

 

a rather chill place.. mainly students though...
I wonder how I am gonna spend the 2 weeks here...

brandon's term report
As expected, good gross and fine motor skills. He is among the very few who can write on their own instead of tracing and is erm neat?.. haha never tot this word would be used on brandon! Language development has been good, i think he has improved a lot esp mandarin. He has been more expressive and according to teacher, he enjoyed and did well for his speech and drama lessons! He is one of the favourite friends in class and there are always pple who want/request to play with him/hold his hand, as he shares and helps his classmates with their work. His participation in class has improved too, but still has to work on his confidence in himself and his volunterring of answers in class! His teachers said that he knows the answers but will not raise his hands to answer, but will answer correctly each time he is asked.

One of his work being displayed in school

I treasure these little things.. as they are big things to me...



Sand play



Water play



School outdoor playground



Serious work..
i am glad he can read many chinese characters now
When we are on the streets, he would suddenly point at different characters and read them to me
He would converse in mandarin at times, and according to his mandarin teacher, he would even raise his hands to answer questions while in the chinese class! This is one of the area which i felt he has improved a lot in while at lorna whiston

Home Econ class, haha
making and tasting

One of his work
Apart from the fun at sand, water and playground play, they had many other activities last semester.
It include picnics, visit to neighbourhood and buying their own bread, colour week, visit to the mint toy museum, visit to the zoo, visit to the animal and farm resort.. and likely many more which i have forgotten.
I am glad with his progress
Keep it up brandon!!!