Adventures and Illness

 

Rowan and I went on the 6th grade camp to Lumut for five days; camp is a misnomer-we were in a hotel and had 3 meals a day cooked for us-but we were away from the regular comforts of home and with 54 6th graders. We had the opportunity to work with a group called Nomad Adventures and it was fun to be around outdoor educators and watch the students experience some challenges. Ro particpated in activities like stand up paddle boarding, snorkeling, handline fishing, catapult building, and doing some beach clean up and tree planting for sea turtle restoration. As well as going to the Fu Ling Kong Temple on Pangkor Island (the largest Taoist Temple there), learning how anchovies are dried and packaged on the island, and (favorite for all the kids) having 30 minutes in the air conditioned duty free store which had a wide selection of chocolate and sweets. I also enjoyed the access to less expensive chocolate! Less enjoyable were the aggressive monkeys and feral cats...they don't seem to bother each other but the monkeys were committed to stealing food, sunscreen, water bottles, and anything else that wasn't nailed down. They were pretty fearless-standing up and hissing at you if you tried to scare them away which gave me the heebies. The locals used giant stuffed tigers and walked around with them or had them propped up on their popsicle trucks and that seemed to work well for scaring the monkeys.

When we returned North was laid up with a cold/sore throat and I promptly got it from him so the last week has been the two of us taking turns doing school/work/parenting/life and taking naps. Happy to report we are both on the mend and it was never bad-just lots of congestion. 

The rainy season has started and while we don't get the monsoon season or the rains that happen on the East Coast (or were just happening in Taiwan and Hong Kong) we do have a wetter season (October-March). The general trend that we noticed last year in preparation was afternoon thunderstorms and were somewhat surprised when that didn't happen our first month and a half here. It has now shown up and most afternoons involve some rain so we are learning about what that looks like for our routines of biking or soccer practice, etc. Rowan had a game cancelled due to lightning alarms last week but last weekend both boys played in a downpour in the morning; the rain is okay but the lightning-not so much.

Currently the house is filling with the smell of granola, my consistent Sunday afternoon/evening touchstone to start the week. North and Talus have gone to the Sunday Market to find some veggies and fruit, perhaps some chicken on a stick or delicious spicy wraps and coconut shakes. Before they left we had some house shaking thunder and lightning and a quick dash to pull laundry under cover (and Talus' new succulent plant that is not to be rained on). Rowan is lightly working on maths homework and I am prepping for the week ahead with my classes. We have two weeks and then our October break which coincides with Diwali/Deepavali and an adventure to Penang. Looking forward to exploring a new place and having some down time; I ordered some books just for this upcoming trip and cannot wait to crack them open! English books are harder to come by here and I brought very few with me; there is a free shelf in the Valencia Clubhouse with some gems but due to the humidity and lack of care a lot of the books are musty and kinda gross. Sending our hugs across the ocean ❤️