31 March

Kai's first day of school all on his OWN. He wanted to take the school bus with his friends. Unwillingly, I agreed. When you have an independent child, having a mind of his own, you can only entrust his safety to the almighty One.

When the school bus came to pick him up, I was so upset. Like all mothers I was worried and anxious. Would he be bullied, would he know what to do, would he catch the right bus home....

Kai finally came back from school. Happy and chirpy. Talked about the 4 friends he had already made in school. How true, many times, our worries were unnecessary.


All ready for school


Going up the bus


See you later, mum

New York City

Today we ventured out to New York City.
Another Singaporean guy drove us there and it was a 2-hour drive from home.


Skyline of New York City


Quite a different sight from what you see on TV


Would you like to be dressed like this in Orchard Road, shopping?


Chinatown, NY. Reminded us of Lucky Plaza on a Sunday afternoon


Yipee, a familiar brand.


This used to be the Twin Towers - World Trade Centre before they were brought down. Now it's Ground Zero. The names of those who perished were written on the plague


The Wall Street


In front of the New York Stock Exchange


Will I get to work here next time?


The Empire State building

In USA, everything was BIG!


Mummy looked at the towering onion rings!

28 March

Kai started school today at the Alburtis Elementary School. http://www.eastpenn.k12.pa.us/alburtis/

This being his first day of school, I had to drive him to school. Although I have my licence for years and have driven only during vacations, I was worried. I have never needed to drive back home. With such good transportation system and staying in such great location, a car was only a luxury item. But here, a car was a NEED. It was THE only form of transportation.

I was trained to drive a right-hand-drive car. Here it was left-hand drive and you must always stay right, even after turning left. Gosh, it was a huge challenge. Many times to indicate a direction change, the wipers would be activated instead!

With God's help and protection, we finally arrived. The staff there put us at ease. I knew Kai would be in good hands.

Kai started his first day of school in USA.

Driving in US have many challenges. you would need to give way to the train passing by.


The train passing by


Well, if you got a long train, you could wait for a LONG time

Apart from these, you got to be careful of the older folks driving. Some very, very elderly folks were still driving because that's the only way to move around. Also, there would be kids on skates, bicycles and skate-scooters. So why complain when you only have the traffic lights to stop for back home?

27 March

Another gloomy and dreary day. And it has started to drizzle. It was already so cold, with the rain, it was much colder. It made me appreciate the hot days in Singapore. Shorts and tees. Here , we all have to wear long sleeve tops and pants all day. Going out to the mailbox, fetching the kids, you would need layers of clothes.

Do not admire others who have the 4 seasons to enjoy. Trust me, on vacation and actually living in these countries were NOT the same. It was not fun wearing boots, scarf, coat...just to collect the mails or bring out the trash.

25 March

The weather continues to be cold actually freezing. Over here, due to the cold, many people just stayed indoor most of the time. That made life very miserable for me. I missed the familiarities back home. Days like these, I teared easily.

I missed greeting the sweeper every morning when bringing Ann to school.
The fish uncle who always told me to buy his fresh but expensive codfish.
The butcher who always knew what cut I wanted.
The vegetable brothers who knew I would look for my 'emperor's spinach'.
The cold storage cashiers who always said 'hi'.

Mum, just downstairs, my sister, across the street and my uncle just next block.

23 March

Today is Easter Sunday

Pastor Winters called it Resurrection Sunday. It was a simple service but a very meaningful one.

A lady was narrating the story of Jesus, His cruxification and His resurrection. But at the different stage of Jesus' life, she stopped and we sang songs and worshipped God. Similar to our mega Easter musical presentation but the differences...there were no props, elaborate costumes and the congregation was the cast. There was no preaching. The narration was the message.

After service the kids were given bags to hunt for easter eggs within the church compound. It was the first time for the kids. The eggs were plastic eggs stuffed with candies. Some eggs were empty with only a little note saying...
"This egg is empty to remind you of an empty tomb. God bless" A great way to teach young children about Christ.

Today, we also moved into our US home.

17 March

We found an elementary school (= our primary school) for Kai. Alburtis Elementary School. It was a new school, just 3 years old. We loved the bright and cheerful layout of the school.

In US the areas were zoned according to school districts. You could not just attend any school you wished. You have to enrol in a school in the district which you lived in. A good school district would have good schools, good kids and good neighbourhood.

Evangel Assembly of God

We also did a search for a home church. We were suppose to visit Emmanuel AOG but were advised to look for something nearer home. The power of the NET if used correctly, could be helpful. We finally visited Evangel AOG. http://www.evangelagk.org/ A church pearched on a hilltop. We believed this is where God wants us to be...back to the basics


On the way to church


The church on the hilltop


The information, short and sweet


The chapel. Only the basic.

We went for our first service in US. It was just a house on a hilltop. Lots of space. Pastor Lim would be delighted to have this place. Many, I really mean many parking space. They even have space for horses to run around.

The church reminded me very much of the old days in Grace. We are now worshipping under a leaking roof. This was a far cry from what we have back home. We believed God has put us here for a purpose. We would like to do everything we could to help the church.

We stood out among the congregation. We were the only Chinese but we were never made to feel left-out. The people were warm and friendly. Kai, quickly got along with the boys in the children church. In fact, they found him to be brilliant and funny.

A nice lady by the name of Barb Love, scribbled her name and contact number on a piece of paper and pushed it into my hand. "You will need it especially when you are new here". I called her "angel of love" sent by God.

11 March to 13 March 2008

It has been house hunting and school searching these couple of days. Houses here were huge, a garage, a patio and basement were norms. But to us, who have stayed in a 4-room HDB for years, we were just not used to these. We finally decided to take this and made it our home after praying over it and felt comfortable with it.


Our home...for now


Our neighbourhood. Beautiful, a testimony of God's work. The mountain is a popular ski resort.


Playing bubbles on the patio...with jackets and boots. Thank God for hot Singapore

9 March 2008 6.45pm, USA

After 18 hrs of flight, business class did not help. It's the long flight that's killing. We finally arrived at Newark airport (NY). Temperature, a freezing 4 deg C. (We boarded the flight at a temperature of 33 deg C).
We were considered 'tall' people back home but here, we were like dwarfs.


Cold cold, cold


Pussy willows in US were in abundance


3 days after we arrived, it snowed...it got colder


Guess what are these? Fried noodles, imagine the shock on our faces!


While waiting to shift into our home, we stayed in a service apartment. Playing scramble to pass time


Our cargo didn't arrive till 1 month later. When you have kids who have a huge appetite for books, you just have to have books in your luggage