Singapore I--World Market with British Past

We canceled our trip to Asia, when Sophia was diagnosed with brain cancer.  After the surgery was over and the prognosis was good, we pulled together 13 days of our original 17 day trip.  First stop was Singapore, and we adored it.  Singapore is a sparkling clean, shiny new global city, with an intriguing mix of Chinese and colonial British culture.  It is as comfortable as Europe, but distinctly Asian.

We spent a morning walking the colonial heart of Singapore, before catching our afternoon flight to Bali.  We stopped at the Raffles Hotel, one of the great hotels of Asia.  British authors Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maughm drank at its bar and lounged in its lobby, and British couples danced in its ballroom just days before being overrun by the Japanese in 1942.

A Gurkha guard stood by the front door of the hotel, keeping out riff-raff like us.

We slipped past him and walked the marble halls of the Raffles.

We also walked past St. George's Church, as British as tea and crumpets.

We passed by the old Supreme Court, now the city's top art museum.  It had the pillars and dome that were borrowed by Britain from Rome and now embellish government buildings everywhere.

We paused by the Victoria and Albert Theater, another gorgeous relic of 100 years of British occupation.

We walked along the Singapore River, lined with skyscrapers and quaint restaurant areas.  The walkway was decorated with statutes of great Asian leaders--Nehru of India, Ho Chi Minh of Viet Nam, Sun Yat Sen of China.  The statues signaled the independent, Asian mood--there are not many statues of Ho Chi Minh in either America or Britain.

The Boat Quay is a quaint riverside neighborhood filled with restaurants.  We counted dozens of different ethnic foods being sold--Indian, Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, Persian....

There were details that reminded me of my childhood in Asia, such as these beautiful cup-of gold flowers.  We had cup-of-gold bushes outside our home in Yangon.

We spent an hour at the Asian Civilizations Museum and wished we had several more to spend.  There was a major display on Christianity in Asia and another exhibit showing the contents of a 7th century Persian ship, sunk near Singapore while sailing from China to India with a load of pottery. Singapore has been a great trading center since the 1400s, and the straits surrounding Singapore have been the main sea route from China to India and the Middle East for 2000 years.

We spent another hour at the National Museum of Singapore, fascinated by the displays on Singapore history.  We learned about Lee Kuan Yew, the strong (dictatorial?) leader who led Singapore from 1963 through 2010 or so, as it evolved from a British colony to a vibrant global market,  The laws of Singapore can be heavy-handed.  As our airplane landed, the crew announced that no drugs would be tolerated in Singapore--and violators of this ban could be put to death.

I believe in leaving some sight unseen in every city I visit, to create an incentive to return.  We never did visit Singapore's spectacular Garden by the Sea, but that is a good reason to go back.

Gretta at the Pulpit

 It's rare that anyone takes photos of people bearing testimonies.  During Sacrament Meeting, I sit with Susan Thompson and her children, Catherine and Michael.  I lend Michael my cell phone to play video games on (Yes, there's an excellent reason for that).  When I bore my testimony on May 29, Michael took pictures of me at the podium!  I talked about how I am seeing Heavenly Father's beautiful world in a new way, through renting a plot in a community garden, next to the plots of Burundian refugees.

Moose and Men at the Cabin

 It was "just-Spring" at the cabin over Memorial Day weekend.  Dave and I took Jonny and Sam with us to the cabin on Saturday, May 28.  Sam loved the swing and teeter totter, and we all enjoyed a moose sighting in the aspens on our lot.  We kept a healthy distance away.

 On Memorial Day, May 30, 2016, Jonny's and Camille's families joined us at the cabin for Grandpa David's famous hamburgers, riding the four-wheelers, and playing horseshoes.  Mike and Heidi were on a trip to San Antonio and Austin, Texas.

Mama Gretta's West of Nashville Rib Shack

Jonny and Jenny were in town for two weeks in May, and they attended a swirl of parties thrown by family and friends.  J&J's friend, Jane Swallow, hosted one particularly witty event, with parlor games and luscious food.  Jonny told me what a great hostess Jane is.  After some urging, Jonny admitted that, "Yes, Mom, you give great parties, too."   On May 22, 2016, I invited my clan and Jenny's family to "Mama Gretta's West of Nashville Rib Shack" (according to a sign posted on the front door".  I handed out name tags with Southern names like "Emmett," "Atticus," "Rufus," "Daisy," and "Peggy Sue".  Each name tag had a line of introduction, such as "I won first place in my garden club for my azaleas," "My great grand-pappy fought with Lee in Virginia," and "My favorite treat is a mint julep on the front porch (non-alcoholic, of course)."  The meal was Southern--pimento cheese spread on crackers, barbecued ribs, sweet potato casserole, and carrot cake for dessert.

Jenny's mom and dad, Dave and Shelly Leatham, joined us, as did her brother, Danny, and his children.

At last!

 Emilie graduated with the Olympus High Class of 2016 on May 27, 2016, at the U of U Huntsman Center.  She wore a lei from her Grandma Ebert, as well as a selection of ribbons around her neck indicating her scholastic and artistic achievements.

 The whole Ebert family was thrilled with Emilie's achievements.

During the graduation ceremonies, all Olympus High alumni were asked to stand and receive an ovation.  "I saw you stand, Grandma!" Emilie assured me.  It is a long way back to my year of prancing around the Olympus football field in a green wool dress with miniskirt and a removable gray "dickie", flipping my pom poms as a member of the Olympus High Pep Club.  On the bus rides to "away" games, I read poetry by Russian authors (to be a rebel, I suppose).

Quick Trip to Tokyo

 Cherry blossoms.  Quaint inns with soaking tubs outside.  The bullet train.  Mike and Heidi saw it all on their trip to Japan this spring.  They study for their trips by listing to lectures on tape about the countries they will visit, and also by cooking the local food from cookbooks bought on Amazon.com.  On May 1, 2016, Mike and Heidi treated us to a four-course Japanese meal and showed pictures from their trip.  We started out with gyoza, or fried dumplings stuffed with pork. Next followed miso soup, made from scratch from dried seaweed.  The entree was shrimp tempura, served with Japanese salad.  I made ginger ice cream for dessert.  It was authentic and delicious.

 I assembled all my Japanese nick nacks for table decorations, including boxes of Japanese cookies from the local Asian store.

 Lychee juice was the drink.

 All the kids loved the sugary lychee juice, but the gyozas were also a special treat.

 Heidi assured me my blue and white Chinese vases were authentic to Japan, as well.  Large ceramic vases are a favorite decoration throughout the Orient.

 I wore my Japanese-patterned apron from Mike's wedding reception to get into the mood.

 After dinner, Mike showed his elegant photographs of Japan.