Clinton's visit to Cambodia

In early November of 2010 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Cambodia as part of a short tour through Asia. She was scheduled to address Cambodian students at a "town hall" type forum where approximately 600 students were part of a question and answer session. Jim was asked if ISPP had any high school students who would want to attend this and of course he quickly formed a group of interested students. He then asked his counselor to help him out and I insisted I could be helpful too... Well of course I just wanted to see Clinton speak. Students and chaperones had to show up at the event venue on the Mekong River about 3 hours before the start of the event. There were lots of security lines and everyone complied. Inside the room we noticed many female secret service agents / body guards which I thought was good to see. After a long wait Hillary Clinton did arrive and was all smiles and stories. She called on many female students and the occasional male. None of the ISPP students were called on unfortunately. Clinton was very inspiring to the hope full students who are part of that future of Cambodia. I thought she had some great advice to many of the female students who are still expected to be very traditional in their ways.
It is hard to see in this picture but here you can see Sophea who is one of the Cambodian teachers at my pre-school. She also attends classes at night and was asked to ask her question. She still talks about how exciting that was! She asked Clinton what inspired her.
Here are the cars outside the building ready to whisk Clinton away to meetings with the King and the prime minister of Cambodia.

The ISPP students who attended the event.

Halloween 2010

Our little friend LM came over to borrow a dress up outfit for Halloween. S&E have quite the collection to choose from and in the end LM settled on the Chick outfit that Auntie C once gave to E.

Gecko & Garden Pre-School held another Halloween Festival and this year was another hit. The teachers all dressed up to the delight of the kids. I dusted off my ladybug outfit but could not find the wings. I did find them back a few months later when I opened the Christmas storage boxes....

S&E at the giant spider web at G&G.

Getting ready for trick or treat by tuk tuk night. E is an adorable panda (made by our talented cleaner at G&G who makes costumes on the side.) The girls developed a love for panda bears after our visit to China a few months back.

And S is a cat with a kitten in her arms!

E's friend M joined us for trick or treating. Even papa dressed up!

S and her friend Y who is looking awesome!

A&S were the organizers of Trick-or Treat-By-Tuk-Tuk 2010.

It almost felt like Fall in the USA or the Netherlands with a bit of rain. E was perfectly dressed for "cool" weather.

People have gotten very creative for trick or treat crowd.

This one's a little scary!

Some people had the kids do games. E swinging over a bucket after digging through a bowl of pasta. There is always candy for everyone in the end though, even for the tuk tuk drivers!

Visit to Singapore

We traveled to Singapore during the Phum Ben Holiday in October 2010 to meet up with our friends JE and C & their kids whom we know from Cairo. We had a great time catching up with them and many other old CAC friends whom JE & C had invited for brunch. Singapore is a great city with endless things to do for everyone. We ate at great restaurants, shopped a little at some bookstores, saw several performances, went to the Singapore zoo, the Botanical Gardens, an Imax theatre, and some museums. Thank you JE & C for a fabulous time!

Checking out JE's new ipad. The kids are loving it as much as the dads.

At the apartment complex where JE & C live. The girls are dressed up and ready to go to the Esplanade Theatre downtown for the performance of Xi Gua Watermelon Girl & the Legend of the Lion by Players Theatre.

Lanterns on display at the Esplanade Theatre.

Crazy casino in the shape of a boat on top of three skyscrapers.

Singapore skyline.

Kids running around in a city park in down town while the moms are having a coffee at Starbucks! A real treat for me.

E on the Ben & Jerry's cow. Every western chain restaurant is available in Singapore.

"Scary" Halloween advertisement for an evening Halloween event at the zoo.

Water show at the Singapore Zoo complete with music and frisbee tossing.

My sweet girls and my favorite animals: the giraffes.

After lunch we spend about an hour playing in the water park at the zoo. The bucket would fill with water every 5 minutes and get dumped out. S & E loved standing under it to get drenched.

The zoo playground is incredible. S is flying down on the zip line.

Zip line high! Woohoo!

Zebras! S and E loved figuring out where we would go next on the zoo map.

The elephant show was spectacular but ended early because it started raining hard.

Merry-go-round at the zoo.

Still fun for everyone!

Flowers at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Giant mushrooms at the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden.

Awesome draw bridge in the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden.

Every park or attraction in Singapore has a water element to cool off. We just carried swimsuits and a towel everywhere we went!

Visit to the Peranakan Museum down town with C who is a real expert on the museums in Singapore.

Waiting for a taxi down town.