...and then there were two!

Beach Fun

Oops, haven't written anything for 2 weeks because of all the marking I had to clear. :(

Last weekend, we went to Sentosa with some friends. The original plan was to meet at Sentosa, but it started to pour when we left the house, and from where we were, the sky over Marina Bay was BLACK.

Great.

Time to activate Plan B - another weekend stuck in a shopping centre. -_-

So we pulled into Vivocity (which should be renamed Confusing City, btw) and waited for the rest to arrive. I think they brought the good weather with them from Bukit Panjang coz the sky cleared up. So we packed everyone up and drove to Sentosa. DN's first time at the beach, here we come!

At the beach, PF impressed us with the groundsheet he made at his worksite. It measured 5m x 5m, weighed 20kg and almost broke the carrybox it was in, but our over-the-hill asses would be more than adequately protected from the Siloso sand. (Of course, what does everyone do when the groundsheet is finally laid out? They plonk their bags and food on it and go sit on the sand.)

DN liked the beach. But he liked it in a serious way. Let me explain.

The minute we hit the beach, DN had this permanent frown on his face. He was playing with the sand, but frowning at it too. I think he didn't really fancy the grainy sand. I actually expected him to dive right into the sand, embrace it, toss into the air, roll about in it and basically have a "The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Music" moment.

But he didn't. He was actually quite dainty and reserved as he scooped up sand and dumped it into a pail, and he was frowning the whole time. Hmm. It must be all our exclamations of, "No! Dirty! Don't touch that! Eeeks! Stop! No! Dirty! Put that down! Aiyoh! Dirty!" that have instilled a sense of 'cleanliness' in him.

Compare this to Anthony, our New Zealander friend, who invited us over to his condo for a BBQ. As we chatted happily next to the BBQ pit, Levi, his 1.5 year old baby came crawling towards us, clad only his diaper. He crawled over puddles of water, over dirt, over soot and by the time he arrived at our feet, he was black!

Did Anthony know? Yes. Did Anthony do anything? Of course not. He's not bleeding, he's still got 4 limbs attached, what for?

A normal Singaporean grandparent would have scooped him up ... wait, a normal Singaporean grandparent wouldn't have even let him down in the first place.

Even at the Botanic Gardens on a weekend, 9 out of 10 times, the kid rolling down hill is caucasian. The asian kid is the one drenched in mosquito repellent, sitting on a mat and completing page 10 of a Maths assessment book.

It's a very Asian thing.

Will YOU let your baby crawl in soot?