High on Elysia’s grandmother’s sightseeing checklist was visiting the Merlion near the downtown Singapore waterfront.  It is a destination of almost every tourist in Singapore but we had yet to visit, partly because we live on the other side of Singapore.  Or, as the people here say, in the heartlands.

I have decided that if I want to be in the group photos, I had better bring my tripod because handing over the camera to a stranger always results in a picture like this.

A few mainland Chinese tourists were shocked that Elysia was out and about with the baby.  Traditionally, a Chinese mother is expected to stay inside for a full month after giving birth both for the health of the baby and the mother’s recovery.  This means few or no showers so that her weakened body does not get cold and she’s also supposed to eat a lot of confinement meals which are heavy on heat, such as ginger.

We figure that just staying out of malls is a pretty good step in the right direction, and have only gone out a handful of times, so Elysia told the tourists that things are different in Singapore.  They just stared.

It has been a busy week. Citrus started a new gymnastics class and went to a tea party, we showed my in-laws some sights of Singapore, I hosted a cooking class and tomorrow am teaching a financial education class aboard a boat!

 I am a little behind in the writing and posting photos but this moment on the couch pretty much sums up the other parts of the week.  Hope to catch up this weekend!

Baby schmaby.  There is bigger news around here.  

I ate durian and liked it.

If you have never been near a durian, you do not know how monumental this is. 

We have been in Singapore for sixteen months and while I have gotten used to the rotting smell, I just could not overcome it to enjoy the taste. 

Even unopened it is banned from taxis, trains, hotels and hospitals.  As Anthony Bourdain once said,

Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother.

He likes durian, and that’s one of the nicer descriptions.  It is also not an exaggeration.

I have tried before.  When Citrus and I were traveling through Borneo, I ordered durian cheesecake and had to leave it unfinished on the plate. 

Unfinished cheesecake.  There, I said it.

Elysia’s dad and grandmother were looking forward to durian on their trip to Singapore and it was their first purchase.  They bought three, a high-quality grade for those who can tell the difference.   It took a week for the smell to leave the car. 

So, as the sailors say when telling a story of adventure:

THERE I WAS . . .

When I wake up in the morning, love
And the sunlight hurts my eyes
And something without warning, love
Bears heavy on my mind

Then I look at you
And the world’s alright with me
Just one look at you
And I know it’s gonna be
A lovely day
… lovely day, lovely day, lovely day …

When Elysia’s family arrived from Queens, Lemon was already past his due date.  This gave them a few days to settle in and get to know the neighborhood. They now know mainly how to find the nearest dim sum hawker stall and where to buy the local Chinese newspaper.

When our daughter, Citrus, was one month old, we drove to Long Island and held a Full Month Party with Elysia’s sister.  They had a baby within two weeks of each other.

Sisters: May and August, 2005

Unfortunately, Elysia’s family will not be here when Lemon turns one month old.  Still, Elysia and her grandmother made red eggs and ginger last week for her maternity leave.  We have decided that we will have multiple, small celebrations throughout the coming year since our friends and family are scattered across the United States.

Elysia and her grandmother, cutting ginger

Frying the ginger, without oil, to reduce its moisture

Boiling eggs

With the hardboiled eggs peeled and sitting nearby, a full bottle of black rice vinegar is poured into the pot.

The ginger is added to the black rice vinegar.

Eggs added, pig's feet are optional. This stuff lasts forever.

A portrait of our son, Lemon, at eight days old.  The photo below him is of Citrus when she was seven days old.

About a month ago my daughter looked at me and asked point-blank “Why did you name me after an orange?” 

I blame my father for our children’s names.  He worked for 23 years at UC Berkeley’s Agricultural Publications as a graphic designer.  When I was a child he would bring home beautiful photos and illustrations of California’s agricultural products and the pests that eat them.  I remember one in particular about citrus fruits in various stages of being eaten by fly larvae.

Citrus, and now her brother, are named after hybrid fruits that are half-mandarin oranges.  They are half Chinese.  And their names have other meanings and tenuous connections to California as well. 

We have no pests in our family.

The photo of Lemon was taken with a Nikon D90, SB-600 flash and 35 lemons.  Additional lemons, primarily along the perimeter, were added digitally.   I almost like the uncropped and unfinished version better.

The photo of Citrus was taken five years ago with a Sony Cybershot 4.0 megapixel camera and 21 clementines with more added digitally as well.  At that time I had never heard of Anne Geddes but just thought fruit would make a nice background.

Military families tend to move every year and a half to three years and sometimes it can feel you have just settled into one place before it is time to start packing and planning to live somewhere else.  Just passing through.

Three friends of ours — a Coast Guard family — moved recently from Singapore to Missouri.  Already about a quarter of the people in our neighborhood never met them.  Memories and friendships do not fade so much as get scattered across the globe.

Still, it was a little surprising to find them enshrined at our local Starbucks even though I knew it was Karin’s mini-vacation spot in Singapore.

VIPs, top left, at the Starbucks Sembawang

Introducing Lemon. Born at 10:36 p.m. on Tuesday, August 17, 2010.
Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore.  7 pounds 13 ounces, 21 inches.

Lemon, age 1/2 hour.

Citrus meets her brother, Lemon (12 hours old), for the first time.

More photos to come.

Elysia’s parents and grandmother arrived in Singapore yesterday, the first time we have seen them in 16 months.  It was their first time flying to Asia since 1979.  The last time they visited Singapore was in 1974.  Elysia was three years old, Singapore was only nine.

Dinner together after 16 months apart.

Elysia’s parents do not fly much.  Their visit to Las Vegas in 2004 was the first time they had been on an airplane since 1979.  A few things have changed since then but we tried to keep them immune from poor customer service by booking their flight from New York City on Cathay Pacific.  After all, her grandmother is 92 years old.  United Airlines would have been hazardous to their health.

Since they will not be here for the baby’s full moon party — first, we need a baby — we went out for a celebratory dinner last night at a Cantonese restaurant.  Singapore restaurants tend to be expensive but the service was great.  I only mention that because customer service  in Singapore can often mean that you get a blank stare.  There are also a lot of helpful people in Singapore . . . but it is not an accident that there is a reality show on television with contestants competing to provide the best customer service.  It is part entertainment, part public education campaign.

"Mommy, I am squishing the eyes."

We began their first full day here by going to a wet market and hawker stall for lunch.  Elysia’s dad was born in Malaysia and had been looking forward to the food — Malaysia is fifteen minutes away from us — and her grandmother made a beeline for the durian vendor.

Selecting the best durian.

As we predicted, it was a very long trip for them but there is comfort in the familiar. Our car and house now reek of durian.

[Click HERE or on the photos for a few more photos.]