I’ve been blogging for a while now, but just figured out how to link this WordPress site to my Facebook. Call me a tech genius. Blogging about my Fulbright experience is a requirement of the program. At first it seemed intimidating, even daunting, for a math and dance teacher, to consider writing and having it be so public. I think more in numbers and movement, and less in cohesive paragraphs. I’ve decided to embrace it and now by linking it to my Facebook, I’m putting myself ‘out there’ even more. Perhaps it’s appropriate in this Chinese New Year, which just started yesterday, that I start a new habit of sorts by writing and posting more publicly. This is the year of the rooster (Why does it have to be a *rooster*, by the way? Can’t it just be a *chicken*? Are we that sexist that even the animals for CNY/LNY need to be gendered? …sigh…I guess so…). I don’t know what it means philosophically or astrologically to be in the year of the rooster, but I’ve decided that since roosters in the US are associated with cock-a-doodle-do in the morning, waking people up, the year of the rooster means to stay woke.

I’ve been following the events in the US as much as I can via news posts from my friends on Twitter and Facebook. It’s disappointing, to say the least. I’m disappointed that I feel so far away and can’t do the outreach to my representatives that I would like to do. At the same time, I feel very much connected to the struggle for justice because I am so well-informed by so many people who care as deeply as I do about the US. They have certainly stayed woke through this, so I think they, too, have ushered in the year of the rooster.

At KR on Friday morning, my family I watched the school’s CNY celebration. I was invited to the stage for a singalong at the end of the presentation. I joined the group while my kids and husband watched. Of course, I didn’t know the lyrics – they were in Mandarin – but that didn’t stop me from swaying and clapping and lip-syncing with everyone else. My kids said to me afterwards: “Mom, you looked pretty ridiculous up there.” (I succeeded in embarrassing them even when they don’t know anyone.) and “You were the only white person up there.” (I’m glad they noticed. It’s good for them to see that white people are not part of the majority…of the planet.) We also saw some great lion dances and dragon dances done by the students. I like the way they celebrate their heritage and allow the students to really take charge of the program.

On Friday, before the start of CNY, our family cleaned our flat. It was great that we could use the CNY tradition as the rationale. Our kids did their share and my husband and I did the bulk of it. In fact, we were so into it that we almost didn’t make it to the grocery store in time before it closes. Luckily, we go stocked up for the weekend as most stores were closed Saturday-Sunday, and even today (Monday), to celebrate CNY.

We had lunch at a friend’s place nearby on Saturday. It was nice to get out of our own flat and to be able to associated with other people. It’s gets a little cozy here, but I’m not complaining.

Yesterday, we rented bikes and biked along a lovely path at East Coast Park. Wow. Singapore knows how to do parks. The kids had a blast at the playground and did a minimal amount of pedaling on the tandem bikes. Although there were plenty of ‘no swimming’ signs posted along the beach, many, many people were swimming. Johan was wary of even attempting this as we could see the huge ocean liners just off the shore – fuel dumping, oil excess, and cargo debris did not seem out of the impossible, so we were glad that we didn’t bring our swimsuits. The girls dipped their feet in the water and that seemed to satiate them for now. Thank goodness we have a pool at our complex.

Since today is a public holiday, we are enjoying the long weekend. We have a couple of errands to run – ‘topping up’ Johan’s bus card and getting Hazel a new pair of gym shoes — so we will find out if the city is still shut down or not. It’s time to get moving, to get out of the flat and go about our business. The rooster beckons.