Double Take

The finale event at Camp Angie was a field trip. We went downtown with the kids today to Ion Mall. It is one of the newer, nicer malls in Singapore, a land where two kids is a lot. Obviously we were quite a sight. Two adults with nine kids ten and under. Two favorites stick out in my mind.

Going up and down the escalators. Admit it. When you ride one you casually check out the people going the other direction or look around at least as you ride. As people passed us today they would look as I passed and about the fourth kid their brow would wrinkle. They would look forward to see Brian then back to see me and start counting with wide eyes.

The purpose of our visit was to get some Japanese yakitori for dinner. Basically a bento box of rice and marinated and grilled meat on a stick. It's some good stuff! We also hit up the fresh fruit juice place for an ice blend or six. So we walk up to the little place at the mall to get our food.

It's a lot like a food stand in an American mall with a little grill behind a glass display case. The guy behind the counter looked up at me and smiled. I hung back for a minute letting all the kids gather next to me as I explained that we were going to get in line and everyone could choose two sticks of meat and i would order rice. Then we all got in line as the guy started to point and gesture clearly asking if they were all mine. I gestured in reply "two families". He smiled and pointed to draw his three coworkers attention our way as we all crossed and got in line. By now there was a crowd of people stopped watching us and all the cute kids. Everyone was counting over and over with their fingers raised in the air trying to get an accurate count as children moved like ants swarming on a candy discarded on the sidewalk.

The lady taking the order and I did our best to get everyone the right thing in the bags while the other employees giggled every time the next kid came up to tell me what they wanted to eat. Still they counted and counted. After they placed their orders they crossed the walkway to wait against the wall with Brian who had collected his own audience of elderly Asian women who were smiling, counting and laughing at the little ones while they patted their heads and pointed to the ones with glasses.

Such a hilarious experience for me. Jana figured it out and it is actually possible. She had three kids and from that point on we alternated having a kid a year. We both agree though, nine kids in nine years is a whole lot of kids. We will be really sad when they leave Singapore in three weeks. I wish they could stay the whole three years with us.