We had really been hoping that school would be held in person, but the numbers are still too high in KL, so the girls are having their third online school experience. The good news is that, so far, this is the best one yet. The school is great anyway, and they have clearly worked hard to make the online program the best it can be. One of the big things that they can do, that public schools in the States couldn't, is require cameras to be on. This isn't a big change for Elena, but for Vivian it means that she can actually SEE her new classmates, and so she's making friends in a way she never did last year. Since our HHE hasn't arrived yet, we don't have proper desks for the girls, so I'm letting Vivian use my desk, and Elena is set up at the dining room table.
The school provided an iPad for Elena and a Macbook for Vivian. They gave us an appointment the Saturday before school started for one person to come pick them up. I walked to the school entrance nearest our apartment, which is the back entrance. They let me in, and then I had to walk the length of the school to the front entrance where they had a badge for me. The school is HUGE and impressive. This was the entrance I ended up going through.
The set up for picking things up was clearly laid out, and everyone was friendly and helpful. I am so grateful to have a place I feel safe sending the kids whenever the school is allowed to open.
There was an online orientation the Monday before school started. The one for middle school was pretty standard assembly stuff, but Elena is the only new kid in her class, so she got some one on one time with the teacher, and then most of the rest of the class joined the call to meet the new teacher as well. She was one of the librarians last year, so she already knew a lot of the kids, which is nice. She was doing an activity where the kids were raising their hand for things like did they leave Malaysia for the summer. Then, she said, raise your hand if you're going to be friends with Elena, and every single kid raised their hand. Elena was so happy, and I almost started crying. One of the kids sent her a private message through the chat, and after a few minutes, they decided that they were now friends. The teacher even put them together in a small group on the first day, so that was perfect.
For middle school, Vivian was assigned a "peer helper" who sent her an email and did a video call with her before school, so she was equally excited to have a friend. The teachers have also made a point of putting the students in small groups and focusing on getting to know you type activities, so she has a slew of people to chat with now.
Vivian also made a friend in the building before school started, so that has been really nice. The friend has grown up overseas like Vivian, but her family is actually from Colombia, which we thought was just perfect. They invited us over for lunch, and they put out these really cool place mats modeled after the signs you see on Colombian buses.
They made fabulous grilled salmon and all kinds of other yummy side dishes, so we feasted. We had offered to handle dessert, so I used that as an excuse to order a Ferraro Roche ice cream cake. It was incredible to look at, but even more incredible to eat.
I've been trying to do a better job of taking pictures of the meals that Noby and I make. I've been joking that we should start the Noby and Nicole cooking show. Let's be honest though, I'm the idea person, and she does most of the cooking. This became especially clear when the family requested shrimp.
Now, I'm going to give myself credit for getting us to the store to buy the shrimp, because it was the longest drive I've done yet, and it started with getting gas in the car for the first time. Luckily, the gas tank is on the right, so I won't have any unfortunate left tire/curb incidents like I had in Thailand. After I got gas, I got on Jalan Ampang, which is one of the main roads around here, and drove as fast I've driven yet until I got to the parking garage for B.I.G.'s. I managed to park, and on the way out I got the parking validated, which I was very proud of, and got us home without incident, but the big, serve yourself tray of shrimp was too much for me. Luckily, Noby was undeterred. She got one bag to put the shrimp in and one bag to put over her hand, and in she went. Here they are at home in our sink.
Getting the antennae to stay in the bag was my breaking point. Thank goodness for Noby, who took off all the creepy stuff and made them look like the shrimp I'm used to eating.
We used them to make shrimp scampi with linguine, but it was devoured before I took a picture. I did manage to get a picture of our chicken in mushroom cream sauce,
teriyaki salmon,
and flank steak, which was a special Vivi request.
By the end of the week though, I was ready for some delivery. We ordered Indian food and watched the first episode of the new Marvel Series "What If . . .?". Both the food and the show were fantastic!
We are spending plenty of time being active outdoors to help burn off all of this food too. The girls' scooters finally arrived, so they spend part of each day scooting around the outdoor space.
Elena has also figured out how to swing by herself, and she couldn't be more proud.
It does get hot outside though, so the girls set up curtain "forts" in their rooms. Vivian did hers first with her friend.
Then, Jeff helped Elena set up one of her own with a special reading area.
She's also been using her room for PE class.
We've had a few outings over the past week. The first was not so fun, going to the embassy to get shots. Elena needed three, and she was NOT happy. After it was over though, she was willing to show off her bandages and sticker.
I had a fun Friday with a morning coffee hosted by the ambassador's wife and a socially distanced happy hour at the embassy in the afternoon. The ambassador's residence is lovely, and when we were leaving we got a booklet about it as a present.
I showed the booklet to the rest of the family when I got home, which made them even more excited for our Saturday outing which was a swim at the residence pool. It's a bit removed from the main property, and it has a great covered seating area with overhead fans. The ambassador's family also kindly left floaties out for us to use. The girls were very pleased.
Not gonna lie, I checked out one of the floats myself.
The real highlight though was homemade ice cream offered to us by the ambassador's helper. It was delicious!
It was our first real family outing in KL, and even though we didn't go very far, it was great to be able to do something new together. We like our adventures.
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