Thursday, May 12, 2011

Bomba










Bomba, you ask?? That is "fire" in the local language of Malaysia. Today I went with Samantha's class to visit the local bomba station. It was really great. First let me say that I would venture to guess that not any of the fireman spoke English, however what they lacked in informational lectures they made up for (x2) in the hands on experiences.

First they set of the fire alarm and about 5 fire fighters came down the fire poll. Then they let teachers and mom's have a turn at the pole. Too funny. I should have got some pictures of that. Then the kids got to spray the water hose. They just thought that was awesome. The poor pedestrians walking by got a slight shower every now and then. Five year olds don't have the best control on a high pressure hose. Then the kids got to ride in the lift. Now they were really cool. And lastly the entire class (16 kids and 2 adults) piled in the fire engine and they turned the sirens on full blast and drove them in circles around the parking lot. You have to look closely but you can see all them in one of the pictures. The bonus part was trying on the uniforms. Samantha didn't want to, but the other kids were really cute in all the gear.

I am not sure if it was after the pole sliding, spraying the high pressure hose or walking over to the lift did the all the moms say "we certainly would not be doing all of this at fire station in our country". When Kyle got home and saw the lift pictures he went into his safety engineer mode about how everyone would need to be tied off with hard hats etc. It was pretty funny.

All in all, everyone was safe and had a fabulous time.

Oh I forgot to mention that when Samantha was up in the lift the fireman hit a button and then Lady Gaga was blaring one of her top songs. I think they really had access to a radio on the lift. It was so funny. I guess everyone should be able to dance and jam while working, right?

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Sorry




Today the girls were playing at the neighborhood play ground with friends when Emily comes over to me crying. I look down and her face and shirt are soaking wet. I was a little puzzled because there really was no water around. Then the truth came out, Samantha spit water all over her. I just about lost it and started in on the whole "unacceptable" speech. I told Samantha she had to go straight to her room when we got home and back to her room right after dinner. She cried and screamed and then eventually stomped up stairs. But before she went she asked me how to spell a few words.

When it was finally time for Emily to go to bed, we walked up stairs and Samantha was sitting in her doorway waiting. She gave Emily this sweet note. Sisterly love...