Day at the River Safari

Yesterday, Saturday, I ventured off to the north part of the island to explore the new River Safari with some friends. It was a beautiful day spent seeing the creativity of our God. The highlight of my day was seeing the pandas! Last year, China gifted two pandas (Kai Kai and Jia Jia) to Singapore; an extremely important gesture. Since then, the pandas have been the main attraction and being that I had never seen a panda before, it was very exciting.

The first stop was the Mighty Mississippi River. The River Safari showcases various species from the biggest rivers in the world. I was very proud that the good ole USA was showcased! It felt like I was back on the farm.

Now, the exhibits were not simply caged animals but rather a recreated environment which allows the animals to be in the most natural of habitats. The above picture is the Singaporean view of the Mid-West. Apparently we all live in log cabins, wear over-alls and still use flannel table cloths. Nonetheless, I am sure the beavers felt very at home.

The grand entrance into the pandas.

I'm posing with Jia Jia and Kia Kia :)

Kia Kia was lounging in a tree. He was extremely playful and never paused long enough for a good snapshot. He was much bigger than I was expecting. Isn't he just the cutest?!?

In a separate "cage", I was only able to catch a glimpse of Jia Jia. Once she poked her head out, the crowd, in perfect harmony, said, "awwww...", which startled her. I was never able to get a picture of the beauty.

A quick stop for lunch lead us to the discovery of "Panda Paus". Pronounced "pow", this dumpling/doughnut/red-bean-filled-pastry, was specially created for promoting the famous pandas. 

Sneak peek into my classroom

First week of school...CHECK!

Meet with the teacher area.

Miss Jorgenson's corner

A front view of 2nd Grade

Our math corner

The Bible verse for the school year

Philippians 1:17

Our classroom map - I have students from United States, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines and Australia 

Our library

View of the classroom from the door

Bulletin boards outside our room

And so it begins

When I was in elementary school, I loved going "back to school" shopping. My mom would take Tyler, Baihley and I to Target or Walmart and load up on school supplies; carefully consulting our official school shopping list. I always knew who my next teacher was going to be since I attended a small school in which there was one class per grade. My only other memory of "back to school" time is posing for the infamous "First Day of School" picture. In fact, below is a picture from my first day of kindergarten.

Fast forward eighteen years later, and here I am. Beginning my second year of teaching. Monday is open house/meet the teacher and Tuesday is the first day of school. As I look ahead to the next ten months, I am ready and willing. Just as 2 Corinthians 5:5 tells us,

  "He who has prepared us for this very things is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee." 

Although my "to-do" list is never-ending and there are days that I feel like giving up, I am reminded of a verse in Esther. 

"And who knows whether you have no come to ICS for such a time as this."