Ted and Peter Hit the Singapore Grand Prix

[Guest Blogger: Ted Bach Saturday, September 22nd]

For the past few weeks, we've seen the scene below from outside our office building---preparations for the Singapore Grand Prix.  My buddy from work, Peter Moller Neergaard, had the good foresight to get us tickets.   Finally the big day came!

Like every afternoon in Singapore, it was hot and humid for the second day of the Grand Prix.  We headed out for a day of playing in the streets with the fastest, loudest machines you've ever seen. Good thing they were selling 'survival kits' with earplugs. Cuz, man, it was loud.

With our walkabout tickets we were free to roam the grounds enclosed by 5k loop.  Since we couldn't get into the grandstands we could only get a keyhole view of the races relative to the size of the track, so at any given moment I really only had a hazy understanding of what the drivers were doing, but getting the on-the-ground feel for a big race like this was amazing.  As Peter pointed out, seeing all of the infrastructure that went into hosting such an event was humbling...but, hey, that's what one should expect for a midtown race featuring cars that each represent hundreds of millions of dollars. From seeing the GP2 races where drivers were actively passing on the corners to the Formula 1 qualifiers taking high-speed turns, to Porsche and Ferrari cars going onto three wheels at the curves, it was all pretty sweet. 

Below are the pics with commentary above.

A big marionette...wait and see what it does later at night.

Good old (new) Marina bay.

And, hey, what's that on the other side?  GP2 race number 1.

Coming from downtown across the causeway.  

 Here's a spot in the track where two 90 degree curves meet.  Can you spot the GP2 car on the other side of the fence being craned out of its post-wreck resting spot?

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And here come the engines. Turned out that this was the only race with significant passing.  It was not a qualifier, but a real race.  All drivers in the GP2 series race the same car, so it's all about the driving.  Kind of a minor-leagues for drivers.

Peter taking it in. 

There were lots of side-shows between races.  Including this one below.  I had heard that longhairs used to get a free haircut at the SG airport back in the day, but I guess it's true no-more.

The sands over Merlion park.

On the Causeway.  Peter in the foreground and the Esplanade (Big Durian spikey building in the background.)

During a break between races, Peter and I met up with David Green and Brian Vaske at "The Lantern" a swank rooftop bar overlooking the bay from the top of the posh Fullerton Bay Hotel.  Fitting that we all hung out that Grand Prix evening---we have all worked in the pit together in various capacities making what some might call 'high performance racecars' of the IT software world.

Another pic from the lantern rooftop.

and back to "vroooom"!

Can you spot the busted aerofoil? Can finish the race, but can't corner fast...

Its the Pretenders! Man, they rocked.  Too bad their riverfront venue was so small that the only way to see them was by holding my camera up and taking pics.

Avatar, anyone?

You know it's Singapore when the city is organized and thoughtful enough to have a pedestrian traffic sign.  Yup. Pedestrian traffic.

Formula 1 qualifiers.

Speed limit 50km!

It was really cool to see the qualifiers from the track corner, but to actually understand what was happening, you had to go to a TV screen.  We did that for the third qualifying round.

Now, here's that big marionette...or it it a puppet master!

People, it's a puppet master for people! Trippy concept.  Stunning implementation.

And here's some of that back-scenes infrastructure stuff.  This car was turned on, driver with hands on the wheel.  Ready to put out any fires.

At the curves, I wasn't the only one photographing.   

Liked this shot because you can really tell it is Singapore.  The wolly trees are a giveaway.

Ferrari challenge cars.  These are the ones that went up on three wheels.  Without an aerofoil to keep you down, taking curves requires a far more delicate balance.

A distant mirage of the band Maroon 5.  Gee whiz, everyone and their uncle turned up to hear Moves Like Jagger.

Made an early escape before the band finished. On the way to the Metro we were greeted by two rows of happy Singaporean youths saying "goodby, goodby".  And they all seemed so genuine.  It would be pretty darn hard to replicate that in the west. 

Ella's First Day of School in Singapore

Zoe was already on her way to school and it was time to get Ella ready. She needs to wear her hair in a tight pony-tail so we washed her hair and pulled it back, putting a yellow elastic in it figuring that it would blend best with her hair. Her teacher pointed out straightaway that it should be black or blue next time but she would excuse it today.

But we're getting ahead here. Ella got dressed and we grabbed her backpack and headed out. Usually she will take a school bus, but we needed to walk her to school today and finish filling out some paperwork in the office.

Anyone who knew me in school will be shocked by Ella's favorite pose. It's actually a dance pose but it looks more cheerleader to me.

This is her other favorite pose, called the Lyra because it reminds her of her cousin.

We took the steps this time and headed outside.

Through the path to the back gate.

Normally, Ella will pick up the bus right here, but not today.

Our path takes us through two different HDB (citizens' housing) blocks.

And the school is next to this Chinese temple.

But first we stop at the guard gate to write down our ID numbers and handphone numbers.

We're heading in!

Inside, Ted slyly snapped a few pictures.

This is the cafeteria, er uh, canteen. You can see the different choices she will have for meals.

Waiting in the front office.

An aide offered to take the whole family's picture before she told us that we could all walk with Ella and the other new students to the auditorium and watch the welcoming ceremony that starts off every day.

She looks so little here!

This is the daily assembly. The kids here are all in P1 and P2 (1st and 2nd grade) sitting together with each class that has both a grade number and an important quality name. Ella's class is 1 Humility. Fitting.

There she is talking to another new student who will actually be in her class.

It was at this point that I realized something terrible: we had been so eager to leave the house that I forgot ALL of her school books there. Crap, crap, crap. I shot out of my seat and took off running. Ted stayed and took some more pictures.

That's Ella in the middle joining the rest of her class.

During assembly, they have announcements and they sing the Singapore national anthem (in Malay) and then recite the pledge (in English). We gave permission for Ella to recite the pledge even though she is not a citizen. Before any of this happened I made it back with the books. I sprinted home in 6 minutes and back in 8--the books were heavy. Ted and I talked the teacher who is wonderful! She was so thoughtful and asked great questions as well as anticipated ours. She has it together. She told me about Ella's hair tie, how her belt needed to be sewn (but she could be excused for that today too), and what kind of earrings are appropriate (only plain gold posts, also excused for the day). We have a lot to do to get ready for tomorrow!  After the song and pledge, the P1 kids watched a quick cartoon (Hansel and Gretel) while Ella's teacher directed us to the classroom so we could drop off the books.

This is one of the courtyards in the middle of the school. Trust me, her school is beautiful. It doesn't read well in these pictures, but it's a very nice school. 

After Ella and the rest of the class went into the class and got settled into an activity, the teacher came out to talk to us about the books. We are ahead of the class with math, thank goodness. But the teacher looked through the books that Ella had started and noted that she sometimes writes numbers backward, which is unacceptable. She looked at the handwriting book and I could tell she was appalled. She asked: "Would you like to see my standard?" and showed us another student's work. She is going to be a tough cookie, but in a good way. Ella has a lot of work to do, but it will be good for her. Humility, after all.

Her teacher asked us to peek inside the class and say goodbye to Ella. When I did, she looked up, looked at the boy next to her, ROLLED HER EYES, and looked back down, ignoring me. Apparently she is a teenager now.

We left, bought the few things the teacher said we still needed and headed back home with a sleeping Wyatt in Ted's arms. Ted worked from home while Wyatt and I played for two hours before it was time for Zoe to return.

Much time passes.

We went down to pick up Ella from the bus. Auntie Purple was picking her up from class and taking her to the right bus. Auntie and Uncle are terms for adults here. Purple refers to the color of the bus. Ted had taken some time to discuss with the bus drivers where Ella would be dropped off. They said at the back gate. Well, we weren't sure what that meant so Ted asked if it would be by the MRT stop or not. They said she would be dropped by the MRT stop (train station). I was waiting there with my camera and Ted was at the playground with the other kids. I started getting nervous as time passed because to me it seemed that the bus would be on the wrong side of the road coming from her school. Surely, they wouldn't expect her to cross a busy street? And we didn't prepare her for that, the directions and all. I ran back to the gate and yelled in for Ted that I wasn't sure about this. He said he would walk around to the other side of the building in case she got dropped off there. In the meantime, Ella was dropped off on the other side! She sat down, poor thing, to wait for us for a few minutes. When we didn't come, she used her card to get into the building and took the steps to our condo. No one was here. I'm shaking as I type this, thinking about how scared she must have been. So she went back down to the first level and outside to see if maybe we were on the playground. We were not at the time because I was on the road and Ted was walking to the other side. Ella did a very smart thing, finding an adult and telling her that she couldn't find her mom or dad but had their phone numbers written down. The woman was going to call us as Ted walked up to them. Ella was crying and ran to him and they eventually made their way back to me to explain everything was okay.

And did I mention that all of this happening at 7, which is when the sun sets? It was suddenly dark.

How frightening. I can't tell you the scenarios that went through my head while waiting for her. It was only about 10 minutes after she was due but every minute ticked slowly. She did all the right things though. She is a smart and brave girl who is laying down with me now, in need of cuddles. She just told me that this didn't make her lose her trust in us, bless her heart.

She recovered pretty quickly.

You can bet we will be getting to the correct drop-off spot and getting there early tomorrow and the day after that and so on. Until she feels ready to try to come up on her own again, trusting that we will be here that time.

But she said she loved school, every minute. She had art and Chinese today. You can tell all the Somerville folks that these guys get only a half-hour for a combined lunch and recess. Ella didn't know that so she missed recess because she took too long eating. She made some friends, including a girl in our building. I could maybe tell you more but instead I'm going to hug Ella and read her a story.

Good night!