week one of the new school - 75% commute success rate

Week one of the new campus came and went.  The commute is.... as I told my mom, "not wonderful, not terrible."  It's far.  My kids go on the public bus for around 8 minutes, then a subway (well, a train as it goes above ground most of the way) for 35 minutes, then the school provides a shuttle that is only 5 minutes but the kicker is that there can be quite a line for that shuttle.  annoying.

this is a map of the Singapore train system - the kids get the train at Outram  (middle green line) and get off at Pasir Ris.  The closest station to my work is Joo Koon.  And it's not even that close. There was one day where I left work and took a cab to Joo Koon station then coordinated and met the kids and Outran Park.  So as a family we did the entire east west line.  

Days one and two I took the kids and picked them up using the planes, trains, automobiles system.  Took about 6 hours out of my day each day by the time I took them to their classes and waited for the teachers but I needed to see how the system worked.  Day 3 I was back to work and the kids did the commute with the maid.  She doesn't take them all the way to school.  She leaves them/gets them at the shuttle stop at the train station.  If my oldest son didn't have a phone to stay in touch I could not handle this situation.

So all went pretty ok until day 4 when... middle child has a bellyache in the morning.  (note:  he is the kind of kid who often has bellyaches in the morning).  By now I am already at work.  My husband is home with the kids and the maid.   We have to make a decision.  The decision was... middle child stays home from school.  My husband stayed with him while the maid took the kids and came back.  Not an ideal situation at all.  And to get home I couldn't have the possibly sick child accompany to go get them, so the other 2 took a taxi home - 30 minutes, $26.  Hence the 25% success rate week one.

It's a stressful situation.  We may very well end up putting them on the (insanely expensive) bus.  After one month we will have a family meeting and make the decision.

Difference between school bus and crazy commute?  My kids leave at around 7:25.  Bus picks up at at 7:45.  Not a huge diff.  But in the pm the bus gets here at around 4:15/4:20.  My kids?  around 5.  that's a big diff.

Good news is the school looks great and the kids are happy.  That's the important thing.  Here are some pix:

the train stop Pasir Ris by the school

the kids walking on the covered walkway (Singapore thinks of everything) from the shuttle stop to the train station

sideways pic but this is the inside of the school shuttle.  very nice bus.

escalators going from the atrium up to the elementary school

Now there is one benefit to the crazy commute - this being Singapore there is really fun food at the train station.  Hard to resist after a long day of school even if it adds a few minutes to the way home!

Umi Sushi is the boys' favorite "takeaway" sushi place in Singapore.

this place made us want to go to Taiwan just to eat the street food.

this crispy chicken from the Taiwanese street snacks is soooo amazing! it's a ginormous flattened chicken breast, fried of course and they cut it with scissors.