University

This morning, I took the two younger kids scootering. The plan was that we would go somewhere close by, have McDonalds breakfast after that and get home in time to prepare for church. Quite a tall order considering that we had less than 2 hours.  I decided to take them to NUS's University Town - it was close enough and there is quite a bit of greenery. The kids are quite particular about where they go scootering - it has to have some slopes, a place to get a cold drink, not too hot, a playground and more. Otherwise, I would receive the "this place is so boring" rating from them. But we only have that much time on our hands so UTown will have to do. Whatever the outcome, I should be able to redeem myself with the McD breakfast later.

When we got out of the carpark, my son was surprised to see that there were eateries on the campus. He liked the idea that there was a Subway and Starbucks, a place for buffet apparently, convenient stores. He said that the foodcourt sells dim-sum. We have visited universities before on some of our holidays including Warwick, which my wife and I attended, so he should not be surprised. Perhaps those visits left him with the impression that there were only cucumber sandwiches and coffee on campus. 

He was curious about the campus accommodation and had quite a few questions for me. He told me that he would like to stay on campus because he would like to learn to live by himself. He asked me if it was expensive and how much money he would need to cover his weekly expenses. He did some financial planning and said that he would not eat out for every meal. I told him that I would miss him if he stayed on campus, so he suggested that he would be home on alternate nights and the weekends. He talked about it a few times more during the rest of the day. It is funny and heart-warming listening to kids at that age talk about their future plans and how they arrive at those decisions. 

We should probably avoid going there too frequently in case the novelty wears off. It would be good if getting a degree remains his aspiration and not something that he does out of his parents insistence. Maybe we could consider scootering in the other universities in Singapore so that they can make comparisons. For today, I am just glad I didn't get the "this place is so boring" vote off.