Episode 15: The Mama Jo Project

Episode 15: The Mama Jo Project

In episode 15, Thomas Haenle interviews his great-grandmother, Josephine Day Huff, who is 98 years old, as she answers questions and tells us about some memories from her upbringing.  Mama Jo also happens to be the inspiration for the middle name of Thomas’s sister, Mabel Day Haenle.

Episode 14: Let’s talk about the new film, Elemental!

In episode 14, Thomas Haenle and Liz (Thomas’s mother/fellow movie-goer) review and discuss about the new Disney film “Elemental”. Over the last 2 weeks Thomas and Liz have watched the film twice, the second time with Mabel (Thomas’s sister) and Paul (Thomas's Dad). In this episode Thomas asks Liz a variety of questions based on the movie while Liz answers them and explains her overall views about the film.

Episode 13: Malacca Madness and Bali Break (recorded April 2023)

In episode 13, Thomas Haenle talks about his recent trips to Malacca and Bali.  In March, Thomas took a trip with his Dad to Malacca over a weekend.  He refers to the trip as the March Malacca Madness.  in Malacca, Thomas and his Dad learned about the influence of the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British and the Chinese (Peranakan) as well as religious influences of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.  In Bali, Thomas traveled with his entire family and spent a week at the Ayana Resort where they did a lot of swimming, relaxing, and eating.  One day during the trip, Thomas and his family traveled to Ubud, Indonesia and spent the day white water rafting.

Episode 12: Harry Styles Comes to Singapore (recorded March 2023

In episode 12, while out walking his dog Grover, Thomas Haenle shares the excitement of seeing Harry Styles in concert in Singapore as a birthday gift from his Mom and Dad.  The concert took place on Friday March 17th, 2 days before Thomas’s 13th birthday on March 19th.  In the podcast, Thomas reminds his Dad that he has not yet turned into a ‘moody brat’ teenager, which is of great relief to his parents.  As for the concert, Thomas tells the story of one of the male guests at the concert that proposed marriage to his fiancé at the concert while engaging Harry Styles up on stage.  Some of Thomas’ favorite songs performed by Styles at the concert included  Watermelon Sugar, Late Night Talking, Music for a Sushi Restaurant, Cinema, Treat People with Kindness, Matilda as well as the four signs that made up his encore — Sign of the Times, She’s Dressed as a Banana, and Kiwi. He closes the podcast by sharing how he pranked his NaiNai and Aunt JuJu during the concert!

Episode 11: Living in Singapore (recorded March 2023)

In episode 11, Thomas Haenle shares his perspectives of what it has been like to live in Singapore for the past year and a half.  After 10 years of living in Beijing and a year and a half of living in the US during the global pandemic, Thomas and his family moved to Singapore in August 2021.  After two weeks of quarantine, Thomas and his then 4-year old sister were given a surprise gift of a brand new yellow lab puppy they named Grover.  Grover very quickly became a beloved and integral member of the Haenle family.   In the podcast, Thomas also talks about all the fun activities he has done in Singapore since arriving to include Sentosa Water Cover, Ifly (one of the world's largest indoor skydiving wind tunnels), Forest Adventure (an outdoor activity center with zip lines and obstacle courses above the treetops and over water), indoor trampoline park Bounce.  He also talks about Singapore’s terrific annual F1 Grand Prix.  Finally, Thomas shares his love of Singapore’s hawker stands and delicious food.