How long are we here????

We have a long time left in Singapore but yet we are already done with the experience.  Well, three of us are ready to head back home.  My husband of course is loving the experience and even enjoys the travel even though it is exhausting for him.  The homesick feeling has been building over the weeks and is finally at its peak and really taking a toll.  I know this is completely normal and to be expected throughout our entire time here but knowing that just doesn't help.  This feeling isn't new to me but usually I am the only one dealing with it so I can somewhat contain it.  The last week has been a tough one with Haley really struggling and Mason is always asking about going "home".  It is very tough to be optimistic and point out all the positives when I am so focused on the negatives as well.  It also kills me to see my kids upset.  No mom wants her kids to feel like this.  Right now I just feel tired and pretty much depressed but atleast I have days that are better.  It doesn't help that we also really miss our two fur babies.  We see plenty dogs here out being walked and at one point I would have totally snatched up a man's black lab pup if I could have gotten away with it.  Crazy!  Here they are before we all got split up.

They are both doing well in their new homes and we are very lucky to be able to see them when we return home.  Lacey, the older one, is really enjoying "retirement" away from the crazy pup JoJo and she is being ridiculously spoiled by an active family that deals with her craziness well. 

Ok, back to my sad pity party.  Here is where a lot of frustration comes into my life.  Chris has a work pass and I have a dependant pass.  Yep, dependant and it is a real pain in the butt.  In order to do almost about everything you need to have a work pass and since I do not I need my husband to setup and deal with pretty much everything.  This is a problem for me since back home everything was pretty much in my name and I took care of it all.  I pretty much just laugh when something comes up that is tied to his name.  Yep, he still has a "honey do" list here. 

One thing about the whole "dependant" situation that Chris thought was hilarious was our experience setting up a bank account.  We grabbed our passports and our passes and stood in the long line FOREVER. Once we get up there we hand it all over and a ton of paperwork commences. At one point she asks Chris if he is sure he wants me to have access to his bank account. Uh, yes he does if he wants to have a happy wife. The next question she asks is what my spending limit will be. At this point I am like WTF? Of course my husband is very smart and without hesitation tells her that I get the same spending limit as him. But in true "man style" he turns to me and mouths "that is awesome" with a big grin on his face. At this point I am very agitated so that did not help. He found it quite fascinating that it is common for a man to cut off his wife's spending. I find it quite demeaning.

Another thing I am slowly getting used to is being called "Ma'am". Of course my husband gets to be called "Sir" by our helper and I get "Ma'am". Back home I hated if anyone ever dared to call me that since I felt like it meant they thought I was old. I know it is out of respect but why does he get to be "Sir" and me "old lady"? I know, my own little hang up and the fact that it comes out of the mouth of a woman that I rely on so much I am getting over it. Very slowly!

Between being a "dependant" and having a helper I am finding a hard time figuring out my place here.  I can't take care of most of the stuff I normally do and then I have someone else in my home taking care of cleaning, cooking, shopping, etc. so that leaves me here trying to figure out what I can do.  Of course I still make all the plans and run the home but in a different way.  Yes, it is very nice to have someone do the things I don't care for but I have let go of a lot of things that were so much of who I was back home.  Uh, in total control which is where we like to be right???  Luckily we found a great helper but still there are days where I wish I was home alone to just do whatever.  Well, not going to happen!!!  So now I have some extra time but with Chris gone a lot for work I am alone way too much.  As I meet more people this extra time will be filled but even with good friends around you it is hard to not spend that time with your husband.  The kids really miss him as well so his weeks of travel get very long and I also feel guilty leaving the kids with our helper when he is gone so there is that battle as well.

Ok, vent session over.  Whew!

On a positive note we had our first visitors recently and really enjoyed showing them everything we could about Singapore during their visit.  Of course there were some hiccups with getting into Malaysia and all other things that come with foreign travel.  We did finally make it down to Merlion Park to see the famous Merlion statue that you always see in images of Singapore. 

The kids were excited to finally see the famous fountain.  The rest of the week with our friends was spent at many of the places we already have explored so not really anything too new.  Well, there was the whole "let's try durian" moment.  I was very impressed that Haley actually tried it but of course no one wanted to finish it or take any of the rest home.  Yep, not good at all! 

The next couple months will be pretty laid back for us as far as adventures since Chris will be headed back to St. Louis (yes, I am very jealous) and my parents and grandmother will be here in early May.  Our next fun trip will be in late May to Phuket, Thailand for a long weekend.  We also just booked a short one night trip to Batu Batu for this weekend that we are excited for.  It is about a 2.5 hour drive into Malaysia to a place called Mersing where we will get on a small boat for a 25 minute ride to this very small island that has only one resort on it with 22 villas.  I could use a day on the beach!  Maybe a few cocktails.....

Hope you all are still enjoying this even though I am not always showing all the fun stuff.  I know my family and close friends always ask to hear what it is really like to be an expat in another country so I try to talk about all parts of it.  I admit when we signed up for this all I could see was the positive parts and how great life will be while exploring Asia.  Of course there are a lot of trade offs to have this experience but they are very easy to hide from the rest of the world.  Yes, life in Singapore is great and after 6 months or so I will pretty much have it down and probably be close to really loving it here.  But I will still barely see my husband and really miss my family and friends back home.

It has been a while.....

I just realized that it has been over a month since my last post.  Sorry family and friends!  Everyone is always busy with life but trying to add in the blog posts get a little hard.  I promise to try to keep up with it from now on.  Well, I will try my best.

Since the last post we have gone to Bintan, Indonesia and Kuantan, Malaysia for some beach time as well as a hugely anticipated trip to Legoland Malaysia for our little Ninjago guy.  Mason was so excited it was crazy.  Here is a rundown of our adventures.   Uh, you may want to grab a coffee before you start into this extremely long post......

Bintan, Indonesia

Chris had a long work week so we decided to hop on the ferry on Saturday morning and spend the day and night in Bintan.  It is quite easy to do but of course just takes time.  You have to be at the ferry about 1.5 hours ahead of time but the ride is only about 45 minutes.  Once you are there you get to get your Visa and then head through customs.  It actually went quite quick but we were ready to just get to the beach.  We stayed in a Chalet right on the beach and the place we stayed had great food and a nice beach.  Sadly our room was very run down and rustic.  Well, there was rust in the bathtub.  The other negative was the little tar balls that you would get on your feet and in your swimsuits if you were in the ocean.  Minor problem that we ignored since we were enjoying our time on the beach. 

Our 'rustic' chalet on the beach. 

The beach was very nice and the waves were perfect for the kids to have a great time in.

This is what they did pretty much all day.  Kids!

Kuantan, Malaysia

The kids had a Friday off so we decided to make a long weekend out of it in Malaysia.  We really enjoyed this weekend.  We stayed at the Hyatt Regency right on the beach and had a wonderful time.  The rooms were great and so was the beach, pool and food.  We had to drive about 5 hours but it was a pretty drive with all the palm tree plantations and of course it was fun to check out Malaysia.  Driving was interesting with all the passing of the big trucks on the smaller roads but we survived.  Of course no trip is complete with a fun bathroom experience.  Poor Haley has not quite figured out how to pee while squatting over a hole in the floor.  I don't care for it either.  Men have it so easy! 

Two cuties stuck in the sand.  They spent the entire weekend on the beach or by the pool.

Another nice beach.  The undercurrent was a little strong at times but we were still able to have a great time.

As expected the kids had a great time digging in the sand.  This time we were even nice enough to get them some shovels and sand toys. 

There was a walkway that went over the rocks to the beach on the other side.  We decided to leave the private beach in front of the resort and walk down through the public beach to check it out.  This is where we had a great learning experience for Haley.  We were greatly out numbered by the locals and they were very curious and of course were checking us out.  I could feel the stares but they were all nice and smiling as they checked us out.  Poor Haley was happy to get out of there and said she didn't like all the eyes on her.  It was good to explain to her that they were curious to see her and check out her hair and eyes, etc.  Most of the women there are completely covered so we stood out in our beach clothes.  I was glad my shoulders were covered. 

View before getting to the walkway.

So this was interesting.  You can't take your dog, cat, horse or snake (what????) on the walkway? Uh, maybe I am not okay with this.  Good news.  No snakes seen!!!

View back towards the public beach.

Hamming it up for a pic.

We needed a break from the beach and sun so we hit the pool that was very nice.  Food and drinks here were also very good as well as a lot cheaper than what we are used to in Singapore.  Yes!

Drink time!  The kids loved ordering mocktails and the guys were good at making them "fancy" as the kids would say.

Some of the scenery on our drive back.  The palm tree plantations were beautiful to look at.

This is typically what the towns looked like that we went through.

Food establishments.  The kids weren't brave enough to try one even though Chris was all for it.  He lost!

And finally our trip to Legoland.  I am so glad we finally got there since Mason has been asking to go since we got here.  Legoland is just inside Malaysia so it took us about an hour to get there since we had to go through customs and all that jazz.  It was a pretty hot and sunny day but all the lines for the rides were shaded and some had fans.  We were lucky in that it was not packed and the longest we waited for a ride was 20 minutes.  We walked right up to a lot of the rides.  Sadly we found out that lil guy is not a fan of roller coasters.  Haley was having a great time on those rides.  Funny since she is the child that gets sea sick and pukes all over me.  Go figure!  Anyway, we really enjoyed the day and will definitely take the kids back. Notice some big smiles on Mason's little face in the pics.  Spoiled!!!

 These were quite impressive and just a few of many representations of the surrounding countries.  Some of them had cars/buses that moved around and others had fountains or boats.  One even had two boats that fired canons.  Very cool!

 Our very cautious driver that I think will not be too bad when she is actually old enough.

 He did great but I am scared to death of the thought of him behind a wheel.  Ha!

The current promotion included a mini figure with a kids lunch.  They got to pick out all the different pieces and could trade with staff that they ran into throughout the day. 

Last weekend we made a short trip to Arab St. but sadly the kids were a little worn out so it was a very quick one.  We tried to get them to try some more different foods but were only successful in getting them to try some falafel and hummus.  I am definitely going back since they have a ton of shops with amazing fabrics and carpets.  We need some carpets for sure and I would love some pillows or cushions made.  We atleast made it into the Sultan Mosque before heading back home. 

 

Making our way to the Mosque.  Prior to going in you have to leave your shoes outside.  Sadly you have to do the same to enter the bathrooms located outside.  They have hoses with the faucets to wash your feet as well as your hands but I was still not thrilled with bare feet in the stalls.  Ick!

 



 They apparently can pack in 5000 people at once.  That is crazy.

 If you are a woman wearing a tank top and/or shorts you can't go in unless you wear a robe they provide.  This is me burning up in the large and scratchy and completely non breathable robe.  I am trying to warn my hubby that I am going to pass out and he needs to hurry the heck up!!  I know, fabulous!

Sadly this is the only other pic of the area we have.  I hope we go back and get some more pics of some of the stores.  The fabrics were gorgeous.

Hope you enjoyed our little adventures!

A great weekend

Last weekend was a lot of fun.  Chris and I started it with a dinner date on Friday while the kids had a fun date with our maid.  Then the Chinese New Year traditions continued as there was a celebration at our complex to bless all of us.  Once the drums started Mason was in a crazy fit to get down to the pool to see the lions for the millionth time.  He loves the whole thing.  Some pics of the fun celebration.

 

 

They run across these poles and at times one is carrying the other.  The dude on the tail end has it rough.

 

 

 

 All the residents following the lions as they bless each lobby of the 3 buildings.

 After they went into a lobby they would chase the kids back out.  Mason thought that was awesome.  Run Mason!!!!

 Way too happy!!!

The kids really enjoyed having the lions chase them.  They did a really good job.

These guys look really happy to be doing this again.  They are very LOUD!  Maybe they are grumpy since they are now deaf?

 

Haley was a lucky one and caught an orange one of the lions threw from its mouth.

 

 

These orange bushes are everywhere and are for good luck.

 

 

After all the fun was over and our buildings were all blessed we decided to head down to Little India.  Sadly the kids were pretty tired after all the excitement that we didn't see as much as we hoped. 

 

 

 There were gorgeous dresses on display so I am little dissapointed with the ones Chris decided to take a picture of.  These are not a good example of all the beautiful fabrics used.  This kinda makes me think of Hawaii and moo moos.

 The wet market there that is very nice.

A lot of fresh fish that made it smell a little too funky for me.  I do not like fish so that didn't help.

We hit up a nice restaurant to let the kids try some Indian food. 

 

Here is a happy Mason enjoying the cheese naan.  The kids were pretty good about trying everything and of course they loved all the different breads.

 This is a very frustrated Mason.  Souvenir shopping was not going his way.  Little India mainly had dresses, flowers and gold jewelry and nothing that he wanted.  Must be rough.  He did like the teh tarik though.  Tea with milk in it. 

After that we braved a trip into Mustafa's which is a crazy place that has pretty much everything and is cheaper like a Walmart.  Actually a lot more crazier than a Walmart and just as frustrating.  There are 3 different buildings of multiple levels with 6 different entrances and a million people.  We did find some souvenirs for the kids there so Mason was a lot happier after that trip.

Sunday was the big day for Haley.  She was excited for her first birthday in Singapore and with all the packages coming from family back home she was ready for the day.  We had a small party for her with her sweet girlfriends from school. 

 Cupcakes made by a girl in our complex.  She gives the profits to a charity.  Definitely have to support her.

 Fun with face painting markers and of course mustaches.

I think Mason had a little too much fun.  ;)

 One very happy girl. 

More silly time.  I think Mason is a little sad to not be in this shot.  All these older girls and they aren't paying attention to him.  Ha!

 

 

This week has been fun so far since I have been driving more to get the hang of it.  Of course I get really angry when a cab is half in my lane and half in his or a million people are trying to get in the lane I want to be in.  The motorcycles cutting in and out all the time is also nerve wracking but I am getting better and not so scared to venture out.  Of course I never leave without my GPS and it is not uncommon to hear "re-routing...".  I have had a little more time to get out and do some shopping for things we need and run up to school as well.  Tomorrow I am going with Haley's class to the hawkers court in Serangoon Gardens so that should be fun.

 

Chris' work schedule has been rough and sadly has been interrupting our weekends so we haven't been able to really plan a nice weekend trip yet.  So this weekend we are headed to Bintan, Indonesia for a quick 2 day 1 night trip via ferry.  We are looking forward to just relaxing on a beach and having some family time.