Finding Routine

I have reached week 2 here in Singapore, and it’s gone strangely slow. I’ve crossed over from being in holiday mode to “now what”. It’s been very up and down since I arrived with Brian leaving Australia and the fact that I keep student sleeping hours (Going to bed at 1-2, waking up midday).

Last weekend we celebrated Brian’s 29+13months birthday. We arranged a little get together with Sushi and Blueberry Margaritas (Amazing…look into it!!). We also took a trip to “Sentosa”, a

man made island resort which is pretty easy to get to via train/monorail/bus. It’s almost like a mini Disneyland without Mickey and the high entry price. It’s free to access the island and beaches but you have to pay to get involved with activities like Segways/ luge rides/ Universal Studios and a “seaworld” experience. The highlight of this trip was a naturally the Dolphin show. You can pay to swim with them too….something I have mentally marked as my top thing to do while i'm here.

Other than the weekends, which are generally full of lots of activity, the week days can be somewhat dull. Overtime I’ve realized that my week is generally as good as I make it. I’ve started to spread out the easiest possible activities over several days at

once to justify having something to do. My most notable trip this week was to Carrefour. To our American counterparts this is a Walmart type thing, the UK doesn't seem to have an equivalent that I am aware of. But basically this is just a huge hyper market with everything you could ever want for your household but super cheap. This was the moment I realized how sad my life is when I got excited over my $7 shoe rack purchase (but now our shoes are so nice and tidy!!!) At the moment our 1600 square foot apartment echoes with very little furniture and just needs to be a little homier so I am slowly adding to the collection day by day. Another notable part of my week was installing our cable. This excitement died pretty much after I realized it was double episodes of American comedy and chat shows on repeats 4 times a day!!

I’ve also started to get a lot better at being in my own company. A lot of the time I actually really enjoy it, I can wander around wherever I want to. And I’ve started to get into the habit of spending afternoons at a coffee shop with a book, an ice coffee and a HUGE muffin. Because I’m “on holiday” I feel as though I have every excuse to go and eat a big piece of cake or muffin….it’s become my highlight. I would never do that at home so why I’ve decided that it’s ok to do that here is beyond me. Watching the locals since I’ve been here, it seems as though this is something Singaporeans love to do. You can turn a corner without finding a dessert shop, and very little in the way of sandwiches or savory food.

I think the most unusual part of my lifestyle is how easy and laidback things are. On an evening you can go for dinner for $3, or go for a dip on your rooftop pool (not that I’m braggingJ) It’s like being on holiday, but with a bit of work thrown in. We do have a very small pool, and it only goes about neck high deep, but I don’t care. It may not be the best pool in the world, but its right downstairs, it’s open top, and it’s available anytime.

Anyway, I am so enjoying my blog writing and I’m also pleased people read it! But the longer I’ve been here the more I lose sight of what I want to write about, especially as we’re now settling in to a routine. I am really very excited about Brian’s birthday trip to Laos next weekend. We will be travelling up to the northern part of the country via a day in Chiang Mai (for those of you who have no idea of this place, don’t feel bad...unless its just me, it’s not common knowledge, and yes Laos is a country). Thanks to my trusty Lonely Planet book we can follow all the typical touristy place. We’re going through rain season…so yeah…let’s see how that goes…

My favourite Seaworld Picture....