Happy New Year

Today’s post is brought to you from… elsewhere. Because like almost everyone else, we have fled the (rooster) coop. However! We are determined in our efforts to celebrate Chinese New Year in near-native fashion… 

Time Travel

When you live far away from your friends and extended family, you do whatever you can to keep in touch – even if this means dragging your sorry jet-lagged ass off to the other side of the world a couple of times a year. Yes, this can be exhausting as well as stressful; and that’s just the packing. Do you *really* need scarves and hats and thermal underwear? (Answer: YES). Luckily we’re here to tell you how, with a teeny bit of planning, you can take the stress out of travel to chilly climes. (As well as all the dignity and glamour.)

Get Up, Stand Up (or Drink Up, as the case may be)

To our friends, who this past weekend knit hats and made signs and travelled and marched, we say Good For You. We are proud of you and we wish we could’ve been there. Instead, we protested in our own little ways, by retweeting funny memes, getting into infuriating fights on Facebook, and, of course, having a few drinks.  We must all do our part…

More About Sweating…

People reading this conversation will fall into one of two categories. Either you totally get it because you too have been stranded in your bathroom, unable to remove your undergarments, or you’ve never exercised in Singapore. 

Enriching Classes…

Extra-curricular activities are big business here in Singapore (and throughout Asia).  Not just your standard after-school soccer classes, or Saturday morning little-league; these are full-on MAKE YOUR CHILD CLEVER opportunities, known as “enrichment classes”.  And like all opportunities, they come with a price –  a price which a cynical expat *might* suggest puts the “rich” into “enrichment”…

Now Serving…

Singaporeans are famous for (a) their love of food and (b) their orderly queues.  Which is  why you’ll find food everywhere and a queue for everything here.  Even – as one expat found out earlier –  if there is no clear need for either. 

(Further) Adventures in Paradise

Once upon a time, two little expats thought a trip to Thailand would be fun.  So they booked the trip, focusing exclusively on the photos of turquoise seas and cocktails served in coconuts, and ignoring completely the fine print about what a nightmare it would be to get to and from said seas and coconuts, and how the weather this time of year isn’t entirely reliable.  Then, a huge storm hit.  One little expat decided to leave early.  The other little expat decided to stay.  As it turns out, neither was right.  But.  They survived to text about it, and didn’t end up in a watery grave at the bottom of the sea, so we guess it’s a happy ending.

(The following day…)