What a Difference Four Years Makes

Four years ago, I was on bed rest waiting for Maisie to arrive. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. I watched each and every Olympic event - or at least I thought I did.

Turns out, US television's version of the Olympics is quite different than Singapore's. Prime time viewing here is the hard-fought badminton games, a far different version of my favorite backyard past time as a kid. These women make such evil faces at each other and yell loud enough to throw Serena Williams off her game. The doubles tourneys make me laugh. I mean - it's badminton!

So while my friends at home talk about this event and that - more so the hot athletes - I sit here watching Austin Powers 2, grateful to have something in English that's not purely educational.

The whole day was kind of mindless. I got up early and met a friend of a friend for coffee. Penelope moved here in May from Wilton, CT - not too far from us. She grew up in the Midwest, but has lived other places including Spain - all with her job for IBM. Her husband is the one trying to figure out how to redefine himself - part of the "trailing spouse's" lot in life. She has kids even smaller than ours and lives about 10 minutes from us. We had a great time comparing notes on our initial impressions of Singapore. So far, we both really like it here...so far. OH - and get this: her dad is from my home town of Midland, Texas!!! I'm meeting more people from West Texas here than in New York!

We had coffee on Robertson Quay, a very cool area along the Singapore River. There were a ton of moms walking their strollers, kids on scooters and joggers galore. The riverfront is lined with cafes and eateries. I really liked it there. It made me think of the parks along the NYC rivers only more British feeling.

Funny thing? I took a cab. My driver was a Chinese woman dressed in traditional clothing, a rare sight here. She didn't know the address and pulled over to look it up on the map. The ride took 10 minutes and I still had quite a walk after she dropped me off. Guess what? The cafe where we met was a 10 minute walk from my house so I strolled home. I don't think she purposefully took me the long way. She genuinely didn't know quite where it was.

We both had yogurt - boring and a far cry from a local breakfast favorite I had the other day called Flosss. Yes - three s's. It's bread with ground up cheese and some kind of weird meat that kind of melts in your mouth. It's almost like a meat Krispy Kreme. Hard to imagine - I know.

The kids had a milk toast kind of day, too, doing absolutely nothing for the first 2/3 of the day. They were SO worn out from yesterday's four-hour delayed bedtime that I let them stay in their PJs and watch TV til noon. Truth is, I was afraid they'd meltdown on Cheryl all morning long while I was at coffee if I tried otherwise!

Finally at 3, I put them in the stroller and walked them to the local mall playground. The only way to get Hudson to take a nap these days is to walk with the stroller. That's good for me as it gets me out and moving. Amazingly, the meltdowns stayed at bay til bath time, but even that was short-lived. 

Okay - back to Austin Powers. Tom is at work still. He's been there for more than 12 hours and won't be home for several hours yet. Starting up business here is tough. I admire him more and more.