Worlds Apart

It's a big day here in Singapore. Feng Tianwei won Singapore's first individual medal in 52 years! Imagine! 52 years! Granted, she's Chinese-born and only became a Singaporean in 2008, but hey - she's from Singapore now and she won!

Unlike the US where "The Today Show" got in trouble for announcing final results before the network aired the time-delayed contest, the networks here had a crawl going across the screen ALL day "Feng Tianwei won a Bronze Medal in Women's Table Tennis! She had made Singapore proud! Watch TV tonight at 7:30 to see the semi-finals and finals." That's not the exact wording, but close. 

So while all of Singapore sits glued to the TV watching ping pong, I'm excited because HBO is offering free previews all week! A movie! In English! The kids are sleeping. Tom is out for drinks. Cheryl is on a walk with her other helper buddies, something she does regularly. That means a night to myself!

Cheryl is pretty amazing. Being away from her children is so hard for her. She does it because she wants them to have money for nice things - and most importantly - college. Her sister and husband raise her kids while she sends money back to support them. All she really wants is a better phone so she can communicate better with them. She doesn't know it yet, but Tom is planning to give her the one he bought when we leave. It's not the phone she wants, but it's better than what she has. 

Their first house had a dirt floor. Now they have a cement floor, but "it isn't finished." There's no power. Water comes from a deep well. It's "primitive" as she calls it. I thought as much because she often squats on the floor rather than sits on the couch. It's what she knows since she has no furniture at home. Her life is easier here in some ways, yet conveniences also cause complications.

Her situation is the ultimate working mother dilemma: you want to provide for your kids, be your own person and be with them. Most moms can manage to juggle all that in varying degrees. For helpers here, it's all or nothing.

Our kids love her. In the morning, Hudson comes in and says, "Hi Mommy. Whatcha doing? Where's Maisie? Where's Daddy? Where's Cheryl?" They both kiss her good night. Hudson wears her hat. She is part of our family - at least for now. While I adore her, it's very odd for me to have to share my space. After the pool today, the kids and I took a shower together. She walked in to ask me about dinner while I was stark naked. Awkward! Of course, an hour later, the kids were fed and my fabulous lettuce wraps were waiting as well. It's a trade off.

I think her story is quite similar to the other helpers here, but I'm not sure her relationship with us is typical. It's hard to say what's typical because I don't really know, but she's the only helper I see getting in the pool with the kids she watches. She saw that both Maisie and Hudson wanted to swim without their safety belts and it's too hard for me to watch both so without a word, she got into the pool despite the fact she doesn't even own a bathing suit. I think it's fun for her. I know I appreciate it beyond words. Maisie started swimming across the pool today all by herself. That wouldn't have happened without Cheryl watching Hudson or letting me watch Hudson.

Thank God we have a pool in the complex. For starters, we're finally meeting some of the neighbors and their kids. Maisie even met a four-year-old Aussie girl! Wahoo! Plus, it was really hot today. I'm talking fry an egg on the sidewalk hot. Only here, you could probably hard boil and egg in the air since it's so water-laden. When people who have lived here for years complain about the heat, you know it's hot.

Heather and Mason picked us up this morning and drove us to West Coast Park for a play group, another set up by the AWA women, this one for kids Hudson's age. There were maybe ten, two-year-olds there total though I hardly got to talk to any of the moms because - as usual - Hudson was the one, single child doing dangerous things like trying to slide down the fire pole by himself over and over. Maisie was interested in the balance beam since she's been watching the Olympic. The "good stuff" is on during the day here!

I finally got to talk to Heather and one other mom named Karla over lunch at McDonald's, the only place to eat in the park - and one of the biggest McDonald's I've ever seen. Get this: Karla is friends with Typhaine, the woman from who we're subletting! Small world! Karla is cool. She's about to leave on a camping trip in Mongolia.

West Coast Park is near another area where a bunch of expats live, not far from Sentosa. The park is near the water and the huge container loading docks were visible in the distance. It was a cool park with the usual play equipment though more areas than normal, some for much older kids. Even so, I didn't like the area much. That's one area I can cross of my list.

Now that I've been playing tourist for a while, it's time to get down to brass tacks and start looking at life here. It's my time to work. I need to look at apartments and schools in case we do decide to come back to stay. Ugh.