Jet Lag Sucks

You might say, "My Lord, woman! You are one prolific writer!"

No. Simply: jet lag sucks. What else am I going to do at 3AM?

It's bad enough when you have jet lag and you're traveling on your own. Add in a spouse and there's another soul tossing and turning in your bed that makes sleeping yet harder.

Add in two toddlers and all bets are off. We've now been here three nights. Tonight, the kids went to bed at 7 and we went to bed soon after. Maisie started crying at 12:30, but went back to bed at 12:45. Tom and I were awake. He went back to sleep right away while I worked on this damn blog. Then Hudson woke up at 1:30, but fell asleep in our bed right away. Tom went back to sleep and at 3:30 - when I was finally tired - Hudson woke up for good. Maisie got up not long after.

It doesn't help that I am covered with poison ivy that I apparently got when I was packing up the house in CT. At first, I thought I had a flesh-eating virus which would be very like me. Then - I pulled a total Melinda - and somehow when I was opening the WALL of curtains in our bedroom, they came right out of the ceiling and tumbled onto the floor. The handymen are very busy in Singapore so we can't get it fixed for a week! Even at night, it's bright here - like any city. Yea me.

Me and Hudson? We're fine without sleep. Maisie is like her daddy - a cranky nightmare without enough shut eye. Lucky me. In fact, when they were babies, I took care of the middle-of-the-night feedings et al because I decided an exhausted me was better than a cranky Tom.

All this lack of sleep set off one of Maisie's tantrum of tantrums - or as I like to call them - a grand mal tantrum. It happened this morning and lasted a good 45 minutes. Kids with sensory integration disorder have a hard time with change and need routine. So while Maisie is usually the world's most cheerful and loving kid, she is a complete crazy child when she tantrums. They're like nothing any other child experiences. We say, "She's feeling Bombaloo" after a book we read about tantrums. She's fine now, but when she's in one, they are really frightening for her and frustrating for me and Tom because there seems to be no way to help her. The only way to break them? Turn on the TV. She watched her first anime this morning. 

Again, I find myself wondering what Cheryl is thinking! Ha!

Unfortunately, that's how the rest of her day went, too. It was a day of tears after tears. Poor M.

Move over Mall of America

America's biggest mall can hang it's head in shame. It's got nothing on The Shoppes at the Marina Sands Bay Hotel.

Cheryl took the kids and me on our first venture out of the apartment. We were on our way to the Gardens by the Bay, but got side-tracked by the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. 

We went into the mall to cool off and find a potty for Maisie, but once we got inside, we couldn't leave!

The mall is massive and absolutely stunning. It's part of the coolest building in Singapore, The Marina Sands Bay Hotel. Tom stayed there one night on his first trip to Singapore and I was green with envy. I plan to explore the hotel more later so, for now, I'll stick to the mall.

Every single upscale shop iyou can think of is here. Seriously. I'm not just talking American stores. Oh no. There are stores from every corner of the world. You have to be ultra rich to shop here, but it's just fun walking through.

We ended up at an indoor playground a bit like Kids U near us in Westchester only much smaller. Here's the cool thing: before any kid is allowed into play, they scan the kid's forehead and make them use disinfectant! Nobody gets sick!! Brilliant!

In the end, I was disappointed that we didn't make it to the Gardens, but I think the indoor playground was a good choice. The kids played really hard for an hour (both were really sweaty as we left) and burned off a lot of energy they'd stored up in our days of traveling.

For me, the best part was the food court. American malls have what? 20 choices tops? Well, honey, this food court - situated around an ice skating rink - easily had 200 choices. It's a very nice version of what they call "hawker stalls" which is a food court with lots of choices. I saw just about every kind of food you can imagine except for Mexican. Most were Asian varieties: Thai, Malay, Chinese and the like. Our food was great! The kids even tried some stuff though poor Hudson pilfered off of Cheryl's plate (something he often does) and got something too spicy. Poor guy! I'm proud of him though as he is trying everything in sight and loving most of it. 

Forgive the pix being out of order. I'm still trying to figure out how to use this system! The thing that looks like the boat on top of towers is the hotel. The first pix is the inside of the mall. The food is what the kids ate and loved!

 

Cheryl, the fabulous

One of the lovely things about living here is that just about every ex-pat has a helper. It's kind of expected. Since we're subletting a friend's apartment, we're also hiring their full-time, live-in helper, Cheryl. She makes less in a month than a full-time nanny in New York makes in a week. Heck, when I was packing up the Connecticut house I used a babysitter 4 days, 10 hours a day. She made more in those 40 hours than the helper does in a month!

Cheryl is from the Phillipines and has two children of her own that she hasn't seen much in the two years she's been here. She works here to send money back to her own family. The thought of that just breaks my heart.

She is fabulous though I still can't quite figure out our roles. She'll basically do everything I do: child care, cooking, shopping, laundry, cleaning - and oh - travel guide. That's great, but I mean, what am I supposed to do?! Ha! Seriously, she makes all our of meals. I just tell her what I want and it magically appears. Before I can make the beds, she's done it. Before I can rinse out the kids' swimsuits, she's done it. She knows what I want before I know what I want. It's amazing - and a little weird. I'm not used to having an extra body around. Still, I think of her as a teammate and hope that she'll do all the "wife" chores so I can be a better parent. I hate doing laundry, grocery shopping, daily food prep. So this will be a great thing for me!

The kids love her already, but I'm not sure what she thinks of us. Truly, hanging out with a jet-lagged family can't make a good first impression. I'm a pretty patient parent, but this week has been a particularly challenging one. I've gotten no sleep and Maisie has been at her cranky worst. She must be praying for the return of our friends who have a 7-month-old! 

Cheryl has a VERY small, closet-of-a-room in the apartment and her own bathroom which isn't near as nice as ours. She works 6 days a week, 12 hours a day. 

My favorite? She calls me "Mum" and Tom "Sir."

This picture is of Cheryl and the kids just around the corner from our apartment! Note Maisie the crankster's nice smile :-(

 

Is this really Asia?

Our first day here we immediately ventured out just to get the lay of the land - and to get out in the sunlight which is the best way to adjust to the time difference. By the way, we are twelve hours ahead of New York. So Monday noon there is Monday midnight here. 

Singapore is an amazingly clean city. It ought to be because there is a giant fine for just about everything. In fact, it's nickname is "Fine City." As I learn them, I'll share. It is immaculate - and also very Western feeling. I kind of wanted it to feel more - I dunno - different.

English is the primary language so all the signs are in English. There is a HUGE variety of cultures and peoples here so you hear English with a zillion different accents which is pretty damn cool.

The city is quite modern and there is construction EVERYWHERE. The architecture rivals anything in the US or Europe. 

We spent out first day getting phones and picking up supplies. Our helper had already bought a lot of groceries for our arrival. Yes, I said helper. More about Cheryl later. She also went with us on our first venture out which was amazingly helpful.

We live pretty close to the Prime Minister's residence which is hidden behind a heck of a gate and hedge. It's open on a big holiday coming up - can't wait to see inside!

These pix were taken on Orchard, not far from our apartment. I hear this area is the Times Square of Singapore.

Singapore!!!

We're here! We're here! After months of dreaming and planning, we made it! Wahoo!!!

Let me just say, the Singapore airport is the dead opposite of the Shanghai airport. It's truly one of the nicest airports I've ever seen. Wow. The best part? Customs took no time at all. 

We're subletting a friend's "extra" apartment they keep for business visitors. It's the apartment of Tom's stepmother's best friend's daughterm(did you follow all that?), Typhaine and her husband Fred. We got to meet Typhaine before we left as she was visiting her family in the States. She's great - a lot like her mother who I always quite liked. Typhaine and Fred and their beautiful baby Emmeline will be traveling much of our visit so we won't get to spend time with them for several weeks yet.

The apartment is a three-bedroom right smack in the middle of town, off of Orchard which is Singapore's version of Fifth Avenue. It's a lovely, fourth floor apartment with a private koi pond as you walk in the door. How Asian can that be?! The balcony overlooks the very, cool pool. There's a kitchen with granite countertops and two great bathrooms. The bathtub has the shower next to it, both enclosed by a glass door. It's brilliant! When the kids splash in the tub, the water goes down the shower drain. We have a king-sized bed as does Maisie who looks so tiny in it. We ordered Hudson a baby cot which was TINY made for an infant so we got him another "bed" which turned out to be a pack and play with a thick mattress. The problem? He can crawl in and out of it. In fact, he's spends a good half hour a day flinging himself over the rail so proud of his own athletic prowess. 

We landed at the airport at 5AM and got to the apartment at 6. I was unpacked by 7:30.

I got some stickers and decorated the walls in their room, something I thought would make them feel more at home. They both thought sticking My Little Pony and Thomas on the wall was hysterially fun. Who knew?