This may bore you...

Despite some meetings on Friday, this evening, and a trip to London this week, I am actually officially on vacation. I am really regretting saying yes to this London trip as it is going to eat 3+ days out of my vacation...especially since the past two days have been pretty relaxing.

I am always torn between taking a vacation someplace fun and doing lots of things during it versus the type of vacation I am on this time which involves hanging out with Alan, the cats, and friends back at home. I think that sometimes vacation, which in my mind is supposed to be relaxing, ends up taking more energy than expected so am always thankful for days off doing absolutely nothing. Don't get me wrong, I totally love vacations out exploring new places! I also just love, and with age, have come to appreciate vacations packed with absolutely nothing to do. It gives me time to decompress.

Anyway, Friday and yesterday involved lots of nothing...which was great for me but not really worthy of blog posts. Friday I had some meetings at our local office and then lunch with a friend. Friday evening I took a nap and then was up watching American television...woohoo...excitement, I know! Yesterday was even less structured...Alan returned from an all-nighter at the fire station so took a nap until about 11:30 am. We then headed out for lunch and some shopping. We were back at home by 5pm - just in time for another evening nap for me.

Last night I did learn how to make sloppy toms (sloppy joes with turkey instead of beef). Alan is teaching me how to cook some simple things since I am hopeless in the kitchen. After dinner we grabbed some frozen yogurt (something I cannot get in Singapore) and settled in to watch the Wings/Pens hockey game.

Perfection for days off!

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Ducks and geese and squirrels, oh my!

After a cafe au lait from my favorite coffee shop, Bean Traders, I started my morning with a walk. It was such a beautiful, sunny morning with very little humidity. In all honestly, compared to Singapore the 69% humidity here feels like there isn't any at all.

My walk took me around a small lake in a nearby neighborhood. I saw turtles, ducks, geese (both adults and some awkward looking teenagers), and squirrels. There is nothing too special about any of these critters, however, other than the turtles none of them exist in Singapore. It was nice to see the familiar birds and animals. It was also nice to hear the normal calls of the local birds. Almost all of the birds in Singapore have bright colors and some very loud calls. The birds here seem to blend in a bit more to the natural environment.

It'd be interesting to see if a Singaporean came here and noticed how quiet the birds are or if they think they are bland since most don't have the vibrant colors that tropical birds do. I'm sure that the ducks and geese (especially the teenagers) would look different. I guess it all comes down to what your norm is...will mine be different after two years living in Singapore? Is it already shifting a bit since I took such notice of the critters that normally just blend into the background?

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Home sweet home

Am currently sitting on a chair in the living room (I know this shouldn't be big news but remember I don't have furniture in Singers) watching Alan brush Fresnel with Fez watching. Home sweet home!

The flights today weren't too horrible. The 3:30 am wake-up was a bit on the early side but I made it to the airport in plenty of time. I had an entire center row to myself on the Singapore to Tokyo leg which allowed me a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep. It was great. I arrived in Tokyo on time but had such a short connection that I didn't have time to wander around the airport. The 12 hour flight wasn't that bad either. I was surprised to see I was on an old 747 that didn't have in-seat entertainment which was a little frustrating. Instead of staring at the television monitor I read for a good bit of the flight. I did reach a level of boredom which caused me to watch the movie 'Hotel for Dogs'...I am not proud of this moment in my life but I have to say it wasn't all together horrible...but I was also captive on the plane and this was around hour 5... I landed in Atlanta a bit late but made it through immigration and customs quickly so made my connection to RDU with no issues. I even got upgraded to first class.

As I mentioned, am now relaxing comfortably at home for the evening. I'm hoping to get a good night of sleep tonight and not have too much of a battle with jetlag this trip.

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Pleasure vs. Business

I am pretty lucky to be able to travel around the world. Most of the time I am lucky enough to fly business class given the length of the flights. First and business class are nothing too special but the lay flat seats are a blessing. Especially when flying approximately 24 hours. And while I love the ability to sit in business class on the company dime, I am not willing to pay for it on my own dime.

Tomorrow will be my first trip of this length sitting in economy. The longest prior to this has been 10 hours. I survived the ten hour trip without much pain or misery. I'm hoping that since the trip is broken up a bit it won't be so bad.

The first leg is from Singapore to Tokyo and is about 7 hours. Not too bad, just did that from Sydney back to Singapore. I then have a 2 hour layover in Tokyo before boarding the 12 hour flight to Atlanta. This one may be a little tough...especially after having already been on a plane for 7 hours and having been up at 3:00 am to start the travel. Luckily, the final layover is about an hour and the final flight time is only about an hour as well. After leaving my house in Singapore at 4 am I should arrive home at the Durham house at around 7pm...the same day!

Wish me luck!

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Gee, I wish they had...

furniture...and by 'they', I mean me!

I have to admit, the comedy of sitting on the floor watching TV and sleeping on an air mattress has worn off. I am SO ready to have a sofa and chair in the living room and to have a dining room table to throw my stuff on when I walk in the door (instead of the kitchen counter) and to have a proper desk and chair to work at. Thankfully I'm heading home on Wednesday for two weeks so will have furniture there. I am trying to stay hopeful that my beloved furniture will arrive during those two weeks and be ready for delivery upon my return.

And BTW - I got more mail! A letter from my mom came while I was in Sydney last week. And, today I received another letter from my brother. Woohoo!

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Random reunion

This is a photo of me and my friend Chris Robertson. Chris and I grew up about 6 blocks from each other in Owosso, MI. We've known each other since kindergarten which makes him one of the people I have known the longest.

I don't think you could say that Chris and I have stayed in touch over the years. Instead, we seem to bump into each other every few years either over email or in person. Although, the last time we saw each other was about 9 years ago in Raleigh, NC. He was in town for a business trip and called me up to see if I wanted to meet him for dinner.

Through the beauty of Facebook we've been keeping up with things a little better lately. About two months ago I got a note from him telling me he was going to be in Singapore and would I like to meet up. He's here for an international MBA program sponsored by the National University of Singapore and UCLA. He's here for two weeks this year and will be back the same time next year.

We went out to dinner a week ago Friday and had a blast catching up. Yesterday afternoon we caught up again and sat down by the river enjoying some delicious cold beer and some great company. We talked a bit about people from our Owosso days but mostly we just talked about life and beer and food and random things. It was a great time and I'm very much looking forward to his visit next year. By that time I'll have furniture and he'll likely be my house guest for the two weeks instead of having to stay in a hotel.

I think both of us have had a bit of a laugh over the fact that our reunion ended up being in Singapore given that we come from such a small town in Michigan.

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Ahh...Saturday

This morning I slept in for the first time this week. I had a relaxing morning catching up on personal email, reading my favorite websites, and chatting with Alan (on the phone from the beach) and Alan (via instant message from Ann Arbor).

I met my friend Patrecia for a late lunch in an area of Singapore called Holland Village. It is a popular location for many American and Canadian expats. I haven't spent much time there so it was my first time really wandering around. The restaurant we went to was nice but a little pricey for my liking. After lunch we wandered around the village part of Holland Village. It was a nice area but nothing spectacular...not sure why it gets all of the hype it does.

Next on the agenda was some reflexology and a shoulder massage. Back home I treat myself to a massage at least once a month. I go to a great little spa near the house. It smells nice and they give you fluffy robes to change into. The place I now go to in Singapore is nothing like that. It is actually in the back of a shopping center and there are no private rooms. There is no undressing for the massages so there really is no need for the rooms. The shoulder massage is nothing fancy, I just get them because my neck and shoulders get so messed up from sitting in front of a computer all day and from flying on too many planes.

The reflexology on the other hand is wonderful! It is an hour foot massage and lower leg massage. The cool part is that all of the people who work there barely speak English...which makes communicating fun. Especially when they are doing reflexology and trying to tell you what is wrong based on what they feel in your feet. At one point in my session my gal looked at me and through a bit of English and mostly sign language told me I don't sleep much...at least that is what I think she said. Regardless of what they feel or are saying it feels wonderful so I will keep going back.

As a side note, one of the other clients who was in the same time as me fell asleep during his reflexology session. I'm not sure I could fall asleep during it because some points they hit hurt like hell. Anyway, he was so relaxed that he started snoring...loudly...for about 20 minutes... The question in my mind is if it is such a great massage that it made him fall asleep should he worry about the fact that he is paying for it and sleeping through it?

After that I stopped by the grocery store to stock up on some food - the fridge was bare having been gone for the last week. I picked up some delicious sushi for dinner and have been home relaxing ever since. I was going to do laundry but then realized I have all day tomorrow. Laziness is such a stronger argument than productivity...at least it was for me today.

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