Hello from Singapore...

Man, it feels good to be on a computer again. I've felt so disconnected with everything not having one at home. Jason's been getting home pretty late and I've already been asleep so I haven't had the chance to use his laptop. But right now it's 2 am and I can't sleep so I thought it would be a good time to catch you all up on how our little adventure is going. It's Saturday right now and let's just say that while I am excited to experience the culture around here I am most definitely going to miss our usual Saturday routine of Juice It Up, eating out at our favorite restaurants, and Golden Spoon ice cream. Yes our day revolves around eating-don't judge us. I'm sure we'll fall into the same habit of discovering all the good eats around town, but it will definitely be different from our usual joints! That's a good thing though, right? I could go on to list all the things I foresee myself missing about the states, but I really don't want to go down that road and realize there is no end in sight :-)

So we've been here for exactly 5 days now. It feels like a month. I could stop writing right here and that statement would pretty much sum it all up, but for those of you who are interested in the boring details of why that is the case you can read on...and for those of you who aren't you can stop right here and just know that it's been a long, long, LONG week for me. The 18 hour flight from LA to Singapore was surprisingly easy. We flew first class thanks to Jason's company so that made ALL the difference in the world (Ava even got her own seat/bed). The seats were huge and folded out to be an actual bed, we each had our own 15 inch tv with a plethora of new movies to watch and the food was great and available whenever we wanted it!! Our flight left at 9pm so we were able to sleep for the majority of the flight...that was the main reason it was such a success. The first thing we did once we arrived (after dropping our luggage off at the apt) was go and purchase yet another stroller. If any of you know how many strollers I've gone through you are probably rolling your eyes right now, but let me just say that next time I WILL be double and triple checking that we put the stroller into the car before leaving for the LA airport. After biting the bullet and paying double what we would in the states for a stroller we then headed to none other that Tony Roma's for dinner. I jumped on that dinner/lunch/breakfast (whatever meal it was at that time of the day) choice because it was good to see and smell something familiar in a place where every thing is so different. The kids and I went to Subway for lunch on Tuesday...we are really venturing out and immersing ourselves in the culture as you can tell!! Mayah started first grade at the American School on Wednesday. That has been interesting because the days are really long for her and she's not quite adjusted to the time change. The school is also on the opposite side of the country (that sounds funny, huh?) so Mayah, Connor, Ava and I have been taking a taxi up to the school each day to drop her off and pick her up. We're in the middle of figuring out how we're going to change that though, because we're spending a small fortune on taxis to the school in the morning to drop her off, then home again...then to the school again in the afternoon to pick her up, then home again. NOT the ideal situation. Not to mention the fact that I've driven with one too many scary cabbie drivers with my three little kids. So we are looking for apartments that are closer to her school to remedy the situation. Mayah also said she was pretty sad about spending so much time away from me during the day...break my heart why don't you? So the last thing I want is her to have an extra hour and a half of commute time on her already long day. She says she loves going to school but that she just really misses me...she even had tears in her eyes when she said that, I could just feel my heart ripping. Although, with that being said, she has already made some friends and has a great teacher who is very loving and nice and she gets excited to go each day. I'm sure it's just the full day schedule that she's not used to yet. I'm really impressed with the school so that makes me feel good about sending her off each day, I don't know if I could do it otherwise. There was a back to school night on Thursday, which was good until about halfway through when I started getting worried that Jason was nowhere to be found (he was supposed to meet me there at 6pm) and I had spent my last 10 Singapore dollars on groceries. So just imagine me at 8pm, which is the middle of the night for us, at the American School on the other side of the country from where we live, with no money for a taxi home, no cell phone (that's next on my list of things to do) to call Jason and ask him where the !X%$#! he is, and my 3 sleep deprived kids walking around like zombies. It was a great learning experience and thank goodness there was someone there to take pity on poor little me and give me some money to get home. It just happened to be the superintendent of the schools. I was actually really embarrassed about the whole situation...I mean what kind of mother ends up in a foreign country with her kids and no money to get anywhere?? In my defense I do have to say that I could have walked 20 min to a money exchanger (b/c I had plenty of American $), but who am I kidding, I would have had to carry Mayah and Connor on my back and pushed Ava in the stroller if I wanted them to walk another step that day!

So far our days have been spent walking around the city. Our current apartment is close to some amazing shopping. The only catch is that everything here is sooooo expensive. Before we got here I was under the impression that stuff was going to be a lot less than back home. That was probably just a seed Jason planted in my little brain to convince me to move over hear under the false impression that I'd be able to do lots of shopping :-) Grocery shopping is the worst, I pay Costco prices for the regular size portions and the pickings are pretty slim when it comes to the items I am used to. I am pretty spoiled, but I already knew that before moving here!! I guess that gives me some credit for knowing that before hand and still making the move, right? Anyways, walking around the city is fun, I do have to say, though, that it is not very handicap accessible. Ramps are very hard to find if there are any at all. I am quite the spectacle trying to carry a stroller loaded with an infant and huge purse up or down a flight of stairs while making sure Mayah is holding Connor's hand so he doesn't run away. Yes, I get plenty of openly horrified stares from the majority of people I pass. The weather has been pretty hot and humid with some scattered showers through out the day, nothing unbearable like I thought it would be, though. Mayah, Ava, and I are learning to love the crazy curly, humid hair look!

So that is our week summed up so far. I'm sure we'll have some more exciting stuff to report soon and I hope to get the usb cord so I can put up some pictures b/c we all know that's what everyone really likes to look at on the blog!!!