1. The apartment settling down is coming along nicely. Needless to say, we had to prioritize and get Z settled in first. She now has a room to herself. Not bad considering neither of her parents had one until they moved out of their parents' homes. It's surprising how inspite of "supposed" more storage space in this apartment, than in our home in Jersey City, we still seem to have no place to keep some things. Our air-freighted boxes came home promptly mid-week and it was nice to sit back, relax and direct the movers, where everything goes. Of course once they were done, I was left wondering why we bothered to ship some of this stuff here. It is however, nice to have traces of our past life in our current one and see the little one remember her old fave's and re-relate to them, like before. This one has the memory of an elephant (inheritance from the father, thankfully).
2. Hubster turns 35 this week. I think it means more to me than to him, the Queen of celebrations that I am. (Yes, Ive been mocked galore when I celebrate my daughter's monthly birthdays). While his happiness lay in a good fine dining Indian restaurant meal on the eve of, I decided it needed much more than that. After all even Workaholicism needs a break from him. Or so I thought. The plan is to have extended birthday celebrations next week in Bali, Indonesia where Hubster can do just what he does best - sleep, swim and surf (the internet). It will also be our first family vacation, when the three of us go to a country where we do not know anyone. (Earlier trips do not count, since we had friends/ family wherever we went).
3. The daughter and I toured a few more pre-schools and baby schools together. We now have comprehensive paraphernalia on most of Singapore's child care schools.
4. Hubster's Aussie partner, Peter and his wife invited us to join them at Newton Hawker Centre. (Note how I spell 'Centre'. You know, in Rome do as the Romans, so I am re-adapting grammatically these days. "Elevators" have gone back to being referred to as "Lifts" etc etc). Newton Hawker Centre is a hawker food court of sorts. Restaurants have small retro-fitted kitchens with large outdoor yet covered seating areas, in an open courtyard. As you enter the space, Hawkers start trying to route you towards their respective stalls. Peter is a regular here and has his favorite hawker already, so we walked over undistractedly, straight to that stall and seated ourselves. The food was as outstanding as we had heard it would be and within S$30 (less than 25 USD) the four of us and Zoe, had sampled ten delicacies from two stalls and downed a large pint of Tiger Beer. Little wonder then, why Singaporeans rarely cook and centres such as these are open late even on weeknights. Newton Hawker Centre definitely makes it to our list of to-be-repeated food places in Singapore.
5. It's been the longest three weeks in terms of time spent with the little one. Since I went back to work 3/4th into my maternity leave, after she was born, I dont believe we've ended up spending so much time one-on-one, just her and me. It has its ups and downs. She certainly has taught me the true meaning of a love-hate relationship; one that I know we will harbour for the rest of our lives, being two women and on top of it, Mom and Daughter. ("Take That" I can hear my Mom say in the background somewhere). That I am not made to be a full-time Mom was never a secret anyway. So even these few weeks, cherishable and adorable and all that gooey talk stuff set apart, seem like a few months. If not for the legal process of hiring a maid here in Singapore, by now I would've delegated her day-to-day care already. Things would'nt have been this ardous probably had she still continued to be that sweet angel that people used to think she is. Her transformation into a "monster" happened overnight (This is possibly her Singaporean avatar which we hope, like our stay here, will be temporary) and of course with her newly found mobile skills, she is now quite unmanageable. Having said all of the above, I do know that some years down the line, I will fondly look back at this phase and thank myself for having taken the opportunity of sharing these precious years of her life.
6. Temporary maids, aka part-time maids here, are a boon in disguise, especially as they are like the help I am used to, back home in Jersey City. A phone call away and to be paid by the hour, they keep it simple (Read normal) in my books. So for now, we've been resorting to this system until we find our more permanent solution. Some serious discussions later, Hubster and I figured our best bet is to hire someone full-time, which means adding another member to our family here since she will live/ eat/ travel etc with us. We thought we may as well turn this system to our advantage, for the short time that we are here, so the search for the ideal maid/ housekeeper has now effectively begun. Various interviews that I ve conducted so far reveal shocking facts about maid-life in this country (from violence to starvation to withheld salaries). Considering the easy going and slack employers that we are, our to-be maid wherever she is, will certainly be quite spoilt once she tranfers over from ours to another household, I am sure.
7. I ve been very 'jugaadu' all my life. That basically means, I ve liked getting stuff done non-conformingly, with my own twists to the task, making things work for myself and the other party involved, with minimum effort and maximum convenience to both. In my native Mumbaiyaa you may even call it as "doing setting". I miss, that the system here does not let me probe it, with my own 'jugaadu' mechanisms as easily. Still, not one to resign from my efforts yet, I ve found some loopholes for myself. The Hubster of course mocks my unabashed efforts at discovering these and taking advantage of them. More can be described in detail when we meet and should be spared in print, for fear of being monitored. I am told I should be careful what I write about. Whatevs!
8. Chinese cabbies exclaim "Aiyyo" when something goes wrong. Asian women walk around wearing salwar kameezs and 'mehendi' on their hands. And beauty salons play "Chammak Challo" followed by "Gangnam Style". Spotting interesting fusion around me is easily the highlight of most of my days here.
9. The daughter continues bullying other children/ little people whom she thinks are children (She can be offensive sometimes, especially here in Asia) into responding to her salutations. She must have tremendous persuasion power as most of them now respond promptly. I like to think she takes after her mother in this one.
Next week we are off to Bali, so that should make for an interesting write-up. I ve read a few interesting and plenty of positive things about the Balinese, especially when it comes to children, so I have great hopes pined on them already.
For now, it's time for yet another maid interview. Hoping she's my match made in heaven.
Later,
Shweyta
2. Hubster turns 35 this week. I think it means more to me than to him, the Queen of celebrations that I am. (Yes, Ive been mocked galore when I celebrate my daughter's monthly birthdays). While his happiness lay in a good fine dining Indian restaurant meal on the eve of, I decided it needed much more than that. After all even Workaholicism needs a break from him. Or so I thought. The plan is to have extended birthday celebrations next week in Bali, Indonesia where Hubster can do just what he does best - sleep, swim and surf (the internet). It will also be our first family vacation, when the three of us go to a country where we do not know anyone. (Earlier trips do not count, since we had friends/ family wherever we went).
3. The daughter and I toured a few more pre-schools and baby schools together. We now have comprehensive paraphernalia on most of Singapore's child care schools.
4. Hubster's Aussie partner, Peter and his wife invited us to join them at Newton Hawker Centre. (Note how I spell 'Centre'. You know, in Rome do as the Romans, so I am re-adapting grammatically these days. "Elevators" have gone back to being referred to as "Lifts" etc etc). Newton Hawker Centre is a hawker food court of sorts. Restaurants have small retro-fitted kitchens with large outdoor yet covered seating areas, in an open courtyard. As you enter the space, Hawkers start trying to route you towards their respective stalls. Peter is a regular here and has his favorite hawker already, so we walked over undistractedly, straight to that stall and seated ourselves. The food was as outstanding as we had heard it would be and within S$30 (less than 25 USD) the four of us and Zoe, had sampled ten delicacies from two stalls and downed a large pint of Tiger Beer. Little wonder then, why Singaporeans rarely cook and centres such as these are open late even on weeknights. Newton Hawker Centre definitely makes it to our list of to-be-repeated food places in Singapore.
5. It's been the longest three weeks in terms of time spent with the little one. Since I went back to work 3/4th into my maternity leave, after she was born, I dont believe we've ended up spending so much time one-on-one, just her and me. It has its ups and downs. She certainly has taught me the true meaning of a love-hate relationship; one that I know we will harbour for the rest of our lives, being two women and on top of it, Mom and Daughter. ("Take That" I can hear my Mom say in the background somewhere). That I am not made to be a full-time Mom was never a secret anyway. So even these few weeks, cherishable and adorable and all that gooey talk stuff set apart, seem like a few months. If not for the legal process of hiring a maid here in Singapore, by now I would've delegated her day-to-day care already. Things would'nt have been this ardous probably had she still continued to be that sweet angel that people used to think she is. Her transformation into a "monster" happened overnight (This is possibly her Singaporean avatar which we hope, like our stay here, will be temporary) and of course with her newly found mobile skills, she is now quite unmanageable. Having said all of the above, I do know that some years down the line, I will fondly look back at this phase and thank myself for having taken the opportunity of sharing these precious years of her life.
6. Temporary maids, aka part-time maids here, are a boon in disguise, especially as they are like the help I am used to, back home in Jersey City. A phone call away and to be paid by the hour, they keep it simple (Read normal) in my books. So for now, we've been resorting to this system until we find our more permanent solution. Some serious discussions later, Hubster and I figured our best bet is to hire someone full-time, which means adding another member to our family here since she will live/ eat/ travel etc with us. We thought we may as well turn this system to our advantage, for the short time that we are here, so the search for the ideal maid/ housekeeper has now effectively begun. Various interviews that I ve conducted so far reveal shocking facts about maid-life in this country (from violence to starvation to withheld salaries). Considering the easy going and slack employers that we are, our to-be maid wherever she is, will certainly be quite spoilt once she tranfers over from ours to another household, I am sure.
7. I ve been very 'jugaadu' all my life. That basically means, I ve liked getting stuff done non-conformingly, with my own twists to the task, making things work for myself and the other party involved, with minimum effort and maximum convenience to both. In my native Mumbaiyaa you may even call it as "doing setting". I miss, that the system here does not let me probe it, with my own 'jugaadu' mechanisms as easily. Still, not one to resign from my efforts yet, I ve found some loopholes for myself. The Hubster of course mocks my unabashed efforts at discovering these and taking advantage of them. More can be described in detail when we meet and should be spared in print, for fear of being monitored. I am told I should be careful what I write about. Whatevs!
8. Chinese cabbies exclaim "Aiyyo" when something goes wrong. Asian women walk around wearing salwar kameezs and 'mehendi' on their hands. And beauty salons play "Chammak Challo" followed by "Gangnam Style". Spotting interesting fusion around me is easily the highlight of most of my days here.
9. The daughter continues bullying other children/ little people whom she thinks are children (She can be offensive sometimes, especially here in Asia) into responding to her salutations. She must have tremendous persuasion power as most of them now respond promptly. I like to think she takes after her mother in this one.
Next week we are off to Bali, so that should make for an interesting write-up. I ve read a few interesting and plenty of positive things about the Balinese, especially when it comes to children, so I have great hopes pined on them already.
For now, it's time for yet another maid interview. Hoping she's my match made in heaven.
Later,
Shweyta
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