Saturday, March 31, 2012

Back in Singapore

Today is a strange one. It's like a summer day at the cottage. It is surprisingly not hot, maybe 72',  and very windy. It rained all night  (I know because I was awake- I am having a terrible time adjusting back to Singapore time. I wake up at 2 a.m. and am done for the night. By 2 p.m. I am dogged. I've been luckier with my other trips)
Thunder and lightning all night. Yesterday was unbelievable. The wind. Our balcony furniture was whipped around the deck. They looked like little electric cars scooting around. Some of our plants blew over. I fear having something blow off the deck, but some balconies are filled with furniture and very very mature plants, so I take from that, that things do not actually blow off. I hope I am right. (In the last few days, in fact, we have been finding little plastic toys on our balcony. I think a little person from above is dropping them over.)
I am waiting for Tim to get home from work. He must be flying, or I should say landing in this wind. I should watch the planes outside and imagine that I see him come in.
I just had a reflexology in our complex. A reflexology/back and shoulder massage, manicure/pedicure place opened up this morning. I was their first customer. A young woman 24, is starting her own business. It was lovely to support her. I couldn't help but think of our Elizabeth starting her own business last week in Toronto. And me so sad I am not there to support her, and help her in the kitchen, and buy her sandwiches. So it was lovely to be the first customer for this young woman. And how wonderful to have another treatment salon here on our grounds. Also a new restaurant is opening soon. Japanese. Wow.
My trip back was interesting. I have flown 767, 747, 330, 340, 380. The 380 is amazingly quiet.
I am flying too much. No movies that I have not seen. It seems the tv I watch is on flights! Downton Abbey. Fabulous.
The flight Toronto/Tokyo does a big arc over Canada and Alaska, down Russia. Over NWT near Yellowknife, the land was marked off in big quadrants. I would like to know why. They certainly are not logging there, it is above the tree line. Is it surface mining?
Russia is covered in pristine white snow as far as you can see. It is gorgeous. And then Japan, so close to sea level, all this inland water. And cherry blossoms, cherry trees like little puffy white clouds.
Oops, there goes a chair across the balcony.
I came back to a freshly painted apartment. Actually we just had them do the LR DR and hall. The bedrooms were not so bad. We lightened the colour and it looks much fresher and cared for. Off to Ikea next week to get some sofas. I bought a tv bench yesterday. We have a little store downstairs with a bulletin board. Someone had bought an Ikea tv bench, put it together and realized it would not work. Within an hour of seeing the ad we had out tv on it. Very efficient. I hope we will be as lucky when we go to sell out stuff when we leave.
I was to write a theory test for my drivers licence. I have been driving for 50 years, but in Singapore, to get a dr lic I have to write a theory test. How many kinds of  licences does Singapore issue? HA 9!. Do I care. No but they do. In order to get my Ontario licence over to this address I have to study a BOOK of information. The marking on the roads, police arm signals, times of parking with different street marking, meaning of signage. There is NO bloody logic to the police hand signals. It is memory work. Oy. So I was trying to study on the plane during the 20, yes 20 hours I was flying. Retention was very poor. And I didn't sleep the night I got back, so I cancelled my test. This dr lic change of address is a big head ache. I have no intention of driving here, right hand drive on the left (wrong) side of the road. But I need to memorize the police hand signals.
I have my first yoga class tomorrow. I am so excited, like a kid the first day of school. To get back to yoga! The studio is a 10 minute walk from my apartment. She says it is yoga for normal people. "Calm and Bendy". She is an Aussie, and I met her when I went in to inquire. She has fibromyalgia, so is right on about my issues and will watch me carefully. I will attend a "Yin" class, then move up to "Restorative" then to "Beginners". I am very impressed. Seeing as I have been doing yoga, on and off, for 40 years, I have a long way to go to get back. But slow is good. Careful is good.
I have our superintendent coming in to hang drapes on Monday. This place will start to warm up. I was showing pictures of the apartment to my sister when I was home. And I showed her the dining room. She laughed. That might have been because it has a rug, and that is it. No table, no chairs. YET! They have Expat Auctions here. Where those leaving send their furniture, and those having just arrived, go to buy. Rod and Nancy have bought some great stuff for their place. But they plan to ship it home to a house in Florida they have bought and need to furnish. We, on the other hand want to take nothing home. We packed up so much for storage, we don't want anything more. I went to the auction this morning. It's fun to go, and some of the furniture is beautiful. Lots of Rahjistan furniture. What is that, you say. It is antique looking, rough wood, fainted paint, so very rustic. All pieces look like they have a great story to go with them. But I think we are Ikea style for this chapter.
So I work away on making this a nest. It is very interesting because being home (to TO home) made me realize how much family and friends mean to me. And also the last few years in Muskoka having meant I have not been as connected as I wish. So I suffer from attachment issues. But Tim is here, so I am here. And Singapore is truly beautiful. The architecture is dramatic, but it is the trees and landscaping. Beautiful canopy trees everywhere, lush because of the damn humidity and rain, and blossoms everywhere. The expressways are lined with bouganvilia in full bloom.
I did hear that we are entering the monsoon season. Does that mean more rain? If it means wind, it is here. But more rain? Oh my golly. Does it get hotter? I have heard it does in the summer. Hotter?
Off now, to watch the skating chairs on my balcony.

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