Purpose

Oh my, it's been a few weeks since I've written anything. There has been a ton of things on my mind but it's been tough to get them on paper.

The main thing I've been thinking about lately is purpose. Everyone searches for their purpose in life. There are a million books written about it and all kinds of classes and therapy to help you discover what you were born to do. I've found myself suddenly in a place where I am reaching for these resources and it's very strange for me.

6 years ago when I graduated college it took about a year for me to figure out what I really wanted to do. Then it took another year to get there and then my Councilmember won the election and I was working for the Mayor of the 10th largest city in the United States! After three years of working in the job I wanted so badly, life took a turn and my marriage took me across the world. Now, as my husband goes to work each day, I am left to wonder "now what do I do with my life?" And the funniest part of this all is my husband says "do whatever you want." Whatever I want is a pretty broad range to choose from.

So, here I am embarking on this journey to figure out what's next. Where is my place in this big world and on this small island of Singapore? Let the exploring begin!

"Cool" vs. "Comfort"

Michael and I came to visit Singapore in early January. The purpose of our trip was to get to know the town a bit and hunt for houses. And hunt for houses we did. In three days, we saw about 20 places. I didn't want to live in a highrise so we looked at apartments in buildings which were 20 stories or less, condominiums and duplexes. We stayed away from the typical American house. Here in Singapore they are called "landed houses" and are about 5,000 sq ft. +++. A little large for 2 people. In all this house hunting, our top two properties were extremely different.

There was the Grange. This was a 10-story building. Each story was its own apartment with a private elevator. It had 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and was about 3000 sq. ft. The Grange had marble floors, white walls and lots of windows. It was kind of like an extra large, brand new hotel suite. Very nice! Very...comfortable.

The last property we saw was a shop house on Everton Road. Shop houses are historical properties in Singapore and are no longer built. People used to (and some still do) have their shops on the bottom floor and the family lives on the top floors. We fell in love with this house when we saw it (I'll argue that my husband fell in love with it more, but that's history now). It was more than anything...cool. It had all harwood, was newly rennovated and our neighborhood looked like one you might find in nice parts of San Francisco. So, after a night of sleeping on it and some pondering, Everton Road was it.

Then we moved in. The three flights of stairs and incredible heat was killing me! As "cool" as the house was when we initially saw it, there was so much work to be done and the structure of the house made it incredibly difficult. I began to dream of The Grange and wish we had chosen a less "cool" and more "comfortable" home.

Yesterday, our relocation agent asked if she could stop by with a family who was looking at a similar house down the street from us. When they came in, the father immediately said "we'll take it." :-) I realized that cool has its perks. There are no other houses like ours in Singapore. It is so unique. Yes, it comes with its challenges but we'll never have the opportunity to live in a house like this again, anywhere in the world. As our house is coming together, I am beginning to appreciate it more and more. It has a certain charm about it that will be worth all the work when it is decorated and lived in. For now, I will continue to work and climb stairs and work. When it's all said and done, I'll post pictures!

When I Die

This morning I had just returned home from my favorite store, Mustafa (I will blog about this later with pictures. It's amazing!), and was putting together my new vacuum cleaner when I heard a loud banging noise. I assumed it was the construction going on next door and went about my business. Then, the banging got louder and louder and louder until I realized that the banging was drums and symbols. I opened the window and there was a whole band in bright red costumes playing music while walking down my street!

I thought to myself, what day is today? Is it a holiday that I don't know about? Where is my camera??? After the band came this beautifully decorated truck. I sat happily by my window and watched the parade until I saw the hearse. Amazing. This was a funeral. The hearst was a big car with clear glass in the back so you could see the coffin. The coffin was beautifully decorated from top to bottom with flowers.

After the hearse came a long line of mourners all dressed in white. White is the color of death in the Chinese culture. They were walking silently behind. I had never seen anything like this before.

You know the saying "When I die, I want them to throw a parade in my honor." Well, here in Singpore they do. It was celeratory and sullen all at the same time. What a good way to go. And now I know, next time I hear the band outside not to run for the camera.

I'm at a loss... or should I say Lost!

I have had this incredible curse on me lately. Not sure exactly what it is or where it came from but something is definitely wrong. Now, I've never been one to believe in curses but the past few weeks' events have made me a believer.

The weekend of my wedding was wonderful, fabulous really. I was stressed but happy and everyone attending seemed to have a good time. After the reception a large group of friends went into the hotel bar to continue to the party. Being the great hostess that I am, I went to the front desk to order pizza for the group. They needed a credit card. So I go to my room and get my credit card. That is the LAST time I saw my wallet. Hmmm. No big deal right? Cancel the credit cards, head to the DMV. No harm no foul. Wrong. My passport was in the wallet too and I was scheduled to leave the country in exactly 48 hours. Not to worry. You can get a passport in 24 hours...except when the the Monday after your wedding is President's Day. So everything that could possibly identify me was LOST. (oh, and my cell phone was lost that weekend too and never found).

Finally, after much fretting and crying, I received a new passport in the mail and was off to Singapore to be with my wonderful husband.

Cut to today. I attended this wonderful reception for International Women's Day hosted by the American Women's Association of Singapore. I met soooo many nice people and was feeling very positive about my day. I was scheduled to meet with some wives from my husband's company for coffee in the afternoon and then with some new friends for drinks tonight. Yay! Friends! All was right in the world until I reached into my purse and...where is my brand new cell phone??? After retracing my steps I realized my cell phone was driving in the taxi that had dropped me off at home. My cell phone also has all my new friends' phone numbers in it. Very big bummer.

I called and called and called and called. Finally a man answered and was attempting to speak to me about where he was with my phone in chinese. Then... HE HUNG UP ON ME. I tried to call back but alas my phone had been shut off. A man delivering furniture overheard me tell a friend from home that I had lost my phone. He said to me later "when you leave it in a taxi, you'll never see it again." Sigh.

There you have it. It feels pretty terrible to lose something and losing so many things in such a short period of time feels worse. I swear I'm on the brink of getting a fanny pack people or somehow sewing the most important things I need for identification and communication to my body. It has gotten that bad.