Welcome to the Tropics

I knew better than to think the weather we experienced the first two months was typical for Singapore but I couldn't help but hope for it to continue as long as possible. Maybe there was some kind of Asian El Nino phenomenon working in our favor? After all, it's a tropical climate and the girls hadn't even used their new umbrellas or rain boots yet. That streak ended this week. Every day this week we had rain at some point in the afternoon and it didn't always go away as quickly as it arrived. Thursday's rain event was comical because it hit as I was walking to our nearby grocery store with Elizabeth, Emily and our helper, Delia. I wanted to show Delia where I normally shop and pick up the dry cleaning while we were out. With the stroller, the walk probably takes about 10 minutes. At the start, it was lightly raining so we managed just fine. Within a couple minutes, the drops got exponentially larger and it quickly became a downpour. Our umbrellas were not enough to keep us dry and this amused the girls. We ended up postponing the dry cleaner visit and took a taxi back home with our grocery purchases. It was a soggy outing -- to say the least.

Megan had a day off from school on Friday so I had the unusual pleasure of spending the morning with her and Emily while Elizabeth was at school. I made pancakes for breakfast and we went over to my friend Rachel's home for a play date with Megan's school friend Callie. Of course, Emily and I have been to their home numerous times on weekdays to play with little Sarah but this was a special outing for Megan. We had a good time swimming and headed home after lunch.

Friday afternoon I went to Alexander Kasta salon for my first haircut in Singapore. The owner is French and my stylist, Stefan, is Austrian. I saw about a dozen women in the salon during my visit and they were all Caucasian so it's obviously a popular place for expats. Stefan was very precise and when I shared my horror stories of haircuts in foreign countries, he assured me in his smooth Austrian accent that all would be fine. He did not disappoint. I now have pretty honey highlights and my layered bob once again. One noticeable deviation from my normal salon experience is that Stefan did not use a single product when styling my hair. No gel or mousse. Not even hairspray when he was done. While it was refreshing to not have someone pushing their products on me, I had to wonder how long my hairstyle would last with no product in this humidity! Perhaps Stefan knows it's a lost cause and prefers to not waste his time and money.

Brian and I had date night Friday. We got the girls ready for bed and went to Peony Jade, a Szechuan/Cantonese restaurant just across the river. We ordered pork ribs, chicken with lime sauce, seafood fried rice and washed it down with a couple Singapore Slings. It was all delicious and we will definitely go back there. We agreed that it would be a perfect place to dine with out-of-town guests :)

Saturday Brian and I went for a morning run while the girls ate breakfast at home. We then packed up the family and returned to the Singapore Zoo to check out the kids water play area. Megan and Elizabeth had a blast with the water slides and miscellaneous sprinklers and it must have been a little overwhelming for Emily because she stayed close to my side the entire time. The weather cooperated with our plans and remained sunny and hot until we got home mid-afternoon. We also managed to visit a few animals during the trip and of course saw more primates playing in the trees above us as we strolled around the zoo.

Sunday we enjoyed a restful day. Delia has Sundays off so once she cleaned up from breakfast, she took off for the day. I served lunch on paper plates so I wouldn't have deal with dirty dishes. Yes, I'm getting that lazy already! Brian cycled in the morning and Megan and Elizabeth played so well together that I was reluctant to disrupt the harmony for an outing. We wanted to ride the Singapore Flyer after naps but, you guessed it, those pesky storms changed our plans.

While baking a cake this afternoon, I could see storm clouds approaching from the north. Then some thunder in the distance. Naturally the lightning started popping a few minutes later. I happened to look down at the pool and noticed that there were several people still outside despite the coming storm and even worse, 6-8 people were still swimming. More lightning and still they swam. I couldn't bear to watch anymore because I was convinced that I was going to watch someone get fried. I looked across the river to another pool and there were at least 10 people in that pool as well. I guess they aren't as concerned about lightning strikes here? They didn't leave the water until the pouring rain drove them away.

We wrapped up the weekend with a trip to Tanglin Mall for dinner, mostly because we could drive from parking garage to garage without getting wet. We ate at the "food court" which was nothing special but had something that everyone in the family would eat. Delia had returned home while we were out and cleaned up a days' worth of mess. Brian describes our relationship with Delia as the "honeymoon phase," implying that within a few weeks she may start to irritate me. I'm sure he's right that I'll discover little annoyances, but so far I'm really happy with her and the job she is doing in our home. My Singaporean life has become much easier in the past week!