So I am here in Singapore for a quick week to sort out the kids school and look at houses. I only booked appointments at 3 schools as I had looked at many on-line and these 3 worked in terms of all 3 attending, location and space available. In my hometown we are fortunate to have incredible government schools at very affordable fees. We do have private schools as well that are also excellent but I have never found them to be that much more superior and the fees do not justify the small fortune we would need to fork out for 3 children.
Here the fees are insane. To give you some kind of comparison...the admission costs plus first year fees for all 3 for the Australian school for 1 year costs more than all 3 finishing school from grade 1 to grade 12. I kid you NOT! Its called the Australian International School and its pretty impressive. Today we see The Overseas Family School which was our first choice. Monday its the Canadian school. I want to have booked them in before we leave so we will make a decision on Monday.
Its a scary thing gambling with your children's lives. Taking them out of excellent schools where they are thriving. Separating them from their very good friends who I have grown so fond of. Being far from my folks their beloved Mimi and Pops as well as their cousins. Sometimes Gary and I look at each other and think what the feck are we doing? Really? We really doing this? Leaving our beautiful spacious house that took 9 agonizing months to renovate? Leaving our rottie Zara Clara? Yes, deep breaths, yes we are. I want to do this, I want the adventure and the change. I even love the muggy heat here and the evenings walking around in summer clothes.
Yikester let me sign off, I feel Agatha my anxiety jumping up and down like an over excited dog. Off for breakfast in our beautiful hotel. We are staying at The Intercontinental and we each have our own queen size beds. Deee-vine! Chat later. x
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Home Sweet Home
Gary arrived back from Vegas this morning and is busy snoring sleeping on our lovely comfy bed. He is delighted to be home and yes, he did get stopped at airport security again! He is only home for 4 days before he goes again. I LOVE traveling and I am extremely fortunate that I have done loads of it. I have been to many countries yet there are so many more places I still want to see.
I know living in a new country is very different to holiday traveling. One of the coolest things about going on holiday is that feeling at the end when you have had a great time but you want to come home. You want your people, your friends, your own bed, your dogs that are always thrilled to see you. You want your own grocery store and church and just your unique South African vibe that you are part of. So what do we do with that feeling when we get to Singapore and the novelty wears off a little? No more home for us. Our old home has been left and we still need to place our roots into our new home. We need to make friends and find out where to get stuff and how everything works. We need to wait for our furniture to arrive and move into our new home. To get our dog Lucy out of quarantine. Its going to be hard and I will need to be the perky one for everyone else. I guess that what homesickness is about...longing for your home but being unable to go there.
Don't get me wrong here, I am not negative and I am super excited about the move. I also know I will absolutely make the most of it and will be very deliberate in making friends and getting settled. I guess the reality does just scare me a little which is probably a good thing. Fekarama but this does make me poop in my broeks a little! (broeks are panties btw) Wait, I hear my little sister Nina frantically saying "what about me, what about me!" I hear you sista. Having you live in Singapore will make a massive difference. Nina has been living abroad for 16 years now and has moved many times from UK, Nigeria, Taiwan, Korea and now Singapore for the past 2 years. She is the cherry on the cake of our move, her kids and husband the sprinkles and frosting. Four more sleeps till I leave to Singapore for the great school and home hunt, can't wait!
I know living in a new country is very different to holiday traveling. One of the coolest things about going on holiday is that feeling at the end when you have had a great time but you want to come home. You want your people, your friends, your own bed, your dogs that are always thrilled to see you. You want your own grocery store and church and just your unique South African vibe that you are part of. So what do we do with that feeling when we get to Singapore and the novelty wears off a little? No more home for us. Our old home has been left and we still need to place our roots into our new home. We need to make friends and find out where to get stuff and how everything works. We need to wait for our furniture to arrive and move into our new home. To get our dog Lucy out of quarantine. Its going to be hard and I will need to be the perky one for everyone else. I guess that what homesickness is about...longing for your home but being unable to go there.
Don't get me wrong here, I am not negative and I am super excited about the move. I also know I will absolutely make the most of it and will be very deliberate in making friends and getting settled. I guess the reality does just scare me a little which is probably a good thing. Fekarama but this does make me poop in my broeks a little! (broeks are panties btw) Wait, I hear my little sister Nina frantically saying "what about me, what about me!" I hear you sista. Having you live in Singapore will make a massive difference. Nina has been living abroad for 16 years now and has moved many times from UK, Nigeria, Taiwan, Korea and now Singapore for the past 2 years. She is the cherry on the cake of our move, her kids and husband the sprinkles and frosting. Four more sleeps till I leave to Singapore for the great school and home hunt, can't wait!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Welcome!
Welcome to the very first post of my brand new blog. This is my therapy, my place to have interesting debates and ask you for your wisdom and advise while sharing mine. It is a record of my life for my children to read one day. It is an account of this great grand adventure we are about to embark upon.
Singapore Fling is the name I have chosen to honour the famous Singapore Sling cocktail (cocktails are very important!) and it also describes our new adventure. My precious little family is relocating to Singapore at the end of June. I have so many mixed emotions and putting things down on paper always gives me a fresh perspective and somehow makes it look all OK.
We will talk about many things on this blog. My homeland South Africa, my new place Singapore, family, God, parenting, friendships, what makes us tick, what ticks us off. We are all allowed to disagree but we may not be nasty or attack anyone personally. I used to blog daily and then my life got too crazy so eventually it just dwindled. You can go and check out my past 5 years on www.bosombuddies.typepad.com
I hope to build up to a good readership again but for now I will only blog once a week or so. You will also need to cope with my more than occasional lapses in grammar. Suck it up baby! Moving to a new country, raising 3 kids, winding down my job and preparing for my exams in May and June is making me somewhat hysterically busy.
PS: You might have clicked on the About Me page and got nothing. I did a whole long spiel yesterday but there was some kind of error. Did I mention I am a bit crap when it comes to IT/compute stuff?
Singapore Fling is the name I have chosen to honour the famous Singapore Sling cocktail (cocktails are very important!) and it also describes our new adventure. My precious little family is relocating to Singapore at the end of June. I have so many mixed emotions and putting things down on paper always gives me a fresh perspective and somehow makes it look all OK.
We will talk about many things on this blog. My homeland South Africa, my new place Singapore, family, God, parenting, friendships, what makes us tick, what ticks us off. We are all allowed to disagree but we may not be nasty or attack anyone personally. I used to blog daily and then my life got too crazy so eventually it just dwindled. You can go and check out my past 5 years on www.bosombuddies.typepad.com
I hope to build up to a good readership again but for now I will only blog once a week or so. You will also need to cope with my more than occasional lapses in grammar. Suck it up baby! Moving to a new country, raising 3 kids, winding down my job and preparing for my exams in May and June is making me somewhat hysterically busy.
PS: You might have clicked on the About Me page and got nothing. I did a whole long spiel yesterday but there was some kind of error. Did I mention I am a bit crap when it comes to IT/compute stuff?
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