First full day

On my first full day here Ted unfortunately had to work from about 9am until about 6pm, but I managed to keep myself busy!

The Somerset, where we are staying, provides guests with complimentary breakfast every morning that includes at least 2 types of fruit, one that they often have and that I love is an orange-yellow watermelon, though sometimes it is the typical pink type. They usually have the makings for a simple salad, several vegetable dishes, some kind of eggs (poached, scrambled, hard boiled, etc), several bread choices and cereals. Coffee is plentiful, or tea, and juice. So, on that first morning I got up in time to join Ted for breakfast before he took off for work.

After breakfast I toured myself around our little facility; there is a gym on the 25th floor that is small, but has a number of cardio machines, some free weights, a couple of swiss balls, yoga mats and a few weight machines. Also on the 25th floor there is a hot tub and a sauna. Down on the 8th floor, where breakfast is served, is the pool, which is a large outdoor pool with plenty of shaded seating and lounging areas. We share the pool with the hotel guests in the tower next door.

I thought it might be a good idea to retrace my steps to the further mall before I forgot, so I got myself out the door with my umbrella, just in case, my phone, some Singapore dollars and an GPS app, also just in case.

These are a few of the sights on the way.

Riverwalk buildings back alley

Covered walk near the restaurants and shops

Coffee shop wall

Once I arrived at the mall I wended my way up the mall through electronics stores, clothing stores, restaurants and kiosks to the large electronics store on the top floor. I was looking for a surge protector strip for my computer, phone, etc.,  and several converters since Singapore runs on a different system. With help I managed to locate everything I needed and went on my way, stopping at the grocery on the way home for some fruit. I arrived just before a HUGE rainstorm started. I’m told that November to January is the rainy season here with powerful deluges and electrical storms daily, several of which we have already witnessed.

I passed the afternoon at the gym upstairs and organizing my self in our apartment, watching the storm pass through and wishing I could share all that I’m seeing with everyone back home!

Street scene at dusk

This one is for Randy and Sue!

Scofields, you know what I thought when I saw this!

Leaving home

This post begins a new direction for this blog and a new direction for myself. Since my last post, way back in May, almost everything in my life has changed. My husband, Ted,  was offered a job in Singapore, and sight unseen we made the difficult decision to uproot ourselves from our very comfortable, well known and much loved life and trek across the world to new surroundings.

While the choice to make this huge change was initially difficult, it seemed to us that if there was ever a good time to purge all our belongings and leave home for adventures, now was most definitely the time.  Our children are young adults, more or less launched into their own lives, we don’t yet have grandchildren on the horizon, and we are both young enough and fit enough to want to see a little more of the world. So, we sold our house, (actually sold it at one of our garage sales, but that’s another story.), quit our jobs, sold or gave away most of our belongings (we are talking EVERYTHING), found our cats a new home and moved temporarily to Whidbey Island to stay with family until it was time to move.

Ebey’s Prairie, Whidbey Island with Mount Baker in the background

Ted left a little over a month ago and I have stayed behind tidying up loose ends, digitizing photos and documents as much as possible, finishing up the Great Purge of belongings and spending time with my family, which has been the best part of this huge change so far. My flight leaves in about 48 hours now, many good-byes have been said already, more to come in the next few days.

So, now this blog, which was formerly dedicated to my work as a health coach, yoga and pilates teacher and perpetual student, will be dedicated to the experiences we have while we learn to thrive in our new surroundings.

I’m hoping I will have the chance to continue teaching, continue learning, and sharing with all of you in a way that makes a positive difference to you.

To all of you with whom I didn’t get to have a final, in-person good-bye know that it wasn’t from lack of affection on my part or lack of importance, but merely that time got away from me, slipped by so quickly I almost couldn’t keep up. I hope all of you will find your way to parts unknown too and we can meet there to share our adventures.