Back to reality…

Today was the first day back to my normal routine after what feels like almost a week (it probably hasn’t been, but it feels like it!).  And wouldn’t you know it, the market was a real douche and we were constantly battling each other all day.  And the market ALWAYS wins, so I don’t know why I even bothered putting up a fight.  Sighhhhh…. So I’m back to feeling like I have no idea what I’m doing.  It’s this constant rollercoaster ride of emotion.  One day I’ll feel like “Yes! I’ve got this!”; and then the next day, the market hammers you into submission, and you’re back to feeling like a total noob and having no idea what the hell you’re doing.  I don’t think the emotional aspect of trading will ever go away completely; I think you just learn to manage it better. So I was basically screaming at the screen all day arghhh!!  Faaaantastic.  I just love these sorts of days.  I much prefer the days when I feel totally zen and at one with the market. So on top of being physically drained the past few days, I was mentally drained today as well. Both self inflicted, I know 😔 

So I did about half an hour of meditation to calm down (although I really should meditate before starting the trading day…! It really does help me to focus and relax), and then walked down to the grocery store to buy some food for dinner. That made me feel a bit better.

And on an even brighter note: my new practice shoes from Supadance arrived today! I haven’t had these shoes in YEARS!! I thought they stopped making them years ago, so I stopped searching for them. But somehow I came across them again, and so of course I decided to buy them again.



This style was my very first pair of dance shoes! But after having danced for quite a few years since owning my first pair, I have come to realise their limitations: since they’re really for beginners and/or social dancers, they’re not really good for either Ballroom OR Latin! hahaha ie they don’t really provide enough support in the heel area for Ballroom; and they restrict your toes for Latin so you don’t get a proper grip of the floor, nor do they show your lines.  Isn’t that fantastic, lol.  But I didn’t buy them for nostalgic reasons (that was just a bonus 😊), I bought them for practice. I don’t like practising both styles wearing either just my Ballroom or my Latin shoes at socials, nor do I like constantly changing shoes in line with the change in song/style.  So I figured because these shoes are effectively an amalgamation of a Ballroom and a Latin shoe, they’ll be good enough to practice in.  So let’s see how I go with these, given their limitations and the fact that I am more adept at the two styles now compared to when I first started dancing many moons ago 😃 

Rest Day

I was still feeling quite rundown this morning, so decided to just rest today. Really good idea, coz now in the evening, I’m feeling much better already. Yes! 👍

While JLP were here (they landed safely in Sydney btw, shame I couldn’t stay up for the landing!), I was considering subscribing to the kids’ channels on cable, so that the little one had something to watch. But then I discovered that we already one kids’ channel that shows programs in Chinese, so that was good enough for him – and also perfect practice for me! So I think I’ll be watching this channel more often 😊 I can’t believe I didn’t know we had this channel and I’ve missed out on watching it all this time! Listening is my weakest skill, so more exposure to the language should help.

I watched this show tonight called 警花与警犬 (jǐng huā yǔ jǐng chuǎng), and the translation they give is Police Beauty and K9. I thought the whole premise of the show was completely inappropriate for a children’s show! It perpetuates the stereotypes that I would not want kids to learn. To be honest, though, I couldn’t understand the show, so I may be compeletely wrong, but just the whole premise of the show just didn’t sit right with me. The dogs were adorable though, as they usually are. Maybe someone who can actually understand the show can shed some more light on this for me, but right now, I’m totally not impressed with it.

I watched the second half of the MEL-DXB-LHR flight tonight.

A few planes all lined up to land at LHR

Snaking river, I assume is the Thames

The plane flew over Europe in less time than it takes to fly over Australia. So it made me wonder how large Australia is, land size wise, compared to Europe. So I googled this very thing and came across a website that allows you to make this exact comparison: thetruesize.com. You can superimpose whatever city/country you want onto any other one, and you can get a quick visual by dragging one country over another. So of course, as per my question that prompted the Google search, I dragged Australia over Europe 😊 pretty cool!

Australia superimposed over Europe

Even more chillaxing

We just chillaxed more today, didn’t really do much at all. Which was actually quite good for me, coz I’m still feeling a little run down 😔

Eating everything

We let the parents go down to the pool while we looked after the little one – and wouldn’t you know it, he decided to soil his nappy while they were away. I was happy to wait until the parents came back, but N was up for the challenge – so off we marched to the bathroom, with the baby changing mat, a brand new nappy, and some wet wipes. We just thought he did a No.1, but when N opened the nappy, he knew straight away it was a No.2 hahaha it was everywhere! He actually momentarily changed his mind and closed the nappy back, but for some reason, he decided to go through with it anyway, despite his rather strong aversion to faecal matter hahaha I was in tears from laughter, and the little one was probably quite stunned to see this adult basically crying or laughing, he just didn’t know what, and my spectacle might have helped him stay relatively still while he was being changed.

And to top it all off, I turned to my other side to see Kitty had woken up and walked over to us, standing just outside the bathroom and seeing what was going on and what all the fuss was about! Hahahaha it was just too funny!! I so wish I had my phone with me to film the whole thing!

Kitty not impressed that another little one was in her area

We booked one of those vans to take all four of us and the little bub to the airport. Another trip to Changi – YEAH!! The van was so roomy, it was a much more comfortable trip that way. We bid them farewell and then made our way down to the public area of T3 for a light dinner, before heading home and getting an early night (well, midnight is early for us hahaha).

I tried to track their flight as well as an ex-work colleague’s MEL-DXB-LHR flight, but this is as far as I got before I could no longer keep my eyes open:

SIN-SYD and MEL-DXB-LHR in the one shot 

I wanted to stay up at least to the point where the two flights were as close as possible to each other, but this was the best I could do 😊

Chillaxing

I was really tired this morning when we got up. I blame it on the lack of sleep from yesterday 😔 so we ended up skipping Mandarin class. I sent a text to our teacher to explain our absence today, and I was so proud of my text! Not because it was overly complicated or anything, but because it came relatively easily to me to write it. It felt like good progress!

早上好，对不起，我们今天不去上课。N刚刚到新加坡来的，他这个星期就出差了，他非常累。而且，我弟弟和他的家人都到新加坡来的。我们可以上makeup课吗？

We ended up just chillaxing by the pool for most of the afternoon, and then headed over to Gardens By the Bay for a quick bite to eat and then to watch the light show at the Supertrees. Quite relaxing music accompanying tonight’s show. We sat on the grass and watched the 15-minute light show, before heading home soon after. A very relaxing day 😌

Everyone thought it was quite a mild day (it was high 20s with little humidity), which was good for the little one (and the adults!), but I was cold at times, lol. So I offered to carry the little one so I had my own person heater hahaha

And then when we got home, N and I discovered that my side of the bed was getting more aircon than his! OMG. So for almost three years, we’ve both been suffering needlessly! Hahaha so we’ve decide to swap sides. Now you can imagine how this can screw with your head! Major disorientation! Hehe but change is good. I like change 😊

Chillaxing by the pool

Woe is me…

Light show at the supertrees

Excitement!

I was so full of excitement today:

• Two flights were flying into Singapore: JLP flying in from London, and N returning from his work trip to Oz.
• I get to meet my nephew for the first time today!
• I was going to Changi Airport! Normally this would’ve been such a highlight already, but today was a triple whammy 😁

What’s with the loop-de-loop over Indonesia?? Twice!

More than half the trip is just to get over the vast expanse of land that is Oz.

JLP and I got a taxi back to our apartment. “Luckily” for us, towards the end of the ride, P decided to wail like crazy. Like full on screaming, sighhhh. Although he did just fly the LHR-SIN route (12 hours!!), which is pretty tough, even for an adult. So I can only imagine how it must’ve been for a little one. Poor little one. And poor cab driver, lol!

But once we got back to the apartment and he got some food in him, he was like a totally different baby, all so happy again. Still tired, but at least he was happy.

Getting some germs in him 

We then went down the road to Real Food for a vego dinner. For a vego place, this place makes awesome food. If all vego dishes were this nice, I could turn vego. Maybe. 😌

And even my trading went relatively well today. Not the usual constant struggle it usually is.

Ah, such a great day 😁

Gardens by the Bay

I went to Gardens by the Bay today.  I needed to renew my membership: I am a Friend of the Gardens!  🙂

But first, I figured I’d go and have brunch at TWG Tea first at Marina Bay Sands, before heading over.  But by the time I got out of the house and arrived at MBS, it was already noon and I was basically just in time for lunch!  But I resisted ordering something off their lunch menu and just stuck with my original idea of having something breakfast-y.  It was a toss up between scones and eggs, but I figured I need more protein in my diet, so the eggs won out 🙂 I also ordered some tea.  Since I was at TWG TEA, I figured ordering my usual cup of coffee wasn’t the best idea lol so I stuck with what these guys specialise in, and ordered something that sounded like a good substitute for my coffee: Warrior’s Tea!  LOL

After brunch, I wandered over to Gardens by the Bay.  This place never disappoints.

Every time I come and visit, I always go into the two domes, and each time I go in, I always come across a type of flower that I’ve never seen before.  Here are a few new ones that I saw today:

Purteeeee!!

Since I’ve been here so often, each time I visit, I try and take different photos each time, from a different spot or at a different angle.  Here are a few from today:

Beautiful place.

And on a separate note, I am going to be tracking two flights tomorrow: one from London and one from Sydney.  Total excitement!!  😀 And to add to that excitement, I am going to Changi as well!  Woohoo!  I don’t know at this stage at which terminal the London flight will land (I assume T3, as departures to London fly from there), so I’ll keep an eye on the arrivals board.  If it is T3, maybe I’ll head over to the Hello Kitty cafe for a quick bite / drink hehehe

A good day

I had one of those days where trading didn’t feel like this constant battle between the market and me.  If only every day was like this!  That’s my goal, I suppose 🙂 

I was getting a little concerned with Kitty last night, as she didn’t get up and miaow for her dinner.  And that’s even after not really eating much of her breakfast yesterday either.  But when I got up this morning, she had actually eaten it all, obviously sometime overnight! And she gobbled up this morning’s breakfast, so I guess she’s still going strong, despite her age.

I liked this photo of her. I like how the sun streams across only half of her / the photo 🙂

She always sits with me during the day – sometimes a little too close, and I feel like I’m going to roll my chair over her! So before I get up, I always make sure she’s not sleeping near my chair, before I wheel myself out.  And that’s if I’m actually sitting properly at my desk, since she’s usually sleeping UNDER my desk, and I can’t tuck in my chair properly.  Not the most ergonomic work area, I know!  lol

I tracked N’s domestic fight from Melb to Syd tonight. What’s with avoiding Canberra?! Hahaha

And tonight was dance practice 💃🏻 we haven’t been to this social for aaaages, since we normally have our Ballroom lesson on Wednesdays. I really like this venue. It’s big, and there are relatively few people who turn up to dance, so there’s lots of space to practice, especially for Ballroom 👍 but you’re dancing on tiles, which can be a bit hard on the joints. Hard to remember our routines, though, when N isn’t practising with me, especially for Ballroom. But that just shows that I need to practice MORE on my own!

I took a different route home: I caught the bus instead of the usual train. That’s one of the benefits of Singers: public transport is cheap, easy, reliable; and the country in general is very safe, so there are no issues going on an adventure at 10 in the evening 🙂 and the country generally caters more for “night” people (which is soooo good for me!), so there are more people out than what you would normally see at this same time back in Syd or Melb (let alone any other city in Oz!).

Oh and that care package I mentioned yesterday? I have one sausage left! Not quite enough for a meal, even for me. If only I had two sausages left, then I would’ve been fine. Instead, I’ll just have to have a bowl of cereal to get me over the line hahaha Now I have to fend for myself from tomorrow 😂 

Hello!

It’s been almost three years now since we made the move from Oz, and if the universe permits, we are more likely than not to continue living overseas, at least for the foreseeable future. So I’ve been trying to decide how best to keep family and friends posted on our lives while we’re all located in totally different parts of the world.  I thought maybe daily posts on Facebook would work, but my posts would get lost in all the other stuff that’s in there.  And I also wouldn’t be able to easily locate them.  So today I’ve finally decided on this 🙂 whether or not this will work for me (and them), time will tell.  Also this way, people can check in now and then if they want to, and not necessarily have to be bombarded on Facebook with my posts on the minutiae of my day-to-day life.

I wanted to post something daily, for a few reasons:

1. So that I would have some sort of daily reminder of our time overseas, as we simply don’t know how long we will be here.  The good times, the bad times, and mainly the daily grind of my everyday life as an expat.
2. I also wanted at least one facet of my presence on social media that showed the reality of my everyday life.  I think people can get all swooped up in social media, which can glamorise how wonderful life is.  I want this blog to show that 99% of the time, my life actually isn’t all that exciting lol.  I am not on the rollercoaster ride of life; if anything, I feel like I am on a merry-go-round hahaha not a bad thing, I don’t think!
3. And because my life isn’t terribly exciting, sometimes I don’t feel like it is “worthy” of a Facebook post.  But then that means that I don’t document the small things that I would otherwise still want to remember, or that family and friends may still want to hear about, like how I went to Gardens by the Bay for the umpteenth time; or that Crabtree & Evelyn has now FINALLY restocked my favourite body lotion (or maybe they don’t want to read about these things hahaha who knows).

So at this stage, that’s where I’m at with this blog.

As for my daily update for today?

Well, actually, I felt like I didn’t do much today, unfortunately.  I spent a lot of time this afternoon trying to figure out the best medium for my daily updates, until I finally decided on creating this blog.  I did do a few hours of work on my trading (which is still frustrating the living daylights out of me lol), and I also did a bit of Mandarin homework.  This is part of our homework for this week, OMG:

Based on this, you’d think that we were native speakers already LOL!  But we’re so not.  I haven’t done this part of the homework yet, but I am likely to be looking up every second word in the dictionary. So I am / we are far from fluent, even just in reading.  Don’t even mention speaking and listening, which are a totally different ball game!

We went to our friends’ place on Saturday to watch the football (Sydney FC vs Western Sydney), and they gave us a care package, filled with sausages and sausage rolls and some pasta.  Since N is in Oz for work this week, it will only be me eating the food.  And they gave us HEAPS!  Especially for someone who eats as little as me. So that’s all I’ve been eating for lunch and dinner so far this week LOL.  It’ll probably last me until tomorrow, and then I’ll have to fend for myself from Thursday 🙂