One month already flown by! My "blogging" is not quite up to the caliber for which I was hoping. Oh well. It's supposed to be about our life and adventures in Singapore and any other travel spots we're hoping to hit.
Which will be later than we hoped.
As soon as we landed here in Sing, and even before we unpacked our 12 bags of clothes and shoes and most-needed worldly goods, people were telling us to "make plans". Spring Break plans. The American Expat custom seems to be that any 3 day weekend or more (such as Christmas and Spring Break) is the ideal time to leave town and vacation. Shorter breaks mean Bintan, Phuket, maybe Bali. Longer breaks: Australia, New Zealand, China, home. Spring Break is clearly a longer break so most expats already learned that in order to leave town and go to an exotic locale of your choice, you must make your plan early and take action.
Short story long, the flights to just about anywhere are booked, and if a flight happens to be available, the resorts are full. This works out okay for me. I'm a whiz at planning Disney vacations back home, but trying to book a trip to Thailand is way out of my league. I can't even pronounce half the names of the cities and areas of Thailand let alone know if xxxxxx, Thailand is a safe, hip, vacation spot for a family with 3 active boys. We decide to let this opportunity pass us and use it as a "learning the island of Singapore" week with the kids. We'll hopefully hit some highlights such as Sentosa Island, the Aquarium, Wild Wild Wet water park, the science museum, and the zoo again. We have a phenomenal zoo.
We also are way ahead of everyone for the next significant school break: Oct. 1 - 5, 2008. Bali here we come!
But I've totally digressed. This blog is supposed to be about me, erm, about the adventure we had last night at our first big social outing: the George Washington Ball.
We are invited to the ball by my husband's company and are expected to go and mingle and meet the other Company Folks, having dinner, drinks, and dessert at the Shangri La Hotel. My first reaction to the ball was, "What!!!" You see, I enjoy fancy social gatherings as much as the next gal, but I failed to count any formal wear as a most-needed worldy item and hence, like Cinderella, I can't go to the ball. My fancy duds are somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Nice. I have to go shopping first. My Fairy Godmother, friend Jenni, offers to go shopping with me and find something appropriate. Plus, she needs to find a silver purse and her Mother-in-Law is in town for a month. The girl needs a break!
Without too much fuss or going into too many details, I find a lovely gown at Takashimaya department store. No one told me I was "too fat, lah"* so I claim success. Jim rents a tux. Apparently he didn't count his tuxedo as a most-needed worldly item either, which after seeing him in one, I cannot understand why. He cleans up so well. See Above. (And yes, I curled up my hair for a "fancy 'do" and sprayed the bejesus out of it. It held up well.)
The ball was smashing. I felt like a little kid. Honestly. I've been to 3 black tie affairs in my life and this one had them all beat, hands down. I wanted to stand against a wall and watch the parade of beautiful people in beautiful clothes. Truly gorgeous gowns of all hues. Academy Awards are nothing! (A couple of men in kilts. You know, I love a man in a kilt.) I felt really fortunate last night to be in Singapore, attending a formal event and having fun. We even attempted to listen to the American Ambassador to Singapore make her remarks. I say attempted because the sound system and where we were seated made it very difficult to understand.
We enjoyed our dinner and met all kinds of people and when the clock struck midnight, like Cinderella, we headed home.
Until next time,
Vicki :)
* My friend Jenni tells me that on one of her first shopping outings in Sing, she went into a store and the lady tells her, "No, no, no. You want Plus size." She's not a plus size, folks. It's just the way things are here in Sing. And I knew I was going to like Jenni's husband, Rick, when she related his reaction to that: "I guess you don't want to go out for ice cream then, huh?"
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