From rabbits to dragons...
The Year of the Rabbit gave way to the Chinese Year of the Dragon over the weekend (22/23 Jan 2012). The newspapers, movies and decorations on the streets reflect this most important of all Chinese occasions. I won't go into the traditions (gifts of money in even denominations only, not sweeping on New Years day for fear of sweeping away good luck, exchanging oranges and mandarins to name just a few) because this blog isn't intended for the millions out there and there are a million websites that will answer those questions. Although I welcome anyone to drop by, of course; this is written primarily for family and friends.
We arrived back in Singapore on the 23rd Jan while many a Chinese house broom lay idle. We returned from our first trip back to New Zealand since moving here. 16 days in Aotearoa... time enough to enjoy meat pies from the dairy, fish and chips on the beach, play golf, ride motorbikes, attend a wedding and a 40th party and catch up with nearest and dearest.
The questions on everyones lips were "How's Singapore? Do you like living there?"
We rolled out the standard answers of "It's great. An easy place to be - everything works; we're used to the constant heat and humidity now and yes, we like living there."
But like all good (or bad) life changes, our move and the subsequent questions have given me pause to reflect on how far we've come in a year. We bounded over here in February 2011, a lot like a rabbit who is searching for a new home. There wasn't much forethought, just a desire and an opportunity. We jumped around a little more while we settled ourselves and explored our new surroundings. At times we had to consciously slow our frantic movements as we tried to do everything and go everywhere. Sometimes, a rabbit just needs to spend the weekend at home by the pool with the need to nibble and graze being the only acceptable reasons for an excursion.
Since my last blog post, November, December and now January have flown by. So much cool stuff happened: Girls Camp in Bali with church, a weekend trip to the Philippines, school prizegiving and Christmas parties and celebrations took us from November to 6 January when we flew home to New Zealand.
Normally I'll blog about our experiences in the hope that they might offer an insight or answer a question someone may have about travel or culture... but not this time. Sorry. I'm still in reflective mode.
I'm going to spread my dragon wings and make sweeping generalisations while gazing into the future with my penetrating stare.
2012 is going to be an amazing year. I can sense more changes ahead. Changes that bring growth of a personal nature. (See, that's pretty general, because in my opinion, you either learn, develop and improve as a human being or you're pretty much a waste of space.) Whatever happens, we all hope that we get to stay here in Singapore for a few more years yet. Like all good expats, we plan to explore Asia more, leave few footprints and learn as much as we can about this part of our amazing world and the people sharing it.
I will try to blog once a month to share the worthwhile experiences. But no promises now - I don't think dragons would make a promise they couldn't keep.
We arrived back in Singapore on the 23rd Jan while many a Chinese house broom lay idle. We returned from our first trip back to New Zealand since moving here. 16 days in Aotearoa... time enough to enjoy meat pies from the dairy, fish and chips on the beach, play golf, ride motorbikes, attend a wedding and a 40th party and catch up with nearest and dearest.
The questions on everyones lips were "How's Singapore? Do you like living there?"
We rolled out the standard answers of "It's great. An easy place to be - everything works; we're used to the constant heat and humidity now and yes, we like living there."
But like all good (or bad) life changes, our move and the subsequent questions have given me pause to reflect on how far we've come in a year. We bounded over here in February 2011, a lot like a rabbit who is searching for a new home. There wasn't much forethought, just a desire and an opportunity. We jumped around a little more while we settled ourselves and explored our new surroundings. At times we had to consciously slow our frantic movements as we tried to do everything and go everywhere. Sometimes, a rabbit just needs to spend the weekend at home by the pool with the need to nibble and graze being the only acceptable reasons for an excursion.
Since my last blog post, November, December and now January have flown by. So much cool stuff happened: Girls Camp in Bali with church, a weekend trip to the Philippines, school prizegiving and Christmas parties and celebrations took us from November to 6 January when we flew home to New Zealand.
Normally I'll blog about our experiences in the hope that they might offer an insight or answer a question someone may have about travel or culture... but not this time. Sorry. I'm still in reflective mode.
I'm going to spread my dragon wings and make sweeping generalisations while gazing into the future with my penetrating stare.
2012 is going to be an amazing year. I can sense more changes ahead. Changes that bring growth of a personal nature. (See, that's pretty general, because in my opinion, you either learn, develop and improve as a human being or you're pretty much a waste of space.) Whatever happens, we all hope that we get to stay here in Singapore for a few more years yet. Like all good expats, we plan to explore Asia more, leave few footprints and learn as much as we can about this part of our amazing world and the people sharing it.
I will try to blog once a month to share the worthwhile experiences. But no promises now - I don't think dragons would make a promise they couldn't keep.
