Tina's wanderings around the world

 I've been keeping a list for some time now of the little things that were getting to me. I haven't been complaining enough, have I? 😄 Didn't think so. It's time for more. Really, though. It's all about the small things, right? The small things that bring us joy. And the small tears that bring you down. Microaggressions is an apt term. Our first few months of settling into our new place found a constant tension underlying pretty much all interactions, and when I finally started to keep a list of the tiny tweaks that were annoying me, they did start to add up to a larger picture of frustration.  Here's my list of the small things around the house. Let's start with the kitchen, shall we? The dishwasher It never fully cleans the dishes . Most often, there's a film left on our dishes after the so-called wash. I've known other people whose dishwashers were less than capable, but this is the first time I've had one. My dishes come out with rust . Seri...

There have been many unexpected repercussions of moving to Singapore, some of which have been physical. Other than gaining weight from an overexcitement about food, which has happened with previous moves (Vienna, Peru, etc.), I haven't really experienced bodily reactions to moving to a new place. It certainly wasn't something I anticipated. Yet this relocation has had physical side effects. They have been more of a minor annoyance, but still noteworthy. Dry skin. This is really a result of the Covid times we find ourselves in, and the increase in frequency and length of hand washing. The switch from nourishing handmade soap to hotel soap made my skin extra specially dry, and I found myself with itchy dry patches on my hands. I have to be more thoughtful about my soap purchases, now that I can't make my own soap. Singapore doesn't allow just anyone to purchase lye, one of the key ingredients in soap making. I'd been making my own soap for over a year, and now. No lon...

 There are times when something that should be simple and easy blows up into a big mess. There are toothpaste tube moments, which obviously aren't about the toothpaste tube at all. Then there are times when unnecessary hurdles and obstacles are thrown into paths for various reasons. Which is the variety that seems to plague the acquisition of work laptops here in Singapore. One friend has a laptop that can take up to 30 minutes just to start up. I've watched the screen think for 10-15 minutes as it attempts to bring up one screen. The fact that this laptop hinders this person's productivity in such a major way (this person spends much of their workday typing emails on their phone) would make me think the company would want  to get this person a new laptop. How can they actually do their job with a defunct laptop? But their IT department negates the request time and again. It's not time for the laptop to be replaced yet. Another friend just started a new job and it took ...

It’s a rare occasion that Marcus takes a vacation day. His last out of office message was dated October 2019. Which means it’s kind of a big deal when he does take one. In the past few years, we’ve decided that birthdays are occasions that warrant a vacation day from work, and this year we went big—he took two days off work for his birthday. On his actual birthday, I kept a strict and very packed schedule. Wake up. Presents. Brunch. Massage. Water park. (Yes we did. It was amazing.) Lunch. (A set meal with free flow coffee and ice cream for $8! Unheard of! The value!!) Back home for a 30-minute wash-up and dress-up. Happy hour. Fancy dinner on the 70 th floor of a building downtown. With all the activity, we decided to have a solid sleep-in the next day. Marcus even used earplugs to get maximal sleep-in value. This was a plan. Imagine my surprise to wake up by a pounding on the door. I look around, it’s still dark outside. Maybe I imagined it? Then more, long, unrelentless bangin...

A random smattering of thoughts that have repeatedly come up since arriving. The damp is pervasive.  The humidity here is a way of life that I'm trying to learn to swim through. Swim with? My skin is constantly damp and sticky, and at times I feel like I'll never be fully dry or clean again. Being dry is part of the clean feeling, I've discovered. The driest thing to be found are fresh clothes coming out of the dryer. It's all downhill from there. People mostly hang their clothes outside to dry here but I don't get it. When I hang our clothes out, they never feel like they're fully dry. And my bath towel never dries after I've used it. I can't even hang it up behind the door because I'm afraid it'll make the door mold! I've heard of shoes disintegrating from the mold. Thank goodness for the dehumidifiers in our closets, it's ingenious.  Heat + moisture + mask = terrible skin . The current state of my chin is akin to a teenager's break...

 We have now been in Singapore for two and a half months. We've moved from the quarantine hotel to a serviced apartment to our actual apartment, where we'll likely live for the duration of our time here.  The week before Christmas was hectic, juggling appointments and networking meetings with moving, organizing, and cleaning. We had to get an introduction to the new apartment because...well, it takes an introduction. There are so many switches in this place that I don't think I'll ever become acquainted with each one. This is the kitchen switchboard, to give you an idea: We have a thick, heavy black binder that contains the operating manuals for all of the appliances in the unit. There's also the building manual that comes with the do's and don'ts of the building, and detailed instructions on the proper way to clean various surfaces. I've come to the conclusion that luxury = complex, complicated to maintain, and hard to keep clean.  The appliances, thoug...

On a regular basis, I see signs here that, with my US English hat ever on, make me giggle.  The skeptical eyebrow that greets you in the elevator. The informative. The creepy. The ironic. And...those not meant to be dirty...but... That's all for now. More undoubtedly to come.