Tina's wanderings around the world

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.