Back in Sandals

Samara and I are back in Singapore. We've been here just over a week and are adjusting well. She's done better than ever adjusting to a new time so hopefully it lasts. It's actually really nice to be back. The first couple months we moved here last year were awful and something I hope to never do again (don't ever move oversees in suitcases and try to take care of housing yourselves!). It's so refreshing coming back to a settled home, routine, lovely friends, familiar places, and the beautiful grounds at our condo. They even asked us at both the zoo and turtle museum why we hadn't been there in so long, which made us feel very loved. Jan and Feb are a little less humid than the rest of the year so we are enjoying a couple pleasant hours in the mornings and evenings.

So many things have struck me as different coming over this time. I'm sure it's because when we first arrived last year we were so miserable that I didn't notice them. It was really weird coming from winter to summer though. We really live in the tropics--everything is so lush, green, clean, and beautiful here. A family friend from Utah who spent some time in Singapore asked if we'd notice how many more smells there are here. We hadn't really until we came back. There are so many more smells--both good and bad. Stuff just grows here, including smells!

Here is the summary of our trip back, mostly for our records. It will probably put the rest of you to sleep.

28: Total hours of travel time

23: Total hours in the air

6: Total hours Samara slept

423: Stickers placed

1: Items confiscated at security

9: Number of movies she and I watched

5: comments about our iMac box that was really only a box with food in it.

30: Minutes playing peak-a-boo with the masked girls behind us

53: Photos taken by said girls of Samara playing peak-a-boo with them

I can't say I was really looking forward to the flight back. The day before we left to come back I was getting my teeth cleaned and I overheard a woman was telling the receptionist about her flight back to Korea the next day. The receptionist asked how long her flight was and she said it was 12 hours from LA. Oh how I envied that woman! Only 12 hours from LA?! You can almost leave the portable DVD player home with that short of a flight! Samara really did well though. We successfully got our 3 boxes and suitcase checked in (thank you Mr. Skycap guy with the fabulous accent. I love you!). We bought a Krispy Kreme donut as our way of saying "goodbye" to good ol' America grub. Samara acted up a bit on the flight to LA (no complaints--I'll take the 1.5h flight for her to act up on!) We got to LA and rushed straight to our next plane. We only had a 50 minute layover and had to get to the other side of the airport. I was very relieved to make it on the leg to Japan because Ben had missed his flight and spent a night in LA.

When we got on we found out we had the middle two seats between two dudes in the middle row and I cried inside knowing what a pain it would be to get in and out of our seats. "Sparky 1" on right was a nice young kid. "Sparky 2" on the left was a mute (he could talk, just didn't) who was dressed to the nines, complete with hoodie, jacket, fedora, big dark sunglasses, prada bag, and his DSLR camera. He wore all that the entire flight. His camera was the same model I have and let me tell you that thing is heavy. My necks hurts after an hour of lugging it around. Why he wore it for 13 hours straight is beyond me. He slept the first 7 hours while we were awake so we had to wake him up every time we wanted to get out that side. He was awake the next 6 hours with the reading light shinning directly into Samara's sleeping face (once she fell asleep). I am still kicking myself that I didn't point out and politely ask him if he'd switch to the open seat across the aisle.

I was relieved to get to Japan. A 2-hour layover and only 8 more hours on the plane. It was about 1 AM our time at that point. Poor Samara politely asked if she was going to get another pink donut. I guess she equated airports with donuts. Anyway, she burst into tears when I tried to explain that they didn't have donuts in Japan (at least not in the airport). We took a potty break in the most luxurious family bathroom ever, complete with a bidet and dryer. My tooshie welcomed the pampering after sitting for so long. The one thing missing though was a way to dry our hands. Why this part of the world doesn't believe in hand dryers and paper towels is a mystery. We boarded the plane and once again found ourselves in the middle two seats in the middle row. Thank goodness one of the ladies moved. Having the extra room and being able to get in and out freely was almost like 1st class. The lady on the other side of us was perhaps the nicest woman in the world. The plane on this leg has TV monitors in all the seats so I let Samara have at it with the movies until she fell asleep again. I watched a couple movies, including "My Sister's Keeper" (I cried and cried). That show is a tear jerker.

We were so excited to be on the ground in Singapore. A quick trip through customs and we were at the baggage claim. We were very HAPPY to see Ben waiting on the other side of the glass. Samara ran as fast as she good with a smile bigger than Christmas morning. I passed her and the stroller with our carry-ons to Ben and went to get the rest of our stuff. The luggage carts don't cost anything in Singapore, which is awesome. I loaded two up and off we went with a very happy and surprised dad who didn't know it was possible for us to bring so much back home. Sadly, I consider making this flight on my top-ten list of accomplishments. I so would have failed as a pilgrim or pioneer. We got home about 2 am local time and slept a few hours. She and I fell back asleep at 11:30 am and I was out until 5 am the next day with the exception of getting up for a while to eat.

It really is much nicer being back than I expected. I'm so thankful for awesome friends! We doubt we are never going to live in such a diverse and interesting place again, so we really want to take advantage of our time in Singapore. Here's to 2010 and another year of adventures, Singapore style!