Eve of New Year's Eve

Progress... maybe?

We rented a storage space at U-haul today and put some of the stuff we had packed away in there.

If I am judging correctly, we are about 60-70% done with the packing. The remaining 30-40% is possibly the most difficult part though. It's the stuff that we (more so me, than Jessica) will be using in the next 3 weeks before I leave. It can't really be packed away right now, but we might need them in Singapore. Most of the large items are gone. They have either been sold or given away to friends or donated to Salvation Army/Goodwill.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Tomorrow will be rather low key. We will be ushering in the new year (literally and figuratively) at a friend's place in San Ramon. It's not a big party or anything like that, but, I have never been big on New Year's Eve and Jessica has repeatedly clamored to go to Time's Square to watch the "ball drop". You really do not want to hear my comments about that.












Jas arrived yesterday to hang out with me for possibly the last time in the US. Poor him, had to help us move stuff to the U-haul storage today.

We are about to go for dinner....

Another day, another day closer to leaving, another day of packing...

FIRST DAY

I decided to start a blog to share my experiences in the journey we are about to take. I have lived in the US for the last 18 yrs. I have never really given much thought about moving home (back to Singapore). My feelings have always been, if there is a need to, I will, if not, I am comfortable here and will just stay on here. In Nov, Jessica and I got married after dating for 5 years. We discussed the issue of moving back, and again, it was a conversation that went along the lines of my thoughts, meaning, there was no urgency to move back right now, but if/when the need arises, we would. The conversation kind of left off there.

Monday, Dec 3, 2007

Jessica calls me at work and tells me that her boss just offered her a project that would require her to be go to Singapore for 3 months, maybe more.We get home from work and discuss the opportunity presented to her. It is a great opportunity for her, both for work and also to spend time in Singapore, all expenses paid. It gets me thinking a little bit harder, however, we just barely got back from a 3 week vacation to Honolulu and Singapore and we got married twice and had a wedding dinner banquet. It was all happening too fast.

My initial thoughts were: Jessica will go back to Singapore for 3 months, I might go back once to visit while she is there and hopefully her company would pay for it, and I will stay here and look after the huge black dog we have.





However, the thinking goes on for a few days....








The weekend of Dec 15/16, 2007

The thinking has kind of ground to a halt. I think that if we were to move back to Singapore 5 yrs from now or longer than that, I might actually have a harder time looking for a job. And therefore, I felt that we should take this opportunity and see if I can find employment in Singapore while Jessica has work and most expenses paid for. We start the process to move back to Singapore going.

Saturday, Dec 22, 2007

I guess the decision has been made. I draft an e-mail for Jessica to send out. It is a farewell e-mail to all our friends and some people whom we would consider our family away from home. Within 10 minutes of sending out the e-mail, I get my first phone call. Many people who know me for a long time are disbelieving about the news. It is news that has come quite suddenly. I try to make them see the reasoning, but I believe, I am making myself try to see the reasoning too.

Today, Dec 27, 2007

We have celebrated Christmas here in the US for possibly the last time in a long time. It is beginning to sink in that we are going to pack up and leave this country, a country where I have spent most of my adult life. There is some excitement, but with it comes some apprehension and some fear, the fear of an unpredictable road lying ahead. We have spent the last few days lazing around, taking a break from selling stuff and packing.
I have been planning on setting up a blog for some time. I have another huge issue to write about that will probably make me and my blog famous, however, I thought I would start with this blog, it will give everyone an insight to our moving experiences as well as our experiences in Singapore. It will give the people here in the US some sort of communication with us in Singapore and I personally believe, it will be some kind of therapy for me... an outlet to vent!!!
I might have to vent... this is an e-mail that a friend from Singapore wrote after finding out we were moving back:

"I hope you remember that its never below 23C here (that’s 70F for you Americanos), always above 90% in humidity, you can’t drive more for more than 45 mins in a straight line without dropping into the sea, you can buy a house there for the cost of a car here…"

Anyway, all the above were written today, Dec 27, 2007. I will try to be diligent in writing, even a little, everyday, especially when we get back to Singapore.