Where We’ve Been

New Zealand: Auckland, Kumeu, Teraunga, Queenstown, Otago, etc., 15 days

China: Shanghai, 40 days

Singapore: 6 days

Highlights

An Amazing New Zealand Adventure: Honestly, New Zealand was everything we hoped for and more. We just adored exploring this plush country full of majestic visas, millions of baby lambs and consistently fantastic food and wine. Add in the special guest, my sister Alice who traveled all the way from Boston to be with us, and we were like three peas in a pod. The three of us kept track of our highs and lows every day, and our ultimate list of highs includes: exploring Milford Sound via boat, the day we went on a *failed* wine walk around Central Otago, but found the most charming winery anyway, and zip-lining through the woods of the South Island. New Zealand deserves that spot on your bucket list and you should do everything in your power to make it happen. It’s lovely.

Friends Around the World: One upside to moving frequently is that we gather friends around the world. While we haven’t spent much time in Singapore over the years, we already have multiple friends from other locations who have moved here, too. And, since the news came out about our relocation, several other people have been in contact that they too are considering a move to the tropic oasis of Singapore. By early next year, we should have four or five different families/couples here that we know from other places.

Lowlights

Leaving China: While I believe this is ultimately a good move for us, it was so hard to leave China. We have many friends and we’ve worked hard to build a community there. From our regular Tuesday trivia nights to our similarly regular weekend BBQs on our friends’ back patio, it will take a while to build up a similar home here. Plus, now we have one more place we need to visit regularly in order to keep in close touch with all of the people we left. It’s bittersweet and important for us to acknowledge that we’re both happy and sad about this.

Perpetual Summer: Ok, I get that for many, the idea of a perpetual summer is a definite highlight but it is hard to adjust my Thanksgiving-ready body back to shorts and tank tops. I thought we left those sweat-through-our-clothes days back in Shenzhen, but here we are, avoiding the mid-day sun, emerging only at night, and milking that air con for all it’s worth.

What We’re Loving Lately

Fab TV: We have wrapped up the recent seasons of some of our favorite shows – The Great British Bake-Off (Baking Show), Succession, Schitt’s Creek, and The Righteous Gemstones. We’re also loving the new season of Silicon Valley and The Good Place, feel-good shows that make us laugh.

VPN Free: It’s true! Leaving China allowed us to leave that VPN life in the past. Now, when we turn on our phones, we can go directly to any app or website we choose with only one click! This saves us like three clicks, which in internet time, is practically an eternity. And, actually, we do still use our VPN because now we’re so used to being able to access any TV show from around the world, it’s hard to subject ourselves to the licenses of just one country. (Did you know that Netflix has a different offering for each country around the world? A VPN helps us get around this irritation.)

Podcasts: Ever the loyal podcast listeners, lately I’ve been enjoying Dolly Parton’s America (hosted by Radiolab guru, Jad Abumrad), and Office Ladies, hosted by Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer. The latter has me re-watching The Office along with the ladies as they recap each episode in detail. Such fun.

Coming Up Next

We’re staying put in Singapore for the rest of the year. Well, we will probably find at least one long weekend in there to hop over to Malaysia or Indonesia but we’ll be here settling in, furnishing a new apartment and adjusting to the heat. If you’re in the neighborhood, look us up. We’d love to connect!