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By Sheryl
Abrams
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Monthly
facials and pedicures, twice a month manicures, a mid-week
movie night with my husband and a standing Saturday night
date with him whenever he happened not to be traveling, a
ladies night out at least twice a month, bridge during the
day - wow! Now that was living the good life.
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How sharply does my life
now, after nearly three years removed from the expatriate
scene, contrast to those good old days in Singapore?
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Let's
just say I should have listened to my friends who said I
would look back on my Singapore days as the good life.
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For those
of you not moving back this summer, relish every moment you
have left. It is truly a fairy tale life.
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Never
again will you have the disposable income and time to live
the way you do now.
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I arrived
in Singapore in April 1992 with my husband, four-year-old
daughter and seven-month-old son. I quickly adapted to the
lifestyle by hiring an amah and getting pregnant with my
third child.
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Within
one year, I was writing for the Bamboo Telegraph and running
two AWA playgroups. A year later I found myself heavily
involved with the American Association as third
vice-president and writing for this newspaper (Singapore
American).
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After six
and a half years, I had watched several rounds of friends
leave the island and thought I was ready to leave myself.
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The first
year back in the States, I was awed by the size of the
grocery stores and avoided them because the choices of, for
example, kids' cereal were simply too endless.
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I
complained about keeping house, a skill I had gladly
relinquished to my amah, and the laundry that consumed my
time.
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It has
taken much time to admit this, but I do believe I was bored
that first year back in the States. After all, in Singapore
I had countless volunteer opportunities, was stimulated
culturally and felt needed wherever I "worked."
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The
answer was simply to go back to work doing something that
made me feel needed. More importantly, it had to be doing
something I dearly loved.
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More.....
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Those were the days - Reflections of a former expatriate
