Do We Have a Mop?

You know you're starting to live the ex-pat life when you say to your partner as the air conditioning leaks on the floor, "Do we have a mop?"  And his response is laughter (and his advice was to use this as my next blog title).

So I admit that we have a maid (and, yes, I forgot we had a mop!).  Of course, many of my friends from home also have house cleaners, so it's not unusual.  But having a 'maid' or a 'nanny' or both is completely commonplace here in Singapore.  Many expats travel with their nanny in tow.

I have other strange (for me) new behaviours too.  I have wiped ants away from a piece of cake and ate the cake anyway.  Well... it was chocolate cake!  Ants have become my friends... the little tiny ones.  You just shoo them away and carry on (we have ant traps too).  And every now and again I naturally say 'lah' at the end of a sentence.  It's similar to the Canadian 'eh'.  I also think my feet have expanded due to wearing flip flops 99% of the time... maybe being 6+ months pregnant has something to do with that too.

One of phrases I've started to become accustomed to is, "Have you had your lunch?"  The first time I heard it was on my way into the bathroom at work.  Auntie (the cleaner) was sitting on the stairs and she said, "Have you had your lunch?"  I was confused... didn't know why she was asking... and I responded with, "Ummm... no, not yet." *confused smile*  I've heard this a few times since.  One of our security staff asked me a couple of days ago as I left our condo facility, "Have you had your lunch already, lah?"  And I smiled confidently and said, "Yes, see you later."  This question is used as we use, "Hello, how are you?"

Now, this does not mean I understand Singlish.  I still struggle with it quite a bit actually.  But I'm learning to use as few words as possible... take out prepositions and such... only use the absolutely necessary words to get your point across.  I was out for dinner with friends last weekend and we had this same discussion (they, of course, were drinking margaritas and I was drinking water)... however, they are much more advanced than me in their Singlish skills - they've lived here for around three years.

Being an expat also means you have to have a pass to be here, of course.  I had a Long Term Visit Pass and then an Employment Pass.  Now that my Employment Pass has expired (due to the end of my contract), I have a 30-day Short Term Visit Pass.  This means I either have to acquire a Long Term Visit Pass or leave the country every 14 days via road or 30 days via plane.  In trying to get my Long Term Visit Pass, it turns out I'm not really eligible for one... not sure how I got one last time!  Anyway, I'm working on it - I don't really want to have to leave Singapore a day or two after my baby is born.  I need a mop to clean this little mess up, lah.

Before that, though, we have my daughter's drama production and trip to India.  Trip to India.  Yep, another great advantage of living here.  We also saw Justin Bieber last night - he not only sings, you know... he can play the drums, play the guitar, woo the teenage girls, and dance.  I wonder does he have a mop?  Anyway, it was another great show we had the opportunity to see in Singapore.