what expats don't miss....

I read an article on CNN about what expats like coming home to. I couldn't really relate to those things. I don't actually miss Taco Bell, even though I talk about it alot. However, this next part is SO TRUE!

It’s not so great to come home to:

Can we all agree to stop? This talking and dressing like Britney thing was tired 10 years ago.

Incessant U.S. marketing of stupid and unnecessary products.Smirnoff’s “fluffed marshmallow” flavored vodka. A $500 electronics cord.

Really? We’re supposed to be a superpower. The leader of the free world. This is what’s important?

Airport security at JFK: oh, never mind, we'll just go back to where we just came from.

Gargantuan food portions in restaurants, and hyper-close-up TV ads of gleaming, steaming food. We worship food to a degree approaching hysteria. No wonder only one in five Americans has a passport. We’re too busy eating to leave.

The fact that everyone in the United States speaks as if in a constant state of surprise. At least judging from our peculiar abuse of the language: “Wow, really?” “No way!” “You’re kidding, right?” “OMG!”

The unnecessary attention paid to our pets. In most countries, a dog is a canine companion, period. A descendant of the wolf, that guards the home. Or in some Asian countries, a tasty meal.

In the United States, dogs have their own memory-foam beds, preservative-free diet treats shaped like pork chops and anorexic celebrity owners who carry them in bags to fashion shows.

Airport security. You can travel between countries with ease. It’s cultured. It’s cosmopolitan. It’s happened for centuries.

But try to fly anywhere in the United States and everyone’s stopped and patted and stripped and scanned and interrogated like an insurgent with C4 suppositories.

i'm so connected right now

We finally got our iphones and have taken full advantage of all of the technology. I've signed up for twitter and instagram and have everything connected on here. The first thing O did was download a "fart" app on his phone which is definitely abuse of technology. I think it was too much, too soon for him.

Remember when I said I would try new beauty products and write about them... Well, here is a new one. I love love love this thing. It's totally overpriced and ridiculously expensive- just found out that it's twice the price here in Singapore. Can't believe I spent that much money on this thing, but I also can't remember what it was like to not have it. I just use Clean and Clear Self-foaming Cleanser and it works miracles. My skin gets so much cleaner and I've had hardly any acne at all since using it. I only use it once a day, but I think my skin is oily enough to use it twice. If you haven't tried it, you should.

Book Reviews

Just realized it's been a long time since I've shared some good books. We've been so busy lately that I haven't had much time to read, but when we are traveling that's the time I do most of my reading. Also, I still love my kindle- best invention ever.

This is a memoir by Mindy Kaling, the girl from The Office. She's pretty hilarious. Except these kinds of books make me jealous because I feel like I have just as funny stories and it makes me want to write a book. Maybe one day.... we'll just stick to blogging for now.
I knew this book was going to be terrible, but the depth of terribleness was really shocking. I would recommend this for a 12 year old girl with insecurity issues. She would love this. I still love Lauren Conrad's style, just not her writing. Oh, and it was totally based on her time on The Hills. Some parts were changed, but others were very obvious.
This book is amazing. It's Anthony Kiedis' memoir. In case you haven't noticed, that's my favorite type of book. He has lived a ridiculously interesting life and it's a miracle that he is still alive. He's the lead singer from Red Hot Chili Peppers.
This book is written by Dave Eggers, but the story is of a guy who was a Lost Boy of Sudan. It's technically a work of fiction, only because there are parts of the his life that he couldn't possibly remember in such great detail. Dave Eggers does an amazing job telling this man's story. This is not for the weak of heart, but such an experience. It's good to read about the afflictions of others to truly appreciate what you have yourself.
This is Dave Eggers' personal memoir. Both of his parents died when he was 22 and he had to then raise his 11 year old brother. Well written and almost rambling at points, but a good read.
I wasn't that interested in Cleopatra until I started reading this book. Amazing. She went through quite a bit in her life. This book is very well written and incredibly fascinating. I don't usually like nonfiction, but this is worth a read.

One of the best days of the year is when we get the school calendar for next year..... I love planning our vacations! I always think that we'll have more breaks than we know what to do with, but that's never the case.

Here's a rough draft of our travel plans (and some google images of each):

9 days in October- back to Burma- hitting the beaches this time

5 days in November- Kota Kinabalu- diving and/or climbing the mountain

3 1/2 weeks in Dec/Jan- a few ideas for this one:

choice #1 Chang Mai & Laos

choice #2 Southern India

choice #3 Nepal- this is not the ideal time to go, but after talking to a friend who trekked through Nepal at the same time of year, it makes me really want to go!

Chinese New Year- 1 week- Boracay, Philippines- can't wait to go back here!

Spring Break- little islands off of Cambodia or Vietnam

engagement photo session? gag.

As part of our photography package for our wedding, there was a mention of an engagement session. No offense if this is your thing, but gag. Really? Let's get some pictures of us trying to look at cute and cuddly in some random location we've never been before. Now let's have a prom pose and possibly spell out "true love" with some block letters. Now let's change outfits so it'll look like it's more than 1 hour of our time. Gaze into the distance, yep, got that one. Now kiss her on the cheek. Yes, now face each other and but look off into the distance as if you're thinking of how much you love him. Oh, wait I forgot the one where we are holding hands facing each other. Or maybe just a picture of our shoes- just the knees down. Ok, so it's not my thing. You end up with an assortment of pictures like this. Like EVERYONE else's engagement session. It seems very forced and contrived.

HOWEVER, instead of an engagement session..... my friend, Jamie had an great idea. I've asked our photographer, the amazing Dia Rao, to come to the wine tour with us the day before the wedding. How fun is this going to be?! She wants to get a photojournalistic set of pictures of all our friends and family at each winery. I'm so excited about this. Most of these friends/family are ones who we rarely see and it will be so awesome to get even more pictures of everyone in a casual/fun setting.

angkor waaat?

Cambodia was just as awesome as last year. It's one of those places that I can see us going back to every year. The temples are just as amazing as the first time you see them. This time we went with a group of 17. Six of us stayed in the same hotel and everyone else stayed down the road. It was fun to just walk around keep running into friends. There's already talk of going back in May....

I think this temple is Angkor Thom.

This is a random pic of us on Pub Street. We all got those cheap RayBans and wore them the entire night refusing to take the sticker off. I don't know why I'm making that face. This was at the bar called Angkor What? Loved it, such a good time with so many friends.

I love the carvings and the attention to detail. I would love to see what it looked like when it was new.

This is Angkor Wat, the biggest and most famous.

I think I blogged earlier about my friend's charity that she's set up to help fund an orphanage outside of Siem Reap. We went there and delivered the clothing and food that was given from Singapore.

Here is a picture of their classroom. Volunteers come and teach the kids English.

We went to the local market to get some food and shampoo for them. I can't really handle any kind of meat market, but this was especially smelly with the heat. Yeah, it's a pig's face.

It was early morning so it wasn't a busy as it usually is.

We got a variety balls for the kids and they loved them. Every kid was playing with his/her own ball. Apparently, my friends who went back the next day said not a single ball was in sight. I wondered how long they would last.

Pub Street is one of my favorite parts of Cambodia. There was this guy who jumps through a circle of knives and fire each day around 1:00pm. We watched him each day.

Should I attempt this?

the last ones....

FPD # 21 a fave photo of you- I think I love this picture so much because I just remember how awesome this place was. We were in Hvar, Croatia and it was just so beautiful and such an amazing holiday. I can't wait to go back some day.

FPD # 28 money- Cambodia has got to be the cheapest country in the world that is set up for tourism. There were 6 of us having a few cocktails before dinner. The guys had several Canadian Clubs and I had a few beers. The mixed drinks were $2 each AND buy one get one free! This was our total bill. The best part.... free popcorn.

FPD #27 something you ate- I ate a lot of these in Cambodia over the weekend. The peanut sauce was amazing.

FPD # 15 phone- We have tried to get an iphone since Christmas. Every Saturday they get new ones in, and by the afternoon they are sold out! Seriously, every Saturday. It's the most insane thing I've ever heard. So this is a picture of the phone I want and will someday have. Inshallah.

FPD # 29 something you're listening to- We had some friends in town last week who were equally obsessed with the Zac Brown Band. I'm really sad that we won't be able to make it to one of their concerts this summer when we are in the States.

more foto.

FPD #26 night- I love downtown at night. This is a picture from the Shakira concert. I really like Singapore's skyline in the background of this park. It's such a big city, but never really feels that crowded. It's an amazingly well planned city to have parks everywhere.

It cools down a little and it's great to just walk along the river. There are some pretty amazing buildings that are all lit up at night.

FPD # 25 green- Everything in Singapore is very green. It rains at least 10 minutes every day so there's so many plants, flowers, and trees everywhere. This is probably why I fell in love with this city after coming from Cairo which was completely covered in dirt. This pic is from MacRitchie park which is about a 15 minute walk away.

FPD# 18 Drink- Not exactly a drink, but what I will be drinking a lot of in the next 3 months! I've got this idea to use wine corks as the place cards at the wedding. As you can see, I already made one- the only card I could find was our realtor. I've got about 30 good corks, but I think I'm going to need about 30 more... anyone for a wine night?