Law, Partially

There are advantages and disadvantages to marrying a foreigner. Chinese New Year brings to mind an advantage and disadvantage. Advantage: there is never any argument over whose family we will spend the most important holidays with: my family for Christmas and Thanksgiving, her family for Chinese New Year. Disadvantage: spending one of these holidays with the family is going to involve a very long trip. In fact, to spend Chinese New Year with Christine's family involves not just a trip to Singapore, but another trip to Malaysia as well. Never mind the difficulty and expense of travelling, however, because our 2018 trip to the former Straits Settlements was very enjoyable. In the kampung It is traditional that a Chinese family would spend Chinese New Year at the husband's parents' home. Christine's husband doesn't have any immediate Chinese family, and, besides, we already spent November and December with his family. Christine grew up spending the holiday wit...

I'm sorry, Singapore, and I am sorry grandparents, aunts, and uncles, but Christine and I have to take Bobby back to the U.S. at some point. But first, we shall spend five nights in Tokyo. Leaving Singapore on Thursday, exiting Tokyo on Tuesday, and overeating at all points in between. Thank you for your hospitality. We are excited to bring Bobby back next year for Chinese New Year. He will be taller, more chatty, and will hopefully no longer be so obsessed with rolling.

Visiting Singapore means for us a lot of visiting with friends and family. With less than one week left in country, time was running out to see everyone. We were going to need to eat a lot of food and take a lot of bus, subway, and Uber rides, but we were committed. On Saturday we went to a Chen family dinner party. On Sunday we ate dim sum in an old school restaurant with an old friend. On Monday I drank craft beer, talked to ang mohs (white people), ate curry, and still made it home in time to put Bobby to bed. Along the way, I engaged in one of my hobbies: spying traces of an older Singapore. Sometimes it's hard to find such artifacts because this island is always tearing down and building new. Chen party Christine's cousin, Justin, hosted us on Saturday for dinner. Justin and I are buddies because we both stayed at the Chen household back in 2011 and 2012. He was saving up some money before striking off on his own by staying with his mom's brother, Mr. Chen. I was s...

How great does five weeks in Singapore sound? So exciting, traveling to faraway lands, trying new foods, going new places, meeting new people. It does sound pretty good, and maybe someday we will go on such a five week adventure. Since we arrived on March 3 in Singapore, Christine has been working, and I've been sharing nanny duties with Bobby's grandparents. Christine's parents live in the suburbs, so when you exit the front door, it doesn't exactly look like this: view of downtown Singapore from offshore These three towers of Marina Bay Sands have become the most recognizable image of Singapore. Unfortunately, their image does a disservice to foreigners who may be curious about Singapore. Inside the towers are a luxury hotel, luxury restaurants, and a casino. It's really designed for super rich foreigners. Although I'm not a super rich foreigner, I could be there with a 45 minute train and bus ride. Alas, I am not likely to do that. There are a lot of ...