Last few days flew by. The house is starting to look like a war room now with boxes lying around, cupboards emptied and massive bags of old documents to dispose of. It is in a way kind of sad. I love this house - it has done my family and I good to move here although the initial year was pretty traumatic because it was basically emptying out what little savings and earnings I had. I had sleepless nights worrying about paying off the mortgage, the difficulty with selling off the Pandan Valley apartment for financial relief and Carynn's hefty tuition fees. It really aged me a lot that year and for some time I regretted making the move. But I was always angry or upset in Pandan Valley, maybe because of the feng shui, maybe because the apartment was so cramped or maybe because Carynn started down a slippery slope in school and at home almost all the years we were in Pandan Valley and brought us along for a really scary tiring emotional roller-coaster ride. Moving to this house was like a new lease on life and although the kids complained at first about the distance, I believe they all eventually grew into the house. It is funny that way - the Chinese belief about yuan feng or, for lack of a better equivalent in English, affinity. It just harmonizes. I lose my cool a whole lot less and the kids seem better behaved. Nicole, for example, has turned around a fair bit from never doing her homework and driving teachers up the wall to trying her level best to better her grades and Brynn did well in her "O" levels. I think we also get along better now and they are less combative and even friendly to one another. Witness all the bloggings on "I love you chae nic bean ryan everybody and anybody etc etc" (kind of yukky at times - oops, watch out for the anti-mom tirade).
We went for the medical and got the results the very next day which was yesterday. All in excellent health except dad had to have a hepatitis B jab on the spot cos he had no immunity to it. Cholesterol count a bit on borderline too. Hee hee, he would not listen when I told him to watch what he ate at least for the couple of days before the exam. Curry chicken at Singapore Swimming Club is hard to resist, I know, but just abstaining for a while is not too much to ask, is it? Doctor is an American who has been practising in Singapore for 22 years! He tried to joke with us but I think we were a little too stiff. I go for annual medicals because the company says I must but this is the first time I have gone to this clinic. It is not as well equipped or sophisticated as Asia Medic or Shenton but doc is nice enough. Surprisingly, many of the clinics on the company panel does not do medicals for American visas. Mostly Australian visas.
I don't know if we are able to finish packing up by August 11. Seems like an unending chore. Poor Melody is the one doing a lot of the work, mostly without complaining. But she sometimes does not use common sense and would just pack even things of absolutely no use like Ryan's bundle of ice-cream sticks. She was afraid initially that we would leave her behind without a job, worried about how she was going to support her family and pay the children's medical bills. But she need not have. I would never leave her stranded. So we told her we were taking care of getting her a transfer and now she looks more cheerful again. She has been a good addition to our household although I wish often that she would speak properly in a normal voice instead of the high pitch squeaks. I wish I could bring her with us but we cannot. I shall miss having her around - it has been almost 5 years since she came to us.
Today is National Day. I started the day having a concall going through applicants for my current job and selecting candidates for interviews. A chapter of my life is about to close.
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