24 years ago yesterday we got married and a few days later we were leaving on our first expat posting in Buenos Aires, for what was supposed to be a +/- 24-month experience 😉
We are now celebrating our wedding anniversary and in a few days we will be moving back, as empty nester and coincidentally in the same neighborhood we lived when we left France.
I would highly recommend a personal assistant when you move around as much as we do. One who is highly organized and takes photos and notes of what is in each “cantine/trunk” is best.
Pro tip: Marry said personal assistant and you don’t have to pay them 😉
Day 2 of Operation: Decluttering 24 years of “Let’s pretend we don’t see those moving boxes on the corners” and “What were we thinking keeping all these things” boxes
After putting it off every summers because it was too hot and we don’t have time, we are here to relax… we chose probably the hottest days in decades to tackle the task.
Well we barely could set a foot in our house anymore so it was time.
Sunday Sound of Singapore – Doors are closing… Be happy happy
Sound on 🔈
I now know it doesn’t say Be Happy Happy but for the longest time I thought it did and that made me happy that I was wished a good day.
I now know it’s the Malay version of the English Mind the Gap. First in Chinese 請小心空隙 (qǐng xiǎoxīn kòngxì), then in Malay Berhati-hati di ruang platform (be careful at the platform area), and finally in Tamil (I had to do some research for that one!) தயவு செய்து தளம் மேடை இடைவெளியை கவனத்தில் கொள்ளவும் (Tayavu ceytu taḷam mēṭai iṭaiveḷiyai kavaṉattil koḷḷavum)
And the doors are closing… on my (last) Sunday Sound of Singapore.
~~Every city has its own color, smell, sound, and vibe. While I can share the colors through photography and sometime the vibe too, I thought I would try to share with you the sounds that are so specific to Singapore. ~~
Because moving back to your own country after living abroad for so long (24+ years of expat life in my case) is also an adventure.
Bring it on Paris, I’m ready.
Well the summer house in the French Alps first, then a bit of Switzerland for daughter’s graduation, then a bit of traveling in Ireland to visit the American in-law spending the summer and then the Netherlands for son’s university settling in but for sure Paris right after summer!
On a side note… if you plan to visit us, rather do it sooner than later, we don’t tend to stay put very long, even more so in France 😉
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~~~ Just a little FYI So for my last 200 days in Singapore I have decided to reblog, in no special order, a post from the 6 years I will have spent on the Little Red Dot. I have excluded pictures of our trips because I have already reposted them while we were stuck on our Little island during the past 2 years (& you can find them here!). PS: you will then get 2 posts a day!! ~~~
The first drive out of the airport.
Definitely not in Beijing anymore.
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18-Jun-2022: D-1 before departure
It seems like yesterday we were landing in Singapore 14 hours (and a good night sleep in the plane) after saying good bye to our summer house in France and start yet a new chapter in yet another country.
Initially it was for 2 years (so our daughter could complete HS and her IB diploma), we were hoping for 2 more years (which we did) and I got a 2 extra bonus years.
Singapore has been the country I have called home the longest since I left France in 1990!
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~~~Just a little FYI So for my last 200 days in Singapore I have decided to reblog, in no special order, a post from the 6 years I will have spent on the Little Red Dot. PS: you will then get 2 posts a day!!~~~
A Total TaiTai Tale 