Lake Wobegon Days by venitha

It may have been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, but it was a busy one in Singapore:

• I learned to cook chole [pictured] and palak paneer. Thank you, Deepali! Mmmm... chole.
• I ran a 10k every morning. This was still insufficient to burn off all the chole I ate. Mmmm... chole. Ugh... sweat.
  
• I had my first hypnosis session. I was either in a hypnotic trance, or I slept. Regardless, I have a strange new appreciation for the color red but not that much of an appreciation, because...
  
• I painted the apartment blue. Why do paint colors in Singapore have the same foofy names they have in the US? No laksa (yellow-orange), no frangipani (pink), and most disappointing of all, no kiasu (green).
  
• We hosted a small roof-top games night, where we taught our friends Sheepshead, a psychotic German card game, and learned 42, a great Texan dominoes game. Yes, we're still in Singapore, Toto. Next up: Mah Jongg!
  
• We hosted a roof-top supper party for Jim's work group. One of Jim's co-workers chose the food, which included pizza... with corn on it. That's just not right.
• I discovered and danced with abandon to this apartment's theme song, The Nylons' Up The Ladder to the Roof.
  
• I napped extravagantly. I don't know how Jim made it through work this week unless he caught catnaps every time they strayed off into Mandarin on his conference calls.
  
• We had our first Mandarin class. So much for Jim's nap time. And mine. Methinks we're going to have to study.
  
• I did not kill anyone, including myself or Jim, during many early morning phone calls to the US to resolve insurance issues. Is United Healthcare criminal, merely inept, or performing a psychological experiment on me to determine how much I can take before I go postal? Good thing I painted the apartment such a soothing color.
  
• I planned a tour of the Yakult factory. According to their advertisements, Yakult will keep me healthy so I don't need those accursed insurance people; according to my friend Rohit, the tour is quite nice.
  
• I hired a new part-time maid. Americans are now thinking I am hideously lame to have a maid when I'm unemployed, and Singaporeans are now thinking I am hideously lame for not having a live-in maid.
  
• I made plans for Bali, glorious Bali! Maid or no, I definitely need a vacation after this week.
  

Just as I finished proudly patting myself on the back for all of my achievements this week, Sonja, Timo, and big sister Anaïs went and leapfrogged me. Welcome to world, baby boy Kiran!

venitha