Ryan and I are finally back in Singapore. I had to take off my All Blacks beanie because of the heat as we walked to the car park at Changi Airport on a Sunday night. It was 29 degrees Celsius, a cool temperature by Singapore standards but still a far cry from the cooler weather we experienced for two weeks in New Zealand.
When we left Auckland, the weather started to warm, the beginnings of spring. We could walk around without our sweaters on the last day we were there. Very pleasant, especially when we had the BBQ at Cornwall Park with Charles and Jane, cooking freshly bought fish, cockles and crab from Auckland Fish Market.
Mom and the wife were at the airport waiting for us. It is a family ritual, picking each other up at the airport. You know you are home when you see familiar faces waiting for you at the Arrival hall.
"Stop pushing the luggage trolley and give your wife a hug lah, hahaha!" laughed my mother.
The wife looked a little awkward at the attention in such a public place like the airport but she had a small smile on her face.
After dropping Ryan off, we drove home and stopped at the Punggol Nasi Lemak place along Upper Serangoon Road so that I could have a bowl of Bak Chor Mee. Yes, my first meal in Singapore after 18 days was minced pork noodles. I gave the liver to my mom.
Isaac was already asleep when I got home, but Joy was still up. She sat at the edge of the big bed she shared with the maid, her legs dangling, and pointed to her brother in the dark, saying "Gor gor. Sleep."
I rubbed my face in her tummy, making her giggle.
Then she pointed at Faith, her older sister, and said, "Cheh cheh." Faith was busy climbing down the other maid's bed like a little Spider-girl.
"Cheh cheh" made it to the ground, and ran towards me, making a whimper of protest before running towards my bedroom. She was determined to sleep with her mommy and me.
Faith curled up next to me and slept very quickly. The wife and I went back to the living room and watched a little tv together, while she surveyed the presents I brought back for the kids and her.
She told me what the kids were up to during the last two days; Faith went for her cranial osteopathy with my mom and did not cry or struggle, something that never happened whenever I took her. Must be Grandma's firm manner. And Isaac went to watch Ratatouille with his cousins and uncle (or "Ra Ta Too Yee" as Isaac called it when he told me in the morning).
We discussed the CPF annuity fracas a little and then my jetlag kicked in, so we retired for the evening.
We adjusted Faith a little on the bed so I would have some room to sleep. She was like a little shrimp curled up on our bed, snoring. A shrimp with a wicked kick that activates at various times in the night.
