Be brave

Yesterday, when I was at the supermarket buying yet another 6 pack of green tea and beer, I met a lovely lady who had just arrived in Singapore. She has just been here a month and has a daughter younger than my son.

Anyway as women do, we got nattering. I think when you are in a new place you tend to forget some of you inhibitions and respond more favourably to new people. So chitter chatter we did outside the local mall. My son and her daughter were causing mischief, chasing a ball all over the place. I find people's reactions to Max being boisterous very interesting. I think that us westerners are a bit more chilled and do encourage our children to be kids, compared to the local community.

Am I getting side tracked again, at least it's not by food.............. Nearly lunchtime, what shall I have?

I actually had a point to today's blog, but it has totally escaped from my mind. No great feat.

Uh ha. We were talking about play groups and the need to socialise our children. She (for the want of a better label and no offense intended), said that she had put her daughter into one of the costly centers in the mall. She said that she found it a bit restrictive as she had to be with her daughter and also the way that it was run was very education focused. Flash cards etc for 18 month olds. Her daughter gets bored and gets up to explore after about 2 mins and the teachers are most distressed by this.

I talked about my son going to a local play group in an HDB near where we live. It really is the polar opposite of what she has for her daughter. It is loud and the kids are kids. You drop them off for two hours. Yes, they do do painting and my son is certainly learning his ABC's along with Mandarin, but it's not so strict. Also the children are a great mix of cultures and I like this. She was interested and I will be introducing her to the school.

The interesting thing is, that it depends who you meet in the first few weeks of being in Singapore that influences how you live here. I was fortunate enough to meet a wide cross section. Some people wouldn't consider putting their children in the local system and others do. But I had access to a lot of information that other people haven't bee introduced to. Like the HDB schools and the local health insurance.

So, if you are interested in finding out about local schools, head down to the closest HDB and wander around. You will find the schools or look for the associates office.

Check out this website for health insurance, local health insurance. I was completely daunted by the website, so I just phoned the number and someone came to visit me and talked me through it. It was easy.

Another place that I have found useful information is the community centers. Have a look at their website and trawl around to find the closest one to you and see what they have to offer. They have classes in yoga, line dancing etc. Here is their link Community Centres.

So, be brave and jump in boots and all. Go exploring and have fun.