This time last year

Do you remember what you were doing this time last year? As I sat down to write something for the blog this week, I realised this is Post no. 50 since we started EveryChusday. It’s been nearly a year since we arrived in Singapore, and Facebook nostalgically reminded me that this time last year… we were packing up our Edinburgh lives.

It feels like an age has passed since then; but I remember it like yesterday.

I remember desperately hoping for sunshine on our last few weekends so we could try to cram in visits to all our favourite places one last time…East Links, Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh, Jupiter Artland…

One last strawberry-pick at Cairnie Fruit Farm.

One last picnic at Alnwick Castle (We really miss picnics! It’s too hot and humid and there are too many bugs here for a good picnic.)

I remember our last trip up Arthur’s Seat; we had a lovely walk around but Little Miss had eaten too many berries earlier…and promptly threw up all over our car just before we were due to hand it over to its new owner.

I remember photographing Edinburgh all over again. Princes St. The Castle. Carlton Hill. The Meadows. I photographed mundane everyday stuff, like our bathroom. I photographed the girls’ craft projects that had accumulated in every nook and cranny around the flat.

I remember clearing out our flat. Trying to decide on the value of Every. Single. Thing.

I remember taking half of our possessions to the charity store and selling the other half on Gumtree, and somehow still having a hundred boxes worth of stuff to pack for the shipping company.

The kids played in cardboard boxes for weeks. Daddy Chu sometimes slept in them after the sofa had been sold off.

I remember the kids coming back from school one day and looking round forlornly and wordlessly at their packed up bedroom.

So many good-lucks, good-byes, and farewells…usually rephrased as “we’ll back to visit before you know it!” (and hopefully we will!)

I remember lying awake in the night during our last week; wondering, worrying.

I remember that it rained the day we left.

It’s hard to believe nearly a year has passed; I wish I could reach back in time to myself a year ago just to say “It all turned out just fine, you know.”

And really, it has. Things have fallen into place for us here. It’s probably a testament to how smooth our transition into Singapore life has been that I’ve managed to keep blogging week in and week out throughout this time without being sidetracked by any major hiccups. We certainly don’t feel established here yet, but we’ve started to put down little roots through our everyday routines and weekly rhythms. I guess, it’s beginning to feel a little bit like home.

PS. Having said all that… this week, we are almost all down with our first major bout of flu here! So I’m going to take a little blogging break over the school holidays; we may post something now and again but I just checked my calendar and apparently there are no Chusdays in June! So see you in a few weeks ?. Thanks for reading!