Book of Three

 Tomorrow at this time, I'll be on a plane. Knock wood.

The past few weeks have been overwhelmed with lists and schedules and last things and must-not-forgets.  Y'all, logistics are not my strong suit.  I CAN be organized and often fake it for the sake of my family and friends, but chaos is my preferred medium.  It's been comforting to know that as long as I make it to the plane with both children and everyone's passports, we'll probably be ok, and it's kind of been a fun game to figure out what essential thing I'm going to forget and have to figure out how to buy in a new country while jet-lagged. 

Just so you know what I'm up to: we will have one 14-hour flight from here to Doha, Qatar, and then a three-hour layover before an 8-hour flight to Singapore, where the sun will be just coming up as we arrive on Wednesday morning.  At which point I screw my courage to the sticking place and try to keep my kids awake and relatively sane for twelve hours to reset their Circadian rhythms to their new home.  St. Jude, pray for us.

To keep you occupied while I'm in transit, and because I'd feel like a bit of a failure if I couldn't get at least one more post out before I leave the country, I thought I'd tell you a few things about Singapore that you might not know.  Please don't think that I think you're an idiot, or anything, and please don't be offended that I'm presuming most of my friends don't know a lot about my destination.  I am a terrible pedant by nature, I know, and you probably know; I've been an insufferable know-it-all my entire life.  Everyone has to have a besetting sin, that's one of mine, and you may rest assured that I'm doing my penance by raising two children who share the same trait and treat what they perceive as my congenital lack of knowledge with complete disdain. So I love to teach people stuff they probably already know, and you might have known all of this forever, or you may already have Wikipedia-d the heck out of Singapore, and now you can skip this part.  But if, like me, you found yourself under-educated about other countries, and perhaps, like me, you might have thought that perhaps Singapore was maybe part of China (true confession), here are some quick fun facts:

1. Singapore is a city/state.  So yes, Singapore is a city, but it's also the independently sovereign Republic of Singapore, rather than a part of another country. It has a president, not a mayor. As a super-dorky fan of ancient history, I'm completely enchanted by this tidbit; when times get tough I'm going to pretend I'm living in my favorite city-state, Sparta, and tell myself, "Come home with your shield or on it!" before setting out to try new things for the day.  If you're not sure what I'm talking about, go watch the movie 300.  If you're still not sure what I'm talking about, roll your eyes at me but be grateful you got to enjoy Michael Fassbender shirtless for a few hours.  In any case, city-states are the coolest.  

In population, Singapore is about the size of Houston with 5 1/2 million residents (larger than Houston's urban population, but smaller than the full metro area), but in size it's much smaller--I almost can't believe the Internet on this one: it says that Singapore is only 277 square miles.  Compare that to Houston's 1,600, or 10,000 for the metro area.  So I'm moving from a place where I can drive for an hour and not even leave the city to a place where if I were to drive for an hour I'd run into an ocean or a river.  Because Singapore is also an island.  Technically, it's 63 islands, I think, but there's one main island and a few supporting islands and then a bunch of wee ones. Yes, that means there are beaches, and water views, and all kinds of good stuff.  It's also the 3rd most densely populated city in the world, and lots of people live in high rises.  Despite that, I didn't find it lacking in natural beauty; many streets, even those lined with massive shopping malls or tall apartments, are shaded by lush trees, ornamented with tropical flowers, and alive with birdsong. 

2. Singapore is one degree North of the equator.  That means that while there is reportedly a rainy season that's different from the not-rainy season (I don't know about this part at all.  It sounds like it rains a lot, all year round. I'll keep you posted.), the temperatures don't really fluctuate much, ever, from day to day or throughout the day.  Highs in the upper eighties, lows in the upper seventies, 4000% humidity, ad infintum.  Though it's not objectively that hot, practically, it is.  When I was there, I was sweating than I have ever been in my entire life, and I have been to all-day music festivals in Mississippi in September.  Not even close. I've never known how to describe how summer feels in Houston; while it's definitely hot and humid, the real issue is the sun, which feels more direct somehow; sharp and dangerous.  The sun shines on you and you are aware that its radiance is, well, radiation, and it's totally cooking you as you stand.  In  Singapore the sun has the same quality, but to an even greater degree.  I'll be investing in hats.  

The sun also rises and sets at about the same time every day year round, which seems strange and kind of lovely. AND, in the most beautiful news ever, there's no daylight savings time, ever! So the misbegotten, foolish hellspawn that is "spring forward" and "fall back" can eat my shorts for the forseeable future.  I'll try not to gloat when the time comes, but I probably won't be able to help myself, so I kind of apologize in advance, but this IS pretty much the best thing to ever happen to me.

3. English is the first of four official languages; a huge chunk of the population speaks it.  All the signs are in English (and other languages, depending on where you are. The other official languages are Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil.  The kids will learn Mandarin as their second language in school, and I'll have the opportunity to take classes as well.  So it's easy to get around and generally conduct business in Singapore, at least theoretically.  And look, I think I'm a decent communicator; I used to teach really recent immigrants with very little English, and I had thought I was pretty good at understanding what others are trying to say and making myself heard, even without much of a common language. "Singlish" might be my kryptonite, however.  During my one quick visit last fall, I'm sure I got caught staring blankly at people over and over, as I was entirely unable to make out what they were saying to me.  Most Singaporeans are at least bilingual, and I felt slow and leaden-tongued being unable to even smile and nod when my own language was spoken to me. I'm going to blame jet lag for that for now and let you know how communicating goes when I get there.  

The breadth of languages spoken seems representative of one of the neatest things about Singapore--as my friend who is a native Singaporean put it, it's one of the most truly cosmopolitan cities in the world.  The population is richly diverse, culturally, economically, racially.  It's officially THE most religiously diverse place in the world, and the truly lovely part is there is a spirit of real tolerance; different groups respect and appreciate each other's differences.  The diversity gives rise not only to the use of a number of different languages, but also to a beautiful mix of different architectures, and an abundant an unique wealth of food, both native to various cultures and a mix of the best parts of each. Say a prayer or send me your good vibes for my journey, please, and I'll look forward to repaying you with stories of this richness of culture.