Ten Things We'll Miss

With less than a month left before Bryan heads back to the States for good (I follow soon after), I thought now would be a good time to share some of the things we'll miss about living in Singapore:

1) Our friends. We've made great friends here. Sometimes the friendships you form when you're far away from your family can be especially strong. We'll miss you, Brian, Andrea, Jayasri, Claire, Tei, Tomi, Assad, Jim, Nancy, Martin, Hen, Mara, Garrett, Sean, Laura, Swati, Gaurav, Eliza, Michael, David, Sarah, Amina, etc., etc., etc.

2) The monkeys. Don't laugh, it's true. I've spent so much time with them over the past few years that it's hard for me to imagine not being around them. It'll be strange to have to go to a major effort to see monkeys in the wild.

It's hard to have a bad day when you're hanging around these comedians

3) I know I've complained about the food on occasion - some of it is seriously weird, and I've gotten sick from food more here than anywhere else I've ever lived, for sure. But there are definitely foods we'll miss. I'll miss iced Milo, pandan chiffon cake, curry puffs, vegetarian kway teow, popiah, masala dosai, Chinese New Year cookies, kaya waffles, and Hello Panda crackers. Bryan will miss chicken tikka, satay, Thai green curry, and laksa. We'll both miss readily available, cheap, insanely delicious Indian food, 100 Plus, and more.

4) Building on #3, Bryan and I will miss our favorite restaurants. Singapore is nothing if not overflowing with eating establishments.We'll miss lots of them - from the vegetarian stalls (especially the one in Canteen B at NTU!!) to the fancy places (Original Sin being my top choice for special occasions). Al-Ameen, Anjappar, Spizza, Brewerkz, Jaggi's in Little India, Din Tai Fung, Marché, and even the little KJM Curry House right next to our apartment - we'll miss it all. Sure, we'll be glad to get American food back, but I'm sure it will only take us a few months before we start saying "Man, I could really go for some good dim sum right now."

Hangin' out at Brewerkz, one of our favorite restaurants

5) Our apartment. It's true that the place has its drawbacks, including being a bit far from the MRT, but it's been our home for the past three years. I'm looking forward to having an oven and a bathtub, but I'll miss the huge kitchen, the ample closet space, and the reminders of happy memories we've shared here.

6) The easily accessible nature. Despite being a big city, Singapore has awesome nature and it's easy to get to. Hop on a bus or the MRT and in no time you can be in the wetlands, the rainforest, at the  beach, in the mangroves, at a lake, a garden, and more. It's amazing. Bukit Timah and Sungei Buloh are favorites of ours, and will always have a special place in our hearts!

7) This goes hand-in-hand with #2 and #5 but it's a little different. We'll miss the wildlife. It's abundant and fascinating, Working on this blog has allowed me to develop some expertise in identifying Singaporean wildlife. I'll miss seeing the cool wildlife when we move away, but I'll also be sad that all the knowledge I've acquired won't be getting put to use any more.

At Chinese Garden, a 15-minute walk from our apartment

8) Singapore is one of the safest cities in the entire world, and I've felt a deep sense of security while we've been here. I'll miss feeling like I can walk down the street alone at 2 in the morning, confident that I'll be fine. I certainly won't feel that way in any American city - I mean, even since I've been here, someone in the US stole my credit card info and my brother's house in the US got robbed. It doesn't really make me feel all safe and secure.

9) Easy travel opportunities to exotic locations. I mean, you can hop on a ferry and be on the beach in Indonesia in an hour. You can get a cheap plane ticket and go to Phuket for the weekend. Wild orangutans, the ruins of an ancient civilization, stunning ocean views - all of it is a short plane ride away from here. We'll miss being able to take advantage of all that.

We'll miss doing stuff like this over long weekends!

10) Our jobs. Bryan and I are off to other opportunities, but we'll miss the jobs we've had here. Bryan has enjoyed his colleagues and his research at IHPC, and I've loved being a full-time monkey chaser!

Despite all this and more, Bryan and I are really looking forward to getting back all thing things we've missed over the past three years! I think it will be interesting in time to see whether I've done a good job of predicting what we'll miss - maybe I'll update everyone in a few months to let you all know if we're jonesing for something unexpected!

There's still time to vote for us in the 2012 Singapore Blog Awards!! You can vote once a day until June 30th!