Monday, November 8, 2010

November Catch Up

Hello dear friends- I wish I could say that I have not been posting because life has been so exciting, we simply haven't had time to tell you all the stories... but alas, that is not the case. Life has been a little busy, but really we have been pretty lazy and blogging didn't make the priority list. Sorry to anyone who actually reads this =).

Dave and I finished up October with a 48 hour printer session, together. While we have been working together on the same transaction for the whole time we have been here, we rarely have had to actually face each other. But that all changed when we got to spend some very quality time together at the printers getting the IPO off the ground. This sounds warped, but despite being exhausting and frustrating, it was nice to spend two solid days (and nights) with my husband- it certainly made the whole ordeal easier.

After that little adventure, I got up on Sunday morning at 5:00am to run my 2nd 10k race. I kindly let my tired husband sleep in and only requested he meet me at the finish line. This was the Great Eastern Women's 10K and I was excited to see what running an all women's race was like.
Sweet bib. It was fun to see everyone's names while they were running. 
Woo hoo 5am. Man I wish these races were at night!

Dave thought the woman in the pink tank top above might be me. 
I am flattered. But unfort I only run 10K in 49 minutes in my dreams. 

Here I am- a much slower white woman in a pink tank top. 
I eschewed the race tank partially because I thought it would help me stand out (and partially because it was Asian sized and only covered half my torso)- but it turns out pink was popular choice amongst the ex-pat runners.

The real time- 1.19.42. 

So as the evidence above indicates, I am not a fast runner. What is interesting about this time is that this race was MUCH harder than the one the week before but I finished in virtually the same time. I think this race was harder partially because I had just come off of the work marathon and hadn't had such great training, sleep or nutrition for the week before, and also because the route was primarily in direct sunlight and it was a hot hot hot day. The previous race had been more shady and the haze conditions also blocked out a lot of the bright sun, which although probably not great for my lungs, certainly helped with the heat. Anyways, this race was tough. And I ended up walking a lot more than I wanted to at the end- starting at about 7K to 9K- I was just beat and had to employ a run-walk-run method to push through. I don't wear a watch when I run but I assumed I was moving at a snails pace. Imagine my surprise when the clock came in to view and my time was virtually the same! I think the first race I lost a lot of time in crowding and lines and waiting at water stations, and this time I lost the same amount of time in my shameful walking. Oh well. I still had a good time- got my finisher medal, and went home to nap it off. I am feeling positive about the 1/2 Marathon in December. The route is super cool and I am hoping to step up my training in the coming weeks to get ready. 

In addition to my little race Dave and I took advantage of free tickets from my employer and went to see the national basketball team, the Singapore Slingers. Scoff all you want. Sure some of these guys are 5'1'' and the rest of rode the bench at unknown D1 schools- but they have skills- and in a sports deprived country like Singapore, we are hardly in a position to be choosy about our live sport options. 
The massive Singapore Indoor Stadium. I think its bigger than Cameron Indoor, but probably only by a little. 

But, there were cheerleaders. 
Although they were rhythmically challenged and their routine reminded me of the "we are not very talented but we think we are hot" slutty routines that my HS dance team put on. Let's just say they were not the highlight. 

You may not be able to tell, but the man in yellow is like 5'2''- ok, maybe 5'5'' tops. 

And a super fan was created. 




The cheerleaders did however prove to be entertaining in their repeated failed attempts at slingshotting teeshirts in to the crowd. 
Seriously, these girls need help. 

Dave got this guy's jersey. He was relieve to realize he is actually good. Wouldn't want to be wearing the jersey of a bad Singapore basketball team player... =) 

OK- I joke, I joke- but really, we had a great time. It's really nice to break away from our some what boring routines and do something unusual. And going to see South East Asian Basketball League games is certainly unusual. But the fans were fun- lots of families and lots of ex-pat Dads with their young sons- trying to share the very rare experience of live sports in Singapore. The game was not boring- both teams were pretty good- and the absurdity of the experience made it that much more fun. Dave is hooked (or desperate for sports in his espn-free life) and we are thinking of going to another game before the end of the season. 

That's about where we are. We just had a three day weekend and I spent most of it sleeping and Dave spent most of it working. That arrangement suits me just fine.  I did however manage to get a 2nd degree burn on my face after a violent interaction with my microwave. After a lovely relaxing Bikram yoga class on Sunday I was microwaving a lovely vegetarian lunch only to open the microwave door and have boiling food hit me in the face and do rather painful damage to my cheek and chin. This caused immediate panic and my supportive husband was forced to leave work (he didn't mind too much) to come escort me to the ER to relieve my fears that I was going to die from my wounds. OK- I knew I wasn't going to perish, but it hurt A LOT and I was hoping they could prevent me from being a scarface for life. In good news, the ER in Singapore is not surprisingly a very orderly place and not a single of my companions in the waiting room seemed to be suffering from any more serious of an affliction than my nasty burn. The doctor did scoff a bit at the severity of my wound, but since he looked to be about 13 years old, I decided not to smack him upside the head for his lack of concern. I left with a little bandage to cover my owie and braved work today with my very pretty burn. My colleagues were mainly nice about it- although I did garner some unusual looks. I am frequently applying vitamin E to the area and am crossing my fingers for a full recovery. Apologies to my mom, who was the recipient of a sad sobbing phone call at midnight Colorado time from her 27 year old daughter who needed some advice on the treatment of burns and really just needed to talk to her Mommy. I felt bad about waking her up, but then I realized it was daylight savings time so she was going to get an extra hour of sleep and my conscience felt better about the international meltdown. Thanks Mom (and sorry!)

Nothing else to report- except that we are SUPER excited to come back to the USA for three weeks at Christmas and are very much looking forward to quality time with our friends and family! 

XO-E






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