Life

Time is flying by!!  I blink and it's already Friday.  I've always heard that time goes by faster, the older you get.  OH MY, how this is so true!!  I feel like I'm definitely settled into my life in Singapore at this point.  I have my job, my friends, my routines, my weekends of relaxation and fun.  One moment it's the beginning of the month, the next minute it's already the last week of the month.  It's always a little bit scary when you realize this.  It makes you stop and think for a second, is my life going the direction I want it to, am I enjoying life for all it is, am I making the most of my time here?  I am definitely enjoying my life here and where it is right now. :)  I like the direction it could be going; but do we ever really know what direction it's going for sure?  We can plan all we want, but ultimately I think the universe puts us exactly where we are suppose to be in each moment.  And it's up to us to make the most of that moment no matter how big or small.   Sometimes I wonder about the last question.  Am I making the most of my time, is there more I can be doing, if so what else is it that I could be doing?  I think my plate is pretty full right now without overwhelming myself...I think right now I'm suppose to be the best chiropractor I can be and learn as much as possible while I am here, and enoy this country as much as possible while I am here!               

History Lesson

I am not sure if living in another culture has provoked this, but all of the sudden I'm really interested in my family history and where I come from.  I asked my mom about my birth story for the first time in my life at 28 years old.  Is this strange??  Is it abnormal that I've just went about my whole life not wondering about the day I was born??  Currently I am reading this book that my mom sent me for my birthday.  I've never been that interested in history.  I read the back of the book and was kind of like 'yawn', this is going to be booring.  BUT, since my mom sent it all the way to Singapore for my birthday, I figured I better give it a shot.  By chapter 2 or 3, I am fascinated with this book.  It transitions back and forth between the present time and World War II era.  The present time is about the story of this woman who is a history professor that was born during World War II in Germany.  Her mother has always been hush, hush about the past and would never speak of it.  I haven't gotten too far in the book yet, but I get the sense that the present day story is about this woman's journey to finding out about her past and where she came from.  The part of the book that takes place in World War II era, is about this woman's mother who lived during the war with her as a baby.  I look forward to lunchtime every day where I can go sit at one of my favorite lunch spots and read this book. :)

What have I learned so far?  My great grandmother came to the US from Ireland when she was just 16 years old with her sister.  This is something that inspired me the morning I was getting ready to leave for Singapore and was in freak-out mode and thinking, "What am I doing???"  My mom said, just think of your great grandmother coming over to Ireland in the late 1800s on a boat with nothing (well maybe a small suitcase??).  Her and her sister lived with a family that sponsored immigrants; they worked as a cook and a maid.  The rest of my great grandparents were born in America.  So I'm pretty pure blooded American. :-)  I'm pretty sure my last name is English, still waiting for confirmation on that.  To be cont....

Where do your parents, grandparents, or great grandparents come from? :)

Three months part 2

Some more tidbits and thoughts from the three month mark:

I like the simple life, uncluttered by stuff.

I still have no real sense of how long I will be here.  I hope that it will be for about 2 years or so, but deep down I don't feel like it's going to end up being that length of time.

I miss getting into my car, plugging in my mp3 player and taking a weekend road trip to visit a friend.

I'm a city girl at heart.  I sometimes think about what cities I would move to if I move back to the US at some point.

Being so far away makes all the "what's going on" news back home seem exaggerated.  I keep wondering did this much stuff always happen in 3 months time??

It's been 2 and half years since I've seen one of my bests from chiro school.  I miss you D!!     

I still love being a chiropractor.  I think about possibly going to teach at a chiropractic school one day because I also love the academia world also.  Chiropractic school is a journey that changed me forever and what an awesome thing it would be to be a part of the future generation of chiropractors' journey.

I still really enjoy living here. :) 

Three months

Tomorrow marks my three month anniversary of being in Singapore.  I feel like I've been here for much longer than that even though three months is not a long time; I think the longest I've gone without visiting home is about 4 months during chiropractic school.  What have I learned and what kind of thoughts are going on in my head now that I've been here the length of a 'summer'?

• I have a much greater appreciation for the asian culture than I ever imagined I would in my life.  I honestly was never even interested in Asia until I got the job here.  European countries have always been my primary fascination of places overseas.  So it is well known that Americans are the worst when it comes to geography (I didn't even know where Singapore was when I found the job ad).  There's so many Asian countries you hear of but have no idea where they are.  Now I have a much greater understanding for Asian geography and where countries are and a brief understanding of the different cultures of many of these countries.  Asia will forever be a part of me now.
• I have a greater appreciation for my home country and the comforts of America.  At this point, I can't even imagine what it will be like to walk through the airport whenever I come back to visit and be among a crowd of American English speaking white people.  I have become used to being a minority here and am quite comfortable with it now.  It has been a tremendous growth experience getting me out of my comfort zone.  
• I know I talk slightly differently so that my patients and people around here can better understand me.  I am now probably speaking a mixture of Singlish, UK English, Australian English, European English all combined into one.  Whew!  Things that I've noticed I do when I talk: I raise my voice towards the end of my sentences when explaining things to patients.  I omit words from my sentences which probably stems from the Europeans whose second language is English.  I use contractions a lot less; I know this one definitely comes from being around my German roommate. I use words like "lovely" and "pleasant". :)
• I have become a much better chiropractor in just the three months that I've been here.  My boss is very knowledgeable, as she was a nurse in Austria before she moved to the US and went to chiro school.  She has taught me a lot clinically and also helped me become a much better adjuster as well.  I know that we are forever students and I will always be learning over the years, but I feel like there isn't too much I wouldn't be able to handle in the chiropractic setting.  
• I am getting to see yet another way to practice chiropractic.  I have been lucky to have been involved in 8 different practices over the last 13 years: as a patient for 13 years, a CA (chiropractic assistant) for 4 years during undergrad at two different offices, an intern for a trimester, a doctor at 4 different offices.  This doesn't even include observation days and interviews over the years.  If I ever choose to open my own office one day, I will have lots of ideas and tools to choose from! :)
• It is weird that I am so far away from home.  It's unfathomable at times how far away I really am.  The last couple months I was in Ohio, I took for granted how easy it would've been to drive 8-9 hours or less to see some friends I haven't seen in a year or two.  I wish I would've taken advantage of that opportunity...:-/      
• You really realize what the most important things to you in life are.  Everyone is driven by different things in life; whether it be climbing to the top of the corporate ladder, having a fulfilling career doing whatever it is that you like to do, raising a family and having lots of kids, running a race every year, visiting every state in the US, opening a business, whatever it may be.  Traveling and having new adventures drives me.  It makes me the happiest.  Developing good quality friendships with people I connect with fulfills me.  I have been blessed to find that this can happen no matter where I live.          

Day One

I had my friend change my facebook password yesterday in the event that I get tempted one day to sneak on there.  Today is the first full day of not being on there.  I am realizing how much time I really spent on there...especially to fill up boredom time at work.  I am not proud how attached to the site I was... Not having gone on there in the last 24 hours, I feel just a teensy bit less anxious today.  Again not proud, but it's crazy how much more free time I have because I am not on there all the time.  After moving here, I figured it will be a really good way to keep up with people and know what's going on back home.  But I am realizing that the people who really and truly matter in my life; well we will keep in contact via email and skype because we are actually friends and not facebook 'friends'.  Just to show you an example of this point:  I looked up August birthdays to make sure I remembered to email those who are important to me (sorry I don't remember when everyone's birthdays are...), I only came up with 4 people that I really and truly will be wishing happy birthday to over the next month and half.  I even had time to start reading Ukelele for beginners online this morning. :)  Next weekend I will try out my friends ukelele at his party to see if I enjoy it.  Why did I choose the Ukelele as my potential new hobby?  It's small, easily transportable, I learned a couple chords on the guitar before and enjoyed it so this will be similar to that, and you can get one for really cheap here. :-D    

How much time do you really spend on facebook?  What are the positives and negatives about facebook?

Facebook Fast

Facebook has taken over the world.  You can't go on any website without seeing the facebook symbol for you to "like" whatever page you are on.  It is the new source of world news, engagement annoucements, news of pregnancies, who's with who, and how much ppl either love or hate their life.  Once I became a professional I deleted a lot of pictures, simplified my profile, and only posted positive statuses, quotes or big news.  I think I've kept up with that pretty well (or at least I hope!) :) 

I admit that I spend a little way too much time on facebook.  I don't think it's mentally or emotionally healthy to be so consumed with it.  During my long run today I decided that I am going on a facebook fast.  I stayed off for a month, two summers ago and I know it won't be a problem staying off.  My fast is going to be until Sept 1st.  No reason why I chose September 1st; really just an arbitrary date.  Oh what will I do with all that free time?? :-P  Possibly learn to play the ukelele??  I just might..... :)          

This pink one is pretty sweet, lah??

Half Marathon

I am officially signed up for a half marathon Sunday Sept 4th and I am pumped! :)  (I know, I know...who gets excited about running 21K/13.1miles??)  I love the feeling when I cross that finish line....I'm pretty sure I had tears in my eyes last year when I crossed the Columbus half finish line.  You train for weeks and weeks, you have good runs and not-so-good runs, and the day finally comes.  You are excited, nervous, maybe even thinking 'what the h*ll did I get myself into??'  But you signed up, you trained, and now you're there at the start line.  You just have to go for it and do your best!  The adrenaline rush you feel and the excitement of the crowd gets you pumped up before the race starts and it is an amazing feeling.  Then when you cross the finish line, the sense of accomplishment is incredible.  Once I finish a half marathon, my legs are in quite a bit of pain and I usually think, 'I'm never doing that again'.  Then I take the winter off running, I get amnesia as to how much pain I felt after the race, then spring comes and I'm ready to run again.  By summertime, I'm ready to have something to work towards, and I end up signing up for another half.  So here I am again 9 months after my last half, and signed up and ready to go in September!

When I train, I am not hardcore and don't stick to a definite training plan.  For several reasons, a) I never stick exactly to the schedule, things come up and you have to change running days, etc b) I am not doing it for time c) You can't predict when you are going to have good running days and bad running days so I would rather just go with the flow, and finally d) It takes all the fun out of running if I know I have to do exactly this on this day and so on.  My basic goal this training season is to run 3-5 miles 2-3 times a week, then a long run on the weekends, adding more mileage each weekend as I get closer to the race.  A patient told me about this place called the MacRitchie reservoir that has a loop that is 12k around that I plan to check out this weekend when I go for a long run.  I know the MacRitchie reservoir has monkeys too! :) :)     

Have a nice weekend readers! :)