Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood...

Family,

And a good evening to you from across the globe after another GREAT DAY in the Lion City. The Bull and Striker are back from their 5 days in Borneo, and there is only one word to describe the experience - PAIN. Oh, so much pain....that, however, will have to keep until next week. And yes, I realize that Team Taylor also owes you the wrap on Taiwan. I can assure you that, beginning next week, I will start buzzing through a Herculean rally of posts that will get us back to even. However, given all the travels and all the events that have consumed our evenings as of late, that's just not been possible. But don't worry - I can promise you that these last 4.5 months are going to be EPIC on a scale that not even I'm totally prepared for.

Tonight was a good one for the B & S, even if a bit bittersweet. I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that Singapore's a very transient city for expats (Team Taylor included come December), and I think it's fair to say that the same could be said for almost any expat community throughout the globe. It's one of the toughest parts of the lifestyle - you meet some AMAZING people, but ultimately you have to tell each and every one of them farewell, not knowing when or if you'll ever see them again. It was the toughest, most heart-wrenching part of the London experience, and I already feel pretty sure the same will be true of our time in Southeast Asia, as we've made some really terrific friends out here during our short tenure whom we know we'll have to part with in the not too distant future. That all kicked off tonight, as we said farewell to Anne Marie.

You will remember Anne Marie as the gal who leaned over to us on the train in K-L and said, "I think I know you - weren't you on my flight to Bali?" That's right - she's the American who's working in Germany and partied with us in K-L, celebrated Cinco de Drinko with us in style at Viva, Mexico, and rang in our nation's independence at Chili's just a short month ago (and yes, I still feel God's presence in that Chili's). Well, Anne Marie's contract is soon to expire, which means that she's about to head back to Deutschland. However, we had to give her a proper sendoff, and so we went to yet another American joint to reminisce properly. Where, you ask? That's right - APPLEBEE'S, BABY!!!! Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood!

And whilst they didn't have the skillets (can a brother get the Asian Orange Chicken for cryin' out loud?), they had some guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud burgers (peppy cheekies), and there were even chicken wings and Spinach Dip aplenty. We met some of her other friends (all met at various bars throughout Sing Sing, for the record), and all in all it was a GREAT night. But, as with all great nights, it came to an end too fast, and there we were, saying farewell to Anne Marie across a turnstile in the MRT whilst we ran for our train and she ran to pee. It was lightning fast, haphazard, sudden, and hilarious, which pretty much characterized our entire time together here in Singapore.

Anne Marie - safe travels on the rest of your trips and back to Europe. Here's hoping that our paths will cross again - and I'm pretty sure they will! Although the country is, as always, TBD...

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print. Chat tomorrow!

Love,

Sam and Jenny