Parents Coffee Morning Singapore Style

Today I met the lovely moms of the kids in my son's fifth grade class.

As always, it was interesting to hear what other moms have to say about their children: love of cricket, interest in Mandarin, gymnastics. And we weren't even intimidated by the very long list of one girl's accomplishments: professional ballerina, proficient in many languages, good at snowboarding, skiing, swimming. At least, not until she mentioned the motorcycle riding and the long hours spent learning for the sake of learning. Because that's just what she likes to do. My first impulse was to say: "Could she please come to my house." The second was to quickly think up something to say about Alexander when my turn came to speak.

He loves watching Phineas and Ferb suddenly didn't really cut it.

But seriously, it is this incredible assortment of people from different cultures and backgrounds that will always be the thing I cherish most about life in Singapore. You get to hear about Japanese-Chinese fusion cuisine, life in Dubai, puppies over pilates...and that's just over coffee. The women, hail from all over the world: Shanghai, Tokyo and London and include a Brahmin healer, a fashion designer, and an intrepid adventurer who is about to trek the Himalayas, on her own. Oh, and an ex- Canadian Olympic Riding Team member. (And just for the record, she was afraid of bragging. Please. If it were me, I'd be putting that on my business card. You know, if I had a business card.)

And you just never know what you're going to learn.

For example, one mom revealed that just the other day her dog was bitten by a cobra in the garden...

See what I mean. I will not be getting a garden. At least not in Singapore.