I am excited to be preparing to head to Washington DC on Sunday to meet other Fulbrighters, to learn even more about the DAT program and the expectations for the inquiry project, and to generally get ready to go to Singapore in 2017.

Since my last post, I have been introduced through email to my faculty mentor at NIE, National Institute of Education in Singapore. I have also inquired about schools for my children and have found out that they cannot attend a public school there because (a) it is very difficult for non-citizens to get a spot in the public schools and (b) we are not going to be there for a full Singapore school year, which is January – December. We leave in June. I have also solidified my Fulbright program dates to be January 6 – June 6, 2017, which is a change from my original plans. The team in Singapore requested that Singapore Fulbright participants arrive by January 9 for an orientation in Singapore, so I had to move up the start date of my program dates. I also wanted to be there through the end of the Singapore semester 1, which ends at the end of May. So, now my program length is 5 months instead of 4 months.

I have also found a family who will live in our house while we are gone. This is a great relief to my husband and me. While we are not charging rent, we are happy that our house will be occupied for the 5+ months that we are abroad.

We started researching apartments to live in while we are there. They are not cheap! The housing that the Singapore team recommended to me (and others) was mostly dorms with a few teacher apartments. It seems that the housing cost was no cheaper than a private apartment, so we will be getting a private apartment. Of course, my own kids want to find a place with a pool since it is hot there all the time. We will certainly do what we can on what we think will be a tight budget.

I have reached out to many people who have experience living in Singapore or who are currently living there. They have been a great resource for me and my husband. I anticipate continuing to reach out to them with questions about living there.

I’m looking forward to next week in DC and learning more about next steps!