...a blonde in Singapore - Birds

One of the first stories I shared was regarding my new accommodations in Singapore. Coming from a culture where we keep everything in that is supposed to be in and everything out that is supposed to be out, I was greatly amused by the lack of screens on the windows.  When you opened the windows, you were open in a true sense of the word. You could just fall out the window if you wanted to.  So, anyway, one morning, I came out of the bedroom into the kitchen to find I was not alone.  Sure, Shree had gone to his office, but it wasn't him I found in the kitchen, but a whole flock of birds. BIG ONES.  They were using the backs of the dining room chairs as perches and seemed quite content to be sitting there.  Maybe they were waiting for breakfast, I don't know.  There I stood, looking at them looking back at me.  Then it was as if they all decided at the exact same time to fly out the window, and they were gone.  Ummm, I thought, interesting...and forgot about it.

Later, I was sitting in front of the TV, trying to figure which of the total of three channels that broadcast in English out of the 70 we had available that I wanted to watch, one of these birds, or perhaps a friend or relative of it, decided to fly through the kitchen window, straight through the house and back out the living room window (a shortcut for it, I suppose).  Only problem was, I was in its flight pattern.  You've never lived until you've been hit in the head by a flying (huge) bird while watching TV on your living room couch.  I would also guess it wasn't a piece of cake for the bird either.

Later, I was telling my friend Bill, back in Tennessee, about the bird thing and his immediate comment was, "Birds, in your house, BIRDS!" Yep, I answered.  Next he said, "Kathy, get your a$$ back on the plane and come back home."  All through the phone conversation, he kept saying, "Birds! I can't believe it, birds flying in your house."  I thought, if you are flipping out about the birds, I don't dare tell you about the lizards...

A disclaimer, of sorts to anyone living in the countries I will be writing about:  I mean no disrespect.  These are just experiences I am sharing, and what reaction I had at the time they  happened.

This post dedicated to Bill.