Mini baby convention with my Singaporean friends in Rome!

Last weekend, I spent time with a small group of Singaporeans living in Rome. While it was just a simple gathering, I have a very lovely and enjoyable time updating and hearing each other about our lives over lovely at my favourite trattoria in Testaccio.

It has been a while since we last met. And I cant help but to marvel at how much we’ve all been through. From being newly married, being thrown into another country, feeling depressed and homesick. To having babies and well, pretty much adjusting and moving on with life.

I still remember one of our first meets. Meeting new friends can sometimes quite awkward, and sometimes with some relationships, you find that you sometimes aren’t comfortable with each other. And in the end, its best to be mature and be open minded and not to be too anguished and think too much about this situation.

But there are some people that you naturally get along well, and I’m glad that I’ve found people that I can feel comfortable with, without feeling that they are being judgemental of me. And its great that we are a pillar of support to each other.

I think that it’s been quite a milestone. While I’ve yet to meet the other Singaporeans from the other regions apart from Rome, I feel a sense of contentment somehow. Because from just a handful of us in the beginning of 2009, the group of Singaporeans living in Italy has been growing quite strong and we just passed our 100th member not too long ago. Kind of like seeing my baby growing up

And speaking of babies, it was like a baby convention! With Lynn having her twins and Xiangwen with her baby boy and a couple of other tables having their own babies.

And all throughout the entire dinner session, there were dozens of people purposely coming over, cooing-and ahhing and “Che carino!” “Oh bello!” and whatnots. And those who didn’t, sat at their tables and stared and smiled. Just like in the picture above. It was so amusing.

But I’m quite amazed that all the babies were relatively quiet. Even throughout the dinner chatter, they were able to nap and relatively keep still. This could probably be a skill that expat/european babies have I guess. Learning to filter out the noise.

Urgh. I cannot have too many babies around me. In just a few moment, the maternal instinct will kick in and I feel like having one too …