Question (on behalf of my wife) for the other wives

What do you do during the week?

With husbands at work and children at school?

Are there :

Ladies that lunch?
Health clubs that pamper?
Part time work?
Volunteer work?

I think I am reasonably well qualified to answer this (from my own perspective of course). Although my youngest is only at nursery till 12pm.

There are all of the things that you have mentioned, so its really what you make of it. Some Mums also get quite involved in the school PTA. Not really my cup of tea but many seem to enjoy it. Quite a bit of parental involvement (class reps, excusrions, open days, sports days) is expected at my sons school so this takes up time.

I have joined a Thai kickboxing gym so am focussing on getting fit and also meeting a lot more locals through this which is great.

If you are interested in volunteer work I recommend going through organisations such as MANZA or ABWM who have established contacts with the charities and know who needs what sort of help.

Some people go back to study... Open University, languages etc.

Some start their own businesses and some do paid part time work.

In my experience, The ladies who lunch are mostly the *ahem* older mums whose kids are in their last years of school here or back in the UK - they have more time to do it.

with husbands at work, kids at school? oh please

We are actually in 2012. Yup.... surprise!!

Plenty if things to do in Malaysia same as UK and doesnt matter which gender.

Clean the house.
Laundry
Ironing
Clean windows
Scrub the front door step.
Marketing
Get the dinner on

I know I shouldn't have said that

hit hubby with rolling pin when he comes in late

Bakedbean I can tell we're going to have to sort these guys out...

ex reg - I'm interested to know in amongst the list of 1950s housewife duties why Marketing has made an appearance?!

And kennyboy33 there's no need for a rolling pin when you lock the door and leave him to sleep on the step. Baaahaaahhaa I'm a cruel woman!

Ha, yeah I was scratching my head over marketing too!

I noticed full-time work wasn't on the original list of wifely options. I must be a really bad wife because that's what I plan on doing.

Yes indeed. My dear husband sets me up with my 'housekeeping' money every week and away I go!

I only have one friend here who works full time (both parents have very high powered and demanding jobs) - and they have a lot of help at home to help manage this (they also have two youngish children).

Perhaps easier to work full time when the kids are older (or if you don't have any).

I like your posts in general. But what is wrong with stating the situation she is in. If someone who is 22 says where can I find other young people hanging out in Penang on Friday night that is fine, right?

Just because it is 2012 doesn't mean that sometimes people are in a similar situation to what used to be expected. I think sometimes we are too anxious to eliminate outdated restrictions so we criticize things that are just related to those outdated restrictions not actually trying to continue that way of thinking.

If people are having options limited by those who want to maintain some ideas from 1912 about what is appropriate for people to do that seems worthy of criticism. But it seems fine to me for someone to ask what others in a situation like they are in are doing (and sharing a few details about what that means for them - time in the middle of the day when spouse is at work and kids at school).

My Mom went to law school while we were in Nigeria for a year (where my Dad was a professor and I was in school), so there is one option to consider. I would have to imagine this is a fairly rare situation, but who knows maybe it is more common than I am guessing.

Also I think some people find it much easier to find new friends (whether they are in there home country or somewhere else) and people to do things with. For most that struggle a bit with this the difficulty can often be multiplied quite a bit in another country. I can appreciate those that go searching for organized meetings (groups, social clubs, activity based groups (hiking, cooking, learning a language...), affinity [home country...] based groups, book discussion groups...) to help ease the process of meeting new people. Some people don't need that, but for some people it is very helpful.

Often trying to find a bit more connections with people like you (maybe who grew up in the same culture you did or who are in a similar life situation [have young kids...] or who love football or whatever) is comforting. I think sometimes that desire to have some connection to the familiar is seen as not wanting to experience the new place you find yourself. I don't think that necessarily is true. It can be you just want some feeling of familiar comfort even if you mainly enjoy the new location.

Well it livened up the forum a bit

LOL!! I'm sure RedDragon didn't mean any offence by his original question and for his wife perhaps that will be the case. It will be for me too unless I can find a job!

I'm also interested to find out more of what there is to do in the Nusajaya area as I haven't seen much on our various trips over. I think I'm relying too much on the fact I can nip over to Singapore whenever I want to (especially as the kids have such a long school day at Marlborough) - but I spent a lot of time immersing myself in the local community in Singapore and I'd like to do a bit of that again when we move to Malaysia.

Anyone got any good suggestions?

RedDragon - I shall shamelessly plug my Meetup group again if your wife is happy to come over to Singapore for some days out. http://www.meetup.com/Singapore-Inte...-Ladies-Group/

I'm thinking of starting something similar in Nusajaya - but I need to know where there is to go/visit/things to do first!

Yes I should say that we don't have kids yet, and I can work FT but flexible hours from home if necessary. So no offence intended.
I'm also looking forward to language classes, lunches, and exploring by myself.
And I have to say, after years of being the main breadwinner, I'm quite happy to take my foot off the pedal for a bit!

was just a bit o fun miss, honest

Loooook I couldn't put shopping because 'shopping' has an entirely different meaning to you lot.

I'm feeling very alone on here.