Ever since I got the car and became a full time SAHM in Sept, I began to join in the monthly gathering organised by a group of SG ladies who stayed nearby in Somerville. K used to joke that I am going for Joy Luck Club gathering. Most of these ladies arrived here last July. They are here because their husbands are attending the MIT Sloan executive MBA program.
Initially, the gathering is among these 4 "MIT" ladies who stay near to each other but they gradually invited other SG ladies who they came to know of, like me. So now, this gathering has a total of 9 SG ladies and sometimes with the inclusion of 1 -2 Japanese ladies too. The 4 "MIT" ladies are Mei who is the main organiser, also my fellow colleague in MOE, who has a seven yr old girl and a three yr old boy, Yee, Ping and Dawn. The others include Sok whose hubby is studying at Tufts University, Karen and Eunice whose hubbies are doctors on attachment to the local hospitals here. Last, there is Pin whom I just met in the last gathering. She is a researcher at Harvard Law School and happened to be a close friend of the Mumbai's terrorism victim.
Usually, we meet at Mei's 3-storeys house in Somerville as she has the largest place to accomodate all the kids and the ladies. We will also bring along some food to her place and usually has a brunch potluck there. The ladies will usually exchange interesting news and information among each other in the dining area while the kids get to play with each other in the living room. Actually, it is more like the kids play on their own with the toys available as they are all around the age of 1.5 - 2.5 yrs old except for Mei's kids who are older and are in school whenever we meet in the morning.
Last Thursday, we had the last gathering of this year and Karen suggested the theme of Christmas. So, each of us tried to bring food items that is related to Christmas, so that we can have a Christmas celebration. Sok was so nice to buy every kid a Christmas present even though we had agreed beforehand that there would not be any exchanging of presents.
Our contributions to the food table. There's spaghetti, cupcakes, bagels, eggnogs, fruits, muffins and honey wings. As usual, we're left with a lot of food as everyone was busy interacting and catching up with each other.
Our first group photo despite the numerous gatherings that we had and this is not the full group yet. There were quite a few absentees as some of them were sick or away on holidays. And some kids were playing in the living room while the photo was taken. The lady in white is Mei and this is her house where the gatherings are usually hosted. 
The youngest baby and one of the 3 precious girls in the brood of 10 kids. Most of us have boys, so one can imagine the rowdiness whenever we had a gathering. Isn't she adorable?
I'm teaching Ry the concept of baby here and he's really very gentle with her when he stroked her earlier. Hope he will do the same to his little baby brother in 2.5 months time!
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