What I like about Singapore, Part 3

The public transportation.
Ok, so this is actually a mixed "like/dislike" because my liking the public transportation has come out of my not liking being car-less.

Yes. In case you didn't realize, we do not have a car. Not even one. We went from being a 2-car family that spent a good majority of our time in our cars to a 0-car family. Now Gander spends a good deal of time on airplanes, taxis, and buses and the girls and I spend a good deal of time in buses and a little time in taxis. We also have the option of going on the MRT (train) but it's about a 15+ minute walk to the station from our condo so that's why we usually opt for a bus, or a taxi if we're in a hurry, I have lots of groceries, or I'm feeling especially self-indulgent.

The public transportation is dependable, easy to use, and takes me almost anywhere I need to go. I don't usually have to walk more than 5-10 minutes to get to a bus stop. No, it's not as convenient or quick as a private car but it does the job.

Even more impressive is how clean the public transportation vehicles and MRT stations are. It really is amazing! I took the MRT yesterday and I was literally thinking that the train "sparkled." Yes, "sparkled" was the exact word for it. It was beyond clean. The buses don't quite sparkle but I have yet to see one that has graffiti or more than a tiny bit of litter.

On the topic of "easy to use" - we have these cards called EZ Link cards that we use to pay for bus/train trips. Much easier than dealing with money! And I can use my NETS card (basically what we call an ATM/bankcard) to "top up" the EZ Link cards with more money. Even cooler, I can use the EZ Link card to pay for McDonald's. Oh wait... I'm trying to avoid that place so I won't eat another apple pie.

I have become pretty good at reading a bus schedule and figuring out how to get places, if I do say so myself. Gander, of course, would prefer to just take a taxi but, as for me, I enjoy the logic "puzzle" of trying to figure it all out. Shouldn't be surprising if you know Gander and me -- he likes to get things done quickly while I tend to drag things out; he doesn't mind spending more money to get there quickly while I am pleased with myself for getting a "bargain." And a "bargain" is just what the bus is! Depending on where I go, it can be less than $1 to get there, maybe a little more than a $1 if it's a longer trip.

What I like about Singapore, Part 2

Speaking of humidity (in my last post), that brings up the next thing I like about Singapore - McDonald's Apple Pie.

Huh?!?! What does that have to do with humidity, you may wonder.

Here's my line of thinking - with how much I sweat here (a good part of the time I'm outside and even much of the time I'm inside), I kept thinking "I really ought to be losing weight." (Yes, I know it would just be water weight, but still.) Until I realized, "It's the darn desserts everywhere I turn around." I can't avoid them. I can't go anywhere without seeing some sweet that tempts me. You have no idea how much time I spend walking past displays of sweets, telling myself "no" and coming up with reasons why I shouldn't get one to taste. (That would be, of course, besides the obvious reasons of it being bad for me and not helping my figure. Let's face it, those reasons aren't very effective with me.)

Anyways, I went for a good 2 weeks or so before finally breaking down and buying an apple pie at McDonald's last night. And, mmmmmm, it was as good as I remember from my childhood. These are the real apple pies, not the far inferior baked version that they sell at McDonald's back home.

So there. It may not be a noble reason to like Singapore but, hey, it's a reason!

Edited to add: I forgot to mention - sorry the photo is kind of blurry. Elly kept trying to get my apple pie while I was taking the picture so it made me move the camera. When I saw on the computer how blurry the photo actually was, I honestly considered going back to McD's today to buy another apple pie. I successfully managed to talk myself out of it, though, you'll be glad to know.

What I like about Singapore, Part 1

In an effort to focus on positives and minimize negatives, I wanted to share with you a few of the things I've found that I like about Singapore. So this post and a few more after it will be just that.

Of course, this isn't everything I like about Singapore. I don't want to sound like I don't like it here; I do. I just miss home and despite liking it here, I could spend way too much time thinking about what I miss. So instead... I'll think about what I have here that I didn't have at home. So here we go!

The rain.
Today is a beautiful, not too sunny, breezy day. It rained for about an hour or so this morning, reminding me how much I love the rain. I believe it really makes the weather here much nicer. I liked the rain before coming here but, being so close to the equator now, I realize how much of a blessing the rain it.

We walked outside to go to the school bus and it actually felt cool this morning. It wasn't like walking into a sauna. For about 5 days before this, there had been very little rain so it felt hotter and more humid than normal (or at least what I think is normal, given that I've only been here about a month and a half). The heat doesn't bother me so much as the humidity.

In any case, I love when it rains (which it does quite often).

Gander is home!

Gander arrived home late Wednesday night, very tired. He brought all three of us girls shirts. Isn't he thoughtful?

These are just some of the pictures he took while in Sydney, Australia.



The 2 pictures below were taken during his two days in Auckland, New Zealand. I guess he didn't have as much time for sightseeing in NZ.

"Free to pee! Free to pee!"

If you haven't seen The Bridge to Terabithia movie, you have no idea what I'm ranting about: "Free to pee!" If you have, then you know it's the rally cry against a mean bully that charges the kids at her school to use the restroom (or "toilet" as it is so discreetly named here).

I really wish I had a picture to share with you but I just couldn't work up the boldness to take a picture. I even tried to sneak a shot using the camera function on my cell phone but I just knew the guy sitting behind the sign would see through what I was doing. I couldn't bare the thought of him thinking, "Look at that idiot taking a picture of my sign."

"WHAT SIGN?" I bet you're wondering. And "WHAT GUY?" And "WHAT does this all have to do with 'Free to Pee?'" I'm coming to that.

You know how shopping centers almost always have a public restroom? Well, today Elly had to go so badly that I had no choice but to take her to the public restroom in a shopping center, a place that I, generally, do my best to avoid. Lest you think this shopping center is like those that I posted photos of back in August, it is not. This place is far below the caliber of those shopping centers; in other words, the stores are nothing like Louis Vuitton, Prada, etc.

Back to the story... We walk up to the restroom to find a man sitting behind a counter/desk outside the entries to both male and female restrooms. On the front of his desk is a professional-looking sign that said something like:

20 Cents Per Toilet Entry
Present a toilet pass or
kindly pay 20 cents to use the toilet.

So I paid the guy 40 cents (since GG decided she needed to go, too) and he let us in. I guess I should be happy I got a "buy 2 get 1 free" deal but there is something about paying to use a not-very-clean restroom that just doesn't make me happy. Hmmm... wonder why.

And just to make the story even better, Elly refused to use the toilet because it was not up to her standards of cleanliness. I can't really blame her but I still tried to convince her as I loudly proclaimed, "I just paid 40 cents for you to go to the bathroom so you had better go now!" She didn't. Oh well. Live and learn. I am at least thankful that it was only 40 cents.

"Hmm... which pool shall we go in today?" ask GG and Elly

If only the question of which pool to swim in was really that dignified and calm. Unfortunately, the (now daily) dilemma of deciding on a venue for swimming has become an ugly, whine-filled, no-way-to-make-everyone-happy occasion. Actually, it's turned into a lesson in taking turns. Since Elly and GG can't agree, I had to step in and lay down the law. Thursday was GG's turn to choose, Friday was Elly's turn, today was GG's turn, and so on.

As wonderful as the pools and outside area are at this condominium development, it has become a source of intense disagreement and more than a few tears. To put it simply, GG and Elly are spoiled by too many choices. Even after I turned it into an alternating schedule, there is still crying and begging and accusations of injustice (of course, not in that terminology). I suppose if the bad attitudes don't clear up soon, the next step would be to suspend swimming privileges for a while. I don't want to have to do that, though, so hopefully things will improve.

They really have no idea how fortunate they are.

In an attempt to try to lighten the negative tone of this post, here are some pictures of the "happy times." (Sorry. Just trying to share the joy [snicker] of this adventure with you all.)

Gander has flown South

Sunday morning Gander left for his first trip which will last a total of 10 days. He is now in Australia and he'll go to New Zealand for awhile before coming home. He'll be home for 3 days before leaving for India.

If this is the last blog post you see for a long time, you can be sure it's because they had to take me away to the looney bin.

Please pray for my sanity!

Inside our home (BEFORE the ocean container arrived)

I hope all these photos don't make it take too long for the webpage to load. My apologies if it does slow things down.

This is the main living area, what you see when you first walk in the front door.

Looking back toward the front door, this is what you see -- our dining area. The window is just for air. There is a wall outside the window, about 7 feet away.


On your left, while facing the dining area is a hallway to the bedrooms and bathrooms and there is also a door to the kitchen. What you see in the first kitchen photo is almost the entire kitchen. The only thing you can't see in that picture is what is shown in the third kitchen photo: the refrigerator and some more storage cabinets and drawers. The size of the kitchen and the bathrooms is going to take some major adjustment.













The door that you see on the right side of the first kitchen photo leads to the laundry area, garbage chute, and "domestic help quarters," which includes a tiny bathroom and "bedroom." We are using this space for storage. The "bedroom" is about 5 feet by 4 feet, if even that big. I don't think a twin size bed could even fit in it.




This is the master bedroom; one shot looking in and the other looking back toward the doorway. Actually, the door that you see in that second shot goes into the master bath. You can't see the bedroom door in these photos.


The photos below are the master bathroom. I didn't show a photo of the common bathroom because it looks pretty much like the master bath, just minus the tub and reverse direction.














The two regular bedrooms look the same. One is just slightly larger than the other. The larger room is GG and Elly's room. The other will be our "office." For anyone that was ever allowed to see our "office" at home in CA, you will know that this is code for storage/junk room. Honestly, I DO (and will) try my hardest to make it neat and organized and presentable but, if the past is any indicator, the "office" will continue to be an eyesore in our home.

Outside our new home

As promised, here are some photos. I'm going to do several different posts with pictures so that there won't be 20+ photos in one post. I wish I could figure out how to do one of those neat little slideshows like I've seen on other blogs but I will have to save that for another time. It's already 11 PM and my rear end and back already hurt from sitting in a child-sized wooden chair with a box as the "desk" for my computer. (You'll see what I'm talking about in a different post.)

All of the photos in this post show the outside of our development.

This is part of what you see when walking in through the main entrance. The building straight ahead is our tower.


The next picture is a closer shot of our tower. You can't see our windows because they are behind the palm trees on the right.

The next two photos are taken looking out of the windows of our condo. (We are on the 7th floor. I am dealing much better with this height than I dealt with being on the 16th floor at our temporary apartment.)

This photo is 1 of 2 of the pools specifically geared toward children. Can you see part of the red slide on the right side of the pool? Water sprays down into the center of the kids' pool from that big structure you see. There is also a play area right next to the pool which you can't see here.


The photo with the three colored pillars is actually the "adult" pool. The kids are allowed to swim in there but it is much deeper and larger. It is to the right of where the kid's pool photo was taken.




This is one of several BBQ areas that can be reserved. It is in between the kids' pool and adult pool you saw in the previous two photos.






The last two photos are more detail of the kids' pool and play area.

Checking in very quickly

Sorry to be absent for so long. We moved into our very own condo/apartment this past Saturday-Monday. Our ocean container (full of our items we shipped from CA) was delivered on Monday. The movers assembled and arranged the furniture that we shipped, which wasn't much, and unpacked the boxes that I wanted them to unpack. Because we don't have much storage space and very little furniture that can be used for storage (bookshelves, dressers, etc.), I decided to have the movers leave a lot of the boxes packed. I have a very bad feeling that it is going to take me months, if not longer, to work my way through all of this stuff.

I promise to post photos of our condo sometime (hopefully) soon. However, with a home full of boxes, my blog is taking a bit of a back seat. I actually just got signed up for internet service in our condo on Tuesday and was able to figure out how to get the modem and connection all set up on Wednesday afternoon. So... YEAH! I'm back online. But... aaarggh! I won't be around much. I'll get back in the swing of things soon, though. (I hope.)

P.S. I made a change to the look of the blog again. Hopefully it makes it a bit easier to read. Keep the feedback coming and I'll see what I can do with the HTML to work things out. :-)