Photos from our first month in Singapore

Welcome to my blog!

Isabel and I have been in Singapore now for just about a month, and I've finally got some time to write. We've been busy setting up the house, getting Isabel into school, navigating around town, etc. After all the work of getting the house packed up and getting ready to move to the other side of the planet, it's been wonderful for the three of us to be back together again.

We've rented an apartment with some furniture, but getting everything else we need has taken no less than 4 trips to Ikea! This is not someplace that I like to go even occasionally (because of the crowds and I get confused trying to find my way out!), let alone 4 times! Anyway, we've gotten just about everything, with the exception of a sofa, which Chad's boss has generously offered to buy as a housewarming gift.

Isabel is a week and a half into her new school, and already has a best friend and a birthday party invitation. She really likes her school (although she misses her old friends), and is thrilled to finally have homework. Her school is wonderfully diverse, with other students in her classroom from the Phillipines, India, Japan, UK, New Zealand, and Singapore, although there are only 5 girls (out of 19)!

Getting around is really easy, and public transportation super fast and efficient (Phoenix could learn a thing or two...). The buses connect really well with the trains, and run every 5-15 minutes. Trains are even more frequent.

I've found most people here to be very busy, but friendly. Last week, when I was standing on the corner in the rain and waiting for the crosswalk light to change, a girl came over to share her umbrella with me, and walked wth me across the street. Chad says she was just being respectful to her "elder" (ha!), but I think it shows how sweet people here can be.

As you would imagine, our daily lives have changed a bit. Chad works long hours most days, but I think once the conservatories are built, that should slow down a bit. Isabel gets up in the mornings, puts on her school uniform, and the two of us ride the bus together to school. I drop her off, then either come home and think about what I should do (yes, unemployed life is blissful, but I think I will go insane after too long:)), go check something out (I went to the Asian Civilizations Museum yesterday) or go to Ikea (pronounce ick-ea here). It's a small island, but there's lots to do, and there's a lot to explore.

There are lots of new things for us to get used to, including: drying clothes outside (like many Singaporean families, we don't have a dryer), cooking on a "hob" (thanks to the British influence), hauling grocery bags home in my hands (rather than in the trunk of a car), swimming on our roof, biking to the beach, large-leaved plants, clouds and rain! (Also, I can't believe I finally live somewhere where there are monkeys!) The hardest things to get used to are the food, the high prices, and the English/Singlish. Chad has no problem eating octopus tentacles, cow ears and pork brain, but my palate is a bit more delicate! The majority of the food here seems to be Chinese-influenced, and there are lots of animal parts in it. There are some vegetarian restaurants, but they mostly sell Chinese-style food with tofu disguised as meat. My hunt for good local vegetarian food thus continues... Nearly everything is really expensive (public transport, cow ears and pork brains are not, however:)). Without realizing it, I actually paid $16 for a block of cheddar cheese, and $9 for two heads of brocoli! A container of Ben & Jerry's is $23, but amazingly it's stocked at 7-11, so somebody's buying it. Understanding locals is also a bit difficult. Although the "administrative" language of the country is English, most people speak "Singlish" - a blend of English with bits of Malay, Tamil and Chinese words, and other words that I think have just been made up! I wonder how much more I'll be able to understand in three years...

That's all for now. I hope you're all doing well, and I'll keep you all posted on our adventures here in Singapore, and as we get to travel in Southeast Asia.

Ada