7 September, 2007

This is a wet market. You can buy produce, household goods, fabrics, clothing, electronics cheaper than other places. The quality may not be as good on the clothing.

Here are some of the clothes. It's stall after stall in a unairconditioned area under government housing.

These are the hawker's stalls where you can buy supper cheaply. It's about $2.00 (US) for a meal here.

This is an example of HDB housing. This is government housing which is where 90% of Singaporeans live. The wet markets and hawkers stalls are underneath.

If you look straight out past the dock you will see a house out on the water. This is where someone lives and fishes. You can see Malaysia on the far shore.

Orchard Road view - this is like a tropical Michigan Ave

The following three pictures are of what a typical condo's pools look like. This is where Sim, Ryan's manager lives

Toys R Us on Orchard Road

Outdoor flower shop by our hotel

Examples of cars here - mostly foreign brands

Typical street view in the downtown

Piano Guy

06, September 2007 9:36pm

I'm SO tired of being cold!! I did not come to Singapore expecting to be so cold! Every place we go, every car we ride in has the air conditioning so high that there has to be frost dripping from our noses! I will have to pack more jeans and light sweatshirts and sweaters than I initially thought! Speaking of clothing I've noticed that everyone tends to dress fairly conservative here. The American high school girls would not fit in here. Skirts are not uncommon here and neither are "dressy" clothing.

I wanted to write a little more about our hotel room. When you walk up to the door there is a doorbell and a sign which can be illuminated from within the room to say "Do Not Disturb." Right inside the door is a cardholder into which you insert your room key which turns on the lights. When you leave and take the card with you it shuts everything down - a unique way to conserve energy! Everything else is a normal room except for the outlets.

We visited the Singapore American School today and were very impressed. They have an outstanding program but the downside is over 3000 kids attend there between 3 years old and 12th grade. It's all on one campus so it's a little overwhelming! The primary school (K-2) is housed in one section so they don't interact with the older children. Than there's an intermediate section (3 - 5) with a middle school and a high school. They have spots for the twins' to start in January - this is a miracle as there are currently 300 children on a wait list to get in. Most International schools in the city have the same type of wait list.

Ryan had meetings in the afternoon and I took a nap. We are still messed up with the time changes! It sounds like by the time we are adjusted it will be time to come home:( Ryan's co-worker, Sim, took us out for a Chinese supper in a revolving restaurant with good views of Singapore. We overlooked the shipping yards for part of the time which was very interesting to watch. I was given the opportunity to use silverware since I've never used chopsticks but I decided that I may as well start learning. To eat in the hawkers centers you need to know how to use chopsticks. It wasn't too hard although Sim told me that I wasn't using them properly but than again, neither was he. The food was good - very healthy as everything is steamed, not fried. I wasn't up for it though as my stomach is still adjusting to all the new foods and it thought that it was breakfast time, not time to eat Chinese!!

I haven't had much time to take pictures as they have kept us fairly busy. Ryan and I have decided that a good way to describe Singapore is like Chicago with much more greenery, less cars, and an Asian flavor. We have seen McDonald's, Subway, Burger King, Hard Rock Cafe, and even a Long John Silvers this evening! They have a lot of the same stores we do although it's the higher end shops - no Target or Wal-Mart:( We are going to have to get used to the metric system as that it what's used here.

Tomorrow's another busy day so I'm going to bed! Ryan's already there:) It's so odd to think that everyone back home is just beginning a day that we just ended!!

05, September 2007 6:15pm

Outside the hotel where we are staying.

View of the street from our room window.

View of rooftop garden next to our hotel.

So – Singapore – what to say…it’s proven to be a very interesting place so far! It’s an eclectic mix of cultures and people. Everything seems to have both a British and an Asian flavor which is an interesting combination.

We were picked up by Shirley, a Realtor, at 10:00 am to start looking around at housing and schools.

We started off our day with a school visit to the International Community School. This is a private Christian school. They are the only one that we visited so far that doesn’t have a wait list to get in. It’s a small, unassuming school and everyone was very friendly. We met the teacher that the twins’ would have and she seemed very nice.

Next we went to two different condos to see what’s available. The first one is in a small complex and had lots of character, windows, and light! It didn’t have a real good area for the kids to play, though. The second one was in more of a high rise and was more sterile and not as much light as the first one. There was a nice playground though and a bigger kitchen than the first one. We’ll have to make a choice whether we want to live in the city or out in the “suburbs”. Condos here come with a washer but no dryer. It’s not uncommon to see laundry hanging from windows and balconies around the city. Also, they don’t all come with dishwashers as the kitchens are relatively small. Both kitchens we saw had more storage space than I would have imagined but had small ovens. Like European flats they don't have closets - just built in wardrobes. We were asked to take our shoes off before entering the condos – Asian custom!

The next school we visited was the Canadian International School. Now I must admit that walking up to the school I was thinking, “No Way!” But after visiting we were impressed with the friendliness of the staff and the education. They learn World History not Canadian history and they encourage asking questions and figuring out the answer for yourself. This may be perfect for Kenton. I will point out here that all the schools are open air. The individual classrooms are air conditioned but the hallways are all open to the outside. This school has a small wait list so we may add the twins’. All of them also require uniforms and PE uniforms.

After that we visited Tanglin Trust – a British school – and we decided that it’s not what we are looking for. It’s a VERY impressive school but they were ostentatious. It wasn’t a humble school and that’s not what we want to send the kids into. We’ll see what the Singapore American School is like tomorrow.

Apparently the lines on a road way mean next to nothing! It hasn’t been uncommon for our driver to straddle two lanes at the same time! We asked Shirley this morning what the laws are regarding children and car seats and she said that they are very lax. People were complaining that they couldn’t fit 3 car seats, a maid, the grandma, and the parents all in one vehicle so they changed them to say that infants can ride on laps. I can’t imagine doing this as car seats are pretty ingrained into our way of life. It looks like Singapore in big enough and spread out enough that I am going to have to learn how to drive:( ON the wrong side of the car, the wrong side of the road, and know where I'm going all at the same time. They don't make you take a test until you've been here a year. Until than you drive on your home country license - scary!

Shirley also dropped us off at a supermarket to look around. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is not much that I normally buy in the US that is not available here. Some things are more expensive – a box of Lucky Charms was S$10 – but it’s still available. I will probably try to stock up on diapers and wipes in the US and have them shipped with the rest of our belongings as those were more expensive here too.

The weather was beautiful today! It was cloudy when we first woke up but soon cleared off to become a sunny day. It didn’t get too hot when you compare it to a Kansas scorcher but Shirley did say that this was a cooler day than most. We took a walk around the block this morning and than this afternoon went to a mall that adjoins our hotel and ate supper (Italian). We finally found an ATM that will accept our cards. The flowers here are awesome! I’m really hoping that I get to try my hand at growing orchids and other tropical flowers while we are here:)

We are back in our room trying to stay awake until at least 8pm. Than hopefully we’ll be back on a more normal schedule. Maybe we’ll hit the pool for a little while to cool off:) At some point this week we plan on playing tourist so hopefully I will have more pictures to share than.

Wed, Sept 5th

Tuesday, September 4th Narita Airport, Tokyo, Japan, 4:15pm

We just arrived at Narita Airport after a 13 + hour flight from Chicago. The flight was uneventful even if it was long. There were a few areas of turbulence but I quickly learned to sleep right through themJ We flew north out of Chicago up over Alaska before heading west to Japan. Sitting in Business Class for me was a new experience. After “supper” (it’s only 2 pm Chicago time) they darken the plane and most people went to sleep for a few hours. Thankfully I was tired or I don’t think that I could have done itJ The seats are more comfortable than in coach but still leaves you with sore muscles at the end of the flight!

It was interesting to see a glimpse of Japan from the air. I noticed that the cars were all going the “wrong” way on the roads! The terrain looks like it has tree covered ridges and valleys and I saw a golf course. Very peaceful looking at not as busy as I have heard downtown Tokyo can be.

Upon landing it was interesting to note that Narita Airport looks like any airport in the US – busy, full of trucks going this way and that, all the same runway markings, and airplanes everywhere with the name of the airline in English. I was expecting more Japanese characters on the tarmac but once we were inside the airport they were everywhere. We had to go through security again to get to the gate for Singapore. It hit me again how foreigners in the US must feel who are unable to speak English. Thankfully most of the security employees seemed to know English to some degree. It’s a little overwhelming looking at all the signs and trying to find the English that is buried somewhere between all the Japanese characters. All of the airport workers were well dressed in red uniforms with the women wearing red berets. All wore white gloves. The outside airport workers all wore hard hats.

So, what do you do to keep busy on a 13 hour flight? You read a magazine/book, eat, sleep, watch a movie or two, eat, sleep some more, eat again, and read again and you are there. Sounds like the easy life!

The duty free and snack shops in the airport are full of Japanese items including food. I’m feeling hungry but I’m not sure how adventurous I’ll be! Our flight to Singapore starts boarding at 5:10pm (which is 3:10am US time) and takes off at 5:55pm. Well, we’re heading to the shop – time to become adventurous!

4:50pm
The snack shop was interesting! We saw raw squid stuffed with rice, vacuumed packed and sitting at room temperature on a shelf, assorted dried fish, and in the refrigerated section raw squid guts. I did manage to find Ritz Bits and a coke – at least I THINK that’s what they are! You can buy Kimonos, Hello Kitty paraphernalia, rice paper crafts, wood carvings of Sumo wrestlers, and a huge assortment of Japanese chocolates and candies.

12:00am, Wednesday, September 5, 2007 - Changi Airport, Singapore

This is one of the cleanest, prettiest airports we have ever been in! It lived up to what we had heard about it. Ryan read somewhere that you aren’t allowed to take pictures inside the airport so we didn’t. Before we went through customs we hit an ATM just to find out none of our cards work! Thankfully we had some cash on us and after we exchanged it for Singapore dollars we were on our way. I saw a stand selling Orchids – I would like to find out if I can bring them back to the states as they were GORGEOUS and really not all that expensive. Customs was the easiest I’ve ever been through and than on to our luggage. Once we had that we found the line for the taxis. When we arrived at the front of the line the man who had been directing everyone to a taxi disappeared. After we had stood there a little while waiting for him to come back we headed to a taxi – that’s a mistake! We learned that there are two lines for taxis and you need to wait until you are pointed to one before going. Oh well – we got a taxi and headed to the Traders Hotel where we are staying. We couldn’t see much as it was night but we noticed a lot of lush greenery lining the road ways. Oh – not only do they drive on the other side of the road here but they drive on the other side of the car…and I’m supposed to learn to do that after moving here – the girl who can’t parallel park! We’ll see how that goes!

We checked into the hotel and than around 1am headed down the street to the 7-11 (yep, they have those here) for a soda and some chips. That was about all that was open that time of the night other than very expensive room service. Once back in our room we got ready for bed and I asked Ryan to plug in our small travel fan for noise. OOPSJ We somehow blew the motor even though it was plugged into a converter. It smoked and blew a fuse – there was a moment of concern as we weren’t sure that it wouldn’t set off the fire alarm!

Well, more tomorrow after we can actually see the city a little!

Tunnel Trails, Wisconsin

Alison and Kenton are going through a railroad tunnel on their bikes. It's so dark that you need to walk your bikes and use flashlights! This isn't the longest tunnel on the trail either. One of the other ones (that we didn't go through) is famous for dripping on a person!

Kenton is standing at the entrance to the tunnel right before we went through. It was a wonderful day for biking with the temperatures not being too hot. The bike trail follows an old railroad line and you actually bike through small Wisconsin towns. The part of the trail we were on was mostly shaded.

I think that the entrance to the tunnel is pretty! We were camping with a group from Elgin on Labor Day weekend - Highlights were - Kenton - going home, Kaitlyn - bike riding, Ethan - being held all weekend, Becky - playing croquet uphill with Sam Bachtold (he set up the course!), Ryan - the bike ride and getting sick:(

Singapore

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are safely in Singapore! I will post a journal entry later that I wrote while in the Narita airport (Tokyo, Japan.) It's 1:15am here and we are going to find something to eat - hopefully, Ryan says:) More later!!