3 Fun Filled Singapore Days

Fred was out of town and the girls were off from school for 2 days, so we needed some activities.

The Navy occasionally offers bus rides to various activities going on in Singapore and one just happened to be the evening of the girls first day off.  I signed us up to join other Navy families on a ride to the Singapore Expo center where they were having a huge Indian Sale and Expo.  The girls and I spent 2 hours walking along the stalls looking at beautiful material for Saris and checking out all sorts of other good deals.  We even found some items we plan to give out at Christmas.  The girls also enjoyed Indian food delights of flat breads and curry to dip it in.  The evening ended with an ice cream from Burger King- vanilla ice cream with coffee sauce (actually turned out to be coffee in the bottom of the cup with vanilla ice cream on top- not as great as expected.  Enjoy a few photos of our Indian Shopping Expo.

The next evening we went to the Singapore Formula 1 practice races.  I remember as a child my dad bringing my brother and I to car races.  They were always so much fun.  I loved the loud engines and the tires squealing.  I had seen images of Formula 1 races done throughout Asia and they are full of lights as the cars drive through the city streets at night.  Formula 1 was something I was excited for.

We headed downtown with a few other families going and got spots to watch the upcoming practice runs.  Practice runs, I quickly realized, are not quite the same as the race.  Cars are whizzing by at 200 mph but they are not clumped up jockeying each other out of position.  Instead just a few come by at a time.  This got a little old quickly and there weren't the crazy Asian light displays I had seen on T.V. or movie.  The high rise buildings were lit up and the city looked pretty, but not crazy.

The girls got bored quickly and we headed into a nearby Starbuck for a late dinner- to them this was the highlight of the evening.

The last of our fun filled 3 days involved a day trip to Chinatown.  The Chinese are celebrating their Harvest Moon Festival so Chinatown was all decked out with lanterns to celebrate.

We've eaten a few times at this outdoor eatery, Chinatown Seafood Company.  They have wonderful food including Chili Crab that we all love, but costs $40 for a serving to share.  This time we opted for the noodle or fried rice dishes.  Jen mentioned this is like a Vienna Inn type of place; laid back, a little sweaty, crowded, fun, and good food.  They also happen to have the cheapest beer in town AND the second best milk shakes (second to the Coronado Coffee shop), too bad it's an hour train ride away instead of a 5 minute drive.

Chinatown stores all seem to sell the same basic items it's just a matter of if you are paying 5 for $10, or 4 for $10.  They must order thousands of the various items that the stores have all decided to sell. This fan assortment was a good photo spot.

We all love the lantern and getting a picture of them hanging above was fun.  The girls had brought a new friend from school on our adventure.  She is also new to Singapore, moved here from CA and will probably be here the same amount of time as us.  It's great they have met someone they are comfortable calling and inviting to join us on outings.

Well that wraps up our fun 3 days exploring and seeing some neat things in Singapore.  Enjoy!-the next few weeks will be much more uneventful.

Singapore Food Stores

In the US we have plenty of Asian food stores so I thought this is what I should expect in Asia.  Not exactly (this seems to be the same for restaurants too- I'll write about that another time).  The first thing you notice is that the food stores here smell, like they do in the US, but it's a completely different smell.  There is a fruit local to SE Asia called Durian, and many people here LOVE it, but it smells and tastes horrible.  Well actually I don't know if it tastes horrible, however Fred tried it flavored in a cream puff and his breath was so bad there is no way I would try it.

I had to pull this wikipedia write up on the Durian so that you could get a good feel for the smell.

The edible flesh emits a distinctive odor that is strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact.  Some people regard the durian as pleasantly fragrant; others find the aroma overpowering and revolting.  The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as almonds, rotten onions, turpentine, and raw sewage.  The persistence of ti's odor has let to the fruit's banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in southeast Asia.  

Even though this fruit is banished many places, people here eat it so the food stores sell it, and thus SMELL like it.  ROTTEN ONIONS AND DIRTY SWEAT SOCKS is how I describe it.

I should amend my claim to not include ALL Singapore food stores smell like it.  If you are in a touristy, or nice area of town, those stores don't sell it and just smell like fish (a much more pleasant smell).

Here is what Durian looks like packages (I really wish I could attach the smell for your enjoyment) :) 

The other thing that was really strange for me when I first went food shopping is the shopping carts are all attached.  I was informed that if you put a $1(coin) in the slot it will release the cart and then when you return it to a designated return area and attach it to another cart your coin will come back out.

What a brilliant thing to do.  This would eliminate all those random carts scattered throughout parking lots in the US.  

I also learned while checking out that in the produce section there is a woman working with a scale and SHE will weigh your produce and tag it with a bar code.  The cash register has no scales.  Thus the first time I went I was the person who held up a line as I ran back to get stuff weighed.  I'm sure I got the why are those dumb Americans here stares.

Finally, if you find something in a food store you might want at a later date, you better just buy it now.  The stores don't always carry the same things.  Fred enjoys spinach on his sandwiches, but it's not always there or sometimes it baby spinach (which is a pain on sandwiches).  I guess this comes from Singapore having to import so many items that they only can sell what they get delivered. 

Food shopping in town has been an interesting experience.  Occasionally, I'll buy a local snack or cookie to give it a try (US goods are really expensive in town), sometimes they are a hit, other times they end up in the trash.  We are really lucky to have a Navy Exchange that sells most basic food products but I now regularly hit the local stores once a week for fruits, veggies, and some other stuff to try out.

Largest Store I've Ever Seen

In Little India there is a store that is the biggest stand alone store I have ever seen.  This place is called Mustafa Center and it is open 24 hours.  I had gone here with the girls over the summer to check out this place which listed as a tourist attraction in Lonely Planet.  We were in awe at the endless isles of various goods on 7 floors. So stunned I had forgotten to take photos to share with you.

Recently, I headed back with a couple new spouses in the neighborhood and was ready to take some photos. We spent 3 1/2 hours traipsing through the entire place.  I realized the girls and I only covered about 1/2 of the building on our first visit.  This time we walked the entire place except the electronics and hardware sections.  In addition to carrying anything and everything it has a full grocery store.  The only bummer is the prices are pretty much what you would pay anywhere else.  No bargains in Singapore!  Hope you enjoy the photos below.

The store is huge, but the photos don't show how unbelievably big.

Beautiful scarfs and material everywhere

If only I could make Jen and Katie wear these!

So many serving spoons to choose from.

 Finally some 80's throwback items.  I don't even think they make the glass visons pots anymore.

Mail Call

Today I went to get my mail and I was so excited.  I had ordered a couple things that should have arrived last week, but never showed up.  I skipped picking up mail on Friday and Monday, thinking for sure they will be here on Tuesday.  Sadly, no package, not even one piece of mail was in our box (3 days worth).

I had an instant pang of the same feelings I'd have in college when my mailbox was empty.  Nothing, there, why bother checking the mail when it just makes you feel sad.

Back in college, there was no internet, so letters were the only way to keep in touch.  I had a boyfriend, Fred, parents, and friends who would write me, so I was one of the lucky one who received mail regularly. Even though I knew I was loved, I couldn't stop the sad feeling when I'd open my box and see straight though into the mail sorting area.

We don't get any junk mail here- probably a good thing, but sometimes just knowing Pizza Hut or Michael's is thinking about you would be a welcomed flyer to receive.

We do most of our bill paying online so even those dreaded bills don't show up very often in the mailbox.

Maybe this is subconsciously why I order stuff online, I want to receive some mail.  With the internet, skype, and our magic jack phone we are able to regularly keep in touch with those we love. Nowadays, there really is no need to hand write a letter, put at $.41 stamp on it, and wait 2 weeks for someone to receive it.

The military unfortunately seems to want to hoard our mail and deliver it all at once.  Two months ago I got an overload of packages.  Ok- this was a little embarrassing but we had just moved into our home and needed to stock up on stuff.

Hopefully sometime this week I will finally get another huge pile of items I've ordered over the last 2-3 weeks.  But soon enough I'll feel the need to get mail again; I'll find more things to order online just to know someone is thinking about me- even if I'm paying for it.

P.S.- please don't take this as a solicitation for you to write. :)

Computers- Yay or Nay?

If you looked at my previous blog you saw a video clip of our home.  I noted in it, this it took me 5 days of working on trying to figure out how to upload this.  I used to think I was a pretty  computer savvy person.  When I was working 12+ years ago, I was often the go to person on how to figure out things.  Unfortunately, that label no longer falls anywhere in my personal description.

We now exclusively use Mac products in our home, the transition was tough and there definitely are some differences I still have problems navigating through.  The other issue seems to be there are so many things you can do now on a computer; really cool things that I have no idea even about.

Jen and Katie's school gave them Macbook computers to use in 7th and 8th grade.  This sounds totally awesome for kids, and mine were quite excited about it.  They quickly learned that the programs the school uses are ones they never knew about and had to figure out how to navigate around in them.

Jen and Katie now have their own blog sites where they post some of their homework.  They are now on Goodreads to track the books they read.  They exclusively use Google Chrome to navigate their daily school lives.  Homework assignments are listed in their email.  Jen's choir teacher sends "gentle reminder" emails to remind the kids to check his homework calendar that has a link to a musical note quiz website, then take a screen shot of it, and finally put it in an online drop box for him to review.  I don't even know what a drop box is!

There are so many ways to keep yourself completely structured and organized on a computer.  Jen's English teacher has all these template links to for her writing, reading, and word study homework.  She just types away and it automatically saves it and her teacher can access it to review at any point.  He is quite organized and probably even has a way to see when they do their work, most likely he can figure out who are the procrastinators!  It's quite amazing, but some of this can be quite confusing for a new kid who basically used a computer to type in word and play games.

No composition books, no note taking on paper, it's a totally technological world at the Singapore American School.

School has been in session here for 3 weeks and the girls are starting to get a handle on not using a pencil or paper.  Amazingly, they have just touched the surface of all that is out there.  I have a hunch quickly they will surpass my low level and knowledge and soon enough I will be asking them for help.

Home Video

Here is a video clip of our home.  Hope you enjoy - for 5 days I had been working on how to get this thing uploaded!