Window Wahsers, Black Chickens, Quail and Duck Eggs

I was saying to my friend Tammy that I just simply do not want to leave our apartment these days.  She said "that is culture shock and you just have to make yourself get out there and do something"  then I remembered Sylvia sharing with me that when she was in Spain she did not want to go out of her apartment so she made herself walk around the city. 

The boys and I had plans to go to Little India today to do some Christmas shopping and I was going to force myself to get out there and drive, something I am a bit timid about doing over here.  We were all set and the door bell rang, I forgot that it is window washing day today and tomorrow and they need to get to our balcony to attach themselves to the gondola.  So much for Little India.

At 4:00 pm or as they would say in Singapore 1600 hours we were informed that the window washers were done for the day and we could leave.  Perfect just in time for rush hour! No way I am driving in rush hour so we took a taxi. 

Most of this blog is going to be pictures of various things we face when we leave our apartment, of course this is just a small fraction of the things that come at us every time we walk out our door.  I find it interesting and hope you enjoy viewing some of our life.

The Salvation Army bell ringers are much more exciting in Singapore, how they can stand the heat in those black costumes I have no idea, but we enjoyed viewing them, and yes we put something in the bucket.

There are various religious sayings and signs through out the city, this one was on a building:

and these two were on the back of a truck:

when in Little India as we have said before there is nice refreshing coconut milk all natural and cheap

the streets are very narrow as are the parking spaces you have like literally 6 inches on both side of your car after backing into your spot and yes you have to back in.

Motor bikes are everywhere and they just zip along between the lanes and in and out of cars. We just heard on the news that there were 920 motor bike accidents last year in Singapore and 22 deaths related to the accidents, you really have to look out when you are changing lanes.

Temples, shrines and churches are everywhere with all major religious beliefs represented.

Chinese medicine is everywhere, I bought some herbs we will see if they work.

The stores are never disappointing in the entertainment value and we do find some great treasures also, look at the variety of eggs, you can get chicken eggs, duck eggs, quail eggs, or preserved duck eggs.  When I took these pictures there was a man who was bewildered as to why we would take pictures of eggs.

Chickens come in all shapes colors and sizes and of course you get the WHOLE chicken here is our find today

you notice the date, here they label the day then month then year, it makes sense but takes a bit of getting used to for example July 6 2007 would be 6/7/07 not 7/6/07 as we would say in the U.S. so the date on the chicken is December 8th not August 12th.  You see when we first moved here I did not understand the dating system so I thought everything was expired.

As I said above, Chinese medicine is everywhere, this is in just about every grocery store we have been in

If you are short of fish heads don't fret just head on down to the grocer and they will fix you up

Where the rest of the fish went, we don't know but you can buy the heads.

Little street restaurants and stores are everywhere

and you can find restaurants with "Western food" that is what they call our kind of food the boys love it when we eat in a "western food" place.

There are some really beautiful plants and flowers, we bought this one tonight for our kitchen it will remind us of God's beauty and grace all around us.

We are enjoying our time in Singapore we sure do miss home and family!  We are blessed to be in such a rich and vibrant culture and have much, much more to learn and discover. 

Thank you for all of your encouraging words and comments with our blog, we do read them and are blessed by them.