Giddy Up Up UP~ New Zealand Day 3

We asked the boys if there was anything in particular they wanted to do while in New Zealand and the over whelming response was horse back riding on a mountain trail. 

So we went, we found a place that offered a three hour ride UP I mean really, really UP the mountain.

Good thing I did not know how high and how steep the hills were before we left because I may have backed out, that would have been a bad decision, this was an amazingly beautiful ride.  We do not have any photos to show the steep hills because there was no way for us to take our hands off the reigns to handle the camera.

The views were incredible, we rode through water

We rode through the fields with the sheep and the little baby lambs.  Our guide warned to not allow a baby lamb too close to our horse because the lambs do not see very well and will tend to try to latch on and nurse the horses leg, as you can imagine the horse would protest.

Some trotting and light galloping was necessary in order to go up the hills.  When we talked about a three hour ride we thought that was a great idea and it WAS great.  I am realizing that this is a ride that just keeps giving as I believe at least Scott and I will be feeling that saddle for a few days yet to come.  We would do it again, we all really enjoyed the peacefulness and adventure of our ride.

Coasting Along: New Zealand Day Two

Today was one of our four driving days we are driving north along the west side of the South Island, our plan was to get up early and be on the road by seven this morning.  We did not do too bad as we were on the road driving by 7:40, we had six hours of driving ahead of us so we were glad to get this early start to our day, not so easy since no one in our family is a morning person.

Well long story short, our six hour drive took us TEN hours!  Read on and you will SEE why.

We just could not help ourselves, we had to stop, look, soak in, and enjoy, this country is just too beautiful to go zipping by at 120 KM/ HR. 

Spring is in full swing, we saw so many sheep with their little lambs, I think there are more sheep than people in New Zealand, the trees are budding out and the rivers are running fast.

We found a beautiful pull off

and then another and then another and then...... "ok we need to drive or we will never get to the hotel."  We just said how we need to drive and from the back seat  came these words "stop, we need to stop here!"

So we stopped, after all we are on vacation.  This place turned out to be a great stop as we were blessed with some wild life, in the wild

The seals were out sunning, the birds were flying the wind was whispping by and we were loving every minute of it.

We spent about 30 minutes here exploring and soaking in God's beautiful creation. 

The amazing feat is that we did drive for about an hour and a half  after our seal exploring stop,but then we were getting hungry.  We are trying not to eat out too much on this trip so we went to a grocery store last night in Christ Church to get some picnic food and snacks for our car. 

New Zealand has there roads set up very nicely for travelers, there are little signs with a picnic table on them indicating an area with picnic tables along the coast, they are about every five miles or so. 

This is where we stopped to eat

The birds were happy we saved them some bread crumbs.

and once again we were blessed with seals sunning themselves

this one was big and lazy and let us get very, very close it

It was a great day for some fun and some time of reflection and family bonding, and alone time.

Breath~ Taking: New Zealand Day 1

Our family decided kind of spur of the moment to come to New Zealand for a vacation.  We saw an add in the paper for amazingly cheap airline tickets on a budget airline and decided to "go for it". 

People in Singapore can not believe that most people in the U.S.A. do not have passports.  Living in this part of the world opens a whole new door and perspective on travel as it is cheap, easy, and a very new experience for the Miles family. 

So off we went yesterday, boarding our plane.  We really did not know what to expect, we knew it was a 9 hour flight and there was no food or drink included in our ticket cost.  We knew that some people have had really bad experiences on budget airlines but we also knew that this was a price we could afford so if we want to see New Zealand, now is the time.

The first breath taking experience we had was unfortunately not a good one.  We were ordering some lemonade from the drink cart that was going by when the call came over the speakers, "we need any and all medical certified personnel to report to the front immediately.

  Wow, you don't hear that very often and even though I have been out of work for a while I do have a lot of critical care experience so up to the front I went. 

You know, we just never know the time or the place that our breath is going to be taken from us. My arrival to the front of the economy class seats was one of my fears as a medical professional. 

There was a man who was not breathing, he was a very large man, it took 6 men to get him into the galley so that myself, one doctor and one microbiologist could work on trying to revive his life. That's right out of all of the people on the plane only three came up front to help.

 I will spare you the details but he was 31 and on that day on that plane, his breath was taken from him and not matter how hard or how long we tried it was not coming back.

Our second breathtaking experience came as we took an evening drive through Christ Church up and down a windy mountain road into Lyttelton, the gateway to the Arctic, a town that was hit hard by the earth quake a few months ago.  The mountains, the lake the city from above with the sun setting and the city lights shining was just breath taking, amazing, beautiful, peaceful. 

As I was standing there looking I thought of Robert, the man who gave his last breath on our flight and I thought of how God gives and God takes.

God gave us Jesus who also gave his breath in order for us to live.  I thought about how God is in control of everything, it is not for us to worry about our days. 

Yes, our days are numbered but there are many many gifts given to us each and every day for us to enjoy and that in its self can be breathtaking.

National Day

Happy 46th Birthday Singapore!

 

Singapore Pledge:

We the citizens of Singapore
Pledge ourselves as one united people
Regardless of race, language or religion
To build a democratic society
Based on justice and equality
So as to achieve happiness
Prosperity and progress for our nation

 Today is National Day and other than the fact that Scott has a very welcomed day off of work we are trying to learn just what does National Day mean to the country of Singapore. 

It is interesting in that Singapore prior to August 9th 1965 was a part of the Federation of Malaysia.  Due to political difference too long to put into this blog Malaysia basically kicked Singapore out of the Federation with everyone expecting it to fail as a country.

Living here has shown us in a very real way that not only did Singapore not fail as a country it has thrived as a country.  It is a strong economic and trading hub.  A popular tourist destination with an average of 7 million plus tourists a year and it is one of the two biggest sea ports in the world competing with Shanghai China.

We watched the National Day Address (click on the link to view the address) and learned that current unemployment in Singapore is at 2.1%, so very low compared to a large portion of the world.

There are many laws in Singapore that get international attention and even the locals know that it is a "fine" city.  Fine meaning that you can face a fine for a good many things.  These things are not a secret there are signs all over the city detailing what the offense is and what the penalty is.

they even sell t-shirts as souvenirs detailing some of the many fines you may find.

Why do I bring this up in the National Day blog?  I think that some of these laws and some of these fines do indeed make Singapore a nice place to live.  As soon as you cross over the boarder into Malaysia you know you have left the safe haven of Singapore, right away you notice the trash and litter all over the roads to name just one thing.

It is interesting living here coming from the U.S.A "the land of the free".  I love our freedom in the U.S.A and am very grateful to those who fight for our freedoms I love that we can protest, bear arms, and chew gum in public. 

With Singapore being so very very close to volatile areas of the world they work hard as a nation to maintain peace and harmony for its citizens.  From what we can see it is working.

We allow our boys to take city buses and taxis and walk by themselves here because there is a safety amongst the community.

 It is hard to explain but as we reflect on this National Day in this foreign land that we are in, we see that we have learned to appreciate some of the things we thought odd upon our arrival.

Singapore is like the U.S.A in that it is a melting pot of different nations the three biggest being Malay, Chinese and Indian.  All three of these nations have different religions and all three of these live side by side in harmony, it really is a unique experience.

And like the 4th of July in the U.S.A. National Day in Singapore is a big deal, the pride of the country shines, there are political addresses, parades and fire works (all of which we will be watching on TV as we know the crowds downtown will be unbearable)

We leave you with a link to the 2011 National Day Parade theme song.

Majulah!
Singapore National Anthem

All Cracked Up

I must say that we have had excellent medical care while living here in Singapore.

 Unfortunately we have had to use the medical care, with Keegan's diabetes, and Randi tearing ligaments in her wrist we have met a number of medical professionals. 

We have been impressed with the level of personal service that we receive, when we walk into a clinic there is little to no wait, the receptionist calls us by name upon our arrival with a smile.  The doctors have never seemed rushed to get done with our appointment they take time, answer questions and really listen to what we have to say or ask. 

The insurance system is easy, there are no hidden costs, no getting bills in the mail weeks, months or even years after your procedure.

  The doctors office has about 90 percent of the medication they prescribe right there on site so there is no need to go to the pharmacy you can simply go home and rest.

Having said all of this there are still cultural differences we have to work through, it is important to clarify what we think we heard them say to us as the phrasing and terminology can be challenging to understand. 

Recently I (Randi) have cracked my tooth.  It has been a very long saga of decisions to be made, U.S. insurance coverage and lack there of and latex allergy issues preventing me from choosing "the best possible route" for my condition.

The team of dentist I am working with have been very thorough very cautious and very informative, however, I still had some questions that I was having a hard time working through.

  Tonight I remembered that as we were getting ready to make our move to Singapore my dentist in Milwaukee told me that if we have any questions for her while living here don't hesitate to call. 

I did call her tonight and talked at length about my cracked tooth, it was comforting as she confirmed everything the dentist here have told me and she assured me that although I may be all cracked up, I am not beyond repair. :)

Sunday Afternoon Drive

While I was growing up taking a "Sunday afternoon drive" was not uncommon, the roads were peaceful the view was pleasant and it was something to do.  A road trip can be a very fun and adventurous thing in general I like driving.

Since moving to Singapore however, my view of driving has changed.  I will say the driving and traffic is better than some places we have been, Istanbul Turkey for example was really crazy, while I would say that driving in Singapore is just crazy.

Why?  Well for one we are driving from the right hand side of the car and driving on the left hand side of the road, while we are getting use to this it is very strange at first.

 Singapore is a relatively small island with a lot of people and little space.  To help solve crowding problems every thing is built up and down, high rise buildings with four levels of basement is not uncommon.

The more people you have the more cars you have on the roads, therefore more parking spaces are needed.  To solve this problem the parking spaces are just big enough for your car to fit.  I am not kidding, there is a mere 6 inches on either side of your car before the next car or post.  The parking is so tight that: you have to back into your space as your turn radius going foreword is not tight enough for your car to fit, all side mirrors fold in with the push of a button and if you do not fold them in they are likely to hit the mirrors on the car next to you.  Space is just that tight.

So as you can imagine coming from the U.S. where you can whip right into a parking space front facing having plenty of room to open your doors and never thinking about pulling in your mirror in order to fit the car into the parking space, we had and have a bit of anxiety when it comes to parking in Singapore.

Speaking of parking the "car park" or as we would say parking structure ramps are also very very tight, there is a rainbow of paint colors on the concrete lining the ramp from cars misjudging how much space they do not have.  We are very careful in car parks not to scrape our car and yet twice now we have had to pay for car repairs due to parking ramps that are to tight.  There are some buildings that we just simply will not park in as we have learned that the ramp is too small for our comfort.

Driving is a similar experience.  The lanes are tight and the motor bikes driving between lanes are many, people stop for no apparent reason, and there are multiple buses and taxis making frequent stops.  Bike riders have no choice but to ride in the traffic, there are no shoulders and frequently the lane is lined with a concrete barrier leaving zero room for maneuvering.

Why am I recording this?  Well we had to take a drivers written test this week to get a Singapore drivers licence as our U.S. license is only good for one year and we will live here for two years.  There are many new rules, regulations and signs we had to learn.  We were warned that the test is hard, the questions are tricky and it is not uncommon for foreigners to have to take the test several times before passing it.  You can take the test as many times as necessary for a fee of $50.00 they don't mind as long as you pay.

The test taking opportunity only happens every couple of months and it was not an easy process.  We found out when we got there that we would need a photo copy plus the originals of three different documents, we did not have a photo copy with us only the originals.  There is no copy machine in the driving school!!  It is a three story government building with no copy machine.

We know to ask the locals so we were told of a copy machine a few blocks away in a government housing complex that we went to.  We also needed a passport size photo as they do not take your picture for your licence for you.  Luckily there was a girl in the school taking pictures for "a small fee" so we opted for that.

The test was 50 questions on a touch screen computer system heavily monitored with both a room monitor who was distracting and closed circuit TV.  In order to pass you must have a grade of 90% or greater.  The guy in front of us in line to check in was a business man from the U.K. who was renewing his license, he said the first time it took him three times to pass the test.  That made us a little nervous as he told us the English on the test was not that great so read the questions very carefully.

As we took the test we both felt it was not that bad, we both passed and in a month should receive our license in the mail.  That's right they do not just process it and hand it to you, you must wait and look for it to come via the postal system.

Just Go With It

Living in a different country can be a stretch of your flexibility.  Think about it, we have our daily routines of simply living.  We tend to take so many things for granted, like grocery stores, clean and safe water, good medical options; the list could go on.

 The point in all of this is to remind myself that sometimes you just have to go with it.  We have made it a point to live a more "simple" life while living in Singapore.  We are only going to be here for two years so little things like a blender, and electric mixer etc.... have not been purchased.

 There are days when I find myself thinking "you know, I could really use a......"  just fill in the blank it doesn't matter what it is.  We have been here for almost nine months now and have done just fine without the item so why buy it now?

Will it make my life easier - maybe- but in reality what are we going to do with it when we move?  If we have lived for nine months with out it do we really need it for the next 15 months?  The item we think we need may make some parts of life quicker, easier, or bring joy into our days but..... is it really necessary?

What a delicate balance, keeping focus on the temporary and yet making Singapore truly a "home" and not just a temporary dwelling place.

I am finding that my definition of what makes my home a "home" has changed a bit since we have been living here.  Please don't misunderstand, Singapore is an extremely nice place to live.  People refer to it as a "paradise island" and in some respects that is true.

Singapore is safe, it is clean, the people for the most part are polite and it is efficient.  We find that even with all of our creature comforts in place it is still hard sometimes to do our day to day living.

It is people in our lives that make our home "home".  We find that we are not missing the creature comforts of our home in WI, what we are missing is our relationships.  These are the things that can not be replaced.

God has provided amazing people in our lives here in Singapore and we have been very fortunate to have people we love come and visit us while we are here we are very grateful for that.  When we think about how nice it would be to have a ............ we remember that we have been fine without it so far and we don't really need........ so we will just go with it and do with out it.