Sticker Shock

Welcome to Singapore a small island nation that really does not have farms to speak of therefore everything is imported making it expensive.

 Some things are surprisingly cheap like we found a box of Post Honey Bunches of Oats for $5.90 but bacon is $14.90 a pound a small chicken is $8.00, milk $10.00 a gallon and thats not organic, the organic is now $30.00 a gallon although last week it was on sale for $9.00 a gallon.  Butter is about the same at aroud $4.00 a pound. 

I wanted some plastic plates for us to use on the deck for luches so our pocelin plates would not get broken in the event of a drop but the plastic plates were $7.00 for ONE.  I will have to see if my shopper in the U.S. can pick us up some dollar store plates to put into a shipment for us, or..... just DON"T drop the plate!  I am so grateful we went to Sams Club and got zip lock bags to bring with because a box of quart size bags is $12.00.  We will be reusing our zip locks, normally I do not reuse the bags but we will now as we will not be buying more when the ones we brought run out.

The boys and I went to our neighborhood Cold Storage grocery store yesterday to buy some food for dinner.  The chicken was the cheapest meat so we went with that, it looked good in the package, fresh but really small compared to chickens you get in the U.S.A.  turely no growth hormones were given to this chicken!

I figured out what 350 degrees F is in C and set my oven to roast the chicken.  Upon reaching into the bird to remove the giblet bag I was surprised to find no giblets but rather the feet, tied together.  Now let me say I am a huge fan of Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon so I was actually excited about this knowing the nutritional value that the feet add to the meal.  What  I wasn't expecting was the head to flop out at me when I picked the chicken up to rinse it!

Well, I don't know yet what to do with the head and did not have time to read about what to do with the head so I chopped it off and threw it away.  I will have to learn about the head as I am sure it is good for you and the prices are just too high to be throwing things away. 

We spotted some Ben and Jerrys ice cream and our mouths started to water but..... $23.00, ok we will do without!  Nice ice cold sun tea is refreshing and cheap, but not quite Ben and Jerrys.

Cultural Differences

Yes, Pig Organ Soup.  It is in most hawker centers we have been in, and I have actually seen people eating it.  Well at this time no thanks but maybe another time, or maybe not.

We have had many different cultural experiences since we arrived and we have only been here for six days now.  The Hawker Centers are very easy to use, they are like a big food court in the mall and honestly it is a lot cheaper to eat at a Hawker Center than it is to eat at home our whole family can eat including drinks for $15.00 U.S. 

It is busy, people everywhere all the time but everyone is polite and ready with a welcoming smile if you smile at them first otherwise don't expect a smile to be initiated by them. 

The boys and I took our first bus today, I am grateful for the I-phone and all the Singapore apps available for free, I have an app that allows me to type in where we are and where we want to go, it will tell me what bus to take, how long we will wait and how much it will cost, it will also tell me the price of a cab and then compare if it is cheaper to take a cab, bus or the subway. 

We cooked our first meal here at home last night in our new genuine hand pounded iron wok I picked up in China Town, it got hot fast and held the heat long.  We will have to investigate getting a wok ring for it at home but here in Singapore every stove is equipped with a hob ( wok burner) that makes for easy cooking.

Coffee?

Well it is hard to believe we have only been here for 4 days we have done a lot to settle in and have a ways to go yet.

 Today I was able to get up, talk to my Mom on vonage and make coffee in our apartment.  We bought a coffee maker yesterday which was a cultural experience in its self.  There were no prices in on the items  the store so we had to ask the salesman how much this one is, well, how much is that one and he was just giving us prices off the top of his head which seemed high to us.

 We had to get a toaster and an iron too so we ended up asking for them to give us a lower price if we buy all three items from them, I think we got a free toaster but it is hard to tell. 

So it was great I made the coffee up, and went into a different room to continue my phone conversation with Mom.  Much to my dismay when I returned to the kitchen there was no coffee in the pot.

 You see, I turned on the coffee maker but I did not turn on the outlet switch. Every outlet has its own switch and they need to be turned on and off with each use of the appliance.  Yes, you could just leave it on but then you are wasting energy.

  Singapore is very energy conscience.  It is a good thing but it will take some getting used to, we did get good coffee, just a little later than we first thought.

No Right Turn

We got our car today.  Really transportation in Singapore is very easy the cabs are many and they are cheap, and easy to flag down.  Unless it is raining, not because everyone suddenly wants a cab to avoid getting wet, no, it is because the cab drivers own their cars therefore they do not want to drive in the rain when there in an increased risk of an accident so they park it and go into a restaurant or mall leaving you stuck.  Good thing there is also an extensive bus and subway system.  All this to say that having a car is not a necessity but sure is nice.

So, have car will drive?  Well we did, we went to our neighborhood shopping area to buy our coffee maker and our toaster and iron.  It will be good to have coffee tomorrow morning.

We decided that I should drive there so Scott could navigate and then he would drive home giving both of us a chance to drive.  So what is the bid deal?  The driver sits on the right side of the car and you drive on the left side of the street.  This did not sound like a big deal to me but once I got into the driver seat I realized that I really had to pay attention to where my left front end was as the whole car orientation on the road is different.  The right turn becomes the turn that cross traffic so there are areas where right turns are not allowed.

The good thing is the gas and break pedal are in the same spot.  The funny thing is the wiper blades and the turn signal are opposite.  The boys were laughing so hard that they said their cheeks hurt.  Every time I wanted to turn I would turn on the wiper blades instead of the turn signal.  Then we missed a turn so we had to go way out of our way in order to make a legal U turn.  They pulled up the "Mikes Car" video for me to watch when we got home because they thought this driving experience was so funny :)

People back into their parking spots here.  The parking is tight, really tight, like there is no way to fully open your door when you are in a spot.  I am not good at backing into anything really so this weekend I will drive around in our parking structure and practice backing into my spot.  Anyone want to volunteer to be the parked car I pull next to??

First Impressions From Caleb

Hey it’s me again, your friendly neighborhood Caleb.  Well, we're in Singapore.  First of all, there is WAY too much to put in one blog, so I’ll just start with the basics. I HAVE A ROOM MATE. Well, did have a roommate. We found this little guy in a window.  The movers said he must have come in my mattress.  It’s a praying mantis.  Much to my mom’s relief, he is dead, (she almost had a heart attack when I showed her).

Mom tried to hang a picture today and quickly found out that the walls are, well, made of cement. If you think pounding a nail into a cement wall is easy, you should try it.

We have a very large condo complex, and so far I have seen many little kids.  Can you say, babysitting opportunities?

  HEY good news!!!! I can get a job!!!!  I am not a Singapore citizen so I thought I couldn’t.  Turns out if the company is willing to do some extra paper work, and accept me as an employee, I can get a job.

There is a lot more I could put in here but my laptop battery is almost dead.  This is the second of many blogs from me.  I might even get my own blog account.  We’ll see.

Love you all and see you later!!!!

First Day

Whew we made it.  Moving internationally takes a lot of preparation, time, effort, paper work, energy, and positive out look.  We left our home town airport at 7 am for our 29 hour journey to Singapore, four people, three flights and 20 pieces of luggage, I am sure we were a site once we arrived at 1:30 am at the Singapore airport. 

Our first day got off to an early start.  After going to bed at 3:40 am and getting up at 7 am we were off and in search for a quick breakfast somewhere around our apartment as we had to meet the housing agent in order to get our keys.  Mc Donalds won that search, we don't eat at Mc Donalds often but I'll tell ya, it was a welcomed meal for all of us and the coffee was decent too.

 Since we remembered that this Mc Donalds was close to our apartment we decided why not just walk over there to meet the agent.  Off we went for a really long 20 minute walk that left us drenched in sweat (83 degrees and 87% humidity) and totally energy depleted!  OK, NOT  a good idea as we felt the effects of that walk all day long, live and learn right?

We had no soap, towels etc... we were smart enough to bring our coffee and juice cups from Mc Donalds with us so we could drink and drink and drink and drink water all day long.  It is amazing how much you have to drink and you are still thirsty.

 Good thing cabs are cheap because we have taken a lot of them  (5)our first day here and good thing stores will deliver as we had to purchase a lot of items to set up house.

The boys really loved the first day.  Caleb found a "nice" surprise that he will share in a different blog, let's just say I let out a "slight shriek" when he kindly showed me.

 I have a nice picture to put with this blog but the camera is at our apartment and we are at the hotel and it is 5:30 am so just imagine two happy sweaty boys sitting next to Ronald Mc Donald on a bench.  Maybe I will try to add it later.

We had lunch at a "Hawker Centre" yummy!  I got this amazing apple carrot ginger fresh squeezed juice and lemon chicken over rice served with.... a fried egg...?  Keegan enjoyed some Chicken Rice and Scott had Chicken noodles, Caleb ate off of ours and enjoyed some great fresh squeezed juice. 

Our shipment and our temporary furniture arrived today too and the shipment company helped us unpack so that went quick.  We need to find some hangers for cheap, we looked last night and got some good sticker shock!  Over one U.S. dollar PER hanger!!!  Uh oh!  We plan to go to Ikea later tonight so.... maybe we will find some there.

Good-bye From Keegan

It's finally here, it is happening we are moving to Singapore.  It is really kicking into gear we have left our house and are at a hotel for the night.  Our flight leaves early in the morning good thing the Packers are playing tonight or we would be bored in this room.  By the way this is the exact same room we lived in for 40 days 7 years ago when we had a house fire.  Weird huh?

Mom and Dad said Caleb and I can stay up all night if we want to so we can start to switch our clock around.  We can play our Nintendo DS with our headphones on.  Woooo Hooooooooo.

You should see all the luggage we have 4 big suit cases, 8 hard tubs, and 8 carry ons to make a total of 20 pieces of luggage.  It is really hard to leave everything we know but for me the waiting and saying good-bye is the hardest part.  I am thrilled it is finally happening. 

Caleb and I are privileged to be able to get phones with droid as we will be out on our own some in a big city.  I am really getting hyped about that!

Our dog Summit keeps looking for us but she is settling down in her new home well and we know she is being well cared for by Grandma and Grandpa, but Ky thinks Summit should go home.  Little does Ky know it is going to be two years before she goes home.  We miss her already!