Buses and Trains

During the morning commute the buses and trains are crowded! Do not expect to get a seat. Noah and I only have 3 stops to travel on the bus in the morning but they are normally standing and there is no consideration for personal space! I will give it to a few folks that see Noah and will give up their seat for him! I am very appreciative even though Noah thinks he’s big enough to stand. On the bus and train are signs about giving your seat up to someone who may need it, like an elderly person or a pregnant lady or a woman with a small child. My favourite is the sign that says “Stop pretending to sleep and give this seat to someone who needs it!” I have not seen the sign again to get a picture, but I did capture this one.

This is a normal site on the train or on the bus. It doesn’t matter what time of the day it is. Maybe this is how they can stay up so late and get up so early. They sleep on the train/bus, oh and at the BK Lounge! I have no desire to assimialte to this ascept of the culture, however Noah dove in! After our trip to the “beach” this was the train ride back.

He really didn’t completely sleep. He struck this pose on his own and so I snapped the shot and a few moments later something woke him up.

Monday I got to visit Litte India. Just like China Town, Little India is just what you would think. They are getting ready for their new year celebration, Deepavali. The streets had the beginings of decorations going up. I went shopping with a fellow teaher’s wife. I did buy 2 Indian style shirts. I did not completely go for the prize. The traditional Indian dress can be a simple shirt, pant and scarf combo or the can get very detailed and intricate in thier sequins and beads. Betsy bought one such “suite” and I was taken back by the weight from the sequins and beads. Those who know me know that I stuck to the plain, bland style and colors.  Maybe next time I be more daring!
I do have to say that Indian food is becoming my favorite.  While in Little India we found a cute little restuarant and decided to try it.  Yummy!!  I had butter chicken (not what it sounds like) and chicken tikka masala (creamy red spicy sauce w veggies) and then there was nada bread.  And we had some covered in garlic.  And it's no American garlic portion.  Oh no they took like a garlic clove for each piece of bread.  Another Indian favorite is roti prata.  It's a dough they stretch till it's really thin and you can have egg or cheese or nothing at all in it and they kinda fold it up and it's fried on a griddle.  I have seen chocolate ones but have not tried them.  Makes me want to go get one now! 

3 day weekend & 3rd unwritten rule

The past month in Singapore has been very hectic (can’t believe it has been over a month since my last posting). We are officially 1/8th of the way through the school year (tomorrow is the midterm for the first quarter). We had a three day weekend, today was Hira Raya (?), so we decided to get out and see some more of Singapore. On Saturday we took Noah to the beach (East Coast). The beach in Singapore is nothing like the beaches in the States. You don’t swim in them (no problem for me as I don’t really like salt water, but Noah was not overly happy with this) and there is very little sand to play in either. We did however find a sand castle building area during our travels. Noah thought this was great. The “professional” sand castle builder and most of his team got out their gear and started building a giant castle. Noah, being the normal 4 yr old, wanted to build a castle, so Holly took him over to the other members of the sand castle team to see if he could have a bucket or something to play with.


It was at this time that we discovered “Unwritten Rule #3” – there is nothing for free in Singapore.

They were more than willing to give Noah a sand castle kit and even teach him how to build a castle all for the low price of $40. Don’t get me wrong, the stuff was OK but not $40 worth. And the teaching would have been nice if Noah were a little older, but not for a 4 yr old. So we decided to wait and buy Noah some sand toys at the store. I will give Noah credit, he was a trooper and after just a little whining decided that he could wait and that he could play in the sand without toys. After awhile, we caught a bus to the mall (Vivo City – little touch of America) to get some dinner. We started in the food court, but no one would take a debit card. Next we hit the BK Lounge – no debit card either. Finally we made our way up to the top floor and found the Carl Jrs, who it turns out will let you pay for your $13 combo (chilli cheeseburger, fries and drink) with your debit card. I will give them credit, they make a goooooooood cheeseburger and free refills are an indulgence I really miss.

After some grub Noah and Holly went to the playground while I hit the electronics store to get a cable for the computer. On my way to the playground, I found a DVD sale going on where I was able to pick up Ice Age 2 and Spiderman 3 for $8 each. Always sweet to find a good deal. Finally we made our way home and called it a day.

Sunday evening we had a great time grilling out with a couple of teachers from school. When we got there, I found the “real charcoal” grill smoking, but no fire, so I decided to lend a hand. We were putting any and everything in the grill in effort to get the charcoal to light. Man do I miss lighter fluid. Finally we sent Mandy (it was her house) to the store to see if they had anything like lighter fluid – success, they had fire starters. Finally we got a fire and soon after were enjoying some chicken dogs. What are chicken dogs you ask? They are hot dogs made out of chicken parts (aren’t you glad you asked). The night was capped off with smores and banana boats. The only thing that would have made the night better would have been a drop in temperature by about 20 degrees.

On Monday, Holly and I had plans to get out of the house for a few hours. Holly went shopping in Little India with Betsy, one of the teacher’s wives, I played Frisbee golf with her husband and a couple of other guys while Noah and their 3 yr old son had a baby sitter. I will let Holly share about her shopping, but my Frisbee golf outing was great. Our Frisbee golf field was a reclaimed cemetery – the city has decided to build houses on the property so they removed all the graves and now the area is being overrun by grass and weeds. For Singapore to be a flat island, we found the only hills on the island and decided it would be a great place to setup a Frisbee golf field. Couple the hills with the humidity and heat and walking the 19 hole course was extremely draining. I wish I could blame my poor play on lack of conditioning, but the truth is “I hoover.” (think vacuum). I remember being pretty good in college but my skills did not come back to me today. Every drive I threw had a massive slice or slammed into a tree well short of the target. If it weren’t for my short game it would have been a real train wreck. Despite my poor play, we had a great time and I am looking forward to being able to get back out there soon. Most importantly it was just good to get out and hangout with people.

After stinking up the course for a few hours, we headed back to the house to cool off. We picked up Noah and Aaron and headed down to the pool. Thankfully it has rained a bunch the past few days so the water had cooled down. It was a great end to a great weekend. Thank you three day weekend. Now it is time to get Noah ready for bed so I will have to write more later.

Peace out - Steve

So off I go to shop first thing in the morning

So off I go to shop first thing in the morning. I was going to the equivalent of Walmart in the states. If you hit the store early you can actually move thru the aisles with a cart and have an enjoyable shopping experience. Well I got to the mall a bit early. I had 30 minutes to burn. So I walk around checking out the things I had been missing when I come and it’s too chaotic to window shop. I decide to hit the food court and pick out the next place to eat at. All the stores were closed except the 3 American fast food places that serve breakfast. So as I stroll I came across what has now become a normal scene, a man sleeping. It seems that this man got up and came to a mall to eat at Burger King and more importantly; to take a nap!! Asian’s are taking naps all the time! I wonder if they’re wired differently. Like if they sit still for more than 5 minutes their body shuts down. What would possess a person to get up out of bed only to fall asleep again at a fast food joint??

I believe I may have some insight however I need another pic to help tell the story, so to be continued...
Another strange thing for us but not for Singapore is the “helpers;” essentially another name for a maid or a nanny or cook. Pretty much someone who will help you with whatever you need done. As we leave in the morning I will see 2 or 3 helpers washing cars. (side note: your car can only be like 4 years old and then you have to get a new one. For real NO ONE has an old car. I imagine the government thinks it bad, so it’s not allowed.) You cannot drive a dirty car! Having the helper clean your car does not seem that weird, except that they clean them every morning! I suppose your car can get really dirty driving across an island?? But it can’t get all that dirty from the parking lot because there are people cleaning those as well! I have watched helpers sweep the driveway and even the road right in front of the house, but this was a new one for me as I left the house to go to school one day!  My rent helps to pay for this man to sweep the parking lot by hand every morning! Not like there’s a whole lot to sweep since it gets done every day, but it’s his duty and so here he is sweeping the parking lot.

Maybe it’s me. Maybe flying at 30,000 feet for 24 hours affected my brain and these are normal things.

Unwritten Rule #2

So when you go to the grocery store and buy your produce you go to the check out and they can ring you up using a code and placing the food on the scanner that doubles as a scale. Not so in Singapore! Your produce needs to be weight and priced in the produce department. Clearly I do not know exactly where this is and when I asked the cashier after she returned from getting my items priced all she could say was “in produce.” So the next time I shop I have got to pay attention for a weighting station so I'm not the stupid American holding up the line!!

Unwritten Rule #1

So the primary mode of transporation for us is a bus. Pretty much what you would expect in a city bus. Well not NY City bus, cause Singapore is much cleaner. Some are extra long w this crazy area in the middle where the two connect. The newer ones are double deckers! Noah loves to go upstairs to sit and see the city. Well he loves to go upstairs, I don't know about the seeing the city thing!
So the buses have two doors; very front (by the driver) and one half way back (the extra longs have a third door way in the back!) The other fact you need to know is that you can use cash to ride the bus but 95% of the people us an EZ Link card. It's the size of a credit card and you add a prepaid amount to them to pay for your rides thru town. At the doors there are readers for the cards. So you hold your card to a pad and it "reads" it and beeps to give you the ok when you enter and exit the bus.
Maybe our second day in Singapore and we are waiting for the bus. It pulls up and we happen to be at the back door. The doors open and we enter and try to get the pad to read our cards but they don't seen to want to work and then we notice the bus driver shouting at us and pointing to the front readers.
Unwritten Rule #1 - You must enter the bus at the driver and exit the bus at the rear. Can not simply enter or exit at whichever door is your convenience!
Ignorant Americans!

experiencing Singapore life 1st hand

this week i get to share an experience that will show what living in Singapore is really like. in order to get around on the buses and trains you need an EZ pass card. when we arrived, the school provided all 3 of us with cards, but after a week our cards were getting low on funds. as such i had to figure out how to put more money on them. so around 7pm i headed out to catch a bus to the nearest train (MRT) station. very uneventful. once i got to the station i found the card balance machine and checked the balances on our cards (the 3 from the school and 6 from the Rogersons - thanks Donna). after getting the balances i had 3 things to get accomplished; 1) get the balance on the old cards transferred to one of our cards, 2) top up (add money to) our cards, and 3) figure out how to get noah a kid's card so he could travel much cheaper. with that in mind, i headed to the nearest counter. i asked the guy at the counter if i could transfer the balances to one card and his answer - "not at this location." i would have to take the train to a different station. ok then, "can i add some money to these cards." the guy told me the only way to add money to EZ pass cards at this station was using a credit card. strike 2. figuring i would go 0 for 3 if i asked about noah's card i decided to leave that question for later. i boarded the train and headed to the next station.

upon my arrival at the next stop (only 5 minutes) i headed to the ticket area. my first stop was going to be at the balance machine - carrying 9 cards makes it somewhat difficult to keep up with which ones have money and which ones don't. surprise, this station didn't have card balance readers. so i hesitantly headed to the ticket window to inquire and about transferring money. again a no go at this window, but thankfully all i had to do was walk across the station to the other ticket window. success - i was able to combine all the old cards into 1 new one. now lets see if i can go 2 for 2. can i top up my other cards here. rejection - NOT at this station. guess where i was told to go to get money on my cards - the previous station. trying to remain optimistic i asked about noah's card and found out that had i brought his passport i could have bought his card. so the lady gave me a form to fill out. once i have the passport info entered i can go back to the station and get noah a card. to be honest this stop was pretty successful by singaporean standards.

now back to the original stop - i had to go back to this stop anyway to get home. upon arrival i headed back to the ticket area and found someone new to talk with. i asked if i could top up my cards and her response - "only with cash at this window." i handed over my cash and cards and having accomplished 2 and a half of my objectives i called it a night and caught my bus home. as i rode the bus i realized that it had taken me almost 2 hours and about $3 for me to accomplish what should (still basing things off of american standards) have taken about $0.20 and 15 minutes.

this is how most things work here. i am quickly learning that nothing is easy to do. ordering food (post to be coming soon), getting to new places by bus, shopping, etc...it all takes patience and understanding - something neither holly or i was overly gifted with yet we are doing OK. it makes every day a new adventure.

enjoying the ride

some singapore sights

So this week we went on a bus tour of the city and i was about to get some pictures of the touristy things. I hope to start posting some pics of "real" life soon.

me and noah waiting to catch the bus

school - where we spend most of our time


holly and noah at the hawker stand - these local food stands are all over the island and are where we eat out most of the time


this is the tallest hotel in the world


city skyline from the Singapore river

parliment

holly needed a drink

a touch of america

local chop houses - over 100 years old

Our first week in Singapore from Holly’s perceptive:

Hello everyone! This has been quite a week. For starters as Steve mentioned the plane ride was not as bad as expected. (Setting your expectations low goes a long way!) No surprise that the food was barely edible and I was disappointed that the movie selection was weak. I guess that’s why I don’t go to the movie theatres much anymore. Noah and I were able to sleep lots on the plane. I learned that those neck pillows really work! I took the one I had thinking it was smaller than a normal pillow but wow, no neck pain!! Get one of these! We get “settled” in for the night at the elementary principals flat and manage to sleep from 2am to 6am.
As I walk thru the kitchen on our first morning I am hit with an odor. “What is that smell?” It seems that breakfast food is really an American thing and eating garlic, onions and all the other asian spices first thing in the morning is a great way to start the day!! Yikes! I believe they do recognize that what they are eating is stinky because the incense will follow shortly!
We had medical exams. Since we’re poor for Singapore standards we are probably carrying some sickness so we have to be checked out! A side note on government health care. In Singapore they are much more efficient than the US health care system. The price you pay for that efficiency is a lack of privacy! You pretty much go from one line to the next and the people behind you will know all about your business cause the dr will repeat everything at an elevated voice and with a thick accent.
I realize now I was running on adrenaline the first day; because the second day (Friday) I (really all of us) hit a brick wall. Steve and I viewed a few apartments our first day and the realtor and owner made out the commute to school would be a nice 20 minute train ride. Being warned that commute times are not what they seem we decide to venture into the city on our own to time the trek! We proceed to get off a bus stop to early. Not a big deal we’ll walk. But when we get the train station Steve and I might have made the evening news! Nothing incredible dramatic except for the fact the we are the foreigners and Steve and I are yelling at each other over where we are suppose to go! Now that I think about it, I bet we actually fit right in! When you think of Asians, don’t you picture two people who appear to be yelling at each other all the time; but that’s just the way they talk.
We have looked at a lot of places. The stories there we do not have enough time for! But I do believe we have chosen a place. It’s more than we wanted to spend but have realized that Noah’s little legs do not carry him as fast as we would like, so morning commutes are taking us longer. We have decided on a 3 bedroom condo 2 – 3 bus stops from the school. Because it’s a condo and not a HDB (gov’t subsided apartment) we get an amenities center including a large pool and the unit has aircons (essentially window type AC units) in all the rooms (well not in the kitchen or the bath rooms).
Another difference is in a condo you cannot hang your clothes out to dry. On the HDB’s you will see poles coming off the units with people’s laundry hanging to dry. One of our first days days the number one reason why I would not want to hang my clothes out on a pole was brought to life. We were walking back to our home and had to step around a pair of ladies undies!!! So do you go after them or are they a lost cause because you don’t want someone to know those were yours??
For today I’ll end here! We will take more pics of the city and other oddities!!!!

Our first post as Strangers in Singapore

We made it. We arrived in Singapore at 11:30pm on Wednesday night after 26 hours of airports and plan rides. As for the flights, they were not bad at all. We bought economy tix, but we received a blessing (this was a great reminder that God is in the little things) on the Dulles to Tokyo (13 hour) leg as we were reassigned to economy plus which meant I had 5 extra inches of foot room. Let me tell you, those extra 5 inches really make a difference to someone who is over 6 feet tall. It was so awesome that I paid to upgrade our Tokyo to Singapore tix to economy plus.

Upon arrival we were given one of the teacher’s “flats” to use as our home while we search for an place to call home. Let’s just say this “flat” is cozy. Very small and simple, but I am grateful to have somewhere to stay while we look for a place to call our own. It is nice to know we can spend our time really looking at different places so we can find the place that fits us best. So far we have checked out 7 places and they have been all over the spectrum. Two are really nice but one of them is about a 40 minute commute and the other is kinda pricey. The rest are fixer uppers (some are expensive, some not so much). The problem is everything is a rental so a fixer upper means someone else is going to benefit from my hard work and money. The best part of the searching happened tonight as we walked through the 2^nd “flat,” where we discovered a squatty potty (see picture on right). Even our Singapore realtor was taken back by this. I really want the last “flat” we viewed tonight, but the cost is just outside of what we budgeted so we are going to have to negotiate with the landlord – hopefully we can come to an accord in this matter. Something to be in prayer about.

In addition to house searching, we are battling some major jetlag. We have been here a little more than 48 hours and jetlag is kicking Holly and Noah’s booties. I have traveled enough and have enough sleep problems that I am pretty good at adjusting to the new time zone. The same cannot be said for Holly and Noah however. Noah’s poor little body is trying hard to sleep on American time which means he is begging to take naps and once he is out, there is no waking him. Yesterday we made him cry by refusing him sleep (no we aren’t bad parents, forcing him to sleep according to Singapore hours is the only way to combat jetlag). Finally we had to give him a shower and then we went to the playground, which woke him up for at least a couple of hours. All the while, Holly was dozing off but I am proud of her, because she managed not to take a nap today, which helped her sleep tonight. The problem is Noah is still waking up several times a night so our sleep is interrupted. I am praying that God will give Holly and Noah a great night’s rest tonight which will help renew them for tomorrow.

I had some pictures to post of Noah playing on the playground, riding his first train, him and Holly dozing off and such, but I had a slight situation this evening and I ended up deleting the pictures. It appears that when we took Noah to the playground we double locked our door. This means that we activated the deadbolt twice (I know it doesn’t make since, but the dead bolt locks as you turn the key, but if you keep turning the key, the lock will lock one more time). Anyway, I was trying to get in and I was convinced that the slide lock has somehow locked when we shut the door. As a result I had to pry the window open and slide the camera in to get a picture so I could see what was going on. Of course the slide bolt was not locked and I was left scratching my head. To make matters worse, the realtor was coming to pick us up. All this was really trying my patience (being tired really didn’t help), but I walked away, took a breath, and asked God for some help. When I went back to the door, I turned the key and I noticed that it would keep turning. And tada it opened, crisis adverted.

As I close this posting, I was finally able to rig the portable DVD player up to the TV and power outlet so we can watch TV and use the computer as a computer. It is amazing how when you live in a foreign culture you are thankful for the small things. It is really helping me to be thankful for all that God provides.

Strangers

Singapore update coming soon

Just wanted to let everyone know we are in Singapore. I will be posing some information tomorrow along with some pictures, if I can manage not to delete them again.

thanks for your prayers and support as we begin our ministry here in Singapore. Talk with you soon.

It is time to say good-bye

I can't believe we are actually moving to Singapore tomorrow. Just think, 5 months ago, becoming missionaries was just something I was thinking about doing. Now it is a reality. Time has flown by and July has been a very hectic month between finishing up at work, packing up the house, trying to say good-bye to everyone, and packing our lives into 7 suitcases. I knew this process was going to be difficult, but it has almost been overwhelming at times. But finally the leaving stage is coming to an end. Tomorrow morning at 10:08am we board our plane at RDU and begin our 26 hour journey to Singapore.

Now we are going to enter the transition stage. The next few months are going to be filled new experiences - new living conditions, not having a car, new jobs, not having family close by, having to make new friends, etc... The question we have to answer is what attitude to we take with us. Do we go expecting to have all of our needs taken care of, or do we go as empty vessels who will allow God to move and work. My deepest desire is that Holly and I arrive in Singapore empty, that we leave all of our perceived needs, wants and expectations at RDU. I don't want our wants and desires to get in the way of what God is going to show us and do for us. We aren't taking America to Singapore, our hope is that while we will be strangers in Singapore, it can become home for us. Because we won't be able to accomplish anything for God if we are constantly worrying about having our expectations meet. Please pray that we go empty.

As I am typing this I have come to the realization that I am optimistic about becoming missionaries. I can't believe I just said that. Those of you who know me, know that "optimistic" is not an adjective which describes me. But I am very optimistic about this move and opportunity. I have no doubt that we are going to have an awesome experience in our new ministry because I know that God is in this. I know our transition will be difficult at times (see I am still a pessimist at heart) but these difficulties are going to make us stronger and if we allow them to, they will draw us closer together as a family and with God. So for the first time in a long time I can actually say "bring own the challenge."

I wish we could take some of you with us, but this is our calling not yours. As such we must say good-bye for now. Don't be sad, and please don't forget about us. We will need your prayers and your encouragement, so please keep in touch. We leave for Singapore on Tuesday morning at 10:08am and will land 26 hours later at 12am Thursday morning (Singapore time). This will be my last stateside blog. I don't know when we will have access to the internet again (one of the many things we have to get setup after we find a home in Singapore) so I don't know when my next post will be, but hopefully it will come from foreign soil sometime in the next week.

Please be praying for us and don't forget that God has called us to be strangers in this world. This is not our home, heaven is so we need to live like it.

- Strangers

PFO is over

Praise God, we survived our two week pre-field orientation in Mississippi and are back in Richmond. It was an awesome experience and we met some great people who will be heading around the world over the next few weeks. It was truly amazing to spend 12 days with ~180 men and women who, like us, are willing to sacrifice their lives here in the states in order to carry God's love to the corners of the world (South America, Africa, Asia, Europe). But I am glad to be home and looking forward to sleeping in my king size bed tonight.

Over the next 3 weeks many things have to come to completion. My time at Panera will come to an end which I am really sad about because I work with some awesome people. Holly will hopefully have her replacement trained at her job. We have to get all of our stuff put into storage - thanks so much to Daniel and Amanda, and the small bit of our lives that is going with us will be packed into suitcases and rubbermaid tubs. To be honest this is the most excited and scared I have ever been at any point in my 33 years on earth. I have done some amazing and crazy things, but all of that fails to compare to this. But it is a good fear as it is causing me to think more about who God is and how He is working through this opportunity. I am super excited to see what God is going to do in Singapore and in our lives. Please continue to pray for Holly, Noah and me as we try to get everything finalized on our end before we head overseas.

Strangers in the world

As many of you know, my family has accepted the call to become missionaries to Singapore this fall. As I write this post, we are in Mississippi going through our Pre-Field Orientation which is designed to help us prepare for our move. I really didn't know what to expect from this training and at times I have felt overwhelmed with all the information that has been given. But one concept has run through almost everything we have discussed - Christians have been called to be strangers in the world. This concept is found in Peter's first letter which begins as follows;

"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout...who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood..." (1 Peter 1:1-2).

Up until this week, this verse was just another verse in God's Word. By this I mean that it was important but I had not yet allowed it to truly change me. All that has changed over the past few days as I realized that in a little over one month I will be moving my family to a different country. Before we step foot on Singapore soil, we have to get rid of most of our personal possessions whether it is being sold, put in storage, given away or thrown away. We must say goodbye to our family and friends and to the jobs we have come to love. Then we will board a plane and 30 hours later we will arrive in a country where we know nothing or no one. Everything we consider "normal" will be replaced with the wierd, the different and the unknown. And at that moment we will truly be "strangers in the world." We will no longer "fit in" or have our comfort items. Everything that we have come to rely on will be gone, except for us and God and yet I am completely OK with that. Why is that? Because I realize that moving to another country doesn't make me a stranger in the world, my relationship with Christ does. He expects me to be different and to have different values (obedience to His Word) than those who don't know Him. His desire is that people will see that I am different and want to know why. As such I should be just as much a stranger in my own land as I will be in my new land.

My home is in heaven and until I get there I want to be known as a "stranger in the world"