Monday, August 17, 2009
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!!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
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!
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!
Friday, August 7, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
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!!!!
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!!!!
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