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.