Home of the Carrick Family Website
Friday, May 09, 2008
This morning at breakfast we tried some local fruit. A rambutan is a walnut sized fruit, with red skins and strange green hairy things sticking out if it! Very weird looking! Rambut means hairy in Malay. The fruit is transparent or whitish with a sweet flavor, very similar to a lychee. We also tried Longans, not to be confused with loganberry. It's about the size of a small grape, with a thick golden colored skin which you peel, to reveal a fruit also very similar to a lychee. Both were very good. The last thing we tried was a mangosteen. It looks very much like a small pomegranate. The tough skin is a dark purple. To open it you place it between your palms and squeeze to split the skin. The flesh inside is similar to a lychee but segmented and had a creamy-peachy-citrusy flavor.
Saturday May 10, 2008
We're in our house and it's slowly beginning to look like a home - you know, newspapers everywhere, shoes and socks on the floor. Really though, it's coming together very nicely. We got some more furniture delivered as well as some more appliances. No were only waiting on cups and glasses, a toaster, iron, bar-stools....It hasn't all been smooth sailing.....our bed-frame hasn't arrived so Rory and I are sleeping on the mattress on the floor. Our TV blew up yesterday. We were watching and then there was a big bang, and it was dead! Not sure what happened but it wasn't our fault! It's going back today! At the grocery store yesterday we couldn't find any dishwasher soap so we asked a few people, only to receive blank stares, and that was from the ones who could understand our English! I see dishwashing in my future!
Last night there was an enormous storm - lightning and thunder so loud it felt like we were in the clouds. All the houses have lightning conductors, apparently a good thing!!! Our relo lady told us lightning was the biggest killer in S'pore and not to let the kids play outside when there was a storm approaching, now we know why!!!
After looking into our various options, we decided to purchase a used car. It's about a third of the price of leasing one or purchasing a new one. We got a Hyundai Tucson. Although we can still fit in kids and dogs, it's not too big, and I still have hope of being able to squeeze it into the minute parking spaces here! Can't wait to get it today to stick on my Texas and Dallas Cowboys stickers! Got to attract those Texan expats, or any expats for that matter!
Last night we went to one of our local restaurants within walking distance of our house. We drove there as I was totally exhausted after unpacking the whole day.....not a good decision! After numerous U-turns and battling never-ending traffic, we made it to the restaurant, for some delicious Italian food. Who knew we would have to travel all the way to Singapore in order to get great Italian! Rory drove home while the kids and I walked, and we beat him by a long shot. Awesome - no more traffic hassles!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Mothers Day! My wonderful day started out with breakfast in bed. Maxine and Rory had searched the grocery store for the muesli that I'd had at the hotel. We spent the morning strolling around the Singapore Botanical Gardens, which are less than 5 minutes away from our house. The Orchid Gardens were exquisite. We walked for as long as we could stand the heat! From there we went to Clark Quay for some lunch at the Highlander Scottish Pub. I was very envious, watching the little kiddos having fun running in and out the fountains. Later we took a drive to find some plants for our deck. Only, we realized that we had left the map book at home once it was too late! Fortunately, we only made a few turns and we were able to find our way back home, but we never did find the plant nurseries!!
Maxine cooked a lovely supper of chicken kabobs and salad for us. She did just about everything herself, with very little help from Rory. Who'd have ever guessed I would be spending Mothers Day in SINGAPORE! Still hasn't sunk in that we're "here".
Monday, May 12, 2008
Today wasn't as bad as I thought is would be. Max and Syd did a couple hours of school work while I took care of household chores - blah!! I have a "Barbie-size" washing machine!!! I'd never noticed before, but when I came to shove in my huge load of washing into the front loader, it about the size of a small hand-basin!!! What I thought would be maybe 5 loads of washing has turned into a day long event of mini-loads. And, although I have a tumble-drier it's really expensive to run. So, most people make use of the sunshine and hang out their washing, which is what I did, but I can only fit one load out at a time, and then I have to wait for it to dry while trying to avoid the occasional thunderstorm or shower! I'm slowing beginning to see why so many people have maids....to get the washing done, which is an all day, every day event; to clean the bathrooms, which also require almost daily cleaning, to avoid mold issues due to the humidity; and from what I've heard they also sweep and clean the floors everyday because of the gecko poo. A lot of maids also cook for the family - that may seriously be my turning point!!!! As of today though, I still don't see the need for a maid, and add that to the fact that they live in a tiny room that is not air-conditioned like the rest of the house, and have a shower over a toilet, I cannot bring myself to employ someone to live in those conditions.
Friday, May 16, 2008
It's Friday! Yippeee! And Monday is a public holiday - one of MANY! Double yippee!
My washing machine had a serious workout this week, but we're all caught up. Managed to get everything dry too, so we've got clothes to wear! Still don't see the need for a maid....
This week was quite an eventful week, for me anyway....I drove here for the first time! I was shaking so badly, seriously. I mapped out my route to the stationary store that I found online, called the store to find out about parking but couldn't understand a word of what the guy said, and hit the road. I drove up and around our street first to get the hang of the car, took a deep breath and ventured out onto the main road. Maxine, my map holder and semi-navigator, was sitting next to me reminding me what side of the road I should be driving on. She did a great job. Although we had to take a few detours because of one-way streets a few times and had to pull over to consult our map a few times, we got to the basic area of the shopping center we were heading for, but never actually found it, so went to another one instead. It had a parking garage! To avoid having other drivers wait for me to figure out how to back into (which is the "done" way here) my tiny parking space I kept driving until we got to the 5th level and ducked down a dead-end where only one space was open so no-one would follow me! Luckily it was an end space and was marginally larger than the rest - still took me a couple of in's and out's. On the way home we sort of missed our turning or divide in the road, as we didn't know what road the parking garage exited onto, and ended up going around Newton Circus, a traffic circle that has 11 inter-sections and 4 lanes! I swear I had my eyes squeezed closed part of the time! We all made it home safely though and have since ventured out a few more times, just locally though. I'm not ready to chance my luck on the more hectic parts of town just yet.
The dogs still have 10 days in quarantine, and we try to visit them daily. We have a few squirrels and cats that spend time in the trees adjacent to our yard - I'm not sure how long either will last once the dogs get here!
Today I'm going to the nail salon - another first here. This afternoon we're going to Great World Shopping Center. Before we even arrived here I had posted on an expat forum that we would be arriving with two teenage girls who would be attending CIS. I got a reply from a Canadian lady with tow daughters, exactly Maxine and Sydney's ages who also attend CIS, so they could be in the same class. She's also just had another baby, on Mother's Day! Her eldest daughter, Maxine's age, is singing with the school "rock Band" - yes, you read that correctly, the school has a rock band - at a Cancer Benefit in the shopping center so we're going to see her, and hopefully meet up with them. Andrea, the mom, is a make-up artist for the rich and famous, and has many articles in various publications around the world - I'm hoping she's as down-to-earth and friendly in person as she is on the internet and phone.
I'm praying so hard that the girls make friends. They haven't met anyone here so far. Yesterday was a rough day for both of them - plenty of tears. This morning I'm going to investigate different courses or classes for them to attend over summer. At least they'll have people their own ages to talk to.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Sydney attended a birthday party yesterday, already! After meeting at the birthday girls' house for lunch, they boarded the school bus, and traveled to Wild, Wild, Wet, a water park where she spent the whole afternoon having lots of fun, and making new friends. The girls were all very nice, whereas the boys, well, they were boys!
Rory, Max and I went to Sim Lim Center, a 6-storey tall shopping center crammed with stalls selling every electronic item known to man! Absolutely unbelievable! If you can't find it there - it's not been made yet! We picked up a couple of items for our computer and a hands-free "stand" for my cellphone, since talking on a hand-held while driving is illegal. Yet, it seems that eating food with chopsticks while balancing the plastic container between the steering wheel and your belly, putting on make-up, reading and working on your lap-top still qualify as legal !!!!
On the way home we called in at a big grocery store, much like a Target or Walmart, except less organized, a couple of thousand people shopping, and some fairly strange smells coming from the produce and meat department. We made our way through there fairly fast! I'm still finding shopping for groceries very frustrating and demoralizing. I'll research recipes, only to find that I can't get all the ingredients when I get to the store, or, I'll see plenty of food items lining the shelves but won't have a clue what it is, or what to do with it, so end up coming home with very little each time. I need Sharrie here to browse the aisles with me :)
I think I'm going to have to go on those cooking classes sooner rather than later!
Later in the afternoon, I spent a couple of hours on the sofa, with an ice cold drink, the curtains blowing in the breeze, finishing off my book, while Rory and Maxine went to visit the dogs. They groomed both of them and removed about 10 pounds of hair off Buster! Rather now, than when he comes home!
Tomorrow is a public holiday - yippee!
This morning we took a drive out to Changi Sailing Club to take a look around. Maxine and Sydney will be able to take sailing courses on Optomists, a small one-man sail boat, while Rory is trying to decide between a course for basic sailing, which he think may be too basic for him, or a course to learn how to skipper on a larger sailboat. The courses are quite lengthy, six consecutive Saturdays, 10am to 5pm, for the kids and Rory, and a few additional weeknights for Rory. The club itself has a very nice swimming pool, restaurant, a snack-bar, a library, and numerous barbeque pits that you can rent. Also, the kids are able to use the canoes.
Hopefully, (yes, I'm hopeful for a lot of things) we'll also meet up with more people there. You really feel lonely when you do't recognize anyone when you're out shopping, walking around the mall, etc. I know that will change when the kids go to school and I meet more parents. I'm should get a "Welcome Packet" from the PTA sometime in July, so I can see what activities and committees I can get involved in. I'm hoping there's a lot!!!
Oh, I went to the nail salon the other day and it seems that the type of nails I have are not that popular here. I think it's because they take too long to do??? The shopping center we went to on Friday morning had about 20 different nails salons in it, one after the other. I just peeked in the windows to see which were really busy, took that as an indication of them being very good, and picked up a business card. Seems they might be a good place to meet people too - lots of expats in them! Maybe I should start getting weekly mani's & pedi's!!!
Saturday, May 19, 2008
What a difference a day can make! For the record, WE HAVE FRIENDS!!!! Yippeeee!!!!
Yesterday we met Andrea, and her daughters at Great World Shopping Center and watched her daughter sing with the CIS school band. Both Maxine and Sydney got to make friends with a bunch of their classmates who were there to support the band. I was so very relieved to see them making friends so easily and hanging out together.
While the girls went to watch movies with their new friends the adults, and the new baby, went to supper at a Vietnamese restaurant in the mall and chatted the whole time the kids were in the movies. It was just so nice to be able to sit and chat with someone who knows what we're talking about when we refer back to the USA, or even Texas.
We got to learn all the scoop about CIS, who the "bad girls" were, that you didn't want your kids hanging out with. Initially I felt really bad for these kids but after learning about some of the antics they got up to my mind soon changed!!!
Maxine is still very wary; the girls here seem to act a lot more mature than back home in Coppell, but I'm sure some of that had to do with the surroundings. Sydney blended right in; and seems to get on really well with a few of the girls. Overall, a great end to the week!
Thursday, May 22nd.
It's Thursday evening already. We got rain today, and although it was really humid afterwards, the rain was glorious! I've been driving a little more again. Some people who have been here for years still don't drive and choose to take taxis so I feel somewhat brave!
We went to visit the American Club today with a friend who is a member. It quite close-by but I'm not sure that we would necessarily use the facilities that often. They have a pool, bowling alley, arcade, and a few restaurants but as of now, I think we'll wait on joining. My friend, Andrea, has a new-born baby, just 11 days old. She's the sweetest little thing and sleeps the whole time. I think Maxine and Sydney were dying for her to wake up, not that they do much at that age anyway. We went to another shopping center, more upscale, that caters to the tourists - plenty of designer labels, and a huge Tiffany's store. We went to visit the art and crafts store and the bookstore - I know, terribly boring! But, in our defense, it is the biggest bookstore in South Asia!
We've also been invited to dinner on Saturday at another family's home, whom we met last weekend. Their daughters are in the same grade as Max and Syd. Michelle, is Canadian, and her husband is British - should make for some fun conversation!
Maxine has also invited a bunch of girls she made friends with last weekend, and has been texting back and forth, to swim on Saturday. Hopefully, these are girls off the "good list".
Sunday, May 25, 2008
The dogs came home today! Their 30-day quarantine is over at last. Frisco has lost a fair amount of weight but is still running around and playing as if he were a toddler, not his 12-year old self. Buster is loosing hair, bagfuls of it. He looks like he's got a bad case of mange!
Last night we went to supper at new friends, Michelle and Jeff. He's in the oil business and they've lived all over the world, from Malaysia to Holland to Kuwait. It was quite inspiring hearing about their travels. I'm not sure I could move around as often as they have, but sure do envy their experiences.
We've planned our first "big" vacation, I say big as it involves flying unlike some of the other vacation spots that are reachable by ferry or car. We're going to Bali on June 12th for 6 days! It's supposed to be a good time of year to go so we're praying for good weather. This coming weekend we're driving to Malaysia for two nights. You can also get the ferry across but we're going to drive so we have transport while we're there. We're heading up the east coast of Malaysia to Desaru - hoping for some down time reading a book on the beach.
Monday, 26 May 2008
Turns out Singaporeans not only love their tea, or teh, the also LOVE their coffee, or kopi....there's even a Singapore Coffee Association!
I'm taking on a personal challenge - I'm ditching the Starbucks, of which there are many in Singapore, and vow to try some of the local brews instead. It may lead to some caffiene induced sleepness, nights, and the need for some teeth whitening strips, but I'm forging ahead!
A lot of the local hawkers stalls also sell coffee in it's various forms so you can pretty much get it anywhere. To give you some insight into the local terminology -
"kopi" is coffee sweetened with a generous dose of condensed milk - yummmmmy! It's at the tops of my list for obvious reasons!
"kopi special" is sweetened with a mix of evaporated milk and condensed milk!
"kopi o" is staight up black coffee; and there are numerous add-in's and flavors to be tired at various locations.
Tea is a whole other world - I think it would trully take me a lifetime to try all the different flavors and types of tea available in Singapore. We have yet to experience a traditional tea ceremony, but that too is on my list of things to do. Got to make time for it thought - apparently it's about 2 hours long!
Coffee should be black as hell; strong as death, and sweet as love. Turkish Proverb
Sunday, June 1st, 2008
Malaysia. Hmmmm, give me downtown Dallas, during rush hour, in the middle of a hailstorm, with a car-load of screaming kids, blinding headache, running on empty, ANYDAY over Malaysia! I think you get where I'm headed here….what an experience! Much like a road trip to Mexico, only MUCH worse! You haven't a clue what the road signs mean, the white lines on the road, if there are any, are purely for decoration - if a two-lane road can fit three cars wide then it will! At any given moment you'll have a car either side of you with a motorbike or two squeezed in too, balancing on the edge of the road!!! I'm not exaggerating or kidding here!!! It's hard to put into words how crazy it was.
The hotel was…..notably rustic. Probably a one or two star by US standards. We got to experience the Malaysian way of life - I'm trying to look at it in a positive light here! The causeway over to Malaysia was about a 15 minute drive from our house. Unfortunately, we hit rain along the way which slowed our trip a little, and added to the harrowing driving experience!
We had a garden villa, a short 5 minute walk away from the beach. Rory and the kids spent almost all their time in the ocean, while I moved to the pool area after I'd had enough of the sand! Why does beach get just get EVERYWHERE???
There was a HUGE contingency of Muslims at the hotel and we felt very conspicuous with our Texas and Cowboys stickers on the back of our cars!
We've come to appreciate that an International Breakfast has a whole new meaning in Asia! The only thing we recognized was toast, cereal and eggs! There was only a small 2-slice toaster for about 200 people, and the line for the eggs was at least 20 people deep! We tried the French toast but the syrup tasted funny, only realizing after a few bites that is was actually warmed honey! Same for the pancakes the next morning. Asians eat a lot of savory type food for breakfast. It seems that no food really has a definite time that it should be consumed - they had viennas and noodles and beans for breakfast - YUK!
When we returned from the beach to get ready for supper we saw Sydney's packet of Oreo's, a vacation treat, were sitting on the a/c unit outside our door! They had been opened and the crème licked out of each one! It was monkeys! They had sneaked into our room though the bathroom window which was cranked open about an inch. They were quite fussy monkeys since they left the huge slab of Cadbury's chocolate and the Cheetos, and made off with the expensive, American, Oreos! Quite a treat! I had visions of the mischievous monkeys pulling apart the cookies and having crème-licking competitions just like the commercials on TV!
On Saturday evening while we were having supper Rory noticed one of his work colleagues walking by! She works between Singapore and China, and also lives in Coppell. They were there with another couple on a golfing trip. Not only was it was strange to see another "white face" but one that we recognized too! Since the barbeque wasn't yet ready and we had to leave for our tour, we started with dessert first!!!! My kind of meal! We consumed more than our fair share of flan - hey, you snooze you loose! I also tried Teh Tarik, which is basically warm tea made with condensed milk and frothy on top - too sweet and icky for my taste, but I tried it. The lime juice they have here was much more refreshing.
The highlight of the weekend was the Firefly tour. After dark, we along with about another 10 passengers boarded a boat and we floated through the mangroves! It was so dark you could barely see your hand in front of you. One of the tour guides started splashing water up under the trees along the banks and suddenly they just lit up with hundreds of fireflies! It was amazingly beautiful to see….and looked just like Christmas trees! We, along with everyone else on the boat, tried taking photo's but they just don't do the scene justice. After a while the tour guide showed us how, if he dragged a net in the water, the "fire-swimmers" would light up the water surface just as they did if they were flying around. We all agreed that the water surface in the wake of the boat looked like a fountain of dark chocolate rippling away. We had a lot of fun and Maxine even caught a firefly. It was quite mind-boggling to think that here we were, traveling through the mangroves in the middle of Malaysia!
After the firefly tour we walked down to the beach and bumped into Rory's colleague again. She and her husband, as well as their friends who came from England, but lived in Bantan, a small island off Singapore, spent an hour or so chatting and enjoying an ice cold beer on the beach in the torch light.
Sunday morning the kids squeezed in as much time as they could on the beach before we left shortly after noon.
