Sunday 27 July 2014

Secret homes of Glebe, sorry Singapore!

So. That was a big week. Mostly. And this is my first blog post from steamy, hot Singapore!

We arrived Monday night absolutely pooped! We left our temporary accommodation in Bondi at 6am on Monday morning to catch our flight at 9.30am. All was going well. A visit to the first class Qantas lounge on arrival  (I'm sure the other guests appreciated Mr can'tstoptalkingabouttrains and Mr cuteasabuttonbutIliketogrizzle) was followed by some quick duty free shopping and then onto the plane, where we waited for 2 hours for some part of the right hand engine to be fixed. Ugh!

Boys were angels on the plane, except for Aiden wanting to talk to me every 15 minutes right at the moment I was dropping off for an afternoon nap. Arran and Charlie both had a lovely afternoon nap. Typical. I was thinking that Aiden would be sitting next to Arran on the flight back, but then realised we weren't coming back, well at least in the short term.

Over a hour in a mini van to the apartments we are staying in and we were here!

Highlights of the week!
  • Getting a car, that Arran and I were both too chicken to drive, until I had to drive to go to work on Thursday. Thank goodness Singaporeans drive on the same side of the road as Australians and thank goodness a GPS was included with the car!
  • Finding a place to live. We spent many hours getting in and out of an air conditioned car on Wednesday looking at apartments. We were hot and bothered and fed up at the end of that day. We went for a swim and had pizza by the pool. But we found an apartment close to Aiden's school with a pool that is clean and modern and hopefully big enough for all our stuff. It costs a lot.
  • Charlie having a poo explosion on Wednesday morning. Yep. That was a 2 person clean up job. It was on the toys, the carpet....
  • Took Arran and the boys to Jumbo for their famous chilli crab. Was awesome. Boys ate fried rice and sweet buns.
  • Spent 2 days in office and actually feel like I have caught up a little bit
  • Aiden and Charlie got to go on the MRT (Massive Rail Transit). A TRAIN!!!
  • Sunday night we cooked a meal. So good.
  • Charlie got sick. Croup. I got sick with something similar.
  • Arran bought "old chinese man thong/slide things". Yep.
  • Love all the tropical plants and trees.
  • We have already seen some amazing paintings that we probably won't have the room to hang.
Observations of the week!
  • Asian women seem to like skirts on their swimsuits. A bit like tennis skirts. Modesty wins over fashion.
  • I have already seen a better range of swimwear here than in Australia. Sweet!
  • Supermarkets are small.
  • Driving and parking is pretty easy
  • Singaporeans like to give lots of advice to new people in Singapore. Some Most not that helpful
  • A form is always required, often accompanied by a cheque. Who uses cheques anymore?
  • Traffic back from work (on the very west side of the island) is awful
  • Food is expensive. Apart for the $3.50 duck and noodles I had at a food court on Friday with my new work colleagues. Even supermarket food is expensive. 
  •  Wine is even more expensive. 
  • The shops don't open until 10. With Singapore 2 hours behind Sydney we have been waking up early with not much to do.
  • I like getting outside into the heat. 
  • I'm tired and need a holiday.
  • Can't wait to get our of the serviced accommodation we are in, and in to our place with our own things.
Lisa xx

Friday 18 July 2014

Leaving, on a jet plane......


So.

So.

What do you do when you write a blog about living in Glebe, when you are not going to live there anymore? Or at least for the next few years. What do you do?

I don't really know. I have made so many decisions recently. Many small. Lots small. And some big. Moving to Singapore was big. But not a hard decision. At all. I have always wanted to live and work overseas. Same for Arran. We have talked about this a lot. Why is it that the small decisions are harder? It's like Arran and I have things upside down. Buy a stupid expensive house on a whim? Sure! Order Thai or Indian takeaway on Friday night? Can't decide. Pack up our whole life including 2 small boys and move to Asia? No problem! Should we take a BBQ? No idea!

This is the theme of our life.

Small decisions have been about:
  • Do I take the outdoor furniture? Will there be room? Will it be too hot to sit outside?
  • How many beds do I take (when I have no idea about the size of apartments)?
  • What clothes will we need? I'm guessing track pants and ugh boots are out?
  • Will there be a hairdresser who can do pink? Just wondering....
  • What do I do with a blog called "Secret homes of Glebe?" when I no longer live in Glebe?
  • Should I get my rings cleaned 3 days before leaving Sydney?
  • Should I have a massage because my head might explode if I don't?
  • Should I get some new bras because the chances are that getting big boob bras are small in Singapore? Hah!
  • Where do we stay between selling our house, having our house packed up and leaving on a jumbo jet (it's really an A330 but the boys are excited about it)? Arran was quite stressed about this aspect.
Stuff like that.

Overall though we are excited. Small boys are excited about pools and trains and new schools and going on Jumbo jets. I'm excited about new cultures, being part of a new team and learning about a new culture and doing new things in my job. Arran is excited about riding his bike. No news there. Overall though, on the Friday night before we leave, we are exhausted.

While we contemplate our future in some (very nice and cheap) temporary accommodation (Bondi Eco Garden Retreat), we don't really know where we are heading and where we will end up. But that's cool and that's ok.


I think I will rename the blog "Secret Homes of Singapore". What do you think? The housing and lifestyle will be so different to Sydney. Our lives will be different, and interesting and fun and do you want to hear about it?

Lisa xx