David Arrives!!

Hey all! Sorry for not having any new posts for a while, I'll try to update more often. Now I have a lot of stories, photos and other things to share all waiting on me...

The best news is that David is finally here! He arrived Tuesday night at 12:30 am. Ok Wednesday morning - but pay attention to the story!

Here's him coming out of baggage claim - He looks tired, but he's my hubby and he's here!!

We checked into a new "serviced apartment" coming back from the airport. This one is recommended by David's company, and is much nicer than the one I've been staying in. David laughed when he saw my place the next day, and made me sad. The place we are staying in is 1 MRT stop north of the main shopping area of Orchard. Speaking of the MRT, here is a link to a good map of Singapore with the MRT lines and stops shown. The place we are in is right next to the Newton stop on the red (North-South) line, 4 stops from the south end of the line. The Orchard stop is on Orchard Road, which has the most shopping I've ever seen in my life. It is entirely dangerous.

The next day we spent the whole day running errands and making David legal. We went to the Ministry of Manpower. No Harry Potter fans, it's not like the Ministry of Magic. To be honest, in my head it is like the Ministry of Magic. Oh I wish. Anyway, we drop off all of David's identification then we have to leave and come back in 3 hours. David was a little bit nervous about the situation what with all the no way to prove his identity. I mean he could have been an illegal alien. Wouldn't that be funny for him to be deported from Singapore? He didn't think so, and he got pretty mad at me for talking about it. Are you surprised? Anyway, we came back at the scheduled time and POOF, there was his Employment Pass, also known as his green card. It was kind of like magic. It was!

Then I drove us down to the checkpoint for Jurong Island, which is where the plant is that he is working. They require a separate pass for entry onto the island and have some pretty hefty security, mostly starting up after 9/11. We got that all set up, which is good since David had to go to work the next day. Luckily, a guy from his work offered to drive him in on the first day.

Well I've got more to say, as always, but need to get to sleep pretty soon. I'll update again soon with some pictures of the amazing Christmas decorations here!

Adventures in Transportation

Before I got here, I read and heard a lot about transportation in Singapore. They have a very well developed public transportation system including MRTs (subways), LRT (light rail), buses and more. As a compliment to this transit system, personal cars are very expensive here, with a mid range compact car costing in the $40K range. Now, David's company is leasing a car for us to use, so I was and still am interested in seeing how much we use each type of available transportation. For now, I'm using mostly public transportation. Here is a picture of a normal MRT station:

I'm also using taxis when I'm running late, since it takes a while to use the public transportation what with all the walking and waiting, loading and unloading, more walking and waiting. You get the picture.

So that I could get used to driving here in Singapore, where they follow the British standard of driving on the wrongleft side of the road, and so that I would have a way to pick David up from the airport (next week!!!!), I rented a car through my company. It's a Toyota Altis, and from what I've seen it's a mid size car here.

Ha!!! Mid-size - shmid-size


What's Wrong with This Picture?


Even the blinker is on the wrong side, causing me to repeatedly and with no control turn on my windshield wipers. At least Singaporeans seem to have no need to laugh at foreigners so I'm the only one laughing. I think. Do you think they're laughing at me? I gotta go.

There is another form of transportation I will under no circumstances be attempting. One of the legs of it takes people from the mainland to the beach island Sentosa. Forgive the photo quality, it was taken with my iPhone and it was raining at the time.

I know Dad is with me when I say, "Yeah right!".

Ok I'm off to do some cross-stitching before bed. Hope all of you are having good mornings and evenings...

You Blog on My Blog

Just to prove I was serious about blogging the goings-on of friends and family, here is a post that my Granny, Helen, (dad's mom) posted in the comments section about her recent trip to Branson, Missouri:

Granny's trip to Branson. The weather was miserable. Very cold, damp and high winds. No pictures because weather too miserable to get off the bus. All the shows were very good - lots and lots of belly laughs. The bus rides to and from were entertaining. Funny videos; tour guide is a ventriliquist, and very funny. Met lots of nice people; ate lots and LOTS of very good food. No pictures were allowed at any of the shows.

Thank you for sharing with us Granny, sorry about all the rain but I'm really happy you enjoyed the shows! And you got a good tour guide, which I thought was an impossibility. Oh look at me, jaded and just starting my world travels. This does not bode well...

Now follow Granny's lead and add your own flare to this place!

Windows to My (New) World

Quickly before I head to bed, I wanted to post some of the first photos I took here in Singapore, with more or less what I was thinking when I snapped the shots.

David's Dreamland, Burger Kind and an Orange Julius. Unrelatedly, notice the first of many Starbucks to be seen in my photos (they are everywhere).


My First Meal in Singapore. Did you really expect something different?


More proof that David belongs in Singapore


You'll be proud, this is my second meal in Singapore: Chicken Fried Rice


And last, the skyline down the street from my place. The buildings are all condos, public and private. Note the construction, it is everywhere. Singapore is a city in constant change!


And now that I've given you a few things to think about, I'm off to bed. It takes about an hour to get to work in the morning using my feet, 2 buses, and 1 ferry, and I need to be well rested!

Getting Here

I've been having trouble getting the blog up and running. Something to do with the special domain name I've set up. Anyway, I wanted to give a little bit of info about how the trip was getting here...

First, it was very difficult leaving my baby at home, and also David. Seriously, leaving home was exciting but very hard, since David won't be joining me until late Nov., and Molly not until maybe January. However, my first trip in business class made the whole situation a little easier to handle. I mean just look at the legroom!



Here's all my stuff on the plane. I felt like I was in my living room.



The trip took me from Houston to Narita, Tokyo, then from Tokyo to Changi Airport in Singapore. The first leg was 14 hours, the second leg was 7.5 hours. The food was great, seats were great, although not quite as good as David's seats will be on his trip from here to London in Dec on the new Airbus A380. Take a look at them here. During the trip from Tokyo to here, I slept the entire way, missing the gourmet dinner of ribs and chicken. Oh well, I think it really helped stave off the jet lag.

When I arrived at the airport, getting my luggage and through customs was incredibly easy. I got a stamp on my new passport, and I started out my time in Singapore without incident. There was a driver waiting for me with a little sign with my name on it. First time ever! I'll follow up with a post on the serviced apartment I'm staying in here.

Thanks for tuning in!

We're Online

Hi everybody! We're officially online!

I've finally gotten David to approve a name for our blog website. Now I have a place to use to inform all of you about the happenings in our part of the Wicker family! Obviously, this is being driven by our move to Singapore, but if this works well we will continue it... And by works well, I mean if you people keep reading it and like it. You'd better like it!

Please visit here to keep up with what's going on in our lives, and let me know what's going on in yours and I will post on that as well. You can use the comments section to talk to us, ask questions, make fun of us, and in general communicate. Please, please communicate. I'm very lonely. :(