Our days

Many people have been asking us how we're settling into our new place and new surroundings so I thought it would be a good idea to say a little about how we spend our days and what we have been doing socially. First, a little about where we live. We live in a big high-rise apartment complex that is divided into 2 towers. Tower A and Tower B. That's the thing to ask when we meet someone new......"so which tower are you in?". There is also on-site property management. We have found this to be quite convenient when our refrigerator lost power and air conditioning unit started acting funny. Having on-site management is actually unusual for the housing around here. Most complexes have units that are owned individually and may need to wait longer for repairs. Most people rent since buying a modest house can cost in the millions.

We have 4 rooms and more space than our permanent home in Sherwood. Our apartment is actually on 2 levels. We chose this complex because we felt like it had a more family friendly atmosphere and the apartments had a more inviting feel. Here are some pictures......

From left to right we have our living room, the dining area from the living room, our humble kitchen, Parrish's bedroom, Sabrina's bedroom (with portable crib off to the right) and then our bedroom. I brought some wall stickers so the girls could dress up their rooms a little and add a little personality. Each room has built-in closets and we were able to negotiate the furniture being included in the rent so we didn't have to bring over any furniture at all. We were lucky they also left us some lamps and rugs. Lamps are very expensive, costing easily over $200 for a plain and simple one. There is no Marshalls or TJ Maxx, unfortunately. :)

We have met several families at the complex. Going to the pool at night just before dinner is a good time to meet people and socialize. We've met several Australian familes with kids our age. There is a family from Sri Lanka with 4 of the nicest boys you can meet. One of the boys is quite a big kid but doesn't seem to mind all the little kids thrashing him in the pool. They love to hang on him and splash around.

Many families are moving out or moving in. Apparently this is just the expat way. In fact, our Australian neighbors are moving out at the end of the summer. I think there is quite the flux going on right now because kids are starting summer break and that's when families want to move if they have to.

We've been here nearly a month now and finally feeling like we can start thinking about some leisure activities, maybe a little travel before Parrish and Sabrina start school in August. Rob gets the added bonus of having work days off on Singapore National holidays including our own. I think that adds maybe 3 more days off out of the year. This might be quite useful for taking a long weekend trip somewhere. We think Rob has dealt with most issues surrounding his work pass, immigration and other permits. This can be a big legal hurdle to overcome when doing this kind of work, but all part of a foreign work assignment. It's best to just deal with it one day at a time.

The girls will go to a brand new school starting up this August called the Stamford American International School. For the first 2 years the school will just be for primary grades, but will eventually expand to include grades up through high school. I was excited that they had such an extensive language program compared to other international school in the area. Parrish will get Mandarin Chinese everyday with the option of including Spanish after school. This school also has a nursery program that Sabrina will attend for half days, 5 days a week. I'm excited she will get so much social interaction.

I will try and post more pictures of the sights of Singapore. Maybe some interesting food dishes. Rob and I found a babysitter in the building so we are looking forward to having one night a week to go out and eat at restaurants we wouldn't take our kids to. We hope all is well with everyone. We'd love to hear from you so don't hesitate to update us with things going on in your lives.

And today she fed an Elephant......

Rob had the day off today because of a shutdown at work so we took advantage of going to the Singapore Zoo on a Monday instead of a weekend. Since having children, zoo's are something I've always tolerated because I'm not real keen on caged animals. However, today offered a nice refreshing perspective. The Singapore Zoo is so much more about the intelligence an awareness of animals. You will find monkeys and Orangutans roaming freely throughout the park. My guess is they stick around because they know where they can get food and they're very social. The elephant show and "splash" show with the sea lions had funny commentary but also a serious message about conservation and awareness. The elephants had a habitat with a river and large trees and they were pushing logs around like they were sticks. I realized how great it was that kids could come to a place and learn to appreciate animals and learn more about what they need to survive and what can put them in danger. Parrish and Sabrina had a few choice animal encounters as you see.....















Sabrina insisted on feeding an elephant after seeing Parrish do it.

Big city livin'

We moved into our big city, high-rise apartment on Monday and we have enjoyed having all the conveniences nearby. The grocery store is a 10 minute walk and we are close to Orchard Rd, which is a mecca of shopping and restaurants. I think shopping is a national sport around here. You can find anything! Except Target.....or any store like it.

It is very apparent that we can immerse ourselves as much as we want into the culture around here, or we can almost live like we could in the US. We can get lunch at a local hawker center (Asian food court with healthy and cheap food) or go to a US chain like California Pizza Kitchen or Borders Cafe. We can also choose to eat the local ice cream or buy Tillamook in the grocery store. I even saw an add for Farmland Oregon fresh chips, but I've never seen these in a grocery store in Oregon. We like exploring the cheaper, local venues, but if you wanted to enjoy the comforts from the US, it comes at a high price ($11 gallon of Tillamook).

Buying eggs is interesting. You can choose between normal fresh eggs, first born eggs, quail eggs, corn eggs, carrot eggs, salted eggs......etc. And as expected, they aren't refrigerated. I'm very curious to find out what I could make with quail eggs. Mini french toast, or bite size deviled eggs. :)

The bell peppers here are extremely cheap! I can buy red, yellow or orange for $0.79 Sing which is about $.60 US. I was happy if I found bell peppers for $1 at Safeway. I find it pretty fascinating to discover the difference in grocery items around here. Everything in this country is imported. There are no natural resources. If I wanted I could buy sauces from India, curries from Thailand and bread from Australia. The natural resource in Singapore is it's people. They work very hard here and everyone seems to be so nice and in a good mood.

I've really enjoyed all the walking around despite the warm, humid climate. Although we really need to reconsider the stroller we brought for Sabrina. The unevenness and inconsistency of the sidewalks around here are stressing the wheels considerably. I thought about getting an ergo carrier before leaving, but knew having Sabrina next to me in this heat would be unbearable even if it was going to be easier getting on and off mass transit. Unfortunately the strollers in Singapore are very expensive. A cheap umbrella stroller can almost cost $100.

Parrish is on her 5th consecutive day of going swimming in the apartment pool. Instead of begging for pool time starting first thing in the morning, like we had the first few days, she has slowed to more acceptable beg just before noon. Sabrina will even say "lets go swimming" and go get one of our suits.

Since we have been without a car all week, we have had a fun time hailing taxis. Parrish was getting tired of walking one day and kept saying, "my walking legs are tired, let's get a taxi". Often times we find the taxis are a much cheaper alternative for the whole family than taking a bus. Parrish is really good at waving one down.

As soon as we get our computer next week, I'll try and post a few pictures.
Take care and keep in touch. The Noce's.

We've arrived

We arrived in Singapore Sunday morning at about 12:30am and managed to get our heads on a pillow just before 3am. The kids couldn't have been better. Parrish colored, played with her ponyville, watched movies (Peter Pan about 3 times!) for our first 10 hr flight. Sabrina slept and was entertained with a wet wipe for awhile during the first leg. The wipe was a wash cloth, then a blanket, then a fan, and then something to throw around. She managed to sleep the entire 7 hr second flight on my lap. The crook in my neck was worth it.

We are supposed to be checking into our apartment today and there are many unknowns. We're not sure when we'll get broadband service or when our air shipment of belongings will arrive, but it has been really easy to get around Singapore and the kids are having a good time. I'm really glad Sabrina loves her stroller so much. This is a really easy city to visit. There are all the comforts you would find in the US, but you also have the choice to go to more local places for eating, which I can't wait to explore.

Getting to this point has been quite a challenge. The amount of work it took to pack up our household, separate things into what we're taking, what we're storing, and what goes on the plane with us was a huge challenge. We have been working on this move since February, and we still weren't ready when the packers showed up a week ago.

But for some reason, despite all our lack of sleep, lack of exercise and lack of wits, we have all managed to stay healthy and not get sick. I think this is somewhat of a miracle given all the illness that has been going around. I hope this doesn't mean things are going to be crashing down on us after we've settled in Singapore. A place where the warmth and humidity is a breeding ground for bacteria. I'm going to remain hopeful and positive!

Another little miracle is that despite our stress, our family hasn't taken any of it out on each other. We have all been very supportive. The girls have been amazing keeping themselves independently entertained during some really busy times. I even managed to stick pretty close to our house rule of only an hour of TV a day. Ok, sometimes it stretched to two. Hiring a nanny for a few days of move week was the best money spent! I'm really looking forward to getting into a routine that is more family centered.

Toaster oven quit, trash lid is broken....time to move......

I think our home knows we're moving. It's behaving badly. Here's a list of things we've been dealing with over the last few months.

• A complete shower remodel because tiles were falling off the wall due to mold - oh, didn't I mention this already in a previous post.......
  
• All the sudden a bunch of light bulbs are burning out
• Porch light quit working
• Dining chair started to fall apart
• Our hot tub in Bella Beach sprung a leak and shorted out the pump
• One of the burners on our gas oven wont light

But.........there's always a but.......

• Rob has a job
• The kids are healthy (and getting along)
• We've managed to plow through our food storage pretty well
  
• Lucy is healthy
• Mother's day was nice
• We'll be selling one of our cars tomorrow
• The other at the end of the month
  
• All the above has been fixed
  

Taking a break

So we just got back from a week in Hawaii and it was a much needed rest. We had such good family time on Oahu. The weather was great, the activities were mellow and we were lucky to have a spectacular view from our room. Here's a picture and some video of the kids goofing around before bedtime.

Singapore or bust....

Ok, we got the news straight from the top. We are moving to Singapore for sure. Depending on how long it takes Rob to get his Visa we are planning on moving mid-May.

So my brain is full of things we need to do to get the house ready to rent. We already renovated the master shower which had tiles falling off the walls. Need to replace a section of fence outside, pressure wash mold off shady side of house, replace a shorted outdoor light, patch sheet rock holes from renovations......ahhhhh! Add packing up the house, finding property management, selling our cars and taking time to say goodbye to friends and doing all this within a month. I should re-title this post as "drinking through a firehose".

But this is going to be fun. :) The work of preparation will be worth it compared to the adventure and cultural experience we have to look forward to. Please start planning your visit now. We will have an extra room in our apartment for guests that we hope doesn't stay empty.

Zai jian for now.